Waiting Game

Okay! The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my misadventures in the land of the ice, penguins, Elder Things and outposts of the Ancients. Next week I deploy to Antarctica until roughly February (I do not yet have my exact dates). I have no intention of keeping a day-to-day journal of events, but I will try to post often enough with anything of interest that has happened.
Right now I am just waiting. Waiting for for September the 2nd. Waiting to confirm my travel itinerary.
For those of you that don't know, I will be going to work As a General Assistant at McMurdo Station in Antarctica for Raytheon Polar Services Company. I have been trying since February 2006 to get in and finally I'll get to go. I don't know yet if this will be something I will enjoy, but I do know that this will definitely be interesting. Originally I was supposed to deploy early October. Then a couple months ago they sent out an email asking who wanted to deploy early to help out with Springfly, which helps set up the polar stations in the antarctic. Well, I didn't get in with the first group of acceptees (I just invented that word, back off!), but apparently my name was on the top of the list of standbys, so with two weeks notice I accepted the offer. My On-Ice date is set for September 8th with an orientation date of September 2nd. I will be flying down through New Zealand where I will wait for a few days until weather is clear enough for travel. New Zealand will be my first time outside of the United States, though apparently I have been to Guam back before I can remember and that technically counts and U.S. soil. But as I cannot remember it, it does not count!
As a General Assistant I assume I will be going the general labor down there on the ice. I have been told multiple times that there WILL be snow shoveling, which I assume to be a task entrusted to only their most capable and intelligent employees. I do not know for certain yet what I will be doing down there. I was initially interviewed to work on some kind of fuels pipeline, though I have heard that because of funding cuts that job may not be there this season. However, since I was among the first to be fully PQed (Physically Qualified) for deployment they would keep me on anyways and they'll just have me do something else. Let someone else be standby.
So I sit here prepared, waiting, listening to Afuro Gunso while typing this up. I have a nice, new camera for taking pictures which I'll share with all of you once I start getting this voyage underway.