Island hopping.

We visited two islands in the past week Jules and Tent.  The experience could not have been any different.  Jules was a tropical paradise.  An island of dark volcanic rock in a sea of dirty ice.  Dirty ice is beautiful, white with lines of black dust ringing pools of clear blue water.  The sun warms the rock and there is no wind.  After we upgraded the weather station a few of us laid down for a nap in the sun while we waited on the helicopter to pick us up.  Tent could not have been any more different.  Continuous 40 mph winds whipped over the island.   We had to lash our packs to the tower to keep them from blowing away.  Volcanic dust that rose with every step is not fun in the eyes!  But, we finished in time and made the call to the helicopter barely catching it, five minutes later and it would have been on another trip earning us another hour on the blasted rock!

What have I gotten myself into?!

  So as I sit and write my sermon for the upcoming Sunday I am a little overwhelmed.  I walked into this one.  I was eating lunch with the Chaplain and the other usher and mentioned that I always wanted to be an usher when I was young.  He responded that he always wanted to be an usher too.  So I suggested that I preach next week and he could usher.  "Ok, sounds good" he responded.  Now he is a teacher of preaching and I have been talking with him about going into the ministry so this isn't out of place, but still I wasn't expecting it!
  Last week I decided to start taking my faith seriously and stop being lukewarm.  So, this is an answer to prayer.  My family has been irritatingly not as stressed about this as I am, but that has also been encouraging.   I will be speaking on Jonah 3.  It is fitting because I feel like a recovering Jonah these days.  I have gotten a bit on paper after staring at the blinking empty cursor that represents writers block these days, back to work!

I am the Aeronaut!

  The first rule of helicopter safety is don't move fast because loading and unloading a running helicopter is exciting.  It really is, you feel like you are special forces in a movie!  I had three helicopter flights over the last three days and it is a great new experience.  After you take off there is a moment of wrongness and fear and then it's a blast.  On the third day we landed on a ledge on the side of Jules island.  The pilots here really know their stuff and even in the high winds are accurate.  They did manage to blow a few of our bags down the hill when they came to pick us up.  We all had to just watch because the second rule is not to chase things a landing helo blows around.  More flights to follow next week, just something about a helicopter ride that makes me feel like Rambo!

Who burned the snow!

  "Happy Camper" was amazing.  We had three great instructors.  One, Julian was an outward bound instructor who's regular vocabulary include liberal use of words like, gnarly, burly, and such.  A guy like that can teach about anything and hold a crowd's attention.  So, good instructors, adventure commences!

  We rode in deltas out about halfway to the balloon launching facility.  By we I mean 20 assorted Mcmurdo staff.  Some Swedish fish and fossil scientists, some deep camp cooks, and some seal observers.  From there we hiked a few hundred yards to the I-hut.  The lovely heated hut where the instructors teach and sleep.  There I learned how to light the most finikey reliable camping stove on the market.  All you have to do it pressurize the white gas, let some pour all over the coil and light it.  Then when the gas comes though the coil next time it is heated and gaseous. As long as you remember to keep pumping it snow becomes water presto change o!  Side note: did you know you can burn snow?  If you heat just snow in a pot the pot burns and the resulting water tastes like burnt pot.  

  After another couple hundred yard hike we arrive at our camp.  A few hours and we know how to storm proof  things and the instructors head off to the warmth of the I-hut.  By now we have been outside about eight hours at three degrees.  Constant eating, drinking, and movement is key to staying warm!  At this point I can enjoy watching the lazy people who don't pitch in and help get cold!  We construct a kitchen to keep the wind off the camp stoves and a wall to protect the tents.  This snow is great for building walls and such.  After the camp prep is done I can begin my snow trench.  I had promised that it would be palatial with gargoyles and spires.  After about three hours of digging I had a nice deep trench and my aspirations had moved to creating something warm.  Another hour I had a roof and felt rather pleased with myself.  Most of the camp is asleep in their tents haha fools!  I have a warm trench to sleep in!

  At this point take not of a few things.  First my beard is full of ice and awesome!  My water is frozen even though it was inside my fleece.  I skipped the dehydrated dinner provided and ate some lovely mostly frozen spam!  Also note my Dr. Pepper was also mostly frozen.  Boiling water added to frozen soda makes a warming treat.  I wandered over to watch the Swedish fish scientists build their igloo.  In hindsight at the point I was a bit low on food, water, and have not moved in a few hours.  Bedtime!

  My huge snow trench now seems a bit tight with a roof on it.  I would have preferred to get my gear set up before I roofed it, but that would have covered my sleeping bag in snow.  So, now I am trying to get set up in this tiny cold space. Anything I do covers me and my bag in snow. The old problem arises with gloves on I don't have the dexterity to take off my boots, without my hands are so cold, so cold!  Prepare for me to broken record that a bit.  Boots and coat off I manage to get into my liner and bag without to much snow getting in there with me.  My left hand is frozen and I break open my first set of hand warmers... duds!  Hands into armpits, nice and toasty!  At this point I realize I should have spent more time smoothing out the floor, and as I pull the bag's hood over my head It stops short.  Also it is icy cold.  This cycle repeats for a couple hours.  I eat more, drink a frozen Dr. Pepper, and do sit-ups, nothing works!  Now the worst thing you can do is put your head inside the bag because your breath eventually soaks you and freezes.  The good thing at this point is I only have to kill three more hours.  I am very glad I stayed up to watch the Swedes and avoided   several hours of cold sleep.  About three am I find a comfortable position where I can scrunch into the bag and cover my head finding a small opening to breath through.  I am almost warm!

  Morning rolls around and it is piercing cold.  I manage to worm my way up the stairs pop open the roof/door and enter the sunshine.  Did you notice that my snow palace has both a door and stairs?  At this point I am still in my sleeping bag because there is no room to reboot. Now the rest of the day is pretty standard.  Tear down the camp and then.... six more hours of training.  Huzzah I can ride in helicopters!  I make it home have a dinner. In bed by seven, and I wake up the next day at nine!  I'm a new man with the exception of a crick in the neck from poor sleeping position.  This feels anticlimactic....

Expedition time!

Well closer to a camping trip. It's time for my survival training which means two days of camping on the sea ice.  My current concern is how to prevent my spam from freezing.  I think by the time I put on all my layers and stash all the things I don't want to freeze inside I will look like that kid from "a christmas story" that could barely move.  The prize for completion is being able to head out to remote camps on the helicopters.
  So, off I go!  This should be the camping trip to end them all!  I wanted to build a magnificent snow fort but the sad truth is the larger it is the harder it is for your body to heat it.  So tiny and artful, maybe some ice sculptures...

I got a job!

  I started work as an usher at the chapel yesterday.  Apparently I have an affinity for carrying plates and have secretly always wanted to be one.  Now that flight check is done I am able to relax and start to build a life down here.  Both of the weeknight Bible studies are going well also.  The provided questions stay pretty standard, either "goes without saying" or crushingly personal.  But, I'm getting to know the crowd so I can answer some personal ones.  I still hate talking about myself, is that a western stigma or could I have grown up around to many long talkers.  Either way, they are great last week we had four people come, if you include both chaplains!
  I am currently half asleep.  I work up at 12:57 just in time to miss lunch.  I like night shift, it's the perfect combo!  Leadership is asleep and the airfields are quiet enough to get some work done.  We have to level all of our equipment every day, some of it is checked three times.  The sea is is so shifty.  It is a great time to watch the sun try to rise and set.  It never gets dark but the sun does dissapear behind the mountians for a few hours.  I saw my first sundog today.  It's a circular rainbow around the sun.  There was only a little bit of ice in the air so only the smallest section showed up.  There is another odd thing here, when the conditions are right which is often it is called "flat light".  It removes all the definition from the snow and makes driving and walking difficult because you cannot see lumps or bumps.  Had a few humbling falls for sure...

Stonger, Faster, Colder!

I once watched a documentary about the caribou herders of north Canada.  There was an old man weaving rope in sub zero temperatures with fingerless gloves.  It amazed me at the time.  Now I understand,  I already feel adapted to this cold a lot.  Today its -8 and I am comfortable in a light fleece and glove liners.  Now before you say "wow Josh you are such a manly man" that is as long as I am moving.  It is novel to have to strip down to a long sleeve t-shirt to cut ice so I don't start sweating and die.  Steam pours off of us like Detroit smog.  But, the second I stop moving the cold really sinks in. I'm eager to experience the really cold stuff at the pole and see that the current temp -50 feels like at 9000 feet.

To much sun!

  Every "night" as I head to bed I shake my fist at the ever present sun and wish it to be gone.  I have found it's best to stay indoors for a few hours before I sleep to help forget the sun is still up and will remain so. 
  Lunch was lovely today, the Tuscan trifle with Gan Marnier braised prunes was so good my monocle popped out.  I do say!  True story, the food here is amazing.
  This Sunday I have a tour of the labs set up.  They even have a touch tank!  Time to be a kid again...

Things as they stand!

  I thought an overview would be in order so everyone knows what I am talking about.  There are three runways here, Pegasus, Ice, and Willy field.  Pegasus is on the permanent ice shelf about 15 miles from town.  It will be our main runway once Ice Runway melts in a few months.  The road to Ice is already starting to crack so it could be soon.  We will move all the buildings on skis over to Pegasus.  The transition from land to the sea ice is already cracking badly.  They are trying to keep it stable with fresh water but a few vehicles have already broken through.  It's shallow there, no worries.  Willy field is where we launch the weather balloons from.

Flight Check is almost over!

  We are concluding flight check!  Hopefully today!  Flight check is when the FAA comes down and tests all of our equipment.  It is the busiest few weeks of our season because everything has to be perfect.  People have been working 22 hour days around here so my 15 hour days seem short by comparison.  All is well though because we see the light on the other side.
  I have spent the last few days digging out the ski on a shelter out of some solid ice so we can level said shelter.  We have a good crew.  Will loves the chainsaw, Sunny can throw ice half a mile, My niche is chiseling(it's a four foot one), while Carl is great at not hitting me with the sledgehammer that is pounding on said chisel.  By the time it was all said and done we had broken a big chain and a cargo strap, no easy task.  It's all technical work from here and seeing as my use as grunt has temporarily expired, I get to blog!

Good day!

  Today ended well.  I am working on the chapels sound system and was quite frustrated.  I wanted to go home but my persistence was rewarded when a girl came in an practiced piano for a half hour.  I really enjoy live piano.  So I end the day relaxed and happy.
  It almost hit -40 today.  I always include wind chill because the numbers look lower.  Were had to dig out a shelter ski at Pegasus and even with chainsaws it was slow work.  It's such good fun to carve out ice blocks with power tools, almost therapudic.  My face almost froze again, but that is nothing new.  The mactrack only hinted at breaking down which is uncommon!
  Bummed I have to work tommorow and miss the chapel service...

A dastardy poison!

After I enjoyed by breakfast and drank my last glass of water I prepared to leave.  Looking down to my horror I saw a glass full of crud where the should have been none.  I managed not to get sick until I made it outside but after that it was a long morning!  By lunch I was cleaned out and proceeded to have a good day!
  We managed to break another mattrack today.  For those of you counting that makes three.  Another thanks to God that we made it back to town.  With wind chill sitting around -30 getting stranded is not attractive. 
  Rob Bell's Nooma series is interesting.  It's an older series but you can already see him focusing on the now and saving the world while diminishing the afterlife.  It's still good fellowship and talking material but so many of his questions are very leading.  Both the pastor and the priest are very gifted.  God is good!

Be I man, or be I goat?

The web cam up on crater hill was broken today so up we go.  The path up was a snow covered slippery goat trail.  We had the problem fixed in a few minutes and had plenty of time to slide down the main road back to town, and by slide I mean a barely controlled descent alternating between ice, snow, and volcanic rock.  So the web cam might be working again...    Everything is so fragile in the cold.  Plastic snaps at the slightest provocation!  I think I finally will be able to hold babies after all this trip. 
  Bible study again tonight, it's by Rob Bell the "Love Wins" guy.  We will see how this goes!  Just finished a delicious gumbo lunch.  Back to work!

MVP of the day goes it tim!

  It's a lovely -6 here today.  I had snowmobile training this morning and it was a blast.  We were practicing riding on the sides of hills and such when my friend Tim said to me: "You might want to cove up more, your cheeks are turning grey."  So I was saved from frost nip which can be tricky because you can't feel it coming on.  So thanks Tim!

Anyone got a spare truck tread?

  Today was eventful!  I had training all morning on how not to hurt the environment.  They take it very seriously down here.  There are no trash cans just variations on recycling bins.  Extra care is given to make sure nothing spills or leaks at all.  Overall its pleasant.
  We were securing masts out at Pegasus runway today.  Pegasus is about 15k out from McMurdo.  The way to secure a mast out here is to erect it, pile snow around it, then pour water on the snow and repeat.  Eventually it's a giant unmovable block of ice!  On the way back one of the treads on the truck started to fray and we limped back to base to the tune of a steady thump whump for an hour. 
  The snow today had the consistence of peanut brittle, in that it was brittle.  Not delecious.

It's quiet to quiet

The silence out here is odd.  No traffic, no music, no one hanging out outside.  It's very peaceful but I could see how it would drive a person nuts after a while.  That and when the wind kicks up the snow the horizon disappears.  Its disorienting and impossible to see where the ground ends and the clouds begin, like being underwater in the dark.
  I'm lookinf forward to comming home and visiting everyone.  I miss everyone!  I'm looking forward to tommorow night and bible study.  I have high hopes to meet like minded folks.  In a few weeks my usb modem should be here and then I will have sweet sweet internet in my room! 

First Sunday

 Sunday, sweet sweet sleep in time!  Roll out of bed at 9:30 and its time for brunch!  More odd dishes, imagine stroganoff noodles with brown sugar.  Church at 11:00, the chaplain is from  New York.  The congregation numbers in the tens of people!  Two Bible studies are scheduled, one from that "love wins" chap.  So, I think I can keep well fed.
  A second note on food: I ate prime rib with mash potatoes and mushroom gravy oh and asparagus!  So yeah, I live like a king down here!  I'm off to watch the All Black stomp Argentina!  Argentina was stomped huzzah!

To Pegasus!

More training today.  I'm getting used to the cold.  We headed out to Pegasus runway about 17k across the ice.  We took a mactrak, a ford f350 with tank treads for wheels.  It makes for a bumpy ride but its great to get out of the shop.  We are still working on opening the runway and leveling the snow.  We had to do some serious digging to find the bases for our antenna.  Some of the tie downs were down in the ice layer and took some chiseling to break free.  I'm loving my prescription sunglasses. I just wish I could wear by baklava without steaming them up.  Solutions will be found!
  I avoided sunburn only by luck.  My face was pretty beat up by the time I got back.  The conditions were great for fata morgana(ice mirages).  The exposed metal here steals heat through any number of layers.  Blistex has been moved to an inner pocket but still seems mostly frozen.  I think frozen will be the theme for this trip.  My skin is already feeling a bit more like a reptile then normal.  It's a harsh continent!

First Day at Work

We all meet every morning at 7:00 to plan the day and eat breakfast.  I'm eating a lot of things I had only read about but all the food here is odd.  It's like they read about the dish and then forgot a few details.  The sweet and sour chick ended up like chicken fingers over rice with sauce.  No complaints though, it is Antarctica and I'm guessing the cooks are descended from Magyver. 
  I fixed something today.  I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of the systems I have to learn to be useful.  I'm learning a lot though.  It's all equipment I have heard about while I was at Dover.  I wont get to technical here but by the time I'm done here I will know about anything that could be related to flying planes.

Feet on Ice

Get dressed, board a C-17, six hours later all the ice I ever wanted and more.  The flight was like mixer.  I met some more interesting folks: helicopter mechanics, a carpenter from NZ, some seal taggers.  Apparently tagging seals is very similar to mugging, throw a bag over their head while your buddy jumps on them,a quick clip and done.  We landed on the ice shelf, nothing but snow and ice for miles.  The snow here is wrong, it has the consistency of Styrofoam and the strength of clay.  I was luck to arrive on a warm day -30 or so after wind chill.  The wind cuts right into you.  Blistex is awesome but I had mine in an outer pocket so its frozen, same for my camera, a few minutes in my coat and I can take pictures again.  I love my big stompy boots, my feet have yet to be cold!
  We hiked over the Ivan the "terra bus"and rolled off to town.  This place is an off-roaders dream.  Everything has either huge tires or treads.  The snowmobiles are calling my name.  I made it in time for dinner.  The food here is great.  Due to the large number of environmental scientists there are a lot of vegans and such.  The cafeteria carries soy milk and fresh veggies are a lot less rare that I thought.  All of the contractors for SRC stay in one dorm.  Jet lag wins this match and I fall asleep on the worlds thinnest pillow.  Fold it over twice and it does the trick.

Arrival in New Zealand

Charlotte to San Francisco to Auckland to Christchurch today.  Cross the dateline and poof you are in the future!  If anyone wants to know what happens tomorrow ask me because I am already there.  Christchurch is nice,  I'm staying at a hotel called the Commodore so you know its classy.  Enjoyed some local chowder, delicious and I could even identify all the bits of seafood mixed in.  New Zealand mussels are delicious.  I also sampled a spicy chili pasta that really burnt off the jet lag. 
The city is still recovering from a major earthquake and there are hourly aftershocks. It didn't feel right to play tourist so I hit the pup to watch the rugby world cup.  The national team is doing well and I think I might have found a sport that can hold my attention.  Imagine football but the clock does not stop or anything minor.  40 minutes of play takes about 45, not the last 5 minutes taking 30 to finish in football.  Play continues even as the medics attend to the fallen! I never thought I could be a sports fan but hey I might be growing as a person?
  I picked up all my gear for the ice.  I realize I may have over packed.  I chatted with some urchin scientists.  Apparently all of the CO2 is adjusting the pH of the oceans, more to follow on that. Tomorrow I fly!

It begins!

Having decided my life is now interesting enough to have a web log or "blog" as you kids say;  I have deigned to share the exciting bits.  Apparently people can follow me now and read all my personal thoughts over this "interweb" thing?  Creepy if you ask me!  Stop reading this and go get some sun!  I will now don my tin foil hat so that we can commence.