10 Months In

Yesterday marked 10 months here in "the knife". Summer is slowly fading and I'm told to expect the first frost in the next week or so. I'm not looking forward to the loooooooooong winter but I'm happy to know it will be our last Arctic winter. There are so many downfalls to living here that they outweigh my mighty salary. We're planning on moving in 14 months.

I could go on and list all the things that have happened since my last post but that would be tedious and dull. I will say that life here is pretty routine. We did manage a wonderful trip to Vancouver and Calgary at the end of May and a short weekend trip to Edmonton beginning of July. We will go back to Ontario for Christmas.

Well, back to the routine.

The Decade that was....

2008 has arrived and with it, the last few months of my twenties. The entire first decade of my adult life has come and gone and I can't help but reflect on how that time was used. At times it seemed it would never end and now that the last few moments are trickling away, I'm satisfied with my accomplishments.

Even though 30 seems like an age I should be dreading, what with more grey hair and a slowed metabolism inevitable, the changes that will occur that aren't visible should be worth it.

Onward

White collar crime....who cares?

I'm so tired of seeing rich, musty, white men being dragged into court and then hearing journalists postulating on the "crime" and the severe or non-effective "punishment" - depending on the perspective. Conrad Black got a 6 1/2 year sentence for basically ripping off the government. Who cares. He's not a danger to me. He's probably not a danger to you or society at large. Fine him and let him go home. Hit his in the pocket book where it will really hurt and don't waste money on locking him up. He can make money and commit fraud from behind bars anyway.

Put the real criminals behind bars and let the white collar criminals commit crimes that most of us wouldn't ever know about if the government didn't cry about lost money.

Have your say

I just discovered this very interesting website that is still in Beta version called "ask 500 people". Check it out and ask your own questions

Give me a home where the buffalo roam......

Holy Hell! I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post. A lot has changed...where to begin?

Well, the mister and I have moved to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. I guess we've been here about 2 months already! I'm working as a Public Service Librarian at the Yellowknife Public Library and I'm really liking the job. Being the youngest staff member and the supervisor is a bit tricky in that I don't think I'm getting any respect from the employees that have been there 17+ years (more than half of my lifetime). My manager is awesome so that helps a lot!

Life up here is definitely different. Today the temperature was -35 degrees with the windchill. The sun set at 3:30pm. We've had snow on the ground for almost 6 weeks now. The biggest city near us is Edmonton and that is an 18 hour drive from our little city of 20,000 people (half the population of the entire Territory).

In other news, the apartment we have is very nice and very expensive but life up here is very expensive in many respects. We won't be going anywhere for Christmas and we don't plan on leaving the territory until April or May.

Well, that was my factual update. I hope to update more often and provide more than just a list of facts. I tend to spend a lot of time updating my Facebook page and little on anything else.

Moving on.....

Since my last post a lot has happened. For instance, I am writing this blog post on our brand spankin' new Macbook! How can we afford such a luxury with me being unemployed you may ask? Well, I am no longer unemployed. I was offered the job in Yellowknife. I start on October 9 so we are leaving around the 21st of September. We are driving there which should be exciting at times (and boring at other times). At this point it looks like we won't be able to take our dog Moxie. What is it with us and shih tzu's that have to go to a new home. Maybe it says something about our lifestyle, moving all over the place. Anyway, at least we're staying in Canada this time, but the rental housing there doesn't allow pets and we just can't see a way around it. We'll miss her so hopefully we can keep her in the family.

In other news, the hot water heater at our apartment broke....literally, the bottom came out of it and there's water all over the floor. The property owner is on his way over so I'm off.

Interview

I will be interviewing tomorrow over the telephone for a job in Yellowknife. The mister and I are looking for a dramatic life change so this should do the trick....if I am offered the position that is.

At first I didn't want to apply for the position because I couldn't imagine living that far north, but after a while I started to appreciate the exotic aspects of such a location. 24 hrs of daylight and 24 hours of darkness are something that should shake up the daily routine at least for a short while. Surrounded only by land as far as the eye can see is interesting and a drastic change from population dense Korea. Living with a moderately sized aboriginal population could be a breath of fresh air compared to white conservative London Ontario.

The cost of moving over 4000km to an isolated town with only one road going into it is not something I'm looking forward to. BUT, the pay is very high and the experience may be worth it. We'll see how the interview goes.

Still unemployed...

...and looking for work in all the wrong places....or so it seems. I've applied to numerous job postings (all professional jobs) and only one "paraprofessional" and the only interview I've had so far is for the "paraprofessional" job. I'm a little disenchanted with Library Science at the moment. I'm also a bit tired of waiting for something to change. I've had a professional librarian position (temporary of course) so it's not like I don't have a variety of experience, but is it possible to have too much variety? I would think not - but the library world is a complex and confusing realm of existence.

Anyway, I'm still looking for a job and in the meantime I research topics that interest me and catch up on reading that's been piling up. Not a bad way to spend the summer no doubt but I like change and it's past due.