Static Electricity

Have I told you how bad the static electricity is here? Every time you touch anything metal you get that familiar jolt that sets your whole body into a spasm as you try to quickly extricate yourself from the pain. You always know it’s coming but there just isn’t anything you can do to prevent it. The air is just so dry. You need to be particularly careful around electronic equipment, like computers, they like the little jolts even less than we do.

Controllers can be quit mischievous at times. In fact they are mischievous all the time. Case in point. Nobody really knew me before I got here so someone decided to tell my room mate that I was a retired Marine drill sergeant. They told him I was mean and crusty, demanded the room to be spotless and the bed made so tight that you could bounce a quarter off of it. Those of you who know me may be chuckling at this point. Of course he spread the rumor to anyone who would listen. By the time I got here my reputation had grown to gigantic proportions. That may explain why people were a little cautious of me when I first arrived. Of course that reputation has been laid to rest and I think as Sally Field said when she won her Oscar “they like me, they really like me”.

I met and had a long talk with the Tower Chief today. Thank God I finally found someone who thinks about air traffic control the way I do. In fact, in many instances I felt like I was talking to myself. (in a good way) The conversation was so refreshing that I let time get away from me and didn’t have time to call my lovely wife this evening as I usually do. For that I am sorry. (and will probably pay dearly) Just kidding honey.

I remet (that means I already met him before but it was longer than 15 minutes ago so it was all new to me) this guy, Gus, who works on all the telephone problems here. He really does a good job. I make that assessment on the basis of never having had a telephone problem myself. I found myself chuckling though as I listened to him as he pointed out every, and I mean every, woman who came through the food line. They were all assigned a grade and he seemed to know each of them by name, where they worked and other things that shall remain unmentioned here. He’s about 40 and I guess meets them on the job. I won’t go on any longer in this vein other than to say I found him quit entertaining. Don’t read this paragraph to anyone under 30 and my apologies to all women for men in general. We are a fairly vile group of human beings

On the subject of pictures. I now have access to many thanks to Tim the IT guy. Tomorrow I hope to have him show me how to get them to you.

Last note. If you send anything here via the postal service, and believe me I’m not soliciting anything, please email me to let me know it’s coming. You see our postal service doesn’t deliver any mail here, packages nor letters. It is the individual’s responsibility to check for mail at the post office periodically. They are kind enough to put a list on the local intranet (is that redundant?) if you have a package to pick up. I think they just do that out of self interest since they only have a small office with little room for storage.

Bob Sharona and Tim

I had dinner this evening with 3 very interesting people. Two of them I work with and one I don’t. I sat down to dinner with Tim and Bob. Tim looks like a middle to late twenties guy. He wears a baseball hat all the time has a very engaging smile and personality. He is our IT guy. (no he’s not a geek) I’ve been after him all week (I just met him Monday) to help me download some great pictures from down here that are on the company computer. He has agreed to help me (that means he will do it all) map ( I don’t know what that means) my computer so I will be able to access a huge inventory of amazing pictures from here. Hopefully he will also be able to help me get some of them into the blog. ( I’d love to actually learn how to do it myself) Sadly Tim likes fresh bread as much as I like desserts but for some whacky unknown reason he has chosen to give up eating breads in an effort to lose some weight. (He’s about 5’10” and looks like he weighs about 170 pounds) I just say that because I was eating a wonderful piece of fresh whole wheat bread with walnuts in it in front of him. If I haven’t told you yet we have the best bakers here. The fresh breads and desserts they turn out for every meal are going to be the death of me. I just hope I don’t look like a weeble when I get home. Tim got up to leave which left Bob and I alone.

I just met Bob this week also (amazing the people you can meet when not working a midnight shift). Bob works on our air traffic radios and navigational aids (the things that help pilots find airports). He is in his 9th season here. He kind of looks like a young Telli Savalis (I’m sure I spelled it wrong) and has a very raspy voice and a wealth of stories to tell. Actually I had spoken with Bob on a number of occasions in the dining facility I just didn’t know his name or what he did here. On one of his prior sojourns here he was a diver. He says diving here under the ice is the most amazing thing he has ever done. His eyes lit up as he told us about the amazing ice sculpture under there and the sea life that blankets the bottom of the bay. He told us about some small fish that the penguins eat called the borgs (short for some long scientific name). He says they are very curious and will come up to you, get right in your face and open and close their mouth. They will actually let you touch them. The scientists love them because they will just swim into their nets and once one gets in the others want to join so they swim in to. The problem is you just can’t take them all and the ones left behind look very sad like the last kid picked in a game of backyard baseball. Bob says the visibility is unlimited. I told him I would be worried about finding the hole to get back out of the water. He says it’s like looking up and seeing the moon shining. He said they also mark the hole with a strobe light on a line and on the same line are black and white flags that he says you can see a long way off. I still think I would attach a line to myself or drop bread crumbs or something. I asked if his lips got really cold. He told me they sting really bad for the first few minutes and after that you just don’t feel them anymore. He did say that they didn’t work real well after you got out of the water. Kind of like the way they are after a friendly visit to your dentist. (this one could be long tonight take a potty break here if necessary ). At some point we began to discuss the social interaction of people in this small closed society. He told me that several years ago a group of social anthropologists came down here to study that very thing. He volunteered to talk with them and had some very interesting insights and observations about the gender interactions that occur. In one instance he told me of a married couple who came here for the winter season. Two weeks after the last flight of the season left his wife left him for someone else. Interestingly they still shared adjoining suites and shared a bathroom. I just want to know- how does that work? Apparently not too well. At some point it seems a pool ball became lodged in the former wife’s TV. That also makes me wonder- if you can’t file for divorce what do you do? There seem to be no attorneys or judges here. (doesn’t that make you want to come down?) No terrorists either it’s just too cold for them.

During our conversation a woman I’ve seen before joined us. I’d never spoken with her but as she talked I realized I’d seen her every day cleaning the gerbil gym where I exercise everyday. Turns out she is from Los Angeles and is here filming a documentary. She couldn’t get permission to come to just film so she took a job as a janitor assistant just to get here. She works 9 hours per day six days a week just like the rest of us and then works on her film in her spare time. Yes I did ask her if she knew Chris and Jenni (my son and daughter- in- law actors who live in LA). You know it is a small world! She said she didn’t know them though. I finally introduced myself some time into the conversation. Her name is Sharona (Like the assistant on Monk) (sure hope I spelled her name right). She has a brother and a sister who have also worked her in previous years. Who knows maybe I’ll make it into another film! I’ll let you know. This conversation between Tim, Bob, Sharona and me turned out to be the highlight of the day. I had talked with Deni (my wife if you don’t know) earlier in the evening. I told her I didn’t have any ideas for the blog today, or any day for that matter. It just seems like something always comes to mind when I open up this blog to share some of my day with you. I have received so many wonderful responses to the blog page so far. Those notes really inspire me to continue what has become a great outlet for me. Thank you all!!!!! (okay it’s over get back to your life)

Reverse Osmosis

I had dinner tonight with a guy named James. He is from Oklahoma with a degree in Chemistry. He works at the water treatment plant. Prior to coming here he worked for a company that had him on the road all the time working with people who had various needs that related to water. I think he found it interesting that I found his work so interesting. He said when he tries to explain what he does for a living most peoples eyes glaze over as they try to find someone more interesting to talk to like an undertaker or a life insurance salesman (no offense intended) I actually learned a lot about the reverse osmosis process. I’d share the information with you but I’m afraid your eyes might glaze over. In any event he invited me to come by the water plant to see how it operates. I’d rather watch paint dry I hear you say. Well I’ll let you know how it goes.

I was the 17th alternate to go on one of the off site tours on the big Delta vehicle tonight. Sadly they didn’t get to me but I’ll keep trying. I’m told they’re great Kodak moment trips.

The science lecture tonight was really like a science lecture. Lots of slides with data. Generally it dealt with Emperor Penguins and their ability to dive to great depths and hold their breath for extended periods of time. You divers might appreciate the fact that they dive to depths of 250 meters although the normal dive is a mere 60 meters. The length of dive is 5 to 12 minutes and only 19% of the oxygen in their bodies is in their respiratory system. 46% is in their muscle tissue so the heart doesn’t need to pump hard to get oxygen to the muscles when diving. Their heart rate actually drops from about 200 beats per minute (bpm) pre-dive to about 25 bpm at the bottom of the dive. (see what I mean I can see your eyes glazing over already) He did say that in movies when you see them jumping out of the water at great speed they are not normally fleeing predators but just out of breathe and tired from the dive. He says after they exit the water they will just lay on the ice heaving deep breaths to regain a normal oxygen level in their systems. Okay enough of that.

On a medical note I can tell you my head feels much better today.

I had a very busy day at work. I wish I could find the words to tell you how exhilarating it feels to be conducting the aerial ballet of planes in the sky. As you may or may not know we have no radar here so the entire “picture” of where everyone is lies completely in your head in a three dimensional plane (much like playing space chess on the starship Enterprise). I’m told 2 years ago they had a radar system here (ASR-8) for the controllers in the blog but the scientists were worried about the radiation from the antenna so they limited the quadrants the radar could radiate in. Sadly it limited the usability of the radar so much that the system was abandoned. What does that say about all those systems radiating around the country and near you?

50th Anniversary
People who supposedly know told me that today was the 50th anniversary of the first flight to the South Pole. Because of that there was a big push on to get our first flights to the Pole. Thankfully in this case Mother Nature cooperated. The temperature soared to a balmy 46 below so we were able to get 3 of the big transports there on my shift alone.

I had an appointment for a haircut after work today. Of course like everything else here it’s free. (not even allowed to tip). The hair stylist has a sign on the door asking everyone to wash their hair before coming in. I was running a little late so I rushed back to the dorm to take a quick shower. I dropped the soap and bent over to pick it up (don’t even go there) when I stood up I gashed my head on the old style shower knobs we have. Once I finally got the bleeding stopped I headed over to the barber shop to see if she would even cut my hair. She was kind enough to trim the sides and back. I’ll go back to see her again after I heal. As she was cutting my hair she said that “old guys” have soft ears that are easy to bend over to cut around. Old guys, I said. She then said well I didn’t mean you are old. But the damage had already been done. The verdict is in I’m just getting old and of soft ear.

Off to another science presentation tonight. This one is being presented by one of the grandfathers of this program down here. The good news is he’s even older than me! Sometimes you just need to take whatever crumbs you can get.

Well I just returned from the science presentation. As it turns out the first flight I controlled into the South Pole today was a ceremonial flight commemorating the 50th anniversary mentioned above. At the same time a ceremony, commemorating the same event, was being conducted at the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Florida. I just thought the coincidence was kind of cool.

Well it looks like the FAA will finish flight checking all of our approaches and departure procedures today. The out briefing is tomorrow morning. Everyone is hoping Mother Nature will soon participate in getting people to the South Pole. The temperature is still below minus 50 degrees. It got all the way up to minus 50 on Sunday but everyone is off that day. Lots of folks waiting up in Christchurch are drawing per diem hoping for some beds to open up here.

I was talking to some people last night at dinner. They were telling me when they book their flights here they book them as round the world tickets. The tickets are good for 1 year and allow you to travel to 5 continents with numerous stops on each continent. Sounds like something worth looking into.

I also learned today of day excursions that the recreation folks arrange to go to some of the historic sites within a half days travel. There are also photo opportunities along the way. The only trick is getting your name on the list as soon as it’s posted. There’s lots of demand for a limited number of seats. I hope to have more pictures for you in the near future.