I just got back from the Cargo Carnival, where events included tug of war, a pie-eating contest, and no kidding, sumo wrestling. Participants were wrapped up in a lot of bubble wrap and set at each other in a ring made from a rope laid on the snow. It was 2 falls out of 3 but my opponent Mike Boyce, 6'4" or so and no slouch, conceded after I took him down twice. The only explanation I could come up with was that he was afraid to hurt me and I wasn't burdened with any similar constraint. I also hosted the computer-smashing event: people entered for the chance to smash one of 3 (dead) computers and 1 (really dead) copier with a sledgehammer. I pulled names and handed around the sledgehammer and safety goggles. Good clean fun, except that next time we'll remember to take the toner cartridge out of any printers or copiers first.
What else? We had a quiet and pleasant Christmas holiday, with another 2 days off in a row and a meal that couldn't be beat. There was no New Years holiday but we had the traditional big Near Years party on the next Saturday night, not quite the same when you're counting down to January 4 but still a big fun party. 2 bands this year! I sang my 5 songs with "our" band, El Hot Soup, and danced the rest of the time. The band has been practicing hard all season, and I was proud of us. We also had a less formal open-mic night last night, where people could (and did) just come on up and say, recite, play, or sing anything. As this was winding down we got to highlight one of the drawbacks of the new station: now that the galley is above the snow level and has windows, you can't just go out and take your naked pictures at the Pole (if that's what you choose to do) without the risk of having an audience. Fortunately it's far enough from the Pole that all we saw was cavorting figures.
Now I've been writing about all our recent parties and you're going to have a skewed idea of what life at the Pole is all about. But it's easier and more fun to write about rocking out with the band than it is to write about the store computer that spitefully went belly-up a week before being replaced by a fancy new Point Of Sale system, and then the Ghost image failed on the new server so we had to rebuild it from the ground up, which was a problem because Ghost messed it up so badly that it couldn't see its own hard drives, but fortunately our Net Admin Brandon found a utility on the HP website and got it going just in the nick of time so we had it ready for the POS expert who came in for a very limited time to set up the new system. See what I mean? Not quite so much fun but that's really more what my life is about down here. The construction crew is making impressive progress on the new station, so the winter crew will be able to focus on interior work. We've had our usual minor fusses and things to complain about (no decent beer since, ummm, early Dec?, hardly any mail) but overall I think we're heading into winter in pretty good shape. In two weeks I get my 5-day vacation in McMurdo then it's time for Station Close and total commitment for the next 8 months. It's kinda funny, some people are trying like heck to pick up a winter job and some people wouldn't stay here for love nor money.
Oh, I almost forgot our real controversy: someone stole the 2003 Pole marker! Since the ice cap shifts about 30ft per year, each year has its own geographic Pole and a tradition has grown that each winter-over crew gets to make and sign a decorative cap. The 2003 marker was a gorgeous two-tone yin-yang summer-winter design. We don't go out and check on the things every day but we know that the 2 or 3-day period in which it vanished was a time when about 22 tourists were here, camped out by the Pole. We have some suspicions based on how people were behaving but it's all circumstantial. So if you see it on e-bay please let me know....
Some folks have noticed that the helicopter pilots whose visit I mentioned in my last message crashed on their way north from Patriot Hills. The latest message on their website says they're both recovering and would like to continue their itinerary to the North Pole: does anybody have a spare Bell helicopter to lend them?
Oh gosh, sometime I should write about the science that's going on here: as usual, some strong ongoing projects and some entertaining transients. But it's 9:30 and I'm going to go upstairs, brush my teeth, read a little bit and go to bed. Yes this is the glamorous and exciting life of a LAN/WAN Specialist.
Take care all of yous,
-Sarah