A Trip to the Dome

So in this post I am going to describe the process I go thorough each time I go out to the dome to get an item of food.
Step one: check list in the kitchen to see what the cooks have requested/need. This list tells me what item someone needs, how much they need, and when they need it by.
Step two: look up the items specific stock number and its location (aisle and shelf number) inside the dome. Create the “grocery list”.
Step 3: I get dressed for going outside (see previous post to see what I wear!)
Step 4: I grab my cart, roll it down the hallway out into the “beer can”, and load it in to the elevator

Step 5: Next, I go down the beer can, call the elevator down, and unload my cart at the bottom

Step 6: Then I push my cart through the tunnel into the LO (logistics facility), and leave the cart by the door that goes outside.

Step 7: When I open said door I often find snow drifts in my way. If I am feeling motivated I shovel the snow drift away to make a path…when feeling lazy I just climb over the snow drift (although sometimes the drift is over 7ft tall in which case I get someone with a dozer to come move it away for me)

Step 8: After I get over the drift I walk out over to the dome, open the doors, turn on the lights
Step 9: I grab a sled and drag it around to the various shelf locations that I need to go to, grab what I want from the shelves and load up my sled.

Step 10: Once I have everything I need, I pull the sled outside of the dome, turn off the lights, close the doors, and drag my sled full of goodies back to my cart in the LO.

The picture on the left shows the the open space in the center of the dome, and the doors. i pull the sled through the doors out into the space seen in the picture on the right. its hard to see but you can just make out the arches of the LO in the photo on the right.

Step 11: Once back inside the LO I unload the items from my sled onto my cart, close the door in the LO, and push my cart back down the tunnel and into the elevator. The pictures below show my sled as i pull it back into the LO and once its loaded back in the elevator.
Step 12: Then I get to climb the 92 steps back up the beer can. No matter how many times you climb these 92 steps it kicks your butt every time! There are sometimes notes of encouragment written on the stairs in the beer can (see picture below!)
Step 13: Once back at the top of the beer can, I call the elevator back upstairs, pull my cart out of the elevator, and push it back through the giant freezer doors into the station through the hallway until I get to its resting place outside the galley.
Step 14: Then I warm my hands and body up because by this point I am cold. Once warm I take off about 4 layers of clothing, put the food items away where they belong and finally I go back to my office and “issue” all the items I just brought up from the dome out of the inventory so we can keep track of how much stuff we have.

So the whole process of going to the dome and getting food itmes can take a varrying amount of time depending on how much stuff i am getting, what i am getting, and how cold it is! the colder it is outside that day, the faster I move when i am in the dome. I do "food pull" everyother week where i put together a whole order of stuff from the cooks to fill the stations needs for a couple weeks. If the cooks are really good about anticipating their needs for 2 weeks at a time i don't have to make too many random runs to the dome...BUT sometimes the cooks are not great about this and forget to order some things, thus sending me on trips to teh dome every few days. but I enjoy the trips to the dome, and i find it pretty peaceful to be in the dome by myself at times.