A day in the life

It doesn't take long for life at the station to fall into a routine. There are four meals a day: breakfast(5:30am-8:00am), lunch(11:30-1:00), dinner(5:30-7:00), and midnight rartions "mid-rats" (12:00-1:30). There are crews working 24/7, hence the extra meal. For me, these form sort of a clock given that the daylight is constant.

I wake up at about 6:30 for breakfast. Breakfast is a "tyipcal" American breakfast: eggs, bacon/sausage, pancake/waffle/french toast, etc. I'm usually moving slow until the first pot of coffee, so I wander in around 7:00. It's not uncommon to run into some of the swing shift folks who are enjoying eggs for dinner yet again. It's a good chance to hear about how things are going in drill camp.

After breakfast, there's a meeting at 8:00 every day. This is where we go over "the plan" to see how we're doing and make sure that we have people where we need them. The drilling part of the operation is pretty self sufficient. Most of them have done this in previous years, so they have a pretty good idea of what they should be doing. But there's a lot of other stuff that needs to be done. Some of it is highly specialized work that only a few people know how to do, and this is where the flight delays can be a real hassle. When that sort of thing happens, we find a way to get things set up and ready as much as possible so that when they arrive things are mostly ready to go. That means that the plan is sometimes shifted and you end up working on things you aren't terribly familiar with.

After that, the day begins. The snowmobiles leave for drill camp at 8:45, so you usually have about 15 minutes to get into your gear if you're heading in that direction. The drill camp is about a mile from the station, so even if you miss the sled, it's not a bad walk. I don't have a lot to do at drill camp. Usually, I'll end up stopping where the computers are which is along the way to drill camp. To date, we're still waiting on some cargo, so some of my work is sliding. I've been fighting with some annoying disk systems that we've been moving around for no good reason (it's a long story that I'd rather forget) which actually keeps me at the station quite a bit. For the most part, it's like a normal day of work.

It's different for the folks who are outside all the time. You're lugging around heavy gear, and many times trying to do some fairly precise work with gloves on. You do get used to the temperatures after a while. It is summer, so it's getting warmer, but it's still cold (-35F is typical for the last few days). Even so, at this point as long as the wind isn't blowing, it's no longer necessary to keep your face fully covered, and if you're not going far, you might not need much more than your jacket and some light boots. Still, you do need to be a little careful as frostbite can sneak up on you, and if you're going to be out for an hour or more, you'll still want your gear.

When you're not working, there's plenty to do. Each berthing wing has a set of bathrooms. It is the responsibility of the residents of that wing to clean the bathrooms. This is called House Mouse, and you are assigned a day of the week based on your room number. I've got Mondays. There are usually a number of people to help out, so it doesn't take long. You can also volunteer for station duty (dishes, hauling food, folding T-shirts for the store). Otherwise, there are many recreational opportunities.

There's a small gym (big enough for a volleyball court), a weight and circuit room, a reading room, a craft room, a music room, a movie room, and a game room. There's a library of books which are mostly books that were brought down and left behind. There are regularly scheduled events if you like to be social. The only one I usually participate in is Friday night football. A certain number of NFL games are recorded (with permission) and the best is played in the movie room on Friday nights.

We work six days a week (Mon-Sat). That's not too bad, really. After all, they flew me here and keep me alive at great expese, so some extra work doesn't seem like a bad deal. Saturday night is party night. This is usually out in summer camp (some temporary shelters with semi-permanent buildings adjoining them) and goes until all hours of the night. Sunday morning is brunch with omellets made to order. The rest of the day is yours to burn. Calling home is common, as is laundry. It's usually pretty mellow.

Kinda reminds me of college.