Turkeys and Cribs

Merry Christmas! I'm on the tail end of my second second day off of the season. Did ya catch that? Anyhow, Christmas dinner was today and there was quite a smorgasboard, let me tell you. Shrimp, Lobster Tail, fresh peppers and carrots and asparagus. I am totally stuffed. I hope everyone at home is eating this well, frankly.
First on my list of life accomplishments: rolling three strikes in a row on the oldest bowling alley in this hemisphere:

As you might imagine for a 40 year old bowling alley that has had little to no maintenance, the lanes are a little unpredictable, but once you get used to the different slopes and slants of each lane, oooh baby, it's sweet. The other folks on the scorecard are the night Jano squad and one significant other.


Also on this week's significant happenings, Nick, Taryn and I won the contest for ballinest janitor closet on station. The prize? 2.5 hours off from work any time we feel like it. It may sound crazy, but I was almost in tears at the sight of it. Here's a carefully crafted panoramic photo of our closet, also known as the J-Crib:

Note the ballin aquarium and custom nameplate on the door. Out of view are several strands of christmas lights, a lavalamp, a pimped-out backpack vaccuum, and a solid gold mop bucket.

I am a Happy Camper (sorta)

Hey folks, I warned ya that I wouldn't wait so long between posts anymore. So I was going to bed thursday morning at about 10 AM, when the boss walks into my room and says, "Jesse? You awake?" I reply "Grmthmph. Huh? Yeah?"
She goes on, "The Chalet called; do you want to do Happy Camper tomorrow?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay, check your email when you wake up tonight for the details."
Now, being on night shift, happy camper is a real interupption of my sleep schedule. It's like if you worked all day until 8 PM, and then at 8:30 leaving for the trip, digging holes all night, building walls, setting up tents, carving out Quinseys, and finally go to bed at 10:00 the next morning.
I was exausted by the time we were ready to turn in. I had chosen to sleep in a 'Survival Trench,' also known as 'the grave that saves.' It's essentially just a hole that you cover with snow blocks to survive extreme weather. The problem with the trench was that our weather was FAR from extreme. I think the low wind chill was somewhere around 15 degrees, but after the wind died it climbed to over freezing. This was the crappy part. I got pretty soaked. I had good gear of course, so I wouldn't say that I got cold, though my feet were chilly towards morning.
The other members of my camper trip included: 2 cargo guys, 2 prep cooks, 1 shuttle driver, 1 mechanic, me and Stan, night Janos, and 2 beakers. One beaker was an exogeologist who was travelling to a tiny field camp on a cravasse filled glacier to hunt for meteorites. He was obviously the reason that we were all there. You see, us low-totem pole folks don't need this training, but anyone going on a helo or field camp or anything like that needs the survival training. So when one guy like him needs the trip, a whole bunch of us get to go as a morale trip. Anyway, it was a great time, but I am totally exausted now.
We all turned in around 10:30, a half hour after when I would normally start work. I woke up at midnight totally convinced that I had slept the whole night through. Keep in mind that the sun does shine all the time, so it coulda been any time. So I got out of bed, started to wait for everyone else to wake up. I thought it might have been like 6:00 in the morning. Finally, someone with a watch got up to use the bathroom and broke the news to me. I had slept 1.5 hours. Damn. So I wandered around for a while and finally got back to sleep around 4 AM until about 6:30. Then breakfast and a quick movie tour of my campsite. So here it is for your viewing pleasure. If your wondering why I'm not talking, did you ever hear of 'Cowboy Coffee?' Well, I took a nice chunky sip of some right before I started filming. Sorry. So I'll narrate in text:

First, me, then my grave, and then a quick pan around camp. Note the awesome Scott Tents, a truly Antarctic tent.

Anyhow, that's about all I have the juice to write. As a consolation, take this picture from the very last sunset of the year, which I believe was Oct. 22.

Seals, Penguins, and Skuas! Oh My!

I know I've been really, really lazy about this blog folks. I'm sorry, but since I switched to night shift it's been very hard to get into a computer. Now I have access to the wireless network at Crary Lab and I'll be able to keep up a lot better.
The biggest thing I have to report right now is that the fringe benefits of working at the lab are finally starting to kick in. Last week I got to go to Cape Royds, normally off limits, under the guise of a diver retrieving some instruments. Little did the paperwork know that 14 members of the Crary Science Support Staff (including the janitors) were going to 'help' Rob get the current sensors out from under the ice. As many of you don't know, Cape Royds is the historic point where Sir Ernest Shackleton set up camp for his 'Nimrod' expedition and several of his men spent the winter. It was also the headquarters of his attempt at reaching the South Pole when he got to within 100 miles, but had to turn back or die. Of course, the visiting politians stole the key to the hut, so we didn't get to go inside. But that didn't bother most of us too much, because right outside the hut is a colony of 1500 Adelie Penguins! Without further ado, here is what you all have been waiting for: pictures of penguins.
This little guy was the first penguin ever laid eyes on

Looking Stoic and Cute at the Same time?

Crary Lab Janitorial Staff aka the J-Crib (pictured in front of Bairn Glacier Shelf)

Here's a video of one little guy trying to decide when to jump.


Here's me in front of three seals.

Crary Science Support Staff

More Penguins

Just a-froliking

Taryn the Day Jano tries to win the photo contest of the Telluride Daily Planet Newspaper

The colony is protecting the eggs they have laid and the chicks that have hatched, but this dastardly skua waits for an opportune moment.

The fenced in area you see in several photos is how the research team studies the foraging habits of the animals. A known number of breeding pairs have been fenced in and implanted with RFID chips. The 'Penguin Ranch' has only one entrance and exit, and whenever an animal enters or exits, a computer reads which individual it is and the animal steps on a presice scale. This enables the beakers to figure out which penguins are eating and how much. It also gives them insight into whether the male or female does more foraging and when. Anyhow, it's about my bed time, so I'll leave you with the promise that it won't be two months before my next entry.
Take care!