Happy Monunday (Day 7 on Ice)

It's been a week now, back on the ice. Seems like I never left. I'm even in my old habit of climbing the stairs in the Crary lab. (See the article on page 7 of: http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/pastIssues/2006-2007/2006_11_19.pdf.)

The Crary lab is a sprawling science building that is more or less on my way to work. There are three phases (buildings, really), connected by a long hallway. The lowest point is the aquarium in phase three, and the highest point is the library, upstairs in phase one.

In the constant war against getting fat down here, I've taken up the "Crairmaster". On the way to work in the morning, I do three or four laps of Crary, from the aquarium to the library. Sixty-nine steps in all. Last winter I did over 1400 laps in my last three months here. I figured out that was over 50,000 of elevation. It's a lot handier than going to the gym--I just do a couple of laps on my way to work, a couple on the way up to lunch, a couple coming back from lunch, and a few on my way home from work. I've been doing 12-15 laps a day lately.

With the all-you-can-eat-American-comfort-food diet here, I need all the help I can get. It also helps that I quit eating meat three months ago. I'm doing an eggs/dairy/veggie/fish diet, which is working out great, and removes a lot of the temptations at the galley here.

So why happy Monunday? There is a 20-hour difference between McMurdo and US Mountain time. Right now it's 8AM Monday morning, which makes it noon Sunday in Colorado. Monday here, Sunday there, hence Monunday. The days of the week are Sunturday, Monunday, Tuesonday, Wedsnuesday, Thursnesday, Friursday, and Satriday. So now it's Monunday mornternoon. (Yes, it is possible that I have too much time on my hands...)