Won't let me go

Small steps.

Now that the weather is a bit more humane I've been able to go running without fear of losing appendages, limbs or life.  On my most recent runs I've had the pleasure of being accompanied by my neighbour's dog.  I'm not positive but I think her name is Bow Wow (though she shows no recognition to the name).  After the run I let her in (or rather she let herself in) for some peanut butter on crackers.  I've since bought some dog biscuits but she's now chained up and unlikely to be joining me on my runs.  It's actually a good thing that she's tied up but I'll miss her company all the same.

This is just a shot of the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk.  I managed to get a ride when I came back up north from a week in Halifax for M's sister's wedding.  This was my third time on the ice road and the novelty still hasn't worn off.  It may look kind of bleak but there's a distinct beauty in the serenity of the land.  Plus, there's something about it that inspires feelings of being an intrepid explorer. I think even Robert Peary would find the drive exciting, and not just because he'd be in a vehicle that hadn't been invented when he was alive.

Space rock

It was the week of blizzards up in the land of ice and snow.  Fortunately the hamlet never lost power or phone/internet so it was a pretty ideal situation for a snow day (or two).

I do love the sunsets up here.  It's possible to see two pingos in the distance.

 This is actually a giant snow drift.

The wind is pretty serious about making snow drifts.  Some places barely have any snow, usually places that don't require snow removal.

 Snow bike

 Can you find a boat in this picture?

A local resident building an igloo (possibly for an igloo building contest).   

Nothing remarkable - I just like the shot.

I took this during the more easy-going 2nd blizzard of of the week. 

I had to bring a shovel and dig my way to work after the 1st blizzard.

These guys had to dig more.

Snow day

I put together a little video of the recent blizzard in Tuk.  The photo quality always gets degraded in iPhoto but it still gives a good glimpse of the storm (that's still going).
*Double click the video to see it full-screen mode otherwise parts of the images are cut off.

Everything at once

Fortunately I was in far better shape on Jan 01, 2012 than on the same day one year ago.  The previous night did not see me breaking my glasses (which I'm still mad at myself for) and at no point did I roll around on the floor like some sort of drunken larva.  Consequently I'd say that this year is off to a better start.  This is not to say that 2011 was a bad year- far from it.  And so, without further adieu, I present to you the best (and worst) of 2011.

Best movie:

Another Earth - Just as the title implies another earth appears not far from our own.
Runner Up:

Blue Valentine- A pitch perfect story about a couple's crumbling marriage.

Best non-movie that did not come out in 2011: 

Dr. Horrible's Evil Sing-Along:  Thank you netflix!  It's a musical about an aspiring evil super villain (Neil Patrick Harris), his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) and shared loved interest Penny (the always watchable Felicia Day).  It reminded me of Soon I will be Invincible by Austin Grossman but with songs and more emotion.

Best book:

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma: This novel is a combination of historical fiction and science fiction though with less emphasis on the latter.  The protagonist of the story is none another than H.G Wells (author of The Time Machine) and, I'm going out on a limb, by saying the omniscient narrator is Time itself.  I can't say much more about the book because it would be easy to spoil something and that would be streets behind.

Best TV show:

Breaking Bad: Season 1 -An overqualified high school chemistry teacher gets diagnosed with cancer and decides to start making crystal meth in order to make enough money to leave something behind for his family.    Season 4 - A loathsome meth producer will stop at nothing to get what he wants.  Okay so clearly I'm not suited to write promos for tv shows and I'm really oversimplifying things but watching the moral descent of Walter White (aka Heisenberg) has been some of the most riveting TV I've ever experienced.

Best music:

Purr by Dance Hall Crashers - Is it 1999 you ask?  No, but that's the awesome power of DHC.

Best more recent music that I haven't been listening to for the past 11 years:

Cape Dory by Tennis - It was Capital M who came across this husband wife duo.  It's mellow but surfy and entirely reflective of a year spent sailing (or so I would imagine).  Check out the album's title track if interested.

In Light by Givers - Maybe there's something about living up north that makes me want stuff that sounds like summer. The Givers are from Louisiana and it's hard not feel a little bit warm and dancey (or a lot) when listening to their stuff.  I'd recommend starting off with "Ceiling of Plankton."

Worst Christmas CD (maybe ever): 

A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him:  Tinny, hollow and totally devoid of any Christmas cheer.  Definitely not recommended for men or woman living far away from their loved ones.

Best use for a hair dryer that doesn't involve hair:  

#1 Some days I don't have hot water.  The exceedingly cold weather freezes the hot water pipe and I'm left with a state of matter that comes close to being a Bose-Einstein condensate.  The solution is take a hair dryer, put it on Max Power, and point it at two holes drilled strategically behind the toilet.  Give it ten minutes and, voila, the hot water is back.  

#2 Due to lack of student interest I took it upon myself to cook the turkey for our Christmas party. I've made turkeys before so I knew what I was getting into.  However,  I was not expecting the turkey to be almost completely frozen six hours before it was due to be served.  Out came the hair dryer to the rescue.  I had to leave the dryer in a place I'd rather not mention while I went back to the school to teach an afternoon class.  By the time I came back the turkey was thawed enough to at least take out the neck and giblets.  The important part of this story is that no one (that I'm aware of) got food poisoning from the meal that was served an hour and half later than intended.

Best Christmas present (for running up north):

The Extreme Run Jacket from the Running Room.  It doesn't stop the locals from laughing at me as I plod past them but it certainly keeps me warm.  'Nuff said.

Best pre-wedding moment:

#1 It wasn't that M and I hadn't thought long and hard about what song we would use for her walk down the aisle but it wasn't until a day before the wedding that we finally committed.  We were driving in our rental car heading towards the wedding site while, somewhat desperately, shuffling through the music on my (awesome) laptop.  We settled on something from Amelie's soundtrack that ended up working really well for the big moment.  Thank you Pressure for helping two indecisive people make a decision.

(Photo taken by S. Curry) - I think the scenery also helped

#2 Seeing one of my oldest and closest friends.  Time and distance have severely limited the the contact we've had but whenever we get together it's as if we just saw each other the day before.

Best moment of 2011:

Honourable mention:
Jeff and Danielle's wedding in The Bahamas.  The weather was perfect, the people were great and the dancing - well, you can judge for yourself:

(I love this photo of M)

Thanks as always to everyone who puts up with my intermittent posts.  I wish us all a wonderful 2012.

Ps - I've added three pop culture references to this post.  Can you find them?  Good luck.

Another Sunday - another video.  You can watch from YouTube directly; it will let you watch it full screen mode.

Here are the photos from the video.  Plus - I hope hosting the video on You Tube will actually make it playable.

Scared you to death

I have a new MacBook Pro.  Rather than do what I was supposed to doing this Sunday I made a video for my blog.  It may not stay up for very long.  Also, I apologize in advance for the rough transitions in music and video editing.  Lastly, I'd recommend watching the video on You Tube rather than blogger as you can make the screen size bigger.

The music went unplayed

The memory card for my camera seems to have enrolled in a witness protection program or something.  My camera keeps telling me that the card is protected; I just need to ask it a few questions so I can finally crack this case (ha ha).  So for now there will be no pictures posted.  It's like wasiata.blogspot.com from 2005, when digital cameras were well beyond the means of a guy who spent about 6 years longer in university then he should have.  Wow - I'm listening to Tasmin Archer sing 'Sleeping Satellite' and I can't really understand what I liked about it so much when it first played on the radio.  Oh - there we go - it's the end part that I like (though maybe not as much as I used to).
Okay - enough with the stream of consciousness - I came here for a reason.
Life in Tuk
First up - a potentially heart breaking story.  Every morning I walk by a dog that's tied up beside the shell of a building (the same one I hid my sunglasses in).  The dog has absolutely no shelter from the rain, snow, wind or whatever else  nature might throw at it.  He's always curled up in a tight ball when I walk by in the morning and in the same position when I walk by at night.  It's hard to look in his direction and the weather hasn't dipped much below zero.  Today I noticed that someone had moved an old jacket, or blanket, for him to lay on.  I really hope it's enough.
Next - a lesson in etiquette.  Whenever there's a funeral the local stores close for a few hours.  I guess the Learning Centre does the same thing?
Lastly, a lesson in word choice.  Don't tell students you're going to get harder (with regards to marking as time goes on). The context will be overlooked.

Work so hard

Tomorrow's a little too close for comfort so I'll keep this brief.  Here's a smattering of photos I've taken in Tuk the past couple of weeks:

   

 I don't think this old log and I are all that different. 

One day, if pizza delivery is ever available up here, I'll be glad I took this picture.

There are enough of these fluffy seeds around for me to mistakenly think it had snowed last night.

Look the other way

It's been three weeks since I left Toronto.  For one one those weeks I was in Inuvik for some professional development training.

One of the evening activities for the staff was a boat trip up the Mackenzie river to Reindeer Station.  Here's the write up I was given by my supervisor:

Reindeer Station was established in 1932 as the headquarters of the Reindeer Project which introduced reindeer farming into northern Canada.

Lack of caribou in the coastal area prompted the Government of Canada to herd 3,442 reindeer from Alaska to provide a supplemental food source for the Inuvialuit.

Led by Sami, or Laplanders, the 1,500 mile "Great Trek," initially expected to take 18 months, stretched into a 5-year journey beset with perils of severe weather, high mountain ranges, supply shortages, wolves and other predators.  In 1935, the surviving herd of 2,382 arrived in Kittigazuit, NT.  The Laplanders stayed to teach the Inuvialuit how to look after the reindeer herd.

During its heyday, Reindeer station had a population of 90-mainly herders and their families.  It was a self-sustaining community with its own post office, generating plant, school, church and Hudson's Bay trading post.  Situated about 30 miles down river from Inuvik on the Mackenzie River's East Channel, it also served as a supply centre for trappers operating in the area.

Due to a short season for vegetation growth, movement of the herd closer to winter range, and introduction of modern herding techniques, employment opportunities diminished and the population of Reindeer Station dropped drastically.

In 1969 Reindeer Station was abandoned.  Building were relocated and residents moved to Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik.  In 1974, the herd was sold to Canadian Reindeer Ltd.

An old Bombardier - I guess it didn't make the cut for relocation.  Can you spot the rabbit?

Reindeer Station is being currently being re-built by the Inuvialuit council.  My understanding is that it will be something of a wellness camp for the Inuvialuit - a place for people to go to reconnect with the land if they don't have their own bush camp.  There was lots of construction happening when we pulled in off the river.  The camp cook had just made bannock and offered some to us.  Due to the remote nature of the camp there is the threat of bears and the promise of big game - as the 'just laying around' gun indicates.

Reindeer Station now (as of Aug, 2011)

There are blueberries in the area- this isn't one.  I tried eating one of these and it was largely full of big seeds.

Cranberries are plentiful around this time of year - in places other than where we stopped to pick them.

collect call

I promise I won't do this often but here's a record of my run this morning. If you click on the 'view larger map' map link you'll see the total route as well as the times per kilometer. I'm pretty sure the slower distances were either in direct sunlight or were times with no cool breezes.

View Larger Map

the tide is high

It's hard to believe that I've been back in Toronto for just over three weeks. In some ways it feels as though I never left and in others it felt like I was gone for a year. My apologies for not wrapping up the Katoni Challenge earlier. Here are the final results:

First place goes to new mother extraordinaire - Sara. She's been crowned this year's 'Katoni Kid.' She managed to accumulate enough points that not even stopping to give birth/care for a new born could oust her from the top spot. I predict that future viewings of 'Where's Waldo' with young Felix won't be much of a challenge for this year's winner.

Second place goes to Capital M- a serious competitor held back only by an intense need for sleep. The judges have awarded M a lifetime of cinnamon smells.

Third place goes to David - a late addition to the game but one who quickly managed to move up through the ranks. For his efforts the judges have decided that David will be the honourary captain of The Righteous Indignation.

Rounding out this year's contestants is Bronwen. She showed a lot of pluck in this game and has earned the coveted 'Phil Collins' Cup.

As a final farewell to this year's Katoni Challenge here are two more pictures taken at the Toronto Zoo. Can you find the lizard in each picture?

Now my hands are red

We all have crosses to bear, some are smaller than others

20 points. Good luck.

Wrestle with Jimmy

There's nothing to find in this one. I just thought I'd point out where people get wood for their wood stoves or tea boiling contests. It's common to see piles of saw dust along beach- evidence of people industriously cutting larger logs into something more easily carried away.

Someday

I took a bunch of pictures today and none of them really turned out. I'm sorry this one's a little blurry but it's the best of the bunch. This will certainly make the challenge harder but it's still possible. One last thing - I took this is in the library room of the Learning Centre. I'm calling these shelves the 'new acquisition' section since all of the books on it were recently donated. If you look carefully you'll see 'Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen. Sara gave the book to me before she moved to Red Deer. If I'm not mistaken Sara gave up on the book and I can see why. The novel had an extremely hard start (it kind of read a like a catty script from Desperate Housewives) and characters that were difficult to like (I don't think I've ever disliked a non-villain character as much as I disliked Joey Berglund. My dislike of him was so strong that I kept reading the book in hopes of seeing something bad happen to him - nothing awful but fitting for his personality) In the end I'd have to say that I was okay with 'Freedom' - it mostly made up for the things that drove me crazy while I was reading it (even Joey).

One of these things is not like the other

(40 points). Good luck!

Neon ghosts

I have no idea what this is. It looks like something out of the "Toy Story" movies - a weird mix of human imagination and spare parts. I've never seen it in action though I wouldn't be surprised if it transformed into some sort of cool robot. It's probably an autobot - the decepticons usually went for vehicles with a little more panache.

Today's challenge will be a little different. I took this picture at the Aboriginal Day celebrations on Tuesday. Can you guess what contest is taking place in this shot?

Look carefully at the fire and the people. I'll admit that this isn't my finest effort - I'm not running tomorrow so I'll have a chance to take more photos around town. Until then - good luck. (30 points)

None shall sleep

True or False.

There are mirages in the Arctic.

If you're thinking true - you're right. I've seen this effect 3 times since I've been here . I'll let John MacDonald explain:

A spectacular mirage-like phenomenon known as 'looming' is common in Arctic regions during the late spring and early summer. Caused by the refraction of light through layers of differing temperature, 'looming' is generally seen over open water or sea ice. Typically the phenomenon appears as an inverted, distorted image reflected in the sky a few degrees above the horizon. Such images are usually distant land or floating ice, often situated below the observer's horizon.

Inuit call this phenomenon puikkaqtuq, meaning roughly, to 'pop-up' above the level of the sea. The effect has been used by Inuit boating in the Foxe Basin to make accurate land falls at destinations not otherwise observable from their departure point. And during the open-water season, particularly in relatively ice-free areas of the sea, puikkaqtuq mirages are used to locate drifting pans of ice likely to be associated with walrus. In well-defined mirages even the herds of basking walrus can, to the experienced observer, be made out in the 'looming' ice. (The Arctic Sky, page 185).

Basically when the weather changes from cold to warm, objects that are far away may appear closer or larger than they are. It's pretty neat though I have to admit that I wouldn't have noticed this on my own. Now you know - and knowing is half the battle ( G.I Joe never explained what the other half was comprised of).

There is not wind enough to twirl
That one red leaf, nearest of its clan,
Which dances as often as dance it can

-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (20 points x2)

(I took this at the completion ceremony held at the end of May.)

Iqaluit siblings finish Northwest Passage ski trek - North - CBC News

I don't think these two received much, if any, publicity down south. They undertook a remarkable journey that could probably be made into a movie (or written about by Jon Krakauer). Feel free to read about their trip (there's a link to their blog on the CBC webpage).

Iqaluit siblings finish Northwest Passage ski trek - North - CBC News

Like a ladybug

I just like the way this looked

I totally would have been in that puddle with or without rubber boots (probably without).

Some sort of Arctic flower - whatever it is, it's nice to see signs of life up here. Update - my roommate has informed me that these are lupins. I'll call them lil'lupins.

Fredrick Fleet would feel right at home here

20 points. Good luck!

Unbroken

It's National Aborginal Day tomorrow - a stat holiday for anyone working in the Territories. I believe there will be a town barbecue with traditional foods and, for the less adventurous, more standard fare (the memory of muktuk still haunts me).

Curiouser and Curiouser

30 points. Good luck