in the interest of keeping up foreign relations...

one of my job duties is to make sure that a set of twelve flags is flown every weekend off the chalet deck. the countries represented by these flags are the twelve original signatories to the antarctic treaty:

argentina
australia
belgium
chile
france
japan
new zealand
norway
russia
south africa
united kingdom
usa

the flags are usually flown over the weekend, so that folks can take advantage for photo ops, and taken down on monday morning so as to save them as much as possible from fraying in the whippy antarctic wind.

on some summer days, taking the flags down or putting them up is a pleasure. I get to be outside in the fresh air, with the whup-whup-whup of helicopter rotors coming from the helo pad below and planes coming and going off the ice runway. and then there are days like today, when mcmurdo is fading in and out of condition I, the winds have us at -15F and I can barely see crary lab next door. after a couple of minutes, I can't feel my fingers, and I can only take two or three flags down at a time before I have to come in and defrost my face.

here's a screen shot of the latest flight schedule, with multiple weather-related delays:

we have a bunch of polies stuck in mcmurdo waiting to head to the south pole. these poor people are chomping at the bit to get down there and start their turnover with the outgoing winter folks. but we're at the mercy of momma nature for the time being.

I can't believe it's the last week of october. this saturday is the big halloween bash in the gym. I'm gathering the last bits of my halloween costume, begging, borrowing and stealing from friends to complete the look. this time next week I'll have photos of the halloween debacle.

off to lunch, which today is pizza -- happiness!