Well folks...I'm back. Almost.

Thanks to modern convience and all that I am sitting in the airport in TO sipping a chai from Starbucks, listening to my ipod and surfing the net. Does life get any better than this? Likely not.

My Habitat conference was terrific. The people were terrific and awe-inspiring and just plain great to be with. I am grateful I was able to attend. I have so many ideas running through my head regarding Habitat and what I can do...and well, I also started day dreaming about what role (read position of employment) I could take on when I am ready to move South. I'm not gunning for David's job, but a nice ED somewhere would sit well.

Anyway. It was great and I suggest everyone get involved with Habitat in your community. I have added some photos from the dedication of our house in Iqaluit. I was unfortunately not there for it (work obligations out of territory) but it doesn't matter, I know the family is happy to be moving in and happy to own their own home and frankly, watching people give speeches isn't nearly as moving as driving by and seeing lights on in the house and knowing they are enjoying their space.

My travel has been uneventful. I have made all connections and no luggage has been lost. Surely I have just jinxed myself as I sit in an airport saying all is well. I still have two flight segments and two possible chances of losing luggage ahead of me.

I am looking forward to getting home to my fish, my shoes and my bed. I have two 'events' that I get to wear fun shoes to this week and am anxious to show them off.


The Board at the dedication ceremony...minus a few bodies and Pau the homeowner ( front right).


The finished house as it looked November 17, 2007

Ok, North of Nain is hitting the skies again. This time tomorrow night I will be on an airplane headed for Ottawa. This time Saturday night I will be in St. John's, Newfoundland. I am scheduled to be in Toronto for a couple days next week and then Missisauga for a Habitat conference at the end of the week...but things are changing.

I have the passport people to thank for that. Or rather not thank.

All of the students that pass through my doors need passports. Gotta have them for work. It has become the hardest part of my job...getting them passports. Not just my job, everyone in the office actually. Up until recently they (Passport Canada) had set rules and definitions of who could be a guarantor. The problem was usually the two year minimum. In order to be a guarantor you needed to be one of these set people and have known the applicant for two years. Anyone living and working in the North is aware that having people around for two years is hard. RCMP qualified as guarantors, but RCMP are generally only posted for two years in any one community...so they were usually out. Mayors often worked and sometimes the principal, but finding a lawyer, judge, doctor, etc in small communities in Nunavut is next to impossible.

In their infinite wisdom, passport Canada has changed the rules. Anyone who now has a passport and has known the person for two years can be a guarantor. Oh sure, it might seem simple now...but it's not. Most people in Nunavut don't have a bank account, a photo id or a drivers licence and now suddenly they are expected to know someone who has a passport. They have just made my life at least 10X harder.

But you say what about the form you can fill out in Lieu of a Guarantor? Read on...
The complication is now they will have to sign form PPTC132 (Declaration in Lieu of a Guarantor) in front of an authorized person at a passport office and there will be additional costs. This form is only available at a passport office and not online or from the local service Canada office. This means a visit in person to a passport office. The closest one to those of us in Nunavut is Ottawa!! A short 3 hour, $1500 flight away.

While this set of students are in St. John's we were hoping they could apply for emergency passports and get them ASAP. Because of this new form I will now need to stay in St. John's for an extra day or two to escort the students to the passport office and stand in line with them while we try to conquer the RED TAPE that is passport Canada. The students all speak English, but their comprehension is sometimes questionable which is why I will need to stay and help out...or they will never get them finished.

So thank you passport Canada...I may now not get to the Indian Consulate to get my Visa for my trip in February...aauugghh. Scheduling back at the office is tight, my arrival back in Iqaluit was the same day the guys are scheduled to fly out to the Kivaliq region...and if I don't make it back the office is empty...and we still have two courses on...so that won't work. Sigh.

I know I will get it all worked out, but the whole thing is giving me a headache.

While some of you have started singing Christmas carols and the first snowfall or two of the year has put you in a jolly frame of mind. My mood is quickly deteriorating. The whole office, yep, all three of us, have been having the effects of SAD the past couple of weeks. And who can blame us? The sun rises after I do and it sets before the afternoon is even half over. Yes, it is the curse we face for having wonderful long sunny days all summer long.

This afternoon at 3:16pm I contemplated closing the office. I was in a slump and couldn't seem to focus. I pushed through and actually stayed late, but it was a rough afternoon...and it's only going to continue for another month. December 22 is the day I am anxiously awaiting. The day when we start getting more daylight minutes again instead of the present losing battle I am fighting. I do not remember the battle being this tough last year. Oddly enough a friend of mine who actually suffers from depression is having a better go of it this fall than last. That of course could be due to her present happy relationship status and not the weather.

Don't panic, I'm not going to go off the deep end, though jumping into a pool sounds like fun! I just thought you should know that not every day in the North is a bright cheery happy go lucky kind of day.

I've been trying extra hard lately to do things and keep active...so what have I done...well, we started with the cardboard boat race..see pics below, have had a friend over to watch movies (and btw, I have now officially watched ALL the James Bond movies at least once. Bond. James Bond.) I have a major craft project that I need to embark on to get ready for the gala ball on December 1...not to mention trying to find a date! I went to a coffee house Saturday night (not a coffee shop) a night of home grown entertainment with all proceeds going to the local Grade 11 French classes fundraising trip to Paris. I've been going out with friends more, even a couple of drinks at the bar on a Thursday night are good. Dinner with friends out and in...lots of stuff. Heck, I even purged and re-organized my apartment on the long weekend. I'm staying active...maybe not workout at the gym active, but I'm keeping busy.

Here's a few pics from the cardboard boat race, a couple of pics of the area in the park out by the water falls...and me! And no, I'm not really as mad as I look in the picture.

Death seems to be surrounding me lately. None of the deaths are close friends, but the deaths of those around me. Yesterday's shooting of an RCMP officer in Kimmirut was devestating to all of us living in Nunavut.

The move yesterday to join hands around the barracks here in Iqaluit was very moving. I was not there for it, I was helping out with the cardboard boat races...which may seem silly to some, but I think it was the place to be. If events like these races somehow spark a thought in the mind of one of the students that they would like to train to be (insert career here)and they are able to leave behind a life of drinking, drugs and abuse then I think my afternoon at the races was well spent.

I mourn for the officer. I mourn for his family. I mourn for the community who will be devestated on so many levels, the loss of an officer and the loss of a community member who will now be sent to jail, and his family.

And I mourn for those of us still living in the North who will need to speak louder when we talk about how wonderful and gentle life in the North really can be.

Yep, it's offical, the cold temperatures have arrived. I stepped outside this morning to find -35 windchills blowing through town. Which just serves as a reminder that I need to start checking the temps before leaving the house from now on. (And lets not forget that it is verging on plug in time for the truck. I did tonight...mostly due to the number of very short trips I took today with no warm up time for the truck...it's reward...electricity!)

While -35 is definitely parka weather, I'm going to hold off a little longer. I prefer to only drag out the parka when the pre-windchill temp hits -20 or colder and todays temp was only -14 if you could find a sheltered spot out of the wind.

So thanks to the time change sunrise today was 7:27am and sunset was at 3:08pm. Keep in mind that we lose six minutes a day for the next two months. This afternoon seemed harder than last week, I guess knowing at 4:30pm that the sun is setting and the end of the work day is close is much easier than knowing that your afternoon coffee break and sunset happen at the same time.

Give me a week and I'll be used to it, but this is the first week that I must truly acknowledge that fall/winter has arrived.

BTW, went to a hockey game last night. MLA's vs Firefighters. The firefighters kicked some serious political butt...and actually I don't think anyone in the very small audience was cheering them on. Go firefighters!!!

The inconvience of convience stores.

While living in the 8-storey has turned out to be great, restaurant, movies and bar all within the same building as I live...the convience of modern day living.

The inconvience would be this am when I decided I was too lazy to go out and do shopping so I just went downstairs and bought a bag of frozen peas at the convience store for the inconvient price of $8.39.

American Exchange rate

As you may recall I was in the US in late September. I made a couple of purchases and was very impressed to think that I was getting even dollars for my Cdn cash. But I got an even better deal than I expected on one purchase...free.

I decided I wanted to buy a new suit. True, I don't have much opportunity to wear suits in Nunavut, but I still figured I would get a chance. I went to M in Portland and found myself in the hands of a very helpful associate. He showed me a few suits, we talked, we laughed, he rung up my purchase, gave me a discount coupon for my next M purchase and away I went.

That night at the hotel I went to organize my recipts and couldn't find the one from my suit, nor could I find the tags on the suit. Huh...isn't that funny I thought. Well, here we are about 5 weeks later and I still haven't been charged on my visa for the suit. Not sure what happened but I can't really go back to the store and demand to pay for it. Guess the Cdn dollar is going farther than expected for me. Thanks anonymous sales associate.

A good news story that made it to PEI CBC but not Nunavut...guess we don't like to brag, but check out who beat PEI in Charitable donation...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2007/11/02/charity-stats.html

There was an expiry date on my bag of popcorn...does popcorn go bad? I ate the popcorn even though it expired in April. Will I have food poisoning? Should I call the emergency department now? Or wait for the symptoms? Do I throw the rest out? Or eat it anyway?

Oh the agony of the decision. Maybe I'll eat more...just to see what happens.