Northern Exposure

Cold Days, Colder Nights....

2008-03-30T23:19:00.000-06:00

The following are a few pics from the cold YK winter to give you an idea. Mostly this is ice fog from around -40C.

2008-03-30T23:16:00.001-06:00

2008-03-30T23:16:00.000-06:00

2008-03-30T23:15:00.000-06:00

2008-03-30T23:14:00.000-06:00

vancouver-seattle-victoria...

2008-03-30T23:09:00.000-06:00

Wrong side of the tracks.

Its a 50's time warp.

This was the beginning of the end of all-day drinking. Paul got off work and was required to catch up by drinking 3 brown drinks.

Mike loves his chinese food.

2008-03-30T23:04:00.000-06:00

Larkin petting goats at the petting zoo - victoria.

Fish market Seattle... cant remember the name of the market, but theres only one market in downtown seattle where they throw fish.

vancouver-seattle-victoria2

2008-03-30T23:02:00.000-06:00

All these are from Victoria.

Proof im alive.

Wind is predominant from the left.

Michaelin.

View from a park. I forget wich one.

vancouver-seattle-victoria

2008-03-30T22:59:00.000-06:00

Vancouver Skyline from halfway up a mountian.

Teaparty, pre-realparty

View from Piers Island near victoria where we stayed for the night.

Piers Island Beach.

Dad and Larkin Visit Yellowknife

2008-03-30T22:27:00.000-06:00

Top of the pilots monument... the tourist staple view.

Sitting in front of the pilot monument itself.

Dad - Frozen.

The kiteskiiers were out in force.

8 months and some days later...

2008-03-06T18:59:00.007-07:00

It's been a while since this bad boy was updated. With the advent of a new job, new computer, new condo, a couple of vacations, and some goings on (not to mention begging by fans) I suppose its time.

To start are some new condo pictures to satiate your curiosty and fulfill all the promises I made to deliver them.

There are more rooms than i showed. But thats enough. Here are just a couple mexican pictures from september.

Mexico City - wheres his guitar?

SUMMER.

2007-06-25T21:59:00.000-06:00

As far as I can tell National Aboriginal Day is a good day to be fishing instead of working. As there is no longer a "dawn" here we set sail at a luxurious 10am in search of adventure, treasure and fame. We were not to be dissapointed on any account. This is our tale.

Fell upon some houseboats with a vengeance and burned those unnatural habitats to their waterline.

Were subsequently sent on our way by some savvy float planes.

Arrived at our hideway and proceeded to look for some booty.

Found a tent frame and made some fire and drank some vino.

Oh, look. Someone caught a little fishy.

FISH ON! Excitement. Adrenaline. I have so far had 3 lures eaten by fish.

FISH OFF! This is actually as inhumane as it looks....me punching a fish.

Mark in his "mincing pansy" oh gosh... is that a fish!? [wristflip] mode.

He got over it.
Michaelin getin'er did. Absolutely impressed by the situation.

Somewhat slimier than anticipated. That fish smell follows one around for days on end coming to the foreat the most awkward of times.

50lbs of fish later what are you gonna do?

Cook it. Eat. It.

Looks really good. It was in fact really good.

Someone got wet fish butt. Sat on some fishy gutty gloves. Sat next to the fire. Scandalous fish jokes were hard not to make.

Dave. Boatowner. Fisherman. Loungelizard supreme.

Give it a day of miserable work interlude and find us all in heaven at the beach in 20+ weather, which is as warm as you can ask for. I spent the weekend trying to even out my sunburn.

Some peeps soaking sun as I do.

Pretty much summer... almost

2007-06-10T19:57:00.000-06:00

Summer is finally upon us. What this means is drinking on the roof at 4 am wondering if its worth going to bed at all because the sun is already up. Sleep is for the weak. Then you get kicked off and thats the end of that.

Fishing time.

Mark's all - what do i do if i get a fish. Fish are all - your not gonna get me.

Jeremy's all - king of the castle, bring me some fish. Then you find a higher hill and you have to climb it too.

Jenn and Michaelin are all - some day im gonna invent a hill thats all down cause downhill is kicks.

Then the zen lazy fishing begins again.

Marks all - haaaaaaaay guys, whatcha doin?

Now its a waiting game until its warm enough to kill endless weekends floating in inflatable dingys.

Still alive.

2007-05-14T22:33:00.000-06:00

It's ok. I'm still alive. No posts recently. I've just been busy putting up a clothes line to hang my sweatpants on. Just for my sweatpants. Not for my socks. Because it's spring now its warm enough during the day for drying. For instance, it's about 11p.m. and still plenty light out. That's a lot of daytime. That's a lot of dry sweatpants. Working lots. Its busy. So I need more dry sweatpants than usual. What sort of Pupblic Servant does overtime? This one. That's why I need a sweatpants line. To dry more jogging pants. Here's some pitctures of some recent events. No sweatpants though, sorry.

Welcome to McDonald's Yellowknife where nothing is as it seems and everyone wears sweatpants.

Patio season has arrived. Lee-Anne and I are relaxing on the roof. This is friday evening for the rest of the summer.

Mark. Hangin'. Actually there's something sinister going on but were not gonna get into it. No sweats here.

From the roof we can check the line at the BLACK KNIGHT. May be some sweatpants in the back alley.
Yeah. Karaoke apartment party. That was a little too funny. Still no sweatpants.

Elf house.

Raptor containment unit. A la Jurassic Park.

Boot.

Calgary

2007-04-15T14:17:00.000-06:00

Here's some pics from the Easter weekend 5day Calgary vacation from Yellowknife. 40 hours of driving and a couple days in the City are hopefully enough to make yellowknife seem that much bigger and less monotonous. The long awaited Calgary pictures area below for those of you who have yet to see them.

The NWT Highway No. 3.

Left after work on the thursday and arrived in High Level, AB at 1:33 AM. Stayed at the Flamingo Inn. This 5-star resort was lovely.

Janice and Mark. According to Janice's smile the back is pretty comfortable, though I wouldnt know as I managed to avoid it pretty well.

Big friggin beaver tail pancake breakfast.

After High Level there was Peace River. Cool place with a river built on a flood plain, lots of dirt roads in town and the Moon Saloon/Liquor store.

Stayed with Jesse - friend from high school. His townhouse is at the end of the walk here. This is margaret. She got tired of sitting in the back of Mark's truck and got her own car. It went pretty good.

There is a mall downtown calgary with a City park on the 4th floor.

This is the Dim Sum that defeated me. May it live on forever in my tummy.
This lady made me 100 frozen dumplings for $15. It was too warm on the way back so they solidified into 2 really really big dumplings in their bags while sitting in the back of the truck.
Went to infamous the infamous Cowboys bar on saturday night.
After Cowboys Jesse tried to inhale a sausage and almost had his eyes pop out.

Got tired of walking so we rented a limo.

Mark got tired of not hanging his ass out of the limo window and hung his ass out the limo window.

Goodbye Calgary.

Next stop Mayorthorpe. Pretty wicked place really.

I especially liked the part where it was sort of out of a horror movie.

This place served wicked chinese food with a side of heartburn.

Stopped at the Alexandria Falls near Enterprise.

More like poo falls.

Crossing the ice road on the mackenzie was fun. It closed the friday after we got back and as we were crossing it there was about a foot of overflow and slush.

Then the long and boring drive back to Yellowknife where spring has finally started to warm things up and the sun is shining - bring on the summer.

What has gone before and What is yet to come +1 rum and coke.

2007-04-03T21:26:00.000-06:00

Calgary countdown = 2 mornings and im outta here. That'll be a nice 1700km drive.

As for this past weekend we had some glorious, albeit cold, windy weather. If we were talking you might ask me if it were good enough for ice fishing. I might say it was. You could ask how I knew. I would respond that its primarily because I went and dug through 4 feet of ice and didnt catch anything.

Apart from some ice fishing i engaged in some celebratory travels to the city's fine taverns. Being celebrated was a friends 3rd anniversary in Yellowknife. For your visual sensory engagement see ice fishing only pics below. No photo proof of my wanton debauchary this week. Thatll have to wait until im back from calgary.

Lee-ann auguring.

Making holes.

My turn to bore.

Mark and Lee-ann waiting for fish.

We had a bet that either canned minnows or canned marshmallow bait would do the trick. No one won as we didnt catch anything. We need a deeper lake.

These are canned minnows from canadian tire. They smelled pretty good so we ate some.

Lee-ann drinking from a giant scotch bottle.

Frozen canadian tire minnow.

This weeks beer commercial.

Lounging while waiting for fish who never came.

This is what i wear to black tie events in YK.

Woah Caribou Carnival

2007-03-25T21:31:00.000-06:00

Yes. Its time to get out of Yellowknife again before i go nuts again. Ill be tearing up calgary this easter weekend, which is still a little while off so i will be going nuts doubtless. I will be going with mark to drive the 20hrs to do some shopping and remind myself what civilization looks like. If anyone is near calgary around then let me know.

This friday us city workers got the afternoon off for Canival! The weekend was characterized by Caribou Carnival which is characterized in turn as follows:

1. Neon purple snowsuited lady who dissapears into the swirling snow and glaring sun before you can take a picture of her, but you swear she exists (just like the Yellowknife Yeti).

2. Lots of dog shows, fashions, poop, owners, leashes, races, sleds, barking. Everything revolves around these 4-legged critters.

3. No caribou, oddly enough, or derivatives thereof (i.e. burgers).

4. No muskox burgers.

5. Lots of johnsonville bbqed sausages from down south.

6. Japanese tourists - usually easily identified by the red rental parkas are now slipping amongst us unseen thanks to this years hotness - new blue rental parkas.

7. Some bangin fireworks.

8. Yuppie mothers and their 1000$ carriages that still get stuck in the snow. I use 'yuppie' as a derogative term, but in reflection it is an acronym for my own circumstance and not really a bad thing. Though i still dont like 1000 $ carriages. For 1000 $ a carriage should be rocket propelled and have mag-lev capabilities.

9. Lots of people in from the northern communities in for a last hurrah before the snowroads melt and they are once again more or less (more more than less) stuck again.

10. Me in various 15 minute intervals over the weekend as the events only really entertain for that long. I kept going back hoping to be more entertained to no avail.

Here are some pictures. Also, as an aside this is a funny article that reminds me of my old dog who passed the worst gas after eating from the compost pile, but this is a man. http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/story.php?story_id=411

This is the dog fashion show. I had an easy time composing this picture as when applying the rule of thirds the wide-ass in the middle took up an entire third. Note the dogs who dressed their owner in pink camoflage (only good if youre trying to fade out of sight from someones drug induced haze) and took her to the fashion show.
This is a mouse in cheese snow sculpture. It really doesnt look like thats what it is from this angle.
This is more snow sculptures and a view down to the lake where the rest of the fesitivites take place.

Dogs and sleds and sleds and dogs.
Again. There's a lot of people watching this thing.
I finally bought some wheels. The cool thing is that the guy who sold it to me said it can fly. No. Just kidding. This is the ugly dog and wife, or truck and dog contest or something.
The snow sculpture is ok. It's a tee-pee. Priceless is the mascot who is standing around.
That is once again the end.

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-18T18:06:00.000-06:00

Light is brighter, days are longer. Spring is coming (slowly). While those of you down south are celebrating the return of 15C, we here are celebrating the return of balmy -20C. How are we celebrating? St. Patrick's day.

St. Pats day in yellowknife involves attendance at the only 'traditional' pub in town - the Black Knight - which is conventiently located accross the street from my apartment. That's where it begins anyway. Like most good nights it progressed to the Raven (aka dirty bird) and to the leisure cafe where, as always, some of the most interesting people made an appearance.

Here's your pics:

The Knight.

Leisure Cafe. Note the number of layers and belly size of Mr. Purple. No idea who these guys are.
The Loch Ness monster visited the table at the cafe.
Imagine these turned right way up and consider they have been in this heated glass prison for all eternity - now doesnt that sound good?

The end of my combo B and the night.
Earlier at the Knight.

My menu is an aeroplane.
Heater and airconditioner unit. Paradoxism.

Thats enough.

Snow Castle Extravaganza.

2007-03-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Friday I went to a party at the snowcastle that the Snow King builds every year on the Great Slave Lake. Here are some pictures. Here is the link to my review on it (it'll be up sometime this week i think, so wait for it) - www.ykatnite.com

Standin' round.
Sittin' around.
The Ice Bar.
Some Parka Limbo, dance room.
Can not breath and take pictures at the same time.
Some more Parka Limbo.

The 'bistro' - sitting on logs at ice tables.

Same thing!

Beer gets colder not warmer. If you dont drink quick enough, it freezes! Beer slush!
Dancing under the open sky is cold.

Also, while writing my review i was looking for how to spell conga line (with an 'a' or an 'o') I stumbled on the following directions which made me laugh for some reason:

How to Behave on a Conga Line
A conga line need not be a kitschy embarrassment. It can be fun.

Instructions
STEP 1: Wait for an appropriate song. Anything with a heavy beat will do.

STEP 2: Find a partner or join an existing conga line. Do not try to persuade anyone who seems reluctant to join a conga line.

STEP 3: Enter the line. Do not be first if you can avoid it.

STEP 4: With your hands, move the hips immediately in front of you artfully from
side to side. The idea is that each person "leads" the person in front - you are not following the person in front of you. You are spontaneously choreographing her.

STEP 5: When someone joins the line behind you, move your hips as instructed by her. Your movements may not correspond to the movements of the person in front of you.

STEP 6: Snake around the dance floor. Kick each heel, as in the "Hokey Pokey," as appropriate.

STEP 7: Continue moving forward until you're tired of it. Tips & Warnings
Athletic people make for a more lively conga line, but large people make for a more impressive one.

Note:
1. Conga lines are particularly effective outside traditional tropical contexts. Russian weddings, for example.
2. The conga line is not to be confused with the Trinidadian wine dance. Do not attempt the Trinidadian wine dance without an actual person from Trinidad and a medical team present

Thats all!

YK Houseboat dweller and a canoe video

2007-02-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

Just found this video. I've been to this particular houseboat before - the one on the barge. Not sure its the lifestyle for me or how you get home at 4am from the bar and chinese food. It's worth a look.

You wish you were here.

2007-02-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Its really cold lately. Not colder, but with the increasing light I am ready for summer. Here are some pictures to slake your ravenous thirst for knowledge of my doings. No more bruce willis, for now.

I'm soon to start writing reviews for www.ykatnite.com so you can look there sometime in the coming weeks for more crap ive disgorged, unless work kills me first which is a distinct possibility. Good thing were looking at a friday tomorrow.

This first picture of Greg is going on the cover of the Parka calendar - yellowknife's answer to sports illustrated's swimsuit edition.

Here we have a view from the top and away from Cameron falls - lovely isnt it.

Just a tree next to a rock.

This is also just a tree.

Here there are no trees cause its the ice road from Dettah to Yellowknife. Friggin cold.

That's all.

2007-01-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

Bruce Willis' only weakness is his moustache.

Party to Loud!

2007-01-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Some things must be loud. A good party is one of them. Security may not enjoy this fact but who cares. Security is there to keep me safe. It gives me no sense of safety that I received a NOISE WARNING. Now they are watching us with their beady eyes and binoculars. The notice was delivered At around 11:45 by a surly security guy who spoke 3 words – “Are you the tenant?”. He had epaulets with stripes or stars so I’m pretty sure he was a general or something. He was a bit of a dink. I figure that to send the General the rental company must consider a good party to be tremendously heinous.

At opposites with the company, we consider this notice to be a pretty good thing. This is like getting an official commendation for having a good party and a sign of success.

As you can see from the “Details” section of the notice the General doesn’t do grammar. So I don’t respect his authority and this document would most definitely not hold up in court. We took the literal translation of this “Detail” to mean that we had to reach the destination of Loud with our Party because we weren’t there yet (it reads Party to Loud). By that I mean that we were to “Party (until we got) to (the place) Loud” - wherever that might have been. This was not a problem and we found Loud at the bottom of a gin bottle and then moved from the apartment to the Raven (a.k.a. Dirty Bird) - which was dirty as always.

Basically Mark and I spent the entire weekend getting ready for the party and then today recovering from a hangover that feels like someone beat me all over with a hose full of marbles, spending extra time on my kidneys.

What did you do this weekend?

One Year

2007-01-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

It went down as:
Waterloo phone interview - sure
Ill be there. 8 day drive. 5 days of acclimatization to freeze ass cold then work. 6 months of adaptation, new people, work and more people - including 5 months of winter. Same time of givin it hell in sometimes what is a little damn place in nowhere alone. 6 more of work, summer fun, and a new winter realignment towards good times - summer brilliance carried over. Travels, aspirations, and not even the sky can be the limit. But goddamn if 1 year passing with a milestone marker like this one doesn't stop and make you think, re-examine, re-assume. A lifetime of experiences each year is pretty much how it should be.

I'm celebrating 1 year in the 'Knife anniversary and now in reading this so have you. Im going to have another beer and go to work again in the morning with what hopefully is a headache - most likely brought on by the scotch im soon to have post-beers consumption. Picture is from 1-year ago - symbolic? Poignant? - something anyway. But please just mail me jamesons as my one true regret of my northern location is i cant get jamesons for any decent price and i die inside just a little bit everytime i pay way too much for it (such is this year's determination)!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-01-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

I had a New Year eve in Yellowknife and am now a veteran. Went to the bar early and it was dead so went home to prepare for celebrations and then went back later and it was busy.

The Top Knight bar served until 3am at which point those of us left standing were left to our own devices. Mark and I needed food pretty bad. So we walked to some place called Bruno's Pizza -known for its late operating hours and selection of fine pastries and cold cucumber salads. There's also a big fish tank full of Beluga and you can pick your own caviar - and im a liar. This place was closed as it was in fact after 4am by this point (to the best of my knowledge).

On our way to Bruno's we had passed a lively stretch of crowded 50th street where revellers spilled from bars to waiting cabs and fights. As we stumbled on by many of these people were waiting in line for chinese food at the restaurant that never seems to close. This place called the Leisure Cafe is probably a good place for OCAD prissy students to go and get over themselves. We had passed on this venue due to the huge line.

After the lengthy stumble to Bruno's we retraced our steps to the Leisure Cafe which was at this point without a line and without an open door. In fact there was not a person on the entire street, not even a car - just empty bars. Upon further inspection of the premises there was a sign taped to the wall next to a windowless green plank door that said "Ring Bell for service". Without hesitation and with thoughts of sweet and sour chicken egging him on, mark rang the bell. A portal swung open in the centre of the door and a wizard of oz experience was had.

Some wizened chinese lady stuck her head out of the portal and said "What you want?" Startled, I responded "2 Combo A's". Without pause she replied "You get combo B, 25$ now." That seemed like a deal. But despite marks protestation to the opposite, we had to wait outside. Slam went the portal. 5 minutes later she was back and asked for one more dollar. I gave her one.

15 minutes later after freezing, being entirely weirded out by an empty street that minutes earlier had been over-run with the after bar crowds, and badly wanting some chinese food - we got chinese food. Then the fuzz buzzed us and we went home to eat what is the best chinese food ive ever had.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves as they do a better job of it than I do. Also, i look retarded in some of them. Pretty good.

Shampagene!!

2007-01-02T21:10:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 024, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

How many glasses of champagne does one really need? Many.

Superman!

2007-01-02T21:09:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 020, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Im not sure if I look more like clark kent or elvis in this one. Im actually not that drunk, but i sure am good at pretend.

Its a Hat!

2007-01-02T21:08:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 032, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

I'm beyond words - this was likely taken after we started making up new shots to try..... likely.

Blue Lights!

2007-01-02T21:05:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 026, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Party at the Top Knight

Elevator.

2007-01-02T21:03:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 053, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

This is our elevator - its acually a fun place this time of the morning.

Chinese Food Order Window!

2007-01-02T21:02:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 045, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Portal to the world of chinese food. This is the window to 3:45:am New Year heaven.

Happy Hat.

2007-01-02T21:01:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 048, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Chinese food anticipation makes -20 feel warm.

Party Boy!

2007-01-02T21:00:00.001-07:00

New Years 2006-07 046, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Best of the night - waiting for lonely chinese food from a hole in a door.... so sad.

Planners and Friends.

2007-01-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

So now I am returned from the mildly civilized south to the oddly mild winter of the north, having managed to once again fly with a lovely hangover – tradition maintained. Along with my luggage and Christmas gifts I also brought a truckload of memories back with me and am dumping some of them onto this site in the form of pictures.

Remind me to never again go to a bar that makes you sit down before they will serve you drinks and won’t let you buy from the bar and when you are standing up they ask you to sit down – that’s pretty close to kidnapping in my book and that’s not cool. They should change the name from the Green Room to “Lame Bar That Could be Nice But It’s Run By Prissy OCAD Students Who Didn’t Get a Good Tip When the Planners Came to Town” – or maybe something shorter.

During my vacation it was good to see old friends and make new friends and see some family and I mostly enjoyed the part where I wasn’t at work – in short.

These pictures are all from the party on the 29th. I didn’t get pics of everyone as I ran out of film. So if you were someone at this party and have some good ones send them and Ill post them for all to appreciate.

Thanks to those who came out – it does not get any better and we only broke one glass!!

Big Thumbs

2007-01-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

F1000006, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

I like this one. Suarez and I would make an attractive couple or front line workers at a MacDonalds.

Piping Hot.

2007-01-01T22:53:00.001-07:00

F1000009, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

This picture only makes sense when you understand that the pipe that Max is touching is very very hot. Just cause you go north to whitehorse and become a planner doesnt mean that you need to grow a beard so people can tell us apart (here im talking about a paralell in our circumstances - funny... get it?). Nice beard.

Who's a model?

2007-01-01T22:51:00.001-07:00

F1000001, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Joe is not actually touching Phil, but Phil already looks uncomfortable and Joe is very intent. The best part though is Pman striking a pose fit for the cover of Canadian Fedoras magazine or something.

Hand figures.

2007-01-01T22:49:00.001-07:00

F1000003, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Rickett asked me to not post any embarassing photos like the last time we got together. But then he went and struck this pose which is exactly like the last time we got together and its too funny not to - sorry Rickett.

Last time is: http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/207/9421/1024/DSCN1157.jpg

It's about that time.

2007-01-01T22:45:00.001-07:00

F1000005, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

This is obviously later on in the evening evinced by the lack of apparent sobriety.

Burning Sneer.

2007-01-01T22:44:00.001-07:00

F1000007, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

This is one of my favorites of the evening. Jeremy is burning something in a candle and is so happy he might be wetting himself while mike looks like hed much rather be somewhere else - nice sneer buddy, its going to be ok.

Thumbs.

2007-01-01T22:42:00.001-07:00

F1000008, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Big thumbs up and a bigger smile - Joe. Also a thumb in front of the camera - Mine. Tom and Ian are the casualties of this picture.

Girls!

2007-01-01T22:40:00.001-07:00

F1000011, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Antonia on the left and Andrea on the right and a candle in the foreground.

So over it.

2007-01-01T22:39:00.001-07:00

F1000013, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Max really loves Suarez, and Suarez he knows it.

Submariner.

2007-01-01T22:38:00.001-07:00

F1000014, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

So many tables pushed together so we could all sit so we would be served that people had to go under the table to get out. This is dawn sneaking away. Ill refrain from making a going down reference.

Going strong.

2007-01-01T22:36:00.001-07:00

IMG_3822, originally uploaded by bmpetch.

Vincent is really really happy.

Party monger.

2006-12-08T23:24:00.000-07:00

Dearest Comrade Planners, Comrade Friends, Comrade Comrades: A Call to Arms.

Do you recall my previous visit to the great metropolis of Toronto town fresh from the hills of Greece and reeking of goats and feta covered olives? Do you recall the time I asked you all to grace the collective of “planners and friends” with your presences and beautiful faces? Well, the time has once again come where we descend upon an establishment of choice and supplant all authority which our sobriety may hold as we all try in earnesdt not to be kicked out before last call sends us on our singular ways once again.

This is a rally cry to attack the bastions of the Green Room at #296 Brunswick St on the 29th of December. This is a Friday. Comrades, you have no excuse to be absent.

The heydays of our schooling may have passed but we have discovered the ins and outs of life are only as complicated and mature as we allow them to be – and that is pretty much not at all. So consider this revolution - this celebration of our awareness of immaturity - to be our very real stab into the eye of that conformity that would make us drudge through our 9-5 lives and ruin the very lapels of our happiness tuxedos with tears of conformity.

To wit: on the evening of the 29th of December we shall be merry, we shall be cordial, we shall be drunk and we shall most definitely congregate at the Greenroom as the following information superhighway marker would indicate http://www.toronto.com/bars_clubs/listing/000-100-233.

Not here no more.

2006-12-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Depending on your temporal disposition I am leaving and/or have left on a jetplane. Im coming to Ontario for a period of not working time (holiday) where its warm and there is sunlight and the damn penguins and polar bears dont eat people they just co-habitate in a symbiotic fashion not that we have either of those animals up here.

I'll see some of you lots and lots of you none. So Happy Hlodiyas - whatever that is.

Therefore and subsequently no posts for a while.

2006-12-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Everything is covered in cold. This sign reads "no parking its cold".

2006-12-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

A picture of the sun coming up around 10am on saturday. That building with the tall facade is the infamous gold range.

2006-12-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Parka people. Is the one on the right picking her nose? I wonder.... the light this night was indescribably surreal but this photo is edited so you have no idea.

2006-12-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

This makes me laugh. Where's mark?

2006-12-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Went out to look at northern lights after curling and it sucked cause there was a full moon so lights were not seen very well. Full moon made for some haunting pics. Edited i will admit.

Socks.

2006-11-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so its been a while since i posted. Thats basically becuase its been that inbetween seasons sort of time when you dont really do anything outside. So, no good pics lately. But, now it would seem that winter is here for serious no kidding around so i should have some lovely way sub-zero adventures at some point soon. Until that happens here is a nice story of suffering and untold agony:

I stood in the -27C weather for 20minutes while we waited for someone to come by and boost Mark's truck. During this time i contemplated the merits of electric socks. In that temperature your toes hurt when you stand in one place for a little while in hiking boots and those thin socks that match your work pants. It also hurts while they are warming up. Moral of the story is that as a game freezing your toes is not nearly neat.

Marks truck needing a boost was largely a function of procrastination and electricity. A battery blanket does not work without being plugged in, unlike battery socks which do.

Speaking of electricity, cause i was.... Static electricity is really bad in my apartment. Everytime i walk down the hall and go to exit my floor i have to touch a doorknob. Like in Office Space I get a shock everyday... its bad enough that I have to psych myself up for it. And sometimes ill touch the wall and it will shock me. Its a good enough shock that you can feel it all the way into your shoulder.

Also of note on the 29th of December (a friday) i will be convening a planner conference in toronto somewhere to discuss the influence of being under the influence on planning decisions.

Thats it for now. Send me electric socks or batteries for them.

2006-11-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yellowknife at night.

2006-11-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

Moon over the Great Slave Lake. Had to be there, this photo does no justice.

2006-11-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

Im thinking of renting this place.

Halloween comes early in the north.

2006-10-28T22:35:00.000-06:00

Work parties have their moments.... this Halloween had a shot contest between a couple Directors sitting a few tables away and Mark and I. Funny at the time to us and still pretty humorous was when the mayor became a bystander casualty of one our shot salvos. Another moment was when I won best costume for $100. That money went pretty quick.

Anyway, heres some pictures of the winning costume. And here is a link to my retarded roomate.

2006-10-28T22:11:00.000-06:00

Its hard to drink with all that beard.... so one solution presented itself.

2006-10-28T22:09:00.000-06:00

Someone won the costume contest. That $100 prize bought a lot of drinks and a lovely hangover.

Tired.

2006-10-22T19:32:00.000-06:00

A weekend full of parties, booze, hangovers, miracle recoveries, and a hike with hotdogs and fire. Here are some pics of the latter... im exhausted.

2006-10-22T19:30:00.000-06:00

I can see for miles and miles.

2006-10-22T19:29:00.000-06:00

Lonely clump of grass.

2006-10-22T19:28:00.000-06:00

This half dead, frozen, frosted moss looked like artichoke spinach dip.

2006-10-22T19:26:00.000-06:00

Mark has this thing for his hatchet... he likes it a lot.

2006-10-22T19:25:00.000-06:00

Midpoint of the hike. Hidden lake on the horizon.

2006-10-22T19:24:00.000-06:00

Explored some crevaces

2006-10-22T19:23:00.000-06:00

Pano pic from the top of the highest rock outcrop overlooking hidden lake.... its really a big lake, maily can just see one leg of it.

And then my head EXPLODED>

2006-10-19T21:09:00.000-06:00

I had my birthday a couple of days ago so bought myself a nice guitar and spent too much money... no longer allowed to do that (for a little while).

Went to a bar and found this wetnap and decided to figure out what it is that makes these little devils clean so well and then my head exploded.

I cant figure out how and what and why and how and the reason for and how no one noticed the basic contradiction on the reverse of the wetnap. BaM <-- my head.

Other picture is when I went out to look at northern lights which were not in fact out very strong that evening.... so hell damn hell, i just took a picture of the YK skyline and went home passing some very drunk natives in the dark of a forest. Two ships passing in the night.

Word.

2006-10-19T21:02:00.000-06:00

Cleans and refreshes without soap or water.... CONTAINS: Water, fragrance & Soap! This is the part where my head explodes.

2006-10-19T20:58:00.000-06:00

Yellowknife at night from across frame lake.... isnt it fun? Encountered drunken stumbling natives on the return walk in pitch black darkness.... initially went looking for northern lights, but they werent out very strong.

Mr. Tea, on sale.

2006-10-15T21:21:00.000-06:00

Formed in an industrializing country by a child from cheap ceramic, this finely detailed tea pot has been after market modded by a fine rendering of a face. This is an instant masterpiece and would look good on any mantlepiece or just full of tea. Now on sale for only $50 (limited time offer, does not include shipping and handling).

Buffalo Bill? Meet Bison Brian.

2006-10-08T21:54:00.000-06:00

Havent updated lately as Ive been laying down some o/t at work on my last couple weekends, so havent really had anything worthwhile to post.

Took friday off and didnt do a damn thing. Saturday mark and i decided to give his new truck a workout and drove 461 km south to look at some waterfalls at Twin Falls gorge and make friends with bison. Here's some pictures - a couple didnt load right, but click on them and they will load in full. Enjoy them with your happy thanksgiving turkey!

2006-10-08T21:52:00.001-06:00

Mark driving his new truck out of yellowknife in the rain

2006-10-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

Some fuzzy idiot.

2006-10-08T21:42:00.000-06:00

We went to Rae, a settlement 100 km from Yellowknife. This is downtown Rae - seriously a fun time.

2006-10-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

Creepy swingset.

2006-10-08T21:38:00.000-06:00

Spooky church in Rae.

2006-10-08T21:37:00.000-06:00

Someone thought that posing thus on the way out of Rae would be funny. Definitely cold. NOTE: Mark is not actually taller than me... i think im standing in a hole.

2006-10-08T21:30:00.001-06:00

We really wanted to see some Bison - were very excited about the prospect.

2006-10-08T21:30:00.000-06:00

For a while all we found was Bison poo... but that soon changed.

2006-10-08T21:28:00.001-06:00

This one's my friend.

2006-10-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

We found lots of Bison, must have seen over 100 there and back.

2006-10-08T21:27:00.000-06:00

This is what infinity looks like.

2006-10-08T21:25:00.000-06:00

Alexander Falls

2006-10-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

Alexander Falls... I think they call them "falls" as water sort of "falls" over them, but im not sure.

2006-10-08T21:19:00.000-06:00

Some bloody idiot still thought this was funny. And I suppose it was...

2006-10-08T21:14:00.000-06:00

This is me pointedly not taking a pee. Seriously, m not peeing and im really not pointing at anything in particular. This is a cool pile of rocks though.

2006-10-08T21:12:00.000-06:00

This is just some cool rock formation. I would have climbed it, but just like walking to the moon,it wasnt something i was up for that day.

2006-10-08T21:10:00.000-06:00

Action Shot: this looks like im rock climbing with a greasy gino hairdo and a squinty pirate eye. Well, the truth is that Im rock 'standing on one', didnt shower, and its bright out.

2006-10-08T21:08:00.000-06:00

My shadow on top of Alexander Falls... ive got a little head.

2006-10-08T21:07:00.000-06:00

Louise Falls....

2006-10-08T21:04:00.000-06:00

The river channel just below the falls. Water was low this time of the year.

2006-10-08T21:01:00.000-06:00

Evening bison in front of the Mackenzie River...

2006-10-08T20:58:00.000-06:00

The moon through the trees somewhere on the highway late at night.

Mark thinks.

2006-09-28T18:23:00.000-06:00

MARK SAYS: "You'd think better with a drink in your hand"

Election Time!!

2006-09-26T20:04:00.000-06:00

Its election time here in Yellowknife, I am so excited. It entails people standing in the road shoving pamphlets up your nose and other forms of gettin' the word out. The picture to the right makes me laugh just a little and also makes me think of Farva from Super Troopers due to name similarities. I dont get to vote because the minimum time of residency until you are eligible to is 1 year - shucks.

Works been busy because i have a lot of work to do, so i get to work weekends. Deadlines all fall on october 3rd so after that I will be happy.

Ive almost saved up enough to buy my island in the bahamas. I just need another bit for the gold leaf on my palace spires - and speaking of palaces check out this elf mansion I found in the bush. I bet santa cant fit his cheery, fat, red ass in that door!

2006-09-26T19:48:00.000-06:00

I found the elves summer home! BooYah!

2006-09-14T19:58:00.000-06:00

FALL TIME!! Its gonna snow soon i think. Cold mornings. Somewhat warm days. Here's frame lake again.

2006-09-14T19:54:00.000-06:00

Bought something and made a special shipping request. Which made me laugh cause they reprinted it and put it on the label as instructions!

Goddamn Nut Panther!

2006-09-10T19:09:00.000-06:00

I moved up here to the YK with the expectation of seeing some wild wildlife. Until this weekend my efforts to see a wild animal, get mauled by a bear and pecked by a murder of crows had been largely ignored. While jaunting 'round Frame Lake trail I saw a panther. It ripped across the path ahead of me and dissapeard deathly into the bush and swung murderously up a tree where it waited ready to pounce. I was petrified and confused as I hadn't in my wildest dreams considered that the Wild Canadian Wild Panther had made it this far north. I had always been told in school and found through my own independent research that a panther was a southerly animal and largely enjoyed sunning on rocks and drinking cold margaritas with those little umbrellas. Boy, was I wrong!

You see the Wild Canadian Wild Nut Panther is one of those animals that often defies gravity and expectation. It is also dangerous beyond belief - the worst thing you could do is get between it and a couple of nuts lest it tear your head off and bury it for later. This is the situation i found myself in.

So, now youre probably thinking about how brave I am and that a statue commemmorating my bravery would be a good idea (it is). And, if you were here and I was telling you about this real true factually accurate happening you might ask me: "What did you do next?" Dont worry I'll tell you.

You see I had my trusty bag of Cheetos brand crunchy cheese snack with me (I rarely go anywhere without it) and I put it into action. I cracked open that bag and launched the cheesy goodness found therein into the air. The cheese powder from these tasty orange cheese puffs temporarily blinded the beast and I took the opportunity to take the following photo evidence as proof incontrovertible of my bravery in overcoming the danger of a Wild Nut Panther. Panther and I then spent 47 hours in a staring contest which I clearly won, despite what the panther might tell you - damn its evil eye.

Peace Out!