fourth archival posting...Antarctic Shenanigans

Hi all,
first, new pictures can be found at
here
there are some of the shop I work in, some of the wild equipement that
I work on and a few of our bowling party.

Over the past couple of weeks, not alot new has happened. The
recreational opportunities here prove to be widely varied and always
interesting. Last Wednesday there was an 'open mic night' at the
coffehouse (It's really a wine bar that serves coffee as an aside).
The event was definitely entertaining. Kyle sung songs about
hermaphrodites, gerbil in your butt, and a drunken friend groping him
inappropriately, basically, he made lyrical mincemeat from sacred
cows.

Last Thursday I saw the sun for the first time since I got here. We
have had daylight every day, but McMurdo is nestled behind some hills
so this was the first time I had actually seen the sun. The periods
of daylight are getting longer and longer. I'm becoming concerned how
my sleep will be effected once the sun is up 24 hours per day. Since
I got here, I have been sleeping better than I have in several years
and I attribute that mostly to the darkness.

Since it had been several years since I've worked as a mechanic, I
forgot how nice it is to hear phrases such as "Your nuts are in my
hand" from another male, and for that to be totally ok in the context
of being a mechanic. I'm starting to get used to taking all day to do
a task that would normally take about 20 minutes. For example, to go
air up a flat tire, one has to have an air compressor, but since it
has sat outside in the cold, it needs to be warmed up prior to
starting it. This involves starting a Herman Nelson heater. Now, of
course, the last person to use it left it out of fuel so you have to
go to the fuel pump to get fuel. So..you finally get the heater
started, it takes 15 minutes of heat on the air compressor to start
it. The heater gets left on because the flat tire also has to be
heated before it will take air. On a big piece of equipment this
process can take 30 minutes before you can even start pumping air into
it, during which time the unloader on the air compressor has frozen,
rendering it inoperable..and on it goes..thus, at the end of the day,
when you see the loader you worked all day on to get air in the tire
out working, you can actually go home with a sense of pride for taking
all day to do it, and that nagging feeling like you forgot
something..like putting fuel in the heater. Such is a day in the life
of an Antarctic mechanic.

It's time for me to go. I hope this finds all of you in good health.
I look forward to hearing from any of you who have time to send a
quick note.

Later,
Will