Dude, it's like snowing and crap!
It snowed last night. Which apparently doesn't happen much here.
The snow was definitely different on the ground as I walked to work today. Normally it is a hard Styrofoam like substance that is easier to break into pieces and throw than it is to shovel. Today the snow was soft underfoot and felt like, well, snow.
Most of my morning was taken up with a scaffolding training classroom session. In about 15 minutes I have a "practical" test that will make me a "competent" person in the eyes of OSHA and Raytheon to handle scaffolding. (OSHA doesn't officially have jurisdiction over Antarctica but the National Science Foundation tells Raytheon it has to follow OSHA rules if it wants to get paid)
I'm getting into the routine here. Every once in a while someone learns I have an engineering degree and asks me a question along the lines of "so why are you a General Assistant?" My boss (who previously worked on nuclear submarines) is planning to go back to school for engineering when he gets off the ice so I guess I'm a little over-qualified.
Then again over-qualification seems to be the norm for most of the first-season people down here. The electrician apprentice working on my project has a masters degree in sculpture and the head of the dining assistants has her degree in English Literature.
There's a film maker down here shooting a documentary on scientists on the ice. She would probably have a more interesting film if she focused on the other people down here. (we do outnumber the "beakers" by over 25:1 right now)
The snow was definitely different on the ground as I walked to work today. Normally it is a hard Styrofoam like substance that is easier to break into pieces and throw than it is to shovel. Today the snow was soft underfoot and felt like, well, snow.
Most of my morning was taken up with a scaffolding training classroom session. In about 15 minutes I have a "practical" test that will make me a "competent" person in the eyes of OSHA and Raytheon to handle scaffolding. (OSHA doesn't officially have jurisdiction over Antarctica but the National Science Foundation tells Raytheon it has to follow OSHA rules if it wants to get paid)
I'm getting into the routine here. Every once in a while someone learns I have an engineering degree and asks me a question along the lines of "so why are you a General Assistant?" My boss (who previously worked on nuclear submarines) is planning to go back to school for engineering when he gets off the ice so I guess I'm a little over-qualified.
Then again over-qualification seems to be the norm for most of the first-season people down here. The electrician apprentice working on my project has a masters degree in sculpture and the head of the dining assistants has her degree in English Literature.
There's a film maker down here shooting a documentary on scientists on the ice. She would probably have a more interesting film if she focused on the other people down here. (we do outnumber the "beakers" by over 25:1 right now)
posted by Adam at 5:44 PM
2 Comments:
Dude! I'm dying to know the name of the filmmaker doing the documentary!!!
And, for the record, start getting used to that "You've got a (fill in the blank) degree?! What are you doing in this job?" question. Welcome to my world, Adam... ;)
The Film Maker is named Anne Aghion. Here's a link to her web site.
http://www.anneaghionfilms.com/
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