I don't know what the dollars-persquare- foot construction cost is down here, but it's plenty. "Down here" is McMurdo Station, Antarctica, where I've spent the past two Antarctic summers working in the station's construction supply department. A large part of the job is breaking down shipping containers full of stuff and repacking it into crates, which we build on site from dimension lumber and plywood. It's something like refilling the bins at a gigantic outdoor hardware store. The smallest task can blossom into a grueling test of endurance, and the winds that come screaming off the polar plateau have a way of getting your attention. I've seen the wind send full 55-gallon drums rumbling around like deranged rolling pins, and
