Satellite
Show on map
  • Day 65

    Is that an ice pick in my forehead?

    November 14, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ -24 °C

    No, it is not an ice pick in my forehead. It's the damn wind again. Right between the eyes. Just stabbing it's way through bone to tweak those little skull nerves. I have to believe that if you're the one driving the snowmobile then the windshield must protect you from that. Otherwise, I would drive nowhere! I'd have to have a full face shield on.

    Today was exciting though. Many exciting things happened. First, one of my lost boxes arrived!! It had been shipped to Qikiqtarjuaq (Kih kih tar zhu ack). Obviously. The waybill number and the town Igloolik clearly look like Qikiqtarjuaq. Easy mistake. Then, somehow, it makes its way back to Igloolik but gets shipped to the Internet provider here in town. ??? Did they open it, see the dismantled drafting table and trash can and think, "Ah, yes, must be the internet company's things!" ??? Then, once at the internet company's place, I have no clue how they figured out it was mine. But, they did, and they called my cell and delivered it to my house. By "They" I mean, I have no idea who called me or delivered it to my house. That is the way here. Ask no questions. Just take your box and be happy! And I was!!

    I had to send something for work via the post office. I told the young lady and she said it would be $1.05. I said, "Are you sure because I really think this might be more than a regular letter stamp." So, she put it on the scale and then measured it. She input the info and Canada Post spit out the price. $14.95. 0_o !! She was gonna try and send that thing for a dollar. Oh boy. And, I didn't mention this, but the reason I even asked was because just yesterday I went to the post office and there was a returned envelope for me for insufficient postage. Ahem. The ladies are quite sweet and kind, but I am not sure they're super well-informed about how postage is calculated.

    I also had a pause and reflect moment today when I heard from a very old, good friend that I grew up, literally, on the same street with. I'm probably not supposed to tell this, but he received news that he was being offered multiple positions at Google to work under some of the highest executives there. Additionally, he has an interview this week with the CEO of Instagram. Now it doesn't matter what his job is. What we were discussing was how surreal it was for him to interview at Google, then receive all those job offers, and THEN be asked to go talk to Instagram. I was hearing all this from him as I was going home to lunch. I had to tell him that I wanted to hear his story, but very likely I would be picked up by a snowmobile soon and it might get loud. Sure enough, my ride vroomed by and I jumped on the back, still on the line with my friend. All he could hear was the high pitched whining of the snowmobile and the ludicrousness of each of our respective situations launched us into uncontrollable laughter. His life right now, my life right now...we couldn't catch our breath we were laughing so hard. I was, in fact, cackling. They say you don't know where life will take you and for my friend and I this afternoon, we really felt life was taking us for a ride!

    Speaking of rides, another pause and reflect moment came this afternoon on the way home from work, in the dark...because you know, the sun is setting right around 2:15pm (rising at 10am). Again, on the snowmobile. The wind just whipping. The snowmobile feels loose and slippery on the packed roads. A bit dangerous, but exhilarating. It feels faster than the ATV. I found myself gleefully grinning as my boss gunned the engine and we flew over the hills and bumps, slightly catching air on the back. Exciting in a slightly scary way. The type of exciting scary that makes you want to scream and maybe even go faster! And, that's when I smiled even bigger because that's exactly how I've always been and exactly how my dad was (he used to drag race semi-professionally for goodness sakes!). This past weekend marked the anniversary of his passing and today I couldn't help but think that he would be so stoked about all the adventures I was having. And that made me smile.
    Read more