2008: The fastest year ever!

Wow, that was quick. This time last year we were hanging out in Austria after moving off our sailboat, Maia. We knew I would be starting work at Syngenta in early January and we knew we’d be living with Emily until we got it all figured out, but that was about all we knew. I thought we’d probably stay in Greensboro or maybe get jobs at the coast and move back onto the boat. I had no inkling Reinhart would find the job of his dreams in Antarctica, we’d sell our precious Maia, and we’d move out to Colorado. It was so fast; I'm not sure we realized it was all happening. I don’t even try to imagine what 2009 has in store for us; I just hope in includes a dream job for me, and a lot of time together for us!




There are no updates on Mindy’s side of the globe, just lots of holiday fun with friends and family. I’m getting a little homesick for our stuff and our place in Colorado. I’m already starting to make plans for when we are both home together again, about a month from now. Reinhart was pleased with the Christmas Eve dinner at South Pole, lobster and beef wellington; both were absolutely delicious. They had a planned party in the cafeteria after dinner and a spontaneous party in another building afterwards…there were probably some sleepy-heads at the annual Christmas Day Race around the World the next morning.

He has thoroughly been enjoying his work at Pole. He is working on various projects: the logistic facility, an exhaust heat exchanger for Generator 4, The Ice Cube lab, RF/SPTR 2 (the dish pictured in our picasa album), fuel storage, and rod well #3. In his free time he has been attending science lectures, watching movies, and rooting for his colleagues who have entered an ice sculpture competition and the race around the world. He has no time to be bored, although I am starting to detect a bit of homesickness in his voice. I’m sure even with all of the very serious work and not so serious holiday hoopla, it is a little sad to be away from your loved ones…he is certainly missed here. The opportunities, though, have far outweighed the sacrifices!

We wish you all a New Year filled with health, love, and pleasant surprises! Check out Reinhart’s pictures on our picasa page (link above at right); he’s just max-ed out the first folder and started a new one. Here is a link to an article in the USAP Antarctic Sun online newspaper for anyone who may be interested: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1666

December on opposite sides of the planet

First off: Happy Birthday Andreas!

I have been thrilled with the holiday whirlwind. The week after thanksgiving I complained about being bored but it’s been non-stop fun ever since. I’ve been doing my best to support the economy, I’ve spent a lot of time with old friends and even met some new ones. It doesn’t seem like I have any time left over for Mom and Dad! We did get to spend some time decorating; this is our Christmas tree this year. I haven’t been working while I am in NC, who has the time? It looks like I may have some work in January and I may even be taking some work home with me; I’m thrilled with that possibility. I’m keeping an open dialogue with Raytheon, but there is no news on that end. I am still an alternate for the Laboratory Operations Assistant Supervisor at Palmer Station for Mar-Oct.

Reinhart flew from South Pole to balmy McMurdo on December 3. He was happy to get back to McMurdo where they can comfortably spend time outside, go for hikes, and visit New Zealand’s Scott base to hang out with the Kiwis. The day after arriving back in McMurdo he took a helicopter ride out to Black Island to do some maintenance on their communications facility. They work about 10 hours a day, 6 days a week in McMurdo, they eat three yummy meals a day in the cafeteria, and they seem to be able to create a party around any excuse. All of that sunlight leaves many hours a day to do some nifty things. In his free time he has had the opportunity to drive the remote sub I saw on the Today show back in November (http://scini1.mlml.calstate.edu/) and he took at trip with some kiwis out to the new collaborative wind farm (http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=1527). He also saw the season’s first penguin show up into camp while out on a day hike.

He flew back to South Pole on Dec 20; that’s Dec 19 for us. He was thrilled to get back to the South Pole where he knows so many people, enjoys their after-hours entertainment, loves the hard work, and has a room all to himself. He’ll spend an entire month at South Pole and then plans to spend one more week at McMurdo before heading home. It appears he may make it home around Jan 30.

Reinhart has taken over 3000 pictures at this point and he has uploaded 177 of them to our picasa site (link above at right). Wait, it looks like he added several more since I started this post (a cookout at Pole!!??); he's up to 189 now!

DEN to GSO

Are you wondering how Mindy got from Denver to Greensboro…easy, I just followed this guy!

Not much has happened since the last update. I drove 1600 miles to come home for the holidays and Reinhart stayed put at the Pole. He put in 74 hours during his first week. All of that work and he still managed to work out, go bouldering, attend science lectures, watch extreme sport movies, take pictures, and party at the Naked Lady Shack. He also seems to have caught a cold. He managed to upload a few more pics to our picasa Antarctica page over his extremely slow internet connection (see link at right).

I had a great drive home over 3 days including a nice stop in Columbia, MO to visit Lisa, Tim, and their boys who just moved out there from Kernersville. I got home on Friday evening and visited with Nicol and Christy and then drove to Charlotte on Saturday with Mom and Dad to see Lori with a new singer, Kristin, perform at The Grape Wine Bar & Bistro. It was the first time I had seen Kristin perform with Lori and they were quite good together. It was great seeing my Charlotte family all together again and I’m looking forward to spending lots of time with them over the holidays. If you need a jazz group, check out http://www.lorispencermusic.com/ or how about a Santa http://www.santachuck.com/.

The South Pole

Greetings from 78 degree Denver. Reinhart has been gone 2 weeks and it feels like 2 months…oh boy, am I in trouble. He says it feels like a long time for him as well, but that is because he has experienced so many new things.

Reinhart flew from McMurdo to the South Pole station on Saturday 11/15. The flight was 1000 miles, a 3.5-4 hour flight on a cargo prop plane, the LC130. Reinhart was shocked by the temperature difference. He was hiking in just regular boots and jeans in balmy McMurdo at 10 to 20 °F; however, the South Pole, due to its location and altitude, is much colder at -35 to -40 °F (and that does not include the wicked wind chill). Did I mention it was 78 °F here in Denver today? Reinhart went from our mile high elevation in Denver to sea level at McMurdo to the relatively high altitude of South Pole. The Pole is at an altitude of 9500 feet, but due to lower pressures than other areas of the world, the pressure altitude varies between 11,000-14,000 feet. In addition, increased activity levels and cold may aggravate symptoms of altitude sickness. He didn’t end up having any problems and made sure he got a lot of rest and a lot of fluids those first couple of days.

He said the folks are much friendlier at Pole compared to McMurdo, but it also feels more remote due to the smaller size and the fact that they stay inside all the time. He is enjoying using the exercise facilities and their make-shift bouldering cave. Life at Pole is just a little more like living on a boat; water is scarce and they are limited to 2 brief showers a week. They have individual narrow ship-like rooms, so he feels cozy and at home. Not that he sees much of that room. They have a 5am meeting, 6 days a week, and they put in 10-12 hours of work a day. It has been nice for me since he has gotten there, because I get to call him every day at 4:15 am his time to help wake him up. It appears their work day is centered on the 11 hours the station has satellite communications, which is approximately 4am-3pm these days (10am-9pm Eastern). Luckily, he also their (extremely slow) internet service 24/7. He’s having a good time though and says the work is quite rewarding and his free time is a blast.

As for me, I’m enjoying my unseasonably warm weather and packing up for a little trip east. As usual, check for additional pictures on our picasa page (link at upper right); Reinhart uploads pictures as often as his (extremely slow) internet connection allows.

Happy Camper

Reinhart has uploaded Happy Camper pictures to our picasa page and I’ll probably throw some snowy Denver photos in the Denver folder as well (link at right)

Today is Friday 11/14 for me, and we got our first snow in Denver; we should end up with about 2”. Today is Saturday 11/15 for Reinhart, and he is flying from McMurdo to the South Pole. They have a brand new state of the art elevated station and he will be doing some electronic hocus-pocus there until he flies back to McMurdo on December 1. This has nothing to do with the South Pole having the best Thanksgiving celebration in Antarctica. The Pole webcam is up and running now; if you are interested check out http://www.usap.gov/videoClipsAndMaps/spwebcam.cfm.

Anyone who has to do any off-station work while in Antarctica is required to take a survival course called Snow School (aka Happy Camper). Reinhart has that ultra-cool sounding helicopter reconnaissance mission to Black Island coming up in December, so he was one of the folks taking the training. They learned all about hypothermia and orienting themselves on the ice. The training team was also required to set up and spend the night in various structures they would either have with them in case of emergency or could make. They had regular 4-season tents, teepee-like Scott tents, quinsies, and snow trenches. Reinhart slept in a Scott tent which also served as the galley, and it sounds as if he was their cook (or water heater upper). A quinsy is something like a simple igloo; they all piled up their sleeping bags, packed snow on top, let it set, removed the bags through a small hole, and dug below to create a wind-free entrance for folks to climb in and sleep “comfortably”. The snow trench is just what it sounds like; they dig a narrow trench and widen it out a bit inside and cover it with a tarp. They simulated white out conditions by working with buckets on their head and they got buzzed by a low flying helicopter. All in all, it was a great experience.

The New Zealand Station, Scott Base, had their “American Night” on Friday when they actually invite McMurdo folks over for beer rather than hurling snowballs at them to keep them away. Wednesday afternoon, Reinhart and Laura stood in a long line to take a field trip out to the Ice Caves. They didn’t get to go on the trip this week, but he hopes to get a chance to see them in December. I don’t mind if he doesn’t make it because then he can wait until next year when I’m there as well…I’m keeping a positive attitude! My PQ process is almost complete, I just have one more appointment next week, and then I’ll just have to wait a few weeks for the (positive) results. I’ve got an interesting Polar symposium to attend Friday night at Denver’s Museum of Nature and Science and then there is one more arts & crafts fair I have to hit before coming back to NC. The next time I update the blog it should include some pictures of both The Pole and NC!

Reinhart is finally on The Ice

Reinhart has put some of his pictures up on picasa, so please check them out (link on right)

We put Reinhart on his plane on Monday evening and he arrived in Christchurch on Wednesday afternoon; that International Date Line really gets you. He and his colleagues did a little sightseeing in Christchurch on Wednesday and Thursday.



They were outfitted with their cold weather gear on Thursday and had to be on a bus at 5am on Friday morning to head out to the airfield, repack their bags, and load cargo on the Air Force C-17. Then they were on their way to The Ice, arriving at the McMurdo station Friday afternoon.

Reinhart is sharing a room with a guy from Alaska. There is a communal bathroom on each floor of rooms, very much like older college dormitories. Also similar to college dorms is that there are nicer dorms than others; theirs is somewhere in the middle. He is hoping he’ll have this room for the whole time he is down there; however, since he will be visiting South Pole for weeks at a time, he may be switching rooms once he returns to McMurdo. They have their meals in a modern cafeteria, which also serves as a conference room and a theatre on movie nights. He is sharing an office with his colleagues, Laura and Rob, and there is a stop sign right outside of their window. He is a little disappointed with how non-remote it feels, but he is thrilled with the weather. The weather was so nice on Sunday (our Saturday) that he and another new arrival, Leah, went on a hike. He was able to wear just his jeans and ski jacket and boots; he didn’t have to wear the special jacket and boots supplied by Raytheon, or even long underwear!

This week he’ll have his helicopter training and an extreme survival training course (aka Happy Camper Training) which requires him to spend a night outside. He’ll fly to the South Pole Station on Saturday and stay there a couple of weeks; hopefully through Thanksgiving, since he has heard they put on a heck of a feast.

As for me, I’ve completed the paperwork for my alternate position with Raytheon. I had a phone screening for yet another job, a fantastic full time science position. I should find out this week if they’ll bring me in for a full interview, but I’m not getting my hopes up. It’s getting Christmas Craft Show season, and I attended some short cooking seminars in conjunction with one of those shows . I learned a little more about high altitude cooking and have a lot of great recipes; I can’ wait to do some cooking when Reinhart gets back in February. This week I’ll be finishing up my PQ (physical qualification) process for the alternate position, and then I’ll be free to start my drive back to NC whenever I feel like it…probably sometime between Nov 16 and Nov 22.
Remember to check out Reinhart’s pictures on the picasa page. Also consider checking out how Splendido is doing in the Caribbean 1500 this year (http://www.carib1500.com/); I’m watching them closely as I am a little envious I didn’t just hop on the boat again this year.

...and he's off!

Luggage Tags!? It must be official!

Reinhart and I made it back to Denver with a few days to pack, see the sights, and stick Reinhart on a plane to LAX-Sydney-Christchurch-McMurdo. The weather here in Denver is unseasonably warm, so we decided to head up to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park for a little hiking. It is absolutely beautiful and we can’t wait to do some camping up there in 2009. Reinhart couldn’t procrastinate anymore, so he started packing on Sunday…packing for 3 months on the moon isn’t nearly as complicated as I thought it would be, and now there are two fat bags standing in the hallway, ready for their 24 hours of transit to Christchurch, New Zealand. Reinhart leaves Monday at 6pm and will arrive in NZ on Wednesday afternoon (there is a 20 hour difference from Mountain Time). Weather permitting, he‘ll take a military flight to the McMurdo station on Friday. I’ll send an email out with his contact information once he settles in at the station. He’ll be posting his pictures on our picasa site (to the right) and I’ll be adding mine from the states, as well.

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park (see our picasa link to the right for more pics)

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but I have accepted an alternate position at Raytheon as a laboratory operations supervisor at the Palmer Station…this means if the primary person cannot make it, I may be deployed to the Palmer station for about 3 months in June 2009…yes, just like the runner-up to Miss America. It is a great job, but it would have Reinhart and I separated an even longer time. I don’t expect to be deployed for it; actually, I am hoping to hear something more concrete about a full-time position here in Centennial or a temp position at McMurdo for the ‘09-‘10 season. Filling out the paperwork for this one and starting my PQ process (physical qualification) will keep me pretty busy this week and next, along with my job as an Election Judge for Douglas County. I am very excited about working the polls on Tuesday, but a little bummed I won’t know what is going on since we aren’t allowed to watch TV, talk on the phone, or use any electronic devices until the last voter has cast his/her vote. I’m guessing I may get home around 10pm, so maybe we’ll already know the outcome already!! That should be about the same time Reinhart is arriving in Christchurch as well. I’ll keep y’all posted.

enjoying our autumn

unfortunately, my connection is too slow for uploading pics to blogger, so please check out our picasa site (right) for pics

We’ve had a busy 3 weeks, trying to pack in a whole autumn and winter of activities into a few weeks. We flew east to attend the Annapolis Sailboat Show and enjoy the hospitality of Michael and Daniel on Splendido. It was wonderful to be on a boat again, especially with the whole gang from the Caribbean 1500 since both Jeremy (now Splendido’s captain) and Mike were there as well. Reinhart and I got the opportunity to work the Pusser’s gate once more and enjoyed visiting with the boat show staff and the Caliber folks. We met up with Simon, Christy and Greg, which is becoming an annual boat show event in itself. It was hugs and kisses for everyone before driving to NC to see Mom and Dad (and Kevin!) and get a quick visit in with friends.

We came back to a cool Denver and decided to celebrate the season with a fondue with friends. We also discovered we won tickets to a “kick off ski season” cook out at Mile High Stadium. The Broncos were playing in New England and we watched that appalling game on the giant monitors and enjoyed the ski inspirational weather. We were so inspired by that cold night at the stadium, we decided to leave Denver behind once it warmed up and head for A-basin, one of the two resorts in Colorado currently open. The lift lines look horrible, but they moved fast and we got several runs in on their one open slope.

The next day we headed out to Red Rocks Amphitheatre for the first annual (hopefully) Denver Red Bull Soap Box Derby. We got there several hours early, but the place was already packed. We spent some time checking out the competitors and then we squeezed into a spot at the finish line. Each team of four performed a skit at the start line then put their driver in the car and tried to make it to the finish line with speed and flair; although the judges seemed to give more weight to the flamboyance of the crashes than the velocity of the car. Reinhart took over 2G of pictures with his new camera, so please check out our picasa site (on the right) for a selection of pics.

We are in Jacksonville, FL currently with Laura and Neil from Raytheon. They are taking a class while I get to do some shopping. We all took a dip in the Atlantic at sunset yesterday, so it looks like it is going to be a good week! This good week will also be our last week as Reinhart has tickets to New Zealand for next Monday (Nov 3).

Bouldering

Several weeks ago I told you Reinhart had taken up (indoor) Bouldering at lunch a couple times a week and I got a few emails asking what bouldering is. Wikipedia describes it as “a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs so that a fall will not result in serious injury.” Here are a few pictures of Reinhart and the gang from last week. I may give it a try in the next few weeks as well since the winter is coming and the bruises will be well hidden…

Greetings from sunny Colorado!

We are still trying to soak in as much of our area before Reinhart has to head to The Ice for 3 months. The temps during the day are still up in the 70s and 80s, so we’ve got great weather for seeing the sites of Colorado and doing a lot of hiking. We went downhill biking up in Granby with some of Reinhart’s work colleagues, meaning we took ski lifts up and biked down the mountain. We were riding in shorts comfortably at 9000 feet, but it snowed on the drive home as we passed over the mountain. Reinhart ate it up and didn’t eat it, so it was a great day for him. I am very uncomfortable with speed, so it was a little too scary for me; although, I can imagine becoming more comfortable with it once I get used to a mountain bike once again. I really enjoy the paved trail riding which is available in our area; I can get to any number of shopping centers without ever turning onto a street. Actually, I am thoroughly enjoying my life of leisure and haven’t been looking for jobs too earnestly. I am hoping to find something which starts early next year so I can make a very long trip to North Carolina over the holidays.

For some reason we can’t remember to bring the camera on our fantastic outings, so you’ll just have to put up with pics of our new digs:

living room/kitchen/dining:

your room:

our room:

A new way of life...

Picture courtesy of Ross and Beth

It’s the start of a new way of life for Reinhart and me, one that does not include owning a sailboat. Maia is in the hands of new owners who plan to sail her to the Bahamas this winter and head on to more exotic locations year after year. We were expecting to be quite sad about the sale; however, the new owners are so amiable and have such great plans, we can’t feel anything but pleased.

Reinhart is having a great time at work and he joins some friends for bouldering at lunch a couple times a week. We live just a couple of miles from his office, so there’s a lot of time for outdoor activities rather than commuting. We’ve just managed to get the bikes out and have started checking out the amazing network of paved trails in our area. We haven’t really gotten a chance to do any mountain biking yet, but that is certainly a plan. We have done some hiking in the nearby front range; the mountains are just gorgeous and we really look forward to spending a lot of time there. We were hiking in the front range on Sunday and the temps were in the mid 80s. Ross and Beth were hiking a bit higher up and ran into the guy pictured above (bound for one of those distant patches of snow); he gets in at least one day of skiing every month. Oh, and just to keep the blog on-track, we found a great ice cream shop in Golden after our hike.

I’ve been spending these last 2 weeks setting up our place; I had forgotten how time consuming unpacking is. We are all set up and ready for guests now. I also volunteered at the Democratic National Convention! That was an absolute blast; most of the time I was giving out maps and directions in the tourist district, far away from the convention itself, but certainly in the midst of the insanity. I didn’t get to attend the Thursday night speech, but I did set up tables and chairs in the stadium a couple of days before. I’ve also done a couple of phone screening interviews with Raytheon, hoping to get a job on The Ice for the winter. I’m fairly sure I will not be getting a position there this season, and I am pretty sad about that; however, Reinhart’s position is pretty flexible, so he does not have to spend the entire season down there if he doesn’t want to. Now that we are completely moved-in and the DNC has left time, it’s about time I get to looking for a job in earnest.

Weather-wise, our days have been super dry in the upper 80s & lower 90s with our nights quickly cooling down to the upper 50s & lower 60s; the townhouse gets so cool overnight we don’t usually need to turn on the AC during the day. Now that Labor Day is past we woke up to 47 degrees this morning! A cold front has come in and will be keeping our highs in the 70s this week. Ski-wise, we bought our season’s passes, the Colorado Pass, which gives us unlimited access to Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin with 10 limited days at Vail and Beaver Creek. This pass also includes 6 discounted tickets for friends. If we both end up going to Antarctica this year, we should still get our money’s worth out the pass with spring skiing…and if I don’t end up working in Antarctica, we should definitely get a lot of skiing in.

I’ve said we are completely moved in, but that’s not completely true as I have not found the cable for downloading pictures yet! Once I’ve found that, I’ll upload some photos of our new place. Keep in touch!

Separate Lives

Reinhart lives in Denver, CO. Mindy lives in Jamestown, NC. Maia lives in Beaufort, NC. Sigh.

Well, Maia is busy flirting with prospective owners, so let’s disregard her. Reinhart and I drove across the country and arrived at Paul’s place in Denver on a lovely Wednesday evening. We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday frantically touring every apartment complex and condo available for rent within a 10 mile range of Reinhart’s job. We spent some time catching up with Paul and Ross & Beth (all former Greensboro Ski and Outing Club racers). Ross & Beth were concerned we were concentrating on our home search rather than the all-important season’s pass decision. I headed home on Sunday and Reinhart started his job on Monday. He’s having a great time at work and hanging out at Paul’s. He’s been taking care of our lease signing and may even be partially moved in before I get there…but no season’s passes yet. I am finishing up a few weeks with Syngenta and spending a little more time with friends and family, and strangers in Indiana. We are looking forward to being reunited later in August when we’ll catch you up again.

Here they go again

This blog certainly went off-course once we settled back on land. We kept thinking about updating you on our new NC adventures, but just never got around to it. We’ve had some charming sailing weekends; a fantastic trip to California, Nevada, and Oregon; a pleasant trip to Virginia and Maryland, which even included a little camping in DC; Reinhart worked the Yacht Show at National Harbor; I visited southeastern Texas. It certainly hasn’t been a dull seven months, yet somehow it feels that way after our adventures in 2006-2007.

Well, dull no more; because we are moving to Colorado. Reinhart will be working full time in CO, but he will deploy to Antarctica during our winter months (austral summer). He’ll spend a few days packing our stuff in a POD, and then it’s off to Denver. Reinhart will get out there first, starting on July 28, and I’ll be back and forth a bit, but move out permanently in August. I have applied for a few positions in Antarctica for the austral summer as well, so keep your fingers crossed; I would really be disappointed to miss out on this opportunity.

We’ve reluctantly put Maia up for sale. It seems silly to have her sitting in the water waiting for us when we don’t know if we’ll have any time to go sailing over the next couple of years. She’s listed with Beaufort Yacht Sales. We’ll be thrilled if she sells, but just as thrilled if she doesn’t; after all, we never know when the opportunity to go on an extended sail might pop up again.

That’s all we know right now, but I am going to set my mind to keeping this blog up to date with our new adventures once we are out in Denver together, and I sincerely hope we’ll be able to update it from our station in Antarctica! Here are a few pictures, we plan to add our 2008 pictures over the next few days to our my space page (you must be a member to view the photos) and our picasa photo page (viewable for everyone) at http://www.myspace.com/sailmaia and http://picasaweb.google.com/sailmaia

The Trinidad Lighthouse in Northern California

Reinhart in his element, a beach on the CA/OR border

Camping in DC

Horses on the Shackelford Banks, NC