Okay so you’re sitting at the bar just having a cool one and minding your own business. The conversation drifts around covering a myriad of topics when someone notices you have long hair. Suddenly someone says I’ll give you a hundred dollars if you let me shave your head! You say “now way” I like my hair. Then someone else chimes in and says I’ll kick in a hundred to sweeten the pot. You have a couple more drinks and pretty soon the money is looking good and the next thing you know you aren’t looking so good because you agree to the “haircut”. I can’t explain it and I’ve never seen it happen anywhere else in my life. Now mind you I don’t hang out in bars much so this may be common behavior. I can tell you that I know three men in my group of acquaintances here who, in the span of the last two weeks, now have short hair and more money in their pocket. Comments?

I went to a science lecture tonight presented by a biologist who studies soil. I will tell you going in I didn’t have high expectations and I was tired so I arranged with one of my table mates to kick me under the table if I started to nod off. Gladly this guy, talking about dirt and nematodes, keep us rapt for 45 minutes. I can’t share any of what he said; come on it was dirt and nematodes in the dry valley but it was thoroughly entertaining. This guy really missed his calling he should have been in show business. God bless biologists.

Besides being Italian night at the galley there is a murder mystery party (complete with costumes) I forgot about it or would have been right in the middle of the event. In addition tonight is the last big party of the year held at the helicopter hanger. I’m headed for that as soon as I finish this. Tomorrow there is a trip to an old crashed Navy Super Constellation, a golf driving contest, a Firefighter Expo and a science presentation in Crary lab about the dry valleys (no precipitation has fallen here in over 3000 years according to the scientists).
I can’t believe it but I’m scheduled to work tomorrow from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm so I will miss the driving contest. I must admit I’ve been waiting for that ever since they first advertised it back in November. Oh well!

Deni and two great friends Kim and Cyndy are enjoying a mid-winter weekend in Chicago. I’m sure it is colder there than here but I sure would like to be with them. Oh the sacrifices I make! (ha ha)

Sunday Morning: The Helo party was great. Good live band and food off the grill.

Pickings were kind of slim today so after dinner we headed over to the club for a geography bee. I know it sounds kind of hokey but what the heck it was a slow night. We started out with about 40 people and some very hard questions. I finished 5th but out of the money my eleventh grad geography teacher Ms. Vogland would have been proud.

On a weather note we have had fabulous weather recently. Yesterday the high was 48 (that’s above zero Fahrenheit) with no wind. I thought seriously about breaking out the swim suit to soak up a little sun before heading off to Tahiti.

The question on everyone’s lips is when are you leaving? The flight schedule, which dictates when everything ends, is becoming finalized. Where you going or what are are you doing when you leave come in second and third. It’s like musical chairs and the music has just started playing.

There is still some testiness in the air. I think of it as reverse cabin fever. The last big party is the Helo Hanger BBQ. That’s Saturday night and is the talk of the town. I find myself having happy/sad melancholy thoughts as the end nears….

Okay I know I’ve told you it’s a fairly eclectic group of people down here and I’ve been to some interesting presentations but this one may take the cake. I went to a “lecture” last night given by a professional hitchhiker. His name is Ben and he has a sponsor and a web site: www.digihitch.com. I haven’t checked the site out yet but I will. He had all kinds of rules for hitchhiking including planning before you start your trip, what to pack, what to wear, where to hitch, best places to get picked up, assessing the driver etc. Ben has an independent movie being made about him that will start traveling to film festivals in the spring of 2007. At the end of his presentation he showed the trailer for the movie. One part of the presentation was about women hitching. Ben talked some and gave some guidelines and then had a fellow hitchhiker named Lizzie talk about some of her adventures in over 4 yeas of hitchhiking. One of the things I thought was very funny was the hitchhiker who used a 5 gallon plastic gas can for a suitcase. It was cut down the middle and hinged with a latch on top. The whole evening was thoroughly entertaining and fit right in with everything that has happened to me here. Normally I wouldn’t pick up a hitchhiker but at least now I know what to look for in a “good” hitcher. I can also say I have never hitched in my life but who knows? By the way apparently this is becoming a sport (maybe for the next Olympics) it seems Sweden and Russia have hitchhiking teams. Amazing!

The Coast Guard Ice Breaker Polar Sea pulled into port at the ice pier tonight. The crew earned a trip into town and the Captain invited us (Mac Town folk) to visit the ship. We were assigned a young sailor to escort us through the ship. It was quit a tour. They let us go pretty much everywhere except “officer country” and the engine room. Life aboard the ship looks pretty good for the mixed male/female crew. The ship is based in Seattle and is used primarily for ice breaking in Antarctica. They stopped in Hawaii and Australia on the way here.

A few facts about the ship. The Polar Sea and her sister ship Polar Star are the largest ships in the Coast Guard fleet and the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreakers. The ship was built by Lockheed and commissioned in 1978. It has six diesel-electric engines and three gas turbines for breaking thick ice that power three propellers. The ships crew consists of 14 officers and 130 crew. Enough facts.

Although I spent 4 years in the Navy myself I managed to dodge being assigned to a ship. I wouldn’t go back and change anything but I think it would have been interesting to have been on one.