Oh, hi.

Hi friends.  It's been a busy few weeks and I mailed my laptop home, so writing time has severely diminished.  When I have found time at an open computer, I've been spiffing up my resume, applying for jobs for the summer in Alaska and back down here next fall.  My days off have have included "volunteering" (working for a day) with other departments to try them out and get to know the people who work there.  This has been super interesting, but leaves one quite tired.  I'll spare you much talk of heavy eyelids and sore limbs, and get straight to the loader driving.

While there are still lots of rules and safety measures and responsibilities here, one awesome aspect is people are thrilled to put heavy machinery in the hands of complete novices.  With about two minutes of instruction, I was trundling along in a medium-sized forklift loader, "Pily," and starting to finesse the levers.  A spotter kept an eye on my target and communicated with hand signals whether to raise, lower, or tilt my forks.  I transported an actual shipping pallet with stuff on it!  And a few days later, I did it all again in a giant loader ("Frosty Boy"), then a tiny loader, known as a pickle.  The pickle was my favorite -- the most automobile like and responsive.  The larger ones had a pivot point in the middle which was like driving with a trailer, and their gearing system felt like it was in overdrive no matter how I shifted or how much gas I used.  And lastly, I drove a delta, a giant sort of moon-rover-bus with tires as tall as me.

There are all kinds of jobs here that most people get with no relevant experience.  Constructing boxes, arranging cargo on pallets, packing ice core samples, cleaning out drains...  What counts for a lot is if you've already been here and are a reasonably good worker.  If the bosses know you 1) won't flake out on the way to New Zealand, 2) won't freak out when you arrive in Antarctica, and 3) can work a 60-hour week on little sleep and while hungover, you have a shot at most openings.

In recreational news, I saw a very tired penguin, lounged in the sun on the "beach" (exposed rocky shoreline), and rode a snowmobile through a few feet of powder up the hillside for an evening of fresh air and snow angels.

Here's me at the beach in nice heavy snow:

In food news, I opened innumerable bags of frozen and thawed meat.  I also opened bags of frozen vegetables.  Sometimes I put things in pans and move those pans from the table to the oven to the hot box to the chill box to the walk-in cooler.  Thrillingly, today the yearly supply boat started offloading, and we received fresh fruits and vegetables.  The shock has not yet sunk in fully.  When my camera behaves, I'll add some fun photos.  More soon...

And here's a picture of us galivanting on snow machines: