27 October, 1999

This is the sixth journal entry. I hope you have received the others. If not, please advise. Several people on my email address list are coming up with fatal errors so, if you have a friend who thinks they should be receiving my mail and you have, and they have not, it is probably because of some type of email address error. Please have them send me correct email no later then Thursday of this week.

Things are most hectic here. I still do not have a sub, though there has been a young woman who seems competent and interested in the job, but I've heard neither hide nor hair from/of her since Friday. Tons of stuff to share with my sub, but now there is no time really left to do that. Just one more thing to stress over.

I must still pack, although today I did manage to arrange for a trip to the airport. Progress! Have been dealing with loose ends at school (sub/lack there of), loose end at home (how to pay bills and get car repaired following a hit and run of my vehicle this past weekend), loose ends in Antarctica (who will be in the workshop and who won't, we can service only 24 and now have 73 applicants), and loose ends in Houston , New York and Seattle (trying to set up another Cu-See-me broadcast for Thursday 1:30 PST). NOTE if you have the capabilities and I can get permission to let you know the password and Isp# , and you want to, let me know and if I get permission to invite you on board this trial run I 'll email you before the Thursday broadcast.

My tickets are in and it is kind of amazing to see how long it will take me to fly >from Boston to Christchurch, New Zealand. A total of some 20 and 1/2 flying hours. This does not include layovers. Ouch, my very large posterior just got the new disease "buttis-spread-outist"). Anyone care to guess how many air miles it is from Boston to Christchurch? Closest one gets a prize. (A 3  x 4  picture of an O.A.E.).

Yesterday I talked a little about the Lake Hoare Camp and what I would be doing there. I can't wait to go. I will now share with you an email that was forwarded to me from the research team that presently working at the Lake Hoare Camp site. Think it's a nice place???!!??

<TEXT>".....We've just endured what is the worst wind storm I've experienced in the dry valleys. All four of our tents were destroyed by a full day of battering winds. We had to close the solar panels and cargo strap them down. Jennifer Lawson's tent proudly stood undamaged through some extraordinary winds, but as if the DV gods were giving it all they had, a monster gust hammered us at 9:20 last night and trashed Jennifer's tent in a few seconds, and then the storm was gone about an hour after that. During the 9:20 gust rocks were blasting against the building, and nothing but sand and snow could be seen out of all windows. I had some rather large rocks holding my flattened tent down and this gust blew them all off. We''ll wait for Thomas to get here and see what the Hoare met station recorded. I'm betting we easily exceeded 100 mph. Some of the strongest gusts came racing downhill from the steep ridge to the North!

Today, we got reports that:

a) The Mount Voslips phone repeater was missing it's solar panels, and had been all but destroyed,

b) The Weather Port on Lake Fryxell was "gone"

They'll be replacing the weatherport next week. Apparently, it's not as remarkable as it may seem since the carpenters that put it in last week didn't have a proper drill to anchor it. But still, the wood floors, everything, gone. I still haven't heard what the fate of the propane tanks attached to it were.

All else is okay as far as we know.

Peter....."</TEXT>

I can't wait to get there. WOW!!!!! Awesome!!!

By for Now

Penguin Peter the Polar Man