I worked the front desk this morning. It was a fairly slow morning…a couple of follow up visits. Mainly, colds and flu. We received a shipment of medical records and worked on filing them. Finally got it all filed only to find 2 Holey Joes full of lose paperwork that needed to be filed in the charts that we just put away. Would’ve been a lot easier to file them while they were separated from the rest of the pack! We later found out that we really don’t need to file them…there is a spreadsheet somewhere that has all this information. Thank goodness! Today is kind of uneventful…I don’t think I’ve mentioned the Outdoor Safety Lecture that Jennifer and I attended on Friday. It’s a required lecture before you venture out onto the many trails and mountains surrounding McMurdo. It’s not too painful…just a video on outdoor safety during cold weather conditions and procedures on gear issue and check-in/out. On the McMurdo Intranet there are eFoot plans so you can map out your trip. It’s interactive so you put your mouse over the path. It tells you the distance of the path, whether or not you need to file a foot plan, if a radio is required and whether you can go alone or not. It’s a very useful tool; I’m hoping to get out and about soon. It stays daylight 24 hours a day so it will be easy to trek around after work. There is a coffee bar in town...it is currently closed due to a maintenance problem. I’m bummed…I hear it is neat and they have good coffee. Mark from the Fire Department tells us that it should open in 2 weeks. YAY! The Galley coffee is not that great. I’d kill for some Vanilla Nut creamer! I’ve also found out that there is a two-lane bowling alley in the fitness center. They also have a video check out in the Station Store. It’s free and the selection is large.
Found some more information on Antarctica on the McMurdo website: Antarctica is a continent devoted to science. At 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), it's larger than the continental United States, but smaller than the North American continent. It is home to 44 science stations from 18 countries around the world. While a few of these countries have made territorial claims to parts of the continent, the Antarctic Treaty—the document that governs Antarctica—neither recognizes nor disputes these claims. In short, Antarctica is owned by no one.
McMurdo Station is constructed on the bare volcanic rock of Ross Island. The station was established in 1956 as a military settlement. When the Antarctic Treaty outlawed military activity on the continent, McMurdo, one of three U.S. stations in Antarctica, became an icy outpost for some of the most ambitious science on the planet.
The activity of the day will be “Stitch & Bitch”. It’s a weekly stitching class that is held in one of the buildings on MacTown (McMurdo). I just thought it was worthy of mentioning. I don’t really have anything to bitch about so I’ll pass…maybe if I was here for longer than a month I would attend.
The baker here at the Galley is simply amazing. All of the desserts are fantastic and I now need to either run longer or resist the temptation! The other night there was a dessert called “Pavlova” which was a baked meringue, topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Jon’s thought was that it was made of that Marshmallow crème (I think it’s called Fluffy), my vote was that it was made from egg whites and sugar. I looked it up today…it is made from egg whites, sugar and vanilla. It did taste a lot like marshmallow though. The meringue was hard to eat but the strawberries were fantastic!
I went to Skua Central on Sunday. Whew…smells like an old smelly gym locker! Nothing fancy here but there are books and videos for free. Clothing, boots and miscellaneous stuff is also there. There were two shelves that caught my eye…the medication shelf and the food shelf. Yes you read right. Remember what Skua Central is…it’s the “Salvation Army” of the ice. Half used bottles of cough medicine and canned food from 1970! EWWW!!!
I glanced at the “Winter Peer Counselor” list. Remember the winter is the long 6 months that nothing comes in or out and the population drops to around 150. There is a list of about 10 people and their job is to just listen to those in need. The last person on the list is “Grumpy” (I won’t mention his last name for privacy reasons). That is his name!! “Grumpy”!! Imagine you are cooped up in Antarctica for 6 months with no contact with the outside world and the person that you go to for help coping has a name like “Grumpy”!
Still having issues with photo uploads. I got my laptop cleared to hook up to the internet. I'll try to load them that way later on.
Today’s McMurdo History: In 1901, Robert F. Scott wintered aboard the Discovery in Winter Quarters Bay, immediately west of McMurdo Station.
Today’s McMurdo Weather: The high was 1◦F, the low -11◦F. The wind chill was -18◦F.
Today’s Article: http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/people/women.html
Found some more information on Antarctica on the McMurdo website: Antarctica is a continent devoted to science. At 14 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), it's larger than the continental United States, but smaller than the North American continent. It is home to 44 science stations from 18 countries around the world. While a few of these countries have made territorial claims to parts of the continent, the Antarctic Treaty—the document that governs Antarctica—neither recognizes nor disputes these claims. In short, Antarctica is owned by no one.
McMurdo Station is constructed on the bare volcanic rock of Ross Island. The station was established in 1956 as a military settlement. When the Antarctic Treaty outlawed military activity on the continent, McMurdo, one of three U.S. stations in Antarctica, became an icy outpost for some of the most ambitious science on the planet.
The activity of the day will be “Stitch & Bitch”. It’s a weekly stitching class that is held in one of the buildings on MacTown (McMurdo). I just thought it was worthy of mentioning. I don’t really have anything to bitch about so I’ll pass…maybe if I was here for longer than a month I would attend.
The baker here at the Galley is simply amazing. All of the desserts are fantastic and I now need to either run longer or resist the temptation! The other night there was a dessert called “Pavlova” which was a baked meringue, topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Jon’s thought was that it was made of that Marshmallow crème (I think it’s called Fluffy), my vote was that it was made from egg whites and sugar. I looked it up today…it is made from egg whites, sugar and vanilla. It did taste a lot like marshmallow though. The meringue was hard to eat but the strawberries were fantastic!
I went to Skua Central on Sunday. Whew…smells like an old smelly gym locker! Nothing fancy here but there are books and videos for free. Clothing, boots and miscellaneous stuff is also there. There were two shelves that caught my eye…the medication shelf and the food shelf. Yes you read right. Remember what Skua Central is…it’s the “Salvation Army” of the ice. Half used bottles of cough medicine and canned food from 1970! EWWW!!!
I glanced at the “Winter Peer Counselor” list. Remember the winter is the long 6 months that nothing comes in or out and the population drops to around 150. There is a list of about 10 people and their job is to just listen to those in need. The last person on the list is “Grumpy” (I won’t mention his last name for privacy reasons). That is his name!! “Grumpy”!! Imagine you are cooped up in Antarctica for 6 months with no contact with the outside world and the person that you go to for help coping has a name like “Grumpy”!
Still having issues with photo uploads. I got my laptop cleared to hook up to the internet. I'll try to load them that way later on.
Today’s McMurdo History: In 1901, Robert F. Scott wintered aboard the Discovery in Winter Quarters Bay, immediately west of McMurdo Station.
Today’s McMurdo Weather: The high was 1◦F, the low -11◦F. The wind chill was -18◦F.
Today’s Article: http://www.exploratorium.edu/origins/antarctica/people/women.html
No comments:
Post a Comment