Skua Attack

Current Temp Ambient:  17.6  Windchill:   8.6
Windspeed (knots):   calm

Apart from penguins and the occasional petrel, there are these huge scavenger birds down here called skuas.  

They are infamous for waiting for us to take our food out of the galley to our rooms and they are very skilled at getting our plates out of our hands or our food off or our plates.  There are stories of skuas coming out of nowhere from underneath trays and plates, knocking the food out of the unsuspecting Antarctican's hands, or just dive bombing from the top.  Some people surrender their food with no attack necessary.  After at least 30% of meals there is some evidence of a skua attack, a stick of broccoli, a slice of bread, that weird stew they served at lunch yesterday.  Personally, in 5 seasons i've never had a problem.  I respect the skuas, they survive in the worst of conditions, they're sassy.  They're tough.  I thought it was kind of like how I always get along with the squirreliest kids in the class, they just pick up my cool vibe and leave me alone.  We have mutual respect for each other. 

Lately i've been eating in my room a lot.  The skuas just give me the "wassup homey?" head nod and go find some vulnerable person to attack.  We are in the same club of bad asses.  Or so i thought...until yesterday.

So at dinner time last night I'm walking out of the galley building heading to my room with my food and my friend Sally just points to this particularly scruffy and menacing looking skua strategically positioned to block any of 4 dorms.  Sally doesn't say a word.  We give each other the knowing "i got your back" nod and proceed toward our dorm.  Then I brilliantly decided to go AROUND the fucking thing, and that god damned skua started dive bombing me!  Multiple attacks!  I started running and screaming like a crazy person, serpentining, running around and shaking my head like it was a god damned bee or something.  I completely lost my mind.  These things are huge, they must weigh 7 lbs.  I just kept seeing his shadow getting bigger, complete with claws.  He'd retreat and come back for another attack.  I could feel his claws in my hair during at least 2 of the attacks.  

Yes, there were many witnesses.  

Yes, they all know who I am.  

Watching me running, screaming, shaking my head with my god damned dinner in my hands yelling out "suggestions" like it was a spectator sport.

"JONI!  STOP AND LOOK HIM IN THE EYE!"  yells Dave

"THROW YOUR FOOD!"  screams Sally

"STOP RUNNING" yells someone else

But no.  I stuck to my guns.  Running in a big circle screaming like a crazy person.  Until, in the grand finale...i tripped and slid across the dirt like a major league baseball player.  I mean i SLID.  then my friend Ralph calmly stood between me and that skua, I collected my plate, wiped the tears (of laughter) from my cheeks, and went inside.  Within 2 seconds someone saw me in the hall and said "I heard that was the worst one ever!"

Dinner sucked.  I should have fed it to the skua.

i hope you laugh as much as I did (and still am).

WATER!

Current Temp Ambient:   26.6    Windchill:     19.9
Windspeed (knots):    14
Next Sunset:   Feb 21, 2012

Apologies, I've been remiss in blogging, I'm tired and not a whole heck of a lot is going on that I feel like writing about.  However, there is open water, which I've never seen here before.  In my previous trips, there was an enormous ice berg (as in the size of Rhode Island) blocking the annual sea ice from blowing out.   That berg has moved on, so the sun, the wind, the tides and the current have done their thing and encouraged the sea ice to melt, break up, and head north.  There are whales and penguins more and more frequently.  In the next few days I'll take a walk and hopefully see some of the amazing critters that occupy this barely inhabitable place.  Today I had to walk down by the water for work and the temp must have dropped 10 degrees in the 100 yards between my work center and the place by the water I had to go because of the humidity in the air from the open water.  I almost forgot oceans are supposed to be made of liquid!

The ice breaker has also arrived and quickly cut a channel for the fuel tanker (pictured below) and the cargo vessel to sail through.  The cargo vessel is having a very rough year, it's broken down three times and is slowly making it's way here extremely late in the season as a result.  A lot of our stuff will need to be flow down by C-17, it's a tough year for the folks who work in cargo.

As you can see from my Next Sunset line in the header of this blog entry, we are just a few weeks away from the first sunset, which means the summer season is ending.  I'm out of here in 2-3 weeks, my exact date is still up in the air, but before long I will be packing up and heading north.  I have a lot of fun travel plans ahead of me this spring and I'm really looking forward to various tropical islands, snowshoeing in Colorado, eating sushi and watermelon, getting a pedicure and a haircut, seeing my family and friends, petting a dog, driving my car, seeing the moon and the stars, sleeping when it's dark out, and enjoying the off season.  One of the best things about this place is the freedom it gives us the rest of the year.  I think this ice lifestyle is working for me, for now anyway.  No rat race, no errands, no rushing around.  It's very calm for labor camp and in an odd sort of way, I find it very relaxing here.  But at the moment, I just need to be warm and eat all the fresh food I want, whenever I want!

Zisman out and almost OUT!

Current Temp Ambient:   32      Windchill:     28
Windspeed (knots):     6
Sunrise/Sunset:  Still n/a

Some friends down here put this 17 minute Drunk History film together over the past month or so, it's very impressive! Phil, the drunk guy, is hilarious drunk or sober.  I'm very proud of their excellent acting, directing, editing and production.  If you don't know what drunk history is, I highly recommend you google it and watch a few, but this one is not to be missed!

http://vimeo.com/35084075

Enjoy!

Happy New Year! Ice Stock

Current Temp Ambient:  30.5   Windchill: 25.8
Windspeed (knots):  Calm

I hope 2012, the final year on earth, is treating you all well thus far.  It's going well down here.  Truth be told, it's getting that time of year where patience is wearing thin, we are all tired and ready to be warm, have some freedom of choice in what we wear, eat, do with our time, etc... but it's not intolerable or anything like that.

New Year's is always my favorite day down here.  There is an outdoor music festival called Ice Stock and it's a blast.  I never cease to be amazed with the talented folks down here who form bands quickly and are ready to play just months after getting here.

It was a lovely day, 12 bands played between 6:00 PM and 1:00 AM, there was a chili cook off, beer, hot coffee courtesy of the carpenters, t-shirts, like a real music festival!

A few pics:

The Stage:

Chili Cook Off Smoke and the quad:

Me and my friend Sam:

My friend Tony's band:

A few more pics of 1882

Current Temp Ambient:   35    Windchill:    n/a
Windspeed (knots):   none

It's a lovely day in Mactown.  We are getting ready for our 2nd two day weekend in a row for New Year's.  Tomorrow evening is Icestock, our outdoor music festival complete with chili cook off.  There are about 12 bands slated to play and it should a great time.  In season's past, it's been my favorite day of the year!

But I digress, here are a few more pics of my Dry Valleys adventure from last week:

Crazy Rock Formation

Baby Duck fixing the dish (this is his job!  It would suck on a cold, windy day)

The wind did this:

Reminded me of being in Australia or the Carribean, water and wind can both do this to rocks!

Amazing!

Coolest thing I've ever done - Dry Valleys

Current Temp Ambient:     36        Windchill:     29
Windspeed (knots):     light and variable

Last week I got extremely lucky and got to ride in a helicopter to the Dry Valleys, a series of valleys that are part of the Royal Society Mountain range across the Ross Sea from where McMurdo is on Ross Island.  The Dry Valleys are one of the most unique environments on the planet.  There are dry parts, glaciers, lakes, crazy rock formations, simply amazing.

I went with my friend Brian (nickname Baby Duck, don't ask, you don't want to know), who is a comms tech.  That means he setsup radio repeaters and satellite dishes so all of the scientists and staff at the field camps in the Dry Valleys can look at Facebook while they are out there (and call McMurdo, and email and stuff).  They had a bunch of extra seats on the flight, and it was my turn to go on a fun trip, so he took me with him!  We made two stops, first to Mt. Voslyps, not that exciting, then to a mountain called 1882 (in reference to it's height in meters), which is by far the coolest place I've ever been.  It was a gorgeous day, GORGEOUS!  I didn't even need Big Red (the parka they give us), though I wore it just so it wouldn't blow away in case of a gust.

In this video, you will see the same type of helicopter I went in, a Bell 212, picking up a load of lumber to take to one of the field camps.  Next you'll see the inside of the helo I was in, then a view or two from inside, then the landing, and finally my hiking video from the top of 1882.

Awesome, awesome day, enjoy the video!

Happy Freakin' Camper

Current Temp Ambient:   14    Windchill:      7
Windspeed (knots):            4
Next Sunset:                      Feb 16 2012

For today's entry you get to hear all about my recent "Happy" Camper experience.  Happy Camper is an overnight snow school/survival course that everyone who is going out to the field is required to endure.  I took Happy Camper my first season, and after that we are just required to do a 4 hour lecture "push" or refresher course...unless you have been out of the program for 5+ years.  Yours truly falls into that 5+ years out of the program category, so I couldn't get away with just the push course.  Trust me, I tried!

Truth be told, I learned a lot in Happy Camper the first time around, things that have helped me enjoy regular camping and outdoor winter activities much more than I had in the past.  If nothing else, I learned this time around that I indeed retained that valuable knowledge.  Here are a few things I re-tained/learned:

1. Cotton is soft and lovely against your skin, like the 780 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets that I ordered on August 3rd and have yet to receive, for example.  But in the cold, especially if you are active, cotton is your enemy. Because it retains moisture, your sweat creates a nice cooling layer right against your skin.  This can lead to discomfort at best and hypothermia at worst.  So remember folks, go poly or wool.  Silk is better than cotton, but not by much in extreme cold.  
2. Don't be a complete idiot when your life is at risk.  Stop, take your time, and think about how to get yourself to safety as quickly as possible.  Think about the resources you have at your disposal and use them wisely.  Consult others in your group for good ideas and expertise.
3. Camping in the cold sucks and I have no idea why anyone would willingly do that to themselves.
4. Group scenario activities are a drag.
5. Just because someone has a Ph.D doesn't necessarily mean they have any common sense or will be useful in a crisis situation.  Trust the electrician.

Anyway, we got really lucky on the weather, so I actually had a great time shovelling, making snow blocks for our wall that we used to block the non-existent wind, melting snow to make water, and being in an absolutely beautiful place.

Here is a pic of where we were on the ice shefl, that's Mt. Erebus, our 12k ft volcano:

Here I am with Mt. Erebus in the background, proof that I was there:

This is the snow wall we built by sawing blocks out of the show on the ice shelf, popping them out with a shovel, and stacking them to about 3/4 the height of our mountaineering tents.  It took is several hours to get this done, there were 20 of us:

Here is the dining room (which, BTW, I designed, thank you very much, coming soon to Interior Designer's  Digest) and we all built together out of the remnants of our ice wall block quarry, complete with centerpiece flags and a sculpture that Justin made.  Notice the U shaped bench and the table in the middle where we ate our delicious MREs for dinner:

That is about it, I'll post more pics if anything awesome shows up from the other folks in the group.

Zisman warm, inside and OUT