slow recovery

Well, I've finally had some success getting projects back online that have been out of commission over the last week or longer. My project I worked so hard on Saturday, burning myself out before the concert, is working once again. I also just got one of the aurora cameras working after a string of three consecutive issues that rendered it inoperative. One more project-touch wood-to go and I'm back in normal operations for my science responsibilities.

We've had more auroras over the last few days, and I finally got back out to shoot a little yesterday.



Our band has begun submitting songs to expand our set list for the next party at mid-winter. It's going to be a lot of fun learning more songs, and I really can't wait to get settled into the new practice routine.

a ringing success

Well, maybe being totally exhausted before my first gig wasn't such a bad thing. I had absolutely no energy to get all worked up and worried about my performance, so I just went out and did it. I don't know how much of my guitar playing came through, but I definitely got a lot of props for singing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. Again, no worries about having never sung a solo or even sung in public at all since 8th grade. Bizarre. The stage was huge, and we had projected graphics and a light show that were really cool. I didn't get any pictures of the event, but will see if I can find some I can share here or add links to. Anyhow, it was definitely a memorable night.

On with the show

Polefest 2008

Acts:
Korpsicle
The Re-Tardis*
The Quasi-Crystaline Arbitration Project
Triceratops: The Revenge
House Mouse Seasonal Affective Disorder Blues Project
and sundry solo performances

*my band

Head over to Tim's blog to download the software so you can catch the event live on streaming audio.

Most of the station also just got done running in the costumed BF5K race here inside the station. Being an abnormally tasked worker down here I didn't get to stop work to take part in that event. I just got to spend all day dragging frozen electronics out of a sub-surface vault in the ice to try and bring a science project back to life. Priorities... Somehow I guess I'll change gears for our performance, but I'm pretty much knackered already.

One of those-allegedly-about to rock salutes you.

heat wave

Wow, we've gone from -92F yesterday to -69F this afternoon. When storms come in they mess up the thermal layers of the atmosphere, and we end up having higher temperatures. Granted, the wind has picked up to 17 knots, but that's also par for the course in a storm on the Antarctic Plateau.

Things have been pretty quiet the last few days. I just keep working, and am doing my best to get the non-functioning projects back in normal operating mode. There is a bunch of activity surrounding our music gig (Polestock 2008), which is now up to 7 bands on the play list. I wonder if folks are biting off a little more than they should trying to make it as big as it is potentially going to be. Maybe we should have saved some of the ideas and enthusiasm for mid-winter and station opening. But, whatever, I'm just going to try and do my best playing and singing in my first time on stage in rock 'n roll band.

The auroras have been hit or miss the last few days. With the winds picking up there is a bit of overcast, and it obscured the view of some of the only auroras I've seen in about 3 days. Generally, the sky has been crystal clear for last few weeks.

Sunday night I showed "In the Shadow of the Moon", and have to say that it was probably the best documentary about the space program that I've ever laid eyes upon. It was amazing seeing the footage and hearing these old guys talk about their transcendent experiences setting foot on another celestial body. Talk about a serious fringe benefit...

some success, still fine tuning though

OK, so I got out a tripod and did a bit of work this morning with manual settings on my humble camera. I had some turn out OK, but will work with the settings (and get advice from better technical photographers) to see if I can't create better images of winter exteriors here at the South Pole. There just happened to be some pretty faint auroras overhead when I went out, so I'm sure once the sky is darker and I know how to use my camera those pictures will turn out a bit better.





Other than that, it has just been yet another day at work-which should go without saying. We are going to have another band practice this evening, after which I will be showing "In the Shadow of the Moon" after much ado.

down the tubes

Well, despite having three aurora-type projects here, I'm down to zero operating as I write. The last one went down at the end of the day, and I've no feedback from the project concerning how to try pursue a fix, so...hey, it's Saturday night.

One week and counting and the band, which just got done practicing (well most of us), will be playing our first gig for the station. All the experienced players say the first one is usually the worst, but it seem like we really have a pretty good grasp of the music. So, in one week's time keep your eyes peeled for fiery ruptures in the earth's crust, strange silvery objects flying about the sky, dogs and cats living together, the general end of the world as we know it. Yours truly will have taken the stage to sing lead vocals in front of an audience. Rue the day!

Anyhow, shut up, Ethan. Seeing the auroras, of which there were some stunning examples in the sky today. {Sorry, I haven't had time to try and use my very basic camera and a tripod to attempt to capture them. It really does not do so well in dark conditions.} I could see how primitive peoples would imagine these great undulating light shows to be giant animals in the sky. I could definitely envision the right aurora as a snake, a dragon, a thunderbird, or whatever. They definitely have a presence that is different than any cloud I've ever seen, and no I've never seen a tornado in person. It will be great to get a good, strong display today without the ridiculously bright full moon that is also in the sky. It is amazing how much light that pumps out. Add in the fact that the snow surface is 90% reflective, and it's almost like somebody has a spotlight trained on you. I've never really seen such pronounced shadows created by moonlight anywhere else in my life.

Well, the evening calls.

fire in the sky

Yup, it's aurora season. It seem like mid-day is a very active time for the aurora australis here at the South Pole. There was a great, green band of light twisting across the sky today on my walk out to ARO. I actually walked backwards most of the way to keep an eye on the light show. We've got the auroras, now we need these aurora projects to get up an running correctly. I spent quite a while today using a multi-meter probing voltages on one of them trying to figure out what might be wrong with it.

Last night my team took two of the four categories during this week's installment of Pub Trivia. We were only a point away from perfection on the "horror genre" questions, which was a nice surprise.

Tonight is a big pool tournament in the B1 lounge, but I'm not really a fan of the sport. I'll probably end up catching up on some recreational reading, which has been interrupted a lot with me having to work at night for some of the projects. Last night I spent about three hours working on yet another calibration imaging run for an all-sky camera. I think I will be putting a stop to that sort of tasking here pretty quick-diplomatically, of course.

This Saturday there is going to be bingo in the galley, which usually draws a large crowd (at least it did in the summer). But, one week after that it is the biggest rock show on the Antarctic Plateau! It is going to be a two-day weekend (for most folks), and we'll be playing along with a couple other bands that Saturday night.

Speaking of rock concerts, my bro's band Vegetable made it into the final round of the Deadwood Derby battle of the bands in Lawrence, Kansas. Congrats to him and the rest of the guys on their past and future successes!