Category Archives: Uncategorized

Whew! Guess who “fixed” their laptop charger (by splicing it with another charger) — This guy! It’s only been 4 days back at Pole but it’s felt much longer. Lots of remembering how to do things and trying to feel like a “supervisor” . I had a beautiful flight through the Trans-Antarctic mountains and wonderfulContinue reading “Nov 13th – Day 4 at Pole”

No go. Weather in McMurdo cancelled today’s departure. We will try again tomorrow morning. Weather was Condition 1 out on the airfields for most of the night/morning (which means high winds and low-visibility). The runway will have to be regroomed; so hopefully the winds die down soon, or tomorrow morning won’t be likely for takeoff.Continue reading “Nov 8th – Day 34 of “The Commute””

The Halloween party did not disappoint. The setup was really nice; well decorated and it ended up being really well attended. Kudos to whoever put in the effort! Today it snowed! And was super calm, so I went for a little run and took my first selfie of the trip! Was also quite warm, gotContinue reading “Nov 7th – Day 33 of “The Commute””

This past week has had some great weather both here in McMurdo and at Pole, allowing 3 of the 5 opening flights to take pax in and out. This includes the 2 replacement winterovers for SPT, which is good because even if I get delayed from my nominal Monday flight date, they can start theContinue reading “Nov 6th – Day 32 of “The Commute””

Alrighty! just about 1 month of “commuting” so far. Flights have been going to Pole almost on-schedule so far; we’ve had 3 flights take passengers into/out of Pole so far including one of the new SPT winterovers. The other new SPT winterover is scheduled to fly in tomorrow, and my flight is scheduled for MondayContinue reading “Nov. 4th – Day 30 of “The Commute””

Made it to McMurdo about 6 days ago! sorry for the delay in posting. My laptop charger decided to stop working on the first day of my arrival, so I’ve not been able to use that. The internet in McMurdo is also pretty slow (though it is available 24 hours/ day there are also ~600Continue reading “Nov 1st – Day 27 of “The Commute””

Possibly the last day before heading down to Antarctica! Hurray! Today was a long day, starting at 0430. I decided to stay up between then and the 0730 move-out (and actually did some work!). We’ve successfully moved from NZDF isolation to our new USAP managed isolation at the Breakfree Hotel; and of course I can’tContinue reading “Oct 25th – Day 20 of “The Commute””

I’ve been messing up my days apparently (my computer is on EDT , so if I look at the date in the bottom corner, it’s a day behind). Anyway, it’s October 24th here in NZ and I had my final nasal swab yesterday (ouch! that one was rough… I think the nurse might’ve gotten someContinue reading “Oct 24th – Day 19 of “The Commute””

Day 10 of 14 in NZ managed isolation/quarantine. In 2 days we get our 3rd (and hopefully final) COVID test here in NZ before then 2 days later moving out to a USAP managed isolation in a different hotel. Pretty exciting! Then we just have the usual weather and mechanical delays to look forward toContinue reading “Oct 20th – Day 15 of “The Commute””

“When I awoke today, suddenly nothing happened” – Colin Hay I feel ya, Colin. Same here. I did get awoken by some construction equipment being delivered at 6 am… Nice beeping of a couple cherry-pickers moving around outside. Beautiful day today. Sunny / partly cloudy and clear- I can see the mountains quite well. Snow-cappedContinue reading “Oct 18th – Day 13 of “The Commute””