Soooo, I don’t know what I did to offend my neck but for some reason it is really screwed up right now. I woke up yesterday, after sleeping for a much needed 11 hours, and it was a little stiff but not bad. However as the day progressed it became more and more tight. I had some issues with it about two weeks ago where it was sore and tight between my shoulder blades but some ibuprofen and an icy hot patch cleared it up. No such results this time, the patch that I had on yesterday might as well have not been there for all the good it did, and the relief the ibuprofen brought was short lived. I had a co-worker of mine who is trained in massage work on it for a little while last night after I got off work and that seemed to help for a bit, but it seemed that a couple of hours later after the ibuprofen wore off that it was just as bad if not worse. I don’t know it I just slept on it funny or what. I can’t think of anything else that I could have done to screw it up so badly. It’s pretty bad though, I was only able to sleep for about four hours last night because I could not get comfortable and every time I would turn over or move the pain from my neck would wake me up. I think I am going to go see the doc this morning and see if he can give me a stronger muscle relaxer or something because I can’t work like this. The latter half of my day at work yesterday was pretty hard and I don’t want to have to go through that again. If you all would be praying for my neck that would be awesome and I would really appreciate it. Hopefully it is not anything serious and will be better soon.
On a happier note, Thanksgiving was great. Even though I had to work that day we had so much extra help in the kitchen that the day just flew by. Mostly everyone takes part in making the day happen, from cutting veggies and potatoes two days before to helping make pies the night before to carving the turkeys and getting the dining room set up the day off, there are lots of volunteers that made the day happen with minimal stress to everyone. Our dining room will not accommodate everyone on station so we have three dinners spaced out an hour and a half apart starting with a half hour appetizer time out in the hallway. It was amazing to see the transformation that the dining room went though in the course of about two hours. Cardboard was put up in all the windows to block out the light and make it feel like it was dark outside, there were linens and candles on the tables and pretty Christmas lights strung all the way across the ceiling. It was beautiful. Carol and I sat down for the last seating, for about a half hour, before going back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up. We were out of there by eight thirty though so that was really nice. After the last dinner was over, the table got pushed back, music was turned on and everyone just hung out enjoying their night off. I was pretty tired though and did not stay up too late, I wandered out to my room at about eleven thirty and was in bed by midnight. All in all it was a very good thanksgiving.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Long time no update
Wow, it’s been a while since I have posted an update. Time has been just flying by, I wake up Monday ready to start my week and the next thing I know its Saturday and the week it over. Sooooo, what’s been going on… well a couple weeks ago we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first women at the pole; they had all the available women go out to the pole and take a commemorative picture. That was a pretty cool thing to be a part of. Hmm, what else… Carol is back and up and running so that is good.
Oh, here is an interesting new perspective I have gained. We went about three or four weeks that I was here before getting fresh produce in. It has been coming more regularly now but, about once a week or so, but that first big shipment of freshies that came was the best. I will never forget the feeling of walking into the cooler and just standing in awe of all the produce. I never thought the prospect of being able to use fresh carrots in a dish would be so exciting. There was peppers, red onions, zucchini and oh man, are those green beans?! It was a pretty astounding feeling. We are getting stuff in more regularly now but it is still a treat every time to use that fresh produce.
Today is actually Thanksgiving although you would not know it around here. For us it is just a normal Thursday. We will celebrate our thanksgiving on Saturday because that way it allows most of the station to have a two day weekend. The majority of the station has Sundays off and celebrating on Saturday gives them two days off in a row. Sunday is my regular day off as well but all the kitchen people work on the holidays, of course, because everyone needs to eat and we make really nice meals for the special days. We will get our extra day off next weekend when all the managers for the station will come in and cook. The menu for their day is a no brainer, grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and pizza for dinner. It will be really nice to have the extra day off though and they have fun coming in and cooking for everyone.
The weather around here has been pretty mild the last few weeks, it has stayed right around the -30’s which does not feel too bad. I have not been using my big red the last week, I switched to a couple layers and a down vest which seems to be sufficient as long as I am not outside for too long. It is plenty warm enough for the walk to the station. Hey if you all would like to find out more info about the station, find out some information about the science that is going on, or see the daily weather report you can go to http://www.southpole.usap.gov/ this is the site that comes up when I get on the internet. It’s pretty interesting to check out.
Let’s see…what else have I been doing…Carol and I volunteer in our store once a week. We have a midnight shift from 12:30 to 1:30 on thurs nights, so that is pretty fun. We just hang out and chat with people who come in. Check out movies and sometimes sell a few things. It’s a fun way to get to know more people in the station.
On Sunday afternoons I have been teaching a swing dancing class and that has been really fun. The turnout has not been huge, about five to eight people come every week, but we have been having a good time and there are a few other people who are getting interested and I think will come this week.
Well, I think that is all for now, I have to work in just over an hour and need to go get some breakfast cause my tummy is a rumblin’. TTFN
Oh, here is an interesting new perspective I have gained. We went about three or four weeks that I was here before getting fresh produce in. It has been coming more regularly now but, about once a week or so, but that first big shipment of freshies that came was the best. I will never forget the feeling of walking into the cooler and just standing in awe of all the produce. I never thought the prospect of being able to use fresh carrots in a dish would be so exciting. There was peppers, red onions, zucchini and oh man, are those green beans?! It was a pretty astounding feeling. We are getting stuff in more regularly now but it is still a treat every time to use that fresh produce.
Today is actually Thanksgiving although you would not know it around here. For us it is just a normal Thursday. We will celebrate our thanksgiving on Saturday because that way it allows most of the station to have a two day weekend. The majority of the station has Sundays off and celebrating on Saturday gives them two days off in a row. Sunday is my regular day off as well but all the kitchen people work on the holidays, of course, because everyone needs to eat and we make really nice meals for the special days. We will get our extra day off next weekend when all the managers for the station will come in and cook. The menu for their day is a no brainer, grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch and pizza for dinner. It will be really nice to have the extra day off though and they have fun coming in and cooking for everyone.
The weather around here has been pretty mild the last few weeks, it has stayed right around the -30’s which does not feel too bad. I have not been using my big red the last week, I switched to a couple layers and a down vest which seems to be sufficient as long as I am not outside for too long. It is plenty warm enough for the walk to the station. Hey if you all would like to find out more info about the station, find out some information about the science that is going on, or see the daily weather report you can go to http://www.southpole.usap.gov/ this is the site that comes up when I get on the internet. It’s pretty interesting to check out.
Let’s see…what else have I been doing…Carol and I volunteer in our store once a week. We have a midnight shift from 12:30 to 1:30 on thurs nights, so that is pretty fun. We just hang out and chat with people who come in. Check out movies and sometimes sell a few things. It’s a fun way to get to know more people in the station.
On Sunday afternoons I have been teaching a swing dancing class and that has been really fun. The turnout has not been huge, about five to eight people come every week, but we have been having a good time and there are a few other people who are getting interested and I think will come this week.
Well, I think that is all for now, I have to work in just over an hour and need to go get some breakfast cause my tummy is a rumblin’. TTFN
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Update of the last week
Thanks to everyone for the prayers for Carol. She went to McMurdo last Monday where they checked her out. I guess that when she got there they looked at her leg and then were like “why are you here?” So that was good, I think the doc here was just a bit paranoid, this is his first season here so he freaked out a bit. Anyway since she was already there they decided to have her stay for the week so they could keep an eye on it and make sure it was not going to do anything strange. Well the week is up and she should be on the plane that is on its way here right now. I think it will be here in about an hour or so. The only bad part is that she has been back at sea level for a week and that is enough time to un-acclimate her from our altitude so she will have to start the process all over again. Oh well, at least they didn’t send her home. If you all would be praying that she would acclimatize quickly that would be great.
So this last week I did something pretty fun that is a bit of a south pole tradition. First I went to a circuit training class that one of the winterovers had been holding during the winter, he is one of the last ones here, the last of them will be leaving sometime next week. So anyway, after the class each week they go into the sauna to chill out and let their muscles relax. I had not been into our sauna yet so I decided that it sounded good. Well what we do down here is sit in the sauna for a bit, at about 190 degrees, or at least that’s what it was at when we started, and then after about a half hour when we are all pretty warm we run out onto one of the deck outside! I think the temp that night was somewhere around -45 or so. I thought that it was going to be awful and ridiculously freezing but surprisingly it felt really good. It was funny because the longer you stood out there the more the sweat that you had developed in the sauna would freeze on you. It was really hilarious looking because it was almost like we were all going gray from all the frost on our hair and you would ‘grow’ really long white eyelashes too. During the winter they have something called the 300 club, which not everyone who winters will get to be a part of, it only happens on the years when it gets to be -100 outside. So, they heat the sauna up to 200, sit in it for a while and then go outside. Ta dah, the difference of 300 degrees! No 300 club for us but we still had fun anyway, and it felt so amazing to go back in the sauna after being outside too. A fun pastime for us polies, I will have to grab my camera next time so I can get a picture of my “aged” self.
Last night was the first night of Midrats, the midnight rations meal, so that means I start my new schedule today. I had been working 10 am to 8pm, a shift which I liked pretty well but today I switch over to my summer schedule which will be noon to 10pm. That will be a pretty good schedule for me because it will allow me to get some stuff done in the morning before I go to work. I think that I will like it pretty well. Its nice to wake up in the morning and have hours until I have to be at work, or so sleep a while longer if I want to.
Anyway, I think that’s all for now.
So this last week I did something pretty fun that is a bit of a south pole tradition. First I went to a circuit training class that one of the winterovers had been holding during the winter, he is one of the last ones here, the last of them will be leaving sometime next week. So anyway, after the class each week they go into the sauna to chill out and let their muscles relax. I had not been into our sauna yet so I decided that it sounded good. Well what we do down here is sit in the sauna for a bit, at about 190 degrees, or at least that’s what it was at when we started, and then after about a half hour when we are all pretty warm we run out onto one of the deck outside! I think the temp that night was somewhere around -45 or so. I thought that it was going to be awful and ridiculously freezing but surprisingly it felt really good. It was funny because the longer you stood out there the more the sweat that you had developed in the sauna would freeze on you. It was really hilarious looking because it was almost like we were all going gray from all the frost on our hair and you would ‘grow’ really long white eyelashes too. During the winter they have something called the 300 club, which not everyone who winters will get to be a part of, it only happens on the years when it gets to be -100 outside. So, they heat the sauna up to 200, sit in it for a while and then go outside. Ta dah, the difference of 300 degrees! No 300 club for us but we still had fun anyway, and it felt so amazing to go back in the sauna after being outside too. A fun pastime for us polies, I will have to grab my camera next time so I can get a picture of my “aged” self.
Last night was the first night of Midrats, the midnight rations meal, so that means I start my new schedule today. I had been working 10 am to 8pm, a shift which I liked pretty well but today I switch over to my summer schedule which will be noon to 10pm. That will be a pretty good schedule for me because it will allow me to get some stuff done in the morning before I go to work. I think that I will like it pretty well. Its nice to wake up in the morning and have hours until I have to be at work, or so sleep a while longer if I want to.
Anyway, I think that’s all for now.
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