Jobs, planes, Jennings and Snakes!

So barring any surprises from the RCMP, I'm now officially employed full-time for the next three years. Signed the contract today. I just need to go through the criminal record check, which I'm not anticipating any troubles with.

It certainly took a bit longer than I thought getting a job in Iqaluit. I'm probably not the only person to hit town and think they will have no problem getting a job, only to be smacked in the face by cold, hard reality (Reality, by the way, is extra cold in January). There are challenges to gaining employment here. There might have been a window at some point where you could walk off the plane and someone would hand you a job. And it is still possible if you have specialized skills or don't mind taking a job working at the North Mart or Arctic Ventures.

But for most federal and territorial government work, patience and persistence is absolutely necessary.

I'm just glad it's worked out. I can go on vacation at not worry about a job or how much money I'm spending. Not that we're going to go crazy with the spending, but it's not to know you don't have to obsess about every penny spent.

Which is a useful attitude to have, what with Cathy booking her flight home for Christmas this evening. So that's another couple of thousand on the card. It's slightly maddening that the flight from Ottawa to St. John's on CanJet is one-third the cost of flying from Iqaluit to Ottawa. Jesus, Mary and Joseph...

CanJet also allows pets in the cabin, which is a plus. That highly restrictive pet policy is going to bite Air Canada in the ass. Preventing people from being able to travel with their pets over Christmas is idiotic.

And now, two links for your entertainment pleasure...

1. Did you know that Ken Jennings, of Jeopardy fame has a blog? Ordinarily, perhaps not something to care about. However, he is informative, entertaining and pretty damn funny. I mean, I never envisioned Mormons with much of a sense of humour, but Jennings has a pretty good one. The bit where he makes fun of Tom Cruise is a near head exploding moment. There's something about a Mormon making fun of a Scientologist that feels odd. Funny as well, but really, really strange...

2. It's SNAKES ON A MOTHERF&@KING PLANE, dude! Or at least the first official trailer for it.