hobo thank you

heading out of town again. about to have a place of my own... sorta. it's my tent. does that classify me as a home owner?

anyway, a big thank you to all who offered me places to stay over past two months. you make my nomadic lifestyle possible. i hope i earned my keep and didn't overstay my welcome. now that the novelty of getting a postcard from the south pole has worn off, i'll have to figure out other ways to make hosting me worthwhile for y'all. special thanks to those who have particularly small apartments, let me pop in unannounced in the middle of the night, took care of me during my weekend of eye recovery, or are storing my remaining stuff.

it was great visiting. maybe i'll do the same urban tour again next year. i'll buy you groceries, cook dinner, take you out, wash dishes, perform pest control, weed your garden, feed your cats, watch your kids, entertain with stupid stories, etc etc.

eyes

gonna do it. get corrective vision laser procedure. not lasik, but prk. means a longer healing time, but hopefully the best way to go for my eyes. yikes. i mean should be all good, but a lil' scary. that's thursday morning. will be laid up for the weekend. but at least no travel for a while so can recoup.

new zealand road trip

driving north out of christchurch, i could have been in northern california... golden hills, vineyards, fog, eucalyptus, pine, cows...if not for the abundance of sheep, the occasional dr. seuss tree, driving on the left with the pacific to my right and the sun in the northern sky.

the dolphin tour was all booked up and it looked like rain plus i thought i felt a cold/flu coming on, so decided to head inland and relax at the hotsprings. lovely except for the bloody sand flies. aggh. five days later and i still look like i have the chicken pox. but at least i have energy again.

i'm now on the west coast of the island chillin at some friends' place. beautiful sunset on the ocean. tomorrow, a day hike at arthur's pass on way back to chch. good ol' en-zed (nz). back to the u.s. in a few days.

40 below

temperature is going down. we're back at -40, which is the magic number...same in C or F

Weather for South Pole Station
The date is 02-03-2009 at 11:57 PM
Temperature -40.0 C -40.0 F
Windchill -53.6 C -64.5 F
Wind 8.0 kts Grid 77
Barometer 690.8 mb (10223 ft)


ps. another 40... water at pole is estimated to cost about $40/gallon to produce. that's $40 every time we flush a toilet. and that's why we are only allowed two 2-minute showers per week...luxury

one more week

i'm scheduled to leave the pole feb 6, weather permitting. then a couple weeks in nz before returning stateside.

south pole tourism

Here's how this summer’s tourism compared to last year:

Total number of NGA tourists, guides, and staff to South Pole:
2007-08 180
2008-09 269

Number of NGA person-hours spent on station:
2007-08 700
2008-09 1800

Total number of tours given:
2007-08 18
2007-08 36

jan 20, 2009

emergency response

i am a volunteer on one of the emergency response teams. work with trauma team (first aid).
we have weekly trainings and monthly drills, but today the alarm was a real one. a glycol leak in the garage. 2 years ago there was a glycol leak in the power plant and someone was badly burned plus vapors caused respiratory problems. fortunately this time the glycol was not as hot and of the three people exposed, one had only mild eye irritation. with trauma team no longer needed, i was switched to scene security and eventually to spill response cleanup. made for a long day, but glad nobody was hurt.

royal visit

Prince Albert II of Monaco stopped by South Pole today. I got to meet him and chat for a bit.

"Prince Albert and his group will be dropped about 10 km from station on Tuesday evening. The group will spend the night on the ice at this location. Wednesday morning the group will ski into pole with a planned arrival time of 9:00 am.
The prince has a mission of promoting global environmentalism.
The following website also provides a few details of the prince’s Antarctic tour."

http://www.fpa2.mc/fondation.asp?page=ANTARCTIQUE

tour guide

I played tour guide for Chus Lago, the first Spanish woman to sky to the South Pole (all the way from the coast). She skied 1,117 km, alone for 59 days, seeing nothing but flat white. Originally her journey was to be unsupported, but she was running out of food so asked for an airdrop towards the end of her expedition.

I met her Friday night at 1 am when she got in, then took her around station the following morning. She was thrilled that the first people she saw after being alone for 2 months were two women at the South Pole. First Judy, the night shift heavy equipment supervisor, intercepted her a little ways out. Then I showed up to escort her to the pole and her camp.