One way to go but North and many, many people.

Howdy,

I'm a little late in writing this, but I did finish my summer season on the ice and I made it back to Christchurch, NZ late Friday night. After some days getting adjusted to the real world to things like grass, night, kids and rain, I think that I'm getting back into the fold.

Also, as much as it's has been about myself on this blog, there are plenty of friends along the way that made this trip a lasting experience. When I got first here in Christchurch in October, I ran into these guys at orientation in Denver. Moving from left to right, we have myself, Jason then Justin who both worked at McMurdo Station, Flint Hamblin in Cryo, Craig Wheeler the Greenhouse Tech and Shelby Handlin the DA turned prep cook. The last three all worked at the Pole.

The next set includes the group that had to have spent the most time with me, the Met office crew. From left to right, Tim Markle, my supervisor, myself, Krissie Shiroma, Mike Carmondy, the Met coordinator, and Bob Bedner.

The last set includes my roommates at McMurdo while we were all heading to Pole. I got close to all of them, even though I was the last to come and the first to leave. From left to right, we have Aydin Christmann, Daniel Jablonski, Monty "Big Sexy" Myrtle, Derek "Storm" Schott and Damien Henning.

I hope this shows the type of social interactions and friendships I built over the past four months. In the meantime, I'm looking forward with my time off and chillaxing on the lower half of the world before heading back home on the beginning of next month.

Cheers.

February Update.

Hello again,

It's been tough to get back to this blog as of late, since day shifts are not too kind with the internet connection down here. However the two notes I will mention are that last weekend was my first real weekend here for sometime, i.e., I didn't have to work Saturday night and all day Sunday. I had a blast then. The other big thing is that in a couple of hours, we'll have our first large block of summer people leaving the ice. It's just another sign that the end is near and that my turn to leave the ice is coming. I'll keep you updated about what's going on, and oh yeah, more pictures next time.

Later