Survivor Ellesmere

After a long, long day on a little, little plane, we finally arrived in Eureka Saturday. The plane was a bit bigger than the twin otter that we normally fly up in, and definately more comfortable, but something like eight hours of flying later I couldn't feel my knees or my bum. But in the end, despite head winds, we got to Eureka in the evening.
Which is by far the best time to arrive. On account of the madness of Saturday night in Eureka. Really. Weekends don't mean much here, since if something breaks and that's your job, you have to fix it, regardless of the day/time. (This especially applies to the guy who looks after the power.) Sundays are the lazier day here, marked by the fact that breakfast is cancelled and brunch is served at 11. So the station staff treat it as a bit of a party night, and drinks are seved at the bar. The pool table is in full use, and everyone stays up until the wee hours of the morning. (Not to say that no drinking occurs on the other nights of the week, especially if it's someone's last night there...) In the past, our group has always ignored this fact and continued leaving for the station at 8 in the morning. When we arrived this time, the PEARL operators told us that we would leave after brunch, so we all got a sleep in morning. So we could fully partake in the Saturday night festivities. I learned how to play shuffleboard, not the old-person's game at the hotel in Florida, but the old-person's game on a table with couronne-like pucks. Pierre and I tied Kelly (met tech) and Oleg two games to two. Now that I know how to play we'll kick more ass next time.
The other exciting thing about being in Eureka this time around is the brand new station and accomodation. The past two summers have been a bit crazy here, as the new 13 million dollar facility has been built. It finally opened in September. It doesn't have quite the same charm as the old building (which was decorated like a 1960's basement, complete with wood panelling), but it is bigger and brighter. The bedrooms are huge, with plenty of room for me to do my pilates. (I swear I'll keep it up this year.) The staff now have their own private washrooms, so Kaley and I are left to share the "transient" women's washroom. One of the faucets still has that blue plastic protector stuff on the drain. It's shiny and new. They're still having a lot of growing pains, most of them a result of the fact that government contracts go to the lowest bidder, regardless of experience building in the high Arctic. Basically they built a building that would work fine in the south, but not so much here. The extra space is nice, but it takes a lot more energy to heat. The power generators keep overheating trying to keep up, and in the short time we've been here we've had three power outages. Which is three more than we've had any other year.
Measurement-wise things are going well. I got my spectrometer in its roof hatch this morning after a day of tests. They built a platform underneath the hatches over the summer, so I could do it all from the inside, without having to carry everything up on the roof and lower it in. I got my first spectra just before noon, and the spectrometer is happily clicking away now. So, after a few days of hectic-ness, I'm finally left to enjoy the quiet Arctic and the super-long sunrise. Pictures when the network is a bit less wonky.