Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Endurance

Well, we've swung from having the coldest April on record to being on track to have the warmest May on the books. Winds have been elevated for quite some time now, and the temperatures have been pretty decent. As I write it is -51°F outside with 13 knots of wind. The winds continue to make the paths to outbuildings quite rough, and I know several folks (myself included) that do a lot of walking outside that are starting to feel that wear and tear on their lower extremities.

May seems to be absolutely flying by, as does the winter in general. Keeping busy has a huge role in keeping those days ticking past in good order. I definitely feel on top of my projects right now (knock on wood), and have been using available time to already start catching up on document updates and the creation of a lab diary/troubleshooting guide for activities and anomalies I've overcome with projects since resuming this position back in October. Speaking of October, this Sunday will mark my 200th consecutive day of work since arriving at Pole. That I've still got perhaps another 180 or so days to go really puts things in perspective about the duration of this contract and how one must promote their own mental and physical health to be able to walk away relatively unscathed after such a long haul. Having just read an article about the Mars 500 guys getting ready to do that long-duration simulation, I wish I could be given the opportunity to show The Powers That Be That Decide Who Gets to Go to Space what I've learned here in Antarctica.

Anyhow, as I hear of friends and family starting to take off on vacations and the like with the onset of nice weather in the northern hemisphere, I hope they do not forget to occasionally send a picture or two down this direction. Having just started watching Long Way Down again, I'm really feeling the pull of the Road. I guess I'll appreciate that freedom all the more by the time I complete my duties here and redeploy to New Zealand.
“If I was wealthy I'd never do anything but poke around in ruined cities all over the world - and probably get snake-bit.”
~Robert E Howard, letter to H. P. Lovecraft, 1931

2 comments:

Teacher said...

Nice weather? Hmm.... I'm in the wrong place. We have 40-45 knot winds today. Driving to school was like encountering a sandstorm in the Dakar Rally.

Good pun, "May is flying by" or should it be blowing?

Teacher said...

Wait, Mayfly? are you talking about the bug?