Mail!

So Yesterday was an amazing day down here at the South Pole. Why? We'll Wednesday was a really good mail day. First, I got something I ordered a while ago from the firestore.com. Took about a month or so. Then I got a lovely letter from Ms. Jenn Scully, hilarious! And as if my day couldn't get any better I got a package from my old Capt. Shields, your package was awesome. (The photo is a Wu-Tang DVD, possibly the Southern most Wu-Tang DVD in the world? Maybe)

What is great about getting mail down here, especially unexpected mail, is that it is just like Christmas, your birthday and every other holiday wrapped up into one. I'm sure I've talked about this last year, but I think that it is important enough to re-iterate. Mr. Matthew Shields got all of the old returnee's from his days at the AFD (last season really) a whole bunch of gifts. It was fun to pass them all out. He hooked us up with some stuff that we don't usually see down here. It is really amazing how mail has such an impact on the community. Since the South Pole is really small, compared to McMurdo, often other community members will help organize and sort mail into the hallways of the station. One usually has to walk around the halls and look at the boxes to find out where their mail is, if they have any. But because the station is so small; often other people will deliver the mail. This impromptu post person scenario is really fun to witness. to My buddy Corey, who is also on the fire department, brought my package up to my locker while I was off inspecting a couple buildings.

Yesterday I also had the oppertunity to go on a guided tour/safety inspection of the Ice Cube project down here. The Ice Cube Project, is an international scientific project that really is well funded and staffed. The Ice Cube people are about 100 strong and range from German Scientists to American Drillers. The project, which I will get more information about and re-post if I am incorrect, is to find neutrinos'. To find them, they drill a whole, about 1.5 miles deep, and place a string of these round detectors.

The South Pole is the best place to find these neutrinos' due to its isolation and its surface. Anyway, I'll talk about this project more since, it is a major event down here. They are also trying to find dark matter and dark energy (oooo electric boogaloo). In order to drill these holes, they heat water up and shoot it out of a hose and drill bit. It is really cool to look down these holes.



After the tour I did a couple more flight stand by's. I found a great way to pass the time in the ARFF rig is to read. Usually it takes about an hour to and hour and a half for a plane to land, dump fuel, and take off...and since we have to be there for a while, its good to stimulate the mind. I've been reading both a Shackleton book and when I get sick of that I read short continuing education articles for my EMT. For those who need to re-certify this year, I HIGHLY recommend "Mediced.com". I can print out articles, read them and when the internet goes back up I can take a test and get certified for taking them. I've been burning through a lot, at this rate by next week I should be all set for my MA EMT and half of my National EMT requirements (about a year early for MA, whooooo!)

So that is about it. I'll be doing a Thanksgiving themed post this weekend. Saturday is out Thanksgiving Party down here. So take care, Happy Thanksgiving and have an extra slice of Pie for me!