Last week! :(

So as I write this post for my blog I am spending my last night with my roommate Dale. I got here to McMurdo on October 21, 2011, 123 days ago with Dale. I met Dale and Mike one of my other roommates for the first time on October 16 back in Denver at our orientation. Since than it has been quite the ride of emotions for me, there have been highs and lows, happiness and sadness, excitement and being scared. Dale leaves here tomorrow and I will hopefully follow behind him in one week. I was originally scheduled to leave on February 22, but I chose to stay behind another week to help out. I realize now that maybe I shouldn’t have. Being a first year person down here the wave of emotions that I have been through over the past week since the mass exodus of personal from my department, my friends I have realized just how much I miss them and wish I was traveling with them right now.

The February 22 flight also has one of my best friends from this experience on it, I know that tomorrow when I say goodbye to Alysa that it will not be easy but I also know that I will see her again in Denver. When I leave on March 1^st, I know that it will not be easy for my other friends Cindy and Grant who are staying behind and wintering down here. If it were not for Alysa and Cindy becoming such special friends of mine I know that I wouldn’t have had the great time that I did here. The three of us have shared many a laughs, stories about family and home, played games, danced, drank, cried and hiked together. I feel very lucky to have had them in my life down here.

My roommates what more could be said about them. I didn’t know that I would be rooming with Dale when we flew down together, I am glad that I did. Dale is the youngest of the three roommates and is from Virginia. Mike was the oldest and wasn’t even supposed to be in our room. When we got here, he was put into a room on the lower level of the main housing building, which is commonly called transient housing. He was in a room with 5 other individuals and didn’t even have place to put away his clothes. Alyx came to McMurdo from Pennsylvania. I was the first one to meet Alyx, and asked him if he would be okay if Mike moved in with us. He was okay with it along with Dale and that is how the four of us became roommates. The four of us were different in our characters that we worked out well enough we never had any form of problem with each other. I am truly glad that we were put together in our room so that we to could share stories, laugh and learn from each other the same way Alysa, Cindy and I did.

Others that I flew in with and had just as much of great time with them are Dacre, Monica and Dave, Chris, Kristen, Monica S, Raphael, Keith, Natalie, Rob and Cindy. I was told by a friend who had worked down here before that I would make new friends here and that we would have many great memories together and would be friends for a long time. It is weird how being isolated from the rest of the world how you become such great friends with others, you trust them with your life, and you share stories about your families, life experiences. We became our own little family. As I look back at our time here I wish that I had taken more group photos of us so I could remember everyone a little better.

I began this posting on Tuesday night, now as I finish it is Sunday morning here, My week has gotten better as the sadness of Wednesdays flight has worn off. I got a chance to see my first Adelie penguin up close and a chance to help out a friend from here by getting a picture of me holding a sign saying “Hi Nick” on it for a family friend child of his who just found out that he has cancer and probably will not make it. Mark left the ice the day of the diagnosis and wasn’t able to get it himself. I also assisted with line handling again for the icebreaker and I got to ride out on one of the causeway tugs to the ice pier to help untie. It was fun getting out onto the open water along side the big resupply vessel to untie the breaker. I was also able to help out with line handling the resupply vessel as well, but this time it was a cold one. We were stuck on the ice pier for over an hour waiting to tie the vessel up so that they could finish loading the rest of the causeway system onboard. With the vessel leaving it means that the store can sell alcohol again and the bars will open up again. It is sort of like Christmas for us down here when this happens.

Well I hope that you all have enjoyed my blog this season. I hope to make one more posting before I leave on Thursday with more information about my stay here and where I plan on going for a little vacation as well as a little announcement about my next adventure. So till than I hope this finds everyone well.

Tim

Some pictures of my Ice Family

This was taken on Alysa suprise birthday party. We all worked together on the same shift.

Working front to back left to right we have, Chuck, Kristen, Kristy, Lisa, Twan,Gift, Alysa, Craig, Ben, Ray, Myself, Dave and Dacre. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with.

Kristen and Myself, what a great friend to have. An excellent cook and a great personality to be around.

This is most of the cargo department on New Years.

Kristy and myself. Kristy was a shuttle driver that took us to work at the airfield, she is intersted in coming to work in cargo for next year.

Monica and Dave. I am glad that I got to know these two on our travels together. A great support crew on bad days to have.

Chris was a senior on the other shift. I didn't get to spend much time with him here, but I was glad to have travelled with him and got a chance to know him in Denver. Probably my first friend I had coming down here. Natalie was a sous chef at a field camp, we got many treats from her kitchen sent back here to enjoy. A talented young lady in the kitchen, I hope to some day go to a resturaunt that she is working in and enjoy her cooking again.

in this lovely group we have Dave, Kristen and Alysa. Monica in on the right, we flew in together, she worked on the same team as Cindy and Chris. A great person to know and share stories with. Danny was the Airfield supervisor, you could always count on Danny to make sure everyone was going to have a great time off shift.

Myself with Mike on the left and Dacre on the right. Dacre and I were both apprentices down here and learned a lot but also showed that we were hard workers and deserving of the Boondoggles that we got. Mike was one of my roommates and was also a shuttle bus driver, I know that all three of us will spend time together again in Colorado enjoying the best state to live in.

My Happy Camper Family. Grant is in the red jacket on the left next to Dacre.

A little ATO department hike to top of Castle Rock on New Years Eve. For 11 of us this was our first time to the top.

Myself with Natalie right before she flew out. The first of many goodbyes to come, came on this day.

Myself with Tricia, she was one of our Air Passenger Services represenatives. What a great person, fun, outgoing and someone who you could go to just to talk with if you were having a bad day. I hope to make it to Alaska this summer to see her again.

This was taken on our first day of work. This is most of everybody who flew in with us that were working in Cargo. Kristen and Dave were busy working. Today all the snow that is surrounding us has melted off, but it is just as cold.

The ATO Softball team. We may have only won 1 game, but we had a great time playing otherwise. Here is hoping we can play again next year.

Dale and I climbed OB Hill last week one last time. Dale and I were the last 2 of the 4 roommates to till be here. I couldn't have asked for a bette roommate. Thank you Dale for listening to me and supporting me those last few days you were here. I am truly indebted to you for it. I wish you the best of luck in your travels home and in your new adventures.

What can I say about these two lovely ladies. Cindy on the right and I flew in together and got to know each other real quick. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have gotten to know some other great individuals down here. Game night was a regular for us at the beginning of the season. Alysa, what can I say, this adventure wouldn't have been the same without her. Having her on the same cargo team and shift made the time fly by. I am glad that I have gotten the chance to know her and experince life here with her. I feel that I have a true friend for life now from our experiences.

Now for a few from the past few weeks.

The Green Wave, the resupply vessel. The small boat at the bottom is a support tug for the mobile causeway system. I got to ride on it to help untie the Ice Breaker from the ice pier.

I climb OB Hill one more time. This time I got the hero shot from the top.

We had quite the snow storm here last weekend. This is a little look outside my dorm room window looking out toward the water. The snow outside our window drifted to about 3 feet deep on the roof from the entry way right below us.