Christmas parade

If you wanted one picture to sum up the week that was in Iqaluit, this is probably it.

Yes, it's a man waiting for the start of Iqaluit's Santa Claus Parade in shorts while drinking a Tim Horton's coffee. Any other year, this man would clearly have been a lunatic from down south somewhere, just off the plane, who didn't know any better. This year, for all I know, he's lived up here 10 years.

By the way, the forecast for the next three days - -1C, 0C, -1C.

So yes, the parade yesterday. The Santa Claus Parade in Iqaluit tends to be a brief affair and the floats aren't necessarily flashy. But it's fun and noisy and there's Santa, so it's a good thing. A few pictures from the event.

(Yes, even Polar Man was there)

Last Five
1. 38 years old - The Tragically Hip
2. Get behind the mule (live) - Tom Waits
3. The promise - Tracy Chapman
4. Them and me - Brendan Benson
5. Private investigations (live) - Dire Straits

Melting

Just to give you your update on the apocalypse, the temperature went up to +2C today, and was as high as +3.5C yesterday. To put that in comparison, the normal seasonal high for this time of the year is -16C. Now, if this was a blip, a one or two day thing, you could just write it off as a freak occurrence. Because this kind of thing happens from time to time. A couple of years ago it rained on February 28. Freaky little weather bombs happen.

But we've been going through this for about two months now. Where everyone is waiting for the temperature to bottom out and it hasn't happened. It's gone from amusement to genuine "what the hell is going on?" I don't want to say this has never happened before, but I've yet to encounter anyone in Iqaluit who has any memory of this sort of thing happening.

We're in some of the darkest days of the year right now...we're getting a little more than four hours of direct sunshine and probably around six or so when you throw in civil twilight. For it still to be mild out is....odd. It's also turned Iqaluit into a skating rink. My driveway is essentially a sheet of ice right now. I'm tempted to put on my curling shoes to get to the truck.

Environment Canada is showing the temperatures might snap back to something resembling seasonal norms next week, but we'll see. I also wonder how much damage has been done for this year. The sea ice is already five weeks late in starting to form. Even with a proper cold snap it's going to be six-eight weeks late and may never really form properly.

I understand the Tim Hortons opening in town this week was a big deal and all, but I really think this is a bit of a big deal. You can talk to elders in town who can recall the bay being frozen solid by mid-October and going out on ski-doo or dog teams. Now people are wondering if they're going to have to boat to get to their cabins for Christmas holidays.

Anyway, I'll try and stop harping on it, but is genuinely freaky to me. And pretty much the biggest deal in town right now.

However, if you want some recommended reading, I say give this story a try. It's written by my friend Chris Windeyer and features one of the true characters of Iqaluit - Bryan Pearson. He's been up here forever and has done pretty much everything, although I know him primarily as the guy who runs the cinema. He's much more than that.

He's about as blunt a person as you'll ever meet and Chris does a nice job profiling him. And thank god Up Here gave Chris some leeway with the language he uses in the piece. It wouldn't have been as entertaining if Chris had to clean up what Pearson says and the way he portrays him.

It's a good story...go read it.

Last Five
1. The hunter, the hunted - Matt Mays and El Torpedo
2. Shotgun wedding - Andrew LeDrew
3. Should I stay or should I go (live) - The Clash*
4. Jim Rombolt's tune - Figgy Duff
5. Red is the rose (live) - Nanci Griffith and the Chieftains

Our House

So now we pause to let Cathy have her "I told you so" moment.

Astonishingly, one year has passed since we moved into our house. For the 10 or so still regular readers of the blog left, you may recall I was not exactly a big fan of the idea of buying a house, this house in particular. I had any number of reasons and, even in retrospect, they were not irrational ones. My concerns, in no particular order, were that I wasn't in love with the house because it didn't have the kind of indefinable "character" I was hoping for, that I wasn't sure we had the money for it, that I was unemployed and it seemed like an insane risk to take while that state of affairs was going on and that we didn't have enough furniture and feared living in a half empty house for months.

Cathy managed to refute those arguments with: You give the house the character you want, we clearly had enough money saved up to make a 20% down payment, I would get a job soon enough, and given out mild packrat ways, we'll fill the house up soon enough.

And she was right on all counts. Granted, I still think it was a huge risk. I had irons in the fire on the job front, but it still months for the right iron to heat up. There was more than a little bit of stress in our lives those first few months. I'm not a big fan of stress and while it's easy to look back now and chuckle at it, I think we would both agree it wasn't the happiest time in our marriage.

However, I guess a little stress (all right, spiking to medium-high stress from time to time) can work out. I'm very happy in our house. After years of apartment living, and hearing that our old apartment building has gone down hill in the last year (noisy dogs, insane tenants, cigarette smoke drifting through the building), I'm doubly glad. Yes, the house still gives me fits and starts. The washing machine breaking was an unwelcome surprise, but I suspect that's just the first of many to come with home ownership.

But we've made the house our own. A spare bedroom has become the library/den that I've always wanted. We have our pictures hanging on the walls. We can look out the window and across the bay. We can drive the dog batshit crazy and let him bark and play without worrying about the neighbours. We have space and can buy things we like if we want without ever having to worry about where on earth we're going to put it.

It's our home; we're happy in it. And in a mere 21 years it will be all ours.

Oh Christ....

Last Five
1. Shatter - Liz Phair
2. Goin' out west (Live) - Tom Waits*
3. Ion Square - Bloc Party
4. Change is good - Pathological Liars
5. Brackett, WI - Bon Iver

The successor

Depending on what side of the political spectrum you fell on Danny Williams was either a strong and forceful leader or a power mad dictator. The truth, as in most things, probably lies somewhere in-between.

However, there is one thing for sure, there is a pretty massive power vacuum in his absence. Because Williams tolerated little in the dissent in his caucus, and those who did quickly found themselves in exile (see Fabian Manning and Elizabeth Marshall). So there isn't the usual cadre of strong and hungry cabinet ministers waiting in the wings. And thanks to his successful ABC campaign in the last federal election there are no federal MPs to swoop back and take over, like Brian Tobin did back in '96.

If you had asked me before Williams resigned I would have thought Health Minister Jerome Kennedy would be a lock. However, if you really want to screw up a person's political future, making them Health Minister isn't a bad way to start (see Ross Wiseman). I don't have my finger on the pulse of Newfoundland politics like I once used to, but it's my understanding he's not the most popular person in the world right now, and the situation with the doctors is not helping any.

Also, and I believe Dave Cochrane of CBC got this quote from him, where he's not sure if wants to be that guy who follows the guy. So at least he's got the common sense to know that he has nearly impossible shoes to fill, at least as far as the general public of Newfoundland is concerned.

Soon to be Acting Premier Kathy Dunderdale has been mentioned, but she's never really stuck me as a particular heavyweight. Finance Minister Tom Marshall's name has been tossed around, but he doesn't seem particularly enthused about the job or the prospects of filling Danny's shoes.

Manning or Elizabeth Marshall could always come back from the Senate, I suppose, but that's giving up a pretty cushy job to dive back into the bloodbath of Newfoundland and Labrador politics. Pity, I always thought Elizabeth would have made a particularly intelligent premier.

I suspect a dynamic something like this is shaping up something like this - the ones actually smart enough to do the job realize that following Danny Williams into the premier's chair is almost a no-win situation so they're thinking long and hard about it. Sure you get to be premier, but you're never going to match up to the Big Man, and people are always going to remind you of that.

Those not smart enough to curb their ambitions are biding their time to see if they might be able sneak in there some how.

To be blunt, it is a spectacularly uninspiring caucus, filled with political opportunists who are Tories in the same way that many of Brian Tobin's caucus were Liberals. They have no real strong political or ideological beliefs beyond getting elected. They follow whatever cult of personality who happens to be the strongest at the time. Political colours don't really matter that much.

Someone will win, of course. If I had to be money it will probably be Kennedy, especially if Williams subtly lets it be known that he is his preferred successor. That'll seal the deal. And whoever it is will win the election next year, unless they run a campaign so spectacularly bad that goes down in the books.

2015 is the real fight. That's when we'll see which party has managed to land their next cult leader to guide the province. History says the Liberals are due. We'll see.

Last Five
1. Requiem for a dying song - Flogging Molly*
2. I'm so lonesome I could cry - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies
3. Dead in the water - David Gray
4. Tokyo bicycle - Hawksley Workman
5. The electric co. - U2

The Williams post-mortem

So we've had a day or so to digest Premier Danny Williams resigning. I wanted to hold off a bit just to try and let the decision process. There was a lot of rush to judgment on Thursday and because of that I think there was a lot was a lot of odd reaction. The Globe and Mail cranked out an editorial less than two hours after Williams made his formal announcement. I know in this day and age of instant and constant media you have to react quickly, but my god that's a bit much.
(Danny Williams on the night former Premier Roger Grimes called the election in 2003)

Most of the commentary has a kind of "Greatest Hits" feel about it. "He did this and this and this that was good, he did that and that which was bad" and then a summing up paragraph of what kind of premier he was, depending on what side of the political spectrum the writer fell.

Mainland writers seem impressed with the changes he's made to Newfoundland, but they certainly haven't forgiven him for taking down the Canadian flag during his spat with Paul Martin. I was there the day he ordered that, in the Confederation Building media room. And then I rushed outside to get pictures of the flag being lowered. My small part in Canadian history.
(The removing of the Canadian flag on that very day)

The reaction in Newfoundland has, as expected, been one of massive morning filled with small bursts of joy. I'm surprised there weren't flags being flown at half mast and people weren't wearing armbands. I've had my problems with him as premier, no doubt about that. Despite the list of accomplishments people rattle off, I never thought he lived up to his potential. His government wasn't as open as I had hoped. He had a bit too much of a vicious streak, even for a provincial politician. There's a fine line between being an aggressive negotiator and a bully, and he crossed that line too often for my liking. He honestly could have been a much better premier.

But there is no denying this, he was beloved. Ed Hollett and others can argue about the accuracy of provincial polling, and they might have a point,but there have been few provincial politicians who have been this beloved for this long. Smallwood, perhaps, but he didn't exactly go out on a grace note, what with his desperate, clawing attempts at keeping power.
(Me and Danny, January 2005. Photo copyright Greg Locke)

This is a key thing to Williams. He didn't overstay his welcome. Very few premiers can say that. Lord knows Smallwood couldn't, nor could Peckford. Wells, managed to see the writing on the wall and get out while he could. I'm convinced if Williams had stayed for a third term it would have gotten ugly at some point. People would start grumbling and muttering about over staying his welcome.

Instead, people are actually upset about a politician quitting. That's a rare sight to see.

As for his legacy, that's honestly almost impossible to tell. History needs some time to work on these things. A few hours, a few days after leaving office is no time to judge legacy. On the surface it looks good, but we're going to need a few years to see how things sort themselves out. Will the Lower Churchill deal be a good one or bad? Will the years he spent fighting Ottawa, which boosted his popularity at home, prove damaging in the long run?
(Danny at a press scrum of some kind. You go to enough of these you get desperate for a different photo. This was my attempt.)

In terms of the low bar set by previous premier (Newfoundland has a long and unfortunate history of electing some real idiots to power), Williams would obvious have to be one of the best one's in the province's history, even as we wait to see how this all shakes out.

Next up....what's next?

Last Five
1. Rocket - Goldfrapp
2. Band on the run - Paul McCartney and Wings
3. A rainy night in Soho - The Pogues
4. Bear & the barbed wire - Mark Bragg
5. I'm gone - Lloyd Cole

Danny Boy

I'll write more about Danny Williams resignation today after I get home from curling. But for right now, a musical tribute to send the Dear Leader off into his retirement.

Iqaluit on a rainy Wednesday

So let's see, an update on things.

1. If you're interested in the fate of Nunavut's curling teams at the Dominion Curling Club Championships in PEI this week, visit this site. You'll see a link there for CurlCast. Click on it and you can see updates of the scores and, with some luck you might catch their game on a webcam they have set up at one of the clubs.

A rough first day, but kind of expected when you're playing Ontario and Saskatchewan, although then men came painfully close to beating Saskatchewan. That one is going to haunt them for a bit, I think.

Oh, and I was fine about not being at the Dominion, even though we lost the championship game by a 1/10 of an inch. Totally fine. Said all the right things, about how it was good that other teams got the chance to experience this championship. That it would be hard to get the time off work. And I mean all of it.

Except today, I really wish I was there playing. Oh well.

2. The weather continues its deep weirdness up here. It went up to +4C today, which tied us with St. John's as the warmest place in Canada. People in Iqaluit have officially given up trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. We were 16 degrees above the seasonal high for this time of year. I'm close to wearing my curling shoes outside to deal with all the ice.

Another bonus, Vancouver is officially losing its mind because it was -7C there today. Yes, I know, karma is a bitch and in February when it's -40C here and +15C there, the tables will be turned and all that jazz. But for right now, I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Allow me to enjoy my shallowness. Vancouver, I mock your wussiness.

3. Iqaluit also has a mayor's race going on as the previous mayor stepped down a few weeks ago. Two of them - Al Hayward and Jim Little - are former town councillors. As town councillors are always complained about, I've been hearing the usual grumbles and complaints about them and what they did when they were on council last time. Then we have Madeleine Redfern, executive director of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, who I've heard people complain is too serious, which has to be an "Only in Nunavut" complaint if ever there was one.

And then we have an odd one - former NTI president Paul Kaludjak. And by former, I mean, very recently former. As in, NTI is having a special election the same day as the Iqaluit byelection to replace him as they booted him out last month for abusing NTI's credit card to the tune of $50,000.

No one seems to think he has a chance. However, as I believe he's the only one of the four to speak Inuktitut, I wouldn't rule him out quite yet.

Kaludjak would be the strangest candidate, except there is also a byelection for a councillor and one of those - Ed DeVries - has been a candidate for the Marijuana Party, plus a guest of the penal system over illegally possessing some things he might have been espousing during his run in federal politics a few years ago.

So yes, weirdness. But it'll be something to liven up the Christmas season.

4. Completely un-Iqaluit related, but right now I'm reading Tom Rachman's "The Imperfectionists". Have you ever hated a book because it's that god damn good and you wish you had written it and, in fact, you kind of started something along those lines but it will never, ever be this good?

No? Well, it's probably just me. It's still a damn good book, though.

Last Five
1. What Sarah said - Death Cab For Cutie
2. Breaking the girl Red Hot Chilli Peppers
3. Here today (live) - Paul McCartney
4. Shine on, shine on, shine on - Joel Plaskett
5. California - Josh Ritter*

Deathly Hallows

One of the several nice things about the new digital project at Astro Theatres is that we seem to be getting movies much faster than before. Getting a movie on its opening weekend was normally a once a year rarity. But it's happening a bit more frequently, including getting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this weekend.

So how is the next-to-last Potter film? I think it's as good as it can be. The last book was always a bit of a wobbly beast. The monster that scared J.K. Rowling the most was never Voldemort, but an editor. In a novel that had some of the most exciting passages in all of the books, it also had the most deathly boring passages of the series, with Harry, Ron and Hermonine wandering around lost in rural England.

All things considered, the movie does the best it can with the source material. There's some healthy purging of the unending scenes of the characters wandering around looking for horcruxes. It's visually stunning and practically oozing in atmosphere. And the little animation sequence explaining the Deathly Hallows is as clever a thing as we've seen in the movie series so far.

It's also worth mentioning that this is probably the best acted of the bunch. Child actors have a grim track record in entertainment. However Radcliffe, Watson and Grint turn in some of their best work in the movie. They're not the wobbly kids from The Philosopher Stone anymore. If nothing else, spending a decade working with some of the very best of British actors should give you a few tips. I'm not saying they're all going to have stellar post-Potter careers (you can't help but feel Grint is probably doomed), but they have the chance.

But of course there are problems. No matter how much purging you do, there's still an awful lot of wandering around lost. Comparisons have been made to Empire Strikes Back or Two Towers. The movie ends on not exactly a happy note and a cliff hanger of sorts. The one good thing is that unlike the other movies, where the wait was a year or more, at least you'll get to see how things wrap up in about seven months.

Also, and I mention this because I was talking to a friend about coming to see the movie with us last night. He said he hadn't seen the last two movies. I'm not sure this is the friendliest movie in the world to walk into without being pretty thoroughly aware of your Potter lore. The writer and director are assuming you're going to know a lot of things from the past movies. I admire the bravery, actually. To not have to waste five or 10 minutes recapping everything. But if you're coming to Potter cold, or have missed the last few movies, even if you've read the books, it could be a bit much to keep up with.

I like it well enough, although it's not my favourite of the Potter films (the Prisoner of Azkaban is mine) and judging by the Rotten Tomatoes rating, a lot of people feel the same way. At 79% positive, it's in the bottom third of the movies. It's fine and all, a nice place holder, but bring on the meat of part 2.

Last Five
1. Celebration - Kings of Leon
2. From a whisper to a scream - Allen Touissaint
3. Champions of nothing (live) - Matthew Good
4. Stop bringing me down - Ian Foster Band
5. The miracle of childbirth (comedy)* - Patton Oswalt

Jordan's $1 billion couch

A couple of weeks ago Jordan did this post about his adventures in trying to shop with IKEA. Now, if he had asked anyone in town they would have told him immediately not to bother with IKEA. That they don't give you a quote when dealing with their website, you have to call them. And then they invariably give you some absolutely horrific shipping quote. Simply put, IKEA does not want to do business with people in the arctic. There are plenty of companies who do, but IKEA is not one of them.

However, Jordan didn't know that, so he played the IKEA game. And thank god for it, because IKEA did something to their website so that when he requested a quote for a shipping cost for a sofa, he was told it would cost $1 billion.

No matter what you punched into the website, a new kitchen set or a single lightbulb, the shipping cost was $1 billion.

Now, as a Please Fuck Off and Die type of thing, it was remarkably ballsy and funny for a major company like IKEA to do. When Jordan told me about it, I knew immediately that reporters were going to pick up on the story. If they're going to do a story about a $300 turkey, how the hell can you pass up a $1 billion shipping charge?

And, sure enough, APTN picked up the story. You can see it here. Cathy and I roared, not just because the shipping story is funny (kudos to Wayne for the bit at the airport), but just because Jordan should have his own talk show or something. The cocky little wink to his girlfriend in the story...priceless.

IKEA has already written back and said it was a mistake, they're sorry, that of course the shipping isn't $1 billion. It is, instead, the still quite insane $5,000. I think they should have just stuck with the $1 billion.

I suspect this story is about to go viral. It's hard to predict these things, but Jordan mentioned the Toronto Star is interested in the story, so once they do that and it hits the Canadian Press wire, we're off to the race. That story is going to go to about 50 different countries.

I'd hold out, Jordan. IKEA might just ship you the couch for free to try and curb some of the bad publicity.

Last Five
1. Right here, right now - Fatboy Slim
2. Lucid dreams - Franz Ferdinand
3. Let's dance - David Bowie
4. I'm alright - Kenny Loggins
5. Runnin' out of fools - Neko Case*

The Beatles and iTunes, in perspective

I don't think I've ever pulled a comment from a previous post and displayed in on the front page, but this one was simply too interesting to pass up. It's from, I assume, Bob Hallett with Great Big Sea. Bob's been reading the blog for awhile and pops up from time to time with insights and occasional corrections into my thoughts on music. I found this one, on why the Beatles finally released their catalogue to iTunes yesterday particularly interesting.

The Beatles thing could also be seen as an admission of label failure; keep in mind that they have not avoided iTunes as some Luddite effort to avoid technology.

More, the Beatles' camp did not want to make the huge revenue sacrifice that iTunes forces upon artists and labels. Vis - a band like the Beatles would have made approximately $3.50 a CD. And consumers had to buy a CD to get a given song.

Now fans will just buy the songs; iTunes pays its artists in the neighbourhood of .07 cents a song. A desire on the part of a fan for a copy of a given song, say 'She Loves You', would have previously netted the band $3.50, as the consumer was forced to buy a CD. Now they will make a nickel.

This move is actually a recognition on the band and label's part that everyone who would possibly buy a Beatles' album already has, and that the only sales left are of the shitty low revenue iTunes variety.

That's one of the most intelligent insights into the issue I've read over the past few days. Most have been snarky and making fun of Apple and the Beatles for the tardiness of the announcement. I did too, and if I had been more awake last night, I would have seen the very obviously flaw in the argument.

That flaw? Rock Band: The Beatles.

If they were Luddites who didn't trust the technology, they never would have gotten involved with a project like that. And they got involved relatively early as those games don't exactly take a few weeks to create. Instead, they produced what some would argue is the pinnacle of the Rock Band/Guitar Hero series of games. Those kind of games have apparently taken a big hit in popularity this year, and I wonder if it's not because A. They're over saturated and B. It doesn't get much more fun for many people than playing along with The Beatles. So they got in just in time.

Plus, they've always been pretty protective, and pretty smart, about how they use their catalogue. So if they finally thing they've milked the CDs for all they're worth, then I can see taking the plunge into iTunes.

Now, you can make the argument how much did they lose to torrent downloading over the past decade by not having their music online,, but I'm sure an accountant somewhere has done a cost analysis report on the pros and cons of keeping their music unavailable digitally. Especially since Beatles fans tend to be older and less likely to be using something like torrent.

Anyway, thanks for that, Bob. I appreciate the extra insight.

Last Five
1. Breakdown (live) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers*
2. Happiness - Goldfrapp
3. Clubland - Elvis Costello
4. Line of best fit - Death Cab For Cutie
5. Happy home - Garbage

Four for Tuesday

Cathy said to me this evening, "Well, at least you have plenty to write about on the blog." Which is true, but that doesn't mean I'm feeling particularly inspired to write for the blog. Still, a few highlights of the day.

1. Cathy managed to put Nunavut's emergency room to the test this evening by gashing her finger on a knife. It was a deep cut, but didn't require stitches. I kind of insisted she go to the hospital, just to be on the safe side as it was gushing and it hurt quite a bit. Turns out it looked worse than it was, which is good. What's bad is that we spent the better part of two hours at the hospital, which kind of annoyed her a bit. However, I'm of the sooner safe than sorry camp. And hey, at least her tetanus shot is now up to date.

2. I thought I was getting pretty close to past the point where my close friends were having kids, but apparently not. One managed to do a stealth pregnancy (it helps that she lives in Scotland) and I didn't find out until she was about eight months along. And I just found out another pair of friends are having a kid, although this one has a bit more lead time as she's not due until July.

And before anyone asks, still no plans for us. We have the dog. That's doing us just fine for right now.

3. I would be more excited about the Beatles catalogue finally being available on iTunes if I hadn't been already listening to their music on my iPod for the last six years. As someone online pointed out, it's kind of like making a big announcement that grandpa finally got a colour TV. I mean, welcome to the 21st century guys, however you're a little late to the party.

4. Received my last Chapters order before Christmas yesterday. During Christmas I normally get gift cards (parents and wife won't "enable" me by buying me graphic novels. Instead, they give me gift cards, which allow me to buy graphic novels. Your head should feel free to explode at any time). I'm currently burning through Greg Rucka's ominously titled "Queen and Country: The Last Run" at record speed. So far, there are only two problems - at 256 pages it's a little light (although it's packed to the brim) and secondly, it could be the last we see of Tara Chace, the lead character. This would make me sad, because she is awesome. That the BBC or someone else has not done a movie or TV show on Tara is criminal.

And that's it for now. More later.

Last Five
1. Wings (live) - Josh Ritter
2. Pressing lips - The Pursuit of Happiness*
3. All my loving - The Beatles
4. Jealous guy - Yossou N'Dour
5. Pickup truck - Kings of Leon

Catching up

"Are you ever planning on blogging again?" my wife gently reminded me this afternoon, interrupting my carefully planned day of sloth. Which is a fair point. So let us recap some of the highlights of the past week, shall we?

1. Winter finally arrived, kinda sorta, to Iqaluit. There is snow on the ground and it appears it won't be going anywhere until June or so. Which is fine because mid-November is insanely late for snow to finally settle in. Plus, all the dust was getting tiring to deal with. We're still getting some above zero temperatures, and it actually rained for awhile on Friday. People around town have this "what the fuck is going on" look quite a bit.

The bay, of course, remains unfrozen and today we got a late arriving fuel tanker, which is quite possibly the latest I've seen a ship in Frobisher Bay. Perhaps a coast guard vessel or an ice breaker, but that would be about it. The latest I've seen the bay freeze up would be around the second week of December. We'll see what happens this year.

I don't want to be screaming "Climate Change!" all the time because the simple fact of the matter is we don't know if it is or not. It's certainly unusual weather. I've heard stories from long-time residents of Iqaluit of when the bay would be frozen solid by mid-October 25 years ago. So yeah, it feels like there is something going on, but I really don't want to be screaming that it's happening because I simply don't know. However, it does feel weird.

2. The odd thing about going bald is that I probably get my hair cut more now than when I had a full head of it. Back then if I wanted to go a couple of months without and just go shaggy, well, I could get away with it. But now, after about six weeks my hair starts to get deeply bushy on the side and remains sadly sparse on top. Since there are standing orders among my friends to shoot me if I ever try a comb over, it means going to the barber.

It's best not to think about the $25-30 I spend for a 15 minute trim.

Anyway, my regular barber, Scotty, has been AWOL for the last couple of months but I noticed he was back in the office. Seems he slipped and managed to break his shoulder and collarbone, which is bad given his profession. He was there and I decided to get my hair cut. It's been awhile, so I couldn't recall if the trimmer was set on a two or a three. I went with a two. Which Scotty did with great gusto. A pair of scissors did not touch my head once during the 10 minutes or so I was in there. I suspect the trimmer might be easier on his shoulder than dealing with the scissors.

Let's just call the look scalped and leave it at that shall we. On the upside, I likely won't need to get my hair cut again until the end of January.

3. Work continues to do its best to kill me, which I find oddly pleasing. There are rumours I may be a masochist, but what the hell, there are worse things to be.

Last Five
1. All my lovin' - Me First and Gimmie Gimmies
2. My father's ghost - Ron Hynes*
3. Diamonds and pearls - Prince
4. Working day - Ben Folds and Nick Hornsby
5. Momsong - The Be Good Tanyas

Paper flood

Cathy's got her Christmas shopping done and I've made a reasonable dent into it so far. I know there are fanatics down south who brag about their Christmas shopping done by mid-October, but we're not quite that crazy. However, we do have to get a head start on it. Despite pleas to shop local, a fair amount of Christmas shopping is still done online. Although the Christmas craft fair is coming up the end of the month, so I suspect we'll grab something there.

The problem is, once your order from certain companies, they start selling you catalogues. Then they sell your mailing information and so a slow trickle of them start coming through. But after five years of living in Nunavut, we're now getting carpet bombed by catalogues. There is rarely a day that goes by without one showing up in our mailbox.

Which would be fine, for the most part. I don't mind the odd one. If for no other reason given the internet speeds we deal with up here it's faster to skim a National Geographic catalogue then trying to poke around their website. However, since September we've received at least three of them. They're not even close to be the worst offender though. LL Bean must have sent us at least 10 since September. And Hammacher Schlemmer has sent at least a half dozen over the same period of time.

There does come a point where you go, "dude, enough already." If we're getting this many, I can only imagine the sheer volume that must be flooding everyone at this point. I realize this is a common complaint, and it's not like we haven't been hit by them before, but wow, they're really coming on strong this year.

Although, curiously, the one catalogue we haven't received this year has been from IKEA. I wonder why that could be?

Last Five
1. The devil is in the details - Matthew Good*
2. It's catchin' on - Joel Plaskett Emergency
3. Everything I've got to - Amelia Curran
4. NARC - Interpol
5. Open arms - Hey Rosetta!

Curling wrap-up

So not dead, merely busy with curling. It was our first major bonspiel of the year and it proved to be a bit bigger than anticipated. Normally we pull in around 12 teams. However, for the first time in years we managed 16 teams for this bonspiel, which is the maximum amount we can handle. Plus there was the usual last minute weirdness that always goes on with these sorts of things.

But by all accounts it was one of the best bonspiels we've pulled off in years. You can read Jordan's account of it over here. While you can, of course. I understand it's blogger's policy to remove the blogs of the recently deceased and Jordan is a dead man walking for putting up those pics of me. Then again, Jordan is working for Canada Post these days, so between the Christmas rush and the usual calm and rational citizenry of Iqaluit during that time of the year, I suspect I'll just have to sit back and let matters run their natural course.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. And not just by the teams that won (of which my team was one of them), but also by teams who won a game they never expected or even teams that lost all their games, but still had moments of glory. A shot made that they never expected, a couple of ends where they had a good team on the ropes and things were close.

Plus, a bar helped as well. And there were lots of prizes. Alas, I didn't win any of the big ones - the First Air plane tickets or the cargo gift certificates. Actually, most of those prizes went to newer members of the club, which was nice. One of the guys who won 75 kg of cargo was trying to figure out what to do with it when one of his buddies helpfully suggested "You can bring up beer." And suddenly all was right in the world.

So I'm glad it went well and people had a good time.

As for my weekend, a 4-1 record and winner of the C pool (everyone starts off in A, then depending on when you lose, you drop down to B, C or D). We won fairly easily on Friday night, lost on the last rock Saturday morning (should have won the game, but I missed my last two shots), had a scary game against a team of newbies until I figured out their weakness (they couldn't hit), had a another game get scary for a few ends against a skip who was making everything, but then thankfully cooled off and then won the C final against a good team who had a very bad game (also likely helping was that the skip was apparently quite drunk).

For my troubles, a $50 gift card from NorthMart. The rest of the team got gift cards as well. I also later won a door prize of a pair of curling socks. I've yet to determine how they are different than regular black socks, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

I'm quite proud of the team, really. This is my regular Thursday night league team, but because of a few hiccups, both of our games at the start of the season have been cancelled. So this weekend was our first time curling together. We've clicked pretty quick and I have high hopes for the rest of the season.

So there you go, a curling post. Hope you didn't suffer too much. I'm sure I'll find something about Newfoundland politics to complain about soon enough.

Grumpy bastards

Is there a plague of grumpy bastardness spreading that no one has told me about? As friends of mine will tell you, I can be quite the grumpy bastard when the mood sets, which was actually most of my 20s (well, from 23-31 were the prime grumpy years), but this has been an impressive week so far.

At first I thought it was just Iqaluit, because it felt like every second person was not in a good mood. Granted, teachers just found out the government is offering them a 0% raise over four years along with other freezes and rollbacks. To say they are....unhappy would be an understatement. Haven't met too many happy teachers this week (haven't met too many borderline homicidal teachers this week, to be honest). And that kind of grumpy bomb tossed into a small pool is going to cause some big waves that affect everyone.

So I thought maybe it was that, coupled with being busy at work, plus being stressed out about getting the curling club season off to a smooth start (mixed success on that front) that was causing the grumpiness. Curling actually manage to piss me off so much this morning that I snapped at Cathy for no good reason. I bought her Hawaiian pizza for lunch, along with an apology. So I'm back in her good books. For now.

But it's more than that, I think. I read two separate articles this week about an apparent growing wave of incivility in Canada. I don't have the links handy, but one was about the increasing level of hostility in Newfoundland politics. Now, I think there's a certain amount of blinders going on there as Newfoundland politics have never been particularly polite, but the last few years, with "traitor" being bandied about in certain realms for when you disagree with the premier, then yes, it does seem to be getting a bit nastier.

Another article wondered if the rest of Canada was becoming collectively meaner, with the notion that Rob Ford's election in Toronto was a sign of that. Plus the apparently harsher than normal words out of Ottawa.

Then there's the US, which is crawling out of a particularly nasty election cycle with several clearly deeply crazy people being elected.

So what is it, I wonder? Economic recession blues? Winter? Elections? Christmas? Lunar cycle? Something in the water? Or am I imagining things and people are as grumpy, or as kind, as they've always been.

Last Five
1. Like yesterday - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
2. A lesson in geography - Ian Foster
3. We've never met - Neko Case*
4. Something - The Beatles
5. Fast car - Tracy Chapman

Taking a joke

There might only be three episodes and no hope for new ones any time soon, but I'm a big fan of the BBC show Sherlock. Well acted, cleverly written and a wonderful example of how you can update old material but not lose the soul and respect of the original source.

I'm writing about Sherlock this evening because there's a line from the pilot that's been rattling around in my head all day. In it Watson turns to a detective with Scotland Yard and asks why he keeps working with Sherlock Holmes, even though he is, by his own admission, a high functioning sociopath.

"Because Sherlock Holmes is a great man. And one day, with some luck, he might even be a good one."

I love that line. In some ways that's the theme of the whole show. Holmes is clearly a great man. A rare genius who sees the world in different ways than other human beings. But that doesn't always make him a good person. That's Watson job, in some ways, is to make Holmes a better man than what he is right now.

The reason that was going through my mind today was the blog post by Geoff Meeker about Pamela Pardy Ghent being fired. Quoting from Meeker here, "Ghent is a founding member of the province’s Rural Secretariat, which was founded in 2004 to give rural communities a voice in the development of social and economic policy at the provincial level. She also sits on the secretariat’s provincial council."

On Facebook yesterday morning she made an off-colour joke regarding the size of the premier's penis. Facebook is not as private as some people think and lord knows there's enough past precedent for people getting in trouble with the things they've said or pictures they've put up. Also not working in her favour was having three "friends" who happened to be Conservative MHAs. One of them ratted her out and a few hours later she got a call from the Deputy Minister with the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development letting her know her services were no longer required.

I find myself praying that Ghent had a dozen things leading up to this that had given the government cause for firing her. That she was incompetent or had done something truly awful over the past few months. That the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador didn't just have a volunteer on an undermanned board fired because she made a pretty lousy dick joke on Facebook one Sunday morning.

Yeah, it's Facebook and yeah you need to be careful (as a precaution, I'm de-friending Mount Pearl MHA Steve Kent this evening, just in case he rats me out for something), but seriously? That's the type of thing that, if you must, you drop a line to someone and go "do you really want to be making that kind of joke?" and then you go "ooops" and delete it. Because it's Facebook and I think you have to give some people a bit of leeway for the occasional thoughtless remark.

But firing someone. Really?

There may be more to this. I really hope there is. However, the government's slow response to the issue isn't giving me a lot of confidence. It feels very much like something that just blew up in their face when they thought it would be a matter dealt with quickly and quietly. If so, there was some spectacularly bad judgment at play. Right now it's a PR nightmare that's going national because Ghent isn't exactly shy telling her story to anyone who is willing to listen.

Danny Williams may well be a great premier. He may well be the best premier the province has ever had, although that's a pretty shallow pool of talent. But there are times I wonder how good a man he is if he's firing people for jokes on Facebook. Because I really would hope he, or any government cabinet minister, would have better things to do.

Last Five
1. Brandy Alexander - Ron Sexsmith*
2. Metaphor - The Pursuit of Happiness
3. Que' onda geuro - Beck
4. Hands of time - Ron Sexsmith
5. Hero - Regina Spektor

Hallowe'en

So that was a deeply quiet Hallowe'en after all. We had no idea how many kids we were going to get showing up to our house so we bought, in retrospect, silly amounts of candy and chocolate. We ended up getting around 40 kids to our door. Prior to buying all the candy I asked one of our neighbours up the street how many we should anticipate and she figured around 100-150.

So why the discrepancy? Quite simple really, and I'm kicking myself for not thinking about it. She lives near a bunch of townhouses. And not just any townhouses, but one with federal government employees in them. So yeah, she pulled in between 80-100 kids. But I live further down the hill, where the houses are further apart, so we got around 40.

Still, those are small numbers compared to Green Row. That's a section of Iqaluit downtown where there are lots of federal government employees and they're all townhouses. Oh yes, and near the school. I've heard horrifying numbers in excess of 200 kids hitting that place on Hallowe'en. Gah.

So our first Hallowe'en as homeowners was a relatively quiet affair. Well, in terms of kids. Boo lost his mind. Understand, the slightest noise outside can set him off. He's mellowed in the last year or so, but he's still quite the barker when someone knocks on the door. Now imagine that happening 20 or more times in the course of the evening. We had to barricade him in one of the rooms just so he wouldn't scare the crap out of the kids knocking on the door.

He seems quite tired this evening. All barked out, I imagine.

With Hallowe'en over the sprint to Christmas begins. They've already begun to cheat, of course. NorthMart has had Christmas chocolate for sale for weeks and their toy section is growing huge. And I'm pretty sure I saw a Christmas ad on TV this afternoon. Cathy's already ordered most of my gifts and I have her shopping about half done.

Trust me, you want to avoid having to pick up packages in Iqaluit's post office if at all possible in December. Jordon (an Iqaluit blogger and Post Master no less) is one seriously doomed bastard. Send pity his way, just not mail if you can help it.

Last Five
1. Johnny 99 (live) - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
2. I'm gonna find another you - John Mayer
3. Cobwebs - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
4. Stable song - Death Cab For Cutie
5. Snow is gone (live) - Josh Ritter*

Cårven Der Pümpkîn

It's Hallowe'en, well, pretty much Hallowe'en. So why not celebrate with the Swedish chef.



I've got to say, the Muppets really have found new life on YouTube. I'm not sure if we really need a new Muppets show, as long as we can get these two minutes bits of fun. I've yet to see one of these YouTube clips that haven't made me laugh out loud.

Last Five
1. Can't get arrested - Lloyd Cole
2. That time - Regina Spektor
3. Mary Jane's last dance (live) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4. In my place - Coldplay*
5. Suicide - The Raveonettes

Four for Thursday

1. The big news of the day in Iqaluit - after 36 days the dump fire is finally out. And there was rejoicing, although I noted a hint of sadness among some reporters on Twitter, who mourned the passing of an easy story on a slow news day.

For those people in Iqaluit who have grown accustom to the oily, burnt rubber smell that occasionally lingered over town, never fear. After all, Tim Hortons is opening up next month, so the smell will be back in no time flat.

2. It's now the October 28 and there is still no snow down on the ground in town. The temperatures are finally starting to dip a little bit below zero. But because it's so cold and dry, whenever the wind picks up you get little dust storms blowing around town. I hit one the other day that was bad enough I had trouble seeing where I was driving. So I never thought I would say this, but I'm kind of wishing for some snow to finally land on the ground, just to cover up the dirt.

Besides, living in the arctic and not have any snow on the ground in November is just plain freaky.

3. The phrase "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" is one of those completely foreign concepts to politicians.

Westcott was wrong to send that email. It was probably a case of him being frustrated over something, writing the email and then forgetting the cardinal rule of email. If you're not sure, stand up, walk away for five minutes, look at it again, shake your head at it and then hit delete (for example I had a sentence in this post I wasn't sure about, got up, came back, hit delete. Probably for the best). He didn't and he's paying a price now.

By the way, spinning it as a joke was a mistake. The simpler response was "I was in an upset mood and sent an email I shouldn't have. We've all done it, but that's no excuse of the language I used. I apologize."

But for the premier to stand up with a straight face and call it vile is rich considering all the truly vicious things he said over the past seven years (pretty certain Westcott hasn't conducted any interviews where's expressed a desire to have people shot). There was actually a good comment in the story where 'Mark' said, "I know that whenever I find something vile and offensive, my own inclination is to wait over a year and a half to react to it."

It's mock outrage to score political points. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

4. Finally got to see "Red" last night. Mmmmm, digital projection. Very nice. Fun movie as well. Glad to see that someone remembered Bruce Willis is at his most effective as a charming action hero, which is what he is here. If there is a fault, it's that there was not enough Helen Mirren with a Big Fucking Gun shooting people. However, it is set-up for a sequel so there's always the hope of Helen Mirren shooting Big Fucking Guns in "Red 2".

By the way, I'd love to be able to say, "If you liked the movie you really should go and read Warren Ellis graphic novel." Except they have virtually nothing in common. This was action comedy. Ellis book was a grim little four character action piece which also played with a theme he was running with at that time about the unexploded mines and ghosts of the 20th century that were going to haunt the 21st century for some time.

It's still a great book, but if you're expecting to see a whole cast of characters, no. Not so much. If you like that theme, I'd also highly recommend "Global Frequency".

You know how Ellis is a great writer? Because he's left behind so many fantastic ideas that he's simply grown bored with and moved on to the next thing. He could still be writing Global Frequency if he wanted to, that's how rich with ideas that series was. And Red was three issues and done. Others would have stretched that a dozen issues or more. Ellis told it in three and it was just fine.

Last Five
1. Fix you up - Tegan & Sara*
2. Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan
3. Scenes from an Italian restaurant - Billy Joel
4. Into temptation (live) - Crowded House
5. Desert rose - Sting

New tests

I forgot to mention we survived another Test of Marriage last week. We've had several this year. They include:

1. The Test of Prolonged Unemployment
2. The Test of a Spouse in a Job He Loathes
3. The Test of Vacationing with the Inlaws
4. The Test of Spending Lots of Money On Sealift
5. The Test of Being Apart for Seven Weeks.
6. The Test of Unpacking a Sealift
7. The Test of Putting Together a Large IKEA Item

And now we have...The Test of Unpacking and Moving a Washing Machine

For those of you sticking with my assorted ramblings, our old washing machine up and died back in August. In retrospect, we figure the thing was probably about 10 years old, so it was due. However, as there were no washing machine in town except for one that was around $1,700 (for that much it needed to also perform sexual favours. It didn't) so we quickly did some scrambling. We managed to get Ishop4U to pick one up and deliver it to TSC, who in turn boxed it up and managed to get it on what appears to be the last sealift boat of the season. Last week, it finally arrived.

Which is lovely. The guys at the laundromat are nice and all, but dropping $4 or so for one load in a washing machine is a touch much. And unlike the last time, we were prepared when the crate arrived having decided to go out and buy an expensive cutting tool for the metal band holding it together and a pry bar to open it up. So no more grovelling to the neighbours and looking like idiots. On this, at least.

What we didn't take into account was how to get a 260 pound washing machine up a set of stairs, into our house and installed properly.

Ooops.

The final tally was a bruised knee (Cathy), a bruised wrist (Cathy), a strained back (Cathy), a cut on the back of a leg (Craig), frayed tempers (Craig and Cathy), and one scratch (the side of the washing machine). You knew it was a stressful experience when Cathy was snapping at her dad when she called with a question (Dan, to his credit, was laughing at it when I called him back).

On the upside, we have a lovely, energy efficient washing machine and our marriage has survived yet another test.

The next test will likely be The Test of Handing Out Halloween Candy. We haven't done it together since 2003, so this should should be interesting, what with 100+ kids expected and Boo likely to lose his mind every time someone knocks on the door.

Last Five
1. You look so fine - Garbage*
2. Earthquake - The Von Bondies
3. Only ones who know - Arctic Monkeys
4. Every time you say goodbye - (live) - Allison Krauss
5. I'm impressed - They Might Be Giants

So he's crazy, big deal

I'm enjoying the collective "Oh my God, I need to move/set myself on fire/kill 49% of Toronto" freak out that's currently happening online because Rob Ford won the mayor's race in Toronto. Although, and let's be honest here, for most of Canada losing 50 per cent of Toronto is not the worst idea in the world.

I'm glad the election is over if for no other reason than I finally might be able to read the Toronto Star or the Globe and Mail without their incessant coverage of the mayor's race. The Star has been particularly bad, which would be understandable because it is a Toronto newspaper and not a national one, as the Globe is supposed to be. But the Star has been so astonishingly anti-Ford that even I have been left breathless. If your editorial writers and columnists want to take a crack at him, that's fine, but even the news stories have displayed an astonishing anti-Ford bias.

I normally downplay as paranoia any time conservatives start going off on a rant about leftwing media bias (hello Sarah Palin), but the Star certainly didn't do anything to help the "media are neutral" cause with their coverage the past few months. If I am to believe their coverage I'm pretty sure Ford drowns kittens when he's not beating small children in his spare time.

However, we get off track here from the important point which is, oddly enough, not the idea that half of Toronto should feel free to kill itself in protest of Ford's election. I have several other points.

1. City's frequently elect crazy people to run them. For years municipal politics was the one place where you could be truly crazy and manage to get elected anyway. I've covered enough municipal politics over the years and have seen more than my fair share of the truly deranged sitting at the table and thinking themselves lords of creation because they were on council. The equation goes something like "Crazy + Modicum of Power = City Councillor/Mayor." If there are not crazy people on your city/town council, then you are truly the exception to the norm.

2. I have no idea if Ford is the anti-Christ with a double chin or not. However, if he is crazy he's not the first crazy mayor in the history of Canada. St. John's elected them for decades. Dorothy Wyatt, rest in peace, was mad as a hatter. John Murphy might have been sane at one point, but lord knows he was getting quite batty towards the end. That's probably because Andy Wells drove him there by the end of things. Oh, and speaking of lunatics, Andy Wells was pretty close to one. I desperately hope he's writing his auto-biography somewhere because I can't imagine anything being more entertaining.

I left out Shannie Duff there in the list of crazy St. John's mayors. I don't think she was crazy...it's just that nobody seemed to like her very much as mayor.

So yes Toronto, you did not event the crazy mayor. You're pretty late to the race. And I understand you elected Mel Lastman, but he was still triple A level crazy compared to what we've elected in St. John's.

3. Unless I'm mistaken on the way municipal democracy works, Ford is still just one vote. I'm sure there will be yelling, screaming, frothing at the mouth and diatribes before the Sun's editorial board on a regular basis about how councillors are ruining the city by holding up his agenda. Fair enough. Still, only one vote. Deal with it.

4. I'm torn as an outsider what the next few years will mean. On the other hand, watching people in Toronto freak out is always an entertaining spectator sport. On the other hand, watching people from Toronto whine for the next few years gets really annoying, really quick. We'll see which way it goes.

I have the feeling Ford is a four year flash in the pan. The kind of person you elect and then six months later you go "Holy shit, was I drunk when I voted?" but time will tell.

In the meantime, if someone could get me some of those Bose noise cancelling headphones to deal with that high pitched whine from the south, I'd appreciate it.

Last Five
1. From blown speakers - The New Pornographers
2. Please forgive me - David Gray
3. Bargain - The Who
4. Take it on the run - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies*
5. Magick - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Saturdays

Let us see if we can sum up the event of the day.

1. We did the last of the beginner curling clinics today and had a nice turn out despite the weather (more on that in a moment). It looks like another busy year at the club, which is good.

I also finally got to seriously try out my new curling shoes. Holy shit they're fast. They're easily the fastest curling shoes I've ever owned. Which is nice and all, but I have to adjust my slide because right now I'm rocketing out of the hack and my rocks are bombing through the house. So some tweaking will be required. My first game is Thursday night, so hopefully I'll get it fixed by then.

2. When I came back from curling, Cathy had our deck painted. Um, this wasn't on the planned list for today. She went out and bought deck paint, which the hardware store finally got on the sealift and then decided, because it was such a nice day, to paint the deck. The plan had been to buy the paint and do it next summer, but I guess the plans changed.

3. The plans changed at least in part because we're enjoying freakishly warm weather around here. I think the high today was +5C whereas the seasonal norm is around -4C. I had a conversation with someone this week where they were saying 25 years ago the bay would be frozen solid by this time of the year. Instead there were people out in their boats today, enjoying the weather.

Although reading a story like this in the New York Times about how Tea Party supporters are attacking anything to do with climate change science (the bible and Rush Limbaugh told them it's all a lie) does make me despair, just a little bit.

On the upside there are sunsets like this.



For some reason one of the two Coast Guard vessels currently anchored offshore moved over to the next bay. It's a bit odd as vessels don't normally anchor over there. But I'm not complaining as it adds to the shot.

4. We also went to see The Social Network this evening. I saw the movie when I was in Ottawa, but Cathy wanted to see it and I really liked it, so why not. But along with the movie the other big draw was the debut of the new digital projectors at Astro Theatre. I'm going to miss the soothing clacking of the old film projector in the booth, but holy shit the picture quality with the new machine is amazing. Seriously, I'm going to have to go and see more movies at Astro with quality that good.

They can also show 3-D movies, but guns and blackmail would be required before you would get me to sit through Jackass 3-D. I was mildly depressed that most people this evening seemed to be going to that movie instead of The Social Network.

Maybe they'll rerelease Avatar up here so I can finally get to see it properly in 3-D. Other than that, not sure how much money I'll be dropping on 3-D movies. The technology is still too uneven for me to embrace.

3-D movies, vets and Tim Hortons. My god, our little city is growing up.

Last Five
1. It takes one to know one - The Donnas
2. P.S. I love you - The Beatles
3. In a big country - Big Country*
4. Raise the alarm - The Living End
5. Changes - David Bowie

I'll take a vet, thank you

The city, indeed the nation, has been fixated on the story that Iqaluit is getting its first Tim Hortons. Look, they even have part of their logo translated into Inuktitut.



Reaction around town has been...odd. Some are excited, a surprising number are grumbling about it. Either because of the anticipated volumes of trash, that Tim's is a pretty unhealthy place and lord knows there is enough unhealthy crap to eat anyway (I love the ones bitching about how unhealthy Tim's is, but who I know eat at the Snack from time to time). Plus there are those who hate Tim Horton's coffee and just like to hate on the place as a rule.

I remain mostly ambivalent. I'll certain get some donuts and muffins from time to time, but I won't be going there for coffee. I don't like hot beverages, so Tim's has a limited appeal to me. I'm happier about the news that Iqaluit is on the verge of getting a vet full-time.

We have vets in town this very minute, but it's part of the twice a year visit the vets make to town. So as long as you're just getting vaccination updates or getting your pet fixed, you're fine. But if your pet gets suddenly ill, well, you're in trouble.

I've recounted here before how we spent nearly $2,000 flying Boo to Ottawa to get treated for an infection nearly two years ago. We nearly had to do that again earlier this month. He's fine now, but he was having some issues and Cathy actually had him in a crate at the airport getting ready to send him to Ottawa. By dumb luck I was already in Ottawa for meetings, so I was going to pick him up and transport him to the vet, get him looked at, and then sent back to Iqaluit the next day.

As it happens, the plane he was supposed to go out on got cancelled because of high winds. Then he got better and we decided not to send him out.

But you see how this goes. A full-time vet in town would be a very nice thing to have. Just because I suspect this is going to be a reoccurring problem. Tim's coffee and a donut is nice and all, but I'd much rather not be dropping a lot of money shipping the dog off to Ottawa any time he gets sick.

I'm disappointed that it looks like it's still going to be another year before she's able to set up her practice in town. She still has to finish school and she's also pregnant. So that's slowing down the process a bit. However, I'll be happy when she's here. And certainly happier than a Tim's opening up shop.

Last Five
1. Eventually - Brendan Benson
2. Giving up the gun - Vampire Weekend
3. Fuck and run - Liz Phair*
4. American girl (live) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5. Store bought bones - The Raconteurs

Westcott throws gasoline on the fire

I'm not sure I laughed harder this month when I found out the news that Craig Westcott was going to become the new Director of Communications for the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. I've been kind of drifting away from NL politics for awhile now. Part of it being time and distance, part of it being only the strong can survive writing about NL politics for years on end, and apparently I'm just a weak, weak man.

But Westcott as Comms director? That's hilarious. Newfoundland and Labrador politics just got infinitely more interesting.

I'm a friend and fan of Westcott and that's no secret. Do a search of the blog using his name and you'll find it come up many times, with me saying good things about him. I think he's a hell of a journalist and has a refreshing low bullshit tolerance level. And in fair disclosure, I use him as a reference on my resume. I'm pretty sure he's the reason I have my current job, because he apparently spent about 20 minutes talking about how brilliant I am.

So yes, I laughed when it was pointed out to me that he had a new job. As expected, there are some who are not happy about it. I shrug off most of the comments as they generally don't know what they're talking about. Geoff Meeker interviewed Craig briefly and I think everyone got an idea pretty quick of what the next year is going to be like.

“Since I started these papers I’ve been lucky to have had maybe 20 minutes a month to think about Danny Williams and write a column about his style of government," Westcott said. "And from what I understand, that was enough to have him down on the floor of his office, chewing the carpet. Well, as of Monday coming, my job will be to watch Danny Williams and his government full time, seven days a week. And I’ll have a six-person research team helping me. So maybe the Premier should order some new carpet, something maybe in a ju jube or Reese’s Pieces flavour. With the team we now have in place, we’re going to be very effective when the House opens.

People can say he's being a hypocrite for running for the Conservatives and then switching over to the Liberals. Perhaps, but he's just doesn't like Premier Williams very much. I think he comes by that dislike honestly. I worked with him when Williams was first elected and I think he was intrigued by Williams. Certainly he was a much needed breath of fresh air after years of Liberal melodrama. But gradually, piece by piece, he began disagreeing with the premier on issues and how he ran the province. Westcott's zero bullshit tolerance crept into his writing, Williams didn't like it and pushed back (I know he called Westcott at him to complain about a column) and things escalated from there.

So yeah, I don't know how much of a card carrying Liberal Westcott is, but he's a hell of a writer and he certainly knows what buttons to push with the premier. Which, by the way, is what is desperately needed if you're the Liberals.

There's a line from the West Wing I like, where one of the characters complains about how abused the word 'liberal' had become in US politics. "We rolled over and said, please don't hurt me.' That's pretty much how I've viewed the Liberal Party in NL for many years now. Very much trying very hard to avoid being hurt any further by Williams. The only solid Liberal voices in NL the last five years have been Ed Hollett and Wallace Mclean.

Whatever else you can say about Westcott, it's the first sign of life I've seen in the Liberals in years. The first sign that they're willing to fight Williams in public. That they're willing to hire someone they know is going to drive the premier insane, that they've found the money for some more researchers is at least an indication they're not going to be annihilated in the next election.

I'm not going to say they're going to win next fall, but at least now I think there might actually be a chance they pick up a few seats. It's politics; it's not all about getting along with each other. Sometimes it's about picking a fight. If the Liberal party wants to survive past the 2011 election then they finally found someone who might just be able to do that for them.

Last Five
1. The beast and dragon, adored - Spoon
2. Such a scream (live) - Tom Waits
3. Intro (live) - Tom Waits*
4. The view from the afternoon - Arctic Monkeys
5. Front row - Metric

Curling clinic

I feel it's worth mentioning for blog readers in Iqaluit that the curling season is going to be getting started, well, unofficially tomorrow. People have been busy at the club getting the place in shape, getting the ice down (I've been by several times and the its the best I've seen the ice in the six years I've been at the club) and preparing for the craziness that is the start of the season.

Curling officially begins next week. However, as we don't like to throw new curlers onto the ice without a bit of practice, we'll be having free and open clinics. The first is Thursday night from 7-9 pm. The second one is from 1-3 pm on Saturday. The first was supposed to be yesterday, but we couldn't get the ice ready in time. Ice makers are perfectionists, which has its pros and cons.

If you're at all interested in curling I highly recommend coming down for the clinics. They're a great introduction to the sport. And I always tell people if you're new to town it's hard to beat curling for a social sport and a way to get to know new people. If you like the sport, we can sign you up to a team. If not, no harm. All you need for the clinic (you can go to one or both if you feel like it) is some warm clothing, a comfortable pair of pants (tight jeans are bad) and a clean pair of indoor shoes.

Membership at the club for the year is $125, which is ridiculously low, probably the lowest of any curling club in Canada. Also, our first bonspiel of the year will be in a few weeks - November 5&6. That would be the First Air Bonspiel. I can't say what the door prizes are yet, because they're not confirmed, but First Air has always been a good sponsor and the prizes have been quite good.

So come on down.

Now, all I have to do is put together the pieces for my mixed curling team and my Dominion team. It's hard work. I miss my old team from last year. They're going to be a bitch to replace.

Last Five
1. In a world called catastrophe - Matthew Good*
2. Original sin - INXS
3. Constance - Ron Hynes
4. Learning to fly - Tom Petty
5. The switch and the spur - The Raconteurs

Tim

It appears I'm going to have to update the Moving to Iqaluit FAQ.

The FAQ has been about trying to explain the realities of living in Iqaluit. Explaining those realities, I've discovered, has scared off as many people as it has lured up. But the one thing I've always used, more for a punch line than anything else, is that Iqaluit has no Tim Hortons.

However, I can't use that punch line any more. It's not just that there is going to be a Tim Hortons coming to Iqaluit, there's going to be three of them coming here. Which is a wee bit of an overkill, but hell, I'm not a businessman, so what do I know.

It'll be interesting to see what impact this will have in town. It's not like the city is hurting for coffee opportunities. I'm not a coffee connoisseur by any stretch, but then again, coffee connoisseurs don't drink at Tim Hortons. Although if they get a drive through, it'll be amusing to see people pull up on a ski-doo.

I think the big loser in this, aside from the obvious hit some coffee shops will take in town (you will note the mayor of Iqaluit didn't express her delight at Tim's impending arrival, it was the deputy. That's because the mayor owns a coffee shop) will probably be the Tim's at the airport in Ottawa. Man, that outlet made a mint off people flying to Iqaluit.

I'd say I won't miss the line at the Ottawa Airport Tim's, but let's be honest, the line-ups in Iqaluit are probably going to be pretty brutal anyway.

Cathy's happy, by the way. And while I could give a rat's ass about the coffee, I do have a weakness for donuts, so this could get bad.

Now, if you could get a Wendy's or The Works up here, then I'd be all set. And probably 30 pounds heavier.

Note: I hadn't thought of it until Chris Windeyer mentioned it on Twitter, dear God the litter. Iqaluit is bad for litter at the best of times, adding a Tim's is a bit like lobbing a nuclear bomb of litter to the mix. This could get ugly.

Last Five
1. A house where nobody lives (live) - Tom Waits
2. Look no further - Dido
3. Wild horses - Rolling Stones
4. Narc - Interpol
5. Someday - Ron Hynes

Madness

I've struggled viciously with this one, so I ask your indulgence...

One of the most common questions I get from people looking to move to Nunavut, after questions about rent, is about whether or not the place is safe. I give the same answer, which is, "I don't think the place is any more dangerous than Toronto. There is crime, there is obviously a drug problem, but most of the crime tends to involve people who know each other. Assuming you're not stupid, then you should be fine."

So far, knock on wood, the worst Cathy and I have had to deal with was having the tires slashed on our car several years ago, and someone throwing a rock at our living room window when we lived in the NEU building. Most of the problems around the NEU building disappeared after I complained and the building owners put in cameras.

However, this has just been an exceptionally bad last few weeks. I'd blame the dump fire smoke for making people grumpy and crazy. Then there was this story, which caused more than its fair share of freaking out around town. Then there was Macleans listing Nunavut as one of the most dangerous places to live in Canada when it comes to violent crime.

And, of course, there is Cape Dorset completely losing its mind. Nunatsiaq's recounting of what the community has been through this past year reads like a horror show. And when the Globe and Mail's editorial staff shines the spotlight on your community, then things are getting bad enough that the normally obliviously southern media are paying attention. But, for the love of God, don't read the comments section on that editorial. It'll make you want to hurt people.

So yeah, October hasn't been a great month. It's been the icing on a bad year.

We were at the Cape Dorset print show at the museum yesterday afternoon. It's normally one of the highlights of the year for us. It's a great display of art, Cathy and I haggle over whether or not to buy some art (we didn't) and it's always fun to watch the ticket draw and the reactions from people if they did or didn't get their favourite piece of art.

But it was kind of subdued. Hard to be excited about all the art when you realize the place where all of the art was coming from was in the process of trying to destroy itself.

I honestly don't know what to tell people when they ask about the violence and crime anymore. Maybe it's a blip. I have a bad feeling it's more than that.

sigh

Look, I still recommend Nunavut as a place to move to. It's not for everyone, obviously. There are challenges to living here which I've gone into before - the cold, the isolation, the lack of amenities, etc. But we love the place. We've been here for five years and it's a good community at heart. But it does have problems. People are trying to solve them, but they're not easy ones to solve. It's going to take a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of patience and a lot of determination. It's going to take tremendous intelligence and even greater will. Those things are rarities at the best of times; I don't know how much exists in Canada, let alone in Nunavut.

I think the thing that frustrated me the most when writing this is that I don't like writing posts that offer up all the problems without taking a crack at what the solutions should be. But the solutions I've mentioned are so...generic. But I've got nothing. People who have lived up here for their entire lives appear to have been so shell-shocked that when these things happen, there's a weariness when it happens.

It'll be fixed one day, I'm sure of it. I just don't know when. Or how many other people are going to die or be hurt before then. And, like so many others who live up here, that frustrates the hell right out of me.

Last Five
1. Back in your hand - Tegan and Sara
2. Fisherman's blues - The Waterboys
3. In the shape of a heart (live) - Jackson Browne
4. Walter Reed - Michael Penn*
5. I can do without you - Kaiser Chiefs

Cute and disturbing

I did have plans to blog this evening, however I seem to be coming down with something. I've already taken Cold FX and some Advil in the hopes of beating this down before it becomes something more serious. Or perhaps I have Dump Flu or something, who knows.

However, in the interests of providing you, the patient reader, with some entertainment this evening, I give you two YouTube videos. One, a cute little thing. The other, the funniest, most disturbing thing The Simpsons has done in about 10 years. Enjoy.





Last Five
1. September Lilly - Hawksley Workman
2. New sensation - INXS*
3. I want you back again (live) - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4. Can't stop now - Keane
5. You won't make a fool out of me - Flogging Molluy

Drifting

So if you speak the devil's name, he has a habit of appearing. Last night I mentioned the dump was still on fire. Fortunately during most of the few weeks that it's been smoking out there, the prevailing winds drove it out of town.

Today? Not so much.

It was kind of a swirling wind and most of the time it was blowing from the south. In terms of the weather, it was a beautiful day. Sunny, but in a nice, crisp fall day. If it wasn't for all the smoke blowing over the town, it would have been perfect. It produced a smell that, as one person said, smelled like old smelly socks being burned in a rusty oil drum.

It was around lunch time when things started to get twitchy. The schools decided to close, the argument being that the air quality inside the schools wasn't good for students. Then, about an hour or so later, the Government of Nunavut closed for the day. You can go to CBC and Nunsatsiaq to read their coverage.

Now, the fascinating thing for me wasn't that this happened. We've been lucky so far on the dump fire and I imagine before it's put out we're going to have a few more days like this. No, the fascinating thing for me was watching the reaction online, specifically Twitter. There was more than passing fury that the GN closed for the day and that schools were closed. The fury was expressed in the following ways.

1. Why close the schools? The air is going to be bad all over town, so what difference does it make if they're in school or at home?
2. If the air is so bad, why are kids playing on the playground?
3. Nunavut's chief health official said there is no danger in the smoke from the dump fire, so why send people home?
4. If there is a problem, why didn't the GN issue a public health advisory? Why were only GN employees at risk from these fumes and needed to be send home and not everyone else in town?
5. The air here is not so bad compared to other places, so suck it up.

So yes, quite the bit of outrage and surliness going on.

Lord knows I'm not going to defend the GN. Some of these gripes are probably very legitimate. However, I will point out a couple of things, just to counter-argue a bit.

1. Cathy's school was pretty well uninhabitable this afternoon. Going in there, even for a few minutes, nearly brought on an asthmatic attack. For whatever reason, the air inside the building was much worse than the air outside of the building. And her school has suffered from some air quality issues in the past. I can't speak for the other schools in town, but it sounds like the made the right call at hers.

2. Trying to decide whether or not to close the GN is one of those no-win situations. If you close, government employees are lazy bastards getting a day off. If they stay open, they're potentially putting their employees at risk. I'm willing to bet someone called Workplace Health and Safety and asked if they should be at work if they were feeling ill.

3. People react different to the fumes. I had a low grade headache and a bad taste in my mouth. I know someone who had her first nose bleed in years today. Cathy had problems breathing. I really think it's hard to develop a policy on what to do when the smoke blows over town. Some people are simply going to be hit very hard by it, some are not. Some will tough it out, some are going to take advantage of the situation and try to scam a day off. Develop a policy based on that.

4. I wonder if there is an argument to be made about people in Nunavut, particularly Inuit, simply not having as much of an ability to handle airbourne pollution as someone who came here from Toronto. If you come from a place where pollution and smog warnings are regular occurances, then this type of smoke is probably not a big deal. But if you're used to breathing the pristine air of Nunavut, this kind of crap could hit you hard.

As I said, lord knows I'm not defending the GN. The situation could undoubtedly have been handled better. But it is a weird situation and one that's not easily dealt with when there are a variety of factors at play.

But yeah, if the wind were to blow constantly from the south for a week or more, that's when things could start to get deeply ugly.

Last Five
1. Girls room - Liz Phair
2. Smooth criminal - Alien Ant Farm*
3. Sleazy bed track - The Bluetones
4. Working man's blues #2 - Bob Dylan
5. Never said - Liz Phair

Return

So, first off, let's answer the really important question, the one that I've been getting posts to the blog about and emails.

Yes, the dump is still on fire. Not seriously on fire like it was the first few days, but yes, there is definitely still smoke coming up from there.

Seriously, I've gotten more questions about that than if I was all right or if the blog was going to be permanently shut down or anything like that. I'd be hurt, but when you have the friends I've had for the past 20 years, you develop a certain thickness of skin, a certain "Oh for fuck's sake, just suck it up already" that gets you through such things.

So why the absence? At first it was a few days of "I have nothing to write about." And then there were a couple of things I could write about, but when I sat in front of the computer, I wasn't feeling particularly inspired or motivated. And for most of the last week I was in Ottawa on a combination of meetings and a chance to try and do some Christmas shopping. I also got the chance to see an old friend and, at least for one afternoon, helped to keep her sane. Until her husband comes home. Then she's his problem.

That's the reason for the absence - Lack of inspiration followed by being pretty busy. I was also curious. Blogging had become a bit of a chore in recent months. One of those things where "Oh God, I guess I should blog now." I mentioned this to Cathy today and she reminded me that I said the blog was meant as a writing exercise. That there was supposed to be an element of discipline involved, where I would try and write every day, even on the days when I didn't want to. Especially on the days I didn't want to.

However, I think I was having too many of those days with not enough reward. I was curious to see how many days it would take until I got the itch to write again. As it turns out, quite a few days. Longer than I would have thought. I haven't checked Statcounter to see if anyone is actually still coming here. And I can only imagine what this break has done to my share price on Empire Avenue.

But I do feel a bit better after the break. Hell, I blog even when I've done on vacation. So let's consider that a bit of a blogging vacation and see if it's done anything to fire me up for the blog again. A lot did happen over the past 12 days or so. We had a small dog emergency, an anniversary of sorts, travels, visits with old friends, the frustrations of Christmas shopping and so on and so forth.

Oh, and curling. Oh yes, it's that time of the year again.

So tomorrow, back to your regular scheduled blog. Oh, and Lorie, I'll change the Flag on top of the blog this week, I promise.

Last Five
1. New favourite (live) - Allison Krauss and Union Station*
2. Boxing champ - Kaiser Chiefs
3. Boulevard of broken dreams - Green Day
4. Don't fail me now - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
5. Summer well - Interpol