More Random Stuff

I had a bunch of various pics so I thought I'd posted them up. 

I was craving some cheestos a month or so ago. The crunchy ones are by far the best but all the store has is the puffy kind so I had to get that.  They didn't exactly hit the spot, maybe because they were made 2.5 years ago. Almost everything is out of date in the store. I only ate about a dozen of them and dumped the rest...

 My Antarctic flower from the greenhouse.  A real live plant!

 I went for a walk the other day and it was really nice out.  The 24/7 dark has become normal now just like the 24/7 light in the summer, but it's still weird sometimes to stop and think about it.  I think this was about 1 or 2 in the afternoon...

 We had our MCI drill for the winter today.  In the summer I did comms, but it was kind of boring, so for the winter my position is a stretcher bearer.  When an MCI is declared we take all the stretchers and medical equipment from the storage locker over to the firehouse. Then we set up all the treatment areas, then wait. When the fire department brings in the patients we help get them to the appropriate treatment area. Then when they've been seen and treated by the medical staff we move them over to medical for x-rays or for further treatment. Hopefully we won't have to do this for real...

 We've had some tomatoes a couple times now.  I got a trifecta this time! Wooohoooo...

 This is the single most important piece of equipment on the continent. Frosty Boy for life! 

auroras unseen

So, I spent everyday day last week killing time. Not a single trouble ticket ALL WEEK LONG!  Then today I get 3, which isn't a big deal. I don't care about doing the work, no big deal. However, while I was stuck inside working some amazing freakin auroras were happening right outside! Damn it!  I still haven't seen a good one. I only saw one really crappy one for a distance.  I still thought I'd post these pics someone else took. My camera isn't really that good so even if I see one my pics will probably be crappy.

Polar Plunge

So every year over at the Kiwi base around midwinter time they have a little tradition.  They break out the chain saws, cut a hole in the ice, and people jump in.  It sounds insane because it IS! hahaha.   There is a little bit of safety built in. You have to wear a harness so they can attach a rope to you so if you croak they can drag you out I guess. The fire department was there with an ambulance just in case. Luckily nothing bad happened to anyone though. 

There were 2 different times to go over, 9am & 1pm.  I wanted to sleep in so I picked the later time to go and I payed the price. Apparently the morning wasn't too bad, but when I went over the wind was blowing like crazy.  I was getting harnessed up and the girl doing it said the wind was really picking up so we might be the last group to go before they shut it down.  "The wind is really picking up", is not something I was hoping to hear, but I was already ready to go so fuck it.  Stepping outside that little warming hut in nothing but tennis shoes and swim trunks was a whole new experience.  The water itself is way warmer than the temp outside so it didn't feel all that bad. Then you had to get the hell out! Holy shit! I walked over got a blanket wrapped around me and the stood there for about a month while the guy unhooked my harness. WOW!  Of course it wasn't your standard carabiner, it was one of the ones with the little nut that you tighten so it won't open, so it took him approximately weeks to undo that damn thing!  I got back inside the warming hut and oh my god, I was not too happy for a while.  I think I have poor circulation anyway because my hands and feet get cold pretty easily, then add that with what I had just done and wowzer!  My feet were so damn cold, I went and stood by the stove with the blanket around me but it didn't seem like it was doing any good.  After a few minutes my feet started going numb I think because they stopped hurting, but my fingers started hurt quite a bit.  Every now and then when it's cold I'll lose some circulation in a finger and it'll turn white. Normally it's not a big deal because it all goes back to normal pretty quickly.  This time I had 4 fingers at once do it, I've never seen or felt anything like it.   After a while I was able to get dried off and start getting dressed.  It took me a half hour to totally feel all my fingers again and close to an hour to get my feet back to normal.  I'm glad I did it so I can say I did it, but I'm never doing that shit again!  It makes me think of that sea ice runway I'll be departing from in several months. If that plane broke through, that would be the most excruciating death of all time! Fingers crossed!

Water Temp = 28
Air Temp = -18
Wind = 24mph
Windchill = -48!!

The hole of turture...

 The "warming hut"...

This is me taking my jump in.  I got someone in the warming hut to record me so it's not exactly the best video since it's being taken through a window.  It was freakin ridiculous! 

I took these pics probably 10 or so minutes after the dunk but my fingers were still white and hurt...

 My pointer finger had just turned pink again before I took this pic...

masquerade

So there was a masquerade celebration a while back.  I didn't go because I didn't care to dress up or any of that, but I found pics from the festivities. Thought you all might want to see, so here ya go.

chilly

Yesterday afternoon it was blowing good.  I looked at the weather and the windchill was -70. I had never been out when it was that cold so I had to go outside and walk around a little so I could say I did it.  When I came back in I checked phx and according to weather.com it was 98 degrees at the same time.  That's a 168 degree difference suckas!  It should get a little worse toward the end of next month I guess.  So maybe we'll hit a 200 degree difference day?  I'll keep ya posted if we do.

Trailer Star

I posted a trailer before for the movie that was made down here because it's really good.  I found out the director posted a new trailer so I took a look see.  Little ol' me made it into the trailer.  Sure it's only for like a second and a half but you can still see muh fat face. That makes me a trailer star. Anyone want an autograph? Anyone, autographs?  Come on get em while they're cheap, because if that clip makes it in to the release version of the film then that moves me up to movie star status.  What about now, autograph, huh? FINE! Have it your way!

Anyway, here is the latest trailer.
http://vimeo.com/42921691

Also, he's trying to raise money to fund a soundtrack. So if you're feeling generous you can give up some loot here...  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antz/antarctica-a-year-on-ice-documentary-feature-film

If you're feeling generous toward me, feel free to contact me and you can send some money my way.  Cash is appreciated, but I'll take checks with 2 forms of ID.

South Pole

These are pics of South Pole Station from the air.  I didn't take any of these since I didn't get the chance to goto the Pole but they're still cool pics.

 The South Pole marker is just below that biggest set of buildings. You can see the semi-circle of all the flags that surround it.  There are actually 2 markers. There is the ceremonial marker where the flags are and the magnetic pole marker.