12/1/2011
Sun is out, it's warming up, and the ground is a muddy mess of volcanic sand and rock. A bit different from when I arrived here almost two weeks ago. Then, it was colder (around -3 with wind chill, about 15 ambient), overcast and usually snowing. I guess this year has been way warmer, even over the winter. So warm in fact, that we won't have an ice pier done for offloading fuel and supplies in late January from the cargo and fuel ships. This Ice pier was usually 9'-25' thick and covered with sand/gravel for insulation. Right now they have about 3' of ice and 9' of slush underneath. Not enough to hold vehicles for offloading.

Working and taking hikes when I get time so I can take more pictures. I bought and brought down a small pocket camera this year, a Nikon S3000. This pocket camera takes "Ok" pictures but they are near the clarity of my D90, nor even the Sony pocket camera I had last year. Don't buy one as your main camera. Find something else with crystal clear picture results. The S3000 doesn't cut it for me.

In different dorms this year. B210, an older 2 story barracks with 2 man rooms. It's nicer than 155. Inconvenient though to go eat, and it only has a single mens bathroom. And that's downstairs.

I completed all my training within two days this time. Only needed Snow School refresher, driving light vehicles and the recreational class (Outdoor Orientation) to be able to go on hikes around the area. Snow school refresher was 4 hours as I didn't have to go to Happy Camper.

Got to see something for the first time in my life. The blasting crew dug a trench with explosives and I videoed it. First time for me seeing something blown up with high explosives. I'll try and add the video to this blog.

I will be starting a women's self awareness/defense class on Monday (Dec 5th) both to teach women some self defense but also to be self aware in locations they would normally ignore or take for granted. We'll see how the turn out is on Monday.

I need to walk up to Crater Hill over McMurdo to get GPS locations of all the antennas and comms buildings up there. I also want pictures as not many people make it up there since it's restricted to just the comms people, riggers and others that only need to work up there (not many). It's called crater hill because it's an old volcano flue, that has filled with water and frozen. Should be interesting.

Crater Hill Comms site.

All for now. Enjoy