Travel planning

So what with it being a month and all since I last blogged...and what with me now having to endure some mocking from the peanut gallery, I guess it's time to do an update.

Basically the last few weeks have been consumed with two things...I'll talk about one this evening and the other over the weekend. The first thing has been trip planning.

I quite like trip planning. It's something I rarely got the chance to do before moving to Nunavut. The resources just weren't there. Now, a combination of having the resources and essentially spending money on nothing other than trips once you get past the usual necessities (Yes, I consider buying my graphic novels a necessity. Because if I don't buy them, I go crazy. Which makes things unpleasant for all concerned) we're able to do more travelling. And through a nice confluence of events, we're able to do more travelling than usual over the next six months.

I like trip planning. Perhaps the simple thing would be to go to a travel agent and get them to do all the work. But I like scouring websites looking for the best deals. I like reading travel journalism and books and finding cool things to do. I'm the type of person who is planning several years in advance for what the next trips are going to be.

As I said, a bit of luck this year, as we're able to go to Copenhagen for a few days, then hopping on a cruise ship where we're going to putter around the Baltic sea for 11 days, going to places like Oslo and Saint Petersburg (we'll have been to the one in Florida and Russia in the same year, which is kind of cool, now that I think about it). After the cruise we're stopping in Scotland to visit an old friend. And to buy a nice bottle of Scotch. Because if I'm in Scotland, I'm buying a nice bottle of Scotch. I'm currently thinking of an 18 year old bottle of Macallan, but other suggestions are welcome.

That alone would be a pretty good trip for the year, but as I said, we're getting lucky. For example, Air Greenland is starting flights into Iqaluit twice a week for this summer. Which might not seem like a big deal. After all, Greenland isn't that far away from Iqaluit. Except there hasn't been a direct flight between here and Nuuk, the capital, in 10 years. So if you wanted to get from here to there, you either had to hire a charter (let's say it's not cheap) or fly there via Copenhagen. It could take you two days or more to get to a place that is, realistically, a two hour flight away.

So there's a direct flight. This may be a one time thing if sales aren't great. So rather than take a chance, on Labour Day weekend we're going to pop over to Nuuk. Not entirely sure what we're going to do - I suspect there may be a tour of the fiords - as I've been focusing most of the last month on getting the Europe trip planned. I've also been told by people who have been there that, you know, there are limits on how much there is to do, especially with that much time. But we're going to Greenland.

I also have bragging rights. None of my university friends have ever been there. I get to be the first. This makes me happy in deeply petty ways, but I'm all right with that.

With some luck I might get to New York in October for the New York Comic Con. But I've thought that in 2010 and 2011 and it's always managed to fall through, so I'm not jinxing myself over that one yet. And it looks like we'll back back in Newfoundland for Christmas. Which I'm happy about, don't get me wrong, but steps will have to be taken to prevent us from losing our sanity and being completely exhausted at the end of it. Because that's what usually happens.

As for the future...I think we're about 90 per cent sure we're going back to California next summer. I'd like to go to Thailand the year after, but Cathy has serious dietary concerns (their tendency to cook a lot of their food in peanut oil which would kind of kill Cathy a lot). I think a trip to the Galapagos/Machu Picchu is in the mix as well. We've never been to South America. That seems like a good way to go about doing things. And then there are other trips that rattle around in my brain...the Canary Islands, Morocco, Egypt, Belize...

I'm always a touch reluctant to write about these plans. A couple of years ago I got chastised for talking about how much we buy/spend and it makes it sound like that's all we're focussed on. And it's not. But one of the big benefits of living where we do is that it offers us the opportunity to be able to do something we both love...which is travelling. None of this would be possible if we still lived in Newfoundland. I recall when we went to the Dominican in 2004 that the choice was literally we could go there, or we could make an RRSP payment, but not both. So we decided to hell with it, we can eat cat food for a few weeks when we're 90, but we wanted that trip.

So I hope no one is offended with what seems like bragging, but is honestly just excitement that we get to go and do a bunch of cool stuff over the next six months, but even more after that. I'm going to Talinn, Estonia this summer. I wouldn't have found that on a map when I was 16. Now I get to visit there. That's pretty awesome, any way you look at it...

Last Five
1. Mockingbird - Ryan Adams
2. Give me one reason - Tracy Chapman
3. Should I stay or should I go (live) - The Clash*
4. A little rain (live) - Tom Waits
5. Last of the American girls - Green Day

Ah, spring...

We all celebrate the arrival of spring in different ways. For some of you down south, perhaps it's breaking out shorts or skirts and sitting outside of coffee shops sipping lattes. And then there's how we roll in Iqaluit...

Cathy actually took out the deck furniture last weekend in a fit of optimism and was punished for it by getting about 30 cm of snow this past week. Mother Nature can be a vengeful bitch when she wants to be. I understand that much snow may not seem a lot, but consider two things:

1. This is still an arctic desert. We actually don't get much snow in the run of a year.
2. It's the end of April. Thirty cm of snow sucks at this time of the year no matter which way you cut it.

And it's not like we're entirely out of the woods. I recall there was a blizzard in Iqaluit back in 2004 that hit in May. Guy actually lost his life as he was caught out on the land. Still today it's sunny and beautiful and warm, hovering right around 0C. The bay looks like a speedway with all the snowmobiles zipping back and forth across it.

So yeah, this is nice. In a few weeks it'll be insane mucky and potholes will show up everywhere. But for right now, we're just enjoying the rare combination of sun, snow and warmth.

Last Five
1. Be the one - The Ting Tings
2. Something so strong (live) - Crowded House
3. Through & through & through - Joel Plaskett
4. Four kicks - Kings of Leon
5. Old shoes - Tom Waits*

A little catch-up

Huh, wow, two and a half weeks. Well, let's do an update here...

1. Florida went pretty well, even though Cathy and I both got nailed with fairly vicious head colds. Nothing like getting sick while on vacation. Mine managed to stay on a low boil for most of the vacation, only getting bad the second last day there. Cathy got hit early and, for extra flavour, managed to couple it with an allergic reaction. So we had no idea what drugs to give her to combat what. And "All the Drugs" is apparently not a good idea as it does weird things, like self-medicated comas, for a start.

As this is our third trip to Florida in as many years, I think I'm getting used to the weirdness. One of my friends asked me what strange stuff I saw down there, and I couldn't think of anything off the top of my head. The weird is the new normal. I mean, giant billboards advertising Emergency Rooms didn't even really register. Or doctors advertising their services for lawsuits. For that matter, the sheer volume of ads for lawyers....none of it really registers as weird anymore. The Wagon Wheel flea market was actually boring. The $1.50 pineapples didn't make me break down and start crying as they did in previous years.

Even belly dancers with fire doesn't really startle me anymore.

Or bunnies on the beach.

That bunny was actually on the beach right before Easter Sunday. Taking a break before the big day, I guess.

So yes, Florida is now kind of boring. Which means it's probably time for a change, but we'll see. We like going some place warm over Easter, but doing an all-inclusive is a bit of a waste of time when you don't drink, for example. And Florida is still quite cheap. But we have a year to figure things out.

Is it wrong, by the way, that I know most of the vacations we're going to take over the next four years?

2. There was some mild panic over whether or not Republic of Doyle coming back or not earlier this month. I confess I had mixed feelings. I've obviously been frustrated with the show, but was I frustrated enough to wish people out of jobs? Not really. I wish they would hire a proper script doctor to fix they many faults in the writing.

But despite the panic, there was never any real risk. It's still one of the CBC's highest rated shows. Also, and I'm sure they knew this when the decision was being made, the Newfoundland government kicked in something like $3 million to help with the cost of producing the show. I assume that doesn't count all of the tourism ads they put on during the show as well.

3. We're entering one of my favourite times in Iqaluit. The temperature is warm enough (around -10C) that you can put away the big winter coats and wear much lighter jackets. We can also crack open a window to let some fresh air circulate into the house. I understand that sounds insane for those of you down south as -10C is still too cold. But after a winter of -40C, well, the extra 30 degrees feels positively balmy.

But it's other stuff...it's warm enough to spend more time outdoors. The light at this time of the year, shining on the snow and the ice on the bay, is stunning. I'll try and get out and take some photos this weekend. It's nice to sit in the living room at the end of the day and watching snowmobiles going back and forth across the bay.

It's all on an edge, of course. In a few weeks time the daylight will go from nice to a little too much, when it will essentially give up being dark for the next few months, which leads to an increase in the craziness. The snow will start to melt, so there will be muck and potholes everywhere.

But for right now, it's nice.

4. Blogger has switched to a new format. Which I hate. So we'll see how this post works out...

Last Five
1. Cold desert - Kings of Leon
2. Never give up - Ron Sexsmith
3. I'm yours - Joel Plaskett Emergency
4. Breakdown into the resolve - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
5. Here comes the rain again - Eurythmics*

Where the weird end up...

I guess before I get too deeply into this blog post I should mention something about the last Republic of Doyle....which is that it was that stupid that I think I finally might give up on the show. If the whole plot about accidentally robbing $2 million in gold bars didn't give you a brain cramp with it's overwhelming stupidity, then I have nothing for you. At all. It was dumbass from start to finish.

Also, and I know this is purely me, the last song they played before the credits rolled, really annoyed me. I like the idea that they're apparently going to end each season with a Ron Hynes slong, but "Atlantic Blue" is as close to a sacred Newfoundland song as there is. For those whoe don't know the history, it was written as almost a hymn for the men who lost their lives in the Ocean Ranger disaster 30 years ago. So yes, let's use a 15 second clip of it over a closing montage showing Des bleeding from a gunshot wound.

Gah. It just really annoyed me. It's a beautiful, beautiful song and you're going to waste it on this? Someone deserves a boot to the head. Seriously.

Anyway, as we clearly needed to recover from the mental damage the show inflicted, Cathy and I find outselves in warming climes. Yes, it's our annual (well, third year) pilgrimage to the land of the crazy....Florida. As a percautionary measure, we've left our hoodies at home.

Florida is always guaratneed to produce a steady stream of weird moments. Yesterday was my quest to get a hair cut...because as nice as my guy in Iqaluit is, we're looking at 30+ dollars there, versus $12 here. Which is why I was looking like bozo the clown the last week or so. But my usual marginally racist barber was closed unilt Monday, so I was left scrambling. Finally found a place that was open, walked in and discovered that, including me, there were exactly two white people out of the 20 or so people in there.

Still, excellent hair cut. Seriously, one of the best I've had in years. I mean, the guy spent 20 minutes on my hair. If you've seen how much I have left, you understand that you have to work to spend that much time on my hair. But man, they were thorough. Hell, there was a guy there who got in the chair next to me 20 minutes before I did and was still there when my cut was finished. If I had run into him on the street, I wouldn't have said he needed a cut to begin with. But they were seriously good barbers. Next time I'm back here, I'm hunting them down again.

Last night we did a walk down the beach and back (in lieu of my gym workouts, I'll be walking the beach at least twice a day) and came across a woman with a bunny (the easter bunny?) who were watching a pair of belly dancers playing with fire...literally. One had a hula hoop of fire, the other was doing something with a sword. I have pics to prove I haven't been drinking, but don't have an adapter to transfer them to the iPad. Not yet anyway. Maybe later this week.

Today was just the redneck flea market of the damned. Except I'm apparently getting blaise about it's charms. We burned through it in less than two hours this time. It seemed less interesting this time, although the price of food ($1.50 for a pineapple) still made me weep.

This evening is a buffet (a good one, apparently, as it costs more than $6 per person) and tomorrow is our Restocking of the Wardrobes, as we hit an outlet mall and drop an appalling amount of money in a few hours so we don't have to buy clothes for the rest of the year. Cathy's mom isn't coming this year. I think we scarred her for life last year.

More updates as more weirdness happens.

Last Five
1. Everybody knows (live) - Leonard Cohen
2. Magpie to the morning - Neko Case*
3. Gone tomorrow - The Monday Nights
4. Buzz Fledderjohn - Tom Waits
5. The loneliness - Fightened Rabbits

Curling finale

No Doyle this week. Between the gym and a few things that needed doing around the house after I got back from the gym, it was about 10:20 before I sat down. I think this week is the season finale, so I'll try and make time to sit down and watch it.

As for other things happening, curling season wrapped up for me this week. If I haven't spoken about curling quite as much as I usually do it's because I found this season a bit frustrating. I just wasn't playing well and it wasn't...fun, although I'm not sure why as the guys on my team are pretty cool. My third, a nice guy named Jeremy, joked during our final game last night that I never listen to his advice. My response is that in previous years my Third has been a cute woman and I'm apparently more receptive to their advice.

(There are many women I should apologize to for that last remark, but let's start with Cathy, and then move on to Stephanie and Ashley, who were my Thirds in recent years.)

I suspect many people would wonder why I was so frustrated. We didn't win our Tuesday League night, but we did win the B final that night, which was nice. We curled in the Canadian North Bonspiel last night (no plane ticket again, alas) and won the B Final in that event. Apparently, it's been a B kind of week.

The weekend was actually a lot of fun. It was only a three person team due to various weirdness. After losing an annoying game on Friday night (two of my final stones picked up debris and did weird thing. Cost me six points), we won Saturday morning, a nice strategic battle in the afternoon to get to the final and then an epic one in the final. We were the last teams on the ice, all I had to do with my last shot was make a take out to win...which I missed, of course. So now we're tied, it's 10 p.m. everyone else is eating and they're trying to convince us to go to an extra end.

We deferred, as we were all exhausted. Instead, we did a fun little bit of mental torture called skip stones. Basically each skip throws one rock, closest to the button wins. No pressure. The other skip went first and put his rock in the eight foot (the white rings, for those of you who watch curling on TV). I threw mine and put it on the button. It must be said, there is something nice about doing a pressure shot like that and making it, and then looking up and seeing people applauding (everyone was watching) and pounding on the glass.

I threw the last rock, in the last game of the season to win a final. I like that.

But I'm not sure it cancels out everything in the weeks before. As I said, I was frustrated a lot, my patience was thinner that it has been in years. My broom went flying a few times when I was frustrated, which I haven't done in about five years. That's not acceptable.

So I figure one of three things will happen.
1. Business as usual. I'll go back next season and do it all over again. The odds of that are marginally better after this week. And not just because of the wins. I notice my delivery is better as I've been losing some weight.

2. I'll put my name out there and if some team wants to recruit me, I'll curl with them on the condition I'm not the skip. I'll shoot Third stone or something.

3. Take a year, possibly more, off.

We'll see. I'm leaning towards #3, but that might change come September. Maybe the itch will be back.

But for now, time to hang up the curling shoes. I'll also have to see if I'm going to add Tuesday nights to the gym schedule. I've been going five nights a week, except Tuesday (curling) and Friday (recovery). Not sure I want to do six days a week at the gym, but I'll make my decision after Easter.

Last Five
1. Ribbons undone (live) - Tori Amos
2. The letter - Mark Bragg
3. Your heart is an empty room - Death Cab for Cutie*
4. Girls like you - The Naked and Famous
5. Tiger Lily - Ron Hynes

Recent Acquisitions

We haven't been down to the museum in town for a couple of months, I think. There's always lots of nice things there, but it can be expensive walking in there. There's a tendency to walk in with a full wallet and then walk out with it considerably lighter. Bringing your check book is a tremendously bad idea. Trust me.

There are several places in town where you can buy really nice carvings, but the museum consistently offers nice little pieces at quite reasonable prices. Let's put it this way, anytime someone comes in town and expresses and urge to buy a carving, they're steered straight to the museum.

We didn't go there looking for a carving yesterday...we were there for the Pangnirtung Print Collection. Cape Dorset gets all the attention when it comes to prints in Nunavut, but Pangnirtung has a history with prints (and tapestries) and sometimes you can find a nice print at a price that's not as high as what the Dorset ones have reached in recent years.

(I'm not saying the Dorset prints aren't worth the price, by the way. I'm all for artists getting what they can for their work. But I've noticed the spike in prices over the last seven years as their national popularity has spiked.)

We didn't find one we liked, alas. However, as this is why the museum is dangerous, we were poking around and seeing what else was there and fell in love with a carving. Several hundred dollars later, this guy is now in our carvings display.

The artist is Quraq Nugushuituq from Cape Dorset. It's also carved out of quartz, which is a little different. We have a couple of polar bear carvings, but this is the first one that's actually the same colour as the bear.

And because we're showing off a bit, a couple of other acquisitions I've just forgotten to put up on the blog. First, there's the one of a woman in an amunti we bought back in November.

The stone is serpintine and the face is made from caribou antler. The artist is Mosesie Ipeelee from here in town.

And finally, a couple of ookpiks (owls). The one on the left is more of a traditional one. The one on the right, well, someone got the idea of doing a set of ookpiks and dubbing them Angry Ookpiks, and dyed them the same colour as the Angry Birds. They were $30 each, so while it was tempting to go and buy the set, Cathy just settled on the blue one. I suspect, judging by how fast they disappeared (they were advertised on one of the Iqaluit Buy/Swap sites on Facebook) the artist is going to do quite well for herself over the next couple of months.

That's the thing about Iqaluit. It's dead easy for us to resist hitting the bars or eating out. But the sheer volume of art that's routinely dangled in front of you...that's the hard thing to pass up...

Last Five
1. Peace - Weezer
2. Mother - Emmanuel Jai
3. Champagne for my friends - Fall Out Boy
4. Yankee bayonet - The Decemberists*
5. Smoke detector - Rilo Kiley

Plate madness

Friends of mine on Facebook have already seen this, so my apologies to them. But for the rest of you, this might be of interest. It is also a cautionary tale.

A friend of mine posted a link to an eBay auction earlier this week (he's not the one running it) for a used Nunavut licence plate. Now, if you had asked me how much something like that would go for, I would have said $10...maybe. I would have been off by a considerable amount.

There's less than 30 minutes left as I write this, but allow me to say that $197 for a licence plate is insane (Note: It went for $213. Unreal). I would also like to point out that the plate is almost exactly the same as the plate for the NorthWest Territories. For that matter, $20 in shipping for the licence plate is also batshit crazy, but anyway...

I made the joke after I read that auction - when it was at $110, by the way - that I had a new retirement plan. It involved me taking the day off, going to my tool box for a screwdriver, and then taking a casual stroll around town. You know, for my health and all...

If that plate goes for $200, then aside from P.T. Barnum really being a genius philosopher, I am tempted to go out this evening with a screwdriver. I figure 300 licence plates would be enough to take care of my sealift this summer.

To my knowledge, they're still making them for another couple of months, so they're not really that rare or scarce. But I have to admit, if someone offered me $200 for the plate off the back of our car, I wouldn't sell it. So perhaps there is some truth to the value of the plate. I also have no idea what the licence plate collectors market is like. Maybe it is in demand, but I find $200 a touch insane.

Although I will say this...if this actually becomes a trend, and those plates start getting a couple of hundred dollars, my plate is going to disappear (i.e. it's going to be hung on my wall) and I'll go and get one of the new ones. I'll suffer the ugly one on the car; but having someone steal it (because word is going to get out around town about this) and sell it on eBay would be really annoying...

Last Five
1. Lithium - Nirvana*
2. The Jessica numbers - The New Pornographers
3. Anna...go to him - The Beatles
4. Follow the arrows - Sean Panting
5. Ireland - Tori Amos