Pinsetting

This season, Michiel decided to try out something new - manual pinsetting at the McMurdo bowling alley. The bowling alley is one of (if not, the only) remaining manual pinset system in the world. On each alley, a pinsetter waits for the bowler to throw the ball and (hopefully...) knock down some pins. Considering that the lames are totally warped, knocking down pins is more a question of luck and power than finesse.

Once the pins have been knocked down, the pinsetter jumps off his/her perch and puts them in the rack so that they are out of the way. The ball is then placed into the chute for return to the bowler and the pinsetter jumps up onto the perch out of harm's way.

Bowling tournaments and games usually involve some drinking so the pinsetters wear bright pin-striped (naturally!) socks so that the bowlers can see their legs when they are working.

Pinsetters have the optional responsibility of jeering, cheering or harassing the bowlers with cymbal playing, boos, comments, etc. One pair of pinsetters even pre-prepared cut-out pictures and comments from magazines to stuff into the finger-holes of the balls before returning them to their bowler friends.

Bowlers also have the option to go Cosmic style and play in black light. Did you know that under a black-light, tonic glows fluorescent green? Very cool

Here are some photos of the bowling alley and Michiel at work:

Donut of Misery

Things are rolling along here at McMurdo. The warmer temperatures are starting to turn the roads into muddy streams and the temperatures are approaching the 30s F (just below 0 degrees C). It feels warm and pleasant when the wind isn't blowing and we're trying to spend more time outside.

The station celebrated Thanksgiving this past Saturday with a two-day weekend and a giant, fancy meal in the Dining Hall. We celebrated with some friends, including Antz and Christine. Christine introduced me to the Antarctic Program in 1999 and encouraged me to apply (so I can alternately blame and thank her :) They mostly do winters these days so we don't get to see them very often, but they are here this summer on an Artists and Writers grant from the National Science Foundation.

Antz is known for his incredible time-lapse films of Antarctic landscapes, wildlife and people. You can see several of his videos on Youtube if you search for Antzarctica. His wife, Christine, is also incredibly creative and very amusing in the video about Condition 1. Their goal is to gather enough time-lapse footage during their 6-week stay to put together a full length film. Their website is: www.frozensouth.com

Prior to the eating-fest, we ran in the 5K Turkey Trot race. It was pretty windy so I needed to supplement my gear with handwarmers, but we both finished and Michiel did well enough to win a great t-shirt. The top 50 runners were rewarded with a shirt. You'd think that it would be easy enough to place in the top 50, but the running crowd is exceptionally competitive and the turn-out was excellent (maybe 100 runners???). I just missed being in the top 50, but I scored a shirt from a guy who couldn't wear a Medium. (It's good to be small!)

Now that the Thanksgiving weekend is behind us, the holiday season will fly by, but still...at this time of the season, people start to think about the travels after the ice and the free time and travel opportunities that are the main reasons why people keep coming back to the ice year after year.

In order to keep track of how much time we have left, someone created the Donut of Misery. The donut is a famous (around here, anyway) Excel spreadsheet that calculates the time you have remaining on station based on your contract start and end dates. Here's a screen shot.

The donut is particularly popular with people who are doing a year-long contract. They might lament that they are only at 28% when the rest of the summer population is at 48%.

I recently received a copy of an updated, slicker version of the donut, called the Penguin Timer. Here's a screen shot:

A Month Already

Views from the plane were good this year.

Welcome to McMurdo. I still find it incredible that such a big plane can land on ice.

We’ve been in McMurdo for almost a month now. The time goes incredibly fast here and before we know it, it will be time to make plans for after the ice. For now, though, we are working 6 days a week, 10.5 to 11 hours per day. I am playing drums in two bands, one original reggae music, the other a funk cover band in which my stage name is Peaches Delite. Both bands will surely play on the New Year’s Day outdoor music festival, IceStock. I am also volunteering as a medical recorder for any Mass Casualty Incidents. We’ll have a drill some time soon and my job is to stay with one patient and write down vital signs, symptoms, treatments, etc. Michiel is volunteering as a stretcher bearer.

Sheri, quarantined in her room, watching tv.

When he isn’t working, Michiel is again training for the marathon and is working a small side job as a pin-setter for our manual bowling alley. More on that in another post. This past week, he had the very unenviable job of bringing me my meals in the room as I have been quarantined with the flu. This year, there is a near epidemic of both kinds of flu despite the massive effort put into getting all of us vaccinated. It is very tricky to figure out how to appropriately vaccinate all of us since the flus and flu seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres are different and almost all of us travel through both hemispheres to get here.

Castle Rock Outing

Yesterday was a gorgeous day - lots of sun, blue skies, 20 degrees F(-8 degrees C - downright blamy!) and little wind. We took advantage of our day off and the great conditions to do the longest marked (note the flags along the route in one of the photos) hike in our vicinity called the Castle Rock Loop. The entire hike from the Fire House, where we are required to check out and receive a radio, to Scott Base station (the New Zealand base) is 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers).

Here are some pictures from the day.

Our life on the ice

Our life this season isn't terribly exciting - except when we scavenge Gear Issue for fun party clothing and then come back to our humidified room. Generally, since we both have fairly stressful jobs, we don't have a lot of free time. We get up at 7 AM, eat breakfast in the room or at work, put on our parkas and walk to work. I work until 7 PM; Michiel has a bit more flexibility and can work later but take some time off during the day to go for a run. We generally grab some extra food at lunchtime and eat "supper" at work. After work, we go to a yoga class, take a hike or a walk, watch a movie (documentary nights are on Fridays), go to a lecture or a travelogue or go to the wine bar or regular bar. On Saturdays, I work a half day and will probably work a couple of hours in the greenhouse around lunchtime with Michiel. We get a day off on Sunday and usually start the day off with brunch. Since we have had so many large military cargo planes flying here from Christchurch, we have a steady supply of kiwifruit, apples, oranges, plums and bananas. At brunch, we are also treated to melon, pineapple and papaya - quite luxurious, really.

Sunday afternoons are set aside for activities like playing music, playing basketball, running, hiking or going on special trips like the one we went on this past Sunday to Cape Evans. In 1910, Robert Scott built a hut at Cape Evans to support his push to reach the South Pole with ponies. Wiht our dry, cold climate, the wood of the hut and all of the products within have been perfectly preserved (even the wheel of Dutch Edam cheese from Rotterdam!)



We have a great room this season - with high enough season to accommodate a loft. We've created a sitting area underneath with a "borrowed" couch from elsewhere on station. It makes a huge difference having a comfy and "warm" space to come home to.

More Halloween

Richard Simmons!



Groundskeeper Willy from the Simpsons


Winner for Sheri's Most Favorite!

Halloween

As always, Halloween is a very big event in McMurdo. The big party at the gym and the possibility of winning a fun trip if you are chosen as the funniest, scariest, best Antarctic Theme or best overall are good reasons for people to put a lot of time and creativity into their outfits. Here are some photos of some of the best:

The Biggest Loser - Before and After (by the way, we have a group of people competing in McMurdo's Biggest Loser competition. Each one is putting $100 into the pot.)




The lounge lizard won for Scariest Costume

Ice climbing! (is cool)

Last week we went ice climbing on the Matanuska glacier. Sheri's colleague at Adventure Alaska Tours, Joe, whom I finally got to meet was kind enough to take us and infect us with his enthusiasm. We made use of the camp spot overlooking the glacier to stay the night and thus had ample time for the actual climbing. Donned with warm clothing, boots, crampons, helmet, climbing harness, ropes, screws and ice axes we went on our way.






















The access to the glacier is really near to the carpark, so we only had to walk a short while until we had to put on our crampons. After reaching a suitable wall, we got a crash course in tying knots and roping up (and all the lingo that goes with it) and we were on our way to climb the wall. Kicking the points of the crampons in the wall and using the ice axes to hook into the ice; it is amazing how these tiny points of contact can bear your weight. Of course once in a while it doesn't (user error) at which point it is good to know that you are roped to the top of the ice wall and someone is belaying you to stop the fall. The equipment gave me such a confidence that I wasn't bothered by any fear of height and it felt good to go higher and higher. It does require quite some coordination and strength, so we were rather tired when we came back to our camp site. After climbing for a couple more hours the next day we were beginning to feel our muscles protest, but we had a wonderful time.








If the pictures aren't enough, you can watch a short movie at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dkpE2CQ4v0



Tremendous big thanks to Joe for all his patience and willingness to teach us and being a fun companion.

MAAG

The McMurdo Alternative Art Gathering (MAAG) occurs every summer in the Science Support Building. Each year, the coordinator chooses a theme and invites the community to create artwork from anything they can find on station. The space is decorated to feel like a gallery opening and guests are encouraged to dress like gallery-goers.

Some of the highlights of this year's alphabet theme MAAG were
1. The 26 days of invitations featuring a letter of the alphabet.
2. An evening gown made out of cargo straps.
3. The Screw Ewe
4. Other excellent outfits featuring duct tape or items from gear issue.
5. The chandelier made out of cigarette cartons