I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
When we last left our hero…sorry, I couldn’t help myself. After flying home, I had to get ready. While they supply us with lots of Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear, I still went out and got some of my own gear. Otherwise, I had to complete forms, get a physical (which was the first time I found out I was borderline High Blood pressure), etc. I’m still a little hazy on the details of what I did between getting hired and deploying to “the ice”. However, it was a busy time.
Oh, I do remember one thing. They flew me back to Boulder for training with the radiotheodolite system for the upper air balloons that we launch. This was for Kathie, myself and one of the summer mets. We spent two days, I think, working with the equipment and launched a balloon. I then went back with the electronics technician that would be wintering over with us, Chip Dunn. I then flew back to Fennville, to await deployment.
One thing that I realized, is that I can add some video, once I get to the point where I’m flying down to Antarctica, I dubbed my copy of the video that we made to remember our times, onto DVD. I can load that up. I need to get a slide scanner, or at least have my slides scanned. They are stored in a good place, but it would be great if I could share some of the slides through the year.
Things got busy at the house and I was on nights so I forgot about this.
The interview…That was quit the day. It took only one day, but it was long. The reason it was so long was because of a bit of controversy, but more on that later.
To start with ASA flew me from my home in Grand Rapids, to Denver. There was something about this flight, as I flew the first leg from Grand Rapids to Chicago. I remember seeing the southern end of Lake Michigan with a Lake Carrier on it, and thought that it might be one of the last times I see a sight like that for a while. That little voice inside of me was telling me you got this. So I went with it.
I flew into Denver in a whirlwind, as I followed the directions that they gave me. Onto a SuperShuttle, to this hotel in Englewood. With the flights and the shuttle ride, it took me about 6-8 hours. I relaxed in front of the TV, ready for the next day.
I think I was scheduled for around 9am, so I got up around 730 am and got ready. I had to catch a hotel shuttle to ASA headquarters. I found out that this was one of the main staging hotels for ASA, so I wasn’t alone that morning going to the ASA. I was greeted by the receptionist who, page Kathie Sharpe who had interviewed me over the phone. I spent about half an hour with her, going through my qualifications and what it was like to winter over (Kathie had wintered over a few years before). Next was John Gress. He interviewed me for about an hour on some of the same things. It was then that I met J.P. (Jon Parlin) winter over station manager. J.P. had wintered over 2 or 3 times before and was doing this for the money. We talked about life at the South Pole in the winter, and the question came up how do you handle being depressed/being isolated. I think I said something like I lean back on my Christian faith. It was a natural answer for me. However, that set off alarm bells. I don’t remember getting grilled more about it from JP, but a some point, JP, John, and Kathie had a meeting. I went to lunch with Kathie and John, and I felt the probing of the questions about my faith. How important, how do you interact with non-believers. It seemed. Odd, and I was naive enough to not realize the scope of this.
After lunch I met the 4th player in this day, “The Mayor” of the South Pole aka the Area Manager, Jim Gardener. The two of us had a talk. I remember him being a large guy, mild mannered and soft spoken. I don’t remember the conversation, but it was cordial, and went well. Then I was in an office waiting…
Obviously, I got the job or I wouldn’t be writing this memoir. However, much later (like during the winter later) I would find out something about the day. It seems that with my raising my faith, that JP was worried that I would be some “Holy Roller” in your face. Those of you who know me that I’m not an in your face type, and while I might disagree with peoples’ choices, they are there own. Kathie actually fought for me, I found out later, because she too was a Christian and she reminded them that I could sue for discrimination based on religion. In the mid 1990s, I probably could have.
However, there were some things that needed to be done that I had missed out on. A full physical, and a psych evaluation. The physical could be done by a doctor of my choosing at home. The psych eval would be done on the “ice.” Everyone else on the winter over team had their’s done. I would have to wait.
One other thing, though, I was on double secret probation, which I found out while wintering over later. It was all due to my faith in Christ.
They had me sign papers and begin the process of preparing to go south. By 4:00 pm, I had a job in meteorology, and I would be living for a year that few people still have yet to venture. They called the Super Shuttle (I had my bad with me), and they got me out to the airport. I called my folks, and my roommate, had supper, and boarded a for plane home.
I still use this interview story as a part of my testimony, how God puts you where you need to be if you are in His will. I believe that He was there through the whole process.
As the technology of various fields has improved, eventually, the tools come down in price and up in quality. This has especially been true of the video/film field. I’ve always wanted to film things. I loved having my various still cameras over the years. I’ve always wanted a good digital stills camera, that could take really good video. Well, the time has come. I’m still a little short for the time being of funds for what I want, but in the meantime, other things, less expensive options have appeared.
1. My Samsung Galaxy S4
2. My wife’s (well its become mine now) Canon Power Shot
Both shoot great 1080p video, although the audio suffers a bit. One thing I have found is an app that lets me shoot time lapse video. However, it is a pain to stand there with the phone in hand trying to hold still.So tool number 1. My adjustable Glif (pictured above left). It allows me to put the phone in to the little clamp on one end, so that I can put it on a tripod (which I have a couple) so that I don’t have to hold it anymore. The other end works as a nice stand so I can watch stuff on it.
Tool number 2 is my Zoom H1 Audio recorder (pictured to the right on top of the handle looking thing). In the future I would like to get the H5 with all of its options, but for me to get started and not learn anything I decided that this would fill the gap. Also the little lav mic that I picked up for my smartphone works with an adapter with this recorder. So my audio quality is now going up!
Tool number 3 is the handle looking thing. I needed a way to put this all on one rig so that I can record the audio and video at once. It reminds me of a similar handle rig that my dad used with his camera and flash unit when working as a freelance reporter, when I was a kid.
So between the Power Shot and the phone, can do some basic video and audio recording. The next investment is a better computer so that I can edit the video and audio clips together without so much jerky motion or freezing (That happened tonight.). So my wish list grows a bit more.
So what am I doing? Well, I have about 15 years left in the NWS, so I figured that I might as well take a hobby that I really like and see if I can eventually convert it into a second career. So I have been trying to learn all that I can on how to shoot, light, record, and edit properly so that can create artistic pieces of film. I’m liking some documentary for now. We’ll see what God has in store.
