Weekly snapshot #20

Ooh, these are finally starting to get so fun!

Temps are now down in the range they'll probably be for big chunks of the winter. Doubtless we'll have colder spells, but from what I hear you'll probably be seeing plenty of -75 over the coming months. It's cold out, obviously, but I don't know...the scale really changes! Each morning my option is to walk to work down the many stairs of the big, cylindrical stairwell we call the beer can, which often smells like poop, or to walk a little roundabout way outside, entering the logistics arch through its bay doors. I'm really enjoying getting bundled up and walking outside each morning and more often than not, through my cozy head-to-toe clothing, I'm thinking: "Gosh, what a beautiful day." Seriously!

It's much less appealing or even realistic to stay out for extended periods now, though. Last week, co-workers H & K and I had some tasks to do out in the "backyard" of the station and we were out walking around for about 1.5 hrs in -70F temps. We were all mighty chilly when we finally got back in, and H adorably said, "That was fun; let's never do it again!"

Anyway....

...and the sun creeps ever lower, just a couple of degrees above the horizon now. Soon I should be able to take sunset pictures in the direction of the sun without blinding myself and ruining my camera. Our special sunset dinner is scheduled for March 26th. Better enjoy these dwindling days of light.

Ladies' night

Once per month, we're planning on having a ladies' night so our little station minority can bond over whatever activities we feel like. Our winter steward, J, talked consistently over the summer of wanting to learn to paint to the gazillions of Bob Ross shows she brought with her on her computer. So for our first South Pole 2016 Winter Ladies' Night, we got together in the craft room and laughed our butts off trying to follow along to Bob's inaugural episode, "A Walk in the Woods" painting demo. As you can see, the results were quite varied and had not a lot to do with the painting Bob himself ended up with. But we had great fun. Can't wait for next month.

Weekly snapshot #19

Finally these snapshots might be pretty interesting for a few weeks! The temps are dropping...

...and the sun is now only about 5 degrees above the horizon, casting long shadows across the plateau even at mid-day. The list is so lovely--kind of getting that golden feeling. We're not working outside so much now that it's too cold for most of the machines to run, but I'm still walking outside to go down to the Materials office every morning, and it's starting to feel really cozy to get all bundled up and then step outside into the incredible crispness.

You can also see in this picture that they've put up the flag line to the Dark Sector ("dark" as in no radio use allowed out there, as it interferes with the data the telescopes are collecting). This is so that when the sky gets dark and the station won't be visible from the telescopes and vice versa, people walking back and forth (which will still happen pretty much every day) can see from flag to flag to find their way there and back. Things are about to change in a big way!

The Thing

Though all the close-of-station delays forced us to wait for about a week after the last major flight out, we did finally manage to stage a South Pole winter-over tradition: watching "The Thing." All three of them, actually! On a Sunday afternoon, we dragged all the furniture from one of the lounges into the gym and people set up the projector and sound system and we all settled in with snacks... 

...to watch, first, the hilariously un-scary 1951 original, which is actually set at the NORTH POLE...

...and then the incredibly dark 1982 version starring Kurt Russell, which is finally set in Antarctica...

...and then the 2011 version, which was apparently suspenseful enough that I was too busy covering my eyes to remember to take a picture of the screen. I'm not really a horror movie fan, but how could I pass up such a time-honored South Pole tradition and bonding experience with my fellow winter-overs? So I did actually watch all three. (Except for the parts in the third one where my eyes were closed.) Even though I wasn't inherently interested in the movies themselves, it was pretty interesting to watch all three in succession. It's amazing how film-making has evolved over the past 60 years, not to mention the cultural shifts portrayed along the way (embarrassing gender dynamics in the 50's version, no women at all in the 80's version, and then a female hero in the latest version). And the most recent version looped back around to the 80's version in a very clever way that I enjoyed.

Next real South Pole traditional movie experience will be at mid-winter, when we've all had four months together and are in total darkness and are maybe starting to lose it a bit--at which point we'll watch "The Shining." Which I've also never seen. To balance out all this gruesome scariness, I've started a Cheesy Movie night and am showing sappy romantic-comedy type stuff in one of the lounges every Friday night. As you can imagine, I'm super-popular among this horror- and sci-fi-loving crowd....

Weekly snapshot #18

March? How is it March? I've now been at South Pole for four months and am 1/3 of the way through my time here. It's flying!

The temps seem to be holding steady lately, and that is okay with me.

I think you can tell, if you compare today's snapshot out toward South Pole Telescope with weekly snapshots from a couple of months ago that the light is definitely starting to change. The sun is now making daily circles around the station not all that far above the horizon. Each day from now till the equinox, it will drop another degree or so toward setting, making its circle just a little bit lower in the sky. Now when I wake up in the morning and take the cover off my window, it no longer looks like I've woken up in the middle of the day. It actually looks like it's earlyish in the morning...and it stays looking like that all day. So excited for the transition to come. But here we are, for now....