A Man's Favourite Tool ! HILARIOUS & TRUE ! wild !!! muahhaa very funny !! WOW

Some guys... ...are always a 'guy'.

Well.

Hello, world.

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

I'm a story-teller by nature, and it never quite sat right with me that I never finished telling my Antarctic tale. I didn't want to leave the impression that some dark fate had befallen me on the Ice and I was never heard from again. The story of my disappearance would be a mystery...

I met a woman named Sarah. Fell in love. Travelled together for awhile and loved it. We might be parting ways shortly, and when we do, it will be an unhappy occasion. I am anticipating an offer to work in London, and she's in school full-time, on a track to get into a prestigious program at UC Berkeley.

Sarah and I have been quite a story. It's not surprising that my blog entries stopped around the time I met Sarah. She has pretty much been the foremost thought and presence in my life since we met. For good and ill. Our relationship has always been a roller coaster ride, and if you know me at all, you know that I LOVE rollercoasters. :-)

After leaving the Ice, we spent some time in New Zealand, Thailand, and Cambodia before settling in at South Lake Tahoe. Spent an eventful 1.5 years there.

We've recently moved from Tahoe to San Jose. I'm back working for LiveWorld--the company for whom I moved from Seattle and the theater back in '99. Back in the internet biz. Loving it... I work with very high-profile sports and entertainment brands (NBA, VH1, MTV, HBO are a few of my clients) doing fun, creative community-building stuff for fans.

My company is thinking of opening an office in London and right now, I'm tabbed to go. I'm awaiting a final decision, which could come within the next two weeks. My anticipated departure for England would be December/January.

I'm unhappy to leave Sarah, but really jazzed about living (and travelling) in England and Europe. I like to experience other places by living there, not just visiting.

One of my life goals is to be a 'local' somewhere on every continent. :-)

There's lots of stories I can tell to fill in all the spaces there, but, for now, let your imagination run wild and fill 'em in yourself. :-)

I'll be back to continue the story...

Well.

Hello, world.

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

I'm a story-teller by nature, and it never quite sat right with me that I never finished telling my Antarctic tale. I didn't want to leave the impression that some dark fate had befallen me on the Ice and I was never heard from again. The story of my disappearance would be a mystery...

I met a woman named Sarah. Fell in love. Travelled together for awhile and loved it. We might be parting ways shortly, and when we do, it will be an unhappy occasion. I am anticipating an offer to work in London, and she's in school full-time, on a track to get into a business program at UC Berkeley that is top-rated program of its kind in the U.S.

Sarah and I have been quite a story. It's not surprising that my blog entries stopped around the time I met Sarah. She has pretty much been the dominant thought and presence in my life since then. For good and ill. Our relationship has always been a roller coaster ride, and if you know me at all, you know that I LOVE rollercoasters. :-)

After leaving the Ice, we spent some time in New Zealand, Thailand, and Cambodia before settling in at South Lake Tahoe.

We've recently moved from Tahoe to San Jose. I'm back working for LiveWorld--the company for whom I moved from Seattle and the theater.

There's lots of stories to fill in the spaces there, but, for now, let your imagination run wild and fill in the spaces for yourself.

I'll be back to continue the story...

Been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Sorry I haven't written.

Work has been incredibly hectic with non-stop activity from 7:30 am until 5:30 pm and I've had to work a couple hours overtime on top of that. To put it in perspective, we've already processed in the first three weeks of the season more than half of the total that we did all of last year.

Yesterday was literally the first time in almost two weeks that I've been able to even see the floor in the warehouse--it's been covered in cargo/science equipment that needed to be certified (haz material) or moved.

It's quite the adrenaline rush--definitely like being on speed for 10 hours a day.

Of course, there is a crash waiting to happen when the high wears off.

Social activities--I took 3 days to celebrate my birthday. Too much fun on top of too much work. Good memories--playing guitar for a bunch of Polies who just finished their winter season and were heading to greener pastures. Met a world-famous photographer and had a 1-1 chat with him for around an hour. Just got back from touring Cape Evans--where Shackleton started one of his voyages. Very humbling that--a structure still standing after nearly 100 years of being battered by the worst storms on the planet. Trying to imagine what it must have been like to live...be *stranded* in this place at the edge of the world in bitter, unrelenting cold, not knowing when or if you would ever leave this frozen hell.

Met with the theater group once and meet again this weekend to shore up the plays we're going to do. Moved into my new room and decorated. Not getting enough sleep and not likely to this week either. I've got a party on Thursday I'm committed to, the big Halloween bash is Saturday, I've got an article due for the paper down here by tomorrow and I start my radio show on Sunday.

And I've put in a request to do a solo performance show at the Coffeehouse. (*gulp*) Haven't heard back on the exact date yet. I'll have 1-2 friends join me for a couple of songs, but mostly it will just be me and my guitar.

I don't know...most people think jumping out of an airplane is a scary thing. That's a walk through the park compared to how I feel about playing guitar and singing in front of a bunch of people on stage. The folks listening to me in the stairwell and in the lounge seem genuinely appreciative though, so I'm going to challenge my own fear and go for it.

People *froze* to death trying to explore this continent and pushed the boundaries of human endurance in doing so. The least I can do to honor that type of exploration spirit is get up on stage with a guitar and try to make a little music. It pales in comparison, so what do I have to really be afraid of?

Time for bed...just wanted to say *hi* to everyone--it's been awhile since I wrote. Life is good. Busy. Getting the most out of what I expect is my last season here.

Mmmmmmmm....a night to remember. Or rather...a night to write down to remember, since I've had 5 double Capt. Morgan and Cokes tonight and am not likely to remember much of anything in detail.

Some days I write for you, the dear reader. Other times I write so I can remember what the hell happened to me.

Tonight is more the latter than the former.

Going backwards--quick hits.

It's 1 am. I'm inebriated. I've been celebrating my birthday for the past two days. Or rather, I've been indulging other people who insist on celebrating my birthday. I'm *almost* convinced that my birthday is something special, based on the reactions of the people around me.

I threw a little birthday celebration last night at Hut 10--our party hut on station. I planned on a small gathering and it was wonderful. Around 15 people. Food, great conversation, lots of people that I know that don't know each other, and thus new circles of friends got connected, and we wound up playing board games. Just a chilled, relaxed night, but everyone (including the host) got to know someone a lot better than they had known them before.

I love those kind of parties.

Tonight was karaoke night, drinking and lots of flirting. I'm still not likely to 'hook up' with anyone, but it's nice to have dance partners. :-)

On the way home after the karaoke-fest tonight, I stopped in to play a little guitar and ran across some people who had just come in from wintering at the South Pole.

I wish I had a camera and I was good enough to capture the essence of their souls tonight. The JOY was palpable. I don't how to describe it--it's not like these folks were glad to be rid of the Pole...it was more *giddiness* at being away and moving on to thier next adventure. Sort of like a bride on her wedding day or a grad on the day of graduation. An incredible sense of satisfaction at having survived something unique and difficult and *high* on their own sense of accomplishment.

I played a little background music at thier celebration and was privileged to be a fly on the wall at their party.

Got a birthday boondoggle out to Williams Field today. Yeah, it was work. I delivered a $5MM science package out there. Essentially a big magnet that will collect cosmic ray particles to analyze later. A follow-up to the big cosmic ray detector project from last year.

Been super-busy at work--4 different groups scheduled to get out to the field and their stuff is finally in the system.

Naturally, I had 3 new science groups show up today to begin the same process all over again. I'm behind on work, having already worked another 5 hours overtime this week, but I should catch up tomorrow. Sunday's are no-fly days here, so I don't expect to get much new business in on tomorrow (my Saturday).

Oh yeah--had a theater meeting tonight that went well, and joined a Dodge Ball league down here.

yes, you read that right. We have a dodge ball league here. It's *hilarious*--grownups throwing balls at each other in a competitive environment.

Did you know there are RULES to that game?

Fading fast...I was up most of last night, and I'm guaranteed to only get 5.5 hours of sleep tonight providing I hit the sack within the next 15 minutes.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I'll write more as I remember it, but I'll give the short version here and say that I've had a wonderfully rich, meaningful and soulful birthday here this year. I feel fortunate to be here in this amazing environment, and I feel very lucky to have the friends that I do.

Thank you all for your good wishes and kind thoughts. I feel undeserving of all the compliments and warm thoughts sent my way, but they do keep me warm on these cold nights.

Love and peace to all,
Mark

Busy week.

I haven't been able to write much because my power cord for my laptop got destroyed in transit from Tahoe to San Jose. It fell out of my bag on the motorcycle and got drug on the highway for 50 miles or so before I noticed it. I've finally found a replacement for it online and will have it shipped to me so I can get online at my convenience and not have to wait for a terminal to be available in our computer lab.

One can get online from the computer labs here, but think of it as being in college again. Maybe a dozen computers and 750 people or so on station who want to use them, and since we all have essentially the same work schedule, we're all trying to get online at the same time.

Anyway...the week in review...

It's been unusually busy at work with several groups in my wharehouse getting ready for the field. We're utilizing 3 deep field camps that haven't been used in more than 10 years, which takes a little more planning. We don't know what prevailing weather is like in those camps and this affects mission planning (lots of backups are planned) quite a bit. The groups take more stuff than usual in order to cover contingencies, which keeps me busy.

We have two new people in my work group this year, so I get to do a lot of training that I hadn't planned on. I like to do that--no big deal there--but it would have been nicer if I had been told prior to coming down that I would be doing formal training for these two. Not a problem, I just could have had better classes prepped.

I got my housing problem resolved just last night. Haven't met the new roommates yet--I got the key to my new room maybe 15 minutes ago. It's in the same dorm that I had last year and I'm happy with that. I *should* be in one of the better dorms, but I'm happy here. My dorm is the main building on station, containing the galley (cafeteria), laundry, library, rec office, radio station (I'll start being a DJ again next week), the newspaper office (I help out as a copy editor and sometime writer) and my favorite stairwell. It's only a few steps away from the coffee house or Gallaghers (the non-smoking bar) which is where I tend to hang out if not in my room.

All in all, I could have a better room, but Bldg. 155 is one of the social hubs on station, so I'm well situated.

Oh....my favorite stairwell. I discovered a stairwell last year that has an 8 x 8 platform in between the first and second floors, easily accessible by hopping over the handrail. The acoustics in the stairwell are *beautiful* and I would often take my guitar there to play and sing. It's quiet in that you can't hear much sound outside the stairwell, but tones just resonate in there and you get really good sound.

Folks would come by and occasionally listen to me, sing along or leave me a beer like I was a street musician. Or they would go grab an instrument and join me for a jam session. It's one of the little hidden treasures on station and an experience you only get in a place like this. Kind of like having a cool spot in a subway station or something like that.

So...yippee on the housing! It's a shame because I really like the people in the dorm that I'm currently in and I've bonded with several of them. Nothing like living with someone in close quarters to get to know someone.

But I haven't had a good night's sleep since I've been here from the normal noise in the place--people coming and going. It's not that it's a party dorm--it's just that it's so small that whenever someone opens a door, you hear it in the entire dorm. The same for phone conversations or people talking in the hallway. Someone can be *upstairs* and you still hear their conversation downstairs in my room.

It's a dorm that should be torn down--it's only saving grace is that it is shelter from the wind, but otherwise it really isn't suitable housing for anyone. I haven't had a hot shower since I've been here yet either. The water is always either lukewarm or cold.

I'll miss my neighbors. I won't miss living there.

Hmmmmmm....let's see....last night was our big ol' DISCO party!

It's the first big party of the season and a costume affair besides so it was a very good time. All the FNG's show up because they can't believe we have a costume shop and a disco party in Antarctica, and all the 'old-timers' show up to scout out the newbies.

There's an axiom down here that you have to hook up with someone by Halloween or you're not going to. Or there is the 'break-up' window around January when couples split up after the holidays and become available again.

Yes...you can track that sort of behavior down here with predictable results.

I'm not seeing any prospects on the horizon here, so I'll be in that category of either waiting til the 'brea-up' period or simply going without close female companionship down here.

Yes...I've got female friends down here, so I'm not without the charming company of the fairer sex. From what I've seen so far, though, the only women I would be interested in are already otherwise attached. Too bad--we have better-looking women down here this year than last and those women are more my style--smart, more city-types than the usual ....ummmm....'earthy' types that tend to come here.

Looks like a season of 'just friends'. But ya never know...

The party was fun...kept myself under control and didn't get too drunk. Lots of fun dancing with my friends from last year. I'm much smarter about how to pace myself this year with social activities and know that if I trash myself on a Saturday night, I may or may not recover fully on Sunday, which can make for an awfully long work week.

I can tell you from experience down here that the WORST thing is to be tired at work. The job is too demanding, the hours too long and there are too many details to catch to not be 100% attentive and enthusiastic at work. If work ever becomes boring or laborious down here, you will go absolutely *crazy*.

Hmmmmm....other news of the week...I'm going to be a Delta driver and lead guided tours out to the historic huts this year! One of the benefits of being known around the station and having friends in the right work groups.

Shelly, my buddy in the Rec department, is responsible for organizing these trips. I tried 3 times last year to go on one and never got out there, which was a bummer. We head out to some of the huts used by Scott and Shackleton, which are preserved exactly as they left them 100 years ago.

I get to play tour guide this year, twice a month. I get some training and some history lessons I wouldn't otherwise get, and now, of course, I'll do some extra reading on those two and this area in order to give really good trips.

These are fun boondoggles for those who get to go on them, so I'll be dealing with really happy people and trying to give them a special experience, which is always fun for me. Not to mention that I get to meet more people this way too. :-)

And...lastly....(it was a big week!)I got to play with a drummer for the first time EVER last night! Woooooo hoooooo!!!!

That was a ton of fun. I had the band room checked out and was playing by myself, working on some songs to do a coffeehouse gig. Frank came in 45 minutes before he had the room checked out just to see who was there and maybe jam a bit, so naturally I invited him in. Frank plays rock, some punk and also mellow stuff, and I've been working on MY versions of some pop songs that have a harder edge to them. Having Frank there really made some things gel...ah....I LOVE collaboration.

So now I have punked-out version of Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" and Paul Simon's "Scarborough Fair" that sound pretty cool.

Yeah, I know....but trust me...they sound cooler listening to them than the concept of it.

We may or not play in a band--he's already in two other bands--but I also know another drummer from last year who is looking for a band. One of my co-workers plays bass, so we could have a little band right there. The problem is that none of us is a true lead singer or guitarist. I can sing some and play a pretty good rhythm guitar, but I don't think my voice is interesting enough and I KNOW my guitar playing isn't interesting enough to do more than one set.

And really, I think I'm good for maybe 45 minutes before I start sounding repetitive.

We have a big musicians meeting on station on Monday and I hope to find one more person to play with. And *gulp*...schedule myself for a coffeehouse gig. BIG step for me--to play music in front of an audience. YIKES!!!

Okay...time to do laundry, clean up my old room, move into the new room and then I'm meeting some people to go play music tonight. Hope everyone else's week has been as good...as fulfilling...and as *busy* as mine!

Ah...just reset the time zone mechanism on Blogger so my posts reflect the actual time I'm writing...not Pacific time.

The room change is in process, so I'm told. Housing always seems to be a chaotic workgroup down here--like there is no rhyme or reason to how they assign housing. They used to use a formula that accounted for your job position, time on station and extra points based on past job evals. Like college, some dorms are better than others and naturally, everyone wants to be in the good dorms.

The room I'm currently assigned to is considered one of two 'ghetto' dorms here. The room I'm in is 8'x 15' and contains two single beds, two 6' tall wooden armoires and a writing desk. There is barely enough room to walk in there, let alone ever feel like hanging out in the room. I've been in jail cells that were bigger. (but that's another story for another day)

Got my driving training done today and am all set to go to work. I'd like to spend the day working on my room, unpacking and decorating, etc, but I'm not going to be there very long, so there's no point. Leaves me living out of a suitcase for another couple of days.

Weather is fairly warm today--around +10 F. Wind is 10-15, so it's only around -25F or so with windchill factored in. Just another day in paradise.

Back on the ice.

Hooooooooray!!!!

I feel like I'm a sophmore at college. Seeing friends from last year, feeling more secure in the environment here and more comfortable in being myself in all my glorious aspects. I often feel like the folks that I'm with only see a part of me depending on the circumstances. I feel free here, like I can be more fully myself.

This year I'm comfortable fully owning that I'm a city boy who likes arts and culture, has a witty, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor and is more outspoken...not afraid to be politically incorrect in words, but still being sensitive in actions. I am...and have always been something of a 'bad boy' and in recent years have focused more on being a 'nice guy'.

I'm learning that I can be both at the same time. It's one of the reasons I like being here. Everyone is pretty much accepted for who they are. I don't feel like I have to impress or 'be' anything to anyone here.

It's my own issue, I know. I should feel this free anywhere I go. It's one reason why I like coming here--I do things here that feel more holistic to me and it's practice for being in the real world, so to speak. Like playing music. I'm comfortable playing music down here in groups of people because I feel like it will be appreciated, no matter what my skill level is.

In Tahoe or anywhere else, for that fact, I don't feel good enough to play for others. I know it's my issue...no one 'makes' me feel that way. I just feel freer here.

Weird, huh? How geography can affect something so personal like that?

Anyway...had two glorious days off in Cheech. (Christchurch). Went to the Maruia Hot Springs one day, and to Akaroa Harbour the next. Two different groups of people, so I now know another 30 new people or so to start the season.

Got to fly on the C-17, which was nice. Very comfortable--we could get up and walk around, stretch our legs and feel like a normal flight. It's been a perfect season so far.

Until I got my housing assignment. I'm in MMI, which is a dorm for 1st year people. You collect points based on length of service down here and your performance rating to get better housing. MMI is definitely the ghetto of McMurdo--the rooms are small, with a very small window (thus, little light)and they are the noisest dorms.

I work a fair amount of overtime here, and I had an outstanding eval last year, so I should have been given a better dorm room. I've already brought it up to my boss--we both had the exact same reaction. When I looked at my housing assignment, I immediately said to myself..."Nope. No way am I staying there."

Michael said the exact same thing. He's got the pull to get me a better room. But we can't get it taken care of until Monday. Sunday is the day off for most everyone on the station, so there won't be anyone around to take care of it until then. I have to work tomorrow because I'm a cargo guy and we have flights coming in, but I've had plenty of time off, so I'm actually pretty eager to go to work.

Anyway...that's about it for now. Off to hit the coffeeshop tonight--there's some live music going on. Time to catch up with other folks from last year.

It's really good to be home again.

Ah...this is the best part of working for the United States Antarctic Program.

There's a big 'ol crack in the ice runway, found on the first flight in of the season, which has delayed all subsequent flights until it can be fixed. So I have at least 2 days off here in Christchurch. I'm on salary AND I get $150 per diem. And I'm in New Zealand.

Life is good.

Bonding with old friends and new. Cast of characters so far are: Justin, Bethany, Zack, John, Caroline, Dawn, Andre, Debbie, Chico, Marcia and Jesse among others.
A group of us are going to rent a car and head up to the Maruia Hot Springs tomorrow. Tonight is 'arts' night--going to see Farenheit 9/11 at the movies this afternoon and then off to see some live theater at the Court Theater tonight. May as well get a little culture in while I'm here.

Best of all, I didn't have to boomerang. It's nice to have the information in advance and not have to fly for 7 hours in order to get a day off.

The downside is that the schedule will be WAY behind by the time I do fly to the ice, which means instead of jamming 90 people into uncomfortable seats for a 5 hour flight, they will be CRAMMING 120 of us into the same space alloted for 90. That will be maximum 'suck', but hey...it's worth it. Two days of play for one afternoon of suck.

That's a fair trade. :-)

Oh...I should give details. I forget that not everyone reading this knows what the USAP is like!

We fly from Christchurch to McMurdo Station, Antarctica (henceforth known simply as "the ice") aboard US Air Force C-141's or C-17's. The C-17 is the preferred plane--it's basically a Boeing 707. Nice seats, like flying an airline.

MOST of us won't fly on the C-17. It has a bigger cargo capacity than the 141, so they are only taking 50 people per flight on the C-17 and filling it with cargo. I'd be very lucky to get to fly on the C-17.

The C-141 seating accomodations are a long nylon bench, facing sideways in relation to the nose of the airplane. You sit shoulder to shoulder unable to move for 5 hours. There is no leg room--you have to negotiate with the person across from you if you want to stretch your legs or shift position at all. Very uncomfortable, not to mention that you are wearing 25 pounds of Extreme Cold Weather Gear (ECW)that make you look like a red Michelin Tire Man. (our parkas are bright red) If you need to go to the bathroom, you literally walk across 40-50 people. There's no room to walk on the floor for all the feet--you have to balance along the edge of the seats.

While the plane is flying of course. If you lose your balance, it's like being in a mosh pit.

No wonder why we're all so happy when we get off the plane and are smiling at temperatures of -40. At least you can stretch your legs.

BTW--current temperature at McMurdo is -45 degrees, overcast skies, winds blowing 20-25 mph. Windchill factor makes it feel somewhere around -60, give or take a few degrees.

At temperatures below -40, a few degrees here and there really doesn't make much of a difference to one's perception of cold. Minus 60 feels about the same as minus 40. The effects on the body differ, of course, but the perception is the same.

It's fucking COLD.

Nah...that's not true. It's not, really. If you're outside in those temps, every part of your body is covered. If it isn't, it's frostbit within 5 minutes or less. Every now and then my job requires me to take my gloves off to put some labels on Hazardous Materials and that sucks. The skin *burns* under those conditions.

Otherwise, the cold *bites*. That's the best way I can describe it. Either burns like you touched a hot tea kettle or it bites like a dog ripping into your flesh.

Being warm in those conditions is VERY fun. Satisfying. It's not that I enjoy the cold--I enjoy being warm in the midst of that kind of cold.

For now, it's 50 degrees in Christchurch, overcast and you can feel the Antarctic cold in the wind. It's windy...just enough chill to let us know what we're in for. But none of that matters, really.

I have two days off in a beautiful country and I'm getting paid for it. There are times in life when one just has to take it all in, sit back with a satisfied smile, consider the options and say...

...this doesn't suck. :-)