Thursday, October 28, 2010

As the ice turns....

Well we are rapidly approaching the big Halloween party here. I have yet to attend one in all of my years working in Antarctica. Call me crazy, but I'm a little paranoid about being in a huge building that only has two fire exits and no fire supression system. *shrug* The other side of the coin is a huge crowd, and drama llamas. So I suspect that I will likely be found in our coffee house playing some cribbage with a few friends and drinking some wine.

Things are motoring along here. I'm trying to get my head wrapped around travelling down here, and getting from field camp to field camp. I am actually exceedingly lucky this year to have a position that lets me do that. I have only gone into the interior of Antarctica once, over to Beardmore Glacier area. This year I'm slated to hit South Pole Station, Wais Divide, Byrd Surface Camp, and those will happen with LC130's. Then by helicopter to Marble Point, Black Island and the Dry Valley areas. Yep, colour me excited. I also have to manage all of that, with the work I have here in town. Fortunately I now have some flying monkeys at my disposal to help with my tasking.

I have also received word that my work/personal travel schedule is going to be more hectic this year than last. It looks a lot like this:

Leave Antarctica for New Zealand in late January.
Spend a few days in New Zealand and head to Denver.
Maybe head to Arizona from Denver and back again.
Leave Denver to Hawaii and back again towards the end of Feb for a week.
Leave Denver to Port Hueneme California for work and back again end of March straddling into the begining of April. Maybe take some side flights up the coast to Oregon and Washington.
Leave Denver to Punta Arenas Chile for work, around the middle of April.
Leave Chile to take a research vessel to Palmer Station Antarctica, and back again to Denver, around the begining of May.
Leave Denver to take a honeymoon. Africa? Spain? Japan? Not decided yet. Back again in May.
Leave Denver to go back to Punta Arenas to work for a month or two around June. Back again in July.
Maybe leave Denver to go to Georgia and back again July.
Maybe leave Denver to go to Vegas and back again July.
Leave Denver to go to Arizona and back again in August.
Leave Denver to come back to McMurdo Station in August.

I'm stoked for sure, but it is going to kick my ass. I really wish the science types would get a teleporter working. It sure would shave some time off in airports.