Home and Adjusting

Made it home from Christchurch last friday, the absolutely longest day I've ever had in my life. I did after all, land in Denver about 3 hours after I took off from Christchurch. It's nice to be home again, and even better to be on vacation from work until January 5th. I'm still trying to readjust to Mountain Time schedules, but I'm improving, should be better by Christmas :) I spent most of this day messing with all the pictures I took, and selecting some of my favorites for all of you to view. So please enjoy them, and have a very merry Christmas!

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If you are interested in prints or anything, let me know. Feedback is always welcome as well!

Top 5 Restaurants in Christchurch, NZ

I've spent more time in Christchurch, NZ that I had originally intended to. As a result I've had the opportunity to sample several of the restaurants within walking distance of the Heritage Hotel, which is located on Cathedral Square, in down town Christchurch. Several of these restaurants certainly stand out in my mind as ones I would certainly love to return to, and a few that I have. Listed in no particular order.

1. Octagon Live - This place, is far and above my favorite restaurant here. Likely mostly because of the atmosphere it provides. Don't get me wrong, the food here is great, but they have live music, to go with it. It's mostly in the form of either piano, organ, or guitar, with the occasional vocal accompaniment. The restaurant is setup in an old church building, and houses a 1400+ pipe organ that is older than the building is (by only a few years), which dates back to the mid/late 1800's. The service there is very good, but my American standards is certainly not speedy. In my opinion though, its not needed. You should go there expecting the experience, not to get in, eat a meal, and get out. Everyone is very friendly, and the host (whom I think is the owner) is very willing to share a story with you. It's certainly not a cheap meal, but I don't believe its unreasonable giving there's live musicians playing. Make reservations (bookings, as they say in NZ) ahead of time, is it pretty much seems, once the tables are filled, there's no hope of waiting for someone to finish their meal and leave. There's a lot more I could say about this place, but simply put... My favorite, a must if your in the area, especially with a significant other.
2. Strawberry Fare - The name of this place gives away its specialty. Dessert! But it doesn't skimp on the main course either. I had my doubts when I first walked in. It seemed rather "diner-esque" in setup. Looks can be deceiving though. The menu here was top notch as well, offering a wide variety of dishes and drinks. Make sure to leave room for dessert though. I had a piece of chocolate cake that was soaked in raspberry syrup, with a chocolate frosting and a raspberry glaze on top of that. For those of you who know me, you can probably understand how much I enjoyed this. I might have to go back tonight, before I leave for good. Service was excellent. I would also recommend a booking here as well if you wish to have full service. The place quickly filled up with people, and there was a line when we left. The only drawback I see of this place, is it did get really crowded inside, and became quite loud. If you are looking for a quiet romantic evening, this probably isn't it. Get the dessert 'for takeaway' (that's how they say "to go" down here)
   
3. Cook-n-With Gas - This place is like a little house they converted into a restaurant, and a top notch one at that. The food here was absolutely superb, and they had a very extensive spirit, beer, and wine list. The wait staff was always on the ball, despite how busy it seemed, and the atmosphere was nice. The "compartments" created by the rooms never have you feeling that the place is packed and busy, even though it was. There are plenty of accoutrement's on the walls to liven up the place and provide atmosphere as well. Bookings are also recommended for this place.
   
4. Cafe Roma - My favorite place for breakfast (they only server breakfast and lunch). The restaurant seems kind of tucked away, and if you are walking next to the building you may not realize you are walking past a restaurant. Its up off street level a bit, but is on the first floor of the building, best I can tell. It required you to ascend some stairs, go through a very large set of wooden doors and hang a left to get to. Upon entering, you find yourself in what could have once been a sort of living room. Its not terribly large, and there is a fireplace against the far wall with some chairs and a couch around it for those there to just enjoy some coffee. There are also some tables cantilevered out of the windows for a couple to enjoy the view that overlooks the Avon river that flows through town. Wait staff are very friendly, food is served piping hot and soon after ordered, and is obviously made from very fresh ingredients. Every time I've gone here I've been asked if I have a booking, as if most people are expected to have one, but had never had to wait to get a seat.
   
5. The Tap Room - This place was well enjoyed because of one style of dish in particular, that I've never run across before. They call them "stone grills." It's probably about an 8 inch square stone, maybe 1.5 - 2 inches thick that has been heated to some insanely hot temperature. You then get to choose the meat of your choice to put on it (I had Kangaroo and Wild boar). The dish comes out with the hunk of raw meat(s) sizzling away on the stone. Its up to you how you want your own meat cooked. I took the strategy of searing the whole thing, then cutting little slices off the big chunk and cooking them. It was a fun experience. This place seems to get packed during peak eating hours too, so I would either recommend showing up at opening time, or making a booking.
   

Runners up

• Bailies - The only place I found that serves Kilkenny beer. If you've not had the opportunity to have some, and are in the area, I recommend stopping by for a pint.
  
• Drexels - This place only serves breakfast, and you often need a booking to get in, especially during peak hours. The food excellent and well worth the price.
  

Home Stretch

Well, its Monday here in New Zealand, and back to work I go. I had to learn how the Christchurch Metro system works, so I could get transportation from the city center to the Antarctic Center at the airport. Its not to bad, and they have handy little RFID based "MetroCards" you can buy, and deposit cash on them as needed. The bus fares here are pretty cheap, at least with the exchange rate. It cost me a little over US$1 to take the bus here, which is probably about a 15 mile ride.
The flight back from McMurdo was pretty low key. The way the flight schedule got all jumbled up resulted in me getting bumped from my original flight on an LC-130, and I ended up catching the next flight out on a C-17, along with 17 others. It was kind of weird to be in this monstrous cargo plane with so few people on it. For cargo, we had a good sized drilling rig tied down to the floor, but that's about it. The flight was also 3.5 hours shorter this way too.
I've been enjoying the darkness that comes with the night time sky too. I never thought that 24 hours of sunshine would mess with me as much as it did, but I'm pretty certain it messed with my sleep while on the ice, simply because my body is responding so much better back in New Zealand again. I'm sure a nice big bed with no snoring roommates helps a lot too though.
So other than the news that I'm back in New Zealand, finishing up my work, I don't have a whole lot to report. Nothing plan

Publish Post

ned as far as sight seeing goes here. Mostly I'm just looking forward to getting home and not working. A lot of the tasking I have that provides a business justification for this trip, I don't really enjoy to much, and it wears on me, so it will be nice to wrap it up. I also have had some comments made to me that stating something along the lines of it seeming like I enjoyed my trip to the Antarctic peninsula more than I have to the South Pole... Truth be told, I probably did. I've sat and thought about my past 2 trips pretty seriously over the last few days and have tried to analyze the differences, some of them are subtle, some of them are not. There's a quote from a guy named Chris McCandless that has had some real meaning to me on this trip: "Happiness isn't real, unless it's shared." Despite being surrounded be people for most of the trip, sharing the experiences has been difficult at times. I'll just leave it at that.

to fly, or not to fly...

My time has come to leave this place, and head back to Christchurch. Overall, I have to say that this place is pretty amazing. It's unique, harsh, and beautiful all at the same time. Outside the confines of 'Mac Town,' you can find yourself in a peaceful surrounding with refreshingly clean air, crisp blue skies (with no contrails), and a quietness to still your soul. Mountains (and volcanos) rise in the distance, and demonstrate thier majesty to all who view. the layering of clouds form various strata in the cold dry air. Winds almost always originate out of the south and have a cold to them that can penetrate the smallest of opening in fabric exposed to it. To have come here in the early 1900's as Scott and Amundsen had done most have been breath taking.
Life in town is a different story, muddy, wet streets leave me wishing for gaiters where I go, so as not to get my pant legs dirty. The "dirt" is ground volcanic rock that forms a dust that blows everywhere in the wind. With no ogranics present in it, abrasive and sharp, it's like a course rough sand running through your fingers. Think of those lava rocks you can buy to put in your gas grill... now just think of those rocks, in the sizes varrying from small stones to a fine dust. There's almost the constant drone of an engine running somewhere, vechicles moving people or equipment. Helicoptors inbound or outbound to a field camp, carying cargo beneath, science equipment, people, or both. The smell of burnt Jet fuel (JP-8) diesel and gasoline lingers low to the ground in the cold air. The streets are busiest during the day time, but night never really ever comes, with the sun circling overhead, making a complete cycle every 86,400 seconds. The oportunity to enjoy the outdoors can never be excused to the lack of light. Instead, its excused by the lack of energy.
The community here is tight, not perhaps in terms of the relational connectedness of all the inhabitants, but in terms of the quaters in which all 1200 of us live. Eating facilities are comunal, as are the bathrooms, depending on your housing situation. You are rooming with at least one other person, but potentially up to 5 others. There's a curse that lingers around station called "the Crud." With every new arrival of a plane and its contents, comes the introduction of a new Crud varient. It comes with runny noses, caughing, pains and general feelings of blah. Can one avoid it? Your only defense is good heigene. Wash your hands before you do anything, especially eating. Wash your hands after you do anything, especially when it involves handling surfaces that others have handled. But at the same time conserve water, its expensive here. Only 4 showers a week, but feel lucky, because at the South Pole, you only get 2, 4 minute showers a week.
The people are friendly, and willing to help, but you can't be shy. If you wish to isolate yourself from the rest of the world, you can do that here too. News and information must be sought after, should you wish to stay connected. Rules and Regulations from up high prohibit certian items and activities that are otherwise allowed in the states, but theres a strong "underground" community that knows how to get things done, you just have to ask the right people. Those people are usually those that have been around for a while. Is with the rest of the world, your success can depend a lot on "who or what you know."
So anyway, after all that, I'll return to what I was previously saying. Tomorrow I'm supposed to fly back. The end of my trip is starting to sound a lot like the beginning. The posibility of not actually getting on a plane tomorrow is significant. While it is apparently a rarity to see delays on this end, this time of year, Murphey has made herself known. A C-17 was supposed to fly out with passengers (PAX) today, and was going to be the last C-17 flight for a while). This meant we would be flying a slow, noisy flight back on an LC-130 tomorrow. I've heard the 8 hour flight in an LC-130 in the military style cargo seating is about anything but enjoyable. Well, turns out the C-17 had mechanical problems in Christchurch and never made it here. So, those C-17 PAX now have a higher priority than us to take our plane out of here. Which means we could be delayed. However, there is the posibility the C-17 gets fixed, and flys here tomorrow, and then we are on its return trip back to Christchurch, we just arrive later. The flight however would only be 5 hours long, be less packed full of people, and a bit quieter. So in the end, it could turn out for the better. Here's to hoping so.
Once I arrive in Christchurch, I'm to remain there until December 19th, when I finish out my flights in commercial jetliners, straight back to Denver (via Aukland and Los Angelas) The interesting thing is I will be landing on the same day I leave, thanks to crossing over the international date line again, despite flying through the night. Once there I get to figure out how I get home from the airport, as I really have not yet arranged anything, but that's fairly trivial. I'll be glad to be home a few days earlier than planned, and better yet, ready to enjoy the 2 weeks vacation I have scheduled through the holidays.

No where to go but North.

Its been a few days since I posted here, not entirely by choice, but somewhat so. Last Thursday I took an LC-130 flight 3 hours south to reach Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The flight was pleasant and we see some interesting terrain from the air. Most of it was quite desolate though. Recent changes in orbiting satellites, more specifically, the de-orbiting of one has left the station with an approximate window if Internet connectivity down to about 10 hours every day. and almost 50% of that window is currently during most people's sleeping hours on station. On top of that, the station lives at 9,300 feet in elevation, however the atmosphere is thinner there than on the continental US at similar elevation, so the "real feel" there is close to 11,000 feet. After living in Denver for a year and traveling through the mountains, I usually don't have problems at such elevations, but it would seem that the time I spent at sea level on my way here has made my body unaccustomed to such elevation change in such a sort period of time. I opted not to take any diamox (Acetazolamide) to help with altitude when it was offered to me at McMurdo station, I don't really like the way it makes me feel (dexamethasone is my preferred drug, but hey, that stuff makes you feel good, diamox does not). Anyhow, what I'm getting at, is the fact that the altitude got to me, headache, nausea, lack of apatite, and not much motivation to do much of anything, include post here. But here's proof none the less that I was there:
Overall, the experience was good, and I would have to say that I wouldn't mind going back there. Though, if I had to pick what my favorite station is, it would have to be Palmer, which I visited last spring (northern hemisphere spring). The facility is pretty much brand new, just being dedicated last year, and some rooms still have that "new building smell." So just how cold is it down there you ask? Well, the temp usually hovered around -25 degrees F with a windchill right around -50 F. It was surprisingly not as bad as I imagined it, though I have to say winter down here must be pretty harsh. The air is EXTREMELY dry, at around 5% humidity. I don't think I've ever been so thirsty. Just talking to people for any period of time made my throat sore. The snow is fun. Its pretty hard, and it makes a hollow squeaky noise when you walk on it. If you pick it up with your hands and crush it, it runs out like sand when you open your hand up again. There's always some amount of ice/snow crystals flying around in the air from the winds. The terrain itself is awe inspiring. I've never seen so much of just "nothingness." Flat snow in every direction, the only variation in it is caused by the community immediately surrounding the area.
Community wise, there were 255 people at the South Pole doing research, or supporting it when I was there. Most of them lived in what is known as "summer camp" outside the main station. They are a bunch of little half dome buildings... pictures coming soon, they're still on my camera. The other half live in the station itself. I was lucky enough to get a room in the main station. The rooms there though are anything but roomy and spacious. I think I've seen walk in in closets with more room. There's a sauna, a gym, workout room, library, arts and crafts, and other things to do while there too. About all I did though was read, as I didn't have much ambition for anything else.
Today I returned back to McMurdo. Our time at the pole was cut short due to the delays in flights coming down here, and the need for the bed space at pole. It was a mixed blessing. It was nice to get into the plane and almost immediately have my headache go away once they pressurized the cabin. There's a lot more science stuff I wanted to see at pole that I never had the time or opportunity to go check out though. Oh well. Guess that's it for about now. I'll work on some more pics and stuff for you all to see soon.

On my way.

So, it turns out that I was scheduled to fly out this morning, but somehow got bumped by a few Italians who had "more urgent things to tend to" on the ice. That meant that I had yet another day to blow on the south island here. So I celebrated my Thanksgiving touring in Akaroa. It was about 1.5 hour tour bus ride from Christchurch. Overall, very nice place. Apparently its popular for its marine tours. You can take wildlife boat rides, rides to go swim with dolphins, or a sailboat ride where they'll let you help sail. Being the land lover that I am, I opted to take a nice hike up out of the caldera, to see what I could see. Was a quite enjoyable day really. I have some nice pictures that I'll post once I get down to the ice. I'm scheduled to leave the hotel tonight at 0045. The actually plane is scheduled to lift its wheels around 0400. Looks like its finally happening. Just wanted to give a quick update. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

2 photos

The pictures, as previously mentioned:
This is the main church in the center square of Christchurch. I wasn't happy about the vendor cart, so hopefully it will be gone at some point with an equally nice sky on my way back.

Here's a picture of the 2 main types of planes that fly to the ice. In the foreground is an LC-130. These are the main mode of transportation between McMurdo station and South Pole. In the background is a C-17, and is what I hope to be on tomorrow morning, on my way to McMurdo.

For Best results, wash 3 times?

Yep... delayed 24 hours more. Crazy. Its going to become difficult to actually get the work done I was sent down there to do if this keeps up. On the flip side, I am getting work done in New Zealand that I was scheduled to do on my way back up, so maybe it will even out. Who knows. I think I've got some decent pictures of the church at the center of Christchurch. Haven't looked at them yet. But if they are decent I'll post them in a little while.

Wash, rinse, repeat

Flight south delayed another 24 hours.... :-/

No Flight for Me... or anyone else.

I had my bags all packed, everything sorted, and organized for how I would need it. Carefully setup my "boomerang bag" with an extra days worth of clothing, and toiletries. Set my alarm for 4:50 AM. That should be just enough time to get up, take a quick shower, grab my things, and head down to the lobby to catch the 5:15 shuttle to the airport. If we were to boomerang, which means after we take off, it's been determined we can't land in Antarctica, we turn around and head back, we would be given our boomerang bag. All other checked luggage is kept palletized for up to four days. I was plenty tired and fell asleep quickly around 10:00 PM last night, only to be rudely awakened by a man with an Asian accent at 4:30 AM. Glancing at the clock before answering the phone, I almost immediately came to the conclusion that this phone call could not be good news. Either the flight was delayed, or something was wrong with the time on my clock, and I overslept. I assumed my first thoughts were more likely than the latter, and I was correct. Barely awake enough for my brain to process the heavily accented English coming from the man on the other end of the phone, I acknowledged what he had to say, hung up and turned off my alarm. The flight has been delayed 24 hours due to bad weather in Antarctica. I was to report to the CDC at 9:00 AM for further instructions, so, now here I sit, trying to figure out how to spend my day. I have work to do, and should probably do that.

Basically, wash, rinse, repeat for tomorrow morning, hopefully with a different outcome that results me sitting on a plane, trying to pass time by reading and listening to some tunes.

On another front, I have to say the food here is much more satisfying than it was in Punta Arenas, Chile. Lots of Asian around, especially Thai and Indian, but that doesn't really surprise me. Last night I got to eat at a place called "The Stonegrill." It was pretty neat. You select the meat you want. Mine happened to be Kangaroo, because I live trying new things, and adding another meat to my growing list of things I've tried is fun. Anyhow, the bring out a wicked hot 6x6 inch square, and probably 1.5 inch thick stone on a plate that's been heated to some searing hot temperature, with the chunks of raw meat on it. You then get to slice and cook the meat to your liking on the stone. It was fun, and pretty tasty. Overall, though, I can't say Kangaroo is my favorite (Elk is), but its not bad. It's a red meat without a very strong flavor, but was certainly moist and tender, as long is its kept to the rarer side of done. The pieces I cooked longer seemed tougher. So now I quest to find something to do for another day. I have to go get some Single Malt for some friends down on the ice, so that will take up some time, but certainly not all day. I've got some work I need to do anyway. Anyhow, just wanted to give a quick update, since most of you were probably expecting me to have some kind of "ice story" today. Sorry to disappoint.

The Early Flight

I've just gone through clothing issue here at the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center), in Christchurch. The CDC building here houses the main US presence in New Zealand for the United States Antarctic program. I contains travel offices, logistical office, a post office, and all the gear that people deploying to the ICE get. I was impressed with the size of the building. It also seems relatively new, and is certainly in a lot better shape than the warehouse down in Punta Arenas, Chile that provides a similar job function for those going down to the peninsula. After getting all our gear, we had to try it on, and make sure everything was functioning properly (zippers, etc). Everything seemed fine to me. We were then briefed on how things work and when to get here etc. I have to report back here at 6:00 AM, get all weighed in, get a boarding pass and all that jazz, and then we take off. If all goes well, we won't boomerang and turn back.

Internet availability here in Christchurch (at least the legal way) is largely a for profit enterprise. It's quite expensive at the hotel. You can pay for a 2 hour connection and be limited to 30 MB of data transfer, our you can select a 24 hour option, which is a flat rate, and an additional charge per MB, with no cap. There are numerous internet cafes around too. I find it annoying to have to pay for an internet connection though, where its so freely available at most places in the US, at least that I frequent. Perhaps its just my American culture showing. Looking back at the places I've been, the hotel in Chile I stayed at offered free internet. However, the hotel in Amsterdam had a flat per day charge. The place I stayed at, in Germany was so small and tiny, and old seeming, I don't think it would have been capable of providing an internet connection. There was now wireless signal penetrating its walls either. There were internet cafes there as well. So I wonder what the general consensus is out in the world... Generally, do you have to pay to use the internet, or are more and more businesses, hotels, and restaurants providing free access to paying customers?

Sorry to not have any pictures up. My intentions are to just kinda survive until I get to the ice, and then start posting pictures of things there. When I get back off ice, and spend more time in Christchurch, I'll post more pictures then. Hopefully I'll get some good ones. The more and more I think about it, the more I kind of convince myself that doing some stupid touristy "Lord of the Rings" tour offered by a touring company sounds appealing. So I'll probably do that, and hopefully grab some nice pictures. Gotta justify the expense of paying for it somehow. So hopefully the next time I write, I'll have some initial "ice pictures" for you, and have my feet on Antarctic soil.

I lost a day somewhere.

Well, I have safely arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's weird to have taken off on Thursday night, traveled for a total of about 15-16 hours and land where its Saturday. I'm missing a day somewhere. At least I'll get it back when I fly home, kind of.
It's overcast, and probably in the mid 60's here, and sprinkling occasionally. The flights, well, were flights. 13 hours stuck in economy isn't my idea of a great time. However, I've had a lot worse. Qantas airlines has a pretty sweet setup. Every seat had its own little 6" tv screen in the seat back in front, and in the arm rest was a removable (corded) remote control that controlled the video on demand system. There were a myriad of movies to choose from, as well, as a bunch of television programs. The remote control also had game pad style controls on it, and you could play old 16-bit gaming system quality games. So between that, my book, and trying to get some sleep, I managed to say fairly occupied. The seat configuration was in a 2-4-2 setup too, and I had the isle seat of the outside row. The only think to be aware of... If you ever fly into Auckland and make a domestic connection, be prepared to walk. The domestic terminal is a separate building and what seems like a good half mile path between the two. My connection was far enough apart time wise, that I didn't have a problem, it just took a bit to figure out we had to walk to another terminal.
Flying from Auckland to Christchurch was nice. I somehow managed to get booked in a first class seat. To bad the trip wasn't longer. Total flight time was about an hour. Try and get a seat looking west, as you get a nice view of the mountains. My first impressions of the place is its kinda like a Green Denver. Christchuch is on flat land, with big mountains off in the distance. But its obvious they actually get rain here. I visited the botanic gardens here to. I can't believe the size of some of the trees there. I took a bunch of pictures but probably won't upload them until tomorrow. My hotel internet connection is currently for 2 hours, and capped at 30 MB of data transfer, so I need to use wisely. (I should have composed this before getting online. Oh well.)
Tomorrow we go over to the USAP building and get all of our ECW gear (Extreme Cold Weather) and then on Monday (Sunday, in the US) we fly out. I guess that's all I have to report for now, and I've a bunch of e-mail to sort through. Cheers!

California, first impressions

Well, my short time in California is about up. My first thoughts of the state aren't anything great...

1. I'm surprised its not greener. I was expecting something more like Georgia I guess, but it seems more like Denver, with Palm trees. I suspect I'd have to go further north for things to "green up." That does explain the wildfires though.
   
2. Yes, the traffic around LA is absolutely as bad is they say it is.
3. Are the houses here really worth what the asking prices are? They sure don't look it.
4. It's the end of November, and temps are in the high 60's.... but it was in the high 60's when I left Denver too. I suspect they are much more stable here though
5. I'm reminded that the beach really does not do anything for me. Don't care for the feel of sand in my toes, or the sticky feeling the air leaves on my skin. The water didn't seem all that warm either.
6. Houses on cliffs are probably not the safest things to live in.
7. The people seem nice enough around here
8. I do find the geography of the area appealing, mountains around the horizon.
9. Eucalyptus trees are neat looking, but I imagine they aren't a native species.

Tomorrow we'll drive back down the pacific coast highway to LA. Should be much better this time, since it will be daylight. The drive north was simply nerve wracking. I don't care for driving in unfamiliar land at night, and the lanes were narrow at points. It was also disappointing to not have any kind of view. The plane takes off for for New Zealand at 8 PM pacific time, and then I'm stuck on it for 13 hours. Yipee! I heard that Qantas flights are pretty nice though. We'll see.

Well, in closing, I'll leave you with a few photos I took at the beach in Port Hueneme during sunset tonight

T minus 4 days

So all my flights and hotels have been booked through my companies travel department, travel documents collected, and itineraries confirmed with the people I am meeting at various locations to conduct business.  Next Tuesday I start my journey to highest, driest, coldest, windiest, most isolated place on earth, the South Pole.  Some may argue if it is truly all those things,  I can neither confirm or deny it.  Its a large banner in my office, and it sounds good.  I think the trip overall should be fun, though busy.  Tuesday my co-worker and I leave Denver to go to LA.  From there we'll rent a car and drive to Port Hueneme, CA.  I was hoping to drive up the pacific coast highway and get some nice views and photos, but I think its going to be dark by the time I get my luggage, etc.  Maybe I'll luck out and get some nice pacific sunsets.

Thursday we then drive back to LA, and begin our long flight to the southern hemisphere.  We'll arrive at Auckland, NZ and then take a connection to the south island, and the city of Christchurch.  The day after we arrive, we'll be issued all of our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, and the day after that, we board a C-17 for the flight to McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica.  Provided all goes well, we won't "boomerang" back to NZ.  That typically happens if conditions become to difficult to land at McMurdo.  Once there we'll spend a little over a week doing some work, and then prepare for our flight to the South Pole on an LC-130.   Spend just under a week there, and then begin the journey back to Christchurch.  Once we're back at Christchurch, we spend a few days going over their computer systems.  Currently I'm scheduled to arrive home on Christmas eve, but I hope to be able to catch an earlier flight home.

I'm seriously procrastinating on the packing side of things.  I've decided that I'm just going to pack one of my hiking backpacks.  The tricky part is having to pack clothes for New Zealand (it's their summer) and also for the cold of Antarctica.  Typically temps at McMurdo are from the 20-40 degree F range, but I should expect highs to be -20 at South Pole, and that's being optimistic.   At the time of this writing its currently -37.5 F with a windchill of -59.5 F.  You can get updates for South Pole weather here, or here.  Currently, McMurdo has a temp of 17.6 F.  Weather info here, and here.  I've been thinking of bringing some of my hiking gear and trying to go for a quick overnight hiking trip while in New Zealand.  We'll see how things work out.  It will likely depend on how much I pack.

I'll be Internet connected for most of the trip, though South Pole only has a 9 hour period of satellite connectivity each day.  I should be able to make frequent updates here though, and I hope to post a bunch of pictures to share with everyone.  Unlike my last trip though, I won't be renting a big huge expensive lens to take with me.  I don't think the photo opportunities will present themselves like they did at Palmer station.  I also need a good excuse to practice getting better with the equipment that I have, rather being frustrated not having the equipment I want.

So a little update on the Alpine Rescue Team thing, I went to one of the 2 prospective member meetings last Monday.  The other meeting is being held while I'm deployed.  31 new people attended that meeting alone.  Wow!  There's only 8-12 slots open and they haven't even had the other meeting yet.  Makes me kind of nervous.  I've been going to trainings, and trying to meet people and show interest, ever since I found out about them.  Hopefully that relationship building will help out a little.  I turned my application in (I was the first one), and will have first pick of interview times.  First come first serve.  Turns out that the person in charge of the perspective member stuff actually spent a season in Antarctica as well.  Maybe that will help too :)  They aren't necessarily looking for people with all kinds of mad skills, but more for people who have the time and are willing to give it to the team.  So I filled out the application trying to emphasize that my past experience have shown my commitment to those teams, and that I'm willing to provide the same kind of commitment to this one too.  We'll see.  Interviews will be January 11-13th.

So with that, it's likely that the next time I post, I'll be in California, so until then, cheers!

Writers Block?

I know, its been some time since I posted to this blog. Okay its been a long time, almost two months. I don't really have many excuses. Mostly I just haven't had a lot to say. Life has been a lot of the same, go to work during the week, relax on the weekends. Cycling has been sliding, and I haven't ridden to work in a while. Mostly due to the shortening of daylight hours I think. My body has a hard time getting up before the sun does. I can't say I enjoy ridding in the dark either. I have, however, finally acquired a mountain bike though. I've gone on 5 rides thus far, and can ?proudly? say that I've drawn blood on every single one of them. Amusingly, when I ride with friends they tell me that if you don't fall at least once, you aren't riding hard enough. Well, I've got that covered. Mountain biking is worlds harder than I had ever imagined it being. Mostly due to loose rocks, and terrain so steep, its hard to keep the front wheel on the ground. I'm getting the hang of it though, and slowly but surely getting better. My last ride was the first time I didn't actually go over my handlebars. LOL.

Of interesting note though, I have managed to enroll myself in an Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) study. My first "trial" occurs at the end of this week. It consists of a baseline study at local altitude, and then I get to spend 14+ hours in a pressure chamber simulating the atmospheric equivalent of 16,000 feet. I already know that I get sick at altitudes of 14,000 feet from the time I spent at Long's Peak earlier this summer. I wouldn't call it severe, but it was certainly noticeable, so we'll see what adding another 2,000 feet does to me. There are 3 different sessions of this, that include things like MRI's and bike pedaling, and cognitive testing. Each time I'll also take either a medication used to combat the symptoms of AMS or a placebo. Only the prescribing Dr. will know which (the people running the tests will not). This is the first study I've ever been in, but I find the topic pretty cool, as well as the stuff the use for the tests. I've already been in for an initial screening, which involved a VO2 max test. I've always wanted one of those, but not really willing to pay $200 to have one done at a sports med place. I should hopefully find out the results when I go in later this weeks. The person administering it seemed impressed, so I guess I was at least above average.

In other news, I'm scheduled to visit Antarctica again later this fall. Unfortunately, I won't be able to spend Thanksgiving with my family as my current deployment dates have me leaving November 18th and returning December 21st. This time I'll be traveling to LA, California, and then driving to Port Hueneme, where a fellow co-worker and I will be evaluating system at our small office there. Almost all cargo destined for "the ice" (as we like to say) pretty much goes through the port. Hopefully I'll get to drive up route 1 (pacific coast highway) to get there, provided time allows. After spending a day there, we then take the long flight down to Australia/New Zealand, where final destination will be Christchurch, NZ. We'll spend some time there, getting gear issued and recovering from jet leg, before we board a C-17 for the flight to McMurdo Station. If the weather is good, we'll land, otherwise we 'boomerang' back to Christchurch and try again later. Once at McMurdo we'll spend time looking at the systems there, and then take a flight on an LC-130 to South Pole station. Spend a few days there, and then make the journey back to Christchurch. Unfortunately, it sounds like we'll also be taking an LC-130 from McMurdo back to Christchurch. I've heard its a bit miserable due to loud noise and the much longer (~2x) duration of the flight. Oh well. Once back in Christchurch well spend some time looking at the computer systems there, and I hope, taking in some of the sights of the south island as well. After all that, I get to come home in time for Christmas with the family.

So that's pretty much been going on for the last 2 months. I hope to come up with some good things to post about in the future, but no guarantees. I imagine the next thing you have to look forward to is find out how I react to 16,000 feet of altitude. I was thinking of bringing my video camera, and recording how messed up I get. We'll see. ;)

Pedal Power

This past week marks the beginning of me using cycling as more than just recreation. Of the 4 days I was in the office this week, I commuted mostly by bike twice. I say mostly because I am driving 10 miles to a park-n-ride close to my house and a convenient bike path. From there it's an additional 23 miles by bike into the office. Maybe by the end of the summer I'll be in enough shape to go from my house, but right now, I'm only averaging about 16.6 mph, and as such it already takes an hour twenty to pedal in. Leaving by bike from my house I think would make for a really long day. I probably could have bike 3 of the 4 days, but I'm trying to ease myself into this. I don't want risk being completely zonked at work all the time.

The ride overall isn't too bad. There's one good section through a park, where on my second time in, I rode across a bridge and around a corner only to almost crash directly into a large buck Mule Deer. Talk about a wake up call at 6 in the morning. The wildlife is great though, I've seen fox, prarie dogs, flickers, kestrels, and warblers to name a few. There are a number if interesctions to cross, which aren't to bad in the morning, but delay my ride back in the afternoon. Since its the afternoon, I don't mind as much though. The ride towards home also seems a heck of a lot more difficult too. The elevation profile (as seen at motionbased, here.) is pretty much 'V' shaped. just happens that one side of the V is more consistantly sloped than the other. Makes for a long climb back to the car. Oh well. If I were to drive this whole route to work it would be about 34 miles (My normal shorter drive is 26 miles)... so I'm still saving some gas and wear on the vehicle, as well as helping my body out.

Hopefully soon, I can pick up my average pace. My goal by the end of the season is to knock 10 minutes off the ride (inbound at least). The equates to about 30 second faster pace per mile on average, which I think is reasonable.

Also further adventures of the bike commute, on the 2nd trip back to the car, a co-worker advised me of a quicker way that knocks 5 minutes off his trip.... I got completely lost trying it out, and added about 7 miles to my trip. So much for quicker. It made me realize something though. I need to eat some carbs a little while before I head home in the afternoon. I was starving by the time I got to the car... Low blood sugar and biking don't mix to well. Of course, biking past the Krispy Kreme shop and smelling the fresh donuts did not help (doesn't help in the morning either).

June 25th is official "bike to work" day here in Denver. I encourage any of you out there, even not in Denver, to bike in as well, just once. At least try it out. The key to successfull commuting is plan ahead. The day before, take in a change of clothes, some extra food, shower / washup stuff. Extra pair of shoes. Leave non-essential things in the office too. IE, don't bring that laptop home, so you don't have to bike it in the next day. Make sure you get plenty of food in you, and hydrate the day/night before. Perhaps the weekend before, get up a little earlier and go for a "test run." See if your planned route will get you where you need to go, and how long it will take you. These steps should get you well on your way to riding in to work. Also, make sure you have a spare tube, an air pump, and tire levers with you too. Don't want to get stranded on your way in. Make sure you know how to use them, if you don't ask your local bike shop to show you. And on a slight side note, when you go home... leave your work at work. It will be there when you get back tomorrow. Enjoy the ride and realize the benifits you're giving your self. You're better off for it. Or if you love to work, see if your IT dept. will set you up with the means to remote into your work, thats what I do, should the need arrise.

White kucklin' the Yoke

I had the privilege this morning of taking a ride with a friend of mine up in a cessna 172s. I certainly wasn't going to turn down that offer. What a great experience. I met him early in the morning, and was able to assist him with some of his pre-flight checks. Its pretty cool to see everything you're supposed to go through before you take off. Everything from checking flight surface function, to manually rolling the plane back and forth looking for bald patches on the wheel.
Since it was just him and I, I was assigned co-pilot duties and helped with the in-flight type checks too. There are checks for taking off, cruising, landing, and all that jazz. It was very eye opening.

From First Flight

The above picture is of us right before take off, ready to go... Throttle up! I have to admit, I was anticipating what I would think of the whole experience from the moment I woke up this morning. Though, interestingly, my expected reaction was not how I really reacted. I figured I'd "geek out" over all the dials, guages, knobs, and other stuff to play with, and would probably sit there with a smile on my face for the whole trip. Instead, I was overwhelmed. There were a few things I could figure out, altimeter, heading, "Plane level thingy." But much of the rest was a mystery. Okay, yes, I know what the radios and all that stuff where, but I was at a loss for being able to explain what any of the read-outs and buttons meant. The performance of my pilot was excellent. He demonstrated mastery of all the knobs and buttons, and communicated well with the ground/flight operations staff.

From First Flight

Eventually, I was offered a chance to take a hold of the flight controls and fly around. You can see from the photo above, I had a solid death grip on the yoke. Talk about a rush! Its deffinately a little more difficult than driving a car... There's this whole 3rd dimension you have to deal with. I have no clue how I did, relative to any sort of measure, but we didn't crash! :) I haven't learned to Tao of flying in my first run thats for sure. I kept telling myself to relax, but it wasn't working. Since this was all VFR flying (visual) there's plenty to do, namely keep an eye out for all other aircraft. No radar on this little guy. I was flying southbound right along the start of the mountains. Plenty of winds there to knock the plane around. My pilot told me to just go with it, and proceeded to demonstrate the maneuverability of the aircraft by pushing the yoke down, giving us a -1.5 G fall. I would have loved to see my face when he did that. Oh well. Speaking of maneuver's we also preformed some power on, and power off stalls (not while I was flying it, of course). That was fun, and very informational. He was able to explain what has happening, and going on, and how to fix it.

All in all, a great experience, and I'd definitely go up again, given the opportunity. If you are wondering if Flight School is in my future, well, if I could afford it, and had enough free time, yeah, I think it would be cool. I still have more interest in flying a helicopter though. That might change though, if I ever have the chance to go up in one. Closest I get is my little electric RC helicopter.

From First Flight

On the way home from the airport, I happened to notice this "test sign." Just thought it was funny, and figured I would share. You can see a few more photos that were snapped (with comments) during my flight time here.

They gave me what?

So one of the things I was thankful for during my north and southbound voyage over the drake was a transdermal patch that delivered medication into my bloodstream. This seems more effective than oral medication since you don't have to worry about "keeping it down." I had saved the wrapper from one of the little patches, as I wanted to lookup what this medication was all about when I arrived home, as I had never heard of it before. A little bit of research yielded some interesting facts.

Scopsinceolamine is the name of the drug. While on the boat, I had a chance to talk to an older Doctor who had stories of using the medication on pregnant women to help them through "a procedure," whatever that is supposed to mean. He said that the dosage that was used on them was significantly higher than what is delivered via the patch though, but it often yielded a room full of crazy howling women. The drug essentially plays with your nerves and how they handle acetocholine. I'm kind of surprised that something like that would help prevent nausia, but I'm certianly not a doctor. The only side effect I really had from it was a very dry mouth and throat. During my trip I witnessed others have worse reactions. Some had blurry, vision, and mild halucinations, others had memory loss and disorientation. This is what made me extra curious about this stuff. I was surprised an EMT could have standing orders to just pass this stuff out after reading some information to you.

A little further research led me to find out that this same stuff comes from a plant family thats known to be poisonous. The Datura. Mainly the roots and seed pods are used from the plant to make the drugs. More amusingly, my wife grew these things in our backyard, back in Pennsylvania. If I only knew the potential! Just kidding. Apparently Scopolamine is also used as a drug designed soley for criminal intent, mostly in Colombia, as at the right concentration it can cause its "user" to agree to others suggestions without resistance.

Further looking around at this stuff lead me to a video segment that is produced by and can be viewed at vbs.tv. The show is called "Colombian Devil's Breath." Please be aware that the stuff on vbs.tv often has a fair amount of "adult" language on it, and probably isn't suitable for all family members to view :) Its kind of ashame, since a lot of the stuff on vbs.tv has a documentary kind of nature to it. They also have a series on the big mass of plastic garbage in the middle of the pacific that I thought was quite interesting (and they also showed someone using "the patch, on that). Essentially though, I'm really amused that this drug doesn't seem to be more controlled than it is, considering what the film segmant had to say. Granted, the oral or transdermal routes of the medication take quite a bit longer for the effect to take (3 hours for the patch).

I imagine a lot of the worlds drugs probably have similar stories, but it was fun just kind of fleshing this one out.

Kayland Vertigo High - usage report

Some kind person (Thanks Bill!) made an obvious point out to me about my previous review of the Kayland Vertigo High hiking boot. To be more specific, he was looking to find out more about how I felt the boot was supporting the foot. Especially for those who may be prone to rolling on ankle on loose or rocky terrain.

Well, For those of you who don't follow my blog, and happen to stumble upon it, strictly for the boot review, the nature of my employment recently took me on a trip to the antarctic peninsula, where I happen to bring my new boots with me. The terrain on my trip varied from roads on the streets of the city, to climbing over piles of rocks the size of soccer balls, to tramping up a glacier to see what I could see. Below is a picture where you can kind of see some of the terrain I was on... picture the rocks more varied in size, and looser.

The day I decided to take my climb up the glacier I managed to pick one of the windiest, wettest days there, but I wasn't going to loose the opportunity to hike up a glacier in Antarctica. The boots preformed very well.

I have found the lacing system to work very effectively. In fact, it worked so effectively that I have found that I actually can't tighten these boots like I was used to tightening my old ones. I ended up cutting off circulation to my feet. The tops of the boots come up over my ankle and I'm able to lace the shoes up to have a good snug grip on my whole foot and ankle, all while still providing enough movement to allow me to walk very comfortably. While I myself am not prone to rolling ankle injuries, I found myself on many an odd angle hiking around the "backyard" of Palmer Station. The boot preformed well.

During the weather I also pushed through mud, puddles and a rain/snow mix flying at me in 25-35 knot winds. The boots had excellent grip on the wet rocks. While you still have to be careful of foot placement in this terrain, I didn't feel I had to test every step with my weight. Going up the glacier I encountered hard ice, where I don't think anything short of Yak Traks or crampons would have helped. The boots slipped there, as I would expect them to. I also walked through sections that were there was hard ice but it had been weathered to have pea sized nubs and channels. Mild slippage here, but nothing a little caution wouldn't take care of. Yak Traks would still be preferable here. The glacier also had some loose wet snow where my foot would sink in an inch or three. No problem with traction there. There was one section where I started to post hole a little bit, up to just beyond the top of the boot. This caused my socks to get wet and soak water down into the boot. Had I had my gators with me, this wouldn't have been an issue. Even still, I think the boot did a good job keeping a majority of the water out. I had no problems going through water, nor did my feet ever get cold. Again, I'm very satisfied with these boots. They are still the most comfortable boot I've ever had, and I'd buy them again in a heart beat.

Some Choice Photos

So I spent most of my day going through photos from my trip and playing around with Adobe Lightroom, and comparing it to Apple's Aperture. IMHO, there is now comparison, LightRoom kicked the pants off of Aperture. The reasons why are probably for another post, I will most likely never get to. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to talk about all the features or their differences. I just know I like LightRoom a lot better.

So anyway... Here are some of the pics that I felt represent my trip the best. Most of them certainly aren't post card material, but I'm happy with them. Please feel free to leave comments on them, etc.