It's warm up here.

Those of you living in certain parts of the South are starting to wonder..."what happened to global warming?" I understand that the temperatures in Iqlauit have been higher than in Calgary.

Sunday night it was -25, -43 with the wind chill...and yes I contemplated digging out my parka, but I didn't. It warmed up and today we reached a high of -15. Apparently Calgary and indeed even BC have been getting Arctic temperatures. I laughed at the pictures on the news of the BC folks walking around trying to stay warm. I felt bad for those who had lost electricity, but for those who hadn't....put on a sweater and at least a ball cap before going outside. Walking around in your rain slicker without gloves or hat is just plain foolish.

Oh yes, I know they aren't used to the snow...but come on...you are still living in Canada, unless BC became it's own nation and seperated in the past few months and I missed the news article.

The temperature here in town is rising to around -11 for the rest of the week, which probably means we will get some snow. I'm looking forward to the temperatures dropping again, the sun shines so brightly when it's -35...and I look good in fur!

Sunrise in the Arctic. Taken at about 8:30am Saturday morning.

If you count today, in three days I will no longer be homeless. I move into my new unit on Friday. With temperatures hovering around -20 degrees Celcius this could be the fastest move I've ever made.

For those of you who feel compelled to send Christmas cards (hint, hint) my new post office box address is:

North of Nain (Or my real name!)
PO Box 11328
Iqaluit NU
X0A 1H0

BTW, only 27 shopping days till Christmas!

SOCIABLE!!!!

I had my first sociable in town here last night. It was fun. I went to the Elk's Club....yep, it is as glamourous as it sounds. They had a number of different people playing music...anything from jazz, blues, country, pop, down East and everything in between. The local fitness centre was having a fundraiser/Christmas party and I was asked by a new friend (girlfriend...don't get your hopes up!) to go.

I am so glad I went, not only was the music good and the people nice, I won a door prize. YEAH! Actually, I won a plane ticket. Don't get too excited, it isn't a ticket home for Christmas. It is though a round trip ticket from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung, Qikitarjuaq or Cape Dorset. I am/was so excited. I will use it to fly to Pang this summer to visit with friends and go hiking in the Park again. MM and NM will be so excited when I tell them of my windfall.

So, to all my down East friends, (no matter where you are living), I raise my glass to you...."SOCIABLE!"

I'm back in the North...thank goodness.

I've been up North for 306 days. Can you believe that?

On Saturday night I flew from Iqaluit to Ottawa. I flew down with a friend who happened to be on the same flight and we shared a cab to the hotel. As the taxi drove down the road my friend N and I commented on the pavement and the yellow and white lines. "What are the lines for," I asked. The taxi drive gave us a funny look and then ignored us.

It was a little strange to see all of the lights, cars and people. What seemed even stranger was arriving in St. John's and not seeing snow. Flying into Ottawa it was dark and the landscpae didn't seem different, but in the light of day the lack of snow in St. John's really seemed to be a stark contrast to the white landscape I had left the evening before. That and the almost 25 degree change in temperature.

I enjoyed my time in St. John's. It was great to see a few old friends and to visit some old haunts. Ottawa was also fantastic, but crowded. I went to the food court in a office complex for lunch and ugh...too many people, too much noise. It wasn't the enjoyable noise that Boston was this summer, it was stiffling and just made me want to leave. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved my time out and I'm looking forward to the next time I get out (December), but I just thought it was interesting the differences I noticed...people, noise, etc.

No pictures today. Just a few misplaced ramblings.

These are some of the over 150 pictures that I took last weekend. We seemed to have been right on the cusp of fall/winter. The bay is starting to form ice on cold days, but it disappears when the sun comes out, though the ice is lasting longer and longer each day and forms bigger patches each time.



Last weekend was perfect for a walk outside, the sun was shining and everyone was in good spirits. The park was full of people out walking themselves, walkng dogs and just enjoying the wonderful weather. Oh sure, the wind chill was -17/-24 but who cares, aren't you paying attention, the sun was shining.

The blues in the water reminded me of pictures from caribean vacation brochures. The ice forming below created turquoise coloured patches of water. Darker water sparkled like millions of tiny diamonds and at times it was hard to look directly out into the bay. Sunglasses are a mandatory item in the North year round.



If I was out today taking pictures you'd see more snow, less rock and I suspect more ice. I haven't had a chance to hike this week, maybe tomorrow I'll take the dogs for another hike.





Looking down from above. While not mountains, the hills can have wonderful drop offs with views that take ones breath away.

You can see how as the tide comes in the layers of ice start to form slowly, building up over time. In this picture you can see how the ice forms and high and low tides. It is really interesting to look at up close. If you aren't willing to come up you will have to take my work for it.









The building in the center...blue/green is my new apartment building. The one I am not patiently waiting to move into December 1. This is looking back at the building from across the bay. Ordered furniture today. Remember the good old days when you could walk into a show room and have the couch delivered that day? I do. Now though I flip through a catalogue, get quotes on shipping, weigh pros and cons of real wood vs particle board, resale value and then order furniture. At least they deliver.


Running out of words tonight. Enjoy the pics.
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North of Nain is heading South for a few days. My new job is taking me to St. John's and Ottawa for the week. YEAH!!!! I am super excited...not only for the shopping, but the food and the cheap prices! Imagine being able to order a full meal for under $10.00. I can't buy lunch here in town for less than $15...and that's not quite the same as a Spicy Chicken. I am renting a car in St. John's and am SUPER excited to once again be able to drive over 50km/h.

It's the little things you take for granted. Yes, there will likely be a pair or two of shoes/boots in my suitcase on the way back...I admit it, I'm weak.

Good and Bad...


I took a ton of pictures this weekend to share with you. Unfortunately the blogger site has upgraded. I upgraded. The picture program I used is not compatible with the new upgrade...so it might be a while before I figure out this whole thing...hang in there. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I hit 3000 viewers of my blog over the weekend and over 5000 individual pages viewed. Thanks mom and dad for viewing the blog at least ten times a day...you've helped keep my numbers up. I started keeping track of hits in March and I'm constantly amazed by the number of people viewing the site and where they live. Thanks.

It's lunch time on Thursday, November 9, 2006. I've just finished gobbling down some soup and am contemplating dessert. I went to the store this am for a break time snack and purchased a veggie tray for $9.99. It contains more than enough veggies to feed me for days....but I did pause for a minute to think about how much I really wanted it.

The store is starting to fill up with Christmas decorations and gifts. You know the pre-wrapped stuff that you buy for people you don't know really well. Christmas seems a long way off at this point but I'm sure that it really isn't. Luckily I did most of my Christmas shopping in Pang. So while the gifts won't be surprises at least they will be unique.

My elves are busy procuring Southern treats for my Northern friends...and they have a long list. Elves are located in Newfoundland, Alberta and PEI. Hey, even Santa has help.

My friend L gets a real Christmas tree every year. Apparently they run around $70. Ouch. I am debating how badly I want the scent of pine in my home over the holidays, maybe I should just buy an air freshner and hang it off the inflatable tree I bought in Paris last Christmas.

View from where I am currently staying

So there are some benefits to having less hours of daylight. I am up every day for the sunrise and I get to see the sunset every day. some of you may not see that as a positive, but I am trying to do it that way...it helps. The sunlight can play funny tricks on you. In the summer I could work until really late and think it was only the middle of the afternoon. Now I'm at work and once the sun goes down just after 3pm, I'm ready to call it a day. I want to have supper as soon as I get home...cause it's been dark for a couple hours, where normally I would eat around 7pm. I can only fear for my productivity over the next few weeks.

This sunrise photo was taken Sunday morning. And technically it wasn't sunrise, it was taken around 9:30 or 10am during Coronation Street. The weekend was filled with great weather and some chores...check it out


Out getting sand for L's drive way. Yes, perhaps we should have done this a month ago before the ground froze, but we were having scheduling conflicts. And I didn't want to get the truck dirty...lol. Now the truck has been fully broken in so a gathering sand we did go.


The white hills became whiter over the past couple of days as the snow continues to come. Tonight there was an actual accumulation on the road and on the truck when I left work. This photo was taken out at the end of the Road to Nowhere. They collect gravel and sand from this area for the city, so it was the perfect place to collect a bed load for L to use at her house over the next few months. And it's free!


No Tiggie, into the truck...not out of the truck.

Oh well. The dogs had a wonderful time, running around, climbing the hills and generally making a pain of themselves.


Our helper. Isn't he cute?

He didn't dig the hole. I did. The outer six inches or so of sand is frozen so it was easier to make a hole and dig into it where the sand is still soft and not-frozen. The plan was working well until the dogs decided that we were digging the holes for them. But they are so darn cute it's hard to stay mad at them.


Aren't they sweet?

Meet two of my new roomies. Tiggie is sitting and Kulu is laying down. I'm staying at my friend L's house. She was kind enough to take me in for the month of November. She has two dogs and a paying roommate so I'm grateful to have the spare room...complete with laundry center...I mean gym equipment. My apartment is not available until December 1 and L was kind enough to take me in during the month I would otherwise have been homeless. For those of you wondering why I just didn't stay in a hotel...well, the cost would be around $1400 a WEEK. So that wasn't really an option.

Housing is hard to come by up here. There is a 0% vacancy rate. While the Government provides housing with some of it's positions, for those advertised without it can be very hard to fill with candidates from outside the city as many people may not find a place to live for months. This is not a problem in most of the smaller communities.
In Pang I lived in a two bedroom unit, in Iqaluit I'm lucky to moving into a one-bedroom unit instead of a bachelor pad.

In discussion with a friend from back home tonight we determined that for the same amount of rent in Charlottetown I'd have a 4 bedroom unit on the waterfront in a building that had a pool and a few other amenities. I'm just excited that my new apartment will have a dishwasher!

The weather forcast for tomorrow (Tuesday) is calling for "periods of snow and blizzard" followed in the evening by "near blizzard"....do I hear snow day? For those of you who think that we must get lots of snow days...read this....

Taken from the GN HR Manual....
People living in Arctic conditions can expect to work or come to work in
bad weather conditions....

...Consideration will be given to closing government offices in any
community if a combination of any three of the following occur in a normal
workday:
(1) Visibility is less than 200 meters;
(2) The constant wind speed exceeds 60 miles per hour;
(3) There is a wind chill index of –50 degrees Centigrade or greater;
(4) The municipality has taken its road clearing machinery off the road;
(5) Taxis or other transportation systems have given 1-hour notice of
going off the road.

Notice the word CONSIDERATION...not definitely, not absolutely...but CONSIDERATION...if any three of those factors are involved. Keep in mind a wind chill index of -50 isn't hard to get when the temps can be at -40 on a nice sunny day.

At least in my new job...I'm the boss. So I can make the call on when the office closes. Hmmmm. Did I say snow day?

Maybe it was the fact that is was Friday and I was in a good mood, or maybe it's because I live in the North, either way I sat and laughed for about five minutes yesterday morning when I got to work.

There is an apartment on the top floor of the building I work in. They have a truck. Like most trucks/cars/vehicles in town you can write stuff in the dirt. I pulled in beside the truck Friday morning and it said "I wish my wife was this dirty" Maybe you don't find it amusing, but I certainly did.

It's been a busy week so no new pictures at the moment. The snow is arriving slowly. Every morning there is a little bit more white and a little less brown...but we have a long way to go. It seems to snow all day, but they are tiny flakes that the sun shines between and around so it is a nice view instead of being all grey and blah.

I have said and will keep saying, I do not for a minute regret taking my new job. Sure, it has only been 5 days...but I'm feeling good about it.

I'm at my friend L's house now. If you want to call me get in touch with my mom and dad they have the number.

I hope to take some more pictures over the weekend so hopefully Monday when most of you are reading this again you will get to see Iqaluit as it enters winter.

Sunrise 7:23am
Sunset 3:12pm

Yep...3:12pm

The days are getting shorter by 7 minutes per day or 44 minutes of less daylight by the end of the next week. In Charlottetown by comparison you are getting 3 minutes less per day and by next week will only be down by 19 minutes.

Check it out for yourself and if you want, check out where you live...
http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/iqaluit.html

Moving...again.

No, I'm not really moving again, but I am in the middle of the first of two moves related to my new job. I've been taking my time and doing it bit by bit. Don't want to abuse friendships too much especially considering there will be more moving in early December.

What are you doing for Halloween in 2007? Why not come to Iqaluit? I can't promise it will be as amazing as last night, but there is a good chance it will be. The Northern Lights were on display the whole evening. I think they are a magical thing that appears in the sky so to have them show up for Halloween when mystical creatures roam the earth seems fitting. Yes for all of you out there wanting to ruin the experience I know what the NL's really are and how the sun spots...blah blah blah...Leave me in peace. They are a magical thing and sometimes we dance together.

I looked out the office window at 3:10pm today and noticed that the sun had started to set. Thank you day light savings. At least during the hours of daylight we do have the sun has been shining. If I can make it to December 22 I can make it forever, for those of you who don't know, that is when the days start getting longer again.

I was listening to CBC-Charlottetown today..yeah! First time since I moved North that I can have the radio on in my office all day...and he was talking about the dreaded 'S' word...snow. Well, if you get some, send it up. We really don't have anything. The ground is basically brown and grey with flecks of white. The rivers have just about finished freezing over and all the ponds have at least frozen on the top, but we don't have snow. Today is November 1...there are a lot of skidoo owners who are starting to really believe in this global warming issue. I would really laugh if PEI gets a lot of snow before me.

Waiting to take out my parka...J.