Since I'm no longer on the Ice, I figured I should change the name of this blog to reflect my status. I imagine as I continue to post here, I'll change the name again, in an attempt to remain "current".
In the meantime, adieu to the Adventures on Ice. Bring on the adventures in da 'bus!
15 April 2008
14 April 2008
traffic
Well, at least now we know:
If only we could all get on the same definition of "constant speed" and "safe distance"!
Gotta love the "real world".
If only we could all get on the same definition of "constant speed" and "safe distance"!
Gotta love the "real world".
24 March 2008
Life, back atcha
Two weeks later, I look back at my "exciting" return:
moving into my new house, getting the landlord to finally Finish my new house, finding out why I never wanted to be an accountant (by doing the accounting for 5 mos travel), paying bills, cleaning my new house, buying paint, unpacking.... Going snowshoeing with Jess, and imagining the Royal Societies in the distance. Trail running at Highbanks and (pleasantly) surprising myself with my time/distance. Receiving calls on my cell phone and catching up with people about wedding plans, new job plans, and the lot.
Having Grandma tell me about Nate's birthday wish (my first cousin once removed). His sisters go to the hotel for pool parties and such for their bday parties, but Nate's always been a bit different; Randy calls him her little old man. For his 9th(?) birthday, all he wanted was to be picked up from school in a semi. Luckily, Ben her bro, drives semis, and arranged to be there Friday to scoop him up from school and take him and his cousin to the (oil) rig (Ben runs). They had a blast.
Seeing children, both at church and helping my friend Laura with her 3-mo-old twins. Seeing my advisor, and my group-mates. While the idea he had about me combining some old gamma-ray knowledge I had with my newer cosmic-ray understanding probably won't pan out, at least he was thinking and suggesting things for a final chapter or two of my thesis! . Swapping missing folks back in the states for missing folks from the Ice and traveling.
...
So it's not exactly backpacking Arthur's Pass, climbing hand-over-fist up the waterfall in the mist and then down the pass, past verdant alpine scrub clinging to rock beside a rushing creek. Or hiking up to Ball Glacier in Mt Cook, cavorting with crampons and ice axe (for the first time ever!), exploring crevasses, and then slowly route-finding down the ridge beside Mt Cook itself, listening and occasionally watching as almost hourly rumbling heralded the collapse of yet another snowfield or scree slope. Neither has it been the unknown of hitching around the South Island, knowing there's enough in my pack for the evening, no matter where I find myself (ok, barring a $100/entree restaurant with black tie dress code. :). Greatest perhaps is the contrast with the simplicity of McMurdo, where the food was ready even if it was a bit aged, the room ready, if shared, and the tasks of the day well-defined and straight-forward
...
Yet, the great unknown lurks just around the completion of this last task (finishing my degree), luring me with vistas of more mountains to climb and gardens to grow (starting with herbs this spring!). Perhaps the great adventure isn't so far off after all; perhaps I'll manage a few mini-adventures in the meantime. Just to keep in practice. :)
moving into my new house, getting the landlord to finally Finish my new house, finding out why I never wanted to be an accountant (by doing the accounting for 5 mos travel), paying bills, cleaning my new house, buying paint, unpacking.... Going snowshoeing with Jess, and imagining the Royal Societies in the distance. Trail running at Highbanks and (pleasantly) surprising myself with my time/distance. Receiving calls on my cell phone and catching up with people about wedding plans, new job plans, and the lot.
Having Grandma tell me about Nate's birthday wish (my first cousin once removed). His sisters go to the hotel for pool parties and such for their bday parties, but Nate's always been a bit different; Randy calls him her little old man. For his 9th(?) birthday, all he wanted was to be picked up from school in a semi. Luckily, Ben her bro, drives semis, and arranged to be there Friday to scoop him up from school and take him and his cousin to the (oil) rig (Ben runs). They had a blast.
Seeing children, both at church and helping my friend Laura with her 3-mo-old twins. Seeing my advisor, and my group-mates. While the idea he had about me combining some old gamma-ray knowledge I had with my newer cosmic-ray understanding probably won't pan out, at least he was thinking and suggesting things for a final chapter or two of my thesis! . Swapping missing folks back in the states for missing folks from the Ice and traveling.
...
So it's not exactly backpacking Arthur's Pass, climbing hand-over-fist up the waterfall in the mist and then down the pass, past verdant alpine scrub clinging to rock beside a rushing creek. Or hiking up to Ball Glacier in Mt Cook, cavorting with crampons and ice axe (for the first time ever!), exploring crevasses, and then slowly route-finding down the ridge beside Mt Cook itself, listening and occasionally watching as almost hourly rumbling heralded the collapse of yet another snowfield or scree slope. Neither has it been the unknown of hitching around the South Island, knowing there's enough in my pack for the evening, no matter where I find myself (ok, barring a $100/entree restaurant with black tie dress code. :). Greatest perhaps is the contrast with the simplicity of McMurdo, where the food was ready even if it was a bit aged, the room ready, if shared, and the tasks of the day well-defined and straight-forward
...
Yet, the great unknown lurks just around the completion of this last task (finishing my degree), luring me with vistas of more mountains to climb and gardens to grow (starting with herbs this spring!). Perhaps the great adventure isn't so far off after all; perhaps I'll manage a few mini-adventures in the meantime. Just to keep in practice. :)
07 March 2008
a Returning
I returned this morning to Columbus, with a plane change in Chicago. Temperature on landing in Chicago: +15 F. Weather on driving to my new house in Clintonville: grey and beginning to snow. A bit of me wondered, am I back on the Ice? But no, we wouldn't have gotten 4+ inches today, with more on the way. Or perhaps we would:
This is pretty much the worst weather I've seen all winter. Humm.... Skiing anyone?!
In the meantime, we can all surf over to Google Maps 'Bike There' Feature Request Petition and tell them, if the snow ever melts, we'd love to know the best bike routes through town.
...A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH 4 PM SATURDAY...
... THUNDERSNOW WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS...PRODUCING PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW.I thought I'd heard a boom while out shoveling....
THE SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES CAUSING WHITEOUT AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT.It's beginning to look a lot like Antarctica, out there in the snow
BEFORE THE STORM DIMINISHES SATURDAY AFTERNOON YOU CAN EXPECT TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 10 TO 15 INCHES.Anyone want to make a quincy with me? Snow wall? We could sleep quite cozily, all through the storm....
DO NOT TRAVEL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. CONDITIONS CAN DETERIORATE RAPIDLY IN BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.Condition One is Condition Fun!
This is pretty much the worst weather I've seen all winter. Humm.... Skiing anyone?!
In the meantime, we can all surf over to Google Maps 'Bike There' Feature Request Petition and tell them, if the snow ever melts, we'd love to know the best bike routes through town.
08 February 2008
an Ending
It's 3am Sat 9 Feb, and this is may be my last actual post from the Ice. My rotator flight leaves at 8.30a, transport is at 7.30a, and I should be up there by 7a. The rotator flights are the LC130 ski airplanes. They take the New York Air National Guardspeople here and there around the Ice and off continent, and are responsible for supplying Pole. Since it's almost too cold now to fly anything into Pole and the season ending in a few weeks means they need to get people off Mactown Station fast, we have the opportunity to fly with our service folks. It's an 7-8 hr flight vs 5-6, and the toilets are fold-down curtained seats, but it'll be an adventure! And I might even be flying off with the helo I road in with. Now that would be something!
It's been a good send-off. I've gotten most everything done that I wanted to, including saying good bye to lots of folks, talking one last time, face to face, with Anne and Peggy, and finally having that heart-to-heart with Betty.... and finishing the bottle of wine! They say your flight won't leave unless you're hung over in the morning. I don't think I'll be that, but close enough to go!
I am totally excited to meet up with Rob tomorrow in Christchurch and do some tramping. Right now it looks like we'll head for the Dusky in Fiordland. After talking more with Anne and Peggy about it (they did it a little while ago), I think it'll be Hard, but a great challenge I am up to. I am looking forward to the adventure, views, beech forest, and stories I'll be able to tell afterwards.
It's been a fully satisfying trip. I'll leave you with this......
Things I'm looking forward to when I get North:
In the meantime, I should get some sleep.......
It's been a good send-off. I've gotten most everything done that I wanted to, including saying good bye to lots of folks, talking one last time, face to face, with Anne and Peggy, and finally having that heart-to-heart with Betty.... and finishing the bottle of wine! They say your flight won't leave unless you're hung over in the morning. I don't think I'll be that, but close enough to go!
I am totally excited to meet up with Rob tomorrow in Christchurch and do some tramping. Right now it looks like we'll head for the Dusky in Fiordland. After talking more with Anne and Peggy about it (they did it a little while ago), I think it'll be Hard, but a great challenge I am up to. I am looking forward to the adventure, views, beech forest, and stories I'll be able to tell afterwards.
It's been a fully satisfying trip. I'll leave you with this......
Things I'm looking forward to when I get North:
- Fresh food. Having fresh fruit whenever I want, and having it not be rotten in parts.
- Trees. Green.
- Humidity
- Humidity.
- Privacy and more people, though I will also miss the community down here!
- Playing pickup in my cleats, on grass.
- Indian food.
- Stars (although I "saw" the moon yesterday during the Very Cool solar eclipse)
In the meantime, I should get some sleep.......
28 January 2008
a little irreverant humor
When they still had it, Matt Davidson's cartoons were published in the Antarctic Sun. Budget cuts. The NSF berthing is where the DVs stay. GAs are General Assistants, and generally do much of the grunt work, from shoveling to hauling, hammering, sweeping, and whatever else needs doing.
This one's from Scott Nutter...
HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on 4 Nov, 1926 in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to the British investment company Lion Captial.
Take a look at HEMA's product page. You can't order anything, and it's in Dutch, but just move the mouse over the cup and watch what happens.
26 January 2008
interesting links
A few interesting links I've been perusing lately... and many thanks to those who mentioned many of them to me!
Nerds: a really interesting take on nerd behavior and how to deal with it. Think you're not one? Read on....
AA: Antarctic Adventurer. At 24, Danny is the youngest SAR (Search and Rescue) team member I think ever on station. SAR folks are the mountaineers who make our lives out in the field safe and as such, get to go on many sweet adventures. Check out his notes on Room With a View. Galen was my Snow School instructor. Live vicariously.
Diversity: It's what's for productivity.
SciFi: Closing in on cyborgs.
Charge!: Fine British history... or at least literature. Like the noble British Arctic and Antarctic explorers, this is another example of how the Heroic Age might have been less glorious but more livable. (More on that in a waiting game: part 2. Various entertainments.)
Intimate Objects: An interesting look at long distance relationship aids collaborated on by a friend from undergrad. Who knew?!
Happiness and goals.
Nerds: a really interesting take on nerd behavior and how to deal with it. Think you're not one? Read on....
AA: Antarctic Adventurer. At 24, Danny is the youngest SAR (Search and Rescue) team member I think ever on station. SAR folks are the mountaineers who make our lives out in the field safe and as such, get to go on many sweet adventures. Check out his notes on Room With a View. Galen was my Snow School instructor. Live vicariously.
Diversity: It's what's for productivity.
SciFi: Closing in on cyborgs.
Charge!: Fine British history... or at least literature. Like the noble British Arctic and Antarctic explorers, this is another example of how the Heroic Age might have been less glorious but more livable. (More on that in a waiting game: part 2. Various entertainments.)
Intimate Objects: An interesting look at long distance relationship aids collaborated on by a friend from undergrad. Who knew?!
Happiness and goals.
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