Mississaugas Finest

Great story in the Halifax Daily News by Paul McLeod about The Dome stopping dollar drink nights. It includes a "very informal survey" of Dal and Kings students living out of town and their reaction to the closure of their favourite place to get piss loaded drunk.

It includes some priceless quotes from students, including one guy from Mississauga who swears and says "ballsack".

A good -- short -- read.

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=93481&sc=89

The Halifax Locals page discussing the closure of the most hated bar in the HRM -- possibly the entire east coast -- amongst the discerning crowds. Locals is great for the breaking news aspect of any story, and a funny read in general.

http://media.locals.ca/localsconf/viewtopic.php?t=123977&start=0

Gatorade Scientist?

What medical qualifications do you need to be a "Gatorade Scientist"?

Every year, I watch the World Junior Hockey Championships. Every year, they run Gatorade commercials -- featuring teenagers who are prohibited from being paid for their valuable commercial contribution -- that feature "Gatorade Scientists", talking about the importance of hydration.

Water is better. Noooooooooo, Gatorade is better. Water sucks, it really really sucks. Tackling fuel.

Just like Dad

Every day from about Grade 6 until Grade 10, I wore Chuck Taylor All-Stars. I love those freakin shoes. Mom remembers that, and here is something she sent Joseph.

Everything was great. Played a lot of games, Joseph rolled over once, but we think it was a fluke. Maybe we scared him, Ian and I were watching him, and when he made his successful roll.

We exploded, cheering and the like, scaring young Joseph, and he hasn't rolled since. Black Jack the Blue Parrot should give him some more inspiration.

Don't ask me, I just work here

OK, so it isn't quite as bad as that, but I am the worst resource for Inuktitut you can find.

Statcounter has taught me that most of the hits on my blog are coming from people searching out words in Inuktitut. I pick up what I can, but listening to me is dangerous.

I offer you this example:

My brother-in-common-law was ready to slap me for a particularly bad bit of Inuktitut. Over time, he has gone from listing the reasons he has to shoot me to listing the reasons he has NOT to shoot me, so that is progress.

The word for uncle is OOH-NACK. The word for poop is AAH-NACK. I was telling my step-son to go see his Uncle, and his girls kept laughing at me as he grew more frustrated. I was calling him Poop instead of Uncle. The kids thought it was great, he was less amused.

Another example:

Iqaluit means "place of many fishes". The southern audience says it ICK-CAL-EH-WIT. The Inuit is more like ICK-QUAL-AH-WEET. You need to get your guttural Inuktitut Q in there.

The southern way of saying it means "a shitty, dirty, asshole". It is a butt possessed by someone with very poor personal hygeine. Subtle difference in pronounciation, but a big deal in how you say things.

So, I present you this, all you Googlers out there:

http://www.livingdictionary.com/main.jsp

This is what the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth sends you too, so I'm going to go with them.

Toxic

People accuse politicians and journalists of being toxic, that was never more true than today.

At the Stephane Dion press conference here in Iqaluit, I was still suffering from the flu. Inflatable Elvis was suffering from a cold. A prominent CBC reporter was on crutches due to a dancing related injury, and Dion himself was fighting a cold. He got his cold from travelling from Bali to the Arctic, so no pity here.

Virus farm

I have the flu. I want to die.

The End

All in one short paragraph

http://www.aptn.ca/content/blogcategory/41/90/

Scroll to the bottom, my bio is up on APTN.ca... I got to write it myself.

and the readers speak

This letter to the Editor in the Eastern Graphic -- one of the country's last family owned independent weekly papers left in the country -- made my day. The readers are, after all, the final editors.


THE EDITOR:
This week (as in most weeks) there was a report in the Georgetown Court news of yet another breech of probation”. Looking the word “breech” up in answers.com yields this

(#1) definition: Breech, The lower rear portion of the human trunk; the buttocks.

Since this is a family publication, I won’t develop this thought further. Sufficient to say, spell check can’t do all the work.

Tom Curran
Lower Montague

Good work Tom, and good on The Graphic for running the letter.

(NOTE: I had to edit this psot twice, both times to remove a teh. When is teh going to become an acceptable way or writing the?)

2nd Annual Dance Dance Revolution X-mass Fiesta

Saturday marked the 2nd annual -- DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION X-MASS FIESTA -- at the luxiourious Governor in Iqaluit. The first annual was just myself, Inflatable Elvis, my partner and her son, on New Year's Eve, playing DDR and having a good time before we went out to check the fireworks.

DDR is a great game for a party. You have to step on a pad on the floor, in time with the music. The more you get into the dancing, the easier it is to keep rhythm.

This year was a little more extensive. Seven kids, 10 grown-ups, and a lot of food. B made her first ever turkey, everyone had fun, and we had Port Town Ghosts and Baffin Blog join Elvis at our little apartment.

Baffin Blog works at an elementary school, so it must have been like work for him, albeit with slightly more booze.

Highlights include:

-- All four bloggers (myself included) completing our turn at Dance Dance Revolution. Baffin Blog nailed "Let's Dance" by David Bowie, and Elvis killed "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"by Cyndi Lauper... when he said that his I-Tunes shuffle was thinking for itself, he may have been on to something.

-- Our first family holiday turkey, and she nailed it. Perfect turkey.

-- My step-son walking into the middle of the party, sticking his hands in the front of his pants like Al Bundy and loudly exclaiming "OK, who wants to play Yahtzee." He made Elvis laugh so hard that the boy thought he was laughing AT him, not with. I saved the upcoming rage by suggesting that Elvis would play Connect Four with him, and a best-of-seven insued.

-- Three grown white men trying in vain to calm a crying 20 month old, whose Mom was downstairs having a cigarette. We failed.

-- Getting Inflatable Elvis with a joke I had been waiting weeks to make. He brought us a pepper grinder for a Christmas gift a few weeks ago, a lovely gift which we really needed. He also put a card in it, which he left blank by mistake. We love the blank card, it makes us smile, and is displayed front and centre in our place. I waited weeks until I had a room full of people to tell him that he had left it blank. Timing is everything.

-- My two-month old son enjoying being passed from aunt to aunt like a joint at a Dead show. He slept so well that night.

-- One child liking my cookies so much that he asked to take some home with him. I gave him a dozen.

-- My television X-mass tree, featuring Simpsons and Star Wars ornaments. We had Sponge Bob as a star, causing my step-son to accurately point out, "You should have bought Patrick... he's a starfish." When they are right...

-- By sister-in-common-law staying over with her three kids for a sleepover. The next morning, I was awoken by the smoke detector going off. I awake, dazed, and ready to be aggravated. I couldn't, she got up earlier than us, fed the combined children, did our dishes, and she was making turkey stock from the leftovers, which set off the alarm. Anyone who does our dishes while we sleep can burn the damn place down in my opinion.

-- Having a real Christmas party, kids and all. Kids are a part of X-mass, and the Fiesta wouldn't have been the same without them.

See you all next year.

Card tricks

One of the biggest transitions for me -- moving from print to television -- has been visual storytelling. Why should I tell you when I can show you. So, on last night's show, I took that to brand new lengths:

After the second commercial break:
http://www.aptn.ca/streaming/index.php?wmv=wednesday/six

The story was about Hunter Tootoo calling for a spring election, due to the NBCC fiasco, and I pulled two neat tricks. First off, I started by saying David Simailak's resignation caused a "domino effect".

Cue the dominos. I got out the dominos I got last year for Christmas and lined them up on the counter, knocked them over, and Jimmie slowed it down to slow-motion. Theres your domino effect.

At the end of the story, I did my bit on camera. I am developing a thing for props. I like to have something in my hands when I am talking to the all seeing electronic eye. In this case, it was cards.

I referred to the next election date as still being a "guessing game" and had three cards in front of me. Then I said, "Keep your eye on the black card".

As I explained some facts -- Feb 2009 is the last date an election can be held, the MLA's return to session in Feb 2008, and the most likely times for any election in Nunavut are spring or fall -- I moved the cards around, Three Card Monty style, while delivering that little speech.

At the end, I say, "But it is anybody's guess" and flip the cards... all three are red. The visual point, no one can accurately predict the date of the next election. Cut to a suitably smug looking me at my desk with my close.

So, I got to play dominos and three card monty on air... not too shabby. I am also available for weddings and Bah Mitzvahs.

Bite my shiny metal....

When I was in Yellowknife, I picked up a copy of the new Futurama DVD "Bender's Big Score." In the extras, there is a commercial for Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" which got me thinking.

There is also some Inuit content in the movie. Not to spoil too much, but Fry ends up searching the Arctic for his lost friend the narwhal. He is joined by two Inuit guys, named Anatarjuat and Bapu.

Captain: We've spotted 208 narwhals, and none of them was yours.
Anatarjuat: But they were all edible, and I'm getting tired of sausage.

Simpsons' and Futurama creator Matt Groening has a soft spot for Inuit people. If you saw the Simpsons Movie, you know that already. When he travels to Alaska, Homer Simpson is guided by an Inuit lady, who throat sings with him and causes him to hallucinate the answer to all his problems. Later, she appears in the Northern Lights, and points the direction he should travel in with her oversized breasts.

Also, Homer ends up in a bar in Alaska called Eski-Moes, which got the biggest laugh of the night when I saw it in the Astro Theatre here in Iqaluit. He is also playing the video game Grand Theft Walrus.

Which brings me back to my "Inconvenient Truth" idea. I'm writing my year ender (Year in review story), which is allowed to be light and comedic, to a point. I want to mention Sheila Watt-Cloutier being dumped from the Nobel Prize ticket -- which Gore eventually won -- but I don't want to be too heavy handed about it.

I wrote to all the Al Gore connected press people I could find, and sent them the following note. I want that Futurama commercial for my year ender. The letter follows, and if I get it, I'll let you know.

I've sent out some strange letters requesting interviews and the like over time, but this is the first one for an animated spokesperson:

My name is Kent Driscoll and I am a reporter for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada – based in Iqaluit Nunavut, the home of climate change -- and I report on APTN National News. The reason I am contacting you is that I am doing our year end item (a review of all the news that happened here in Nunavut in the last year).

Al Gore getting the Nobel Peace Prize nod drew attention here, because Iqaluit, Nunavut based environmental activist Shelia Watt-Cloutier was originally nominated along with Gore for the prize. Her getting dropped from the ticket was a news story here.

Our year end items are supposed to be light and slightly comedic, and here is what I want to do.

When I introduce the fact that Gore was nominated and Watt-Cloutier was not, I would like to use the commercial for “An Inconvenient Truth” featuring the Futurarama cast (I have it on DVD). We would show the animated version of Gore with Bender, and use a suitably funny clip from Bender.

Then I would voice over, “Watt-Cloutier was much more diplomatic than Bender” and cut to her clip saying “As long as the topic was nominated, everyone wins.”

If you could forward this to the right person, or direct me to them, that would be fantastic. I need to know who controls the rights for that particular commercial. It would allow me to point to Gore winning the nod over an aboriginal person, but the use of humour would show that Watt-Cloutier accepted the snub with dignity and focus on the issue.

Plus, Futurama has two reoccurring Inuit characters, and an Inuit shaman was used as a character in The Simpsons’ Movie (Eski-Moes got the biggest laugh of the night here in Iqaluit). Matt Groening owes us one.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Justice delayed

Justice delayed is justice denied, but no one in Nunavut is denying anything.

Here are the three parts in my three-part feature for APTN National News, titled "Justice delayed." Part one today, I'll edit and add parts two and three as they come up.

I received unprecendented cooperation from the Justice department, and I even have a judge in there. Anyone who has ever tried to interview a judge before knows, they just don't talk to reporters all that often.

Also, the next time I suggest a three-part anything that includes two lawyers, one judge, and a civil servant, kick me square in the nuts. They answer fine, they all just answer long.

Part One: Waiting for court (after the first commercial break)
http://www.aptn.ca/streaming/index.php?wmv=tuesday/six

Part Two: Standing room only at jail (before the first commercial):
http://www.aptn.ca/streaming/index.php?wmv=wednesday/six

Part Three: Things are different here (last item of the show):
http://www.aptn.ca/streaming/index.php?wmv=thursday/six

Inuktitut

This is what Inuktitut looks like (I stole this from another northern blog, thanks Jen)

I know about 15 words for sure, and a few others I can work out. Here are a few spelled phonetically, because as you can see above, those symbols are a handful.

AH-TEE: Hurry up, let's go, go ahead

TAY-MA: Stop, knock it off

AHK-KAH: Stop

ILL-KNEE: Son

ILL-KNEE-LA: Youngest son

PAN-IC: Daughter (no kidding, panic)

CAN-YOU-WEEP-IT: Hey, how's it going?

CAN-YOU-LING-EH: I'm good, and you?

OO-LA-KOOT: Good morning

OO-NOOK-SAW-KOOT: Good afternoon

OO-NOOK-KOOT: Good evening

EEE: Yes

EEE-KEY: I'm cold

OOO-LU: a women's knife

SAH-VICK: A man's knife

TOOK-TOO: Caribou

NAN-NOCK: Polar Bear

AH-NOCK: Poop

AH-MAU-TICK: A traditional baby carrying jacket

A-MA-MOCK: How a baby eats

A-MOCK: Putting a baby in an amautiq

E-BAB-OX: Eat

COY-AN-A-MEEK: Thank you

MAH-LOOCH: Marijuana

AH-KA-LUUK: I love you

EYE-TAR: This is shit

MUCK-TAHK: Whale blubber, tasty whale blubber

PEEF-FI: Dried fish, usually char, tasty char

IG-OOH-KNOCK: Walrus meat fermented in a hole in the ground

CALL-OOH-KNOCK: White guy

ACK-SARN-NITE: Northern Lights

KA-MICKS: Traditional footware

Keep in mind, those words change from region to region, and dialect to dialect. NAH-KO-MEEK means thank you on Baffin Island, buy COY-AN-A-MEEK works all over the territory.

The catchiest cultural bit is eyes open and eyes narrow. All you have to do to say yes is open your eyes wide, and to say no you make them small. With my eyebrows, I always feel like I'm shouting when I do that. I worked in an office with three other white folk, and one day we realized that we were all doing the eye open/shut thing. It is darn catchy.

The Guardian

The Guardian is the guilty pleasure of every Ex-pat Islander, and more recently, the comments section of their website has led to the secret nasty nature of Islanders being more fully expressed.

I usually avoid commentary. Since I'm a journalist, it usually behooves me to keep my virtual mouth quiet. This case, I couldn't resist.

One of the first things they teach you in J-school, localize a national story.

Remember that scene from The Paper, with Michael Keaton (second worst Batman ever).

"Disaster here, no one from New York. Disaster there, no one from New York. "

The shooting death of Const. Doug Scott had a very tenous PEI connection. His partner in Kimmirut was a fill-in officer from PEI, so the Guardian ran a story about another officer from Charlottetown that had served in Kimmirut. For the record, he quite liked it.

In the comments page, someone wrote in with this thoughtful commentary on policing in Nunavut:

Andy from Ch'town, PEI writes: It comes down to money. And since the
territories are a federal jurisdiction, then the feds have to throw more money
for policing at the territories.

What you are suggesting in post #1 is to have a level of policing service
in Arctic Canada similar to what we have in southern Canada.... numerous police
officers within a reasonably short response time to calls for assistance.

This isn't currently the case in Nunavut and other places, so the feds
would have to practically quadruple the number of officers up there.

In addition to the obvious benefits for officer safety, this would tie in
nicely for sovereignty purposes too. After all, next to the Innu and the
Canadian Rangers, the RCMP have the 2nd biggest presence across that region.

The Canadian Forces with southern softies make their laughable snowmobile
trip every summer across the icepack but that doesn't really count, unless you
believe everything you read in the vaunted Globe & Mail of course....

quadruple RCMP in Arctic = increased officer safety + better sovereignty =
no brainer

Andy from Ch'town struck me as a bit of a know-nothing-know-it-all, leading me to write my first ever post in the comments of the Guardian website. Enjoy:

Kent Driscoll from Iqaluit, NU writes:

Post 2, here is where you are wrong.

And since the territories are a federal jurisdiction, then the feds
have to throw more money for policing at the territories.

Yes and no. Nunavut has our own government, and pays for our own RCMP
presence. Since there is no deal on devolution struck with the feds, we receive
money from the federal government. If the feds would cut a resource revenue
sharing deal with Nunavut, the minerals under 1/5th of Canada's landmass would
easily cover more RCMP, along with adequate housing, healthcare, and a host of
other challenges.

What you are suggesting in post #1 is to have a level of policing
service in Arctic Canada similar to what we have in southern Canada.... numerous
police officers within a reasonably short response time to calls for assistance.

Kimmirut has 2 officers for a population of 400, a 1 to 200 ratio. You
won't find that anywhere in southern Canada.

After all, next to the Innu and the Canadian Rangers

Inuit, not Innu.

The Canadian Forces with southern softies make their laughable
snowmobile trip

The last trip across the icepack was a group of Canadian Rangers, not
southern softies. It was far from laughable, they covered a route that hadn't
been covered in 30 years, and they did it. The navy are frequent visitors, but
you won't catch any of the southern forces on the land without Rangers.

quadruple RCMP in Arctic = increased officer safety + better
sovereignty = no brainer

A Band-aid solution. Try this formula on for size.

Cut a resource revenue
sharing deal with Nunavut = adequate social funding + a corresponding reduction
in crime = no brainer.

Sovereignty is people. Let the Inuit people here be the
sovereignty. Give them control of the resources, so they can afford to build a
Canadian presence here, instead of dumping more money into cops the people don't
really need. All of this has little to do with poor Douglas Scott, but it is
worth pointing out to a southern audience that the long term fix for Arctic
soverignty is to allow the people of Nunavut to exploit their own resource
revenue, to build a sustainable economy and society. Anything less is just a
short term answer.

You can teach an Islander to read, but you can't make them think... jerks.

So credible looking

I love this photo, taken by a kindly military officer with my camera when I was in Resolute. Nothing says Northern street cred like autofreeze on your beard. If I wasn't such a HTML putz, I would have this as my banner.

Jimmie

Photo courtesy of local photography whiz and all around good guy Chris Windeyer.

The guy on the left is Jimmie Papatsie, star cameraman with many years of experience in Nunavut (well, his whole life).

He is a local legend, and the most talented shooter and editor I have ever seen.

I've been working as a reporter for two and a half years in Nunavut, and now when I show up with Jimmie, I actually get respect from people. You can hear the wheels turning in their heads, "Well, he's working with Jimmie, maybe he isn't full of shit".

Jimmie makes me look good, glad to see Chris making him look good in this photo, from a military exercise off of Kimmirut.

Bingo

Bingo?

The Skedaddlers

My brother Brenton is in a band... as far as I can remember, he has always been in one band or another, but this one is called The Skedaddlers. This photo is one I doctored up when they were recording their last EP (maybe it was their first EP?)

Check them out through:

http://%20http//www.myspace.com/skedaddlers

Or join their group on Facebook.

Tignish

Tignish, ahhhhh, how I miss thee.

Tignish has a reputation for toughness even amongst people from PEI. To steal one of my brother's favourite stories:

We were walking outside of the bar in Charlottetown, and I heard a guy shout, "I'm going to punch the next son of a bitch from Tignish that I sees."

Brenton, being the social sort, asks the guy, "Where are you from."

'Tignish," roared back the angry man.

I lived "Up West" -- Western PEI is "Up West", Eastern PEI is "Down East" -- for two years, and have learned that the Tignish tough guys are usually more bark than bite. Small town for sure, but good hearted sort. That guy who wanted to fight another Tignisher, he would have probably given the guy a drive home after... he would have been driving his pick-up 140 up Route 2 drunk as hell, but he would have never left a fellow Tignisher alone in Charlottetown.

So, from today's Guardian -- it covers PEI like the dew -- the story of a Tignish Halloween. Halloween violence is a tradition in those parts.

Thrown asphalt injures RCMP officer

Object thrown at police vehicles in Tignish
EDITORIAL STAFF
The Guardian

TIGNISH — A member of the RCMP was taken to hospital for treatment of a deep cut to his head when a chunk of asphalt was thrown through the window of the police car he was in during a wild Halloween incident Wednesday night in Tignish.

Several large groups of people were responsible for throwing rocks and bottles at the police vehicles and officers throughout the night, resulting in extensive damage to three police vehicles, said Sgt. J.A. George, NCO in charge of Prince District Operations.

Thirteen young people, ranging in ages from 16 to 21, were arrested for various breaches of the peace as the West Prince detachment of the RCMP had a very busy Halloween night throughout the entire area, said George.

Police spokesperson S-Sgt. Jay McInnis said Thursday that the injured officer was treated and later released from hospital after getting a number of stitches.“He’ll be fine,” said Jay.

Police are hopeful that charges will be laid for the assault on the officer, but admit it will be a difficult investigation because the people throwing bottles, rocks and asphalt all wore dark clothing and masks.

In Tignish, police, town maintenance staff and the fire department were kept busy responding to nuisance fires and complaints of damage to town property.Police had not received any reports of rocks or bottles being thrown at other vehicles travelling in Tignish, “which leads to the conclusion that those carrying out these cowardly acts were targeting the police,” said George.

“The RCMP was disappointed in the reaction from the young people involved in these large crowds and have been in contact with the Tignish council to help identify community strategies that will help to curb these cowardly and dangerous acts in the future. Hopefully this will address an embarrassing and shameful incident for the majority of citizens of Tignish.”

Save the Baby Veal

This poster and attached story garnered me a nomination in the OCNA (Ontario Community Newspaper Association) awards. I lost to a story about apple juice.... it was a good story.

Seal of disapproval

Kent Driscoll

Iqaluit (Mar 20/06) - It took a high-profile rock star with an agenda to bring out the edge in Murray Angus.

In response to Paul and Heather McCartney's trip to Prince Edward Island - to oppose Newfoundland's annual seal harvest - Angus brought the double barrels of irony and humour to the fight.

The McCartneys used the trip to protest against the annual harvest of seals on Canada's east coast. Angus feels they are ignoring the importance of the seal to Inuit.

"There is a presumption that people make, that the southern ways are the best. People in the south need to learn some humility and show respect," said Angus, who is an instructor at Nunavut Sivuniksavut (NS) in Ottawa.

Angus emphasized that the poster was not a school project, but simply a personal one. He has received requests from Newfoundland, Greenland and the Yukon for copies.

The poster poses the question: Is killing a wild seal less humane than raising a cow in a closed pen to keep its meat tender?

Tommy Akulukjuk, an NS student, posed for the poster, and isn't shy on humour.

First, he requests that this reporter refer to him as "Sir Tommy Akulukjuk" in this story, so that he is on equal footing with Sir Paul McCartney. He also wisecracks that he would like to see "Inuitmania" spread worldwide, so that he would have as much say as the outspoken musician.

"At first, I was pretty angry. It gave me a new perspective on famous people," said Akulukjuk.

"I think humour can be a weapon for us in this. It is like racism and American comedians. They use it to say a lot."

For Angus, the inspiration for the poster comes from an incident years ago, when Brigitte Bardot made the same trip to the ice floe.

"It was an idea I had 15 years ago, and when I saw the pics of the McCartneys, I thought it was like Bardot in the 1970s. With e-mail, it doesn't take long for this kind of thing to spread," said Angus.

As for Akulukjuk, he'll be looking at the Beatles in a different light. "I think I'll listen to the John Lennon songs from now on," said Akulukjuk.

Former Nunavut commissioner Peter Irniq said the rock star may have killed the baby seal. "You know how birds abandon their eggs after humans have touched them?" Irniq said.

"It's that funny human smell. Seals are only able to find their babies from their smell, among other seals on the ice. Paul and Heather touched the seal, we all saw it on TV. The mother probably abandoned the baby seal. It's probably dead by now.

"That is why, when we are out seal hunting through the seal holes in the spring time, we sometimes put 'things,' smelly things, like gerry cans, so that when the seal sees it, it will abandon the seal hole. That way, it's easier to catch the seals."

Piano Bar at the Top of The World

Here is an article I wrote for a local paper here, about the world's most northern Steinway Piano. Enjoy:

Piano bar at the top of the world
Kent Driscoll

Monday, April 16, 2007

EUREKA WEATHER STATION - If you were lost on the land and stumbled across the Eureka Weather Station, you would think you were hallucinating.

Who would expect to find a fully-stocked lounge complete with a Second World War-era piano at 79.59 degrees North?

"It is like living in National Geographic," said Al Gaudet, who works three months on and three months off at the station.

The station has been around since the early 1950s, and with that long a history, a few heirlooms have gathered. In the lounge sits a drab, olive green piano, which has seen its share of parties.

In 1999, a pair of visitors took a closer look and found it was a Steinway. They recorded the serial numbers and contacted the Steinway Company.

The company wrote back, declaring the piano the world's most northern Steinway. It was constructed in New York City in 1948, and is known as the Victory model. From the Second World War until the end of the Korean War, this was the model that American soldiers listened to in lounges all over the world.

Gaudet suspects that it may have been a part of the Alert station, but somehow was transferred to Eureka.

"It still carries a tune, even though it has a few dead spots. That thing has seen a lot of parties, and has been roughed up pretty well. Last year, when we moved buildings, it was bumped up a little," said Gaudet.

Gaudet has been coming to Eureka for years, and has had many run-ins with the local wildlife. Problem bears are scared off with a shotgun blast, but wolves are harder to deal with, as they roam in packs.

"I had read that there has never been a recorded case of wolves attacking a human. I'm walking back here, and I look around, and I'm surrounded by 12 wolves. I said to them, 'I hope you guys have read the book,'" said Gaudet.

The wolves must have been up on their reading as they didn't touch Gaudet. Though wolves are a nuisance, polar bears can be scary.

"In the old building, the bears used to look right in the windows. They are smart too; they never come to the camp the same way twice. Last year, we had one chasing guys between buildings," said Gaudet.

Usually, a shotgun blast will frighten the bears, and only once has a problem bear been shot in the almost 60-year history of the station.

"We have to phone a lot of people before we shoot a bear," explains Gaudet.

Weather balloons leave Eureka twice a day, and atmospheric studies are conducted around the clock. If bad weather is heading for southern Canada, it usually passes through Eureka.

The station has reached -55.3 C twice - once in 1987 and once in 1979 - and their record high temperature is 20 C in 2003.

"We monitor the ice conditions, and the ice here isn't as thick as it was before," said Gaudet, the closest he will come to commenting on global warming.

Working at Eureka since 1999, Gaudet is convinced that his job isn't for everyone. "Not everybody can live in the high Arctic, I firmly believe that."

Slide shows

Two slide shows you youse guys to check on out.

I call this one the "Live and Dead animal show"

http://http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/kentofthenorth/?action=view&current=1176989849.pbw

and this one is from my trip to Eureka and Resolute, courtesy of the Canadian Rangers, the only military group in Canada to elect their leaders:

http://http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/kentofthenorth/?action=view&current=1176989688.pbw

Apex

The back corner of Iqaluit is Apex, and it is beautiful out there. You may recognize it from The White Stripes video for "You Don't Know What Love Is"

I have a thing for fire 2

So I moved to Nunavut, and they like fire here too.

Shoreline Festival 1

I hooked up the Shoreline Festival guys (well, guy) with his first venue, before it moved to the beautiful Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival Grounds, at a campground that was going out of business in Western PEI.

There was a hurricane.

As you can see, Matt Mays is made out of electricity. That is good, because the artistic windmill attached to the front of the stage could have been a lightning rod.

House house

While living in rural PEI, I was able to sublet a pretty sweet place from some Americans. I called it House House (much before the popularity of the TV show House ruined the appeal of that phrase).

Celebrity

I have only ever posed for photos with interview subjects twice.

First one, Red Green, who signed every autograph and posed for every picture that was requested.

The second was George Chuvalo, longtime Canadian Heavyweight Champion

Kitty

Elwood -- named for his black and white perma suit -- lived with me from March 1999 until August 2007. Now he lives in retirement with my parents in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our parish priest once said, "Anyone who would bring their cat to the Arctic with him must have a good soul."

What he didn't know, I had no choice. Does that look like a face you could bargain with?

I have a thing for fire

I walked 2 miles through the woods with the Alberton Volunteer Fire Department to take these photos. I sure like fire.

The nicest photo I ever took

Setting Day on Prince Edward Island, where I lived and worked before heading to Nunavut. Setting Day is the day where all the lobster traps go out, just check out the overloaded boats at 4:30 a.m.

Welcome to Kent of the North

This is my first blog, ever. I just plan to use it to keep all of my online presence in one useable place. Over the next few days, I'll be adding pics and bits, until I catch up to modern day.

Then, I have a new cellphone with camera and video. Expect lots more.

Later
Kent