Job, and another idea

I haven't heard anything about that job I applied for. I'm not really sure how long it takes; I've never applied for a job before. Do you always have to just sit and wait? I hate waiting. Maybe job-hunting isn't for me. Anyway, I talked to my Dad about it and he gave me another idea to think about: my own expedition!

It would be a small one, and really pretty much just practice for me, but I could use one of the other vessels my family's foundation owns, set up a goal, do all the planning, then really go, and I'd be in charge of it.

This sounds pretty good too. It wouldn't be as completely new as having a job, but I've never been in charge of an expedition. My first idea was maybe it would be a solo expedition. Maybe I could go back to the southern hemisphere and be the first person to climb Brown Peak on Sturge Island. I could even contact Rand and get him to stash my knife where I could find it!

Cool

I got in contact with Rand, the guy who found my pocketknife. I can't believe somebody found it after all these years. I also can't believe anybody is on Sturge Island. He wouldn't say what he's doing there, but he's probably doing some kind of research. There's nothing else to do there that I know of.

He said he'd keep the knife for me, and if we ever meet -- or if we both have permanent addresses -- he'll give it to me. That would be cool; it was a nice knife! Of course, I was just 14 at the time.

I wonder if Rand finds Sturge Island as spooky as I thought it was. Probably not; must have been a phase I was going through.

One more spooky thing though. I told my parents the news, and my Mom thinks she might have heard of this Rand guy. She can't place where, though. (That almost proves he's doing research; I don't think my parents know any other kinds of people :-)

Coincidence?

This is weird. I checked back on the blog I mentioned before, about Norene Byrnes, and there's a new comment addressed to me! I think this guy found my pocketknife on Sturge Island! What are the chances.

The other thing is that I read his blog, and w00t! Something weird indeed. And I thought the stuff my family does was strange.

Possible Job

I've had a pretty unusual life; grew up on a boat, home schooled by PhD researchers, and I've been to some remote places. But what's making me really nervous is that I hope to find out soon about my first real job! I found the Smyth Institute online, and they have an email for job applicants. They seem to be all about Antarctica, and I practically grew up there, so I emailed them. And I heard back! I don't even really know what kind of job I might get, but I'm pretty good at diving and working in super-cold environments, so probably something along those lines.

I've never heard of the Smyth Institute before, but I figured hardly anybody knows about my family's research foundation either, so I don't see any problem there.

They say one of their teams is building a telescope at the South Pole! That's where the Amundsen-Scott station is, so the telescope must be going to be there. I've circumnavigated Antarctica but I've never been very far into the interior. It would be the coolest thing to visit the pole!

My Dad thinks it's a great idea for me to branch out on my own. My Mom isn't so happy about the idea, and she said she's not sure about the Institute, but I figure that's the way moms are supposed to act, right? Anyway, I hope I hear soon.

Antarctica to Greenland 2004-2008

I've posted some more Google Earth placemarks about voyaging from Antarctica to Greenland. We took a long time to do that; from 2004 to 2008. Along the way we visited Madagascar, Egypt, and even my family's habitat at seamount Alix. And I got qualified in piloting our submersible, I lived in the habitat for a few months, and helped find some artifacts from totally ancient civilizations -- way older than you've ever heard of.

My parents also made a couple of finds that were really important, I think. At least they were important enough that I wasn't even supposed to know about them (but I did :-). I knew they were important when one of the other research ships owned by my family's foundation showed up: the Deception. I don't know that much about it, but it's way bigger than the Scopritore IV. It always shows up out of nowhere; I usually wake up in the morning and there it is, off the starboard side.

Anyway, I hope you like my new placemarks. I think I might have mixed up some of them between the two sets. My new idea is to make a tour so I can even say more about the places I've been; I'll post about it here if I can figure it out.

Weird Comments

I found a blog -- well, not really a blog so much as a single page -- about somebody I think my mother knew before I was born. At least she mentioned this name, or I think she did. The name is Norene Byrnes. The blog page doesn't really say very much about her.

The weird thing, though, is the comments. Not sure what's going on there, but I noticed that a couple of them are coordinates. The coordinates are to a place I've actually visited! They're to a set of islands near Antarctica, the Balleny Islands. Really remote, and pretty icy and rugged. They're volcanic, and because of my mom and dad's research I've been around lots of volcanoes, both active and dormant. Anyway, I remember the biggest of the Balleny's, Sturge Island, because when I was a kid I was on the island. It was probably because I was just a kid, but that island gave me the spookiest feeling I ever had. And even worse I lost my best pocketknife when I was hiking there. There probably haven't been 50 people there ever, so my pocketknife is probably lost forever, even though it had my name on it.

I don't know what the comments are about; maybe somebody can figure it out.

Ben's Antarctic Years

I kind of grew up in Antarctica. Or around Antarctica. From 1999, when I was 13, until I was 18, we were on a research cruise all around Antarctica. And I really mean all around it; we circumnavigated the whole continent. It was an amazing way to grow up, and I learned a huge amount. On the other hand, I didn't very often get to be around anybody my own age.

Take a look at these Google Earth placemarks that show some of the places that were the most memorable for me. To open them you'll need Google Earth. It's just a folder full of placemarkers with my notes; it's not a real tour or anything like that.

When you see some of the places, Google Earth will show you photos and other info that people have posted. No photos from me; everybody on the Scopritore IV is always very careful about photos because there's so much secret stuff around.

Hope you enjoy it.