photos of the week

[12/29(Sa) Liquid helium]
This afternoon, Kevin wanted to see the liquid helium fill, so he came along and I had him help me a little. I first weigh the liquid helium container. Then connect the transfer tube to the container. Martin came by. Then climb up to connect the other end of the tube to the telescope.
I then start the fill, monitoring the pressurization. He was very fascinated by the liquified air dripping down the vent tube, so I had him collect it in a cup to show him how it's bluish because it's mostly liquid oxygen which liquifies before nitrogen => At the end of the fill, he was also fascinated by the helium vapor coming out of the tube =>
5-7PM I felt lousy eating lots of mixed nuts, so I decided to go shoveling around the other building to save it because soon some higher-ups are supposed to visit to decide if that building will continue to be useful. My team members at Caltech are planning a new telescope in this building, so I shoveled for the future of cosmology, and for my own exercise. You can see in the photo that previously the building was starting to get burried by the snow, preventing air from flowing underneath as designed. It was really fun to shovel like nothing else matters; if people had seen me they would've probably thought I must've gone crazy. After 2 hours of fun hard shoveling under the building, I managed to start opening up the airway under the building. It was very refreshing, so I'll keep working on this more.
7:30PM I barely made it to dinner, and there was no more meatless pizzas, but I wasn't too hungry anyways. I sat with Kevin and Mike, and Kevin brought his computer to show us photos from this afternoon's liquid helium fun. He also showed me many of his other photos, including his home that he built in Colorado. His computer took my xD memory card, so was going to give him some photos that I took this afternoon, but he and Mike ended up looking at my old photos that were still in my memory card. The site manager Katie came to look at my photos, too. Then Kevin's computer ran out of battery, but they wanted to see more photos, especially from Japan. I guess they didn't have much else to do and just wanted a relaxing evening. So I brought my computer and they discovered a lot about my childhood, family, and friends. I know personal pictures mean much less to other people, I felt somewhat uneasy trying to make sure I don't show too many boring pictures, but especially Kevin was very curious. Also, after shoveling and stuff I was in desperate need of shower, so I hope they weren't too uncomfortable with the b.o. ... :]
[12/30(Su) party]
8AM Woke up and found the telescope control system shut down again; I thought I had added enough entries in the ephemeris for another day, but turns out that it uses information 1.5 days head for interpolation, and no one had responded to my email the last time about updating the ephemeris for another year. I felt it was very stupid way to lose telescope time, but I guess it's not such a big deal especially because the weather was not great anyways.
9AM Yesterday at the Science Meeting, the National Science Foundation Science Representative Vladimir asked us to write him a short summary of our project progresses, so I sent him a report, addressing him in Russian since he's from Russia. He saw me at brunch and we talked in Russian thoughout most of the meal. It's been a very long time since I spoke in Russian, so I couldn't speak or understand too well, but I think the Russian CD exercises a few weeks ago helped me a little. He told me that the cryo Chris also speaks Russian, which was a surprise since Chris had never mentioned it. It was nice to have this connection with Vladimir since we hadn't talked very much before. When I first met him 2 years ago, I wanted to speak in Russian with him, but wasn't confident enough, especially because he's a relatively elderly man in the management position although he turned out to be a friendly person. I didn't expect Russian to become useful on the other side of the world from Russia; hope it comes in handy even outside of Earth some day.
At brunch, Kara came by and told me that she's getting sent away on Tuesday for a silly medical reason even though she's just fine. It was very sudden and shocking. She was originally scheduled to stay and work until mid-February; I asked her what she's gonna do for the next month and a half... she didn't know. She's one of the nicest people here, so it's disappointing. She asked me if I can take over the middle section of the green house -- I would like to, but my schedule will be tighter in January and February.
12:30 Webster told me she's going on an Ice Tunnel tour led by a utility technician Craig, so I decided to join since I've been in the tunnel only on my own 2 years ago. Turned out that I explored much more than this tour when I went on my own, but it was still fun. Craig told me the tunnel is ~15 meters deep, which is still in the snow layer about ~40 meters deep before it becomes ice, and the rodwell for getting water is over ~100 meters deep (not sure if I remember all these numbers right because he told me in feet and it might have gotten mixed up). I figured there's no wind in the tunnel so hadn't brought my neck gaiter, but it was about -50°C in the tunnel which is cold enough even without windchill -- I didn't feel super cold, but later I found my nose area dark again with frost nip and the skin came off a few days later... I learned that it's not just the wind that freezes you.
I skied to the telescope and resumed observations. Skied back just in time for dinner again. The New Year's Eve party was starting at 9pm, but there was still a science lecture at 8pm about aeronomy. After the lecture, John (the Grinch) was doing an intriguing trick with a toothpick and a lighter, and I had to experiment myself to figure it out. The party was supposedly starting, but it was fun hanging out with Kevin, Katie, and Mike in the galley. We heard the band is playing, so decided to head to the party in the gym.
10PM I didn't have any special clothes, so just wore the T-shirt from this year's Race Around the World. The setup was just like last year's, and the "Bluegrass" band was playing folky songs and only a few swing dancers were dancing. Nathan looked very sharp and he was also a very good dancer. The band's music was more like a nice music to listen to rather than to listen to. Katie seemed pumped up and couldn't keep herself still, but the music wasn't getting other people dancing. I talked to the DJ Shaun and learned about how the DJ instrument works. The following bands were more upbeat and people started dancing. The cryo Chris caught me and started talking to me in Russian, saying that Vladimir told him I speak. He said he spent ~2 years in Kazakhstan for Peace Corp. We talked for a pretty long time in Russian. There was a count down at midnight, but what really happened was it just became 12/31 (in New Zealand time).... January 1st (Tuesday) is a work day, so the party was a day early... I've spent the past 3 New Years here at the South Pole and somehow i seem to have less and less feelings about the New Year -- it even felt silly to hear/say "happy new year". Not sure if it's because of being here, or maybe i'm just getting old :) Dancing in the gym was not as cozy as in the galley for Christmas, but it became more fun when Brad and Joaquin started acting silly.
Brad was talking about a game called "homo chicken" which he seems to be good at, and started hugging me. I like Carla's expression -- not sure if she's just smiling or a little scared. (Let's not discuss Brad's expression.)
You can see more photos of the party. There was no music appropriate for break dancing and the people started disappearing earlier than I anticipated, so I left around 2am.
[12/31(Mo) ultimate frisbee, birthdays, climbing wall]
10AM I woke up and was surprised that the telescope had finished observations and it was already time to recycle the refrigerator. Since I'm often at the lab by 6am, I didn't realize how late 10am was. Went to brunch and was surprised how many people were already up after the party -- realized later that they were mostly night shift people still up.
4PM After telescope work, I went to play ultimate frisbee. This time I used the "no fog cloth" that came with the Sun goggles and it worked! We played 4-on-5. For some reason i got much less exhausted than last week, and it was very fun again.
6PM Cynthia reminded me during last week's teleconference that today is Katie's birthday. It's also Webster's birthday. I joined Katie and Kevin for dinner. I was surprised that Katie turned only 30, not because of her looks, but because of her leadership. Last year she was leading the Trauma Teams as a 28/29 year old, and this year she's the site manager for the winter! Ethan, who leads one of the fire fighting teams is also 29. But my age is really not at all young. I remember when my parents were my current age; they definitely appeared nothing younger than full-grown adults. I wonder if I can really lead a bunch of people, especially including people who are older.
7:30PM During the Wine & Cheese party last week, Carla, Chris, Michele, cryo Chris, and I decided to try the climbing wall tonight, and I was the sober one to remember and remind everyone about this. So we went to this climbing wall that Webster and others put together about a month ago. I was even going to help them build it and have been wanting to check it out, but hadn't had a chance. The room was pretty small and unheated -- the first time I tried it the fake rocks sucked heat out of my fingers. It was the first time climbing for Carla and me with real climbing shoes and some introduction from Chris. After our first tries, our forearms felt like it might be a while before we can try again. We took turns. It was very fun, also to watch others hang and strive. I was taking pictures of them, and Chris offered to take pictures for my final try. I imagined hanging off a cliff for life as I swang from one wall to the other wall. This was the most serious face i've seem myself make.
[1/1(Tu) Sore neck/back ]:
3:30AM Woke up, found a phone in the Arts & Crafts room and called my grandparents and parents in Japan and also talked to my uncle and sister. Other than talking with my family, this New Year's Day didn't feel any special. I joked to my sister that I'll go and eat some cereal, as opposed to the special New Year's meal we have in Japan. Actually, I never eat cereal here, usually a bowl of canned fruits with yogurt and a muffin for breakfast. After a morning at the lab, my back and neck had suddenly become sore and it was very painful to turn the neck -- not sure why, maybe I had a bad posture or something...
I saw Kara on the way to lunch and wished her good bye. On the way to the lab, I shoveled some more and watched Kara's aircraft take off with an interesting contrail over us =>
5:30PM I went to pilates in hopes that some of the exercise might be good for my back/neck soreness. The relocation of the Pole marker was happening at 6:30pm, and I was planning to go, but exercise felt more important, so stayed in pilates. I also went to play volleyball because i like it so much. Played it easy today. Carla, Chris, Michele, and I got together in the galley to cool off afterwards, and Michele brought a can of duck pate which was a gift from France. Toward the end we talked about the industry of manufacturing animals. I avoid talking about it when people are enjoying their meat, although it may be the most effective time to think about such an issue. I didn't say much; they were generally sympathetic about the animals. Carla commented "you didn't dive as much as usual today" -- i mentioned my neck pain and Michele checked it out and kindly gave me the most painful little massage; she kept asking me what my pain tolerance was. I must have been making an awful face in front of the people. I'm not convinced that something that inflicts that much pain can be good for you, but it did feel nice... 4 people on the station, including Michele, offers massages, but it's $40/hour.
10PM As people back in California must have been celebrating the New Year, i sent off a weekly report and went to sleep.
[1/2(We) yoga]
6PM Went to Michele's yoga class and was able to do head stands pretty well. Afterwards we all had dinner together. Michele mentioned possibly stopping by Berkeley / San Francisco in March, so she took my contact information in case we can meet up. When i first saw her in her yoga class, I thought she might be a little scary because of the intensity of the class, but she turns out to be a pretty cool person.
8PM There was a special lecture about the traverse expedition that arrived from McMurdo a few days ago. It seemed like a pretty amazing adventure, but also possibly a little dull because of how monotonous this continent is... I was sleepy after the lecture so went to bed.
[1/3(Th) Winter over?]
Today, 14 Congressional members came for a short day-visit. When skiing back to the lab after lunch, a van taking the Congressional visitors passed me and I caught up with them at the lab. Nils was introducing them to the cosmology research here, pretty well in simple terms and analogies. He also mentioned our telescope and introduced me. I took them up to the telescope and gave them a brief overview.
I received an email from the site manager Katie asking me if I wanted to winter over here with her this year as a science technician! I was pretty surprised. It was nice of her to ask me, and i considered it for a few seconds, but I'm afraid I should finish up this PhD first. I tried to think if any of my friends might be interested, but couldn't think of anyone, at least not for this year. I offered to announce it to mailing lists of space exploration enthusiasts since I imagined there would be many adventurous types who would want to do this before heading out to space.
4PM Nils and Helmuth were about to leave on the plane, so skied over in a hurry to catch them for a good bye before they board the plane. The Congressional visitors were leaving on the same plane, and I met Representatives from Missouri and South Carolina. The South Carolina guy said "I was watching you ski over and it was absolutely beautiful... I wished I could ski like that", as if he was describing a flight of a swan or something. It was funny because I don't even know proper skate skiing and i was struggling to get there. I guess i was distant enough and also he must have been influenced by the altitude :) Anyways, he seemed like a nice guy and told me that the Science & Technology Committee, which this delegation belongs, gets to make ~2 trips a year like this. He's also in the Foreign Affairs Committee and gets to go on ~4 trips a year to various places around the world.
The plant I saved 2 weeks ago from a trash can (which then shiveled down shortly afterward) is actually still alive in my room and new leaves are coming out looking healthy! :) This makes me very happy. =>
7PM After pilates and dinner, I took Joaquin to the green house and showed him how we take off the vine-like grabber thing from cucumber plants. He went to town with it and started removing all of them from all the cucumber plants.
7:30PM Sean, who is only here for 3 weeks, is running a weekly meditation session, so I went to check it out. We sat in half lotus (with one foot on top of the other leg), but I'm still not used to this position so the discomfort and pain made it difficult to medidate. The physician assistant Leslie who also came to the session said as she got older she can't work a full day without meditation a few times during the day. I decided I want to try a little harder to explore meditation. That night I tried to meditate in bed and at least fell asleep unlike lately I've had difficulty falling asleep even when i try meditating (Trying to meditate often makes me sleepy, which is not what I want, but I sometimes do this to try going to sleep).
[1/4(Fr) Hydroponics]
6AM Finally woke up, feeling more tired than usual. John emailed me saying he's back at Caltech from travels and just tried calling me at the lab. I couldn't think of much to update him on and was feeling tired so just replied in writing. In retrospect, I should've called him back, even just to say hi.
12:00 After returning from recycling the telescope refrigerator at the lab, took a shower before lunch and went to my room to find out that the control computer had crashed again, apparently right after I left the lab! :( This is a bad timing also because the recycling of the refrigerator must follow a particular sequence controled by that computer. I was hungry and tired and didn't feel most motivated about skiing back again in a hurry especially right after a rarely allowed shower. I called the lab building, but there was nobody there to reboot the computer for me. I went to the galley to grab one quick bite to go, and skied to the lab as fast as I could. It felt like it only took couple minutes to get there. I rebooted the computer and tried to manually finish off the recycling procedure, although I wasn't sure what it was doing while the computer was down. It was less than 1 hour away from when i had to start observing, but the refrigerator had not cooled down yet. I called John on the Iridium phone, but he wasn't in any more (but left a message to say hi). I also tried Darren at Caltech, JPL, and his mobile, but no answer. The kitchen was almost closing, and I was too starving to miss today's especially nice looking menu, so I just hoped it'll cool down even if a little later than usual, and skied back for lunch. I brought lunch in my room and checked the telecope on the computer, but it was still not cold. I called Cynthia's mobile but we weren't sure what to do except wait and hope it cools down. It was about time to start the observing program, and i had the choice of either going ahead or restarting the 4-hour refrigeration process; i went ahead and fortunately the telescope cooled down to the normal operating temperature after about an hour. This was probably more detail than any reader wanted to know, but it was the biggest potential problem with the telescope we've had this past month...
2:30PM It was already past 2pm and I have bathroom cleaning at 4pm, so decided to stay in the station. Today Karen who takes care of the green house at McMuurdo came, so I went to learn about hydroponics from her.
She was working on the cucumbers when I dropped in, so she showed me how to remove the side growths so that the main fruit can develop most efficiently. We hadn't done this all this time, so we had to remove a lot! Felt a little bad, but not too bad since it made sense. We had to remove a lot of baby fruits, but actually eating them on the spot made us feel better. I must have eaten at least ~30 baby cucumbers right off the plant, anywhere in size from a few to several cm each. They were very nice and fresh, but i was also getting full :) There were also many full-grown cucumbers, so we harvested them -- ~5 kg! Karen was super nice, taking the time to show me sections of a hydroponics book to explain things.
Karen also showed me how to remove the "suckers" (similar extra growths that sucks nutrients away from the main plant) off of tomato plants. Here I removed a sucker. She also told me to shake the flowers to polinate them because the green house doesn't have as much as wind as in nature. I learned that zucchinis also need to be polinated, by taking the male flowers and rubbing its pollen into the female flowers at the tip of the fruit. In nature, insects do this, but maybe this is why the zucchinis failed when Nacchan and I tried growing them in Berkeley...
6PM Webster held a knot class that I really liked last year, so went again. It was more basic than last year's, but we learned a few useful knots.
7PM A science carpenter Laura was showing a 59 Seconds Video Festival, a 1-hour collection of 59 59-second videos. I liked 20 of them.

[1/5(Sa) Kiwon & Evan arrives!]