Ah, Mississauga

I am now in scenic Mississauga....Land of Dreams as I believe I mockingly called it last night on Facebook after arriving. Although I guess I shouldn't mock too much. I just looked out the window and it's sunny. Current temperature is 6C (note the lack of a minus sign in front of the six) getting up to a high of 10C. So sure, I'll take a burst of that.

Today's plan is to head downtown, catch up with a couple of old student newspaper friends - one of whom I'm sure I haven't seen in 15 years - do some twacking around, hit the Apple store and go to The Beguiling, where I was relive my university days...ie. Drool at all the stuff I want and not buy very much of it because we're kind of broke right now.

I've been trying to figure out when was the last time I was in Toronto and it finally hit me....about 5.5 years ago. When Cathy and I met here on Easter break and then headed down to the Dominican Republic. She was teaching in Rankin that year and the trip to the Dominican was a "I need to see my fiance/get out of Rankin/early honeymoon" sort of trip. But we did have a day to kill while waiting for our charter. So even though we were staying out by the airport, we managed to stumble our way downtown for a few hours. Where, because it was Easter weekend, everything was closed.

So I really have no idea how to get around here. I asked the front desk last night how to get to Queen Street West and Spandina using public transit. He essentially advised me to go out on the street and bug random passing buss drivers until they told me how to do it.

Brilliant. God, I really miss the concierge desks at the hotels in Australia. They were incredibly useful. Then again, this is a Best Western. I should be happy the bed is comfortable and the internet working.

And now I'm off to test to see how the shower holds up. More later on my wacky travels and adventures in the Big City.

Last Five
1. The wind that shakes the barley - The Chieftains*
2. Something so strong (live) - Crowded House
3. (What's so funny 'bout) peace, love and understanding - Elvis Costello
4. Goodnight, California (live) - Kathleen Edwards
5. O Valencia! - The Decemberists

Turning on a dime

Wednesday evening was a bit of a low point for us. I'd say one of the lower points we've had in awhile. I think we were doing fine, but then a friend told us she couldn't house sit for us anymore over Christmas. And that's fine, if she can't she can't. But it was kind of the final domino. It was one of the few things on an increasingly insane schedule over the next few weeks we had locked down and was sure about that suddenly wasn't.

Then it just became one of those things where nothing seemed to be right. The house was still up in the air. I was still unemployed and even though I had a job interview I didn't walk out of it feeling very good. It's not that I thought I gave a bad interview; I thought I did just fine. And I could certainly do a good job. It was just a hunch (and an accurate one. I didn't get it).

Plus Cathy's health had been wobbly this week. Lots of allergic days that were taking the good out of her. Oh, and I was heading out on Saturday, meaning I wouldn't be able to help in the crunch, leaving a lot for Cathy to do. I'm going to be worried about her down in Toronto.

It was just lots of little things. It might seem trite and foolish, but we've been fortunate to lead a very good life that has gone very smoothly over the past few years. So while we were feeling down, Cathy did what she normally does to feel better...she called her mom.

Her mom's advice? "Fuck off and get zen."

Which might sound a touch harsh, but it made us both laugh and put things into perspective. There are worse places to be then where we are now.

Then a strange thing happened...about 24 hours after all this angsting, things started to fall into place. I got a call for another job interview. I'd applied for the job Thursday afternoon and a few hours later they called for an interview. It also looks promising, so here's hoping that pans out.

Then the lawyer called and we had to go and sign papers Friday night that should give a big boost to the whole house buying process. It's going to be tight, but right now it looks like we can take possession of the house on December 1 as we had planned. So that's a load off the mind.

There's also one other thing going on which I don't really want to talk about, but that's also helping take some of the pressure off.

It's funny. One day things look really sucky and then 24 hours later everything turns around on a dime. We're not out of the woods yet. I still don't have a job and the house isn't locked in. But I think we're feeling better. Or at least more zen...

Last Five
1. Michelle - The Beatles
2. Rock me - Liz Phair
3. Henrietta - The Fratellis
4. All the young dudes - Mott the Hoople
5. In your eyes (live) - Peter Gabriel*

Conversations with Cathy

Me: I really want to dump all over New Moon, but as I haven't read the books and have no intention of ever seeing the movie, I really don't have the right, do I?

Cathy: Nope. You always get mad when religious groups dump on movies you like but have no plan on ever seeing. You think they're hypocrites.

Me: This is true. Oh well. Besides, it's not like the movie is made for people like me anyway.

Cathy: Who is it made for then?

Me: Well, there are three target audiences - teenage girls, soccer moms and gay men.

Cathy: Well, teenage girls like the guys, and I guess gay men like the guys. And I guess the soccer moms have something they can bond with teenage girls with. This might be one of the few things that a mom and her daughter can talk about, especially when they're teenagers.

Me: I guess that's true, but...

Cathy: But?

Me: I just assumed they were cougars and wanted to fuck the guys as well.

Cathy: You're hopeless.

Last Five
1. Sand in my shoes - Dido
2. Never gonna happen - Lily Allen
3. Red light - U2
4. This is not America - David Bowie
5. Caroline - David Gray

Differing views

I've had a few people, after seeing the view out of the new house, say how lucky we are because it's such a good one. And don't get me wrong, it's a nice view. I like it. However, there are views and then there are views. So let us compare for a minute. The first is a view looking out of the window of the new house.



Not the best shot in the world, but you get the idea. It's pretty good, right? Well, here are a few pictures out my window this morning. I was working on the computer and, for some reason, just turned around and there this was.



And I managed to miss the couple of ravens playing outside the window, using the thermals off the roof to dive bomb each other. That was good fun for a few minutes.

I am looking forward to the new place, once we have all this crap dealt with. However, I will leave this apartment with a bit of remorse. From everyone we've spoken with, we are paying an insane amount of rent, even by Iqaluit standards, but honestly, this is the first place that's felt like "home" to me since we left Bond Street in 2004.

Of course, in the interest of fairness, I should present the view from the other window. On June 4, this was the view out the other window.



The houses were being removed (and being used for firefighters to practice on, I understand) and shortly afterwards they cleared the sight and spent most of early July drilling holes in the ground for the support pylons. Well, this is the view out that window this morning.



Bit of a change, eh? That sucker went up fast. I suspect they'll be stopping for the winter soon, if past precedent is any indication. They'll get the roof on and most of the siding and then call it quits for the year. Hell, they did this much work on the new Komitik Building last year before calling it quits and that still isn't finished. So this new housing unit still might not be finished by this time next year.

But yeah, the view out the other window, not quite so great.

I suspect part of this is just the yo-yoing and uncertainty regarding the new place. I just got an email saying that it looks good for December 1. Of course, I expect another one tomorrow telling me something different. Plus, I'm not going to be here next week, meaning Cathy has a lot of crap to deal with on her own.

I think I'll be glad when this year is over. Too much crap and uncertainty going on in our lives now. Getting back to the clear, calm waters again will be nice.

Last Five
1. Distant sun (live) - Crowded House
2. I am talking to this flower - Camper Van Beethoven
3. Dare - Gorillaz
4. Lady - Regina Spektor
5. Just - Radiohead*

House keeping

So, first things first. We're looking for someone in Iqaluit to do a spot of house sitting/dog sitting for us over the Christmas holidays. We had someone lined up to do it, but she bowed out today. You get to stay in our brand new house and take care of the world's cutest dog. And honestly, wouldn't you want to spend a couple of weeks playing with this little guy?



If you live in Iqaluit (we're not flying you up) or know someone in Iqaluit who might be interested, please drop me a line.

Let's see what else we have today. A couple of big stories, but from different parts of Canada. There's this one, with G7 finance minister coming to Iqaluit in February. Apparently there was interest by the ministers during the last meeting to see some of Canada's north. Not entirely they knew what they're asking for when they made that suggestion. It is a touch brisk at that time of the year.

Although as one friend pointed out, coming up here does kind of diminish the likelihood of anarchists and protesters coming here to disrupt things. Although I think it would be vastly amusing to see a bunch of anarchists coming up here to do just that. It would be far more entertaining than a bunch of stuffy finance ministers kicking around.

The big news back in Newfoundland for me was the MUN finally announced a new president - Gary Kachanoski. I know virtually nothing about Mr. Kachanoski so I'll be curious to hear what he has to say about education and his views about the university and especially its relationship with the provincial government. There's going to be a lot of scrutiny about this hire, given what a staggering clusterfuck the provincial government has made of the entire process. I hope he's a good president, but I guess the details will come out in the wash in the days to come.

And finally, this has nothing to do with anything, but I'm grabbing this link from John Gushue's Twitter feed because it amused me. If you've ever been tired of the crazy lady in the car for the Grey Power insurance ads, trust me, she's pretty tired of it as well. I was actually sorry to hear she never made very much money off the ad. It's annoying as hell now, but everyone remembers it and that's basically what you want in an ad.

Still, I'm glad to hear they're finally killing it. It's way past due.

Last Five
1. Happy - Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins
2. Dancing in the streets - Mick Jagger and David Bowie*
3. Summer kitchen ballad - Josh Rouse
4. Houston - REM
5. Books of Moses- Tom Waits

Air Canada comes to town, part II

In case you were ever wondering why the airline industry always seems hopelessly confused and run by people who were kicked out of the keystone cops, a couple of stories for your consideration.

The first showed up last Friday on the CBC. In it an aviation expert essentially blames Canadian North and First Air of price gouging. That they were simply making so much money off this route that it became inevitable than an airline like Air Canada would come in because the profit margins are irresistible.

This will not exactly come as a surprise to anyone following the little fiasco from last year over massive bonuses given to the airlines board of directors. That's kind of when most people up here got an inkling just how much money the airline is making. No one up here is going all socialist and expecting the airline to operate as a non-profit, but when you hand out that much money in bonuses, people tend to notice. And not be very happy. Plus, it seems, you get companies much bigger than yourselves noticing how much money you're making and deciding they want a cut. All of which could have been avoided if only Canadian North and First Air had cut prices.

So that's why you see some of the cackling over Air Canada's arrival in this part of the north. Because more competition is good, right?

Yes, but if only Air Canada wasn't apparently run by idiots. A couple of reasons for this. First, there is this lovely line in the CBC story. It's paraphrased, so I don't feel comfortable assuming Manon Stuart actually said it. However, the airline is operating under the assumption that since it rarely gets colder than -40C it's perfectly all right to run Bombardier CRJ-705 up here.

Now, there's a couple of delicious bits of vagueness in this statement. First, what's -40C? Is it straight air temperature or is that windchill? If it's straight temperature, they're probably right. If it's with windchill, well, they might want to redefine their idea of "rarely". Because that's the difference between maybe a dozen flights a year and a couple of dozen flights a year.

But if you want a full bore dose of stupidity on Air Canada's part, then this story will certainly leaving you gasping in awe. Air Canada hasn't actually called the airport yet. That's right, they've announced when they're starting flights and what time they're landing and taking off, but they haven't run those little details past the airport's manager.

“I have no idea at this point in time what Air Canada even wants,” (John) Graham said.

I swear to God, if the people running this airline aren't the stupidest sons of bitches on the planet then I want a list of who tops them. But confidentially. If it gets out in the open Air Canada might hire them for senior management.

I used to think the worst public relations job in the world would have to be working for the tobacco companies. Because you're trying to make a company that sells an addictive, sure-to-kill you product look good. You're trying to make evil look good. However, PR has found a way to spin that....they make evil look cool.

But with Air Canada you have to make incompetence and a genuine loathing by the general public into something likable. So far it hasn't happened. And lord knows Air Canada's upper management doesn't seem to be making things any easier for the public relations division.

I really don't think this move to Iqaluit is going to work well for Air Canada. They're doing it far too half-assed. They making a lunge for some quick money without thinking through what they're doing. Short term gain, long term stupidity; that ought to be on the cover of Air Canada's business plan. Like charging $15 for a seats next to the escape doors. Yes, you make a few extra dollars, but it's that kind if nickel and diming that causes such a black, poisonous cloud to hang over them.

It could work, but I wouldn't bet money on it.

Last Five
1. A boy and his machine gun - Matthew Good Band
2. Big Indian - The Dandy Warhols
3. Telling stories - Tracy Chapman
4. Got to be more careful - Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster
5. Some days are better than others - U2

Crazy train

So I've been kind of waiting for this to happen. Ever since I got back from Australia in August, things have been kind of....laid back. It's not that I haven't tried to keep myself busy, what with job hunting, doing some writing, keeping on top of things in the apartment and whatnot. However, things haven't been really crazy.

But I've been waiting for it. Lo and behold, I think it's coming. Because I see lights at the end of the tunnel and I suspect it's a big old train coming to shake things up.

First of all, we still have house things to deal with. My friend Mireille asked for an update and I guess the update is not much is happening. That, in and of itself, is bad. We dropped the lawyer a line on Friday asking what was happening. They were wrapping up the paperwork and are sending it off this week to the appropriate registries and whatnot in Iqaluit.

After that then it is "in the hands of the appropriate people in Iqaluit." Surely God, those are some of the most terrifying words you can possibly here if you are an Iqaluitmuit. Right now, we're not optimistic of all this getting cleared up by December 1. If it doesn't close in time we could move into the house anyway and pay the current owners "rent" until the deal closes. We'll have to deal with some of that this week.

However, the packing continues apace. Dear God we have a lot of books.

Next up is the Dominion, which means I head down to Toronto on Saturday. Now that's going to be the good, crazy kind of fun. But it will be busy for the week I'm down there between curling, catching up with a few friends and trying to do some Christmas shopping.

I get back and then, theoretically, move into a new house.

On top of that I've accepted a freelance gig with a deadline of around December 5. That means seeing if my journalism writing muscles have completely rotted away over the past four years or if there is something left in there. Here's hoping...

Oh, did I mention the job interview I have this week? I'd really like this one, it sounds like it would be fun.

So yeah, I knew after several months of relative ease that the freight train would come rumbling down the tracks. It just seems to be a bit bigger than I'd anticipated.

Last Five
1. Jesus stole my baby - The Fratellis
2. My mistakes were made for you - The Last of the Shadow Puppets*
3. Everything is good for you (live) - Crowded House
4. Momsong - The Be Good Tanyas
5. Mona Lisa - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies