28 November, 2001

Up until last night my sleep hours have been spent in a dorm room. I finally got a taste of what it's going to be like to be out in the light all night. No matter what time you wake up and roll over, it's bright outside. I soon figured out an ingenious way to deal with this dilemma--I closed my eyes.

In the morning, I struck up a conversation with a scientist who is waiting to launch a balloon from Williams Field next week. It has a two-thousand pound payload, and will record the impact of cosmic radiation that emanates from outside our solar system. I hope to visit his laboratory on Friday morning.

Three members of our group were to ascend to Fang Glacier to acclimatize today. They could not, because of weather. This was surprising to me, as I was gazing at the mountain from Survival School all morning and imagining that I was with them. The volcano's peak was shrouded in light clouds throughout my last picture. After we boarded the Nodwell (see below) to return to McMurdo, the clouds cleared and the plume of Erebus was clearly visible--steaming and smoking away in all its glory. I am anxious beyond words to get up there.

We returned to McMurdo tired and anxious for a shower. Tomorrow a real thrill--Waste Management School! I'll tell you aaaaaaaalllllllll about it....

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This is Brennan Brunner, our other instructor. He is walking away from a "Nodwell" (I'm not positive of the spelling, but that's how it sounds.) This machine is perfect for many terrains that are inaccessable to other vehicles. It is, however, loud and slow. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp