Icestock 2010

Icestock is the traditional New Years-ish event that
takes place every year at McMurdo, featuring local
bands. Some with talent and others with, well, er,
attitude. It was held at the very inconvenient time
period for night workers of noon til 6pm. So not only
did we miss most (or all, for some) of it, we "got"
to hear it being played very loudly while we were
trying to sleep. However, I wanted to see at least
part of it, so I got out of bed at 5:00 (my morning)
and crawled out to the concert grounds. The last
group was playing (not my fav, but talented nonetheless)
and I got to catch up with friends. I found out
that the group with my friends Nathan, Tony and Sara
were playing later that evening at Gallagher's.
Inside instead of outside. I got there early, and
heard three other bands, including Phat Ass Bluegrass.
It was a nice change of pace and there were some
talented folks in the band including one playing
mandolin and one slide guitar. Made for an interesting
sound. Last up was "Stimulus Package", starring my
friends, and they didn't disappoint. Playing mostly
80's covers including some that were older than at least
half of the crowd there, they packed in the biggest
audience of the night and no one left disappointed.
Overall, I enjoyed this year's Icestock. Especially
since I got to see my favorites after all.

Happy Cheeseball Day!

Ok...my friend Carrie is almost 4 months off (the REAL National
Cheeseball Day is April 17...yes, believe it or not, there is a
National Cheeseball Day!), but her heart was in the right place
as she brought me a cheeseball she made with her own two
hands. The whole cheeseball thing goes back to a few years
ago when Lynn and I would play Euchre with Carrie and Tony
and a regular feature of our game would be a cheeseball made
by Lynn or Carrie. (Actually I think Lynn cheated because hers
were from Hickory Farms...but I digress). When we got together
to play Euchre earlier this year (sadly minus Lynn), I was disappointed
that there was no cheeseball. So here we are in the present and
I am the proud owner of my own Antarctic-made Cheeseball.

Secretly, I think Carrie brought me this since she knew that I
would blog about it and besides Lynn, she appears on my blog
more than any other person!

My Birthday!

It's never fun to be sick...especially on your birthday!
But, I was invited over to Carrie and Tony's to play
Euchre with Kaska as my Lynn-surrogate partner.
When I walked in the door, I was greeted with a cool
looking Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (my fav)
and this very fun cut out of Lynn in a showgirl outfit
popping out of the cake! Being a Hamann, I was early
and was the first one there instead of the last one so
the "surprise" was out of the bag. I did have a great
time though and it took my mind off a being sick for
a few hours. Most of my closest Ice Friends were there
including many from our favorite winter of 2007. It was
a great time and I've very grateful to everyone who
attended to make it a special birthday I will remember
for many years to come.

A Good Day

There haven't been a lot of good days lately, so
when one does come along, it's certainly worth
noting. I got up this morning and received a
call from our friend Deb, that lives in Vermont.
She was my first boss on the Ice and she's having
her 60th birthday party in March and wanted to
invite Lynn (it's an all-girls party). She
can't go since we'll be in NZ, but it was nice
to hear her voice. Next, I talked to my Mom back
in Indiana. Although it's been a miserably bad
winter weather-wise, it was 50 degrees Fahrenheit
when I talked to her. Always fun to talk to Mom!
Then I talked to Lynn for a while. Less than 2
weeks til I'm in Christchurch! Yay! For someone
who doesn't like to talk on the phone...I sure
did a lot of it. After helping Kaska with the
first big transport of the season...about a 100
people leaving...I started walking down the hill
toward home. I hear this rumbling coming up the
road and it's my friend Tony driving in a Pisten
Bully. It's a small enclosed snow-cat sort of
vehicle. He's the head of the MEC which is
responsible for all of the equipment that the
scientists use while they're here. He had to
go to Castle Rock to move some snow around so
he asked if I wanted to hop in and go. Sure,
I said and off we went.


I had never been to Castle Rock during the day.
Only last winter I went there in a Tucker
(another track-type vehicle), so it was a treat
of sorts...kind of a mini-boondoggle. I'm way
to lazy to walk the 7 mile Castle Rock Loop so
getting a ride there is definitely the best
option. The first half mile though was hellish
since most of the snow in that part of the trail
had melted and big ruts formed the trail.
Picture a ski mogul run without the snow.
However, soon we were on the path and were
climbing to the top of the trail. The view from
Castle Rock is pretty amazing. Even if it was
a cloudy day, you can easily see for a hundred
miles. Tony even drove around where we could
see open water just north of Cape Evans and
All of the islands in the area. The view
looking the other way is just as amazing as
you can see the Trans-Antarctic Mountains and
the cluster of buildings that makes up Williams
Field. The way down is really steep and I'm
glad that I was in a vehicle and not walking it.
We saw the Kiwi A-Frame from above...which I've
also never seen in the daylight and got a good
view of the Kiwi Ski Hill.
When I got home, I was just in time for "John
Simonson Appreciation Day". John is a longtime
ATO cargo guy and several folks in the department
felt he has never gotten the recognition he
deserves. Lots of Sushi made by Sam and Molly,
BBQ Scallops wrapped in bacon by Hooch and a
good time had by all. A great wrap up to a good
day!

Greetings from Carrie

Our friend (and often mentioned on this blog), Carrie
is on a roadtrip with Tony across the Midwest and West,
visiting some highlights and not-so-highlights of
Americana. Although I don't think they've visited
the world's largest ball of twine, they have stopped
by the World's Largest Truckstop, The Field of Dreams
and of course Brown Sheep Wool in Mitchell Nebraska.
What? You've never heard of Brown Sheep Wool or
Mitchell Nebraska. For Antarctica knitters, it's become
the new Mecca and is bowed to four times a day. Other
Ice friends, Cindy and Delaney were there last month
and now Carrie has made her contribution to the local
economy.


However it looks like they experienced some problems
with their transportation somewhere in Nebraska.
Apparently they've overcome their problem as last
we heard they're crossing Idaho.

Friends Far Away

A group of our friends recently got together in Madison,
Wisconsin. Although it's great to see their smiling
faces...very tan and very happy looking, it's a little
sad at the same time. One of the bad things about
working down here is that you can go many months, even
years, without seeing people you care about. On the
other hand, each one of these happy friends would not
have been in our lives if we hadn't come down here in
the first place. Tony and Tad will be back this summer.
As for Carrie, Erika and Pete...we will see them as soon
as we can.

Get Your Geek On....

It is a dark day. No, it has nothing to do with
the atmospheric or astronomic conditions outside.
I made the Geek List. Yes, sad but true. It
can't be true...can it? Our friend and trivia
team member Tony invited me and 15 other guys to
relive our days "when long hair, bad acne, no girl
friends, cold pizza, too much coca-cola, and the
smell of too many unwashed male teenage hormones
in one room ruled the earth". Apparently another
friend, Dan, found a full set of Dungeons and Dragons
game playing equipment and I've been invited to a
day full of gaming on Sunday. Ah...but there is a
silver lining. I never played Dungeons and Dragons
so does that make me cooler than the others???
Hmm...I was also the last person on the email list.
Does that make me less cool than the others???
I think I might have issues...