My room

Oh my goodness. I have been trying for a WEEK to log in and make a blog post, but the internet here is severely troubled and this is the first time I've actually been able to access the blog. Miracle! When we arrived at the beginning of the season, we had 14 hours of satellite internet coverage per day thanks to three satellites that are in range at various times. But there have been technical issues with one of them, making it not an option for the past week, which gives us 10 hours of very very bad, slow internet per day, half of which is in the dead of the night anyway. Sheesh! We're also losing the best satellite at the end of this month. A couple other fun telecommunication facts about life at South Pole:

 

- We have satellite phone access, and can call as if it is a free, local call to Denver area codes...but only when one of the satellites is in range and actually working.

- The vast majority of bandwidth available here is used to send the scientific data collected here off the continent; this is only fair, since the science is the whole reason for being of the USAP; but as a consequence, there is no type of streaming--so no Skype or YouTube or Netflix--allowed for casual use.

 

Anyway, before we lose coverage again, let me make this quick and just post a picture for you. This is my room in the station. Such a treat to have my own little cave to retreat to whenever I want to.

 

 

More soon, satellites willing!