A January update and....who...me?

Greetings once again.

Things are beginning to change around here once again, for me personally now I'm on the day shift, which means that it may be more difficult to get a hold of you to tell you of my tales. Also on the winds of change front, I received word on my tentative departure date, so the end is closer than I think.

Another note, since our supervisor was going to be at McMurdo station for a week for R&R before he begins his winter shift, he dubbed me to be in charge of the meteorology office while he was away. Personally, I don't think much will change with my job. I might be the focus of attention more, but that always seems to happen with no matter which job I work. I'm certain that things will go smooth for the next six days and I won't crash the Met department into a C-130.

That's the major updates that I have for now. The picture is of a Kelvin-Helmholtz wave cloud, or at least before it began to dissapate. These clouds are somewhat rare to capture, but it's a little more special to see them in this part of the world.

Take care until next time.

One year down, another to go.

Hello again and Happy New Year,

I'm not too much of a guy that recaps everything that happened over the course of a year, but 2008 definitely has been one worth noting.

The notable highlights were that I finished up my Master's degree after 3 years of work. I also headed back home to Colorado to accept some contract jobs, one at Sun Microsystems for a couple of months and the other from Raytheon to do work in Antarctica.

Other times when I have been by myself, I tend to think about how can I improve myself better and how to do it by actions instead of by mere words. This maybe an ongoing theme as I discover some more things about myself about what I'm capable of doing as well as respecting and making the people around me feel better about themselves.

There is also uncertainty as well, since at times I always find myself in the same trap of worrying about things that are non-essential and not caring enough about my short and long term goals in which I need to succeed. As long as my brain doesn't become toast in the next month and a half, I should have a better idea what do I need to get things done, so I would have a better 2009 for myself and the people around me.

Also, the picture above is of a set of sun globes. We use these at the Pole to measure how much sunlight we received during the day by reading the burn marks on the cards. Also, the smell of burnt sun cards drives the ladies wild....

Late.

I went around the world and all I got was a shirt.

Merry Christmas everyone,

As the title states, I did the traditional race around the world on Thursday. I wasn't in any elite shape or anything like that, but I kept a steady pace, didn't stop to walk and finished the 2.3 mile (3.7 km) track under 25 minutes (unofficially). It was a long day for me overall spanning 21.5 hours, which included getting ready for Christmas dinner by doing laundry and showering, a nine-hour shift, the race and finally, picture taking and chatting it up with one of my old roommates from McMurdo before he got sent home.

Also, I have a picture of an upper-air sounding (just to let you know that I actually DO work around here). The data on this chart comes from our radiosondes during our bi-daily balloon launches. Since I'm on night shift now, this is the first thing that I do on shift. This graph tells us what the temperature, moisture, and winds are above us are and that information is used to help us forecast the weather in this nearly isolated environment. For the next two weeks or so, I will be responsible for the 1200 UTC sounding. For past soundings for the Pole and anywhere else in the world, use this link which I like: http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/sounding.html

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, whichever you celebrate.

Peace.

A Bit of Night Shift Nonsense/Thinking of back home.

For those of who say that it's cold where I'm staying, think again for those living in Denver.

12/15/2008 1000 UTC (3:00 am MST) Temperatures:

-25.8 C/-14.4 F South Pole
-27.8 C/-18.0 F Denver International Airport

So there, for one hour at least I can say that I'm not at the coldest spot.

Other news from me is that I'm debating whether or not I want to submit something for the Pole Art Show at the galley on Sunday. Still have some work to do with that and other things....

Even though I'm doing well, I have to think of life after the Pole, since I'm halfway through my contract now. I'll be sure to keep an open mind about the future and stare at the Christmas decorations that were recently put up in our office.

December Update

Hello again,

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth yet. I'm still around and things are still going fine. Now I'm on the night shift and I'm still trying to adjust to the changes. At least I have the day off today. As far as the job goes, there have been some growing pains at first when it comes to observing and record taking, but like everything else, with enough practice I'm getting the routine down. It's been kind of busy the past couple of days since the meteorology coordinator is coming to Pole on Tuesday, so we have to get everything in order for his one day visit.

The Thanksgiving party was great last week. However, I think that sangrita and me are not going to be good friends anytime soon. Clothes shopping has gotten a little better with a slightly wider selection, but I'm so much a slacker that it maybe too late to get what I need to get off to everybody...

I hope that you are all safe and happy now. I'll keep you updated, per usual.

Cheers.

The Moment that you have been waiting for.

I decided to send this post along, since this is a special day for most of you and that you give thanks for all of the wonderful things that have happened in your life or the people that you have meet or continue to hold dear. This day is for you to give thanks for that.

As for myself, I'm thankful that you're keeping up the internet traffic with this page...;P But, seriously, thanks for that you have supported and put up with me for the length of time that I have known you and that I'll do my best to support your endeavors.

Also if you want these photos at full resolution, please e-mail me at pjmarz at gmail dot com or phillip dot marzette at usap dot gov.

Gobble Gobble

P.S.: Thanks for the check, sis ;)

Work, work and more work.

Hey,

Right now I'm close to finishing up a stretch where I have been working in the Meteorology office everyday for the past two and a half weeks. Although, the first half has been training and about a week stretch of one where planes weren't landing at the Pole because of bad weather which would make my job easier, it would be nice just to rest up and not have to worry about showing up to the office.

But just because I have my primary job out of the way after 9 hours a day, there are still plenty of things to take care of at the Pole. For instance, there are house mouse duties that everyone has to perform on station and I've volunteered to be on the Emergency Response Team. I also been asked if I wanted to participate for the pole newspaper and there also opportunities to help out in the galley and the dish pit. Also, there are my own hobbies I've been concentrating on like some drawings and creative writing, for fun of course.

This explains how even in just four months, that I have plenty of tasks to take on. Well, at least I won't get bored.

Take care until next time.