Life Lessons

Well hello there! I had another couple of interesting days since my last entry. I don't have any new pictures but several good stories to share. I think I left you Friday morning to go prep a sonde for our next flight. I did prep the sonde but then we decided to try for a big balloon flight that night and we didn't need it. Since we wanted to run the Lidar while we had one of our big instruments up, we needed to launch at night. It needs to be dark to run the Lidar so we decided to launch at 11pm. Leslie and I took a nap to prepare, ate dinner and went back to the lab to wait. We made the official 'we are going to do it' call at around 10pm. Then it was time to prepare all the instruments and get everything ready. Ok done, head down to the launch site at 11pm. Now remember, this is a big balloon so it takes more preparation and hands to launch it, not like the ozonesondes where you really only need three people and I can hold the balloon by myself.

I'll try to set the mood of the evening for you all. It's dark but a really nice night. Hardly any wind but cold. Launching a big balloon is stressful because everything has to be perfect to get it off the ground so the tension in our group is insane. Well more like one person who was getting us all worked up but we won't say names. We had some extra help to hold the balloon and lay out the canvases. We start to fill this thing, everything was going fine until a really nice gust of wind comes along. Bad news bears. It twisted the balloon all up and we have to pause to get the balloon back under control. So we decide to move to the other side of the building where we have a little wind blockage. Pick of the whole operation and move it. We continue to fill the balloon and lay it all out with our load line, mast and instruments attached. Its like watching chickens run around with their heads cut off with yelling and minor chaos. Woo balloon launches.

Finally we are ready, it is almost midnight and shit hits the fan. Well not the fan but almost in somebody's pants. We set up our balloon launches next to the waste water treatment plant which is right along the main road between McMurdo and the ice. For the big balloons we have to spread out onto the road. Well it was the night shift worker's lunch (called mid rats, short for midnight rations) so they were starting to head in to eat. We stopped the first van and were going to launch quick but then some challengers rolled up. Challengers are big bulldosers that plow snow and they were just going to go around the stopped van. There was a lot of yelling, freaking out for 3 seconds, and then bam, time to launch. "ONE, TWO, THREE" and the balloon is up and away. Then more craziness as we rush to pack up and get to the lab to start the receiving equipment. General chaos.

After that, we just wait for the balloon to do its thing and send us data. It feels like it takes a lot longer than it actually does but we were tired. I think we were in bed by 3 am. Leslie and I slept in and went to lunch when we finally got out of bed. This brings us to life lesson number one: bulldosers and balloons don't mix so keep them separate or you will have poopy pants.

Saturday was actually pretty boring until dinner. Mainbody starts next week so the station has a party to celebrate the end of Winfly. It's called the Carp Shop Party because it takes place in the carp shop which is short for carpenters. Party of the year I tell you. Backing up a little, we ate dinner first and it was Italian night, so good food. We can have wine with dinner and it was a lot of laughs. You learn a lot about the people you work with when being around them so much. I can't say on here but it was hilarious. So then it was off to the party.

Now I'm not much of a partier but this was a blast. They had live bands (people from around station) and they were fantastic. Hands down fantastic. They have dancing, crappy beer and bands in one room. It had the atmosphere of a college party but older... They also set up games in the another room. They had a mini golf course, hammer games and this hook and ring game. Leslie and I hung out and watched the bands for awhile. I reverted to my undergrad days and danced the night away. It was super fun. And then like any college party, the point comes where people are too drunk and the fun level drops. Drama starts and people are stupid. Leslie and I escaped to play games and hang out with the seal group. That was fun. I got a hole in one on the last mini golf hole. Leslie conquered the ring and hook game. General good times. But again, people are dumb and you can't escape that for long. It was time to go. I had a ton of fun though dancing to the live bands. Excellent musicians.

This brings us to the second and most important life lesson: do not party with your co-workers. I'm not going to elaborate, I'm sure some of you have experienced this and know full well what I'm talking about. Not good.

Again we slept in this morning. Went to brunch to find out that we had a time change nobody told us about. So I guess it is an hour later. I'm tired and sore but still living up my fun night of dancing. Wish I could forget some of the other stuff but that will come with time. I'm preparing for my next adventure which starts tomorrow. Should be fun and I'll tell you all about it later. Sorry if this entry was too long and random. Stay warm everyone!