Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. It was a great time but I have felt homesick this last week. It wasn't quite the same as Christmas Eve back home. The Vehicle Heavy Shop cleaned out the entire place and hosted the town Christmas party. It's quite a project considering there are 10 bays for the station's vehicles and the floor is usually covered with oil, glycol, and a variety of other chemicals. The party was a lot of fun and there was a lot of catching up with people I hadn't seen in a while. I started the night (which was my morning because I'm still on nights) drinking but ultimately stopped because it was my morning and I didn't want to waste away the entire day.

I woke up the next day and to the phone ringing and it was my boss asking me to come into work as there was to be a medevac. The night before there was a scuffle at the South Pole and some guy got his jaw broken. The result was probably about a $100,000 of expense to fly a LC-130 to the pole, get the two guys involved, bring them back to McMurdo, and then on to Christ Church later in the day. About a 100 people had to be notified and worked at some point during the ordeal. So I worked about 4 or 5 hours on the holiday because of a couple of idiots. I did make it in time for the midnight meal (lunch really for the night crew) and it was a spectacular meal. They had some really good duck and roast beef and the desserts were the best. The bakers down here are the best. There is always fresh bread and desserts. Sometimes the meals down here aren't great but there is almost always some kind of fresh veggies. I most definitely eat better down here than I do at home. During the extra time off I also did a bit of hiking and watched some movies with some of the other night people. New Years is right around the corner and I plan on being a little more involved in the party scene.

My morning today was the finals of the soccer league down here. The league here had only six teams and so throughout the season we have been playing each team once. We played pretty well and got into the 4 team playoff as the third seed. It's been a lot of fun playing with Deb and Matt and a few of the other people down here. And we are so fortunate too that we got ourselves a goalie four weeks ago. We struggled the first few games since none of us wanted to play goal and just aren't good at it. Both semifinal games were tonight and the final game. We played amazing in the semifinal and won 5-1 over the second seeded team to advance to the final. We then played back to back games and got crushed by the number one team. The team was stacked and we really didn't have much of a chance but we still played pretty well. In the final I had our teams best chances to score but the goalie they had was a wall and I couldn't get it passed him. Being able to play soccer down here has been awesome since it was a big part of my life back home.

For work, I'm going to be on nights for a bit longer now. About a week ago I got into the office and my boss and Shuttle Bill pull me aside. Bill has been around a few seasons, is 69, and trained all of us on the bigger vehicles. Bill and I had hit it off right from the start of the season. So they pulled me aside and asked if I would be interested in the supervisor position for shuttles if Kris, the current supervisor wasn't going to come back next year. It was kind of a shock to me. I've also got mixed feelings about it since it would be more of a desk job and I wouldn't be going outside as much. I am a bit interested in it though and so now I'm doing a little bit of training for some of the supervisor work. Kris won't decide until March if she is coming back and there is another candidate who will also be training like me. Since I don't have to make a decision right away whether or not to be a supervisor it seems like a win-win situation. So, in order to learn more about the night supervisor position I will be extended on nights for an extra three weeks. That's really the only thing I'm not really happy about since I would have liked to be on days as soon as possible. When I get to days I'll start learning more about the day stuff. It's only three weeks.

On another topic, over the last four weeks I decided to grow out my beard and the whole season I have yet to have a hair cut. I've posted a picture below that shows the new look. I've received quite a few compliments on the beard already so I plan on keeping it a little while longer to see how it turns out. I''ll probably get a hair cut soon to trim the sides and back since It's starting to look like I'm growing a mullett.

I was thinking today that I've got to manage my free time better. I've been able to exercise, read, hike a bit, and most of my time is spent hanging out with people. One of my goals down here was to learn some new things and I feel I haven't been able to do that yet. I wanted to ski some, check out the bouldering cave here, do some of the art stuff here, and learn how to the play the guitar. Free time is hard to come by but I feel like I can manage it better and get some of those things started. Hopefully in the coming weeks I'll have more of an update on that.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone reading!

Christmas is almost here!

Not too much has happened since my last post. I've been on nights now for three weeks. Being a night worker has it's pros and cons. The amount of people out and about decreases considerably. Of the 1100 people on the base there are probably less than 150 people who work the night shift. It allows for some nice quiet times to reflect on being down here, read, and relax. I also don't have an excuse not to go work out and so I've been able to do something almost every day. The food is generally better for the lunch (midrat) meal since there are by far fewer people to cook for. Probably the best thing is that with fewer people around you get to spend a lot of time with a smaller group of people and get to know them better. That said, the biggest con is that I feel like I miss out a lot on seeing people I met the first 7 weeks. I see Deb and Matt only on my nights off and to play soccer. I've missed out on some pretty cool events, parties, and just hanging out by having to work an opposite schedule. I should have about two to three weeks more of nights - Right around New Years - before switching back to days for the rest of the season. I'm looking forward to heading back to days.

Christmas is coming up in a little over a week. It certaintly doesn't feel like Christmas down here yet. While there is snow/ice on the ground it hasn't actually snowed in a few weeks here. There is no Christmas music everywhere and very little decoration around to remind you it's coming. It's a little weird since Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I've spent 28 of 30 Christmas's in Chicago with the Ott family. I'll miss being there. It will be nice to have a couple of days off in a row again and the food will be amazing again here. Plus, spending time amongst the friends I've made here at the midnight Christmas meal should be alot of fun.

A lot of people have commented on how cold it looks here. It actually isn't as bad as you would think. For the first month I was here it was pretty cold. Long underwear and Jeans with at least three top layers were a must here with the weather moving between -10 and 10. Into the second month here it has really warmed up. Two weeks in the 20's and now were all the way up into the 30's this last week. 30 here feels more like 50 when the sun is shining here as it does most days. Jeans, a sweathshirt, and a coat is all anyone needs now.

So those that are curious, there has been no romance for me here on the ice as of yet. It's a bit tricky down here considering the small community and that there is really no place to go on a date here to be alone. I've been interested in people but because of the ratio of girls to guys down here the girls that are single have the interest of many guys. It can be a bit frustrating at times. I didn't come down here to find someone but found myself looking for a relationship. I've decided it's best not to look for it here and truly live in the moment. That's all I've got on that subject for now.

I posted some additional pictures below and hope to post more in the next few days.

Today marks almost the exact half point of my time here. I've officially been on ice for two months and am likely to be off the ice around the middle of February. I want to make the most out of the last two months. I've also been thinking about next season already and if I had to make a decision today I would probably sign up. It really has been a great experience and by coming back next year I would be reunited with friends from this season. If I do go the plan is for me to spend a few months after this season traveling, then head back to the states and visit with everyone there for a month or maybe two, and then go off to travel again until it's time for me to come back. Hopefully everything will fit into place.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from the ice. Most are from the Cape Evans trip the Shuttle crew went on last month. We took our yearly picture on the Deltas, which are now the main vehicle we drive as the ice road has turned to slush.

November

Wow, 24 days since I wrote in the blog. It certainly doesn't feel like it. A lot has happened in the last month here so this entry will probably be a random collection of different things that happened in the last three plus weeks.

Happy Camper school (Snow School) is a chance for non necessary employees like me to have a morale trip. For people going out into the field, firefighters, and certain other implortant employees it is required training. I was lucky enough to get scheduled for it three weeks back. It represents a two day hands on training on how to camp in Antarctica. It was definitely the event I was looking forward to most being down here. So I get scheduled during a week in which the weather was about as bad as it gets down here. Lots of restrictions on movement around base, blowing snow, and winds that will knock you down. So the morning of snow school there is some in class training. The winds howling outside make it seems like the roof is about to blow off. The base has different coniditions assigned to the weather. Condition 3 is normal and there can be some pretty good winds in Condition 3. Condition 2 is where visibility is bad and there is usually a good amount of blowing snow or high winds. Condition 1 is basically no visibility (you may see your hand if you put it in front of your face) and crazy winds. We started that morning in Condition 2, which means we are still able to have happy camper. At first I was a bit worried about the weather and was thinking how is this going to be fun. We got through some morning instruction, got the latest weather report that said it was going to get worse, got really pumped up that we were going to have a true Antarctic Experience, got in the transport Delta to leave, heard the announcent that Condition 1 was called and then got out right cancelled. Boy was that a bit of a disapointment. Thirty minutes earlier we would have been out there. In restrosect it was probably a very good thing we did get cancelled because the weather didn't really clear until late in the night and we would not have been able to set up camp. We would have hunkered down in a nearby bunker and not had much fun. The most disapointing part about it was that I was worried I wouldn't have a chance to participate in it again all season because it was not a requirement for me. Luckily I didn't have to wait long and the next week I was the last person to get a spot on the roster of twenty people and was on my way to snow school once again. This time the weather for the first day was the best it has been down here. Of the twenty people in the second group about half of them were people who had been scheduled the week before so it was nice to see the familiar faces of people I already met and we were all excited to give it anotehr try. There were about 8 firefighters in the group, Jana - a fellow shuttle driver, a few other contract empoyees, about 5 scientists, and 2 media people doing a documentary down here. It was a great group of people. Before actually setting up camp you learn about the dangers of Antarctica, what to wear, what to eat, setting up different tents, stove operations, and some other basic camping information. Early in the afternoon we set off to build our camp. The two instrutors are there only to help with initial demonstrations and then we are responsible for actually getting the camp in order. With 20 0f us camping there was quite a lot of work to do. We needed to set up Scott Tent's, build a ice wall, set up mountain tents, build a Qunsi hut and then get the stoves and dinner going. People who wanted to build a ice trench, or ice grave built those for the night. It sounds like it isn't much but it is a lot. I spent about three hours straight helping to quarry the ice wall. The snow is so dry out here that it is really easy for a person to saw into the ice and create perfect ice cubes. We cut them about a foot and a half across and a foot wide. It was pretty heavy work and a lot of fun. So after helping out with all the other tasks camp was set up and ready to go at about 7 o'clock in the evening. The instructors left and because of the nice weather we got to have some fun. Around camp there are bamboo flags that mark the boundary of the camp. One of the campers got the bright idea to use them as Javelins. And so started our version of the Antarctic olympics. For the next couple hours we Javelin, skeet shooted, played darts, and raced to the flag. Pretty good times for camping in Antarctica. As the day was pretty hard and physical at about 11 most people turned in for the night. I got to sleep out in an abaondoned Qunsi hut that another happy camper school had built since the one our camp built only housed three and I wanted to experience of camping in one. The Qunsi hut is built by taking all the sleeping bags and insulator mats and piling them together. Then snow is shovled to bury the pile. The snow is left to harden for a few hours and then two tunnels are dug. One tunnel is dug to get the bags out and closed and the otther is dug down before the pile into the snow and then tunneled to the bottom of the hut. It is basically an igloo and it was an awesome experience to sleep in one. During the night the weather got cold and windy. I was cold a few times throughout the night as my sleeping back poppoed open to the cold air a few times. The next morning we broke camp in the wind, got some more instruction and were back at the base in the early afternoon. My expectations of the entire event were certainly met.

Obviously that was a fun expeience since I seemed to ramble a long time about it. I just think it needed the retelling in full :) My Dad is the master of telling everything in full. I think every once in a while I am allowed to ramble :)

Right after the second happy camper trip was another moral even for me and the rest of the shuttles offfice. And I mean right after. I got back from snow school at 4 in the evening and at 6 I was off to Cape Evans. Cape evans is about an hour and half drive on the ice and is a historic hut were some of the early explorers stationed while trying to reach the south pole. The trip was fantastic. We took two Delta's out and the hour and a half there and back was looking at the beautiful scenery, looking for seals and penguins, and chatting it up with the other shuttle drivers. Once there the scenery around the hut was breathtaking. The hut itself is perserved and it is just astonishing what these guys tried to live on and the accomidations they had. It is just a wooden structure and the stoves, the food, and the sleeping bags they had were not good enough for Antarctica. These guys would lose hands and feet to frost bite, freeze, and starve to death. Pretty damn crazy if you ask me.

Last week marked the 1/3 mark of the season. In shuttles the schedule is slit into three shifts - day, swing, and night. There are 7 people who work the night shift vs other 14 on days and swing. The latest swing shift is a 9:30 to 9:30 shift with most being 7 to 7. All during last week we picked for what shift we were going to get and then picked our preferences on which of the actually night hours we wanted to work. At first I picked a day shift and was pretty happy with it considering I wasn't really escited about nights. Matt and Debbie will always work days. However, as others picked some of the people I was really hoping to get to know better picked night shift. I was convinced by myself and by a couple of the other shuttle drivers that it would be a good idea if I traded the day shift for the night shift. Today actully is the second day I'm on nights with it being an off day for me. It's nice that there are a lot less people around and things move at a much slower pace. I was actually suprisingly busy on my first night shift yesterday so that I feel time won't move at a total snails pace. Hopefully it will all work out and that I will in fact get to know the night crew and become closer friends than if I would have stayed on days. Most of them I can see as people I'll stay in touch with for a long time.

In between going to days and to nights was Thanksgiving weekend. And somehow I scored a three day weekend with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Mostly it was to allow me to transition to a night schedule. It was great to have the extra time off. Thurdsay night I went out and had a good time hanging out with a bunch of galley people I hadn't met before for tequilla night. Friday was my day to catch up on a bunch of sleep and get a work out in as well. Saturday and Sunday the whole base has off for Thanksgiving. I ran in the 5 K turkey trot Saturday morning and was the first time running outside since I've been down here. I've been entirely training on the treadmill for a half marathon that will take place in January. So I knew this was going to be a challenge. I new I needed to start running outside or I'd never be able to run in January. The turkey trot went relatively well. I ran it in 25 minutes and was happy with the time. Though if the conditions are anything like they were for the half marathon I am so screwed. There was about a 15 knot wind on Saturday morning and the course takes you out of town to the ice runway and back again. Going out was great until turning right into the wind on the way back. My feet were hardly lifting and there was still a big hill near the finish. Even though I felt like losing my breakfeast up that hill I was able to pass about 4 people before the finish. The thing I'm worried most about is my lungs though. The dry air out here killed them and they didn't stop burning for at least a half hour after the race. I'm hoping that slower running will help me get to 13.1 by January.

Thanksgiving dinner is a big event down here so that there are actually three different meal times instead of the free for all that is normal dinner. I was lucky that I know Debbie and Matt since they had a private sitting at one of the bars in town. It was really nice to have family for Thanksgiving as most people miss out on having any around. There have been a few Thanksgivings here and there without family the last few years but being so far away from home it was great to eat with them. Thanksgiving night was also a lot of fun but also a bit irresponsible on my part. I decided that I'd drink a lot since the next time I would have to work was 530 pm on Monday night and it might help with the transition to nights. It didn't quite work out that way. While I had a lot of fun drinking with various poeple that night I only made it till 1:30 am and I paid for it the next day.

And that just about catches everything up to today in terms of events over the past three weeks. As far as how things are going. I really have enjoyed my time down here so far. I think now that I'm on nights I will get a chance to think a little bit more about my life and were I want it to be after I get off the ice. I still plan on traveling but I think sometimes I need to concentrate on things in my life and personality. I am a very intraverted person who strives to be an extraverted person. And being down here is a bit of a challenge sometimes. A lot of people down here have amazing stories of what they have done already. Sometimes I don't have that much to add and don't have much to say. Not many people want to hear about that happening board meeting where we went over financial results. I know that this experience and the experiences I will have after this will help me to feel like I fit in a little more, but there are sometimes that I wish I was just a bit more extraverted and have more to express and say. Maybe I should just accept that I am a quite person. It's something I'd like to have figured out while I'm here.

More to come soon. Those of you reading and leaving comments - thanks :)

Some more good ones

More Pictures

Some Pictures Finally

Here are some pictures. Takes a long time to upload. More to come soon.

Settling in

I can't believe how time flies down here. It's been two weeks since my last entry and it seems like it was just yesterday. There really is a ton of stuff to do here and after working 12 hour shifts there isn't much time to sit in front of the computer. I should be a little more regular on my entries. And I swear there will be more pictures to come.

So over the last few weeks I've just been settling into life here in MacTown. It's been fun almost all the time and there is rarely a dull moment. The twelve hour days leave me pretty exhauasted so I find myself hanging out for a few hours each night, either playing volleyball, working out, or just popping in a movie with a few of my roomates during the week. Going to sleep varies considerably down here depending upon what's going on in the evenenings.

Thursday night has to be the best night of the week. It's American night at the New Zealand base, which is only 2 miles or so from MacTown. I've gone to it the last two weeks and have met a bunch of really cool Kiwi people. They are absolutely the friendliest group of people I've met. They are all very kind and sincere. One of the Kiwi's I've met is this great girl, who I liked instantly. She's a very sweet and smart girl ( a scientist). Too bad she will be leaving the ice in two weeks. I'm hoping for the chance to get to know her better.

The biggest party on the ice has come and gone. The Halloween party was a week ago Saturday and it was the best I've ever been too. The people down here are so creative in what they dress up as. There were a few robots, a camel toe, a run down shuttle driver, a bunch of tiger costumes made out of old flags for the GA's, some cowgirls, pirates, death, a guy as a blow up pony. Deb, Matt, and I did the Super Mario theme and it turned out great. Deb's costume almost didn't work since the princess costume she got made her look like a prostitute at first. But it all worked out and the party was a lot of fun. Not as crazy as it is made out to be from people who have been down before, but still pretty crazy. It was said if your single by the end of the Halloween party then your single the whole time on the ice. I really didn't see the mass hooking up everyone was saying would happen. So I still may have a chance :)

The week after the Halloween party is follwed by the 70's vs 80's party. Much lower scale but still a lot of fun. I got a great 70's shirt from a roomate and had fun hanging out mostly with the kiwi group all night. The party scene is now officially kicked off and supposedly there are more to come.

Driving in shuttles is really the best job on base. It doesn't pay all that much, which is great for me because I didn't care at all what they paid me down here. There is a ton of down time in shuttles just waiting at the bus stop or waiting for a taxi call to come in. It's extremely nice to just have this time to think and reflect on where I'm at or dive into a book here. I read the kite runner in three days here with the down time I had while "working". The shuttles crew is definitely an awesome group of people. There are a lot of differences between us - age and background - but everyone seems to get a long real well. It should be a good time with them all this season.

The today show is here in MacTown. The did not make it to the South Pole because of weather and are going to do three days of broadcasting starting tomorrow morning US time. People here were really excited at first about the chances of getting on TV. However, it looks like most of the broadcast is going to be on the science conducted down here and not on the people who keep the base running. There is about a 9 to 1 ratio of support people vs science so some people are a little upset they aren't going to show the ture operations of the Antarctic program. I was lucky enough to drive around the today show crew one afternoon to the place they are thinking of filming from. Then yesterday I got to pick up Anne Curry returning from a Helo flight. She didn't say much. Though very kind, I think she wants to return to warmer weather.

Talking about the season, it is already November now. I'll probably be out of here and back in New Zealand at the end of February. It's already down to about three and half months left. I am kind of hoping things can slow down a little as everything seems to be moving by a little too quickly.

Life on the Ice

Today's Sunday - finally a day off and already 10 at night since life here doesn't really slow down much. I like it here. There is always something going on.

So I did arrive safely last Tuesday. Getting off that plane and seeing the ice and the mountains in the background was breathtaking. It still is that way. The place is beautiful. It amazing to me how we landed on a sea ice runway that by mid December will be closed because by January it will most likely be open water. A C-17 is a huge plane and that thing barrels down into the ice on landing. I've seen a couple landings since and it still amazes me.

There will be some pictures to come. My camera died on me as I was exiting the plane but I should be able to post some pictures from a flight arriving the next day for everyone to look at. I might be able to find the person who took pictures of me right after arriving on her camera and can post those too. I think I need to figure out how to post pictures better since I screwed up my other post and gave up posting any more pictures to that one.

So my job on ice is going to be awesome. I've really only been through training so far. It hasn't been that busy and won't be too busy until full operations start a week from now. I've been trained on how to properly drive in the harsh conditions here and it is generally pretty easy stuff. I still need to be trained on Ivan the Terra Bus. I think I'll like driving the big deltas the best. They aren't very fast but they are a lot of fun to drive.

My coworkers are all pretty cool. There are about 18 of us right now and I was surprised that most of them are older. Of the 5 guys I'm the youngest by about 20 years. One of the guys is 78 years old and most likely is the oldest guy on the base. There are a few older women, women my age with boyfriends or husbands, and a few younger women. It's really a great group of people. We had a shuttles party on Friday and it was a good time getting to know the group and all of them are such unique people. It won't even really feel like I'm working.

I am living in Building 155, which is the main building on base. It has the galley, dorm rooms for most of the fingees, and a few other offices. I've got four roommates that are all pretty cool. Two of them are in cargo and the other is a DA - Dining attendant. The room is pretty small and hard to move around in but most of the time is spend outside of the room so it hasn't been a problem yet.

People are extremely friendly on ice. It is a pretty interesting crowd. I think I'm in the minority on the number of adventures people have had. There are a great number of people who have been in the peace core and have down seasonal jobs since college. I kind of took the plunge to this great adventure. I'm looking forward to many more to come.

On my day off today I went with a couple shuttles people and another two guys and did some cross country skiing on the sea ice. Today just happened to be the worst weather of all the days I've been here. We skied for about 4 miles and walked back the short way. It was kind of cool to be in the wind and the blowing snow and get through to the end. There is a lot of opportunity to get out and hike and see the surrounding area. It's going to be fun to explore in the coming weeks.

Flying to McMurdo

I’m on my way – literally. I’m in a US Army C-17 on my way down to McMurdo. I’ve got about 4 hours to kill so I’m writing the blog now and posting it once I get down to the ice. It’s such an amazing feeling to be in the plane, next to all the cargo, and with the interior workings of the plan open to the naked eye. What keeps running through my head right now is that I’m now part of the Antarctic exploration and scientific research expedition. While I’m no Scott, Shackelton, or Amudsen, I am one of relatively few to follow these great names in Antarctic history. I’m one of the luckiest of people who is about to set foot on the 7^th Continent. This is just so cool!

The travel out to Christchurch was also a great experience. Right after arriving in Denver there was a group of 10 of us waiting for the shuttle to the hotel. The varied backgrounds and the stories of returning ice people increased my excitement and anticipation for the next 4 days. Soon I’d be stepping out onto a whole new world. Orientation was nice, not really necessary. Not much new information was added by the various speakers than what I already knew about the program. The best part was meeting the 35 or so other people who would be sharing the same ice flight as me. When I say there are varied backgrounds, I am probably not using the correct words. I first met Jesse who will be a Sat Op at the Pole who is probably the oldest of the group, there was Chuck who will be at Wais base camp as a medic and lives near Glacier National Park, there is Tirzah from Oregon who will be a GA and fought forest fires the last summer, Matt, also a GA, was on a boat in the Golf working for the oil companies, Dan, a cook from Minnesota who did a 13 month stint at the Pole, Sully, who like me took a little time to realize that the office job wasn’t the life he was made out for and had worked a variety of seasonal jobs the last 5 years, Carla a small IT girl who has always wanted to see Antarctica, Bob, a 52 year old fellow first time shuttle driver who was also trapped at one point by the corporate world and who is 100 pounds over the allowed 75 pound luggage limit on the ice flight. Though the backgrounds are varied we all seem to be united in a common goal of having a great adventure.

Most of the last few days has been all about the ice flight people. We all sort of congregate together, eat together, and sleep at similar hotels. It’s been fun getting to know this group and I hope that once on ice I’ll continue to learn more about each person and their lives off ice.

Christchurch is absolutely beautiful. Some of the pictures are posted. The hostel was right next to the botanical gardens and blocks away from the city center. The feel of the town and people of Christchurch is much more peaceful than a similar sized city in the states. People walk or take the bus everywhere. There are no towering skyscrapers. The city is full of parks and beautiful fountains. The food is outstanding. It is definitely a place I could see living in for a long time.

Time is ticking away and so is the battery life of this laptop is dieing…

Update – Arrived and at McMurdo – will post an update shortly with the photos promised above and some photos of the area. Still settling in.

Chapter 1 - Where in the World is Jim

Almost there. It's been a long road but I'm finally about to leave for what I believe will be the most exciting time of my life. I'm headed to Denver tomorrow, New Zealand on Friday, and then on to Antarctica on Sunday. This is just the beginning as I'll also be trying to see as much of the world as I can for as long as I can make the savings last. So welcome to my blog. I want to use this as a travel journal as well as a way to let all the people who I care about to see what I'm up to and a way to keep in touch with all of you. I'll always have e-mail, but will not always have the time to send to everyone I want to. As I travel any of you are more than welcome to join me on my way. I'll be roughing it a bit after Antarctica, staying primarily in hostels, so if your game just let me know where you want to meet up and I'll do all I can to meet you.

So my sis and brother in law already made it there last Saturday. It's been great to visit with my parents and with my sis and her family. Eventually I'll be grateful for the extra time I've had to sit around and live a total life of leisure. However, right now I'm so excited to go and start this adventure that I'm jealous of all those that are down to the ice before me. I'm ready to go! I've been ready to go for two plus years. I really didn't decide to pursue the Antarctic program until this last winter when I became closer and closer to my ultimate goal of traveling the world. What better way to start it all off in going Antarctica. It really has been a long road, a lot of saving, planning, and dreaming. And so it begins....