Grinding my gears

I'm quite angry at this moment in time. I only have a single internet connection this summer and unfortunately, it is a Government of Northwest Territories connection. So apparently every connection signal travels to Yellowknife and then returns to Inuvik. This means they are monitoring everything, which I'm sure is a good idea and is not new to those of you who work in the government. So I posted videos via YouTube which is now blocked (I can understand this one because watching the videos sucks a lot of bandwidth), I can't listen to CBC Radio 3 or even read the blog because the site is blocked (again I can understand the internet radio thing), but when it crosses the line is blocking ports so that I can't use MSN. This is the primary way in which I keep contact with people. What the fuck! And in my situation, it's not like I can just go home and log on to MSN there, this is the ONLY connection I have all summer. This is bullshit. I am pretty confident every single thing I do on the internet (Facebook, my fantasy baseball on Yahoo! and probably even this blog will be shutdown within a matter of days. If that happens I am going to starting taking names and kicking ass. I understand the reasoning behind it, and maybe my e-mail to the tech guys in Yellowknife will work, but if not, looks like I've got e-mail to keep in touch with people. Apologies if I don't get a chance to talk to anyone until September.

I realize this is completely lame on my part. I should be able to get by without MSN for 4 months and I will probably have to suck it up and do so. Maybe it will be refreshing and put an end to some time wasting. It's just that with the whole living alone until the end of June thing and then all of August, I get pretty bored and I'm a people person so being able to chat with friends is always nice. We'll see how this shakes down in the next few days.

In other news, I just paid $8 for a 2L carton of milk. I think that is expensive, but I'm not really sure. Anyone care to let me know what the going rate for milk is in Ottawa or elsewhere? In fact post a bunch of items and their prices and I will find out how much they are here, that'll be fun. Perhaps I will take some pictures in the supermarket, but seeing how this summer is going, it will be confiscated.

Sens lost last night, rough game. Hopefully they will be able to pull it together on Wednesday now that they have an idea of how Anaheim is going to be playing. Fingers crossed.

I only need to wear one thermal shirt underneath my Windstopper jacket on my bike ride to and from town. That must be a sure sign it is warming up finally. Ice is still on the lake though:

Thanks for letting me vent.

G'night.

Victoria Day Weekend and Video Revolution

So some people might be wondering if I do any work here given that my last two posts have been about watching hockey games and cheering on the Sens. Well as a matter of fact I do. Very little at times, but work none the less. Actually this past weekend I decided to go out to my field site just north of Inuvik on East Channel. However, although the ice isn't really melting yet, enough of the river further south has melted that it pushes water all the way north and there is mechanical breakup (or at least that is the official sounding name that I was told) on the edges of the river. So for safety reasons I decided to helicopter out. It's kind of cool to have a helicopter at your disposal.

The trip was delayed until Sunday as the helicopter needed some repairs (just fills you full of confidence when they say that..haha). I had arranged to have one of the guys who works at the forest management base come out with me but he was a no show. Sometimes that happens in this town...and the fact that it was a long weekend. I'm sure he was just sleeping in. Wink. So in my prudence I decided to go out alone. The helicopter would drop me off and then pick me up when I called them in with the sat phone after I was finished.

This is one of those situations where after you get back you think about all the reasons you shouldn't have done what you just did. I mean the site isn't all that remote but the helicopter had to drop me about 500 m from the actual spot where I was sampling and it was kind if cold (-4 or so) so I guess it would have created some drama if something did happen. Oh well. Nothing did and here's the blog posting to prove it. I know some people just wanted some drama. Maybe later in the summer.

I also want to dispel some rumours that there are actually no trees here. This is specifically for a couple of roommates, who may or may not be reading:

Well boys...looks I found some trees. Guess I won't be back early!

So basically the whole point of the trip was to collect some tree cores. Which I accomplished with little to no problem.

I've had the chance to ride in a number of helicopters over my time doing fieldwork and the whole experience isn't all that new, but I though the viewers at home might like to see a landing in action so I made a video (which I have recently learned to include in this blog) to give you an indication:

Take off.

Wahooo!!! Sens in the Finals

What a goal!!!! I thought Spezza had it a bit earlier in the OT, but the C is on Alfie's sweater for a reason. What a huge goal! Looked kind of harmless but looks like he handcuffed Miller with the shot and the crowd went wild! Well I did at least.

Daniel Alfredsson has to be considered the MVP of these playoffs!!!

Next stop....the Stanley Cup Finals!!!!

Man I wish I could on Elgin St. right now. Instead I will settle for going for a bike ride on the Dempster Highway.
I'm out.

No Sweep for the Sens

As noted in a previous post, I have the good fortune of having a TV in the bunkhouse. Of course satellite is not available so I'm going with a total of two channels, APTN (Aboriginal People's Television Network) and the good ol' CBC for the summer.

This means I will be watching the entire series of North of 60 as well as enjoying some superb films with Winonna Ryder and Steven Segal (both of them being part aboriginal).

More importantly it means I am able to keep track of my favourite team's road to the Stanley Cup. I've been a Sens fan and thus disappointed since around 1999 because my Dad cheered for the Leafs. That worked out well...

I was a bit nervous at the start of this series because of what happened last year! But after a bit of role reversal, some solid shut-down D and the curse that is known as the President's Trophy the Sens went up 3-0 and they were playing last night for the sweep. That would be quite the feat and provide me with some bragging rights since my supervisor is a Sabres fanatic. Well, the Sabres didn't quite follow the script with that 9 second tally, but they looked shaky in the 2nd half of the second and although they ended up winning the game They had some of their defensive liabilities such as Vanek, Afinaganov and Kalinan playing 4th line minutes. Hopefully that means they will be a bit worn down on Friday and the Sens will be able to finish this one up and give Emery all the time he needs to visit the far superior nightlife of New York City before the Finals.

GO SENS GO

What was I thinking?

Well, here I am, in Inuvik for four months. I really didn't think there would be this much snow still or that it would be this cold (-15 last night). Everyone here keeps saying that it is much below normal. More about Inuvik in a second.

The last day in Edmonton was awesome. Greg Wallace and his grilfriend MJ came down from Grande Prairie and we all went to West Edmonton Mall. Pretty average mall, until you come upon the two-level West 49 with a skatepark in the basement and then see the roller coasters, ice rink, submarines and extremely large waterpark all within the mall. Wow. We decided to do the waterpark and after picking up some trunks headed for the largest indoor wave pool in the world and some pretty excellent water slides.

I visited the mall once when I was much younger (say 5 or 6?) and remember having to be saved from one of the waterslides that is like a large funnel and drops you about 5 feet into a deep pool. What were my parents thinking letting me go down the slide? There are so many warnings about deep water swimmers only. Ah well. This time I slayed the beast. Then our day only got better as we returned to Bri's pad had some drinks, watched the Sens game until the 2OT then jumped into a cab and headed to the Joel Plaskett concert at the Starlite room. Sweet venue that used to be a church I am told and it was a great show. After the concert we hung around and chatted with everyone from Joel to Peter Elkas and Chris Pennell. Simply awesome. Until I needed to wake up at 6 AM to catch my flight. Needless to say, not the best 6 hours ever spent.

Then I step off the plane and arrive at the bunkhouse at the forestry compound on Shell Lake where I am staying for four months to find this:

And the title of this posting flashed through my mind. Oh geez. Well I'm sure it has to warm up soon right? Until then I will be comforted with internet access in the office and CBC and APTN on the TV in the bunkhouse. I forsee lots of reading ebing accomplished or perhaps more blog posts...but I will try to keep them shorter than this. Always more news right at the start.

Cowabunga.

Gone.

Well, it's started. I am currently in the City of Champions chilling with Bri Hines and watching the game in his sweet pad. We also just rode the zipper at one of those shopping centre parking lot fairs. A couple of observations: a) Carnies are in a class amongst themselves. I mean some of those mustaches and just overall appearances ooze quality. b) The zipper is a premiere ride simply because you have the fear of god in you due to the appearance of little to no maintenance goes into these rides (I convince myself that it is only an appearance) and c) I don't understand the big slide with the sack. Why would you waste tickets on that thing?

So I must admit some conflicting emotions about this whole trip. I've known the plan since mid-January and I've been pretty excited about it. This is what I want to do and I think it is a great opportunity for my "career" (some rock and roll quotes for you). As well when I arrive in Inuvik I start to enjoy the somewhat solitude of being surrounded by wilderness. However, since late April and early May I've been going out a bunch with friends and a new person or two and playing a bit of pickup ultimate and just having a sweet time. It's made me kind of wish I could be around in the summer to hang out and be with friends. Alas, not the plan this summer.

A quick good luck to the folks I know who are going to Toronto this weekend to open the competitive frisbee season. Wish I could be there.

Next stop. Inuvik. Salutations.

T-minus 3 days

Good lord I hate packing. I also have a ton of fracking stuff. Geez louise. I am trying to cut a bunch of stuff but I keep realizing I am going for 4 months which requires slightly more stuff than 2 months. I ship gear and some extra clothing in boxes and will be carrying my backpack with me.

My flight is at 7:00 in the PM on Thursday and I am stopping over in Edmonton to see Brian Hines a friend from high school. We are going to chill for a couple of days and then I leave for Inuvik Sunday morning. I'll update once I arrive and get settled.

GK