My Room

Only a quick posting today, because I have exactly twenty minutes before I go back and train on Ivan the Terra Bus. You actually have to step under the beast and into the engine to check fluids! 67,000 pounds of red steel. Zoiks!

Here is my cozy little room. I hope, I hope that Scott will be the inhabitant of the upper bunk when he comes on Monday.

“Shuttle Jen, Shuttle Ops”
“Shuttle Jen, Go ahead”
“I need you to catch the Delta and offload passengers onto vans. Fog is moving in and the plane has to take off”
“Copy that”
How to describe this new life I have stepped into…I don’t even know what to focus on in this blog because virtually every single aspect of my life has changed in one week, except for the fact that I brush my teeth in the morning and before I go to bed.

This week is super intense training for ten hours a day, six days straight. I am learning to check and fill glycol, oil, steering fluid, and hydraulic fluid on some very old navy vehicles, along with various “light vehicles” that have been modified for Antarctica. I am learning to drive very large vehicles (Navy Deltas) in small spaces and on glacial ice and snow. I am learning the extremely complicated job of dispatching, where everyone on the station can hear what you are saying, while you are trying to coordinate vehicle movement in and around the station. I am driving people all over the place and seeing restricted areas that most people can’t go near, like T-station, where very important satellites are tracked, or Arrival Heights, where I think they have a SETI thing going on listening for other life or something. I am learning runway protocols and how to manage passengers. And on and on….

I think I’m going to love the job once I feel proficient and competent. Right now, I am sweatin’ it big time, even while I freeze my butt off every day.

It’s so dry here that I put chapstick on my nose and chin, and I haven't even had time to wash my hair in three days. I just never take my hat off, like the rest of the folks around here. I live in my black insulated carharts. We all pretty much look the same with the red parkas and black coveralls. There are hundreds of Big Reds hanging up in halls at meal times and I can never find mine!

Hooray, Scott is now officially on his way!!! Wow, but his journey will be long.

I have lots more pictures, just no time to upload. Stay tuned...