Weekly Roundup

Well, there's been a couple things that weren't important enough to warrant a separate blog entry but are still worth mentioning:

MSNBC: As John would say, "The press is coming. The press is coming. The press is here." Some reporters and camera crews arrived a couple days ago to do some coverage of ANDRILL and the other going ons down here. Of the crews down, Miguel Llanos of MSNBC seems to have made the biggest splash around base. On the day that he arrived, he posted a story to the MSNBC website (read from the beginning forwards) complaining about various things having to do with his trip down and his arrival here. This didn't sit too well with the base, so he's been getting a lot of flak from people around here. My favorite is the response at BigDeadPlace:

[In regards to his complaint about no movie on the C-17 flight down here]
"C-17s are military aircraft. They sometimes go into combat zones packed with soldiers ready to kill the bad people. They're not going to show videos."

[In regards to his complaint about the ECW gear we're issued]
"When it's -100F and you're spending much of the day outside, the parka and boots are your friend. You're like a diver bitching that he has to wear an oxygen tank."

Those two were my favorite, but all of them are pretty good, especially the story about another intrepid explorer that had a bad trip down here. The other camera crews have taken to wearing signs that say "We're not MSNBC". :)

Scott Base Skirt Party: Tonight was the infamous Scott Base Skirt Party, where everyone puts on a skirt and...has a party, I guess. I wasn't able to attend since I had to work tonight but I did catch a glimpse of a few people who were loudly roaming the halls while I was trying to sleep. A few people stopped by the lab afterwards, and judging from their conditions, a good time was had by all.

Since we missed out on yet another social event, the night shift organized a trip to Scott Base for brunch. So hopefully by the time we get there tomorrow, they'll have cleaned up the place and someone will be in a good enough condition to cook us some food. I have faith in the Kiwis--they're a hardly bunch, so they tend to recover quickly.

Interviews: I answered a few questions for ISU about being down here, so there's an article up at the ISU news service. The picture of me in my snow trench looks like I'm wearing those footy pajamas that you wore as a kid. :) I also answered a few questions for ComputerWorld, so I hope that pans out into an article as well.

Josh's Greeting Service: It has recently come to my attention that a few of the spouses of ANDRILL folks have been following the blog. Since it's hard to be away from your family for such an extended period of time, especially during the holidays, I'm starting up Josh's Greeting Service. Here's how it works: at your request, I can catch your spouse at the morning meeting (or some other suitably embarassing time) and give them a hug and your greeting in front of everyone so he or she (and everyone else) knows that you're thinking of them. And if a hug doesn't work, or you want something more discreet, I'm open to suggestions. Just note, I can't hold a note or carry a tune, so singing is out. And I've got some pretty scraggly facial hair, so they likely wouldn't want a kiss from me :)

Other than that, I just wanted to wish everyone back at school good luck on their finals.