Sunday...a day of rest

Today is my Mimi’s birthday…Happy Birthday Mimi!! I love you! Rewind moment…I was looking at some pictures and ran across a funny picture. Hopefully, I can load it today. It’s a picture of Greg on the way over to Antarctica. I mentioned that it was freezing cold in the plane on the way over. Both of us put on our ECW gear to stay warm. Well…Greg looked so funny! I’ll say all this because Jon and I got a good laugh at his expense. At one point he was talking to this girl…Jon and I looked at him and couldn’t stop laughing because both of us thought that he looked so ridiculous in this get up. It was definitely not an outfit to impress the girls but the picture I was able to capture was priceless. Today I am feeling better. I wasn’t feeling so hot yesterday; I was completely run down and just couldn’t seem to shake it. I fell asleep at 2000 last night and didn’t wake up until 0930. Brunch today was good; apparently it’s the best meal of the week. Every line is open and there are more options compared to the meals during the week. Mark, the head chef, sat with us today. It’s amazing what they do with the meals here. They have no place to store bread, so all the bread is made fresh daily. Today there were sticky buns and cinnamon rolls that were delicious. Every day there are loaves of fresh bread; all of them outstanding. I think I’ve mentioned that there are a lot of vegetarians here, so each day there are vegetarian options. The other night, Jon wondered (out loud) why all vegetarian dishes take on the form of meat dishes. That particular night there was some kind of meat looking entrée that said it was vegetarian but it certainly looked like a side of beef to me! On our first day I forgot to mention the “Lentil & Walnut Loaf” that was served for lunch. I called it the “fart loaf” and this particular dish looked so appetizing (not) that we have discussed it on several occasions. There are Yoga classes that are held twice a week in the Chapel. When I first saw the sign advertising the classes I thought it was strange that it was in the Chapel but yesterday I learned the reason. Apparently, these Yoga enthusiasts believe that this is their form of religion and spirituality so they have their classes in the Chapel. The advertised time is 1745 on Wednesday and Friday. The Catholic Priest and Jon had a discussion with the Yoga enthusiasts on Friday because the Priest was going to have Catholic Mass at 1745. The Yoga enthusiasts felt that this was unfair and a violation of their right to freedom of religion. To end this story, we’ll suffice it to say that Catholic Mass will be held at 1745 and as I walked past the activities board today, I noticed that the time for Yoga was changed to 1830. We now have pagers...I text paged Jon yesterday with a “Have you heard of downward facing dog? It’s the new spiritual craze!!” Jon AND the Priest got a good laugh…1 point Jesus, Yoga ZERO. Greg and I went to the clinic today. Greg to finalize the patient movement for tomorrow, I tagged along for e-mail and blogging. I guess Greg has to blog for the AF Times…I think he’s using some of my blog and adding portions of his own. We’ll see what ends up in final print. I can see the editor now, delete…DE-lete…DELETE...NOPE, can’t use that…DELETE! I caught the Mizzou vs Oklahoma game on-line and later watched it on TV. I’m bummed to see that they lost; however, it was a close game. I’ve had a few ask me about where I’m at and why...I’ll delve into the where for now, as I continue I guess we’ll learn together the why. I say that because I know I’m here for AE missions but I’m sure there is more and we’ll learn that together. I am currently living on McMurdo Station. It’s the largest U.S. research facility in Antarctica. It is located on the southern tip of Ross Island and lies 2,415 miles south of New Zealand, and 850 miles north of the South Pole. The following information is taken verbatim from the McMurdo Station Guide: The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the United States Antarctic Program (USAP), coordinates U.S. scientific research in the Antarctic. Research performed in and around McMurdo includes marine and terrestrial biology, biomedicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology and glacial geology, meteorology, aeronomy, and upper atmospheric physics. During the summer months (Sept-Feb) the population of scientists and support personnel often exceeds 1,100 people. In the winter (Feb-Aug) the population drops to roughly 250 people. Thus when I say if someone “wintered over” and seem a bit strange like Dr. Personality you can imagine why. They are practically alone in one of the most austere environments in the world with minimal contact and nothing or no one coming or going. Today, we are having a heat wave…you would think anyway…people are walking around in shorts, t-shirts and sandals!! I will admit, it’s warmer than usual but my goodness! I just looked at the latest weather; it is currently 9°F with a -6°F wind chill. Have I told you that Uggs are wonderful?? I've been able to post some pictures on previous blogs. It's hit or miss and can only get one or two at a time.
Today’s McMurdo History: In 1841, James Clark Ross’s ships the Erebus and the Terror were the first to penetrate the Antarctic pack ice.
Today’s McMurdo Weather: High +14◦F, Min +5◦F with a -13◦F wind chill. Winds were at 29 kts