Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Vegemite

By David Ho, LDEO

As Chris mentioned in his blog, life on a ship basically consists of working, sleeping, house of pain, and eating. Breakfast, lunch, dinner are served at 7 am, 11:30 am, and 4:30 pm, respectively. Because we eat dinner so early, those of us who stay up late to sample the 11 pm CTD are usually roaming the ship by about 9 or 10 pm trawling for any edible morsel of food. This search inevitably leads us to the mess.

Since we both sit in the Computer Lab when we work, Pete Strutton (aka Crikey) and I usually go on these missions together. His and my choices for late night snacks are Vegemite and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, respectively. In fact, we use those words interchangeably to signal that it’s snack time.

In a big step for US-Australia relations, Pete has been seen eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch and I had my first (and second) Vegemite sandwich recently. It wasn’t too bad, although Carlos Del Castillo, who tried it a while ago said, “I honestly don’t know how to feel about it”. For those who don’t know what Vegemite is, I refer you to an excellent article I read a few years ago in the New York Times about Marmite (a similar brown substance that the Brits are addicted to). I think this quote from Marmite’s plant manager captures the essence: “Our research shows that if you haven’t been exposed to it by the time you’re 3, it’s unlikely you’ll like it”

Pete Strutton, getting ready for a sugar rush

David Ho, doing his part for US-Australia relations

Dyeing for a Distraction

By Christopher Sabine, NOAA/PMEL

Life at sea can be quite hectic. Operations continue 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no weekends and no holidays. The commute to work is pretty short so it can seem like all we do is work, eat, and sleep (usually much more of the first than the last and way too much of the middle). We are starting our fourth week at sea and we just passed “hump day” (the midpoint of the cruise) a few days ago. It can be a challenge to keep focused for that long so a good distraction can help punctuate the time and remind us that life is more than just CTD casts every 12 hours with patch surveys in between.

Some people read books or play video games to escape; others go down to the house of pain or take in the evening movie to get away. We can also help to mark time by honoring the various holidays or celebrations that pass. For example, it was fun to find the TV room all decorated with green streamers and balloons on St. Patrick’s Day.

For some of us, a welcome event last night was the dyeing of hard boiled eggs in honor of the Easter weekend. A little food coloring, vinegar, hot water and some imagination is all it took to provide a little evening fun and fellowship. All were welcome regardless of religious beliefs. The only challenge was the fact that we only had brown eggs to dye. It seems that most colors, when mixed with brown, make…brown. Oh well, we had fun and it was a welcome distraction before the next CTD cast.

Scientist and crew come together for some easter egg dyeing

Dyed eggs