Reboot

Tags

2011, Antarctica, August, McMurdo Station, Ross Island, toast, winterover, yearbook

I’ve kind of been intentionally forgetting this blog exists.

Those of you who know me will already be aware that I have never been good at updating my blog regularly. Even though I am living and working on the coldest, driest, windiest and highest (on average) continent on Earth – also known as Antarctica – and would seemingly have an endless array of odd and interesting things to blog about… I have never been able to maintain regular postings.

My lack of even a single post in the last year-plus probably has something to do with the fact that I am currently nearing the end of my fifth season on the Ice – three austral summers and two winters – and I’m frankly getting a little burnt out. Motivation levels are hovering somewhere below ‘E’ and I’m running on fumes. I am, as the winterover expression goes, Toast. Plus, there’s not a whole lot that’s new or different from one winter to another, right?

Wrong. It’s been a crazy season, to say the least. Both in the events and atmosphere on station, as well as in how I perceive it as a repeat winterover instead of a FNG. And even though my fume-ish motivation levels haven’t ceased their background noise, grumbling under their breath about how I could be munching on nachos and watching crappy TV on Hulu instead of attempting to recap the last six months, I have come to realize that I do want to try to chronicle this winter. I would like to have some musings to look back on at a later date. And who knows? In the meantime, I might actually manage to entertain a few of you who were smart enough NOT to experience an Antarctic winter firsthand, but yet foolish enough to be wasting your time on this blog.

So, tomorrow I plan to start methodically combing through the events, quotes, pictures, and what-have-yous that I have witnessed or gathered over the course of the season and gradually catch up. I arrived on station for this, my fifth season, on January 27, so it’s gonna take some time to get all the way caught up. Hopefully the fumes don’t run out before I get there.

But like I said, the real work starts tomorrow. For NOW, I’ve just typed this little re-introduction post, a “reboot” if you will (please close your eyes and play the Apple boot-up sound now for effect). I’ve also given the site a little makeover and updated the Define: Freezer Burnt page – just a quick explanation of what I’m doing on this blog. If you don’t feel like reading it, I can sum it up for you pretty quick: nothing. (Please don’t sue me, Seinfeld folks.)

I can’t leave without posting at least ONE picture, though. I don’t like blog posts without pictures. As our Disney friend, Gaston, once posed the question: “How can you READ this? There’s no pictures!” (I am staunchly opposed to such literary simplicity insofar as books go, but I do believe if a blog can be enhanced by some pictures, why not do so?) So I would like to close by saying that, toast or no toast, I have not sat by completely idle and cynical this winter; I have accomplished some things. Not least among them being the completion of my second MacTown High Winter Yearbook. While I did have help from several people as far as page design, photo contributions, and more went, the bulk of responsibility for this project rested on my shoulders and the majority of page design was done by yours truly. Thus, I am going to very non-humbly claim this to be my baby. Here is a sneak preview:

The cover for the MacTown High Winter 2011 Yearbook.

Hasta later, then, my few readers.

Ceds

Aurora Hunters

Tags

Antarctica, Aurora Australis, auroras, Brooks, Cedar, dark, DJ, hunters, Keri, Kevin, MacTown, Marika, McMurdo, Nathan, night, southern lights, stars, winterover

Last Thursday, after a wonderful evening of karaoke hosted by our very own Marika, we decided to go on a midnight aurora hunt.  (Well, it was almost midnight…)  We had heard that there had been a huge prominence on the sun the day before, and the aurora australis (southern lights, for those who are unfamiliar) were predicted to be strong.

So even though it was a school night, and we didn’t get karaoke all packed up and put away until almost 11 p.m., Brooks, Marika, and I set off in search of a good vantage point.  See, with all the lights on in town, it’s hard to really see the lights when they occur.  Once you get away from all the light-pollution, though, they’re mesmerizing.  I hadn’t really been out and about since it had started getting truly dark at night, so it was a surreal feeling to be walking down a stretch of road that I’d only ever before seen in full daylight.  The stars and the Milky Way were brilliant.  And then, off on the horizon above the Royal Societies, there were the dancing lights.

Not the most brilliant that the lights got, but a good example (photo by "DJ" Jennings).

We bumped into some other aurora-seekers while were out – Nathan, Kevin, Keri, and DJ.  Luckily, DJ had a camera with him that could pick up the lights.  It was a fun group to share the experience with.  We were talking and laughing and having a great time, but then we had a moment of silence where we all just stood and stared straight up into that Antarctic sky.  Pretty awesome, in the true sense of the word.

Marika, Kevin, me, Keri, DJ, Nathan, and Brooks out hunting auroras - and not dressed entirely appropriate for the temperatures (photo by Brooks).

I don’t know if I can express how cool it was.  The auroras that we saw might not have been as spectacular as some pictures I’ve seen or descriptions I’ve heard, but it was still pretty magical.  These are the experiences that I was looking for when I decided to stay for the winter, and so far they haven’t disappointed.  And the people that I’m getting to share them with are wonderful.

I <3 winter.

Ceds

Happy Antarctica Easter

Tags

Antarctica, Easter, Easter Bunny, Galley, MacTown, McMurdo, pig roast, winter, winterover

Easter Sunday was a pretty good one here.  First, New Zealand daylight savings ended, so we got an extra hour to sleep in.  I slept through the call from home I got at 6 a.m. (sorry Randy, but a girl needs her beauty rest), but had a message on my answering machine to wake up and listen to which was a nice surprise.

I decided to do some laundry, and when I opened my door I realized the Easter Bunny had visited 209!  Each resident had received an Easter basket – made out of paper kitchen hats – with chocolate goodies, a package of popcorn, a hard-boiled egg, sugar cookies, and some Antarctic stickers.

Pretty cool surprise to open your door to on Easter morning.

I wandered over to the Galley for brunch around 11 a.m., and it was quite a spread.  All sorts of wonderful pastries (the homemade sticky buns and cinnamon rolls are always amazing), chorizo and ranchero sauce, and a baked brie with walnuts and cranberries: aaaaaa-mazing.

Yesterday (Monday) was also a pretty amazing day for the Galley: a Cuban pig roast!  They actually had a whole pig which they took up to the VMF and used the big grill to spit roast it.  They had a carving station set up in the Galley at dinner, and cuban beans and rice to accompany.  Pretty ‘lish.  Go Galley!

Justin, Russell, and Bill unspitting the pig at the Heavy Shop.

Pretty cool surprise to open your door to on Easter morning.

Unspitting the pig at the Heavy Shop.

Russell, Justin, and Bill unspitting the pig at the Heavy Shop.

So this was just a public service announcement to tell you all that I’m still doing great and lllllllllllovin’ winter.  Happy Easter, everyone!

Ceds

Supply, Winterover 2010

Tags

2010, Antarctica, crew, group, MacTown, McMurdo, supply, winter, winterover, work

This is the pre-crustified McMurdo Supply department for Winter 2010.  It’d be cool if we could take another one circa August for comparison.

All of the McMurdo Supply Crew for Winter 2010.

A red-tinted black and white version.

Sunset Boulevard, Antarctica

Tags

Antarctica, Brad, Brooks, Castle Rock, Corrine, Craig, facial hair, frost, group activities, Justin, Kelli, MacTown, Marika, McMurdo, Nodwell, Sarah, sunsets, trips, winter, winterover

After a wonderful Saturday night of Wine Tasting and Hut 10 party (previous post), I would have been fine with a slow, restful, and uneventful Sunday.  But this weekend was an all-out GREAT one, and it didn’t stop with Saturday night’s festivities.  Sunday evening, thanks to Marika taking initiative and signing her, Brooks and I up, I was able to go on a sunset trip to Castle Rock.  We met up around 6 on Sunday evening and piled into a passenger-outfitted Nodwell, and proceeded out to Castle Rock.  Taking a vehicle meant cutting a six-ish hour hike into about a two hour round trip, which was rather nice for anybody out for a leisurely sunset viewing rather than a grueling expedition.  Okay, it’s not that grueling, but definitely more intense than I was looking for on a Sunday evening.

This is a Nodwell, in case anyone was wondering what I was talking about.

Anyhoo, back to the trip.  We weren’t actually able to climb to the top of the rock, as it has been closed for the season due to unsafe conditions during the winter months.  We did get to hang out on the ridge by the rock, though, and watch the sun go down behind the Royal Societies.  You can still see some open-ish water out by Castle Rock, and it was steaming, making a really cool ephemeral effect as the sun sank behind it.

Pretty sunset, pretty Brooks.

We were having a lot of fun with the frost building up on people’s facial hair and such.

Brooks rocking both BCGs and awesome beard-cicles.

Craig had some awesome frost on his eyelashes.

Not only were the views spectacular, but the group was great.  As I mentioned, Marika signed herself, Brooks, and I up knowing that we’d have a great time together.  Justin from Heat Trace, Craig the computer guy, Corrine and Brad, my old suitemate Sarah, and several other great people were also along for the trip, and Kelli was leading us.  Half the fun was the ride out – Brooks was in charge of the passenger-cab radio and he had a running commentary going with an in-flight-intercom theme.  Funny as.

A good chunk of those that went, though not all: Marika, Kelli, Sarah, Craig, me, Corrine, Brooks, Justin (behind Brad's arm), not sure who's in very back, Brad, and Jeanette.

This is a Nodwell, in case anyone was wondering what I was talking about.

Pretty sunset, pretty Brooks.

A good chunk of those that went, though not all: Marika, Kelli, Sarah, Craig, me, Corrine, Brooks, Justin (behind Brad’s arm), not sure who’s in very back, Brad, and Jeanette.

Brooks rocking both BCGs and awesome beard-cicles.

Craig had some awesome frost on his eyelashes.

Brooks doing yoga poses in the sunset.

I was trying to get Marika’s yoga pose, but my camera was slow and this was an accident as she was getting back up – turned out awesome!

Justin, Craig, and Brooks – goofs all.

Amazing time.  Enjoy the pictures (more on Flickr)!

Ceds