First day on the job, sort of.

Had a nice chat with some folks I'd worked with last year over breakfast. After all I'd gone on about my Soren Larsen trip plans, people seem quite interested to hear more about them.

The day got started with me retrieving my boomerang bag after the genius that took it finally caught on that it wasn't their stuff in the duffel. I then had a catch-up meeting with my supervisor, Al, and we discussed some of what to expect with this last TDY at McMurdo, the flight to Pole, and the arrival and hand-over at Pole. It really will be nice to get there and get settled in at last. I got a flu shot at the clinic, which was highly recommended due to some nasty strains making the rounds of the station. I got in a bit of correspondence, which I've been necessarily neglecting due to a large amount of migration and other associated activities in the last week. In anticipation of my R&R in January, I got to attend the Outdoor Safety Lecture that one must have under their belt before being allowed to go out on some of the longer hikes around McMurdo. I went to what was only my second ever McMurdo "all hands" meeting in the afternoon. As a DA last year we usually opted to eat our dinner before everybody descended upon the galley like a swarm of pasty locusts after the meeting adjourned.

Like usual, dinner was Italian on a Saturday night. Feeling somewhat self-masochistic, I volunteered for about two hours back in the pot room in the kitchen. It was uncanny how it felt like I'd never left, and things hadn't changed a bit. The major difference, again, was the utter lack of DAs with whom I'd passed through the gauntlet of last summer's challenges in the galley. I love you guys!

After that I went to Gallagher's pub in the evening since there were a bunch of different bands playing, and stayed for quite a while. It was really strange not having acquaintances in the crowd that I hung out with last year. I guess the feeling I've been having lately has been like visiting my scholarship hall at KU after I returned for grad school. The physical place was the same, but without the people I'd experienced it with it just was a wholly different place. The relative peace and quiet of the coffee house beckoned me, so I went over there and found some Polies I'll be spending the summer and/or winter with, and we hung out talking for quite a while.

The twilight view of the mountains across the sound was absolutely gorgeous. It's nice to see this beautiful vista once again, but I still feel like I need to get to that big empty plain at the Pole.

Sleep beckons now.