Living The Dream

Slept in and then I went to Kum Do. It was a great work out. For the first time we did 200 continuous repetitions of the head strike. Though it sounds a bit morbid, actually it’s used to practice consistency, form and as a very aerobic exercise – much like actual sparring. I was having fun, but I ran out of steam about ½ way through – had to come back and sleep a bit. No Swing for me this week. That’s okay though, because Lisa is teaching and the crew has someone who is excited leading them through new steps.

Went to work today – thankfully, I had a nice reception/welcome back. Though I would say that I was running at about 70% strong, I knew I could use a day up at the shop. I ended up working with Ron on replacing a door to one of the fish huts that sits on the sea ice, as well as replacing the steps to the entrance. Honestly, I really learned a lot about putting in/replacing new doors. I got back over lunch and crashed for a catnap. After we finished up for the day, I came back and slept for an hour and then had a really low key night.

Still not feeling quite right. Knowing that I was going to be home again was making me a bit stir crazy. Spent several hours cleaning and organizing my cubby. I hope to go to work tomorrow. I actually am feeling a mix of guilty and a huge drive to get back up to the shop. I want to build and get back on the team (and hopefully get to still go to WAIS). One step at a time I suppose…

I fought with myself for ½ hour about going back to work – not till I coughed up some yellow crap that I conceded that it would better to stay home and rest. As promised, I returned to Doctors, she told me that she was concerned that it might be partly bacteria as well – she gave some antibiotics, and thus began quarantine day 2. My thoughts were that if I stayed in the room, save for running downstairs to grab food for mealtimes and using the restroom, I was containing the sickness as much as I could. For Adam’s sake, I was opening our window twice a day to vent the room, so he hopefully wouldn’t get sick as well.

It ended up that I slept a lot and watched movies, no energy for much more. At one point, I got some energy and I cleaned a bit of the room and opened the window for a blast of fresh cold air, then I slept again.

Bad news. I woke up in the middle of the night. My throat had what felt like a searing, hot ember in it. Crap, that’s how Kegan’s CRUD began. My roommate, Kegan, was sick for the better part of a week. Actually, today was the first day that he was feeling better again. Knowing that I had to act fast – both to catch whatever this was if I could and to protect the trip to WAIS. So, I went to the doctor first thing in the morning. I saw a doctor and she told me that I needed to rest and recover. In other words, I wasn’t going to WAIS. She suggested perhaps joining the crew on a later flight, I said that I would pass that on. I hiked up to the shop and talked with Geordan. He concurred told me to go home and rest. I returned to the room and went right to sleep. That’s how I spent the majority of the day, that and watching clipits of movies as I stirred between naps.

This day is otherwise known as - Quarantine Day 1

Had a wonderful day! I was tasked with making batons for WAIS. The batons required that I rip (or cut) several sheets of plywood down to 2.5 inch strips and then further cut those to different lengths for the buildings that we would be construction onsite. I initially had trouble with tasking like this, because I didn’t have much confidence in my ability to use a table saw. The table saw is intimidating at times because of its size and power. However, after more time with it, and understanding how to use it properly I have few reservations left in using it and actually enjoy it at times. After I finished with the batons, I continued with constructing the toilet paper holders. I am hoping that I can develop a prototype to the Housing/Janitorial liking. Life was going great, and I left the shop singing a ditty and heading home in the dazzling sunlight.

After dinner, I was packing and readying myself for the field camp. It took awhile to get all my belongings together – mostly because I was trying to figure out what I would really utilize out in the field. Would I read more? Should I take my sketchbook? My pastels? So many questions. I finished packing and was feeling drained. Knowing that bag drag was in the morning, I decided to take it easy. I was going to go to ceramics, but I realized that I was exhausted. Best to sleep. Goodnight.

Today, I gathered my gear for WAIS and readied my survival bag. Anytime that you leave base, you are required to have a survival bag – in the event that there is a catastrophic event during transit or you are staying overnight away from the station (where you would have to set up a shelter for yourself). My survival kit includes:
1 Tent
Sleeping Bag, long and rated for –60 degrees
2 Insulate Pads
1 Thermarest
2 Pee Bottles
1 Fleece Liner
1 Pillow
I had to exchange my Tent, after setting up the one allotted to me, because it was too small for me – and that’s definetly not something you want have out in the field.

Once I had that set, I worked on my toilet paper holders for several hours. In between all this, I also packed all my tools for the trip out, because they would have to be taken in 24 hours prior to our flight to be palletized and placed on the place.

About 4pm, I was asked to make 20 deadmen for the structures that we were working on. A deadman is a piece of 2x4 that has a hole drilled into the center. Through that hole, you wrap a piece of thick rope and tie it off. Then you have the other end of the rope extend between 3-5 feet and then tie it off again. The idea is that you dig a trench and bury the 2x4 and then pack it down and the compacted snow acts as an addition brace for the structure. I thought they needed to be ready for the morning, when we would do our “bag drag,” or in other words take everything that we would traveling with and get weights for it so they could load the plane properly. So, I stayed up till 7pm putting them together – mostly because I had to cut through the rope with a hot knife to be sure both ends of each rope wouldn’t fray or unravel in the field. It was a bummer, because I late to help out where I had promised to volunteer between 6-8pm.

One of my friends, Susan, had told us that they were always looking for volunteers to help out in the evenings to work in the pot room and to clean up. I went down and started right 7pm and was working with Adam Horton, my roommate – it was our goal to make it fun and have a great time. We were singing songs from anything we could think of and then did little stomp-like rhythms. He had to leave at 8pm to work in the library, but I decided that I was going to stay to help out since I didn’t come on time and they were swamped. I worked with: Stacey, Shaun, Evan, Taylor, Devin, Susan and Mindy. We had an awesome time jamming out to music they threw in and just washing a meals worth of dishes. We finished up and gave a round of high-fives! As I left, I grabbed some water and worked on a bit of writing before bed. A good day in all.

Surprise, I slept in. I got up and went to Sunday brunch with Kegan and Candy. I had my waffle with raspberries and real whipped cream, yeah. Afterwards, I learned that Kum Do was cancelled because they were still cleaning up the gym. So, I went to Swing Dance – Lisa Taught the J-Hook and a series of spins to accompany it. It was fun and there was a decent size crew (esp. considering that Saturday was a major holiday). During the open dance section, I worked with Emily and Damien, as well as Pauline, on other dance moves after they pulled me aside. I got home, cleaned up the room and watched Charlie’s Angels 2. A really chill and relaxed Sunday – always good to have one.

Today was great! The Carp Shop had a WAIS Meeting. Heading it was Geordan McQuiston (Geo), then Shannon Crist, Thomas Barnhill, Cyko, Matt Marchal, Ron (GA), and myself! We went over what the opening of the camp would entail. Update as of that date, the temperature was –84 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m super stoked to travel out there, (about 850 nautical miles away, farther than the South Pole). It’s going to be intense, but so worth it. Apparently, this is the divide where snow falls and crests. For example, if you traveled 10 miles to either side, your measurements would be inaccurate because the snow there has drifted whereas the positioning of this camp is right at the peak of the snowfall. Lots of research going on there – can’t wait to see it!

Tonight we celebrated Halloween, (as Saturdays are the one night we have off), and everyone was really excited for the evening! There was a buzz on base, people running around to create a costume, modify what they had or leaving right after dinner to get dressed. There was a big costume contest, (scariest; most original; best group costume – a very popular category – imagine a group dressed as a flight lunch, or as King Kong and NYC or Ninjas, it was wild; funniest; best overall). The gym was decorated and had a great atmosphere to it – thanks to the recreation crew! There were inflatable gargoyles and a huge stage for judging/dancing and huge webs spanning the ceiling and bats and other fun things hung from the ceiling. It was a blast.

Prior to heading over, I got dressed up (yes, as my patented Igor). I had a great black suit with a pillow stuffed up my back, a blonde wig, a belt that I dragged on the ground (buckle side down, so it sounded like a chain as I limped along) and this year the new, and somewhat creepy fake blood that I want just under my eyes – however, I put too much on (as it was my first time), and it ran down like bloody tears. Yeah, a bit weird, but cool nonetheless…

I met up with Kegan and his Aunt Candy and we went over to a pre-party to meet up with some other friends. We headed over, and I found that wearing a wig, hunched over and walking with an exaggerated limp – people don’t recognize you or welcome you to the festivities. At least I know what to do if I need some animosity…hehe. Few people recognized me, at first at least – but great compliments when they found out! There was some great music played and we stayed up and just danced and had fun – what a great time! Halloween is the first big landmark of the year and it was totally worth it – so much fun with friends and good music! Happy Halloween all!

Though we didn’t get time off – as is possible when you work at a field camp (as I found out later, you really only get comp time if you are away over a weekend or there for an extended period), I really was quite happy to return to work. I went to the galley to install a rack for clipboards for Michelle Ott. Though it was relatively easy, the whole staff was ecstatic for the extra space – and something that finally looked nice on their wall.

I was also given the job of brainstorming ideas for toilet paper holders in the dorms that didn’t have the metal dispensers. After talking with janitors, they wanted a device made that would instead of screwing into the wall of the toilet - bridge the wall of two stalls and have vertical dowels verses horizontal dowels. They found that the vertical dowels were helpful to keep the rolls off the floor and they were more commonly replaced than the other versions. So, I spent the day looking at previous toilet dispensers that we had built and building a prototype version. It would take me some time to build, but I was stoked to have the assignment.

That evening, I finally sat down and wrote out the remainder of the Nodwell story. Though it would take me several days to finish logging the aftermath of the accident, I had given myself the time I needed to process what happened and record it in full, the way I wanted to remember it – with each motion and emotion that went through me. It was a big weight off my shoulders to have that finished.

The last day we had a helo come in mid-morning. The riggers left on that and Corey came in to inventory the expensive equipment of the camp for Raytheon. Meanwhile we consolidated materials from our project. It actually took several hours, because we were returning with as much as we could in the helo and so we had to condense all the pieces. It was a courtesy to the camp, as they had a limited amount of space for waste – thus we had a really packed flight back, but that was later in the day.

Before we flew we had time for one more hike after lunch. Glenn joined Sean, Pauly and I for further exploration of the glacial ice next to the island. We hiked and slid down the hill. It was fast and fun. We reached the edge and we started walking out toward this colossal mass of twisted ice. Tentative as I was, the other 3 started ahead until I gained confidence in the ice again. After that, I let go and was gliding, sliding and exploring the ice from all side. I went from climbing the side of one mound to wiggling in a crack to get a picture of the icicles and then sliding down a blue ice slope. It was beautiful in so many ways. I wish I could explain how impressive and startling it was to witness ice in weathered shapes and shades I’ve never seen before. It was with a reluctant heart that I left those fields to return in time for our flight home. We flew back to McMurdo around 9:30pm.

For the night, we had secured the structure with cargo straps to the cement pad. However, we knew that we would have to secure it to withstand the normal windstorms that racked the island. So, we spent the day drilling into the pad and the building to give it additional support, as well as adding some support inside for the roof pieces. As we worked, the riggers were able to switch out the motor of the windgen and work with us to raise it back onto its perch.

In the afternoon, after we had secured the building, caulked the seams and taken all the precautions we could think of, we cleaned up the workspace and left on the next journey. Sean, Pauly and I wanted to walk down to the ice at the base of the island. So we took off and quickly realized that the land was rather wrinkled and the mounds in front of us masked much of the landscape immediately above us and below us. Much to our chagrin, the ice, which appeared to be fairly close from the dwelling was actually quite a distance downhill. We were tickled though that toward the bottom we discovered a perfect bowl that a person could ski or snowboard down to the ice shoreline. As we walked we mused at the idea of a bar-be-que at the base and everyone taking runs down the natural bowl in the island’s terrain.

As we approached the edge, I was nervous. Adventurous as I consider myself, I’m not a fan of walking on unfamiliar ice. Go figure. I’m living on the only continent composed of ice. So naturally I stalled and let them go first. Go friend, huh? I figured best for at least one us to be on solid ground if there were a problem. I found very soon that the ice, as we had been told, was thick and at this point in the season still very rigid. So we walked/skated out to the beginning of the ice structures. Surprised as we were – from the air they appeared small, but on level ground, they grew in size as you left the shelter of the island’s cove. I got a picture sitting on one of the pressure bulges of the ice with Mt. Erebus in the background. I also caught some photos of the sun streaming through the ice and snow. We realized that we had lingered too long and had to return for dinner. Again, we were stunned by the length and slope of the island. After a forced hiked up the hill, we collapsed in the living room with a hot dinner that was really satisfying.

Change of plans. The engineers in Denver had decided that although they had said to set the concrete pad on the ground, now we were to raise it eight inches on wood blocks till it could be locked into place with metal all thread and large nuts to allow for any adjustments they might need to make over time. Not a huge deal, but it meant we had to back petal for the morning. Thanks to our teamwork, we had the pad set and leveled by noon and we were back on track.

Unbelievable weather we were graced with – it was sunny with little to no wind, which was perfect, as the next step was to assemble the building that came in large, unwieldy pieces and were potentially hazardous in high winds. Encouraged with our fortune, we eagerly began setting the pieces. Jess left for a walk and the riggers were taking down Windgen 1 to work on it. Sean, Pauly and I having already assembled one of these structures together knew the layout and what was needed. So, we worked efficiently to take off the plastic sheeting, move the pieces into place and then cam-lock them together. Such was our luck that the weather held and our preparation served us well that by the time Jess returned from her hike we were starting to connect the roof pieces together. She was impressed, as we all were that it came together so quickly. We had issues with the one we constructed previously and fortunately – though anticipated, we had no problems connecting the pieces. We finished the process just before 6pm and we cleaned up our tools and stored them in the riggers millvan.

Sean, Glenn (one of the technicians who works with the satellite and microwave antennas) and I took a walk around. There was a beautiful view of the Sound from where we worked. Amazing how a simple change of perspective can reinvigorate you. Mt. Erebus, the hulking volcano on Ross Island stood proudly in the distance and not till then had I realized its enormous size. On the other side of the Sound the Royal Societies Mountain Range was shining brilliantly in the sun. We walked down to the other side of the island toward Mt. Discovery. On our way, we stopped on a large frozen pool. At one end, there was a bulge that had caused the ice to bow out and all around it, frozen in place were the bubbles. It was magnificent. I started taking pictures for a portfolio piece that I wanted to start called “Black and Blue, (for all the pictures of ice and snow taken with Tungsten setting or in Black and White).” After a nice walk, we were walking back to camp and came across the skull of a seal. Perfectly preserved. Wow. As we arrived, Jess had prepared a great meal for us and we relaxed for the evening.

We all have our inner action heroes. For me, I love trying new adventurous things. Today, I got to ride in a helicopter for the first time ever! WHOA! It was intensely cool. Wearing my helmet we entered and got seated. I was working with Sean Dell and Pauly. We had an amazing amount of equipment, partly because we were traveling with some riggers (they maintain much of the elevated equipment – such as the wind generator that was in need of repair at BI). It got better, because Gifford Wong, the gentleman who introduced me to this program was assisting the pilot as a Heli-tech on our flight out.

I filmed us lifting off and pulling away from the Station and out to the ice. I was mesmerized. Planes are one thing, but this was an agile helicopter. We passed above the sea ice, which then changed to glacial ice. There were strange structures on the ice that appeared small, caused by the black rocks of the island. They are blown off the island and in the ever-present summer sun they absorb the heat and steadily melt through the ice.

We landed and had a “hot landing.” Meaning that the motor was still running and the rotors would still be turning as we got out and unloaded our equipment. Amazed and nervous, we hopped out and unloaded everything. There to meet us was one of the older, grizzled lifers on the ice, Tony M. He had been coming to the ice for over 15 seasons. Tony was a bit gruff, laid back and had a talent for using explicatives to express his opinion. Honestly, it kept me grinning the whole time. As the chopper took off, we walked over the structure where Jess, the cook, waved us in.

The camp was a series of trailers that were connected end-to-end or side-to-side that actually made for a rather comfy dwelling. They also had a trailer a short walk from the permanent structure for guest housing. Along the way there were four Wind Generators (wingens) and two towering golf balls. Actually, the island was known for being ravaged by windstorms, so they had placed these large white globes over these huge satellite dishes to protect them.

We were given the grand tour and then we set the game plan now that we were on the worksite. We would break down the palettes and rake the site for the rest of the day, then on Tuesday set the concrete pad. Wednesday we would put up the building and Thursday we would finish, clean-up and fly home. Given that we arrived in the morning, and the site was nearly flat to begin with, we had a lot of time to spare. So much so, that after about a hour of prepping the site, we were already preparing the pad to be moved. Along with the help of Tony and the riggers, (because the site was difficult to maneuver in – thanks to its proximity to a windgen tower and several piping systems for fuel and waste water), we were able to set, level and fill in around the base of the concrete pad that the structure would stand on. So impressive, how everyone chipped in to help out.

Because I was leaving for Black Island (BI) and WAIS in the coming weeks, I needed help with Swing Dance. To my pleasant surprise, just before class, Lisa approached me. She said that she loved swing and knew other variations – Blues, Charleston, and more. She requested to have a chance to teach. I said great! So, I said that I would be gone for 3 weeks and she was welcome to teach for all three or ask of other volunteers as I was trying to build a community teaching a community. Thus begins the reign of Lisa.

Scientists, down here also known as Beakers, can be tricky to work with. Each group feels passionately that their project is the most important and understandably so. They have to go through a rigorous process to get funded and acquire the equipment, etc. However, for the Carp Shop, when you have multiple projects all demanding very specific equipment for their experiments all at the same time it causes a bit of panic and stress in the shop. Thus it was this day. Our gantry project was pushed into the red zone, because our scientists were going to try and leave earlier than expected due to weather. Given that they only have a certain window to complete their studies, they are obviously motivated to get out to the field and give themselves as much time as possible.

So, Nick and I worked non-stop through the morning only to be finishing when they arrived. We again erected the structure to ensure that it was to their liking and functional. It was functional, but one particularly surly scientist was critical of our work. While I understood his critique, I also know that we had been clear as to what they could expect. It was concerning the positioning of the cleat for the rope to be tied to. It was on the side of the post (which they had requested it be on), verses the outside (which they had debated on). Hardly a show stopping situation, but it tainted the project a bit for me, as I was excited about what we had created for them.

As they loaded the Piston Bully to leave I went to go help them carry the equipment outside. I was dressed for the indoors and so I just grabbed as the weather was getting colder and lightly snowing. I went to drop the equipment next to the vehicle and they asked for me to lift it and hold it in place as they cargo strapped it into place for the ride. A reasonable request, were I dressed for the occasion. I accepted anyway, figuring that I would be there for a moment and then I could grab my gloves, hat and neck gaiter. To my surprise, they were having difficulty with the cargo strap and were disagreeing how to strap it down during the trip. While this transpired, the wind was picking up and biting my bare hands. I felt stuck and I was losing patience with the bickering scientists and ticked at myself for not being prepared. Before I could say anything Woody, who had been working out the last details with the scientists saw my dilemma. He came up and gave my his gloves (as he was working inside), and with a small grin and glance at the scientists politely advised that bring my gloves anytime that I was going outside. I smiled back and thanked him. I had a good feeling before this about Woody as a supervisor, but that cemented for me that this was a supervisor who really looked out for his team. I respect that a lot. I look forward to working with him more.

BIG NEWS!!! I found out today that I would be helping to put in a prefabricated building out at a field camp called Black Island. It would be the sister building to the one we constructed here in town – apparently to boost the bandwidth of the Internet. On top of that, I would also be going to WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) for at least two weeks to open it up for the scientists. What an opportunity! There are many, many people who never get to leave the Station. I get to go into the field twice! How cool! I’m so happy!

I was put on a project for ANDRILL. ANDRILL is a scientific group taking samples of the ice and the earth from above the ice. In order to this, they needed a structure to lower their equipment. In the past, they had two vertical 4x4 posts, each connected to another horizontal 4x4. Bridging the two was a gantry with gussets to drill through. I was vaguely familiar with a gantry, but given the amount of work in the shop and that everyone was working on high priority projects, they needed someone to head this.

Woody, our overall supervisor, who had arrived during Mainbody, gave this task to me. It was the first time that we had a good chance to talk and it gave me a chance to show him that I could be an asset to his team. See, they needed a bigger gantry to support the weight of their equipment, and it was my job to build a beefed up version of the gantry – using the old ones as a template.

I was fortunate that Nick, another carpenter, arrived later in the day, because I hit a wall. I was unsure how to proceed and he had solid ideas of how to get everything to fit together perfectly. We were visited by the scientists and they explained how the structure was used and we put the different pieces together to see where we were in construction and we discovered there was still a decent amount to do before they left the next morning. So, Nick and I punched out what we could and prepared for next day.

We had a Hut 10 party for the Carp Shop. One of our carpenters was heading to Pole, but unfortunately had a medical condition that had sent him back to Christchurch to have it followed up on. Beforehand he had signed up for a going away party for all of us, so we used it and drank to his health. It was really nice to see my co-workers outside of work and somewhere other than the galley and bar. The gathering gave us a chance to have some good conversations and some good laughs. This is where I learned that one of my supervisors lived in PA for a few years before moving to Colorado. A fun time and new side of my co-workers.

I was taught the sparring technique for two people. It happens slowly and it is used as a tool to learn what it is like to face an opponent who is doing the same strike over and over. So, one person attacks and the other defends, then you switch. What fun, it’s continues to get more and more exciting with everything I learn.

This place is rather surreal. I know that I keep saying this, but let me give you some practical examples. Vehicles. People leave vehicles idling or plugged in as it’s still too cold to let them stand on their own. However, they are never locked because let’s face it – where are you going to go? Also, the speed limit in town is 15mph and on the ice it is 25 mph. In other words, in several months, I have not traveled faster than 25 mph behind the wheel – even that feels fast to me right now. Normally, we walk everywhere. How crazy is that? Community. It’s a small community – like a tight knit family down here. If you walk into some dorms, they have their jackets and boots outside their door and use the cubbies in the bathrooms (on a different floor) to hold their toiletries and never worry about things being stolen. I just am happily intrigued at how trusting the community is. Few people lock the doors to their rooms. It’s so much like college dorms, where you are almost expected to pop your head in if you’re passing by a an open room – just to say hello. It’s so cool! Not only for where I am, but just living and atmosphere – wow, it’s gonna be a shock when I redeploy and fly back north.

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