You know those “endless runner”-style games for smartphones, where you’re looking over the shoulder at a little figure running on planks or walls or vines and dodging obstacles, ducking through gates, etc.? I think I’m stuck in one. Over the course of the last 24 hrs we’ve gone from being on the flight schedule, to being off the schedule, to being told we’re not flying for at least 24 hours, to being told we’re on the schedule roughly 12 hours later, to (as of now) having one flight out with people scheduled to depart for the airport in about 20 minutes. What will happen next? Not sure, but we keep on running toward Willy Field airport.

The weather in McMurdo is variable- there are separate cloud decks at a variety of altitudes moving around, and that’s led to cancellation of several flights due from christchurch over the past two days (including the big congressional delegation that was due today, and Jim Karner too). My personal tragedy is that connecting to Case’s servers is gitchy right now so email and this blog are super slow for me.  Internet-based work and amusements not really an option.  Sigh.

Wish I could make a few in-app purchases to make the game easier…..

-posted by RPH from McMurdo, 10:50 am local time