Hurry Up and Wait
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This week might as well not have happened. We have been on the flight schedule to receive a Herc and a Twin Otter all week but the weather has not cooperated. We have been getting up early every morning to do weather only to have the flights canceled by afternoon. Friday was looking promising and the Twin Otter arrived but the Herc never made it off the ground. Fosdick Mountain Camp (the one that has the bad weather and not-so-great runway) has been having bad weather too and it looks like it is going to keep up into next week. So the Twin Otter crew is waiting here for their weather to clear up in order to pull out their camp.
We still have a cargo yard full of palettes waiting to be flown out by Herc and our situation has changed little from this time last week. The weather has been eerie. At times the light has been so flat with the overcast sky and the horizon so undefined that when you walk away from the camp to get snow for water it kind of feels like your floating in a white mist. The temperatures have been hovering around freezing and we have been getting snowfall. Not just blowing around but actually precipitating. Mid-week it got windy and I had to put up our snow fences to keep the doorway from filling in. When the wind finally let up we had four-foot drifts around them. That’s the idea, by the way; that the snow drifts around the fence and not around the door. We spent Friday grooming out the drifts and clearing snow off the palettes only to have it snow most of the day yesterday again.
I have been having a depressing computer problem this week. It been an ongoing problem that comes and goes. But, this time it looked like it had come to stay. The computer has simply not be starting. I press the button and nothing happens. It the past it seems to rectify itself after I disconnect the battery and power cord and let it sit for 24 hrs or so. That stopped working this week so I was convinced that my little PictureBook had finally gone the way of the Millennium Edition. After a couple of days spent getting our camp computer on-line, I looked into what it would cost to have Sony fix it. $700! That’s more than I paid for it so I commenced sulking while trying to figure out what I was going to do all spring with no computer. I had absolutely no intention of paying that kind of money for a repair so I figured I had nothing to lose by cracking the thing open to see if I could find any obvious damage to the innards. Not the first time I have donned the latex gloves to perform open-keyboard surgery on this thing. In fact, it was opening it up to change the HD that was most likely the root of my problems. When I detached the ribbon cable that connects the power control board to the mother board I noticed a little nick in the end that was preventing it from seating correctly. After trimming the burr of with my pocket knife and making sure it seated well in the harness, I tried restarting the computer. And, much to my joy and surprise, it started!
Luke
Luke you punk! I can’t wait to kick your ass on the foosball table!!!
Be there in Feb.
Did John McCain go over there? I heard he was hitting up some of the camps but I’ve been working nights this past week so I missed him and the DVs.
Fat chance Shane!
Hi,
I posted to another string on this blog, but it looks like this one is a little more active so I thought I’d try here too. 🙂
I have applied for a one-month position on the Nathaniel B. Palmer research vessel through Raytheon, but I don’t have any applicable experience. I work in consulting, but have really been thinking about making a life change and switching to the Sciences – maybe as a Naturalist. I know that will take extra schooling, but I thought it would be a really amazing experience to work in Antarctica.
Anyway, I just thought I’d see who was out there and if anyone could give me some advice on how to land this position. It’s a paying position, but I want it so bad I’ll do it for next to nothing! I’d also love to hear from anyone who has had experience on a research vessel there in Antarctica.
Thanks and stay warm! 🙂
Amie