Its official.  I'm leaving the South Pole on Friday December 18th.  I'm scheduled to spend one night in McMurdo, then fly to Christchurch on December 19th, before flying back to the US on December 20th.  If all goes well, I should arrive in Chicago sometime in the morning of December 20th.  One caveat, is that delays leaving Antarctica are not uncommon due to weather.  Delays are so common that they dont actually book your commercial international flight before you are actually off Antarctica, even if it means only ~1 day advance booking.  Several day delays are not uncommon, John Ruhl was delayed two extra days in McMurdo on his way out and currently Bill has been stuck in Christchurch for two extra days.  So I will have to keep everyone posted if there are any weather related delays, but barring anything crazy I should still make it back to the US at least a few days before Xmas.  Abby is leaving with me, so I will at least have someone to hang out with if we are delayed awkwardly in either McMurdo or Christchurch.

I dont really have any pictures, except to say we are planning to have the 3rd annual SPT Ladies Night on Thursday, the day before I leave.  In the end, I figured we would have a going away party anyway and Abby missed Ladies Night last year, so we might as well have it then, even if its earlier than the previous two years.  I anticipate it will be a fun event again this year, its gained a good reputation on station as a fun party, I know alot of people look forward to it, and its a nice way to give people on station an opportunity to come out and see the telescope, which many of them dont get to for most of the season (the dark sector is technically off limits to most people here). 

(I cant get this image to rotate, so you will have to use your imagination)