Bummer!

The demo crews were going to dig a hole with dynamite today, but that has been delayed. If I can get some pictures or video of that tomorrow, I'll post it.

Condition 1

Whoa! The areas around McMurdo have hit condition 1 because visibility dropped below 100 feet. Condition 1 is defined as weather that meets any of the following criterion or combination of criteria:

• wind speeds greater than 55 knots


• wind chills colder than -100 degrees Fahrenheit


• visibility less than 100 feet

I actually had to put on my goggles for the first time today so that stuff wouldn't get in my eyes.

Sunset

Last Saturday night, I stayed up to watch one of the last sunsets of the season. I think the last one is about to happen soon. Here's a sample, but I have another in my album:

From Antarctica

Christchurch pictures

I have finally worked myself into a semi-slow point, so I've gotten a chance (and some bandwidth) to upload the photos I've taken so far. All of my photos can be found on my public picasa album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/abchee/Antarctica#

Here is my room in the Hotel So in Christchurch. It was pretty nice, but it was very Japanese/European in size:


From Antarctica

Here is a sample photo of the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. I really like the place.


From Antarctica

I sat on this bench for about two hours:

From Antarctica

The World Peace Bell is pretty cool, but I really liked the inscribed cobblestones around it:

From Antarctica

Cold

Oh, the last post came about because the weather dipped to -29 degrees Fahrenheit with windchill, and I haven't even had to put everything on.

Paid off

I am pretty happy with the cold weather clothing that I have. The USAP issue gear is pretty warm, and the stuff I bought is working out pretty well. I'm particularly satisfied with the hiking boots that I bought:
http://montrail.com/Product.aspx?prod=102&cat=120&top=1
They have been pretty warm, and the ankle-support has been very good.

I'm finally feeling like I know my way around, and the work week is helping me get into the swing of things. I have permanent nappy hair all the time, though. I might consider cutting my hair even shorter than it is.

Snow!

We had a light snow this morning, which was nice. I had my first try at the Frosty Boy yesterday, and it was ridiculously good. The Frosty Boy is the soft-serve ice cream machine, which I'm not normally a fan of. I don't know why it made my day.

Apparently, people get really, really angry when the Frosty Boy is out of order. I think I saw a Frosty Boy T-shirt on station, so I'm hoping that I can find one in the station's store.