Ice!

Here's all the news that's fit to print from a USAP computer. Life in Antarctica, with (some) pictures. And it was fun fun, fun until her Daddy took the T-bird away

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Work, work, work

Well, the population keeps going up, but the number of bakers has remained the same. This has lead to many 12 hour days, just getting it all done. With any luck this week one of the other new bakers will arrive, and the last one will show up next week, in theory. While the extra hands will be welcome, it does mean that I will likely be moveing to the midrats (that's short from Midnight Rations-a Navy holdover) shift to make bread-until Christmas, when I'll shift back to days.
Yes, it's a real bite-but it does make sense in terms of the staff on hand. I just wish it would not be phrased as a compliment quite so often, that I'm to be trusted to be getting this done, and doing it well, all without constant supervision....And it might even be nice to be in the galley when the noise level has come down some.
We have over 900 people here at the moment and most of them want to eat brunch at the same time. So from 10AM to 1PM it's a zoo on Sundays. And the sheer volume that they can consume is staggering. Folks like to take stuff as a snack, or for later (all of the rooms in the dorms come with a fridge-it's better than having folks pile stuff on the window ledges, where maurauding skuas can have a snack.) One day someone walked off with an entire 2kg tub of honey-all they had to do was ask and we would have given them a containerful, but taking it was easier, I guess. I also guess it was easier to steal the couch from the 203B (that's what I call home)dorm lounge and put it in someones' room than to improvise something else to sit on. And this has happened to just about every sofa on the station-they've been dissapeared. I emailed the station manager, asking what was to be done about this, but have received no reply. *sigh* Guess it's low on his list of priorities.
I have now recieved 3 volumes of Neal Stephensons' Baroque Cycle-I'm not sure I'll be able to get through all 3,500 pages without destroying several synapses-I like the guys' writing, but this is a LOT of it.
As you can see the brain has been baked to a delicate crisp-tonight I'm watchin 2 odd SF movies-Dark Star by John Carpenter and Le Dernier Combat by Luc Bresson, and then I'll become a pumpkin for as long as possible before getting back to work......
B

Sunday, October 08, 2006

the wheels on the bus

Or rather the tracks on the van. Here's a link to a bunch of ways to get around town. Yes, it's a new place, but Yahoo ugraded its photo service so well tha I can no longer manage to upload new photos to it and have had to change over to photobucket. We'll see how this works out.
Most of the new population has arrived. It feels somewhat like an invasion-many of these folks have been down before and will squeal and giggle when they see old friends if female, or bellow and bang each other around, if male. I have a new roommate, after having a week alone. Alas, I was unable to bribe the housing office to assing me an imaginary roommate, although I offered various enticements-extra cookies on cookie day, favorite desserts, fresh bread to take home, etc. Should have brought out the naked dancing boys.....
We did get one of the new bakers in, which is great as Christy will be leaving us tomorrow. She has begun wandering around with the silly grin-for weeks she's been acting like leaving was the furthest thing from her mind. Another baker and an extern from Johnson and Wales-the "other" big culinary school (I'm a CIA grad myself) are due in later this week-we hope. With the increase in numbers we could really use them!
The weight-lifting contiunes. I have once again increased my free weights, and am up in number of reps as well. Have managed to shed almost 10 pounds already, without worry about what I eat. But-I rarely eat dessert, and my daily chocolate intake is rationed because stocks of recreational chocolate (as opposed to the stuff we bake with) are quite limited. I try to avoid buying chips-the salty snacks are my downfall.
The days are almost continuous now- just a brief period of dim twilight in a lucious violet shade, then it starts to brighten up again. I won't be seeing any actual stars for months now. It is strange to walk out of a dark bar into the glare, but soon it will feel normal. Let's all try out the link to the new photos now....
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m266/bheydemann/MacTown%20moves/
B

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

how to tell

For those of you who hang out with those of us who keep our noses in books-
The Reader’s Scale of Affection
If a Reader has just met you, he will ask what you’re reading.
If a Reader wants to continue the conversation, she will recommend a book or author.
If a Reader likes you, he will give you a book.
If a Reader really likes you she will give you a poem.
If a Reader is seriously interested he will write you a poem.

Mail!

So the first flight of mainbody came in today. I had mail! SIX pacages! Yee Haa! Goody, goody, goody. I am chortling away here, it's so much fun. There are hundreds of new people around. Well, at least one hundred. And one of them is another baker. That makes us very happy. At family meal Nick was still quite discombobulated bythe trip down, so we'll be gebtle on him tomorrow-we only need to make 500 pita breads, as they couldn't find them in the freezer after all...at least Mark, the chef, had the sense to tell us a full day BEFORE he needed them. That's a rare event in big kitchens.
And the obverse of new folks comming to town is that the old folks are leaving. The last few of the people who wintered-over are leaving this week and several of them are galley crew. While I'll miss them all I have a special soft spot for Johnny Siegal, the (now ex)-PM Sous chef. A great cook and a real mensch- I'm glad I'll be here when he gets back in January to winter-over again. I'm hoping I can manage to winter-over myself, but it's all up in the air at the moment. Think cold dark thoughts for me, ok?
About Johhny-I told him I was writing a novel and he asked to be in it-with his own name and recognizably himself. I gave him the opening 8 pages but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I do wonder if he'll still be as eager when he sees just what part I have planned for him.....he's always ready to talk about food, or pottery or books, or teach a pool guppy how to get better. He's already missed in the galley, and he's been gone for ONE meal. *sigh* Cute, too-been around enough to get some history, a nice solid bulk of a man, great smile-kind of crinkly. I think I have a picture with him in it somewhere.
And to those great people who have sent books-THANK YOU!! They got here and I had a blast ripping the packages open. I'll be sharing them around as some friends have asked to read them.
It starts getting busy around here now-bythe end of the week we'll have twice as many people here as we did yesterday. But the Season is gearing up and the science is going to be happening-and I love talking to the beakers.
Yet again, I promise pictures SOON.