An invasive torment,
Wretched warming feeling,
Women, Woman, Whoa...Man!
A Mike Myers tourniquet placed upon the heart.
Drenched in insecurity,
or soaked in love
Insatiable with
Fulfilled without
tangible on the mind without
channelized imagination of the thoughts with
To turn around is to be bold,
To never look back is impossible
Insane but certainly attainable
What synapse connects longing with sleep?
To dream is to never wake up, but it is in our dreams that we become ALIVE
If only we could free fall forever on this wretched warming feeling
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Stop, drop, and Helo ( Now w/ new and improved PICTURES!!)
12 Nov 10'
First flight on a helicopter.
I am astounded by the smoothness of lift. As I am slowly picked up by the pressure differential and alleviated of my groundation and brought to new heights.
We cross the sea ice and finally glimpse a full spectrum of the island I have called my home for three weeks. As all day is sunny and weekends mean nothing, it is somewhat implausible for me to actually estimate the time spent on that volcanic strata emerging from its icy encapsulation.
I am thus shaken by the rotors as I came to from a serotonin stupor. To the north lies ocean begging at the ice shelf slowly biting away at the edge with each lap of its wet tongue.
We are headed to the dry valleys. Where ice sublimates, the sun rises and sets but once a year, and ice is a hot commodity for everyday life. As the salt caravan of Timbuktu, ice provides all necessities from drinking to cooking, as well as unnecessary but practical goals including showers and ATV travel.
Upon landing I noted a sense of urgency to leave the Aura of wind generated by the rotors. I am slowly acquainted with the group of 7 or 8 which is soon to be 15, then suddenly fluctuated back to 3 or 4.
The mountains of surreal quartz veins scaring the granite facade absorb my mind while I try to balance over out of peripheral rocks and mummified penguin corpses.
My tunnel vision has transfixed all but my wandering imagination at what lies atop every rock building upon each other to create these lifeless titans. If this landscape touches my soul with a bite of gasping amazement I can only wonder at how the first parties felt over a hundred years ago. This is truly the last frontier or was before satellites. For when some conquer nature and explore undocumented lands, that is all they are. Undocumented. People have inhabited them for a long time and setting foot upon that land gives you as much right to name it as fence demands you property. Antarctica however is not only void of people, it has never housed people to begin. Although some far distanced culture may have centered their bodies in the penguin circles protecting from the elements all the while harvesting a few penguins now and then to promote healthy living.
The rocks here have never been touched, the mummies have never fully decomposed, and the mystery of the energy in these mountains will hopefully never be solved.
First flight on a helicopter.
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| Bored to death... |
I am astounded by the smoothness of lift. As I am slowly picked up by the pressure differential and alleviated of my groundation and brought to new heights.
 |
| "Ob" Hill from the air |
We cross the sea ice and finally glimpse a full spectrum of the island I have called my home for three weeks. As all day is sunny and weekends mean nothing, it is somewhat implausible for me to actually estimate the time spent on that volcanic strata emerging from its icy encapsulation.
 |
| McMurdo and Mt. Erebus |
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| Mt. Erebus and the sea ice |
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| Ocean eroding the sea ice |
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| Ancient glaciers turned to icebergs frozen in time |
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| Edge of the Antarctic continent |
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| Commonwealth glacier and the down valley edge of my adventures |
Upon landing I noted a sense of urgency to leave the Aura of wind generated by the rotors. I am slowly acquainted with the group of 7 or 8 which is soon to be 15, then suddenly fluctuated back to 3 or 4.
The mountains of surreal quartz veins scaring the granite facade absorb my mind while I try to balance over out of peripheral rocks and mummified penguin corpses.
 |
| Commonwealth glacier and lake fryxell looking North |
My tunnel vision has transfixed all but my wandering imagination at what lies atop every rock building upon each other to create these lifeless titans. If this landscape touches my soul with a bite of gasping amazement I can only wonder at how the first parties felt over a hundred years ago. This is truly the last frontier or was before satellites. For when some conquer nature and explore undocumented lands, that is all they are. Undocumented. People have inhabited them for a long time and setting foot upon that land gives you as much right to name it as fence demands you property. Antarctica however is not only void of people, it has never housed people to begin. Although some far distanced culture may have centered their bodies in the penguin circles protecting from the elements all the while harvesting a few penguins now and then to promote healthy living.
 |
| Canada Glacier emptying in to Lake Fryxell |
 |
| Canada Glacier flowing down the valley |
The rocks here have never been touched, the mummies have never fully decomposed, and the mystery of the energy in these mountains will hopefully never be solved.
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| Our camp Lake Hoare and Canada glacier |
Thursday, November 11, 2010
NZ base, hiking, and more failed experiments
Today is the day. First for a many. Sitting alone listening to pink floyd however is not the first. I have spent many a good hour of hassle, deliberation, determination, and for lack of a better word(And better cliche) endeavor to persevere. I am just complaining now. But it was rather difficult to get all the boxes together and strapped with metal cord without blowing away in the persistent wind. I heard however that the wind may stop soon as the windy season is rather short and lasts from Early January to late December. I look forward to that. I look forward to many things. For example to day I will travel about 60 miles away to the dry valleys finally. Take off on a helicopter and float like a hummingbird while stinging...ummm something like a bee? Anyway...Here we go
So Here is the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) lab where I have spent many days washing bottles. Or writing this garbage on that computer. It has been fun in here but I will soon be back to cause more damage than prevent like usual.
Stupid Toilets down here...
So now on to the New Zealand Kiwi base known as Scott base. Lots of green buildings all connected and not a kiwi to be seen. Why may you ask? Because it is America night. The night when all the Mur'kans leave the safety and privacy of their own base to wander off into the unknown, chart new hills and glaciers, but most of all drink the beer that is half the price of the beer on the other side of the less green hill known as McMurdo. We start off on the shuttle rather than walk the mile up a small hill then back down. It is cold and I do not have the proper penguin wear to venture this journey. I only have stupid goose down. I hate Goose down! I asked for penguin!
Scott base was fun. For about 10 minutes. And I forgot to mention where all the kiwi's went. They hide in their rooms until the Americans leave. Some were dressed rather swanky for such an odd occasion, but hey who isn't down to dress up every now and then. In fact look at who I found!
We proceeded to leave Scott base and pass out.
Woke up 4 hours later for a hike up "Ob" hill. It is a spiky studded looking rock formation jetting out of the ground as if it were the child of a volcano not yet big enough to implode upon the earth its liquid hot magma. The rocks are all volcanic and feature many pumice like air pockets that are as sharp as razors but much less likely to contact my face. Well not like a razor is going to touch this face for a while anyway. We started out at 5 am, got a bannana that made me sick and trudged forward.
The hike was not too bad with scree most of the way. The rocks however were very sticky so it wasn't the typical 3 steps forward 18 steps back scree. your feet stick to everything. I have to now go and pack my bags as I have not had time to take care of myself or my things at all, and I leave at 1525! I'm leavin on a Helo!
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| Only a fraction of the clean bottles |
 | |||
| Another stupid failed toilet...Why do they not swirl, they just %^$&#*& evacuate immediately! |
Stupid Toilets down here...
So now on to the New Zealand Kiwi base known as Scott base. Lots of green buildings all connected and not a kiwi to be seen. Why may you ask? Because it is America night. The night when all the Mur'kans leave the safety and privacy of their own base to wander off into the unknown, chart new hills and glaciers, but most of all drink the beer that is half the price of the beer on the other side of the less green hill known as McMurdo. We start off on the shuttle rather than walk the mile up a small hill then back down. It is cold and I do not have the proper penguin wear to venture this journey. I only have stupid goose down. I hate Goose down! I asked for penguin!
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| Shuttle to Scotts avec AnnaMarie |
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| Mt Erebus avec AnnaMarie |
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| View outside the Cheap bar! avec AnnaMarie |
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| My new friend in a windowsill |
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| My new friends I feel like punching in the face before the camera goes off. Me, Dustin, Steph, AnnaMarie |
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| Smile! |
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| Scott base with Erebus |
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| Mt Erebus and a cloudy castle rock hiding in the mist |
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| The rare and mystical Kiwi Fairy! Said only to come out at night (Antarctic night) and cures cancer with its gypsy tears |
We proceeded to leave Scott base and pass out.
Woke up 4 hours later for a hike up "Ob" hill. It is a spiky studded looking rock formation jetting out of the ground as if it were the child of a volcano not yet big enough to implode upon the earth its liquid hot magma. The rocks are all volcanic and feature many pumice like air pockets that are as sharp as razors but much less likely to contact my face. Well not like a razor is going to touch this face for a while anyway. We started out at 5 am, got a bannana that made me sick and trudged forward.
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| AnnaMarie at the base with an icy beginning |
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| The Royal Society range from the top |
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| The Dry valleys off in the distance |
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| We must go through sooooo much oil after they took out the NuKular power plant |
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| Erebus with the windmills in the background |
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| AnnaMarie with McMurdo |
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| Stupid $%@*ing toilets Experiment #??? |
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Dead Seals, Huts, and Live seals
Last night was beautiful. A half prepared bluegrass band appeared on stage, and jive dancing and swinging ensued. I say they were half prepared because of the lack certain musical instruments that being of the Banjo variety. They could have played in Texas cuz they got a fiddle in the band, but sure as that chicken shittin pellets in the coop they aint got no banjo. Dancing with Anna Marie was fun whilst running other dancers over on the congested platform. Speaking of congested, the antibiotics have all but destroyed the cold, while I still feel the need to cough up a lung now and then. A side effect of the lack of banjo.
Today we planned to hike to the observation tube that juts about 15 feet under the surface of the ice. Instead however I am waken up at 4 in the morning by my roommate. Or at least it looks like my roommate sitting on his bed. I look in his bed and sure enough he is sleeping in his bed. So I am thinking it is extremely early, and I am dreaming some trippy shit from the codeine they put in my cough syrup. The two people on my roommates bed start saying something about the chair that I have my gear piled in for quick escape in case the dole corporation ever catches up with me. I mumble something that resembles "Hmm take chair. stand on to get to bunk. Im going back sleep." a couple seconds later I get booted out of my own bed and I am thinking I must still be dreaming when I am standing next to my bed with my roommate staring at me with a forlorn glare, while a very large man proceeds to crawl into my bed. My eyes dilate as if under the influence and I realize what has just happened. I start to get upset with the person who just kicked me out of my bed (mind you he is more than twice my body size, and extremely intoxicated by this point) and my roommate who is a big fellow tells me to call the fire department. The unknown stranger claims that he is in his own room. After this goes on for a little while we find out which room he is actually in and my roommate bouncers his ass out of our room. And this is all before seals.
now for the cool stuff.
Just a short hike from McMurdo can be found the remenants of one of Robert Falcon Scott's huts built in 1902. It is a very close walk to the hut, and inside can be seen old dry goods 5 score and 8 years old. It was built to house goods, and served as a terribly insulating sleeping quarters, so the crew mainly slept on the ice stranded ship.
A quick hike downhill reveals a wooden shack 50 feet from shore placed on the ice, and a giant Mario like tube sticking out of the ice next to the hut. These are the dive shack and Observation tube respectively. We all walked inside the shack and to our surprise there is this fella stickin his nose out of the water.
This Weddell Seal bobbed up and down for a couple of minutes replacing the spent air with the musty humid shack air that he was not in the least bit querimonious about. There is a short video HERE of him breathing making ostentations sounds with his nose, but sadly all I could think about was how in the hell polar bears could grab these things and haul them on the ice. Yes Polar bears have grappling hooks for claws, and yes polar bears are non existent on the south pole, but these guys look slipperier than snot on a glass doorknob.
My friends left so I went for a hike in solitude to hopefully ameliorate this cold. Beautifully etched ventifacts and porous volcanic pumice composed rock everywhere. I will not show pictures of the ventifacts in hope that when I get to the dry valleys the rocks will be larger than cars. Here they are the size of baseballs. For those of you who do not know what a ventifact is...I am just going to link it...Here. wait...woops I meant here.
I did not make it to the top of this hike. I made it about 3/4 of the way and saw a glimpse of Mt. Erebus. Here is what I got out of it.
Behind that ball there is a huge cloud surrounding and viciously incarcerating the steaming flowing magmatic volcano known as Mt. Erebus. Since it was cloudy I did not want to ruin my first glimpse of the mountain so I slowly backed away while facing it until out of view behind the hill. From there I noticed there were some gracious picture taking opportunities and me being as accepting as I am. Took them.
The peak above has stricken my fancy multiple times and I can not seem to lose it. It rises out of the sea to over 14,000 feet and as I would like to tell you more about it, I cannot. For this peak is named after a pedantic British fellow who lived forever ago, and at one time paid a large sum of money to a society that announces its adventurous endeavors with the intention of racism. So therefore I am leaving this mountain be.
Enjoy!
Today we planned to hike to the observation tube that juts about 15 feet under the surface of the ice. Instead however I am waken up at 4 in the morning by my roommate. Or at least it looks like my roommate sitting on his bed. I look in his bed and sure enough he is sleeping in his bed. So I am thinking it is extremely early, and I am dreaming some trippy shit from the codeine they put in my cough syrup. The two people on my roommates bed start saying something about the chair that I have my gear piled in for quick escape in case the dole corporation ever catches up with me. I mumble something that resembles "Hmm take chair. stand on to get to bunk. Im going back sleep." a couple seconds later I get booted out of my own bed and I am thinking I must still be dreaming when I am standing next to my bed with my roommate staring at me with a forlorn glare, while a very large man proceeds to crawl into my bed. My eyes dilate as if under the influence and I realize what has just happened. I start to get upset with the person who just kicked me out of my bed (mind you he is more than twice my body size, and extremely intoxicated by this point) and my roommate who is a big fellow tells me to call the fire department. The unknown stranger claims that he is in his own room. After this goes on for a little while we find out which room he is actually in and my roommate bouncers his ass out of our room. And this is all before seals.
now for the cool stuff.
 |
| Discovery hut with Mt. Discovery in the backdrop |
 |
| Observation hill and McMurdo in the background |
A quick hike downhill reveals a wooden shack 50 feet from shore placed on the ice, and a giant Mario like tube sticking out of the ice next to the hut. These are the dive shack and Observation tube respectively. We all walked inside the shack and to our surprise there is this fella stickin his nose out of the water.
 |
| The dive hole in the hut |
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| What is that thing floating upward? |
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| Oh hey! |
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| How are you mr. Weddell Seal? |
This Weddell Seal bobbed up and down for a couple of minutes replacing the spent air with the musty humid shack air that he was not in the least bit querimonious about. There is a short video HERE of him breathing making ostentations sounds with his nose, but sadly all I could think about was how in the hell polar bears could grab these things and haul them on the ice. Yes Polar bears have grappling hooks for claws, and yes polar bears are non existent on the south pole, but these guys look slipperier than snot on a glass doorknob.
My friends left so I went for a hike in solitude to hopefully ameliorate this cold. Beautifully etched ventifacts and porous volcanic pumice composed rock everywhere. I will not show pictures of the ventifacts in hope that when I get to the dry valleys the rocks will be larger than cars. Here they are the size of baseballs. For those of you who do not know what a ventifact is...I am just going to link it...Here. wait...woops I meant here.
I did not make it to the top of this hike. I made it about 3/4 of the way and saw a glimpse of Mt. Erebus. Here is what I got out of it.
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| Hidden Mt. Erebus |
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| McMurdo from afar |
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| This peak that I have fallen to love |
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| Start Panoramic from left to right |
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| More right with Mt. Discovery and the Airfield |
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| Airfield again and the Royal Society range |
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| Vast expanse of abyss |
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| and coming around to Ross island |
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| Oh ya before I forget here is a mumified seal carcass that has been frozen here for over 100 years!!! |
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Random Randamnations
This is me after sleeping for about 16 hours. I have almost completed reading "catch 22" in a week because all I can do anymore is sleep. I go to bed around 9 pm, wake up at 4 pm the next day. Go to dinner, wash some bottles for a couple of hours then pass out at work and have to head to bed. Aside from that I only have a little less then half the bottles done, and I don't ever want to rinse a nalgene bottle with HCl and DI water ever again! This could just be a symptom of the cold, which it probably is, but the way I see it I am hibernating for the 3 months I'll spend in a tent. So I had a Columbian dude named Juan I met in Christchurch sleep in my room for 3 nights although I never could tell if it was him or not because he was in bed before I got back and was up and gone at 6am. He left to room with a buddy and last night about 1am a Peruvian dude walked in and passed out on the bed next to mine. I talked to him for a little while and turns out he has spent his last 13 months down at the south pole. He left last September and just got to mcmurdo this morning. He said the winter there had 47 people. They can't send any planes in for help because of the harsh weather, and you need to be real calm cool and collected. If I had to spend that much time with those people in the dark on a glacier I would go postal so fast even the pony express couldn't catch me. I wanna go back to bed...I am just rambling on this entire thing. I don't think what is being typed has fully made it through the process of "sense check" before it leaves my brain. It would be similar to running a car simply by turning the key. Except that the engine never kicks up. Just that spark plug is all that is goin on in my brain right now...More bottle washin. Peace. Mafi Mushkila!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
I grew up sleeping on a twin sized bed wondering where my brother was...
So just got this juicy bit of gossip from the people that work in the offices. It is not a rumor so it has been confirmed. That means that it is true. Not false. Here is a picture of a bunkbed.
McMurdo station just ordered 150 of these from New Jersey and just had them shipped here via air cargo which must have cost a fortune and a half. This is for the extreme surplus of people the NSF did not count on being here this season and once again, "good enough for government work" So after all the shipping and handling of these beds, this is what arrived instead.
Well the beds were a somewhat simpler in design and did not come with real life size replica super hero elmo action doll, but the same idea. They ordered 150 youth bunk beds with a weight limit not too exceed 150 lb's HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Mu'rka!
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| Typical bunkbed |
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| Youth Bunk bed |
Friday, October 29, 2010
The ominous, mysterious, yet ever present McMurdo Crud...
Crud is rather an ambiguous term either meaning the stuff you dig out of the garbage disposal after you emptied all your Indian food into the sink the night before, or a explatory indicating your disgust with a certain performance. In this case it means a shitty cold. Working, eating, living, and playing together in such close quarters gives rise to a persistent bug known as "The Crud". Sadly I have been debilitated by this single celled microbe that's only intention is to piss me off. After talking to many people who have had it or have it currently, it starts off slow with a scratching of the throat, then progresses to a nasty nasal blockage incongruous to the goal that we scored on England, oh butter fingered limeys! Anyway the stage I am at now is that of constant throbbing head ache, coughing up everything but my inner organs, and complete laziness...The laziness I am blaming on the cold. I am sleeping about 12 hours a day here.
We all got the flu shot (Against my will) in New Zealand, but this bugger is flown in from all over the world to a congregation of human hosts lacking in vitamin C. Although since I have been here I have had 1 packet of EmergenC and multi vitamins, and orange juice daily! One of those packets has 1500% of your daily vitamin C for god sakes!
In the mean time I have been coming to work kinda. I have to wash and prep about 1600 bottles. This entails making an acid bath, rinsing them out like 5 times with DI water, letting them sit for an hour, baking some in an oven. and then sitting at this computer waiting looking out over the sea ice at the TransAntarctic Mountains!
Anyway about 4 C-130's came in yesterday with a load of cargo(SALAD and Fresh food!) and about 100 people. Bringing the population here to about 1100. Gotta get out before it gets too crazy. met some people from Delaware that moved in across the hall...What the hell is in Delaware? Well I gotta get back to cleaning some bottles. Oh ya before I forget there is a huge party in the gym tonight for halloween. There is no way they are fitting that many people in that building especially with costumes. I am gonna be a christmas tree...Boring. Here is a picture from icestock, which is actually new years but I was too lazy to look for a picture of halloween. Peace!
We all got the flu shot (Against my will) in New Zealand, but this bugger is flown in from all over the world to a congregation of human hosts lacking in vitamin C. Although since I have been here I have had 1 packet of EmergenC and multi vitamins, and orange juice daily! One of those packets has 1500% of your daily vitamin C for god sakes!
In the mean time I have been coming to work kinda. I have to wash and prep about 1600 bottles. This entails making an acid bath, rinsing them out like 5 times with DI water, letting them sit for an hour, baking some in an oven. and then sitting at this computer waiting looking out over the sea ice at the TransAntarctic Mountains!
Anyway about 4 C-130's came in yesterday with a load of cargo(SALAD and Fresh food!) and about 100 people. Bringing the population here to about 1100. Gotta get out before it gets too crazy. met some people from Delaware that moved in across the hall...What the hell is in Delaware? Well I gotta get back to cleaning some bottles. Oh ya before I forget there is a huge party in the gym tonight for halloween. There is no way they are fitting that many people in that building especially with costumes. I am gonna be a christmas tree...Boring. Here is a picture from icestock, which is actually new years but I was too lazy to look for a picture of halloween. Peace!
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