Welcome USNS Paul Buck

One of the five tanker ships our government owns pulled into McMurdo today. It's another gorgeous day so people were already in a good mood, but the ship is today's talk of the town. The Swedish-flagged icebreaker Oden led the way.




The tanker holds about 8 million gallons of fuel, but I guess they still need this sign:

Wildlife

Took a walk in the gorgeous clear day and thought I'd share some of the scenery:

This is Mt Discovery, named by the early explorers.

This is the picure I took of Hut Point and the water that has melted near it. A moment earlier, I'd seen a whale breach and spout. Someone else who had a better view (and had their camera out BEFORE the whale breached) took this picture:

This is as close as I've gotten to a seal (he's the blob in the middle).

Except when they let me fly, this is as close as I'll get to Mt Discovery.

My colleague

One of the joys of this position is the great, close relationship I've had with the New Zealand Catholic Priest who I've worked with since I arrived. He's leaving tomorrow and finally, today, got to particiate in a very meaningful ceremony nearby. New Zealand has had a long and close relationship with Antarctica, primarily because it's a great port to leave from for exploration down here. Thirty years ago last November, a tourist plane that came down here (they would fly out and around the continent so sightseers could snap pictures). The plane got off course and crashed into Mt Erebus, the tallest mountain here and the southernmost active volcano on the planet. Phillip got to make the trip today by helicopter to dedicate the site and a TVNZ crew happened to be there for the event. Here's the link to their story (which I haven't seen since our internet connection doesn't support streaming video well).

Greetings from the South Pole

Looking for work?

I learned today that Raytheon, who holds the contract with NSF to run most of the work down here, is starting to hire for next year. If you are looking for work and want your expenses paid to Antarctica, go to www.rayjobs.com/rpsc

This thought just scampered through my brain when I was replying to someone's email:

I'm settling in and really enjoying this, discovering that I like doing the chaplain thing a bit more than the pastor thing because I've got more opportunities to talk with more people about faith. Odd, huh? I think it has a lot to do with expectations: If I say "I'm a pastor" to someone, that seems to carry with it an expectation that I'm promoting myself or my particular institution or my faith ("Come to my church"). If I say "I'm the chaplain" that leaves the door open for most any kind of discussion about their spirituality and their faith ("Who is God to you?").