November 25, 2007

Happy late Thanksgiving!!! I am on my Thanksgiving break as well. We are given two days off for Thanksgiving compared to our usual one day. So this is a very nice long weekend. Hope you are enjoying yours as well. We had ordure’s in the hallway before turkey dinner. Some of the beakers (scientists) had a banjo band playing while we mingled before dinner. We had hot apple cider, salmon, shrimp and various other goodies just for appetizers. It was really good. After that we went in the galley for dinner. They blacked out all the windows, rearranged all the tables, used table clothes, candles and had wine servers. It was a very nice effort to make things different from the usual cafeteria eating style. We had turkey and all the fixings’. I think my favorite was the freshies (fresh fruits and veggies just arrived this week). Although we had all the food and entertainment, it just wasn’t the same. No family, football, cards, naps on the couch and leftovers. But they did a very good job!

Work is going well! We had some very cold days this week with temps still down in the -43 area. But on Friday we had a very nice break and the temp got up to -32 which doesn’t sound like much, but I could definitely tell the difference. It was a blessing right before our two day weekend. I’m currently working on four levels of scaffolding applying siding to the top corner of the angle of the building. Sorry, very hard to explain! We should be done with that particular piece on Monday. I think this will probably be the hardest part of the entire job. Once we are done with the angle portion of the building we will then always be working on straight up and down sides of the building. I deem that to be much easier than the angle. We will see though. I’ve had some questions about how I keep my face warm….. so here it is….. I first wear a neck gator/head covering deal. I tuck that into one of my inner layers and zip that layer up. Then I wear a ski mask and windproof beanie hat. Then goggles and a hardhat. Eventually the goggles will fog up, but we have to have eye protection. When in reality it is safer to work without goggles then it is to work with iced up goggles….. Thanks corporate America! The hardhat doesn’t bother me as much down here because it is on top of so many layers I hardly know it’s there.

Yesterday I was able to play the inaugural round of Freebee golf out in the brumes. The brumes are where everything is stored… siding, screws, track, plywood, rumor says there is a pool table out there. Just rows and rows of stuff they don’t tell you about anywhere else in the world. I will try and send a picture of me sitting on them. It was very nice to get outside and do something other than work. They made a sledding hill in front of the station for the holidays. One of these days I’m going to go. I have to go before someone gets hurt, because after that they usually close it down!

This is a very cool year to be down here. They are dedicating the station this year around January 12. We are having around 40 DV’s (distinguished visitors) fly in on that day, tour the station, take a picture with all of us and the ceremonial South Pole in front of the building. I don’t know who’s coming, but probably important people in the project and maybe senators. Then the all leave that night and we have our own party. Now I’m not sure of the party is because they all left or because we are celebrating the station!

Hope all is well with you and if you have any wonders or questions, just let me know…

Andrew