Antarctic carpentry

  You don't find a lot of hardwoods in Antarctica. Actually, you don't find any plant matter at all. The only indigenous life forms you do see are the occasional penguin, seal, and the evil skua birds. Almost all the lumber here comes from America, with a small amount from New Zealand. There are lots of SPF 2x4's and A/C plywood. I have seen some amazingly creative stuff built out of construction grade lumber. The carp shop has every tool you might need to build just about anything. There are about 40 people who work on the carp crew, this includes carpenter helpers, carpenters, painters, and foremen. Many work in the shop building all kinds of stuff related to McMurdo, as well as field camps. This may include crates, lab tables, cubbies, and even outhouses. Many other people go to local field camps and do maintenance and other carpentry related jobs, some also go for weeks at a time to deep field camps where they set up structures for research. I am currently on a crew doing a "refresh" on building 155. My job involves patching lots of drywall in dorm rooms, texturing walls, painting, and replacing ceiling tiles and carpet. Next week I will be crawling under the building in a tyvek suit armed with a hammer drill and a jack hammer to break up a two foot thick glacier of grey water that has been building up under the kitchen for a number of years. My boss is intent on finding some rare beer cans that are rumered to be under there. Apparently back in the day, the Navy had its own "Operation Deep Freeze" beer brewed for McMurdo.
  Each Christmas day the carp shop holds an event known as MAAG, the McMurdo alternative art gallery. The carpenters, along with anyone else on base, are encouraged to make an art project for this event. Some of the projects from years past are pretty amazing. People have done lots of performance art, as well as installations, and other large sculptures, such as human sized hamster wheels. Lots of creative minds down here.
  Here are some pictures of the carp shop.

Thanksgiving in Antarctica

  Thanksgiving is observed on Saturdays here, which means we get a two day weekend. This is important because there are only three two day weekends throughout the summer season. There was a lot happening around the base this weekend, including but not limited to and 80's hair metal cover band, as well as a number of other musical acts, a 5K race known as the turkey trot, Antarctica's answer to the Burning Man festival, you guessed it, Freezing Man, as well as much associated alcoholic behavior. I showed up to the race at 9:45 Saturday morning wondering why I was doing this after a night of hair metal and Tacate beer, to find that I was one of only a few people not wearing a costume. It is a strange feeling to be running up the hill to Scott base getting passed by someone dressed as a penguin.
  Thanksgiving dinner was served at 3, 5, and 7 PM and was amazing. The staff in the galley went all out with the food, and even gave us tablecloths which had sheets for writing what you were thankful for. Some of the prior diners wrote things such as: A freezer full of venison, sunsets, not being stranded and forced to eat sled dogs, and booze. The galley staff received a standing ovation at the end of dinner.   Friday before Thanksgiving I was able to phone my family during my morning break, and since Antarctica is 17 hours ahead of Madison, I caught them right at dinner. It does amaze me sometimes that I am able to make calls from this place. Even though it is a scientific research station, It is still using the same telephone system installed in the early 80's. Every room here has a landline phone that actually rings. If you are someone who needs to be reached often, you have a pager. My first roommate here was an IT guy for the ASC, he told me that they used to be able to find parts for the phone system on ebay, but now that is no longer possible and they have to look in places like Mexico City. Yes, the National Science Foundation has to go to third world countries to keep it's infrastructure running. Some of the VHF radios they use here are over 30 years old. This is indeed a land of extremes.
   I will post some pictures soon, but since the internet has limited bandwidth, and runs at dial up speed, it takes about 3 to 5 minutes to upload a photo, and I need to get to band practice.

The worst movie I've ever seen... ever.

McMurdo station has a coffee house in an old Jamesway. A Jamesway  is a sort of quonset hut but smaller. They were common durring WWII and a few are still standing here, leftovers from when the station was run by the Navy. The coffee house provides free coffee drinks, board games, internet, and a second room full of couches where open mic, as well as movie nights are held. You are also allowed to bring your own alcoholic beverages. Earlier this week I saw a flier for a Sunday screening of the Star Wars Holiday Special, complete with commercials from 1978. This movie was aired once and was never released onto video. Someone somewhere taped this horrible conceptual nightmare one evening in 1978 and it eventually found its way from Betamax to google videos. An all out endurance test, I can honestly say that the only movie ever made that can come close to competing with it as far as an epic failure and something that could be used as a torture devise would be Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space. I was one of three people who made it to the end. I now know that I am more than capable of surviving in the harshest environment on the planet. I won't spoil it for anyone who might enjoy pain enough to attempt to watch it, but I will say this: The first 30 min is all in wookie, no subtitles, and at the end you get to see Carrie Fischer sing. Don't say I didn't warn you. Here are some more photos from around McMurdo.

    Antarctica is one of the strangest places I've ever been. After a week here I'm finally getting use to 24hr daylight, single digit temperatures, and about 900 other people who like myself wanted to come to the coldest place in the world.
  I work in the carpentry shop and have spent most of the past week repairing and calibrating woodworking equipment. My main job will be remodeling the dorm rooms in building 155. There are about 40 carpenters and painters here this year as there are many projects going on. The people I work with are from all walks of life and have many different backgrounds. Basically it's a whole bunch of freaks living in what is somewhere between  a college party town and a remote mining camp which could be located on the ice planet of Hoth from Empire Strikes Back.
  Everybody works six 9hr days and in their free time can go to science lectures, the library, the coffee house (BYOB) the gym, the weight room, rent skis or musical instruments from the rec center, go hiking, watch movies in one of the many dorm lounges, go to band practice, or hang out at either of the bars.
  Last week I attended happy camper school, which is a survival course for anyone who will be working in the field. We learned how to combat hypothermia, set up VHF radios, learn what it's like to be in a whiteout by walking around with a bucket on my head, and build and sleep in an ice shelter. Yes, I got paid to build a snow fort and sleep in it.

                         Here are some pictures of McMurdo station and happy camper school.

                                                 Arriving on a C17 on the ice runway

                                      My dorm building 166 also known as Hotel California

Mt Eribus the world's southernmost active volcano

                                                            Me on the Ross ice shelf

                                                                   The carp shop

                                                 My Ice shelter at happy camper school

                                                          View from the carp shop