(comments and questions from e-mail sent by my 5th period physics class) • The weather is cold and dry! Burr- Previn N • -37* C is very cold, hope your staying warm!-eddie, shannon, lauren • You flew on a C-130-Michelle. Kristine • Is it hard to breathe in the high altitude??- Arik, Luca, Sean • What is the largest photo Ball ever made?- ben, Michael, Greg • It looks cold! Hope your having fun!- Julie, Honnere • Did your flight go well?- Jonathan ,Mike R, jack K • We learned that he had to take it easy the first few days because on the altitude.- Ken C, Nick U • Have you gotten sick because of the change in weather?-tatiana ,nick • Neutrinos are incredibly common subatomic particles that have no electric charge and almost no mass.- jay, Daniel and scott

Casey OHara

Hi 5th period! yeah, I am staying warm, my room is inside the main station which is pretty comfortable!
It's very easy for me to get out of breath at this high altitude (about 3000 meters!) I took some altitude sickness medicine which helps to adapt, but it will take about 2 weeks for my body to make enough new red blood cells to be really comfortable at this altitude. But I'm feeling pretty good right now!
The photo balls ("digital optical module" or DOM for short) really don't get much bigger. Really, it's better to use a bunch of them rather than one big one. IceCube will eventually have about 5000 of them embedded into the ice, in a block about 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer by 1 kilometer (a block 10 football fields on each side!)
I actually did get sick this week, probably not because of the change in weather, but just being in contact with so many people - so I came down with a bit of a cold. They call it "the crud" down here - just crappy feeling, runny nose, congested... I'll post about how they try to keep healthy down here in a later journal.
Take care you all! keep reading my posts and posting new questions!
-- Mr. O