May 26, 2005

Temperature-67.0 C -88.6 F
Windchill-88.7 C -127.6 F
Wind 9.7 kts Grid 115
Barometer 677.4 mb (10726 ft)
Lunch: Jambalaya
Dinner: Spaghetti and meat balls
May is the hardest month here. Many people discover how long the darkness lasts and how cold it gets and it all combines to a general feeling of unpleasantness. Some people look forward to the dark but most get really crabby due to the chemical changes their bodies are undergoing. Our thyroid slows, our metabolism slows and we constantly feel tired. Some people have trouble sleeping and others sleep really well and have really vivid dreams. Regardless it is May when we discover how much stress we are under. Any little conflict that has been simmering over the summer months really explodes and becomes a big deal. I also find my body hurts all the time and any little injury takes much longer to heal. My hands look like they are hundreds of years old because it is so dry that any little moisture in my skin just evaporates into the air. The space between my fingers cracks and bleeds and my knuckles occasionally split open. I use super glue to join the cracks in my skin together in hopes they can heal enough so the next time I bend my finger the crack doesn’t reopen. Sometimes the crack of my ass splits near the top of my pants and every time I sit it splits open and bleeds. My skin develops all kinds of blemishes and weird colors. I look in the mirror and looking back at me is person with dark circles around his eyes with pale skin and a blue tint. I find myself withdrawing from the community more and more because I don’t deal well with conflict and all the drama that is occurring just makes me want to lay low until it all blows over. I spend most of my time in my room listening to podcasts and reading the news of the outside world and I check my email constantly in hopes that somebody sent me something. A joke, a picture anything that helps me feel far away from here even for an instant. The other day a friend sent me some pictures of her kids and the spring tulips and as simple as the pictures were she will never know what they meant to me.
When coming here was something I might do, I thought I would have plenty of time on my hands to do hobbies, write, plan my trip, design things and I quickly learned that time here evaporates. This time I did not have illusions of writing any symphonies or curing cancer on my spare time, I knew better. I suspect my time disappears because my faculties have slowed so much. I sit at my desk become inspired to do some work, grab some tools and head to where the work is to be done. I get there and I can’t remember why I am there. I look down at the tools and realize what old age is going to be like.
Fortunately, mid winter is three weeks away and from then on all the milestone become positive in nature. Mid winter, then first glow, then sun up, fist flight and my flight out of here. A veteran of this place said something that summed up my feelings pretty well, "the best thing about this place is leaving".

May 24, 2005

Temperature-69.2 C -92.6 F
Windchill-90.4 C -130.7 F
Wind 8.7 kts Grid 105
Barometer 674.0 mb (10855 ft)
Lunch: Chicken Burgers
Dinner: Salmon w/mango chutney

Not much going on here at the bottom. I think the effects of the dark are setting in. I am becoming crabby and I notice most people around me are crabby also. Last night we watched the new Star Wars film "Revenge of the Sith". It was the best of the three most recent movies and it stimulated my senses so much that it made it hard for me to sleep.
The galley crew hates their jobs and constantly complain that they are not getting enough help, the station manager sends out a nasty gram and we all try to help but it never seems to be enough. My boss and the galley chief are having a feud, my boss thinks they get enough help and they are just whining and the galley chief retaliates saying the construction workers drag drywall dust around the station trashing her galley. It just goes on and on. I figure this whole thing is heading to a blow up and it is a matter of time before the galley chief does something like make ramen for dinner. It should make for some interesting stories someday.

May 19, 2005

Temperature-63.1 C -81.6 F
Windchill-86.3 C -123.3 F
Wind 12.6 kts Grid 43
Barometer 669.2 mb (11038 ft)
Lunch: Brats
Dinner: Pizza (junk food station)

What a perfectly awful day!!! It started with a morning call to Camp Centennial in which I was told to ignore that a fan serving a laboratory hood doesn’t meet spec and get it signed off by the client in order to save Big "R" a buck. Lab hoods typically handle flammables, acids and bases. Usually I would specify fans and ductwork that are rated for types of chemicals used in the hood. In this case we are using a standard bathroom exhaust fan that could be purchased from Grainger. I for one expect more for a 160 million dollar building and I will never approve this fan in its current application.
Then I needed to fill the emergency water tanks to test the water booster pump. I had to connect a hose to the domestic water service and drop it into the tank to fill. I secured the hose and began filling. It was about half full when I was called on the radio so I thought I will be away for a short while, what could go wrong. About five minutes later I returned and found the hose doing its best dance outside of the tank drenching everything in the power plant with water. I ended up mopping up about 25 gallons of water and the sub floor was drenched. I set up a fan to ventilate the subfloor in hopes it would dry and opened all the floor access hatches to keep the air warm and moving. I then locked the doors so nobody would wonder in and fall through the open hatches. The fire alarm tech insisted the doors had to remain unlocked because they are a means of egress out of B1 berthing and that I should tape off all the holes with caution tape. He was incorrect in his assumption that the room was an egress route unless the building code has undergone some serious revision to allow exiting through an H4 (very hazardous) occupancy. He became angry, said something derogatory and ran off. So to keep everyone happy I decided to try to comply with the techs demands. You would think a roll of caution tape would be easy to find but I could find none. I eventually found some rope and marked the areas off, the problem being the area was now an obstacle course of open holes and rope barricades. It did not seem very safe to me but at that point I just didn’t care and felt I had done what I could.

May 15, 2005

Temperature-54.8 C -66.7 F
Windchill-77.3 C -107.1 F
Wind 15.1 kts Grid 25
Barometer 693.2 mb (10134 ft)

Lunch: Granola and Yogurt
Dinner: Pasta with Tofu and Pesto
Today is Sunday and as much as everyone has heard it is my favorite day of the week. It is the day I go for a long bike ride in my imagination. I go to the gym and ride with some tunes and the lights off and I go where I can’t. Today’s ride started with the hill from the parking lot at Apex park. It was morning and I could hear the birds chirping and the air was cool and smelled of the morning dew. Every once in while the sun would hit the drops hanging from the grass sending a sparkle of light my way. Then I turned the corner where it becomes rocky and I decided I no longer wanted to ride Apex but along the Poudre. The river was up and the road free of traffic. The kayakers all waved and did their best to surf and throw some ends as I rode bye. As I passed the Mishawaka Inn I could smell pachouli, stale beer and smell of reefer from the concert the night before. Several folks rolled out of their Westies along the road side to say hi. The road ended and became a trail and I was climbing the back side of Green Mountain. It was late in the day and the sun was low in the sky and I could feel its burn on my back. Here I became tired and I had to stand in the pedals to climb the corner where it gets really steep and rutted out. Several deer looked up from their late day snack to assess whether I was a threat and seeing that I was only a threat to myself went about their business. When I reached what I thought was the top was a false summit and I was climbing my favorite uphill on the backside of Apex. It was cool and the spring that runs along the trail kept the air cool and I could feel my strength returning. Once on top the trail turned to road and I was riding down from the end of the Monarch Crest into Poncha Springs. I was drafting my friend Dave and we were peddling with all our might trying to beat the rain. I passed him and when I was tired he passed me and so on. At the bottom was a bridge and about 100 yards in front was the line of rain. One side dry and the other wet. We approached and Dave was gone and I was riding on a fall day in Moab. The orange, yellow, and red leaves combined with the landscape made this particular ride the most spectacular. The light breeze rustled the leaves out of the way of my front tire carrying with it the crisp reminder that winter is not far off. I turned the corner where my truck was sitting in front of the condo and inside were my friends and Thanksgiving dinner. I love Sundays!

May 12, 2005

Temperature-47.2 C -53.0 F
Windchill-68.8 C -91.8 F
Wind 17.8 kts Grid 11
Barometer 684.6 mb (10455 ft)
Lunch: Turkey Tetrazzini with grease
Dinner: Spare Ribs, I had the greasy vegetarian tofu carrot souffle

It has been some time since my last entry. I have been very busy every night this week and just haven’t had the time.
Monday, started out kind of weird in that one of the supervisors decided to tell W0 that Big R will not be offering him a contract to come back. I thought it kind of inappropriate to tell the guy within ear shot of everyone in the galley. I was making my morning tea and heard "it’s that you just can’t get along with people" and I started to hum to try to block out the conversation. I think they are doing this a bit early. If it had been me and knowing the history I would have waited until the first flight was here and said "see that airplane, you will be on it when it leaves, so go pack and by the way we don’t want you back next year". I know my way is kind of harsh but I feel management may have more trouble with the guy as the season goes on because he no longer has any incentive to play nice.
Tuesday nights I have Spanish and this week Jimito put together a test to see if we are learning anything. I really like the class because it doesn’t get bogged down with all "formal" rules that my high school Spanish classes seemed to go on incessantly about. I was surprised with my results on the exam because I had studied so little. After class "T" showed "Hero" on the big screen.
Wednesday night I had my second message of the season. My wife is teaching one of the kiwis how to run autocad and his wife gives her messages in trade. My wife thought I needed some work done on my neck and back so she sent me in her place. I felt fantastic! But had little energy to do anything else so I went to bed.
Thursday I was supposed to participate in Arts and Alcohol but I opted out to just hang out in our room by myself and catch up on my blog, drink a beer and possibly watch "Napoleon Dynamite". Not much else going on!!

May 07, 2005

Temperature-64.5 C -84.1 F
Windchill-84.4 C -120.0 F
Wind 8.6 kts Grid 65
Barometer 679.2 mb (10658 ft)
Lunch: Granola
Dinner: Buttered Pasta with Parmesan Cheese

I have said it before and I will say it again "I love two day weekends!" Saturday was a big party day. "BFKs" hosted the BF5K run of 17 laps around the station. Each participant wore a costume of their choosing and was required to have a sponsor who would drink every lap the runner finished. The beakers and kiwis fielded teams and the remainder were individual runners with sponsors. My friend Dave and I dressed as old school gangsters with big medallions hanging around our necks and rings on our fingers. We both wore our matching blue fleece leisure suits and we looked like a couple of fellas from Compton. My wife dressed as Fozzey Bear in her brown fleece sweat suit and a Fozzey mask. The runners were stagger started at 5 seconds intervals and I started third behind Heidi (running in an apron that had a naked woman body on it) and Clayton (dressed as a chorus line dancer). My first ten steps were in my best home boy strut and then I broke into a run. My wife started next. I thought seventeen laps would be easy but after 11 or so I started to feel winded. Every lap I would stop and give my home boy Dave some love and then do break dance moves in front of the crowd. Jarrod my sponsor kept up on his drinks and by the time I finished did 6 shots of bourbon and 2 beers in a little over 27 minutes. He wasn’t feeling very good and I think he had to go relieve himself. Later at the award ceremony I found out I was the first individual finisher and my wife was the first female. Jarrod and I won a 10 minute shower each and the wife won a $30 gift certificate to Dux De Lux (The microbrew in Christchurch). Later all the participants had to stand in front of the spectators for costume judging. Kiwi Jon won in his seventies nerdy tennis outfit. I was funny to see such a "tough" guy dressed that way.
After that there was a break in the action until Allan and his crew made dinner of fish & chips, nachos, jalapeno poppers, and seven layer dip. I scarfed the nachos but did not partake in the chips because I am not fond of deep fried fish. Before dinner Jim (who was especially wasted) tried to convince my wife and I that we should do a stint in the peace corps. We kept telling him that we needed to earn money to accomplish our goals and working for free in the peace corps although interesting, would not help us with our current dreams. We kept telling him that we would think about it but he just kept demanding we do as he did. The discussion ended with him calling me a capitalist pig and then passing out in a galley chair. He was really toasted.
I then joined the kiwis for some drinks and some nachos. Much better company!!
I then retired to my room until 8:00PM and then went to the kiwi lounge to watch the first performance of the season by the band. They were pretty good and fun to watch and I hope they do other performances during the winter.
Eric the best cook on station slipped one of my bling rings on his index finger and could not get it off. He tried oil, soup, cold and it would not come off. Eventually Allan held onto it while Eric pulled and it eventually came off along with some of his knuckle. I don’t think I have seen so many drunk people since a I attended a fraternity party at the Colorado School of Mines during engineering days. I think everyone was blowing off some steam after three long weeks of work and built up stress. I for one feel much better today. I was able to get a hair cut, wash my clothes, clean my room, take a shower, shave and work on some personal projects. It was very nice to relax for a couple of days.

May 03, 2005

Temperature-45.2 C -49.4 F
Windchill-61.5 C -78.7 F
Wind 9.8 kts Grid 18
Barometer 679.1 mb (10662 ft)
Lunch: Sweet and Sour Pork
Dinner: Steak
For two nights I have stayed up late trying to post my May 1st blog with out success then when I logged on today I had 10 May 1st postings. Very frustrating.
Today we had a fire drill and I usually take my time responding since I have been promoted to team one (first responders) so that I don’t become "on scene commander". I was sitting in my office when I heard someone yelling hysterically to make an all call and get help. Thinking that someone had cut their hand off or worse in the work area. I rushed from my office thinking oh my god, I hope one of my friends isn’t seriously hurt. I rushed down the stairs and found the girl who was yelling standing over a body with a sign on it saying "un conscious victim" I was instantly relieved to see nobody was hurt but horrified that I was now on scene commander and I was in charge of running the emergency. I rushed over to a pull station to get the various fire teams alerted to respond and found the pull station inactive due to welding in the area. I then called communications on my radio and discovered the station manager on the phone and reluctant to return my queries. I guess I finally sounded sufficiently distressed that he decided to answer. I asked him to mobilize the trauma team and because there was not any sign of smoke I recommended teams 2 & 3 standby, away from the scene to give trauma room to work. They showed up very quickly which then gave me some time to discover the witness had left the scene. I then asked another team one member to track the hysterical witness down and find out who, what, when and where. I later learned she was on fire watch when she witnessed the person fall from the high shelves and land on the equipment below. Fire watch! Great so another team one person rounded up the welder and we asked him where he was welding and we resumed the fire watch. Thank goodness the observers didn’t say a flare up was to occur at some time after the drills start. This was my first time as O.C. and I learned what I would do differently but I did receive some good feed back and the drill went pretty well. If I were to respond to a similar situation I would have taken the time to tell the victim "to hang in there while I get him some help". I then would have tried to get some contact info from the witness and had her removed from the scene for interviewing by another team one member and I would have had another look for other witnesses. Other than that I would have changed very little.

May 01, 2005

Temperature-52.1 C -61.8 F
Windchill-65.7 C -86.2 F
Wind 5.5 kts Grid 24
Barometer 681.1 mb (10587 ft)
Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly
Dinner: Protein Shake

Last night I went to the library in the dome to watch the Motorcycle Diaries with some friends. I don’t know if the U.S. version was in Spanish but the version we obtained was subtitled in English. I enjoyed the movie very much and it had me thinking how much fun it might be to road trip on my Aprilia Scarabeo 50 scooter. I could not believe the scenic beauty of South America combined with social injustice between the classes. I could understand how such a trip could change ones views of the world. Before coming here I was just an average American I had left the country only three times, once for a business trip to Ascension Island, another to Mexico for a wedding and finally a sea kayaking trip in Canada. My knowledge of other cultures was very limited but after living with Germans, Kiwis and Australians for the past two years I have learned much about the way of life in other countries and I suspect like Che Guevara my life will never be the same as it was before. So for me the Motorcycle Diaries was entertaining but it also provided a moment to reflect on my own journey.
After the movie we were talking about how we feel very sorry for future residents that they will not have the library because it is coming down next summer and they will be forced to use the other lounge in the new building where the TV is nicer but it feels like watching movies in a conference room.
Today I saw my first Iridium Flare. We have been having level -8 every nine minutes for the past three days. All we have to do is walk out onto the cargo deck look up at the Southern Cross and passing through it is a satellite that becomes steadily brighter and then dimmer. I laid on the snow and watched three appear and disappear before becoming to cold to watch anymore.