Today was another people day. It’s Sunday here and that means brunch. I just can’t say enough about how nice it is to have someone else cooking for you every meal and cleaning the dishes and oh by the way you don’t have to pay the check at the end of the meal. It all seems so contrary to what we do every where else.

The first people I sat down with were Holly and Kim. They have known each other for a long time and have lived in many interesting places. The currently reside in Alaska around Anchorage. They have also lived in Germany near each other; they once traveled through Pakistan and India by hitchhiking. The new plan is just in the conceptual stage. They are going to ride bicycles from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to the tip of South America in Chile. The total distance is 16,000 miles. They hope to get a sponsor.(if you know anyone let me know) They’re thinking right now about riding for the prevention and cure of breast cancer. (forgive me for being indelicate but it makes my butt hurt just thinking about it). They are both big bicycle riders though. Holly rode across the United States already.

Next to join us was one of the chefs here, Jose. Jose is from Chicago (he told me where and I recognized the area just can’t remember now). I told him I loved the mizou(sp) salmon at the Grand Lux on the corner of Ontario and Michigan Avenue. He said he has several friends who work there. It was fun talking to him about different places in Chicago. It’s Deni and my favorite big city. Before he left the table Jose said he would try to cook up some mizou salmon next time he gets a shipment of salmon.

One last note. I worked the midnight shift again last night. We are primarily funded by the National Science Foundation and work aircraft supporting them but we control the airspace over the entire continent. Last night I worked two aircraft inbound to the “French Area”. The camp is called Dumont d’Urville on the north coast. I couldn’t find anyone who had talked to airplanes going there in recent history. Just another little fun memory to take home.

Well I didn’t live alone long after my old roommate left on Monday. Steven is here to replace our IT guy so he can rotate back to the States. He seems very nice and quiet. I think we will get along well until I bug him to death with computer questions. I may learn something about these computers yet.

I went over to the chapel today to play the piano for a couple of hours. It’s amazing how much you can forget when you don’t play a little each day. (especially when you know as little as I do to begin with) I know both the Priest and the Protestant Chaplin and they told me I could come by anytime to play.

I started a series of 4 midnight shifts tonight working from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am. I actually had quit a bit of traffic last night until about 2:00 am. I even had an aborted mission due to engine problems on one of the C-130’s headed for the South Pole. Apparently it wasn’t bad enough to declare an emergency. That’s good emergencies generate the need for massive amounts of paperwork.

I think I’ll go get some breakfast then head over to the dorm for a little sleep.

It’s like Christmas here today or another way to look at it, it’s like I expected it to be all the time. The snow is coming down heavily. It’s a little windy and visibility is about a mile. Flights are delayed or canceled (this will probably cause a backup in Atlanta). It sure is pretty though.

I just finished reading one of the books I checked out of the library yesterday. It’s a non-fiction work about an Air New Zealand DC-10 that crashed into Mt. Erebus in November of 1979. The loss of life was very sad but the chain of events that led to the disaster is fascinating. Thankfully Mac Center (the controllers) were involved but not at fault. Turns out the dispatcher in Christchurch, being very diligent, found a typo in one of the coordinates for the last reporting position for the airplane before it arrived at McMurdo. The typo had gone unnoticed for 14 flights before this one and although it was an incorrect coordinate it resulted in all prior flights being conducted safely. The new and correct coordinates placed the DC-10 on a collision course with Mt. Erebus. Sadly the flight crews had been briefed on the old coordinates the day before and were not told about the change because it was “so insignificant”. With the precise navigational capabilities of new airplanes they never had a chance from the beginning. Remember when I told you about Fata Morgana earlier in the blog? Well there is another condition pilot’s face here as well its called, whiteout. Basically it involves the inability to distinguish the horizon because the terrain and the sky blend together to the point that you can’t tell where the ground ends and the sky begin. A helicopter pilot was describing the same affect to me yesterday at breakfast. He was in great visibility as he tried to lower a sling load to a ground crew. He said all he saw was white all around with no visual clues as to whether he was going up, down, right, left, forward or back. He said it was quit unnerving. Interestingly the doomed DC-10 was flying below the overcast at the time with 40 mile visibility when he crashed into the mountain (unknown to them they were flying in whiteout conditions). They thought they were flying down a vast snow field. The only warning they had, which was too late, was the sound of the terrain avoidance equipment on the airplane telling them to “pull up, pull up” just before the impact. As you might expect the passengers were taking pictures which helped investigators identify the flight path the aircraft followed. One of the pictures was snapped in the dying split second of the owner. It showed fuel splattered on the window of the airplane in the instant before it disintegrated. Enough of that, it was sad but very fascinating. The title of the book is “Impact Erebus” by Gordon Vette”

Another much more upbeat book is my current read. “Flying Upside Down” by Mark A. Hinebaugh. It might be hard to find in the library. I’m guessing it had limited distribution but it is written in a style much like my writing style and describes life here in a way that you can almost feel what its like. In addition you get an inside look at the life of the C-130 pilots flying the skies over Antarctica. I think you would enjoy it.

Dark Matter

It’s snowing this morning, just a gentle dusting as the flakes drift aimlessly to the ground in calm wind conditions. The temperature is warm (about 21 degrees) and except for the broad daylight it reminds me of holiday nights walking near my boyhood home in Minnesota.

I had dinner last night with an astrophysicist named Bob. He’s from Wisconsin and is here studying Dark Matter. He explained that there are two unexplained types of matter in the universe (he told me what the other was also but it was more than 15 minutes ago so I don’t remember). Apparently one of these is trying to push the universe apart and the other is trying to implode the universe and the balance of the two holds everything together. While they intuitively know they exist no one has been able to actually identify any of the stuff. The National Science Foundation is paying him lots of money to try to find out more about it. I can explain it. It’s the same stuff that keeps 300,000 pound airplanes in the air and keeps hundred ton ships from sinking they’re called gremlins. They’re everywhere if you think about it. Anything that doesn’t make sense is the work of gremlins. Now you know so go tell your friends but be careful it may be a hard sell. Gladly for me he also likes airplanes and has in fact built his own experimental airplane. He is also an annual attendant at the Experimental Aircraft Associations annual soiree in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I’m quit jealous as I’ve always wanted to attend one of their air shows. Another man by the name of Randy also joined us. He’s from Brainerd, Minnesota. In Minnesota we say there are only two seasons, “winter” and “roadwork” When not here he works “roadwork”. It’s kind of fun to listen to the accents from back home. Seems like these cold weather folks just can’t get enough cold weather by just staying home.

I went out drinking last night. I know I’ll probably be an alcoholic before I leave. I had two amaretto sours. The occasion was the weekly bingo game. You know a good Catholic boy can’t avoid that. The great thing here is that there are both a smoking and a non-smoking bar (completely different buildings). Seems like a good compromise for all the places that only have one or the other. I had a pleasant time talking with some of the people I work with.

Two quick notes. "Good Morning America" did a live broadcast from here at the Crary Lab this week. (Tuesday I think) I would have notified you but I just found out this morning. The other is that I have been asked to sing in a Christmas program that will be broacast around the world Christmas day. More later on this.

Clean Hands
One of the things you are encouraged to do here is wash your hands. You know the signs you see coming out of restaurant restrooms that remind employees to wash their hands. Well those are everywhere here. The purpose is to keep you from getting the “crud”. So far it’s worked for me and I’m glad. You never want to be sick anytime but especially not here with all the things to do, see and experience.

I went to a science lecture last night about Antarctica, past, present and future. I’m sorry to report that I fell asleep about 10 minutes into the presentation. Part of it was I only got 2 hours sleep the night before (don’t know why just couldn’t sleep) and the lecturer was, forgive me for saying, boring. He had a heavy New Zealand accent, spoke very softly into the microphone, had only graphs and slides (most of which were so busy and small you couldn’t read them). He had no ebb and flow to his speech pattern. It was a steady soft monotone. He did help me catch up on some much needed sleep so the presentation wasn’t totally without merit.

I received a care package from Carol and Linda yesterday. Thanks to Carol and Linda it will all go to good use.

I have the next two days off so I stopped by the library yesterday evening. I found a couple of great books to start with and was pleasantly surprised at the selection of books.
I’m surprised how many people don’t know that we have a library. I also plan to take that long awaited trip to the water treatment plant today as well. I’m also planning to head over to the Chapel to play the keyboard a little and go for a little walkabout around town. Since I’ve been here my walking has been pretty much limited to work, the dining facility, the dorm and the gym.

Time seems to be flying by here. Each day seems more exhilarating than the last. Of course I miss all of my family and friends and wish you all had the chance to experience this place.

Pictures are the Congregation in front of Chapel of the Snow and Fr. John at the South Pole