Merry Chris...Happy Hanna...uh. Festivus!

Hello everyone,

I guess I saved the best entry of the year for last (or so I think), but I want to wish you all the best during this time of year, whichever holiday that you celebrate. As for my Chirstmas, vindication feels good as I recovered from some breathing troubles last year and I did great in the Race Around the World. I finished a 2.1 mile trek in 19:28. Overall the run went well and I've been thinking doing something more with the running side. A couple people I've ran into think I have that runner's build, but I've never really tried to do anything about it. I did five miles on a treadmill earlier in the month and one of the goals that I'm looking to do before I depart this world is a marathon. After the 5 mile stationary trek in high altitude, I think that a half marathon isn't out of the question. So in the meantime, I better eat my Wheaties, vitamins and say my prayers.

I hope that 2011 goes as good if not better for you than 2010.

Peace

*pant, *pant. I'm...still around.

Greetings,

It has been some time since I've been back. Even though things have been generally quiet, that means that I had more time to take care of pressing matters around the office among other things. The Met crew and I have been adjusting to our work life fine; some things to work out here and there but generally fine.

After Thanksgiving weekend (which went great), I had one of my new experiences as a manager...Manager's Cook Day. Traditionally, we say thank you to the kitchen staff who prepared our Thanksgiving dinner by giving them the day off the week after. At that time, a lot of the managers from other departments chip in and prepare meals for that day. I was part of the Science and IT group for lunch which consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I helped out on the vegetables and fries. I had a lot of fun and people seemed to enjoy what we were able to do for one day.

The spirit of volunteerism still burns bright. Take care everyone!

Breaking News!!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to bring to you this update. The Death Claw, yes the Death Claw has been spotted at the South Pole. This Claw has been known to bring visibilities down to a quarter of a mile and wind speeds as high as 40 mph. The Death Claw has ruined a number of rescue flights to the South Pole, leaving our hearty Polies to fend for themselves for a couple of days. We can only pray that the perpetual winds and whiteouts have not robbed everyone of their sanity, especially the winterovers who were due to leave about a week ago. Snow drifts have been known to reach four feet high in narrow spaces. There is no escape! So please, take extra care. Bar your doors and steer clear of the clutches of the Death Claw!!

Okay, maybe not the best H.G. Wells impression, but an austral spring storm the likes of which that hasn't been around for about 20 years needs to exaggerated...uh, I mean explained. At least we have blue skies for now and things are getting back to normal after a hectic first part of the week.

Transitioning back to Pole and to work.

Salutations,

I arrived at South Pole to take on my added role a couple of days ago. I stayed in McMurdo a little longer than I would have liked, but I'm glad to get going to Pole and get down to business. Right now, I'm in the process of turnover with the winter overs so that I can remember how to do my job and transition smoothly.

While I was staying in McMurdo, I decided to take on Ob Hill again just so that I could get my head clear that day and get some exercise. I hiked the hill two years ago, but they didn't have wind turbines on one of the neighboring hills. After thinking about it, seeing those turbines on the seventh continent reminds me of my job position. The transition from fossil fuels to greener forms of energy and me going from Met to Senior Met has some parallels to it.

If they take care of the energy transition here, they could do it anywhere. Also I feel that I would do a good enough job with the added responsibilities if the transition goes well. So far it has been, but other things on station are making things a little more difficult. On that note, things should be more exciting when I get my two new workers down here sometime next week. Expect an update then.

Until then, toodles.

What? You're back for more!?

Hello everyone,

It's about that time of the year when my thoughts turn south, in a good way of course. I've returned to Antarctica and have resumed my weather duties at the South Pole. This time, I would be in charge of said weather duties and it would be a case of same duties as before, just more responsibilities that go along with them as well as making sure everyone else does what they are supposed to do.

That said, I will be the good soldier and not bash or throw anyone or any department under the bus on this page. I will do my best to focus on the ups and downs and learning experiences that I encounter.

Before chilling in McMurdo, I was in Christchurch, NZ for a couple of days, the first since an earthquake rocked the Canterbury region last month. I did see some off what nature's wrath can offer. While I have experienced some rumblers in my time in Reno, NV, this was clearly the first time that I have been in a spot where a 7 had hit in a very recent time. Even though this is a bad sight of a building being scaffolded and taken down, Christchurch had done a good job getting things back together and still it's a wonderful place to visit.

With that, I'll leave for now and hope to bring to you more tales from the ice in the near future.

End of of another season and wrap-up.

It's that time again, to say our good-byes for one part of our lives and say hello to the new adventures ahead. I finished my second summer season at the South Pole and I will say that it went very well. The last couple of weeks may have been hectic with us being short-handed for a while and the rest of the swing shift crew in the other departments essentially working night due to the flight schedule. All in all, we made it and everybody can move on to the next phase in their objectives.

As for myself I'm relieved that I back and that I can sit back and enjoy myself for a little while. But before then, a brief introduction to the people that I worked with this year. Tim (left) was our supervisor and will be wintering after a second effort. We also have Molly (second from right) our lieutenant from the Air Guard and Dale (right), a former Air Force meteorologist who likes good beer and Nebraska football.

On my way back, I finally caught my first penguin on camera while waiting to board the C-17 at McMurdo. This is rare for me since there is no wildlife at the Pole, so I'm lucky to have a good shot of it.

Happy trails everyone and I'll hope to see you again soon.

A chance to be a hero...?

Greetings,

Weather certainly has been a challenge for me ever since I moved to swing shift. It has been up to me to observe and forecast the weather at the South Pole so that we could make our evening flights.

On Monday, fog rolled in to the Pole and we had a number of distinguished visitors (DVs-reporters) who needed to get back to McMurdo Station. I needed a minimum of 1 mile visibility in order for the plane to arrive safely. The plane circled around about 20 miles away for about an hour before it tried to land. I did an observation that had the one mile visibility. However, 5 minutes later, the visibility dropped to a 1/2 a mile. I was getting nervous that the Air Guard would be unhappy with me. They tried twice to land in the low clouds and the fog, but they missed the approach. They turned around and headed back to McMurdo so they wouldn't run out of fuel. Of course, 15 minutes after they turned around, the visibility was 3 miles and better conditions to land the plane.

Overall, the reporters spent the night at the South Pole, which most of them were not terribly disappointed about it. We all have our 'what if' moments once in a while. This would have been one of those times.

On one of our clearer days, there were some awesome halo shots. This happens when ice crystals race across the sky and when they get hit by the sun's rays at the right angles, we get to see some of these halos that are pictured here.

I hope you enjoy my story and pictures today. Until next time....

A Dash to the Finish Line with a staggered start.

Greetings,

Now that the holidays are over, it is time to push the nose to the grindstone and finish the season strong. I'm on the move to swing shift in the next two days and I feel that I'm ready to do another 6 week stretch.

The Christmas and New Year's holidays were fun with not much work that I had to take care of, so it was nice for a couple of weeks with that. Also, I have to decide where to go for my time off and I'm no better off finding a location that I was when I started this year. Hopefully things will change in the next couple of weeks.

I'll do my best to keep things updated, but like life at the Pole, things can change.

Take care until next time.