fractalnavel

craig:

You should blog that. For me, the negative still outweigh the positive aspects as far as antartica living is concerned.

oh, ok:

still reading that diary (brief visit with an old passion).  ran across this list of reasons to be at the pole (i suspect mcmurdo would be more real-worldy):

• for the first time in my life I fit somewhere
• being an accepted member of a small self-contained community
• freedom from cramped city living
• complete quietness
• someone always available for interesting conversation
• the ice that goes on seemingly for ever
• the sun and moon that circle around the sky
• no children
• no interruptions
• no loud and disturbing noises (even the incessant ringing in my ears has ceased I noticed recently)
• there is time to do things eg gym, tai chi, because everything is here (no commuting required) and therefore the working day is not so exhausting
• no cooking required unless one wishes to
• no shopping
• no money
• no traffic
• no ironing
• no bills to pay and finances to worry about
• no bureaucratic bullshit
• no bugs (in fact no life but for us)
• my friends here

you'd think that would appeal to everyone.  anyway, people always looked at me funny and wondered why i would want to go. that list is a good start.  to me, it sounds like year-round summer camp, and you get paid too (not that you need money) !  stick me down there permanently, and when i die toss me in a hole in the ice and shovel the snow over.

well, more like just being at your parent's house and being taken care of, than summer camp, maybe.  that's me - this adult stuff just isn't what it's cracked up to be, or however that phrase goes.  i guess there's two chris's:  the one now just living off someone else's caretaking, and the one before that is responsible for the caretaking available now.  that one will have to make a reappearance shortly so that the first one can eventually come back out and have fun / sit on his ass again.  did someone say "balance" ? ;-)

you know, i think i'm basically an asset to the human race, you'd think it would be easy to go somewhere and tell them "use me well!", and then just do my thing, and in return get a place to eat, sleep, recreate, etc.  turns out to be a whole lot more complicated than that. 

wahhh ;-)

yeah, thoughts that pop up when it's time to pay bills ;-)

i suspect some of craig's negative reasons match some of my positive ones.  how about it, what are they ?

for all you folks into little-people lore: flores man, at www.nature.com.  wow.  i wonder how many proto-human genocides are etched in the dust of homo sapiens prehistory ?  seems neanderthals is one, and looks like here is another, and more recent.

keywords: hobbits, midgets, dwarves, munchkins, leprechauns, elves

i'm not normally a sports blogger (see jon for that), but that has to be the most anticlimactic world series in memory.  bummer.  but it gave a few of us an excuse to get together for the game last night.  thanks to steve for the brats & sox ;-)  and nice new digs, by the way. 

now, with no nhl, whatever will i do ?

the northern michigan folks (my uncle john, aka uj, and his s.o. diana) sent this one along - very cool: