My social calendar is full

It's Sunday, and for most people it's a day off. I tend to work Sunday as well because my time down here is so limited, but I'm definitely having a lazy day today.

Last night the documentary "Antarctica: A Year on Ice" was shown in the gym. Popcorn was available for free, but everyone had to bring their own seat. It's a fun movie centered around life at McMurdo, with some really beautiful shots of snowscapes, Aurora Australis, and other subjects, and a lot of nice detail about living and working in Antarctica.

I got almost 7 hours of sleep which counts as a luxurious night's rest at the South Pole, then puttered around (procrastinated, really) to avoid working out until I noticed that it was 11:30 and brunch ended at 12:30. So I rushed in and logged 35 minutes on the elliptical then hit the galley for a fresh-made omelet and a couple of cinnamon rolls.

After lunch, it was shower time again, my second since I arrived on the 21st. By the time I was done, it was almost 2:15 so I hustled out to the traverse camp where they were giving tours until 3PM. I'll post pictures of that tour soon when I have more satellite time.

One exciting bit of news. The traverse guys have a drill they use to figure out deep crevasses are and also to plant explosives. On Monday and Tuesday they'll be planting explosives around the old station to try and cave in some of the more treacherous areas. On Tuesday at noon they'll set off all the explosives. Woo-hoo, South Pole fireworks!

For today's pictures we have one of the flights landing on the ice runway. Note that these planes have skis instead of wheels:

Here are some passengers waiting to leave the South Pole. Note the luxurious departure lounge where passengers relax in comfort while the incoming cargo is pulled off the plane and the outgoing cargo is loaded onto the plane.

Actually the black building to the left of that group of people really is a departure lounge, but it's not much more than a box where you can hide from the wind.