Nowhere To Go But Up

Today was the annual BF5K, which is a race through the station. Just to add to the challenge of running at 10 000ft elevations, we all have to wear costumes. Most people come up with some pretty absurd ideas. All photos courtesy of Emrys, who really needs to start posting some of his work on the web.

I was wondering, what song do you all really like that you think everyone else (especially me) would like to hear? I'm not talking your all time favorite, cuz I've heard my share of the Beatles and Led Zepplin. I want to know what's relatively new that you guys* like, but it's not likely to be on the radio (not that we get radio at the south pole) or Mtv (they don't pipe that in for us either, thankfully).

Currently I've been listening to Bernard Fanning, an Aussie formerly of Powderfinger, who really has a great folksy sound. In particular, Wish You Well has been going round and round in my head. Granted, the album is about two years old, but I've been down here since it's release and it's not like I'm exposed to much Australian music either. So, it's new to me. Hopefully everyone will have some more new-to-me music to suggest.

I've also gotten hooked on the Freddie Mercury-esce Mika, who's sound is pretty bubble-gum, toe-tapping, sunshine-&-rainbows, but I like it anyway. Check out Love Today. Then there's the band The Blow who somehow mix grammar lessons with made-in-the-laundry-room sounds with the song Parentheses into a low-budget masterpiece. Amy Winehouse seems to be pretty big over in the UK these days with the song Rehab. She's bringing back the vanity mole. Finally there's a band I've heard plenty even before I came here, but they have some current stuff out: Kaiser Chiefs with Ruby. I used to have an albino ferret named Ruby. These guys make me feel like I could be a rock star with my bad hair.



* I was going to go on a tangent about how I say "you guys" in the same way that Texans say "y'all", Canadians say "eh", Californians say "duuuude", or South Carolinanianans say whatever they say down there. I'm from the midwest, and "guys" means both guys and gals. So I tried mamma-ing (google is so 2004) the phrase "you guys" and ended up at a site on how to French kiss as a teenager and what to do when your kid brother video tapes you doing it. I lost all forward momentum at that point.

You can tell how good ribs are by how little you care about not making a mess when eating them...


You can also tell when early signs of toast are setting in. The fact that Jordan doesn't have both of his suspenders fastened is a good indication.


This is why I always have a camera when I go eat.

Here are some photos of yesterday's aurora, courtesy of Emrys. We had a pretty good show this afternoon after some windy & cloudy days kept us from seeing the sky very well. It's still twilight, so the best aurora viewing is still a ways off. Today was a good early display of what is to come though.

You Are Gonzo the Great

"Is something burning in here? Oh, it's just me." You're a total nutball who will do anything for attention. The first to take a dare, you'll pull almost any stunt. You're one weird looking creature, but your chickens don't mind!

We're still in the transition from light to dark. I've been busy getting the aurora instruments ready to rock and roll for the next six months. I was lucky last year in that all I did was turn everything on and it started working with no problems. This year I have turned on 6 instruments so far and only one of them didn't have immediate problems (meaning it will wait until next week). The good news is that I have had a chance to fix most of the problems, but I'm not out of the woods yet. Up to this point, there have probably been more amateur pictures of the aurora so far than scientific pictures. There are still two all-sky cameras to turn on as well. At least I can say that I'm not bored these days.

Speaking of amateur photos of the aurora, one of the better collections you'll ever find of aurora photos resides with Herr Schwarz. Here is a non-aurora picture he took recently that I find is equally magnificent as anything you will ever find in the sky.


Man, I really had to work to segway into the reason I decided to put this Long and Skinny photo on my blog....

Her.

It's playoff time in the National Hockey League, which means that it's time for my hockey beard. I've shaved so that I can show my support for the Detroit Red Wings. The beard will stay as long as they're in the playoffs, which could be as long as two months.

Here is my progression from funky to clean shaven....

To say thanks to our kitchen staff for cooking a great sunset dinner for us, all of the managers cooked the meals on Saturday. The FEMC (facilities, engineering, maintenance, and construction) crew made breakfast, the operations folks made lunch, and the science & safety groups made dinner. Since science support doesn't have a manager on-ice, all three of us cooked. The menu consisted of pasta and three sauces. Other than Nick, who is half French which means he's born with the innate ability to cook, none of us really know how to make anything. I was in charge of making the pesto sauce, which required opening a container of pesto sauce, pouring it into a pan, and applying heat. Jason made some cheesy sauce, which apparently meant that he stood in one place and stirred for two and a half hours. Nick made a tomato/meat sauce that must have been good because there were no leftovers. I had to bail just as dinner was served (by Stevie P. and Jonny G.) so that I could go work in the store, so I didn't get to see anyone's reactions to the food. All in all, everthing turned out pretty well, nobody seemed to be starving at the end of the day. As Jason put it, "cooking is fun" and now I have an even greater appreciation for what our cooks do everyday.



After dinner we had the annual Long and Skinny party. The L&S gets it's name because it takes place in a hallway, which is long and skinny. Last year the L&S took place in upper berthing of the old dome. Since upper berthing no longer exists, this year we moved the party to the new station, wing A1, level 1, right side....which happens to be where I live. Each room featured a different beverage, so along with having to actually clean my room I also had to come up with a drink. Since it was Nick's birthday, I let him choose his favorite drink, which turned out to be a bloody mary, for me to make. In addition to being a hall party, the L&S becomes a chance for everyone to showcase their rooms. I have have a general rule of not posting party pictures on the internet, but here are a few pictures of the setup...

Thanks to Teri for pointing this one out to me.

The Economist


And for something that has nothing to do with anything, here's a picture of me getting some of the aurora instruments ready to rock and roll. You can see what little twilight is out there right now and if you look closely enough you can make out the safety harness that I'm wearing under my coat (just in case the safety police are looking at this). Photo courtesy of Jason.

It's that time of year where we start covering all of the windows in the building. The light from inside the station can affect observations of aurora during the dark winter months, so we cover our windows, sometimes grudgingly, for the next six months. We use mostly cardboard or blue board foam cutouts to cover the windows. Below is a picture of the hallway outside my room after the window at the end had been covered and the UTs had placed a cardboard cover outside of everyone's rooms. The good thing about the cardboard is that it adds some class to this giant plywood building we live in.