A Day In The Life

I figured Id try to describe what daily life is like here.  So Ill walk through a typical day.  We work 6 days a week so this description applies to everyday except Sunday.   Ill start with the dorm.  I live in building 203 A in room 103.  The dorm rooms are about 15 x 10 and have three beds in them, two of which are bunk beds.  I love bunk beds.  They always remind me of my step brother John and the movie step brothers.

This is my sweet set up in the dorm.  The reason I didnt take the bunk bed route is because sometimes they put three in a room.  This way Ive got a little privacy.   I think I did a pretty good job decorating.  I was going for the minimalist look.   I scored that alarm clock from SKUA, which is a free gear swap the station has running.   It has a light thats almost bright enough to show the time on the wall but doesnt actually work. I wake up to the sound of a rain forest every morning at 0630.  Then I fall back to sleep until 0645 when its really time to get up.  I wear the same pants everyday ( knock off Carharts).  Over the pants I wear a dirty set of insulated Carhart bibs and tuck my wrenches, sharpie, pen, notebook and my Fluke Volt alert in the front pocket of my bibs.  I  always wear two layers under my bibs because otherwise some sensitive chest areas get bothered.

I had to throw in the sock monkey because I promised my friend Andi that Id bring it to Antarctica with me. Andi made this sock monkey out of the socks she wore while we were working on a trail crew together in Alaska last summer.

I eat breakfast at 0700 in the galley.

Then the crew meets up at 0730 at Crary to rally for the day of work at the drill construction site (SPOTSA).

We typically are in the van a 0745 and head out to the sea ice where the drill is being constructed.  The next picture shows the transition from land to the sea ice where the ice road starts.

The ride out to the drill is only about a mile.  A typical day of work may include working on plumbing manifolds, installing sensors and instruments and other various mechanical projects.  Inside our “Mec” we have a stick welder, a drill press, milling machine and a lathe as well as a whole bunch of fun power tools.  Yesterday, I worked on bolting our day tank (fuel tank) down to the platform that it will live on.  A lot of time is spent working outside in the wind and cold and this is a good example of what we do.  I fabricated two clamps on the rear of the tank that we used to secure it to the ISO corner.  Heres a picture of the platform all assembled.  Theres nothing better than welding and machining in Antarctica in a towable, collapsable building.

We are currently preparing for our first wet test of the system where we will introduce water to the system for first time to check for leaks and verify that the HPUs work as expected.  Most of the activity happening now is wiring pumps, general electrical work, checking the fuel system and manifolds to make sure they are working to supply JP8 to the burners and generators.  Ill go into more detail on the drill in an upcoming post about how the drill works.

Lunch happens at 1200.  We all pile back in the van and drive back to Mactown to the galley.  Its amazing how much food it takes to keep your body happy in cold and windy conditions.   Wednesday is cookie day so we head in at 1130.  Everybody loves cookie day.  We usually bring back about 60,000 cookies to drill camp every Wednesday.  Theres a soft serve ice cream machine called Frosty boy in the galley.  If its not working there are usually violent riots.  Some people have serious addictions to Frosty Boy and cant live without it.  Luckily Im not one of them but I hear its a slippery slope.

We are usually back at the van at 1300 and head back out to the drill for the afternoon and work until 1730.  Ive switched to military time because its 24 hours of daylight here.  I usually eat dinner after work and head back to the room to change clothes and give a call to Becky.   Its usually about 1900 by the time dinner is over and I talk to Becky.   Theres usually quite a bit going on every day.  There are usually movies playing at the coffee house, yoga, science lectures, knitting, hiking…all kinds of fun stuff.

Then its bedtime.  I usually listen to a podcast before and sometimes after I go to sleep.  Ive been listening to Radiolab, A Prairie Home Companion, Stuff you should know and Stuff you missed in History class and This American Life.  The next thing I know Im in a rain forest again and its time to do it all over again.