Work/Not Work

*I write these posts offline and then add them to the site, so if some information is redundant, oops*

What’s goin’ on? How’s everyone’s life going? Mine is going fairly well, all things considered. I’ve been living the life down here at McMurdo Station for about two solid weeks now and time is beginning to pick up speed. I cannot believe that tomorrow is already going to be Thursday. Now that the new has worn off allow me to give you a breakdown on how life is shaping up for me. It pretty much boils down to two categories: when I’m working and when I’m not working.

Work:

My job title is General Assistant on the Heat Trace Project. General Assistants are the hardest working, most versatile and most unskilled laborers on station. In other words, we do the grunt work. Cool huh? Well…that all depends on how you look at it. Since I’m down here for the adventure (not the money) and since this is just a phase in my life I guess it’s pretty cool. As a GA I get the glorious opportunity to do a wide range of basic labor tasks; so far I’ve shoveled snow, used an acetylene torch to burn off rusty bolts, demo sections of the heat trace pipeline, help survey the line, and move around a bunch of crap. One cool aspect of my position is I get to help the plumbers and electricians on the heat trace line so it’s been highly educational. I now know a plethora of dirty jokes, hillbilly phrases (Ex: “It’s like a dollar waiting on a dime here” ??), and some technical information as well.

What is heat trace, you ask? Well, in extremely cold environments it isn’t feasible to run below ground sewer and water lines because they will freeze. In lieu of this, those crafty engineers the world over invented a system of above ground piping that is insulated and heated via electric wire called heat trace. From the inside out, the pipe makeup is something like this: Water line, electrical wire, about 5” of insulation and an aluminum outer shell. As long as this system is working properly a facility will be supplied with running water with minimal maintenance. When it fails, shit, you got some major problems.

In an effort to stay ahead of the game we are going through every one of these lines and fixing any problems that we find. We have two major goals with this fix: first is to update all the wiring on station and second is to replace the bad pipes we find. As buildings have been added to the post so has heat trace. We have three circuits in operation: 120v, 208v, and 277 volt. For the luddites out there, this is a messed up pain in the ass setup. When all is said and done we will have run all new 277 volt wiring. Also, some of this line is decades old and some pipes have succumb to heavy corrosion, so we will replace the bad sections of piping and go about our merry way. Our mission over the summer season is to fix the first three phases (which are the most crucial/messed up) of this 10 phase project. Oh, and on station there is about 6 miles of this pipeline.

Here’s the kicker. This project was a late addition to the season. Some economic stimulus package money came our way and the organization had to scramble this up to spend those funds. None of our materials are here. We do not have the wiring. We do not have our pipes. We don’t even have our tools. We’ve had to beg and borrow from other shops for the most basic of tools to survey the lines and our materials are something like a month out. We do have one commodity in abundance and that is people for the job. We’ve got 6 GA’s, a bunch of electricians and plumbers and other various project positions and everyone seems competent and cool. So, despite the setbacks, I think we still have the opportunity to finish our sections on time. And I’m here too, so you know we’re goin’ to turn and burn on this puppy.

When all is said and done on this project, we will have added reliability to the heat trace line, improved energy savings, and given everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling inside on a job well done.

That, right there, is what I dedicate 54+ hours of my week to. (I say 54+ because I’ve been having dreams about this damn project. That should count as working, right?)

Not Work:

Station life is good. We’ve got a lot going for us here. The TV has 5 channels and regularly shows football games and movies. We have a respectable library. We have a gym full of weights, one full of treadmills, one for basketball, and a mini rock climbing wall. We have yoga class. We have other workout classes. We have a church. We have a convenience store that sells booze and Cheez-its. There are three bars here: Gallagher’s, Southern Exposure, and The Coffee House. The latter makes a mean Latte with Bushmill’s Irish whiskey that I am often sipping on when I write these posts. There are also hiking trails and cross country skiing.

One of the coolest activities is the science lectures the various grantees put on. I’ve seen a neat one on SCINI, a super cool underwater remotely operated vehicle. There was also a cool one on logistics of the South Pole traverse that the station uses to deliver fuel and other essential goods to the Pole via land. The coolest one yet has to the Frozen Planet lecture put on by the BBC. I’m sure you all have seen the Planet Earth documentary series, right? You know, the finest nature show EVER. (You better see it if you haven’t or I won’t talk to you anymore) Well, the BBC is down here, right now, filming Frozen Planet! This will be a seven part series on the polar regions of the world due out in 2011. I’ve seen some snippets of footage and it looks damn good.

These science lectures are phenomenal. They remind me that I am currently a part of something big: some of the world’s most premier scientific research. I may be a simple labor boy, but without me and the other 1,000 people running support down here all those programs would be dead in the water. That right there makes an appeal to my sense of grandeur and I know that 20 years from now, no matter how awesome or miserable this experience turns out to be, I’ll look back upon it with pride. I did THIS.

Let’s wrap it up on a high note, shall well? I know this post got windy but its chalk full of good stuff. Best of luck to all of you in the coming weeks; I’ll keep you posted.

That “I’ll keep you posted” was kind of catchy. Perhaps that should be my tagline?? Hahaha. See ya.