A blustery day

Thursday, March 25: High: 14F Low: -2F
Friday, March 26: High: 8F Low: 0F

The wind wakes me up around Thursday, 9:30am, and I quickly check on all my backups. I discover that some of the data is corrupt, and we're happy to have the down day so that we can analyze what might have happened. I also make a change to my procedures to double check the data so we can avoid any more data loss. The good news is that the important data is there, so no harm no foul. But it does mean another day of data copying and verifying to make sure everything is in order.

The weather condition is alpha for most of the day and turns to bravo at points. Alpha means just be aware of the weather and bravo means you can't leave the base without gear and a partner. I figure where would I go anyway? In fact, the clouds that have rolled in with the weather system make is warmer.

Michelle and Bryan from the LVIS crew are heading out tomorrow on the rotator flight. Every Thursday, a DC-8 brings supplies and people to the base, and flies anyone out the next day. Colleen shows up to replace Michelle and Bryan, and we make plans to have a beer before they leave.

We go to the Top of the World club, or TOW club, which is a bar on the base. It actually has beer on tap and you can get food. I missed dinner because I was working, so I'm happy to get some fried shrimp with mixed vegetables. Michelle buys me a beer and Bryan reminds her she owes me a case. I really like this team of people. They work well together, are serious and proud of their work, and they have fun at the same time. Luckily, Michelle and Bryan will be returning in two weeks, so I can hang out more with them then.

Most everyone goes to bed early because tomorrow is a fly day. I stay up until 3am moving data. It really does seem like a 4pm to 3am is going to be a standard day for me for most of the trip.

Friday I wake up around 10:30am and pretty much everyone is out flying a mission. On Wednesday they flew over the Petermann glacierPetermann Glacier. Today they fly over the sea ice to the north and east of Greenland. I spend the day copying data and doing my laundry.

Around 5:30pm we have our meeting about the next mission. It's decided to take the weekend off due to another report of high winds on Saturday and the fact that the runway is closed on Sunday. It also gives the flying staff a few days down time which means they get to rest. They are a great flight crew and fly these defined flight plans with precision. Everyone here talks about how good the crew is and knows how lucky this project is to have such an experience and caring team.

Around 10pm, I'm downstairs in the bathroom getting my last load out of the dryer when a local Greenlandic woman walks in. She's really tiny - maybe 4' 10" tall, and she doesn't weight but 90 lbs. To my surprise, she walks up to me and hands me a little bottle of Vodka. With hesitation I say, "thank you", but not wanting it, I try to give it back to her. She then says "open" and the light bulb clicks on in my head. I open the bottle and hand it back not thinking anything of it. About midnight, I come back downstairs and she's now stumbling about the hallway, moving like a pinball between the walls. She keeps looking at people saying "Sssshhhh!" which I guess means she doesn't want anyone to know she's there. Then about an hour later I see her again, but this time she's turned mean. She glares at me and starts moving towards me, all the while talking loudly in some foreign language. Up here the natives speak Greenlandic, but there's a lot of Danish as well since Greenland is governed by Denmark. Her anger spooks me, and I say to her "Sorry, I don't understand you" and then quickly dart into my room and lock the door. At this point I call security. By the time they show up, she's sitting in a chair in the lobby passed out. She's so out that they can't wake her up even though the shake her. The security guard was very nice, and chats a bit with me about the NASA mission. He says that he's trying to get on one of the flights as a guest. Apparently NASA will fly the local military personnel on the missions if they have the seats. I've been told that these missions are pretty popular among the local personnel. I guess when there isn't a lot to do in Thule, things like this are pretty exciting.