Just another day in the life of a polar freak.

01/28/08
I know that none of you read my stupid little e-mail and just skipped to the bottom to the link to see the pictures. I would do the same if I were sitting at my desk pissed off that I was not out doing something eye opening so I don't hold it against you. Hate the player not the game a bastards.

Anyway, just an update from my life as I know it here in the Ice. Yes, I am still here and have not been blown away never to be found, and no, for all of you that expect me to find some girl here and fall in love, it is not going to happen so be original and don't ask.

The last two days have been a little more chill then the first few. The life here is more laid back then in America, at least more so then all us idiots in the North East that work to hard. An-My and I have had a chance to see how people here live and I can assure you that they live well. Granted we are only tourists here for the summer and have no idea of what it is like in the winter when it is flipping cold and the sun never shines, I will comment on what I see and just pretend it is all that exists, The American Way! Like watching CNN or MSNBC.

Housing is clean, open and respectful. People are happy to be here and it shows in every way imaginable, from the bathrooms to the hallways to the common rooms, the galleys, peoples faces, everything. This is truly the only place I have ever been that it is so contiguous, everyone is happy to be here. This is not to say that they all like their jobs, but the fact that they are here and doing something that is productive to their and everyone else's well being leads me to believe that these are some of the most comfortable people on this earth. I don't know how else to explain it and I hope you all can imagine it.

In the world that I grew up in and know there is global access to everything. We know nothing about where things come from, who did what, how they did it, if they cared about how good a job they did doing it, and wether or not we (the end user) enjoyed the product. This is a place where you can see it and feel it and maybe be a part of it. From the guy that makes the food (We all can understand these people as we have them everywhere), but what about the guys that maintain the Generators that give you your lights, the girls that plow the roads, the guys that make the water, the girls that get us around in the taxis, the people that clean the dirty dishes. These are the people you are sitting next to when you eat, sleep next to when your reading your book pretending it is dark outside.

You get what I am throwing out there?

We all should understand this at some point before we die and I feel lucky to have been give this chance.

Enough from my shallow heart, on with the day to day. Woke up to the day with the weather report of sunny and warm on my mind. Dress and walk out to Snowing and blowing, welcome to the Bloody Arctic. We say in Rhodey, "You don't like the weather? Wait ten minutes." Here, you don't like the weather? That is good, because it is going to change and we are not going to bother trying to track it, the second we think we know what it is going to do, it changes.

We ate breaky and went to trying to get all the stuff setup for the next few days of shooting (Planning, what a bore). I will be getting drivers training so that we can get in a truck and find the best locations to see what An-My needs. Do you think they have the ability to look at my drivering record from down here? Shit I hope not!

Ran on the treadmill in the gym that looks like a Maine Doublewide with addon windows. An-My did Yoga in the chapel with half the base (Popular among the folk here, go figure).

Tomorrow will be running around local style for a few vantages she wants. Then we are meant to goto WAIS on Wed, then the South Pole on Friday or Monday. In the middle of all that I will give you the best I can but I am sure these locations will only dwarf what I can get in the meantime.

I hope all is well wherever this digital waste of storage finds ya'll. Hope you enjoy.. Till then. //db

Perfect right? How about the clown boots? They are an unreal kinda warm mate and standard issue, so don't assume I chose blue ok buddy?

This thing reminds me of the red head kid in a Christmas story that gets his ass kicked. Come on, you know the one. Don't act to cool.

WORD! Am I the only Idiot that owens this same type of van that has no real use for it's abilities? This is the primary rig used here. This one is a taxi. How about that bad larry in yellow downtown NYC with some dude that smells like curry blasting his horn on the Bowery? I'm in.

This was the driver, She comes from Montana and got this job at a job fair. They got 700 Resumes last season to come to McMurdo, 500 of which came in the first week after the Raytheon Job Ffair in Denver. They had 22 positions for drivers, she was one of the lucky ones. I would get in trouble if I had her job but it would be hellagoodtime!

Welcome to Scott Base, The Kiwi Base just over the hill from McMurdo. They do a pole dip every few weeks, I am dying to jump in. Fingers crossed. 28 Degree water. They tie a rope around you incase you freak and they have to pull you out.

Leave it to the fucking Kiwi's to paint their Arctic base the color of a fucking Kiwi. Cute. No, Really, fucking cute.

Rush hour traffic. Man, NPR is really pissing me off this morning. That bastard in the black BMW just cut me off! Assholes in there BMW's. Shit, I'm gonna be late.

Welcome to Williams Airfield (AKA Willie's). This is where the US Airforce supports the USAP. Real Nice fellows that run this spot. They are from Upstate NY. Yes, they are landing on Ice with Ski's on LC130's.

I don't know. A big box painted in checkers surround by scaffolding sounds pretty interesting to me. I see it 40"x30" on a wall in a white frame. To bad I was not at about 14 feet when I took it.

Do I have to explain what this is? The window would be an moon with a star if it weren't so flipping could. Pee Flag!

The Gym. It also seconds as a block warming station for all the trucks. That is what all the yellow things are. It is so cold here they block warm all the rigs and most of them are gas.

This is one of the three bars, The Southern Exposure. This one is a smoker's bar, note the discoloration on the side under the vent. How can you people do that shit to youtself?

The pink and white Hospital. Sweet! Rumors abound that they have drugs that are not allowed in the states. To bad I am not a junkie. Advil scares me.

These pods are placed in hiking trails. The weather changes so much that you could go out and have it be sunny, an hour later your ass could be in a 50MPH+ wind storm. Good chance your frozen balls/boobs will be wishing for one of these nearby and if you are lucky enough to find one you may spend a week in the sucker. Looks like a European Kids toy to me. German. German or Gay?

They prey a lot here. Wouldn't you? I'm a quaker by birth, so I just sit in the gally and speak my mind. Got a problem with that? Wanna fight? Wait....

A Norwegian Icebreaker under contract to support the USAP. Pretty slick really, it has water under pressure blasting out of the bow to stop the ice from freezing on it. Goes through ice like my Dad hits the butter with his knife bound for the bread. You getting the hit Pops? Lay off the Butter for the benny of that gut!

Word Son! You Cop my shit I will have my lawyers all over your ass cause they be Copyright Dan Benson son. Bring it.