Frozen Dishes : life after the ice
Friday, February 27, 2004
The other day I made some peanut butter cookies and everyone seemed to enjoy them. I try to plan it so I get a few trays fresh out of the oven just as break time starts. Hot cookies are always a crowd pleaser. I'm cooking off the rest of the dough tomorrow and will be adding chocolate chips to the mix this time. Looks good on paper, hopefully they will turn out as yummy as they sound. Speaking of yummy things, this weekend is a two day weekend for us. We get to celebrate these two dayers once a month, but only during the winter season. This is our first one and everyone is excited to get that extra day of rest. My buddy and I are hoping to make a one day movie. All we requre is at least one recruit. We made similar movies while wintering together in mcmurdo a few years back. The only two guidelines are thus: the movie must be completed that afternoon (average shooting time in the past seemed to be four hours) and no editing allowed. Get together, come up with an idea and start shooting. Cocktails are usually served during the planning session as well. All the dialouge is winged and that usually results in many laughs. We watch the finished product later on that night. Always a good time, even when the movie doesn't turn out so good. Not to blow my own horn, but we have managed to make a few gems though. We shot a few episodes of a soap opera that turned out fantastic. A fun way to spend a day if nothing else. This will be our first cinematic venture together in many moons, so we are a tad rusty. The ice cream continues to flow worry free at the moment.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Celebrated Fat Tuesday at the bar last night. I got to be the bartender towards the end of the night. It was fun back there. Beautiful weather today. A toasty -19, w/c-70. High temps for this time of the year. The wind is blowing pretty good tonight and while I was standing on the deck outside my berthing I could hear the snow being blown against the side of the dome. It sounded like rain. Rain is definitely something I miss down here, so hearing that was very nice. No worries on the ice cream front lately. Life is good.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Ahhh...Sunday. Hard to beat a day off. Today turned out to be a movie day. Started my picture show watching with "the good, the bad & the ugly" at 11:00. Smoked cigars, ate cold cut sammies and drank irish cofee whilst watching the westren unfold. After that one ended someone popped in "paint your wagon". I stuck around long enough to see the first Clint scerenade then had to split. Not the biggest musical fan to ever walk the planet, especially bad ones. Cruised to a friend's room to collect my loaned out video camera and walked into the beginning of "the omen II". A gem which yielded many satan jokes and laughs. Naturally we sipped on bloody marys during that masterpiece. Stopped into the galley for a quick bite and then made my way up to the library where we watched "lost highway". Nice lazy day, just what the doctor ordered.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
Today was a banner day. Woke up an hour early to do my greenhouse gig. Put on some shorts, a t-shirt, my sandals, slipped out my fire emergency escapse hatch ( otherwise known as my back door) & crossed the roof to the greenhouse. It was an amazing way to start the day. At home I work on the groundscrew for a major league ballpark and I miss the green outdoors. Nice and humid in the ole greenhouse as well. Tasty viddles once again and I'm happy to report that even the ice cream machine pulled out of its' frozen funk, working all night long. Sorry if that Lionel Richie song is now stuck in your head. At least it's in my head now. Off to bed for this hombre. Day off tomorrow, so good restful times ahead.
Friday, February 20, 2004
My cookies turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself. Soft & yummy. Now I need to make a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip. Not really a favorite of mine, but it's a request from a good friend. Watched the movie "Silent Running" with some friends last night. Pretty cheesy and a bit long. We did get some laughs out of it though, so it was worth the viewing. Tomorow morning I do my first greenhouse volunteer shift. I learned the ropes after work tonight. Basically I'll be checking the water levels of the system, PH levels and misting the whole place down real good. The greenhouse is an awesome place to hang out. Humid, warm and full of life. Tonight the ugly face of the ice cream machine surfaced once again. The vanilla side froze up during dinner. Moans and groans from the masses, but that bothers me not. I'll clean it out tomorrow and get a fresh start Monday. We decided to keep it off on Sundays. When I say "we", I mean the new tech and myself. The community will probably shed some tears over not being able to get ice cream on the lord's day. Once again I am not troubled by this. They will survive, this is antarctica afterall.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
This is a picture of me (in the driver's seat) on the day I went out measuring snow drifts. Such a fun machine to drive.
The view as I drove to the next measuring point.
Another shot of my day measuring the drifts. We traveled about 20 miles off station.
This is me at halloween. You can't see it, but a buddy of mine drew a curly Q hair on my forehead in marker. Charlie Brown got intoxicated that night. I'll be posting a current picture of myself soon and then the hair growth contest can begin.
This is the plane I took to mcmurdo for my r&r adventure. Won't be seeing another one of these until November.
Here's a picture of the ice cream machine. Looks harmless enough, but don't be fooled.
We've been having some satellite issues down here, so this is the first time in a couple of days I've been able to get online. I switched up my schedule recently and now work 9-3, 4-8. A much better day than the split shift I was doing. I'm definitely not a fan of getting up early and that 7:30 start time was killing me. The last plane left on Sunday. So, the station is closed now and winter has begun. I haven't heard an official head count yet, but I think we are 75 strong. In about a month the sun will set. That will be a stunning sight for sure. Then we won't see that firey ball again until October. Tomorrow I'm making some cookies. Everyone loves cookies fresh out of the oven. I think I'll make a batch of chocolate chip. Always a crowd pleaser. Speaking of a pleased crowd, no trouble from the ice cream machine as of late. I fear that doom is right around the bend, but for now I'm happy with the ole machine.
Friday, February 13, 2004
I recieved an e-mail from me mom just the other day. She said she had checked out my blog and thought it was cool. Made me smile, thanks mom.
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Another cold one today. Ambient of -42 and -81 w/c. Luckily I wasn't outside too much. 20 more people departed our lovely station today. Three galley crew members left today on that plane. It seems to get quieter by the minute these days. Friday is another mass exodus. When I say the station closes, I don't mean that literally. It just means on this coming Sunday the last plane headed north will leave. We won't see another plane until November. If your ass is eating dinner here Sunday night that means you either missed your flight or you have a winter contract. I doubt anyone would ever miss that plane. I think we are looking at a winter station population of 75. Overall it looks to be a good group of souls sticking around. Sure there might be a few odd ones in the mix, but that only makes things more interesting. Howard it's ironic that you asked about the moon, because today I saw it for the first time since October. The sun is sinking lower on the horizon each day and we got a view of the afternoon moon today. During the winter we will see it on the regular cycle. I remember it looking huge during my mcmurdo winters. Plus, due to the almost zero amount of light pollution here we'll see a sky jam packed with stars. The milky way will be a thick white band stretched across the sky. Hopefully some auroras will make appearances as well. No problems to report from the land of ice cream dreams. The vanilla came back quickly and is once again flowing freely.
Yesterday was a tad chlly. -78 windchill made for a cold one. I was only outside for half an hour, without most of my ECW (extreme cold weather gear) and I got cold fast. My feet froze and my eyelids iced over. Fret not though I did survive and the dishes remain clean. My transition to the day shift is slow going thus far. My new shift is 7:30 - 1:30 then 4:00 - 8:00. Currently I find myself pretty tired at work and it seems really crowded. Although, once I get used to the new schedule I think it will be a good one. During my afternoon break I'll have the run of the station whilst everyone else is out working for science. Laundry, gym, sauna and video facilities will all be mine for those few hours. And I'll still get off at a reasonable time. Not a bad deal I suppose. Only four more days and the station closes for winter. Can't wait for the night to fall in a few more weeks. Antarctica is such a beautiful place in the dark. Speaking of dark days, the good ole ice cream machine has been trouble lately. The other day I gave it a good cleaning and in return it decided to no longer give out vanilla. Being a chocolate fan myself that's not a problem, but to the community in general it's like someone turned off the heat.
Monday, February 09, 2004
A banner weekend was had by all down here. There are many people flying north this week, so lots of party hats were donned this weekend. I started saturday by drinking daiquiris with the lovely ladies from the night shift after work. We watched a few episodes of "sex & the city" between blending. Always fun to hang out with a group of women, never know what little tidbits of knowledge one might pick up. I was the only guy that showed up, although others were invited. I didn't mind though, I see plenty of guys every day believe you me. Got a few hours of sleep and then met up with a good friend that recently arrived . She's an old crony from my mcmurdo days and it's great to see her again. Good energy exudes from her and her presence will make the dark winter much brighter indeed. Later on in the evening we attended a big party at one of the dorms. A going away of sorts for many of those at the party. Tried to go to bed relatively early, because I'm starting back on the day shift monday. Hard to switch the ole sleeping cycle in just a few days. I suppose it doesn't help when you try to do it on the weekend. Or at least it surely didn't help this lad. Today was a mellow day. Laid low and attempted to stay up all day. Ended up taknig one nap, but I did better than I had expected. Tomorrow is going to come knocking early though. Our fearless and valiant ice cream tech leaves soon too. I was briefly in the galley today and heard some strange sounds coming from the machine. It probably senses the departure of our tech and is in mourning. Got to say though it worked like a champ all week. Made me proud. Both flavors were given out and everyone was happy.
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Went out last night dressed up as Boozy the clown. A clown I invented a few seasons ago while at mcmurdo. As the name suggests basically Boozy is a clown that gets really drunk. He means well, but not a clown you'd hire to entertain kids. My yogurt came out fantastic. Pretty easy to make actually. Still haven't finished setting up the room. I might be able to finish it today after work though. Although last night's booze cruise has left me a tad tired. So I might just go to bed early. Speaking of work I suppose I'd best get back at it. Almost dinner time. Tonight our diners will have the choice of either vanilla or chocolate. Yep, that's right the ole machine is working like a hero. I think the air orifice enlarging plan paid off. God bless our tech. Pictures to come soon. I'll try again later today. Happy February by the way.
