kat-arctica

2010-05-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Alright. this is it. I'm moving. Well, i'm always moving, but this time I mean blogs. I just never really took to the way this one was laid out, and have moved onto greener pastures. Hopefully I'll keep motivated to update and all that jazz. If you want to check out my ramblings go to:

http://seebearclimb.tumblr.com/

Love you guys!

2009-08-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

Today Jared and I went berry picking in a rain forest.
I'm pretty sure that it was actually Fern Gully, though sadly I didn't see any fairies.

2009-08-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

The salmon are on their way in.
The boys have been super stoked about fishing and trying to catch one of those dudes, so I've been tagging along with Jared on his quest to catch.
Our location here in Portage is super convenient in that we have the river they run down on each side of our cabins, and its maybe a three minute walk out to the flats to fish.
My first casts with Jareds pole didn't go well at all...I caught a tree both times and messed the line up. Bad News Bears for sure.

Today though, Jared, Petey, and I went out to moose flats and walked down a path in the woods out to another area, further up the river from our cabins for some fishing. This time I got to use Jeremys' smaller pole, which I got figured out quick and ended up with the best casts out of the bunch. Still no catches though. Sad. I mean, we even tried Gummy Bears!
Those salmon are hard to get though, for sure. They don't actually bite the hook, just nibble at your bait and you have to have great timing in pulling the rod and hooking them.
We just don't seem to have the timing down very well.

I'm going into Anchorage tomorrow for a dentist app. and then picking up supplies for the AWCC so I'm going to stop and probably pick up my own pole and that sort of jazz so I can hangout more at the ol' fishin' hole.

What else...well I've befriended the black bears at the center. I bring them fresh fruits and veggies like every day. I'm going to see if I can train them a little bit. That would be pretty awesome and super rewarding....so we'll see how that goes. I just really like hanging with them none the less so whatevers cool with me for sure.

Lilly and I saved a lil' duck from a fence today! He was stuck halfway through and we had to carefully ease him backwards out of it. Hopefully he'll be okay!

Oh and so far while living here I have eaten Moose the past three days, already tried Reindeer, and Bison, and will soon be having Black Bear Bratwurst, and probably Caribou. Its crazy to think I was vegetarian and vegan for so long. But I do think there's a difference between these animals and those coming from factory farms. At least, at the moment I like to tell myself that. I think for sure though I'm going back to being veggie after I leave here.

Hmm I do believe that is all for now.

2009-07-27T00:58:00.000-07:00

If my life was a music video, I think I would want it to be this one.
Not only is the song amazing, but the video is absolutely beautiful.

Dear life, Please make this happen.

Keyboard Cat!

2009-07-21T11:05:00.001-07:00

I just ordered an amazing t-shirt.

It will go well with my Cat w/ lazer beams coming out of its eyes + two wolf shirts & my owl t-shirt.
Pretty sure I should just stick to buy/wearing clothes that have animals on them.
Best. life decision. ever.

If I would just get better at updating these post wouldn't be so long...

2009-07-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

Welp as always look who is terrible at updating their blog.
I'm really not even sure as to why its so hard for me to just sit down and update this thing. Life here seems to move so fast, and this summer is racing by me, so perhaps that's a small bit of it. I think its mainly that I just never think that there's much to say, even though every day here is an adventure.
Here's a quick overview of life as of late:

Watched the bears (JB, Patrone, Hugo) eat a moose leg the other day.

Hung out with a black sitka deer named Julie

Went and explored an abandoned WW2 military building

Hiked a glacier-- the hike was 7.5 miles round trip, with a 4,000 ft elevation gain (I wanted to die), but I made it and am so proud of myself for that.

Had a wild bear come into the center and had to go into emergency lock down mode
Pet some baby moose
Weekly beer pong nights (are we back in college...?)
Met like a million other people from Wisconsin
Went to a festival in Girdwood, and hoola-hooped the shit outa that town

Danced whenever I could
Finally making progress on PQ'ing for Antarctica
Hitchhiked multiple times successfully
Saw some whales & PUFFINS!!

and probably some other cool stuff that I'm totally forgetting about at this moment.

I'm really glad though, that I decided to make the trek out here. I know for a while I was super nervous about the prospect of leaving home for four months again, having to again make new friends in a new place, and be away from everyone (all of whom I miss dearly). It makes me really appreciate what I have at home, but at the same time appreciate the world a little bit more and the fact that I'm so lucky to actually get to travel and see things and do things I never would have dreamed of. I'm meeting so many great people while I'm here, seeing so many beautiful things, and spending a ton of time with animals I have only dreamed of getting this close to.

I'm kind of excited to see what adventures are around the corner for me.
Antarctica for sure, but after that who knows?
I still want to backpack around Ireland when I get back, so if anyone's down for that drop me a line....

first hike in arraska.

2009-05-30T11:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I took full advantage of my second day off.
Day off one I spent showering, doing laundry, hanging out with Jared in the ticket booth, and going on a little adventure to Anchorage with Ryan. It was a pretty good day, but I barely spent any of it outside (though it was pretty rainy the whole day).

So when I woke up yesterday morning and saw the sun shining I knew I had to get out and do something. I gathered my gear, which took me a while, since I couldn't decide if I wanted to use my pack or my messenger bag...I decided on pack and I'm very happy with that decision and the pack in general. I stopped by work for a minute saying hi to everyone and then was on my way down the highway.

I decided to head down to Moose Flats, since Ryan had taken me there the day before to show me it, and I noticed there was a trail that started there. Moose Flats was only like a mile away from the top of my road so it was a really easy walk to do. I got there and headed down the trail.
I was a little disappointed, since I realized it was basically just a gravel bike path, so when it crossed the highway I jumped off and headed back down the road.

I stopped for lunch where the trail would have ended if I had stayed on, which was a beautiful little lake. After I continued down the road, stopping off whenever I would see a little path or road to head down. I eventually came across a sign that warned of Avalanches...well I saw other people in the area so I figured it was alright to head down and check it out. I'm so glad that I did, this was one of the most beautiful places ever.

I arrived at the bottom of the mountain, which had this giant glacier coming down, so I hiked across the snow to this huge rock at the bottom and laid on top of it for an hour or so, reading Bukowski and listening to the water fall. It was a pretty awesome thing for sure. I explored the area a bit, and decided it was time to head back to the cabins. I gathered my stuff and was on my way.

I decided to take all of the Blue Ice trail back, just to see if there was anything interesting on it, since I had given up on it so quickly last time around. I found this path leading off of it, that takes you around the lake, and up the mountain into the trees, so I'm super stoked about that. I think Jared and I are doing a hike today so we will most likely head up that, and maybe camp out for the night.

After I got back from the hike, I stopped back at the AWCC and went to visit with the two baby moose we just got in the other day. Sooooooo cute! ahhh! I can't wait to get in their pen and hug them. Jack (who is about a year old) is cute, but these babies are soo much cuter (sorry jack)

Tomorrow Jared and I are heading to Anchorage with our awesome boss Eve to do some shopping, so that should be a really fun day too.
Man I love Alaska so much right now.

Arraasska i is here.

2009-05-28T19:42:00.001-07:00

Well I suppose this blog could be re-named Kat-laska...but that's going a little far.
I'm on my 9th full day here, and I absolutely love it.
In case any of you didn't pick it up from the other post (maybe I didn't even write it...who knows), I am now working at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and its amazing.
This place is so great, we take in injured and orphaned animals, and rehabilitate them and either set them back in the wild or they get to live here for everrr. I work in the gift shop/ticket booth/ cook in the snack bar. The cooking is my favorite though because behind me in the open air snack bar is the owl enclosure so I end up sitting and talking to them for a while.

But yeah things are great. We just got two baby mooses here yesterday and today, and they are adorable! There's also another orphaned moose named jack that they took in last year, and they all live up by the bunk house, so when I go to shower/laundry I get to go by them and pet them. Picts soon I promise.

I live in a pretty sweet cabin across the street from the center....well its more like down a really long road across the street but its tight none the less. I even have my own outhouse (no running water in the place, though we did just get internet). Its nice though, and the two boys I work with live a few cabins away from mine, so we hangout like every night. They are pretty tight guys for sure.

I'm feeling kind of lazy at the moment so I'm not going to put any photos up, but I promise I will put them up soon, I just found out I have the next like four days off, so there will be plenty of down time for surez.

I'm going on a hike tomorrow, so I'll post about how that goes.

2009-05-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Had the interview for on the ice, and the next day faxed back my official acceptance letter for primary janitor position.

So yes kids, its official, I am heading back down to the ice!
Crazy thing is, depending on when I leave Alaska, I may have as little as a week between the two!

I'm currently in packing hell, but think I have everything figured out and packed in my suitcase. I'm still a cronic overpacker, but I'm getting slightly better at it.

I got to hangout with Katy today, she drove up here to Manitowoc to shop and spend the day together before I leave. Pretty great time, and saw the new X-men movie. Totally not as amazing as the new Star Trek, but still pretty alright.

Flying out monday morning, hanging out in Mpls for 8 hours between flights with Justin and Sarah, and then arriving in AK at around 8:30 p.m.

Its going to be a long day for sure.

lately.

2009-05-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well posting should hopefully be happening more now, that I will soon have more going on in my life than sitting at my parents house.

I leave for Alaska on monday the 18th. I will be working at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and I'm super stoked about it. Its looking like its going to be a great summer.

I also have an interview tomorrow morning for a job back down on the ice, so I will hopefully have good news about that as well.

Life is shaping up quite nicely at the moment.

2009-04-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

The next two weekends should prove to be pretty fun filled and interesting.

Next weekend, May 2nd I will be headed to Chicago to hangout with some great friends and listen to great music. I'm going to be going to the Horse Feathers show and I am so excited about it. I just got their new album in the mail the other day and can't stop listening to it.

The weekend after that, May 9th I will be doing a Wems race up in Green Bay. For anyone that may not know what that is: its a 12 hour mountain bike race. I'll be doing it on either a 3 person or 4 person team. During the race you generally will ride for three hours, one hour out on the lap, wait while your team mates are out, go out again, wait, etc.

Other than that I've just been sitting around, still doing around 11 miles a day, and occasionally doing around 20 mile, rides weather depending.

This past weekend I went to MKE and tried to do a 60 mile road ride with other members of Team Pegasus. Yeah...that didn't work to well for me. I am definitly not up to the calibur they all are, and on top of that, I was riding clipless (haven't done that in a year), and on a road bike (haven't ridden gears in longer), I also forgot my inhaler (ugh duh), so after around 5 or so miles I headed back. I felt terrible for constantly making the team slow down/stop so I could catch up, so it was probably for the best that I just dropped and left. My goal someday is to be able to keep up, but I know thats a long way off, especially with leaving the state/country every few months.
I did save a turtle on the way back to the car though, so that was good. Spent the rest of the day reading and sitting in the sun, so overall it was an okay day.

if a tlark bike rides in the forest and no ones around, did it happen?

2009-04-08T19:53:00.000-07:00

As of late I have been on a mission to get myself out of the house every day for exercise. Right now living at my parents house, and not having a job or even any friends in town, its really easy to let myself become lazy and just slump on the couch all day. I really want to get in shape and work on my biking, so lately I've been rotating riding and running (mainly running on days it seems way to windy to want to ride).
Tonight I decided to ride towards Point Beach State park, which is roughly 11 miles away from my house, so a pretty easy ride for the night. On the way I took the Mariners trail, which is a beautiful easy ride along the lake all the way to Two Rivers.

After following the 5.5 mile trail into TR I only had to ride maybe five minutes through the town to get to the next bike path. This one is called the Rawley Point bike trail, and it goes through a "pine and hemlock forest" and takes you right up to the parking lot for the state park.

This trail started a little harder than the last, mainly because it wasn't paved (crushed gravelish??) and I was on my track bike with thin tires that kept trying to get stuck in other peoples tire grooves. But I pushed on, and came to the point where the trail meets the road and I could have either:
a. hopped on the road and followed it the rest of the way to the park
b. continued on the trail into the forest, even though I most def was not on the right type of bike
c. turned around and gone home

Well I went with ... B! Yes I took my poor little fixed gear into the forest, running over sticks and stones, through dirt and mud, snow piles, and hopping on and off of wooden bridges. Overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I actually got pretty far into the forest before deciding to take a break re-fuel and head back (the sun was getting mighty low and I was w/o lights).

Me looking oh so cool in the forest: It was warm enough today to ride w/o a jacket the whole time!!

My poor dear bike that puts up with so much abuse and still keep kickin'.

On the way back home a deer ran out on the trail in front of me. I love nature.

The reason I've been riding out to this park in particular is because I actually have an interview with them on saturday. I think it would sound good to the interviewer if I was able to say that I ride out to the park on a regular basis, and that I've even been on some of the trails. You know, makes me look like I'm outdoorsy and have an interest in the park.
Well....thats all for now!

To go to alaska or not....

2009-03-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well I'm a little unsure at the moment where my summer will take me now.
I got a phone call today about a job in the next town over I had applied to, before the Alaska job.
It would be working at the State Park, which would be a lot of fun, its 11 miles away so I could bike there, and live at home (which means free food). I would also be making at least 400 more a month than living and working in Alaska. With my 1,000 a month student loan payments, that money is going to be needed. Badly.

But. Its Alaska. I've always dreamed of working there. I don't know, I guess I should see if I even get offered the job here, I mean I may be getting ahead of myself, they only asked me to come and interview.

I took my dogs up to the park today, since I had never been there, and thought it best when I interview to be able to say I had at least walked one of the trails once. We had a good hike, I think we only did like 3 or so miles, so it really wasn't much, but it with it getting dark I felt best to turn around. The park is really nice, not as nice as the actual wilderness, but still really beautiful.

I'm going down to Milwaukee this weekend, its the Team Pegasus party, so I'll get a chance to see some friends and see what they have to say about this situation.

Till next time..

2009-03-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

oh i know a new update I can post...I cut my hair! gahhhhh.

I told ben, and he re-assured me it would grow back, but still...

2009-03-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well...look who's back on the blog. As if anyone hadn't noticed or couldn't tell, I am bad at keeping things such as this updated. At some point down at the ice I was more interested in living the experiences and much less enthused in writing about them. Silly as that may be, trust me its how I tend to be at times (ask my mom).
But here I am, giving this blog a second chance, perhaps a second life.
I make no promises that this will be continually updated either, but I will really do my best, and that's really all one can ask for isn't it?

Ah well, anyways onto different business. I am back from the Ice. Yes, I survived my first season, and left wanting more.
I spent about a week in New Zealand, hanging out with good friends, eating fresh food, and seeing birds and puppies and kitties. Everything I was hoping for and more. I watched a guy do a basketball street show in Cathedral Square, at Burger King as my first meal when we got to NZ (it was the only place open I swear), and got to live in a concussed world--story on that real quick....

Two days before I was to leave the continent, I was sleeping in Bens room, when his alarm went off that morning I somehow ended up falling out of his bed --it was about 5+ feet off the ground), and fell directly on my head (or so we presume). I ended up going back to sleep, but thankfully waking up, going to work, and I honestly have no recollection of any of it. My dear friend Kendra brought me to medical, they concluded it was a concussion and I was sent home and told I didn't have to work the next day, my day off. How lovely. Now I don't remember much of that or really even parts of my time in NZ, though I'm sure it was all grand.

--back to the main story.
The sad day came when I had to say goodbye to Ben. It was a bummer, but we had gotten to spend three days together in NZ which was more than we originally planned for. I spent my last few days with dear Sarah Bear and Tim, we rented a car with our friend Danny, and had our Sketchy car trip 09' which will forever live in my memory, and in video form.
Then I flew back to MKE, after 24+ hours of flying, I landed, shed some tears over my lost luggage, hugged my best friend holly and set out for Jimmy Johns and a grocery store (!!!)

Now I am back in Manitowoc, sitting at my parents house, thinking about all the people I dearly miss, wondering what will happen next, and mainly when I will get to go back to the ice.

So far I get to officially apply for two positions, coincidentally the two I really wanted, so my fingers are crossed for those. (!)

Now for the summer plans. I can't just sit around on my parents lazy boy all summer, first...that would get very very boring very quick (as in now), and second I just don't have the money to afford such a lifestyle...soo its off to different places and new adventures called....

Alaska! I got a job up there for the summer in Denali.

I think its grand that I will have gone from the bottom of the world, to almost the top of it, and hopefully right back down to the bottom. What more could a kid want?

well, that's all for now, I will really do my best to keep everyone posted on updates and life in general.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to pop in quick (i know I'm sorry I haven't updated in well..forever...i will again soon I promise!) and say Merry Christmas to everyone back home!

I love you all and miss you terribly!

To my family I hope you all are having an amazing day and I miss every single one of you today, and I hope you are all enjoying your time together!

I love everyone!

miss you!

2008-11-29T00:52:00.000-08:00

This will be a short one, I'll be updating again soon about driving to willy field, and thanksgiving and prom. Right now though, all thats important to talk about is today while I was waiting in line for cheese at thanksgiving meal, some random man that was in front of me looks at me and says "you're from wisconsin arn't you"...awesome. random. weird. I guess we just had the cheese/esp going.

k off to celebrate the holiday!!

Alright alright...

2008-11-25T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm finally updating. Sorry its been such a long time.
Lets see its been what, three weeks? Crazy, time goes by so fast here.
Well I'll start on some of my adventures and we'll go from there.
On our day off, three weeks ago, kendra, jes, and I hoped on Ivan the Terra Bus and headed out to LDB with John the cook. LDB is a NASA run camp of sorts, and it stands for Long Distance Balloons. The Balloons are used for weather/atmosphere/etc research.
John had asked me to come out there that day so I could photograph their freezer.
A freezer you ask, how could that be interesting? Well this freezer is actually a hole cut into the ground. Inside of it there were all these amazing ice formations, and he wanted me to photograph them for him. They were amazing! Think of like a snowflake, and how it looks magnetized, thats what these crystals were like. So the girls and I had fun hanging out down there, and then we got to see the galley at LDB which was pretty awesome. It was actually what I imagined coming to antarctica and working here would be like. So yeah that was really nice.

That night we had another adventure as well. We got to go on the Ice Caves tour. There are these caves that form when there is running water inside of the glacier and it ends up forming the caves (you can wikipedia it if you want to know more, its pretty interesting stuff). The cave was amazing and I got to touch an actual Antarctic glacier. It was mighty cold though, as can be expected, and the wind out on the field was pretty strong, but we had an amazing time nonetheless.

Let see now, last week for our day off we had a pretty great time again. We got up early in the morning for memosas and bowling. It was so much fun. I was terrible at the bowling part, but I got to wear these sweet old lady bowling shoes that look like plain sneaks, and rocked my christmas socks.
Then we sat in the galley and had a long lunch which is always nice. Getting to eat for longer than half an hour and not rushing it is great. I got to sit and watch a skua outside of the window for a while. That was really awesome.

Then later that day Kendra and I walked over to Scott Base, which is the New Zealand base, so we could check out their store. It was a really good walk, and was really warm, I only wore my jacket for a little while, and the walk was only like 45 minutes so it was nothing. On the way back though, some scientists gave us a lift, so we got to sit in the back of a pickup with a geophysist, she was super nice. Then after that we had dinner, and then Ben and I made our way up Observation Hill, since I hadn't been up it yet. It was a rough hike, and I'm very out of shape, and really windy (I just now realized today that I had a windbreaker and didn't have to carry my heavy big red up the hill ugg). But it was so beautiful up there. We made it to the top and Ben and I just stood there and hugged and took the view in. We both agree, that Antarctica is by far the most beautiful place in the world, and its something you can't even comprehend unless you've experienced it for yourself.

So yup thats life as of right now. Things are going fantastic for me. We have Thanksgiving on saturday so that should prove to be interesting. I'm pretty tired today, and have decided to have a nice slow easy day, and just relax all day, which is something I haven't had a chance to really do on any of my last days off.

Oh and I suppose I should also update on my love life (per shawns request). I've been seeing a boy named ben (the aforementioned one) for about threeish weeks so far. He's pretty fantastic, but I totally don't want to screw this up...I'll keep ya'll posted on that as well.

Well thats all for now!

2008-11-16T13:48:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, I just want you to know I haven't forgotten about this and all of you!
I just haven't had much time to update as of late. I promise I will be soon though, possibly wed since thats my day off!
I've got loads to talk about, such as LDB visits, Ice Cave tours, and boys, well one in particular.
Things are fantastic and going quite well.
I love you and miss you!!

It was a bash, an Antarctic Mash.

2008-11-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Halloween has come and gone here at McMurdo Station. Things were fun, many laughs were had. Here are some highlights of this holiday:

I came home one day to a Zombie attack warning on my door. It was later made even better by someone (naming no names) writing in on Zombie Saunas.

The Haunted house! Yes. Antarctica had a Haunted house, and it was actually really awesome, even better than some I've gone to back home. I even got tickled. Many laughs were had and even a few screams.

I got to go to work in my costume! Albeit it was a serve safe version (i.e. no feathers, head-wrap, non-slip shoes) but I got to do it none-the-less. It was great and it was getting so many fun comments all day. For those of you that don't know I went as a Warrior from the movie The Warriors. Soooo good. I still don't have a picture of the back patch on my leather vest, but I'll get that real soon.

The costume party!! Man that was so much fun, and hilarious!! We drank a few beers and were on our way to the bash. It was pretty cold getting there, especially since none of us wore jackets, but whateves it was totally worth it. I danced like no other, and lived it up. Here are a few photos from there:

this is me and danny

this is Alex, Kendra, Chris, and T-Rav

I was so stoked about this guy! He was dressed up as a Baseball Furie, and if you've ever seen the Warriors he's from one of the gangs my gang fights!!!!

me dancing

Davey and Travis on the walk to the bar

All in all it was a great night and I had so much fun. Yay for Halloween! People here really go all out for it in their costumes, which was great.

And now I'm on holiday, so I had yesterday and today off. We get our holiday now since we have to work on Thanksgiving, which is kind of a bummer but oh well its gotta be done.

Yesterday I went for a nice walk by myself and wen't over to Hut point and saw the seal thats been there for a while. It was nice to see an animal, since I haven't in about three weeks.

me hanging out on top of Hut Point

Its hard to makeout but that black blob is the seal.

So yup that's the skinny on things thus far. I'm now going to go and relax a bit more on my day off! Till next time!

I really feel as though half the time

2008-10-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

I am living in some sort of dream land.
Its really still impossible to believe that I am in Antarctica. I guess it might be more believable if I were to be in a job that I was outside a lot, but instead I'm trapped in the Galley day after day.
Oh well, I'm going to request sundays off, so that James and I can go for hikes, since he knows all these great places to go (he goes out into the field for his job...he's a carpenter), and I still feel like a lost puppy half the time.
The places I know for sure how to get to here: My room. A few of my friends rooms. The Bar (x2). Medical. Hut Point + part of the loop. Work. Laundry. Gear Issue. Craft room + ceramics. I sort of remember how to get to the Green house, and I just learned where the band room is. That's basically all I know. I guess I haven't been here that long, but still. I want to feel really at home here.
Here's to continuing to get up early and explore I suppose.

Today is Halloween!! The party is on saturday, since everyone except most of us in the Galley have the day off. We do however get to dress up at work today. I don't have to go in till 12 though, so I'm going to stake out the situation and see just how many people from work dressed up, if they haven't I sadly probably won't either...I can't be the only one...or can I?? I might either way, I mean heck I would get to wear my warriors costume twice wooo.
We'll see.
Tomorrow night should be fun. I think I have to help James finish his costume, which we started last night when we borrowed the craft room key and snuck in. He told me he might need me to protect him against all the ladies since his costume is going to be so great. Haha.

Things are fantastic here and I'll post photos from Halloween as I get them!!

my nose is a bit cold

2008-10-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well the past few days here have been full of work and also full of fun.
Work as always is work, but I'm still enjoying it and have a blast with my co-workers. They are a pretty rad bunch. I've been staying up late, but that's to be expected since I don't work till 11 in the afternoon.

What else is going on in this crazy life of mine?
Well today was my day off and I was determined to make it worth its while.
I showered for the first time in a few days (eww), and did my much needed laundry. After that I hung out with Mary, one of the cooks for a while and then went to lunch and the craft room! Got things together for my costume (we were told we could wear them to work!!!!), and then Emily and I hungout for a while and went on a short hike. It was pretty awesome, and not to bad temperature wise, I think it was around -10 or so, which is pretty warm here. My nose is still a bit cold, but that'll happen I suppose. I mean afterall, it is a harsh continent. (haha)

k well g'bye for now!

The last sunset of the season

2008-10-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

has arrived. Its actually tonight, but many of us thought it was last night so we celebrated only how Antarctica could. It was a lovely time, some dancing was had, birthday wishes to Jeremy were sang, and a hike was had.

Sorry its been so long since I've last updated (sorry mom!), but as of late not much has been going on here. There's always a dance party to attend, a mid-rats dinner to be eaten at 12:30 a.m. and a dish to be washed, a counter to be scrubbed, and when we run out of stuff, a wall to be washed. All in all, I'm enjoying life here, and making some amazing friends along the way. Its actually quite strange, in the fact that I have literally only known these people less than two weeks, and I already feel as though I've grown up with some of them. I hold them as close to me as I do any of my friends from school. I guess being put in such a harsh continent (its the saying down here), you learn to be friends fast and keep it going strong. Anywho, here is a slight introduction to some of my bestest friends here, almost all of whom I met in Denver at orientation.

First up is Mr. J. Rice . He hails from Cali and is an all around pretty tight dude. We have our disagreements at the moment, but its mostly because we don't quite have a feel for one anthers sense of humor. We're getting there though. I made him a moose head plaque for his birthday.

Next up is Miss Jess. She hails originally from Alaska, but more recently came from Seattle where she just moved to with her bf and two cats. She's pretty much the shit and I love her to death already.

Then there is the ammmmazing Alisa. She is pretty much one of my favorite people here. We are so alike its crazy. Both of us are always dancing and singing to our own beat. She has a pretty cool job here too, shes one of the disbatch people for the fire department.

Then there is John. He's a cool kid, I think from D.C. He likes pretty good music and is always down for hanging out. Jon and I have had some pretty wild conversations here, fore shore.

There's also Metro, and Kendra, and Chris, and Emily, Danny, I mean the list could litterally go on and on. I basically love almost everyone here I've met so far, and each day that passes like them all more and more.

Its going to be interesting to see how the next few months pan out, and how our friendships grow.

All I can and have to say about last night is

2008-10-16T17:53:00.001-07:00

Wine. Apples to Apples. and Zombie Sauna.

2008-10-14T18:06:00.001-07:00

I just found out today that we are doing driver training!
I might get to drive out to the airfields to deliver food.
That would be pretty wicked, scary, but wicked none-the-less.

K back to work!

Edit that & update: I actually drove today in Antarctica. And I got to see the Green House. Its so strange to be seeing green growing things again. I've only been here for less than a week. I wonder how it will be in a few months....

The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

2008-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

That is the saying many of the women say around here in reference to the guy selection. For us single girls, there really is a vast station of single men (or men who say they are single), but boy, are some of them odd. Many very nice, with well intentions, but still...odd.
The guys saying on the other hand is, 'Go ugly early', since all the hot chicks are the ones chased after and unless you're the hottest guy here, you don't even have a chance.
Its quite strange living here. It really is like a dorm of a college (rooms come complete with mini fridges), we all have two to three roommates, and we all keep odd hours. The main difference is really we can't get away from one another, for any long amount of time. Its like a dorm, if it were on a cruise ship. You can go out and have fun, but every night you're going back to the same place.
Its really all just something to be aware of, since apparently the rumor mills run rampant around here, and so do the creepy dudes (I've been followed twice now up and down the halls).
This is going to get interesting.

It was a quick walk, but my nose got cold.

2008-10-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday counted as day three of work and day three and a half of being here. I really only know that by the fact that I had to wash three of my uniforms last night. Its so strange to really have no sense of time or date here. I guess its hard to when the sun never leaves, though, it is still setting right now, slightly, the last being on the 21st I believe.

I am still so in a slight shock that I'm actually here. I don't really think its hit any of us just yet that we are where we are. Going out for a slight hike yesterday did help a ton though. wow.
Well anyways, yesterday was one of the easier, though, more accident prone days I've had here thus far. We had to be at work slightly earlier than normal (8a.m. instead of 11), and did some food safe lectures, then I learned the pots room (easy enough: you wash pots--this is where injury number one occured though...two cuts on the tops of my fingers...ouch!), more serve safe, the dish room (best job), then washed some walls, had an impromptu Micheal Jackson dance party outside of the dish room, and got to leave super early at 4:15 (after our stretch break of course). So far the job is going pretty good, well except for the gross rash like skin condition jess and I are developing on the tops of our hands from having to wash them so often. eww.
Afterward Jess and I were eating our dinner at the family dinner, and our friend Shaun asked if we wanted to go for a small hike with him. Of course we said yes, especially since I hadn't seen much of the outside of the station thus far.

Off we went, Big Reds, wind pants, and of course the addidas sneakers and multiple cameras started out of the station and off to Hut Point. Hut Point is a hut that Scott actually built back in 1902, and is a 15 minute walk or so from our station. There's also a Cross atop the hill marking the grave of one of his men, George T. Vince. Its pretty awesome that we live so close to such
huge landmarks in history.

After getting cold and heading back Jess and I also ran out and disovered the Crafts room, The Bouldering room, the church, and the Ceramics room. Good adventures for the day indeed.

Next adventure: Seeing the Shackelton Cup (its a challus but i have no idea how to actually spell that...)

The days are long, the nights are bright.

2008-10-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

So I have been here at McMurdo Station for about two and a half days. It already feels like home, but in a weird, I barely know anyone or how to get to anything sort of way. It really doesn't make much sense, all I know is I adore Antarctica still. I look out a window here and instead of seeing house after house, cityscapes for miles, or warehouses there's vast fields of beautiful white snow, with gleaming blue and white mountains shining off into the distance. It's quite peaceful and calm, it makes me feel like I do after the first big snowfall of winter. Everything is quite and beautiful and everyone is still in awe of it. I mean, how can I not love place where there are multiple people with Antarctica tattoos?

My first day wasn't much. We hopped on a plane in Christchurch at around 2, and didn't leave until 3 or 4ish ( I think our group has been cursed with plane troubles). The plane was pretty fun, being on a military flight was crazy, and awesome. We got to get up whenever we wanted and go to the little windows situated on the doors to see how beautiful the clouds were, or catch a quick glance at an iceberg underneath. They even let us go up into the cockpit and look out the windows out there. It was a hard concept to reach when we realized that it would be night when we arrived, and yet we were still traveling in daylight. Its still a hard concept actually. We eventually arrived at the Pegasus Runway, put on all our cold weather gear, it was about -13 there when we arrived at 10p.m., and still quite bright. We hopped on the back of the shuttles and half an hour later, after a bumpy ride, reached the station. Once at the station, we got the introduction lectures, our room keys, I met my boss, and got my linens and luggage and was off to my room, hoping my roommates, whomever they were weren't asleep. It turned out both of my roommates so far came on our flight so that was no biggie, unpacked and tried to sleep.

Next day woke up at around 9:30, there was a walk around the town at 8 but I felt since I would maybe have to work the next day, sleep was more important, there's always tours going on. Got up, got dressed and headed down to the Galley. Met up with my group of D.A. friends and waited for it all to begin. We had a quick lecture/meet n greet sort of deal, then family lunch (we eat as a family before everyone else eats), and then off to tours upon tours of the kitchen. They gave us a few hour break at that point, since they needed some time to get everything figured out, there are a lot of us that all just arrived in the past few days. On the break Jeremy, John, and I went and played some pool, I'm terrible at it even in Antarctica.

Went back to work later on, more meetings then, they put us to work, even though none of us thought they were going to (we had been told it would just been meetings all day)...Needless to say we were all a bit nervous about the situation. Work went fine though, put some freshies on trays, stocked, made some ice tea, did laundry, normal stuff that wasn't too bad. Then we were off!

Party hardy in Antarcty! There was a party at one of the bars here last night, sort of like a welcome. I went down with Jeremy, his roommate, John, Kendra, her roommate, and Metro. Drank a few beers and mostly just danced my butt off. Jeremy and I were swing dancing for a while, which was a blast. It was great when we would get too hot, and would step outside your skin would literally be steaming because of the temperature difference. After a few hours of dancing, Jeremy and I decided we best get sleep, since he had to work at 7 and I badly needed a shower, stepped outside to daylight at 11:30. Crazy.

Showered. Went to sleep, and here I am, getting sort of ready for my first full day of work. 11-9 I think. wee.

2008-10-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

I have arrived. More on that later

Its a lovely city, its a lovely place

2008-10-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sadly my time here in Christchurch is winding down, quite fast may I add. It feels like I only got here yesterday...oh wait, I did (sad). I really do wish I could have stayed here longer and explored more, but the planes down to the Ice are going through, and we are set to head down this afternoon, like in an hour to be exact we head over to the airport. crazy. If the flight doesn't boomerang (which has been happening for the past week) I will be in Antarctica by tonight. Weird.
Well I like to think I've for the most part used my time here in Christchurch to its fully advantage. I could be outside walking around for a bit, but I felt the need to update this before anything, since, well who knows if I'll have the energy to talk about the past days adventures later on.
So after arriving at 1a.m. to my hotel, I woke up at 8 or so to get breakfast. Then after that Jessica and I decided to head out and see the town a bit. I needed to exchange money over (100 us = 150 nz!) After that we headed over to cathedral sqare, where we were welcomed with a giant purple sperm. Then we headed into the cathedral, since we figured if you come to cathedral square you at least have to go inside. It was real pretty.

After that we headed over to a used clothing store, Christchurch you sure have some crazy old clothes. From there we headed over to the Arts Center where we were welcomed with blinged out chrome disk-wheeled bikes! Yeah! Best part, they were free to take out and ride! Hell yes, and they came complete with a saftey vest and a chrome helmet. We were riding in style.
After that we had to head back to the hotel so we could get issued our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear. Spent a few hours trying ever piece of it on, and then went on our way to a resturant since we were starving.

Bulmer!! they had bulmers there! I haven't had bulmers since Ireland, and trust me, it was just as great. Okay, I ended up having like 5 Bulmers....but who's counting...and a shot of wiskey...but again..who's counting. It was a fun night though, a group of us ate and drank for a few hours at an English Pub, then headed over to an Irish pub closeby and ended up dancing our butts off to the live music for a while. I honestly was hurting afterwards we danced so long and hard. Then we stumbled back to the hotel, where I was dropped off, and fell almost right to sleep, while the rest went off into the night (i only saw one person at breakfast this morning and he came quite late ahah).

Now I'm up this morning, figured out my Boomarang bag, packed my stuff up and am just waiting around till our shuttles come and we head off down to the great cold continent.

Alright, well I'm off to get ready to leave for the plane! Next time you hear from me I'll be in ANTARCTICA!

It can't all be smooth sailing...

2008-10-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

In an oh too familiar turn of events, our plane got delayed. It was very reminiscent of the Three lost bears head to Ireland trip of May 08', but thankfully instead of it being three of us delayed on our travels it was 45 of us, which is much more re-assuring. We had already been at LAX for about four hours when we were told that our airplane was having issues. We were then moved to a different gate and told that it would be a while before the plane was fixed, as in another three or so hours. I easily passed the time with the new friends I have acquired along the trip, (they are all quite excellent!!) we hung out, watched movies on my computer (its been an airport lifesaver for Jeremy and I), and ate the snack packs that the airline provided us. Finally at around 1 a.m. we finally were able to embark on our trip. They packed everyone on buses and took us over to the airplane.

This by far was thee most comfortable plane ride I have ever had the pleasure of experincing. My seat was on the aisle, and not only that but we had a wall in front of us, which meant we had way more leg room than everyone, and we could stretch out and put our legs up on the wall to sleep. So nice. I watched a few movies/tv shows and drifted off to sleep at around 11 Sydney time, in preperation for the next day. I even managed to get around 7 hours of sleep. Yay!
Then we arrived in Sydney and had to hassel our way through customes, getting a day visa for the country, and were wisked away to our hotel rooms at a really nice hotel, mmm showers and free food. So good.

During the free lunch, Alicia (i think thats how you spell her name), and I decided to take an adventure. We had about 3 hours before we had to leave for the hotel, so she and I exchanged some money for aussi and headed out to see the Opera house. A pretty easy train ride later we arrived, we saw, we concqured, okay maybe not that, but we did see a guy playing a diggerido, which was tight. Then we got back on the train, only later realizeing it was the wrong one, and made a quick switch over and all was good, we had to run a bit but it was totally cool.

Got to the airport, forgot I had water, had to chug said water at security, and headed to wait for the plane. Jeremy and I decided to watch Knocked Up, resulting in some very awkward moments with others around us, got on the plane and headed to New Zealand! I had a window seat finaly so I got to say goodbye to Australia as we headed over the Ocean.
Got to Christchurch at around 1 a.m., got to my hotel and fell right asleep.

Denver I am in you.

2008-10-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

After getting up much earlier than I'd like to remember, the butterflies trying to fly the coop in my stomach and the cramped quarters stuck in an aeroplane, I arrived in beautiful Denver early yesterday afternoon. I made my way out to my shuttle, not knowing if I would be the only one, or if I would be meeting some of my fellow future Antarcticans.

Much to my joy I got to meet two of my future co-workers, another really nice guy, and my two favorite people at the moment Shuttle Joe and Shuttle Bob. Shuttle Joe & Bob had both been to Antarctica last year, so it was so facinating getting to talk to them about what to expect and what life might really be like down at the bottom of the world. Then, much to my dismay, I findout I'm the only one of this group staying at a different hotel, and it would end up turning out to be that there are only three other people out of like 30-40 that were at orientation today at my hotel. Its kind of lonely, but I supose I should savor it, since soon I won't have a moment to myself.

(quite possibly the biggest sunflower ever seen)

Last night was so wonderful though, Joe that I went to school with and currently lives right outside of Denver, and his friend Jess came and swept me away from my lonely hotel and off to the heart of Downtown Denver. We wandered the streets, ate a burrito (it gave me a tummy ache though...probably the butterflies fault), and just talked and joked and laughed. It was so great seeing him, and meeting his friend. They are both quite wonderful.

(num num)

(giant croc anyone?)

Then, up earlier than I would like to think about yet again, ate a quick breakfast and off to Raytheon for orientation and flu shots. Everyone, and I mean everyone is so nice. I think that was the most surprising thing, I mean, I'm used to people being friendly, but I already feel a bond with some of these people which feels fantastic. I met 7 of my other co-workers in the kitchen and I adore almost all of them already. I even already challenged the cute bearded boy to a thumbwar on our way to Sydney.

Well its now time to relax, hydrate, and settle in for a quite night, then, up early again (ugh) and after orientation off to LAX then SYD then off to CHC.

Oh man, interesting news on the Christchurch front. Apparently the weather has been bad at McMurdo, so much so that they are 7 days behind in getting people to and from the ice, which means we may get some extra time in New Zealand once we arrive. Fun!

a little break from the cold weather talk...

2008-10-01T19:12:00.001-07:00

and something to warm you up...

Now I know you and your momma are gonna be stoked about this, because well, I know myself and my momma are! This wonderful design, and concept was thought of by the lovely Katy, and will showcase some of the prettiest ladies in the cycling industry.

Its a really nice investment as well, since not only will you be seeing pretty ladies, but half of the proceeds will go to World Bicycle Relief and the other half will go back to Team Pegasus.
So get stoked everyone, cos I am! Once I find out about ordering, I'll post again. Till then some teasers....

and

The top one is by the lovely minx, and the bottom is by yours truly (just so ya know these aren't the final ones in the calendar....you're gonna have to wait and see!)

The Thing

2008-09-30T22:20:00.001-07:00

I watched the great 80's movie, The Thing, tonight in preparation for my trip. I figure I need to be skilled in the art of zombies and aliens well before I leave, since once I'm there, if something happens, well...it won't be pretty.

What I learned from this movie.

1. Kurt Russel. He will be at the station, and he will be a badass. Be friends with him, and don't leave his side, since then neither of you can be aliens therefore he won't try to kill you.

2. Flame throwers. A girls best friend perhaps.

3. If in doubt try to heat up someones blood. If they are an Alien it will try to run away. Use aforementioned flame thrower on person.

4. Random dog running around, dude in helicopter shooting at it? Don't let the dog inside. duh.

All in all I feel a bit more prepared in case of an alien attack. I figure with zombies I will play it by ear. You never know how a zombie attack will turn. But yeah, aliens? Come and get me ET.

flights in the sky

2008-09-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

I received my flight information today. 30+ hours of flying. Yay....... on American Airlines...oh yippie. Ever since my flight back from Ireland, no music, no nothing to keep me occupied I told myself I would never fly on them. Oh well, Its not like I'm paying for this flight I suppose, best not get picky.

MKE-ORD-DEN-
two days in denver for orientation then

-LAX-SYD-CHC-
Night in Christchurch, off onto a military flight to

ANTARCTICA

I leave Saturday!

2008-09-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

Just got word I'm in 'merica till the 10th.
But, I'm still going.
Good news!

Antarctica, we shall be together soon.

I've done all I can

2008-09-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well its now up to the medical department, and hopefully it will go over better this time.
I was able to get both things I was missing, I probably called both the medical department there and my doctors about 5 times each today, checking in every few hours to see if things had been sent/arrived.
They have, and they are sending everything out today and I should hear back tomorrow on whether or not I am PQ'd.
I highly doubt that I will be able to leave on sunday anymore, but hopefully (oh man do I hope) I should still be able to go. I mean, technically me leaving on sunday would mean I was leaving a week or so early, so maybe I just won't be going early?? Ugh lets hope....
Till tomorrow I suppose.

just a little fact.

2008-09-23T19:05:00.001-07:00

Let it be known that I feel as though everyone should have one major celebrity crush. I have contemplated long and hard about my number one. This is a big decision, one not to be taken lightly, and after much consideration I have concluded that mine is none other than Michael Cera.

Yes. Okay, well I just needed to post that, now back to adventures?

Start of the Journey

2008-09-23T18:16:00.000-07:00

...they are never really that easy are they? Problems always will arise.

Well my adventure has yet to start, and already there are stomach aches (I'm sure there will be more once flying is included in the mix) and scared thoughts.

Currently the aches and pains are caused by the fact that my adventure might not even be happening anymore. It all comes down to the fact that the medical department apparently forgot about me. I'm really not positive how that happens but it seems to in this case.

Let me elaborate. I had a deadline to get all of my medical paperwork in by September 2nd. I thought at that time I had accomplished this goal. The Thursday before the deadline I got an e-mail telling me that I was missing three things from the packet, and couldn't be PQ'd to travel until everything was in. Two things were asked of me to be submitted and I was told the third, blood work would be ordered to be added to the tests already to be done on the blood samples I submitted. I submitted what I was told to, my doctors office gave me a form from 05, on a test that is done each year, telling me that was the only report they had of it, and were only able to give me a piece of paper saying I had had the test done this year and it was negative. The other form was just information so that was fine. I called the woman that had told me I was missing these forms, and told her the 05/form situation, she didn't answer of course, left a message telling her what was going on and if there were any problems to call me or e-mail me. I never heard back from her.

Fastforward to today. I get a call telling me, even though I was supposed to leave on sunday, I can't go untill I'm PQ'd. What??? I call, I apparently needed to go get the blood work done myself, since It wasn't able to be put in on the labs previously, and that form just wouldn't work. Thank you for letting me know, you know three weeks ago.

So here I am now. Worried, nervous, scared. I got the blood drawn today, labs should have been faxed in the minute they were done this afternoon, and apparently the most recent report was there in my file and was faxed in as well. I'm calling first thing in the morning and crossing every part of my body that will cross. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to go anymore.

In better news, I went to Milwaukee yesterday as my official, official goodbye. It was wonderful. I held thee most adorable baby, visited the wonderful people of miad, and most importantly saw some of the best friends I have ever had. Danced my ass off with Sarah Jane, Hillary, and Josh along with Cody and Matt, and many many others at the Ratatat show. I literally was dancing from around 7 to 11:30, hell we made a dance beat out of the fire alarms going off and danced our way out of Turner Hall. I had dripping sweat-soaked hugs and kisses, with people I never want to let go of. Drove home with a red moon to my right, leading my way back to Manitowoc, me screaming lyrics to my current favorite songs at the top of my lungs.

All in all an amazing night. My feet are killing me today, I keep losing my voice from singing so much. This is the night I will think back on when (yes when I need to give myself a confidence boost) I am alone and lonely missing everyone down in Antarctica.

So as my first official post in my first official blog, hello, welcome, and hope you brought a sweater to the computer with you, soon its going to be getting mighty chilly in here.

Antarctica here we come!