Foruth time is the charm....maybe?

Hello again,

I am back onto the frozen continent down south for another stint as supervisor in my department and I have been in McMurdo for one week already and I'm planning to go to Pole for work tomorrow. *knocks on wood.

The good thing going for me is that I have familiar faces that I'm working with this season, so the spin-up at the start should not take as long.

Meanwhile, before arriving on the ice, I did spend some time in Christchurch as things were so much different now than when I was there previously. There was a pretty nasty aftershock over there the day after I left on February and that it crippled the CBD and the usual haunts that I go down to and visit. But with downtown off limits, this did give me a chance to see some more spots around the city. For example, I caught the semifinal match of the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks (New Zealand) and Australia over at one of the few remaining pubs in the city between the CBD and the airport. The two folks represent the match-up during the final between France and New Zealand. I enjoyed my time there and in case you haven't paid full attention over the past couple of years with the blog, New Zealand is crazy about the game of rugby.

The other shot features flying over the sea ice in the C-17 over Antarctica the day after the match, so it was a busy 24 hours with me during that stretch, but it's pretty par for the course for me now.

Sit back and enjoy more tales from me this season and take care now.

Two for the price of one-Season 3 Finale.

That was quick, huh.

Now were at the point of the end of the austral summer and the custom picture of the staff whom I worked with the past couple of months.

I will admit things have been different with me being in charge for a whole season. At first, I thought the whole world was going to crash on me, when in reality that very seldom if at all occurred. This helps when I have a solid staff behind me. There may have been some growing pains as expected, but we all pulled together and created some South Pole weather magic out there.

From the left, we have Dale back for another season and this time he plans to stay at Pole longer than me, i.e., he's wintering. Next, we have Jeremiah, a newcomer but he has helped out things a lot in the Met office with his experience at other places around the world. On the far right, we have Rolf. He worked at one of the field camps last year and has decided to give Pole a go-around this year. He provided assistance in different ways, yet improved on operations just the same. I give my thanks to these three for a job well done and I hope that they get the rest the get after the season, especially Dale since he won't finish until November.

Take care everyone until next time.

Young Minds that want to learn.

Hi,

Things have gotten so busy for me that I'm about three weeks overdue with my last update.

What I wanted to explain this go around was how along with my regular job, that I have been explaining schoolchildren around the world by various means what I do at the South Pole. Thus far, I've answered some questions for a co-worker's sister, contributed to a Wiki Page (http://januaryweather.wikispaces.com) and shot some video for a local teacher that I know.

It's always a good feeling that there are students out there who are curious about your work, so I did what I could to provide the answers that were needed. It may have taken more time that I would have liked, but I did what I needed to do to help fuel the minds for the next generation. With any luck, some of them might even make it down to the ice themselves.

A somewhat short post.

Hey,

I've just been super crazy busy over the past two weeks trying to be the responsible one. A lot of paperwork, reports and reviews have been on my docket. The only relief so far has been a party that our department hosted. It took some time to put it together, but it turned out to be a lot of fun for everyone on station. Here's a toast to you and myself that things slow down just a touch before the end of the season.

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.