Keri's life -- the last two weeks.

Hmmm... it's been a few weeks since I've last posted here. What have I been up to?

Well, to sum it all up:

1. Worked
2. Worked some more
3. Worked late into the night
4. Got sick

I went to see the MD yesterday, where I learned I was walking around with a 102-degree temperature, and that my heart was beating 140 beats per minute. Neither of those stats are good stats. That said, being sick is a great diet! I lost 8 lbs. in the last few days! Whee!

It's not all doom and gloom, however. The weather here gets better and better. It's another gorgeous day today, bluebird skies, light wind. I do love it here in the summer.

Condition One...Condition Two...Condition Weather Delay...Condition Mainbody

Well, after a week of delays, the first Mainbody flights are starting to roll in, which means (gasp) I finally have a staff, and also (yippee!) I can say goodbye to making House Mouse lists. The weather's been spotty, and flights are a week behind, but two have rolled in, and another is on its way.

That means Mainbody really feels like it's happening. More people, more fun, and I'll be honest, I'm not sad to say goodbye to Winfly, which sort of sucked ass this year, all things considered.

I've got some fun pictures to post, but not the patience tonight to upload, so illustrations to follow. But things are still ticking down here on the White Continent. Science progresses. The economy may stop us one day, but not yet...

A little leisure time...

Well, Keri tired. There's just a lot to get done, and not enough time to do it, round these parts. I've been staying up til 2 or 3 in the morning the last few nights, grinding out the detritus of this job. In the grand scheme of the world, it's probably not that important. No one's going to die, no one's going to get sued (I hope) which was always the scary part about the nursing business. But if I don't get a bunch of stuff done, very soon, my part of the department will come to a screeching halt, and trash and body fluids will pile up in dorms until it consumes us all.

Sooooo....overtime. The woman who had the job before me told me today that her first year on the job, she worked 90 hours a week! WTF? For Pete's sake, Keri, look before you leap! But whatever, it's all good. I still like Mac Town. I like peon jobs in Mac Town also, but I still like Mac Town.

In any case, I thought I'd share a few more pictures of what I've done with my leisure time here. As someone pointed out to me, there is no commute to speak of, and no need to make dinner here (we're cafeteria-fed!) so even with overtime, you catch some hours here or there.

I think I mentioned there is a very old, nice and historic, manual bowling alley here. Here's friend Dan and I pinsetting -- once people bowl, we pick up the pins, and roll them back their ball. It's a good work out!



Another way to keep yourself busy? Host a party! Last Thursday, I hosted an "I got off my ass and signed up for Hut 10, and what do you know, I even got a food order in on time" party. Fancy. But some friends made awesome deep dish pizza, and Tater Tot hotdish (a nod to our mutual Minnesota-ness) and so their combined efforts made it a pretty kick ass night! (Hut 10, for all you non-McMurdoites, is a little "house" where the Naval officers used to stay when the Navy ran this place. In a neighborhood in Wisconsin? You could pull it off the market for $50 grand. Here, it's in the high rent district.)

Anyway, here's Eric and Leah tossing pizza pie dough, and the kick ass massive Tater Tot hotdish David made. You guys rule!



Half of my readers on this blog are former Antarcticans, or current Antarcticans, and I always like to include a few snapshots for anyone who wants to "Where's Waldo" their friends. So apologies to those who don't know anyone here for all the cheesey revelry shots, but, you know, scroll down if you don't want to see them!

Here's Ben! And Gina (kick ass FNGee!)




Roommate Quinn! She takes good care of me...and Karen Harvey, who is trying to win my heart. Or is it the other way around?



Francie pants, Sissman, Talie...



Casey, the teddy bear Texan, and Rebecca, Eric and Roy...



It's good times down here, with good people, and work can't seem that bad when they're around. That's the saving grace of this place.

A few more pics here I thought were funny. A bunch of bands played at Winstock this weekend (the Winfly version of Icestock, which is the baddest ass music festival on the continent. Hipsters, you know you wish you were here...)

Anyway, my buddy Justin got into some permanent marker tatts, so Lisa and I played along while he inked us up.







A Kiwi friend asked me what "Git R Dun" meant. I tried to shield him from our American Redneckness, and told him to forget he lived in a world where we all knew what that meant. But he Googled it anyway, and is now probably spreading it to all his New Zealand Army buddies. The redneck is spreading ... the horrors...

In any case, leaving you tonight with another of my favorite carp shop (where the station carpenters hang out) signs. Good signs, boys!

The end of Winfly...

Well, Winfly's wrapping up in Mac Town. Wednesday, the new planes start rolling in, full to the brim with people and cargo, and we'll be off and running with Mainbody 2008-09. Not that we haven't been running so far. We're not exactly "on schedule" here this year. Cut jobs and shorten the time we have to get ready, and that's how it rolls, I guess.

What have I been up to? Mostly, coordinating a much-beloved activity here called "house mousing." This means that everyone who is used to getting their bathrooms cleaned and dorms cleaned and work centers cleaned here by janitors has to clean it themselves this year. Why? Well, no funding for janitors this Winfly. (Weirdly, that means very highly paid people are getting paid very high wages to wash dishes and toilets around here, and not getting other important things done, like laying fuel lines, etc.) This is now my headache to coordinate, and I will be very glad when it is done and we can get janos back in the buildings again. But, of course, everyone here LOVES it! No one is crabby in any way. I get nowhere near 60 phone calls a week about house mouse issues. I have to make contact with nowhere near 200 people a week to get this done. I am obviously the most popular person on station now. Forcing people to clean toilets is a great way to make new friends. Actually, for the most part, people are being fairly good sports, all things considered. But I won't miss house mouse, that's for sure.

I do get kicked loose from the office occasionally, however. Here is our tiny little housing team this year, doing what? Assembling lamps. Now I finally have that on-the-job training for Home Depot...

We're rocking out Con One's this Winfly too. Con One means weather is so bad (windy, cold, zero visibility) that you cannot go outside. For any reason. At all. Which is why I was so surprised to see a random person sweeping (sweeping?!?) the steps of the Medical building in hurricane force winds yesterday. But whatever. Here's friend Scott and I, both post-FNGee, but still excited about Condition One. It doesn't usually happen in town very often, and it's already happened twice this year. Notice how the snow blows right through the doors when the wind is that high.

I'm writing this at midnight, and it's still light enough to see everything here. I went for a walk a few days ago at 2 AM, and I could still see the sunlight on the horizon. Dark is rapidly disappearing here, and will be gone for good by mid-October. The pictures that follow show the light around midnight this weekend, and then at 2 AM. And one more picture of Keri by night, just for fun...

The days, when it's clear, are fantastic, however. Last Sunday was a particularly clear day here -- clearest I've seen since I arrived this year. Here's the view of Mt. Discovery, and a look across the sea ice...

I also thought there might be some blog readers who would be interested in seeing the Chapel of the Snows, a non-denominational (but let's face it, despite yoga classes, fairly Christian) place of worship down here. This is actually the third chapel built in Mac Town. Over the years, it has burned down twice before. It's sort of a nice community place, because it only exists because community members volunteered time to build it (and probably, some science projects "volunteered" materials, knowingly or not). But it's cozy inside, and quiet. There are a few church services a week, and a nice Christmas service. Also, a pretty cool stained glass window.

What else? Well, I am continually amused by freshies here. Yum yum, fruits and veggies. Hard to come by when there are no planes coming in for weeks, and also when the freshie budget has been cut drastically. But here I am with a little treat I squirreled away earlier this month...avocado! I think I could have traded this little piece of tastiness for just about anything here on station. Ooooh, the possibilities. But instead, my roomie Quinn and I ate it.

Weirdly, even though it's been only a week since my last post, there's still a crapload of stuff I could write about, post photos, etc. But this is getting long, so I'll save it for another day, when I am speechless. Another picture of a pretty sunset -- and goodnight for now!

Sunday...

It's Sunday today. Sundays are fun days at McMurdo. Sunday is the only day of the week we have off, we get a leisurely brunch for a meal, and we can catch up on all the "errands" we've been putting off during the rest of the week, when most of us work 10-12 hour days. The errands of our lives here? Laundry, for one, and calling friends and family. For me it means catching up on emails, and updating the blog. You can use the gym, or catch a movie, or catch the Sunday science lecture at night. Sunday is our compacted weekend, and very welcome, indeed.

It's also preceded by a Saturday night, which, as the only "weekend" night, tends to be the most hopping night in town. Last night, Mac Towners finally (FINALLY!) started getting together in the same places. (It's been a slow season!) The first open mike night got a lot of people out in Gallagher's (the station's non-smoking bar.)

My friend Casey Cosper, a very good Texan, guitar player and friend sang and played last night, and also, let me sing along for a song! We did a Neutral Milk Hotel song, and it was super chill and fun. (By the way, Neutral Milk Hotel. Yeah. Dig it. That first album is one that can change your life.)



Then, of course, there was carousing with the usual suspects... a dance party that was truncated by an ornery falling light. But everyone's alive, and all brain cells are acccounted for, and we live to dance another day!



I've been trying to get out for more walks around here. We're in "winter hiking rules" now, so that means for most hikes, you need to check out with the firehouse, and carry a radio, etc. I've just been doing the hike where you don't need to check out, down to Hut Point. I tried to take a picture of Mac Town at night, but of course, I have no tripod, and it was super windy. But I liked the picture anyway, so here it is!




For those actual Antarcticans following this blog, the news of the week is that our two-day end of Winfly weekend has been cancelled. Station's waaaaay behind. (Big surprise, cut people, and the time they have to do the jobs, of course the station's behind!) And coffeehouse is down and out, until well into mainbody, so goes the word on the street. Sales of bottled liquor end forever on Wednesday. And 66 is the magic number of total staff they'd like to have around here for the upcoming winter. (I think there were 127 this year.)

Sooo....no worries! Actually, most of this is pretty roll off my back. This is not a program to sweat too much, because everything is so unpredictable anyway. I'm just happy to be here for this season, and we'll see if I get to do another one down the road! (Trillion dollar bailouts of banks makes me wonder how much Congress can give our little science program, though. If a CEO gets a $60 million golden parachute, and funding for the United States Antarctica Program dries up because of it, I'm going to be pretty pissed.)

Anyway, will leave you today with a picture of one of my favorite carp shop signs! Cheers everyone!

Thursday

So this first picture, I posted for something remarkable behind me. Look close. Do you see it?



That's right -- it's darkness! I have very very few pictures of me in darkness in Antarctica. It won't be very long before darkness disappears completely, and we will have 24 hours of sun most of October until I'm leave here at the end of February. In fact, there's still the last vestiges of sunset visible here at midnight now. (By the way, there is a historic hut that Shackleton and Scott used to explore Antarctica behind me in this picture as well. OK, that's remarkable too. But I took the pictures for the dark. The hut shows up better in the light! Ha!)

This picture was taken during my walk to Hut Point last night, where I also saw auroras! Yay! They were white and wispy, and not nearly as impressive as the gorgeous green auroras I saw last year, but still pretty amazing to see.

Tonight, and most Thursday nights, the Kiwis are kind enough to open their doors to rowdy Americans for America Night at Scott Base (home of our New Zealand friends, about 3K away from Mac Town.)



It's nice to hang around and chat with your American friends, and make new Kiwi friends, and just be somewhere out of town. Scott Base is much smaller than the McMurdo, and it's cozy and nice there. But if you go, as Roy discovered tonight, don't ring the bell! That means you buy the whole bar a round. That's right. Roy was a popular guy this America Night!



Anyway, not much to say tonight. I hit up a bartender's meeting, because I think I'll do some bartending this season, and volunteered some time to help clean the Coffee House. Leaving you with some more pics of peeps I be hanging with this year, yo.

Of liquor lines and shag mitten...

Well, as you may have gathered from my (infrequent) posts here, there's a little bit of booze floating around McMurdo Station. But the Harsh Continent is going to get a little harsher for some when they stop selling hard liquor in the store in October. Why are sales stopping? Let's just chalk it up to politics. The reasons are complicated and inconsequential. The reality -- there's just about two weeks left to buy the hard stuff, and it is being metered out ration-style. So that means every Wednesday and Sunday, you get McMurdo's very tame version of a mob scene, when all the drunks line up to buy the weekly booze. (I'm not name-calling. I've stood in this line.) I find it fairly amusing. I bought one bottle of liquor last year, and half of it is still left this year, so there's no need for me to fret. But the impending shortage means everyone's lining up anyway, AA member or not. Here are a few pics:



But there's plenty to do besides wait for liquor here in Mac Town. Tonight? Ping pong and Bingo. These are not activities I am particularly known for in the "real world" but I had some good times tonight! Below, you can see me being rather unsuccessful at ping pong, and rather successful at Bingo.



I bingoed (is that a verb?) twice tonight! I don't think I've ever bingoed once before, ever! I won some old junk they science groups cleaned out of the science building, including several very nice half-used lotions, and also, a $30 gift certificate to a restaurant that's only 5-9 hours away by jet. So, really, all useful stuff. I think the best part is just being able to call out "bingo" and have everyone throw their crumpled up bingo cards at you.

Of course, again, the real fun here comes from the kick ass people I roll with. I always like to include a few photos for my Mac Town alum lurkers... tonight fun with friends, and fun with a purple wig. Oh, also, we've been improving the English language. New phrase -- shag mitten. Use it in a sentence. Play it as a drinking game. Use it to pick up chicks. What does it mean? That's up to you.









I leave you tonight with a few more photos of this beautiful place. The sunset over town and the Royal Society Range in the background, and even Mac Town looks pretty in the late afternoon light. Til next time...