I'm running on 3.5 hours of sleep. a nap is in order very shortly.

this week has been anything but uneventful. two nights ago, a DC-3 aircraft carrying ten souls departed a remote field camp called mt. patterson. due to some mechanical difficulties, the pilot decided to turn around shortly after takeoff and try to land. the landing damaged the plane, rendering it unfly-able, but amazingly, none of the passengers suffered any serious injuries.

my boss and the NSF representative were summoned by pager shortly thereafter, around 9:30 pm, to a 'war room' of sorts called the EOC - the emergency operations center. the EOC is set up lightning-quick in a conference room normally used for interminable supervisors' meetings and teleconferences, with a bank of telephone lines, radios, key personnel, and a whiteboard. it becomes the command center for dealing with whatever emergency is at hand -- a late check-in by a party traveling off the established roads, an injured hiker, or something like this.

christina, my co-worker, takes the meeting minutes for an EOC callout. the command team determined that she was needed starting at 2:30 am. she got up, reported to the EOC, and started taking notes.

by the time I got to work yesterday morning, david and terry had been up all night and christina had been working since 2:30 am.

the passengers were eventually pulled out yesterday afternoon using two smaller Twin Otter aircraft, brought to mcmurdo, and evaluated for emotional, mental and physical soundness. some were sent north on the C-17 this morning, and one reportedly has an injured ankle, but word is that all fared amazingly well for having just crash-landed in an aircraft that is over sixty years old.

that was yesterday. last night, delaney and I reported to Hut 10, a small building used to house distinguished visitors and that is available to 'rent' per night the rest of the season by anyone with a $50 deposit. Hut 10 is a popular spot to host parties or dinners or sleepovers, especially on weekends, because it contains a stereo system, a large-screen TV, three bedrooms, and -- most importantly -- a functioning kitchen. because all our meals at mcmurdo are prepared by the galley staff and cooking in dorm rooms is forbidden, many people rent Hut 10 simply to prepare meals, bake cookies, or host parties -- in short, to feel somewhat human again -- which is a nice escape from the ordinary in a town that resembles a cross between a mining camp on the moon and a beer-scented college campus.

delaney's roommate matt is the sous chef for the long duration balloon (LDB) complex, a field camp about thirty minutes from mcmurdo that exists to help a large and disparate group of scientists launch huge plastic balloons into the atmosphere to collect weather and atmospheric data. matt has thursdays off, so as a christmas present to me and delaney, he offered to cook us a real meal at Hut 10 last night.

we showed up at 6:00 pm to tantalizing smells wafting out of the kitchen, an open bottle of pinot on the dining table, and james taylor and moby on the sound system. we knew matt had spent the day preparing a lavish five-course meal, but we had no idea what was on the menu -- except for the fact that it would not contain mushrooms (per my request).

check this out.

first course: a buttery, perfect avocado half sprinkled with gray sea salt from matt's own stash, cracked black pepper, and minced parsley and adorned with a lemon wedge. I've never tasted anything so amazing. (keep in mind that we go for days, sometimes weeks, without freshies -- even during the summer season -- and the winter-overs can go for months. matt had appropriated these freshies through his galley connections, and I only felt guilty for a second -- then I was too busy eating.)

soup course: cream of cauliflower soup drizzled with white truffle oil (also from matt's personal larder) and handmade croutons. we tore into this before we could get a proper photo, but trust me, it was real pretty until we demolished it.

pasta course: fresh angel hair pasta made from semolina flour matt had brought down himself, and hand-cranked through a pasta machine he had sent ahead of him. served over roasted eggplant and asparagus and topped with a shaving of creamy emmenthaler. heavenly.

entree: pan-seared sea scallops over melted leeks, pan-fried potato cakes, and steamed green beans, and finished with a yellow pepper coulis. almost -- but not quite -- too pretty to eat. the scallops, despite being the only frozen ingredient in the entire dish, were tender and sweet and melted in the mouth.

dessert: homemade orange-zest shortbread in an apple, pear, and blueberry compote. at this point I was too full to breathe or think, but somehow found room to put most of the dessert away.

went to bed at around 11:00 pm. got up with my alarm at 2:30 am to check the ETA for the C-17 that had launched at 2100 from christchurch. yup, according to the flight info scroll, it had landed at 0237. I got dressed and headed down to the chalet, expecting to host an arrival brief at about 0330 and go back to bed. unfortunately, I wasn't counting on ivan the terrabus getting stuck in the snow halfway back to mcmurdo, containing the 45 or so pax that were headed to the chalet. two smaller vehicles had to be dispatched to rescue the pax while fleet ops labored mightily to dislodge ivan. at 5:15, the last of the pax straggled through the door and we started the arrival brief.

I finished up at 6:00 am, had breakfast, changed into my ECW gear for my santa flight, and came back to work, only to find that my santa-and-elf helo flight has been cancelled for the day due to weather. it's not terribly stormy out, just breezy and overcast and threatening to snow. we'll see if it's on for tomorrow. right now, I'm headed back to bed.