Happy Halloween!
Wednesday, October 29th, 2003
This picture is from the Fuel pit at the runway. It has been busier since the 109th wing of the NY national Guard arrived. Scheduling can be hectic. There is no existing system to obtain counts. Tonight, for example, we prepared for 70 people and had only 15. Apparently there is a storm on the way so all the flights were canceled and the ANG fled to town without informing the kitchen. Either way we end up with about the same amount of work just more leftovers and waste. We have been working 11 hr days 6 days a week. Today I found out they are going to be cutting us a break and giving us Sunday mornings off to make up for the overtime (time over 60hrs a week). My regular co-worker is getting Fridays off so Luci will be covering a full day with me out at the runway.
So tomorrow is our one precious day off a week. As I am never in town when offices are open I have been putting off all my mailing and errands until tomorrow. Yesterday I found out that I have been selected for the SAR team tryouts. Every year the base puts together a secondary team of Search and Rescue volunteers. There are many applicants of which only 15 are selected for a selective training (meaning=tryout) half of which become part of the secondary SAR team. It is usually comprised of winter-overs but, if there is a sufficiently qualified summer employee they sometimes make the final cut. So tomorrow is the day we go out in the field and show out mountaineering, teamwork and leadership skills. I spent last night and today racking my brain for what I learned in Wilderness First Responder and for knots and techniques for crevasse rescue. With limited written resources and scarce mountaineering equipment which is reserved for ?scientific research? I have not been able to fully refresh my memory concerning certain aspects of SAR that I am cloudy on. I really want to make it on this team because it would be really helpful when going to look for work for next year and they conduct monthly ?training exercises? which gives me an excuse to get out of work and gives me an avenue to get out of town.
So it looks like my errands will have to wait another week to get done. Hopefully I?ll get some good pictures out of it if nothing else. With my long days out at the runway it has been hard to keep my postings up to date. I am still working on getting a dial-up authorization for our room but it doesn?t look good. It looks like I?ll be jockeying for a terminal or a LAN port for a while to come. There was talk about getting one port in each dorm but I am not holding my breath.
Another one of our friends from the AMC in NH, Kara, arrived day-before-yesterday on her way to pole. She was supposed to leave this morning but the flight was canceled. I haven?t seen her again. Probably won?t until February. Adrienne, another AMC, friend is supposed to arrive on Fridays c-141 flight also bound for pole after a short layover here in Mac Town. I am going to try to make it out to meet the plane. When I tried to meet Kara I did not play my cards right and was denied access to the apron. This time I have the firefighters on my side.
A Roby e Ivo, voglio scrivere un po in ?anglo-italiano?. Di solitio lascio questo per Luciana perche’ non voglio pubblicizzare la mia incompetenza. Oggi era previsto un volo della Aviazione Neozelandese con un gruppo d?italiani e anche, credo, un elicottero intero a bordo. Il programma Italiano noleggia un c-130 Hercules per la stagione estiva e lo usano per portare rinfornimenti e attrezzature pesanti dal mondo vero. Il volo e? stato cancellato pero’ a causa del brutto tempo. Si fermeranno solo per un breve tempo per prendere carburante prima di partire per Terra Nova. Se arrivano domani, non li vedremo perche’ e’ nostro giorno libero. Pero’, se fa brutto tempo ancora un altro giorno, forse si fermeranno da noi per un caffe come l?altra volta. Saluto tutti alla GeAmCo. Ciao.
Keep the comments rolling in. It is great to hear from people we haven?t heard from in a long time, like Laura and Tracey. Bye for now.
The runway scene has been pretty relaxing. This is a picture of my morning commute. It is a great change from the 800+ people they are serving in the dining room these days. ... 
Luke