Alive and kickin'

Reader asks: Let's talk about that photo! Horizontal does not translate well into vertical. Caption: Dead man holding dog! Maybe if you checked deeper into your files you could find something that would indicate to your blogger buddies that the old man is still on the green side of mother earth.

Okay, okay. I just thought it was cute that the puppy and the father were hanging out. I still think it is cute. So I'm going to post another father-puppy photo.

The times they are a-changin'

Leona got HEALTH?!?!

So the cabinet has been unveiled. And our dear Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq has been appointed health minister.

Now, I had expected Harper not to take the whole "she'll be in cabinet" bit seriously. At one point the National Post speculated that she'd be given something like minister for the economic development agency for the North (that non-existant organization that Harper has promised "us"). That was about what I expected. A nothing profile for a newbie MP. Sounds about "right".

But this, now this is interesting. And a bold move. And could mean some good news, and some good changes for the Nunavut health system.

But the cynical part of me questions this appointment. Is Aglukkaq the most qualified person for the job? Maybe, I don't know. My world is very Nunavut-centric right now... so I have no clue if an MP has been elected who would have more experience at the national level, or more years logged as a provincial health minister, or who has worked in health etc. Personally, I would really like to see people elected to positions like health, environment etc. who WORKED in those portfolios prior to having become a poliician. But that's kind of a utopian look at things.

After all, there is no "department of law."

In more fun news, the following commentary happened while watching the appointments on a fellow journalist's laptop.

Fellow jounalist: Man I hate Diane Finley. I hate those stupid glasses.
Me: Yah, they look kinda weird, what's the deal
FJ: I don't know, she doesn't like TV lights
Me: Okay, I can sympathesize with that. I get migraines. But couldn't she wear those transition glasses? That would be helpful. Or maybe those hypnotizing ones, with the swirls.
*mutual cackle*
FJ: The honourable member of the opposition is getting sleeeeepy

Okay, maybe you had to be there

The 10-point plan

Reader asks...

Did you see this release. More politicians in Nunavut should outline their plans like this. Tagak's proposal for a breakfast program for kids in school is a good idea. What do you think?

First off, let me say how HONOURED I am to have been selected to air my thoughts on this issue. For you, anonymous, to have chosen this lowly blogger to analyze a Nunavut politician's 10-point plan is... well... clearly demonstrative of how far I've gone in the blogging world.

Ok. It's probably not so much as all that.

But to answer your question.

I have it on pretty good authority (aka, fellow CBC journalist who interviewed Tagak) that the REASON he put out that 10-point plan, is because he's eyeing the premier's chair. It's not an everyday run-of-the-mill platform. However, I do agree that it would be nice if Nunavut politicians vying for a seat in the legislature would do something like this. It's the one major disadvantages of non-party politics: you are less likely to know SPECIFICALLY what a candidate's priorities are.

Over the past couple weeks I've done my share of interviews with politicians. And while generally I'd abhor the whole idea of MEDIA TRAINING (nothing worse than scripted answers) there's something to be said for focused speaking points.

So I'm going to respond to each of the points in turn. I'm going to do my best to NOT do additional research into them... so the opinions I present (because that's what you asked for, after all) are my own - and may very well be misinformed. But so be it.

**please note, I am not providing the following perspective on behalf, or in association with the CBC. I am also not providing the following analysis as a reflection of Tagak Curley as a person, nor a politician. I am examining a list of priorities, nothing else.**

1. Breakfast program: Sure, why not. Breakfast is good. There's a breakfast program (maybe at the youth center) that operates out of Rankin. People generally say that kids having breakfast is key to their learning ability etc. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but I do have to wonder why Mr. Curley found this SO important so that it might be number one on his list of priorities.

2. Medical services and travel: Agreed. This has been an issue for many MLA-hopefuls. The recent rejig of the airline services in the north is largely due (according to the airlines) to the way the medical travel contract was awarded. I've also heard horror stories about the recovery centre in Winnipeg.

3. Housing: I often hear of the housing crisis in Iqaluit. And I've seen it first-hand: friends having to leave town because they've ended a relationship and have no where to live, or can't afford to live by themselves. What I do find curious is Curley says "housing units" but doesn't specify if they should be "affordable" or not.

4. Inuit training/employment: This is going to be necessary if they plan on making the GN's primary language of work Inuktitut in less than 3 years.

5. Government contracts use local resources: If the GN's purpose is to promote a self-sustainable territory... this is a must. But a lot of "local" companies have non-local partnerships - either as a financial base, or because they need equipment/monetary support to bid on the projects.

6. More roads/harbours - Curley doesn't say if he means more roads WITHIN or BETWEEN communities. It would be nice to be connected to "civilization" but that Manitoba Road seems awful far off ... and the harbour bit rings a bit of Harper's pledge. Maybe he sees a closer partnership between the GN and the feds?

7. Cargo/food mail - the food mail program works. But it doesn't reach who it needs to. This has been one of the major glitches of the program. How do you help unilingual people make food mail orders? And many Inuit don't have credit cards... so how do they pay? So a proactive approach to solve those problems is a positive thing, in my opinion... because

8. Local courts - YES. I've sat through weeks of the Nunavut Court of Justice sessions here in Rankin and thought to myself "there's got to be a better way." I know of one person in particular who has been waiting 14 months for a trial date... and still has no idea when it's going to be. In my opinion, it would be useful to have a mini-Nunavut Court of Justice in each of the regional 'capitals.' These satellite offices could alleviate some of the pressure on the court system, and could deal with Justice of the Peace court ... and still have the judges travel around every couple months to deal with the more serious issues.

9. More police - Does anyone remember the "more police, more crime" bit from Freakonomics? I know that's not Curley's point. And I personally think that all communities should have enough officers in all communities so that NO ONE is in the situation where they would have to answer a call alone. We've seen enough tragedy in the north. Also, especially in the case of Rankin Inlet, what about local recruitment and retention? We used to have two bilingual officers here in Rankin. Now we have none.

10. Rely more on IQ for hunting regulations - This one harkens of the Kivalliq Wildlife Board/ Nunavut Wildlife Management Board/ Government of Nunavut / polar bear quota issue. Traditional knowledge and scientific knowledge are typically at odds. This is yet another instance where if the territory's goal is to become a segregated, isolated part of Canada, then it can go ahead and dismiss "conventional" science. I'm not saying traditional knowledge should be ignored, but the two sides have to come to some sort of understanding... and that's not something we see in the territory right now.

Pheuf! Okay, well that was tiring. Making thoughtful responses to a politician's platform is exhausting. Here's hoping it won't catch on...

Thanks for your question, Anonymous.

Jackie's attempt at Liveblogging

Election night

So I briefly considered liveblogging the Nunavut election ... but things just happened way too quickly for that to have been a realistic idea.

Within an hour or so of the polls closing we had our Rankin Inlet votes tallied...

And the winner is.... (in case you weren't paying attention)

Lorne Kusugak.

The Rankin Inlet South / Whale Cove riding was seen as one of the more interesting of the bunch. Here we had Lorne Kusugak, the mayor, take on Levinia Brown, cabinet minister for Community and Government Services.

This is election two of three for us here. The third, and final election will take place this December... that gives us a month to let the dust settle before things start up again. I don't know if I can take it.

Okay, I'm being a little over-dramatic. To be honest, the territorial election wasn't as crazy as I initially thought. Sure there's been a lot of new faces around the office... and I started my shift at 7pm tonite (it's now 1:28 as I type this, and I've not taken a 'meal break' so while I'm officially done at 2:45 I'm going to call it quits and go home, because the rest of my coworkers have, and there's nothing left to do here anyways).

While there wasn't complete mayhem, as I expected, there were a few note-worthy elements:

1. I actually had the "thud-thud" heart beating in the throat when the numbers were being counted for the Rankin South/WC riding and the Baker Lake one too. I think I was feeding off of everyone else's anticipation, rather than my own.
   
2. I am glad, from a reporter POV, to have been working tonite. I made calls to all the perspective MLAs, and while I'm sure I've been long forgotten at this point, maybe my naggy little voice made an impression on them, and here's hoping I'm remembered come tomorrow (or next week, or next month)
3. Finally, on the more gossip-y side of things... the incumbent was supposed to have set up shop locally, here, at the Sugar Rush. But according to people who staked out the 'rush all night.... she never showed, or called. Hmm. I'll let you all speculate.

That's all from the election front. I'm beat. It's time for me to jump aboard my loaner-honda and put-put my way home. Did I mention it's -13 right now?

Also:

Happy Birthday Dad!!

I mailed your present yesterday, expresspost, so it should arrive at the beginning of next week, if not (maybe, possibly) tomorrow.

Hope it was a good one!

Love you

The results are in...

I know, it was a quick contest, but I didn't want it to get old fast.

So here are the results....



The winner is........


Um. Me?

LOL, I'm not sure exactly how to judge this because NO ONE got either the most expensive, AND/OR the least expensive item right.

But to satisfy your curiosity...

The MANGO was the CHEAPEST (and by several dollars) - hence the contest.
The CUCUMBER was the most expensive - but only by about 50 cents.


The numbers...

Mango = 1.19
Lettuce = 3.59
Green pepper = 3.79
Cucumber = 4.49

So what I'm going to do, because it's only fair, is to put all who participated's names in a hat and draw for the prize. Then you have to send me your address so I can mail it.

See? Contests are fun!

Spark some interest in the north....

Okay dear readers, especially dear NORTHERN readers, who do not always post in comment sections but I know you visit (because my Statcounter says so) I NEED YOUR HELP.

I am doing a story for one of the CBC's southern programs, called Spark. You can read about the show here. I have long been a fan of Nora Young, and now I'm going to be on her program!

The story I'm doing is about the use of the internet in the North - and how it differs from the south. You may remember I wrote an entry about this back at the end of September. Well that response turned into them asking me to go on their show, do a little chat with Nora and a short documentary.

Just let me say how thrilled (but also scared and nervous) I am to be doing this story. But I need some help. I know useage is a bit different in Iqaluit (thanks TB) but I don't know anything about the other communities - or territories for that matter.

So here's the deal.

I'm looking for a couple different things.

First, if you live in the north (specifically Nunavut), and are interested in being in a fun little documentary about internet usage (subjects include banking, shopping, blogging and whatever else you do "differently" from the south) please let me know. I'm especially interested in talking to a fellow blogger (I can't talk about myself ALL the time) and someone who lives in a community where there isn't a physical BANK (Cape Dorset? Arctic Bay?). Most likely (unless you live in Rankin) it will be an interview over the phone. Pretty relaxed, just a chat about what you do and how you do it. I'm nice.

Second, if you live in the NWT or Yukon, and can shed some light as to how internet works there (is it satellite? Is it through the phone line? Cable? How fast is it? How does it compare to "down south" how much does it cost?) I'd really appreciate that too.

I know most people aren't used to being interviewed but I'd really appreciate it if you'd even just consider helping me out with this. It's a huge opportunity for me, and a chance for the North to get heard about something that's not snow or polar bears (or seals).

Thank you so much (in advance)
Jackie

Contest time!

O-kay.
It's time to play everyone's favourite game...

"How much did that cost at the Northern?"

Please examine the photo below.




















You estute shoppers will note I have placed on my useless push-y cart, the following items

• a green pepper
• a cucumber
• a head of iceberg lettuce
• a mango
• a bewildered puppy (because my collection of fruits/veggies looked kind of boring, and I thought bewildered puppy would spice it up a bit)

Now, dear readers, tell me.

How much do you think they cost?

This is the way the game will work. You tell me the cheapest item, and the most expensive item, and how much you think they cost.

Who ever wins get some kind of trinket prize from Ivalu here in town. Seriously, a trinket. It will cost less than 5 bucks. But it's fun!

So tell me, how much did they cost!?


UPDATE: BEWILDERED PUPPY IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE CONTEST!

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: UPDATE:

Contestants have until Thursday, October 23rd at 5pm Central to enter.

Aka when I get home from work tomorrow.

There's no clear winner just yet!

Darkness descends

It's funny. I never really had a big preference for one season over another.

Until I moved up north.

And now, I hate fall.

Fall is the time of year when we LOSE our sunlight. And it's a lot colder than the fall I've come to know and feel apathetic about.

I'm looking out my window and it's 5 o'clock and the sky is nearing dusk.

Not yet, but soon.

I think I find this the hardest time of year. You don't want to go outside because it's progressively getting colder, and it's harder to get out of bed in the mornings (not like that's my most redeeming quality in the first place).

It was right around this time last year when I arrived in Rankin. A day later a dense fog settled down upon the community. The boy was actually stuck in Whale Cove for a week when I first got here. And my worldly goods were delayed for weeks.

And while it's been a couple days since I've seen the sun (I'm talking that big yellow globe-thing, not light in general)... today is actually a pretty nice day. Intermittent snow. A light dusting on the roads and on the ground. And the snow on the hills (no, Megan, they aren't reflecting) actually glows a bit against the murky sky.

Oh, and my new, swank, snowmobile helmet arrived today. It's black, silver and lime green. You know you're jealous.

Stay tuned...

Cuz I'm going to be on TV tonite!

Remember how I was saying I was paranoid over the numerous break-ins in town over the last little while?

Well it's worse than I thought. There have actually been 41 break-and-enters since the first of September. Twenty-five of those in the month of October. That's more than one a day. *shudder*

(Sidenote, thank god I have a BLOOD-THIRSTY DOG to protect me hahaa)

So Northbeat wanted to interview me about it.

So if you want to hear me try and string two words together, tun in to Northbeat tonite on CBC.

Dear Nunavut Blogging Community:

Once upon a time, not so many months ago...we were happy.
Things were peaceful, we got along.
We supported one another, left encouraging messages, sent care packages...

Those were simpler times.

Since then much has changed; some have moved on geographically, moved on in our priorities, moved on in our relationships.
But it doesn't have to end!
Flame wars and hiatuses are juicy and stir up adrenaline...

But it seems we are losing sight.

Each of us writing do it for a reason. To keep in touch, to inform, to vent, to share, to discuss.
No one started their blog with the intention of pissing others off, of week-long battles in comment sections.
But perspectives differ, intentions get skewed, passing comments taken too seriously.
And battles begin.

I've seen more than one blogger step back from the keyboard over cyber-confrontations.
And it sucks.
Because while I've had days where I've considered the same, we need to remember why and for whom we write.
If it's for the benefit of the Nunavut Blogging Community, then maybe stepping back over one of these incidents is the answer.
But if we're writing for ourselves, for our families and friends, for prospective residents (or WHOMEVER).... then maybe it's not.

But what do I know.
Maybe the blogging community, like the north, is a transient one.
Maybe a few of us will remain after the dust has settled. And the cycle will begin again...

But until then I have to wonder:
Can't we all just get along?

Long time, no blog

Okay, so I should probably write something. It's been almost a week, and there's no reason for my absenteeism. So I shall pepper you with a string of incoherent thoughts, to make up for the lack of random posts over the past week.

Here goes.

• I have not done laundry in probably 3 weeks. I am so low on underwear I cheered this morning when I found a pair that was clean, hidden in the corner of my spare room. Yes this is sad and pathetic and a little bit gross. Deal.
• I was gifted (at least temporarily) a BBQ last night. But instead of being pleased, I was freaked out because I thought the two people delivering it were trying to break into my house. There have been a lot of break-ins in town over the past 2 months. I'm paranoid
• This election was a waste of time and money. Nothing changed. It's still a minority government. In another 2 years we'll have another election because Harper will say he can't get anything done. Maybe because he's not a good leader. Not because it's a minority.
  
• I am glad I was polite and friendly when interviewing Leona Aglukkaq. That should be beneficial in the long run. If she remembers me. Which I doubt.
  
• Hamlet council meeting yesterday was a gong show. I have to do a story about the complete ineffectiveness of this council when Lorne Kusugak isn't chairing some day. It's disgusting. It took all of my strength not to stand up and yell at the entire council for being stupid.
• Food mail sent me 16 litres of milk last week (I ordered 8). And 2L of chocolate milk. And 1L cream. That's almost 20L of dairy products. For one person. Apparently Cantor's thinks I need my calcium.
  
• My iTunes isn't working on my home computer. I'm annoyed.
  
• I went to a friend's cabin for the long weekend with some friends. It was divine. The puppy freaking loves it out there (but not the 75-minute drive out...) and it makes me wish I had a real yard for him to play in. Makes him a different dog.
  
• Also: Sully has a boyfriend. His name is Buddy. Buddy is a little fluffy black dog. They are adorable together. And Buddy idolizes Sully - - follows him around EVERYWHERE. It's so cute.
  
• My first thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. Made a couple calls to the parents, the boy helped tidy up the apartment, and everyone brought wine (which I had forgotten to order). I forgot to cook the squash, but it's not like anyone noticed. All in all, a success!
• I am hungry, and am going to go pick up some lunch at the Northern.

Taima

Update

Today I recieved an email DIRECTLY from Jack Layton himself.

I haven't opened it yet, but I hope he's asking me to have tea with him.

*fingers crossed*



UPDATE:
Nope. Not inviting me for tea. Actually, instead had the nerve to ask me for MONEY. To think I expected shortbread cookies!

Shed some light

There have been a number of random sexual assaults in Iqaluit lately. And city council is being encouraged to do something about it.

A local man is/will be circulating a petition to council to deal with the issue.

That, combined with all the time I've spent listening to sexual assault cases at Rankin's court circuit this week have left me more aware than usual of certain things.

Like street lights.

Now, during the summer, this is a non-issue. You can walk around outside at any time of day and it's at least dusk-y. Last night, I left the house at about 7:30 and it was pitch black out. Amazing how fast our hours of daylight change. But as I looked down the street I was really amazed at how dim and how few and far between our street lights are.

This is a petition for the business park to upgrade their security cameras, as well as install two flood lights in the parking lot and I know what you're thinking; won't that just shed more light on the penises but that is a risk we have to take. - Dwight Shrute, The Office.

As I was writing this post, that passage "won't that just shed more light on the penises" kept running though my head. Dwight IS a source of infinite wisdom.

But seriously. In a place where half the year is spent in darkness.... adequate streetlights should be an automatic thing. IMHO.

It's not a too-mah

Two words I often get mixed up:

• Adept
• Inept

One word I will never use because I can't ever use it correctly

• Infamous

Three words I use too much

• Dude
• Seriously?
• Aaanyways....

Four words I can never spell

• Unfortunate
• License
• Jewelery
• Architecture

And yes, I had to spell-check every one of those. And I was wrong on every one.

Check out that sky!

Taken at 8am on October 7th-08.

Sneaky manoeuvrings

Friday afternoon I get a phone call looking for the woman who used to do my job. I believe I remember them saying they were from canada newswire. They were calling to update our information. I don't currently receive any emails/news releases from CNW so I obliged.

This morning I get in the office and see I have 3 new messages in my junkmail folder. CBC has their email set to 'exclusive' so we don't get spam (I think). So I regularly check my junk folder.

Starting at 5:33 PM on Friday I started to receive mass emails from eNDP: "Your election survey", " Halifax rallies for change", "Layton has the momentum."

Coincidence?

Not likely.

Geeez guys...

Let meeee call myyyy girrrrlfriend in peace!



Has anyyyone seeeen my reetaiiiner?



I'm the preeesident of the A-V club *snicker*


(When reading this, insert voice of Neil Goldman from Family guy)

Friends in Far Places

This post by Darcy had me thinking. And instead of hog all the space in his comments section, I decided to post my response here.

I was telling coworkers "I have friends in Cape Dorset" today... I don't remember what we were talking about.

And they were shocked - as they always are, when I say I know people. They asked how I knew these people. And I was like Uhh erm... through friends.

(How do you explain blogging connections to people who don't get it)

Their response was "have you ever met them" and I was like uh NO. But I know them. I really do!

Their response was "I guess our definition of friends is different"

Now to be fair, I was using the term "friends" very loosely. I don't consult with the people I know in Cape Dorset on important decisions in my life. But I know things about their lives, and they know things about my life... because we read each others blogs and comment on their lives.

But when you think about it too hard, it's a very strange situation. Kind of akin to a penpal. And just how do you explain it to people who don't participate.

Hmm.

Grumpy (under)pants

Okay I am giving you fair warning.

If you don't want to read a post about women's underwear GO TO ANOTHER BLOG - haha. You can come back later (like try the evening) there will probably be another post in this one's place by then.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I've had the phrase "grumpy pants" in my head all day... and to be fair... probably the better part of this week.

Why? I blame Fawn. Fawn's blog is one I just started reading (following a nice comment she made on a bad-day-post on MY blog) and I heart it. She makes me laugh, and has a great attitude about life, even if things aren't going super smooth.

Anyways, a couple weeks ago she wrote a post called Grumpy Pants. Since then, there's been alot of healthy encouragement going on for Fawn to live her life in yoga pants, because she's VERY preggers and they are the comfiest.

I am a full-on believer of comfort. To a disturbing degree at times. In first year university I developed a nickname had "no-pants" tagged onto the end. Everytime someone knocked on my dorm-room door, my response was "hold on, I have to put on pants."

Now, I've grown up since then. I generally wear pants around the house. But I have a no-zipper-when-at-home-wearing-pants-rule because hey, this is my castle, and comfort reigns.

So we get that comfort is very important. And we get that maybe I had a grumpy day today. But I think I've figured out why. It's cuz I've not done laundry in a week or so, and I'm down to the reject underwear.

Come on, you know you have it. Or maybe it's reject socks, or reject jeans or all of the above. But every week or two if I let laundry go too long, I look in my top left hand drawer and see the dregs of my underwear drawer.... and I know it's going to be a bad day.

If I'm not happy with my underwear, I'm in a grumpy mood all day. You should not, I repeat NOT, spend your day thinking about your underwear and how much you hate them. You should not even THINK about your underwear. That is just the way life should be.

But that wasn't the case today. I'm hurting for laundry, I'm into the reject underwear (I don't even KNOW when I last saw a sock... I've been wearing sandals/clogs for the past week... the last person in Rankin to wear bare feet) and it's totally affecting my mood.

The easy solution (BESIDES doing laundry - I hate laundry haha) is to just stock up. So it takes longer to get to the much-neglected bottom-of-the-drawer ones. But it's FRICKIN' hard to buy underwear online. And the last thing I want to do when I go down south is hit La Senza (I HATE that place, but that's another post).

So I guess I'll just have to start doing laundry, or become a seamstress and make all my knickers by hand lol.

Okay, you can open your eyes now. I'm done talking about underwear.


PANTIES! (gotcha!)

Relief

The past couple weeks have been strange ones here in the Northern blogging world.
There have been "flame wars" between bloggers.... which turned sour for a bit, but now seem to have subsided...
And the addition of a new blogger to the ranks, whose comments just didn't seem to sit well with many of "us".

Now I am going to kind of take a "my sandbox" approach to this, so just if this bothers you, I'm sorry, but just deal. I've given this a fair bit of thought.

The blogger in question has now restricted access to their site.

And I couldn't be more relieved.

At one point, after (what felt like a rude) comment directed towards me, I felt tempted to block that person from posting/reading my site... but I decided that might be unfair. They were asking a question. Maybe the tone was garbled because it was typed. Who knows. So I let it go.

The restricted access came after the same blogger wrote a scathing rant about small Aboriginal communities and suicide. I found it really disturbing, and began to write a reaction to it, or at least selected sections (it was fairly long, and in places there was a grain of truth - but unfortunately it got buried under a lot of dismissive comments). It's gone now, so it doesn't much matter what I write. And like I said, I think it's for the best.

I am obviously not the target audience for that person's writing, and that's fine for me. "If you don't like it, don't read it" - and I tried, but it's hard when other blogs you read reference the blogger you are trying to avoid, and that person also posts on your site. So a source of stress and tension for me has extinguished itself. And I'm happy for that.

And dear blogger, if you do still decide to visit this site, that is fine. But please treat me and my blog with the same level of courtesy as I have tried to treat you and yours.

Peace out.

My dad is cooler than your dad

Why I love my Dad:

• He reads my blog religiously (anyone who does that HAS to rock)
• He sends me mail (and not like boring mail, FUN mail)
• He writes little letters in my mail, on the Lesson Plans page of his school daytimer (which I always was UBER-jealous over when I was a student, it made me want to be a teacher, Yes. Those daytimers made me want to be a teacher. I'm tres sad)
• He has the most bizarre handwriting. I remember asking him about it when I was younger and he said something along the lines of "that way no once can forge my signature, because it's different every time"
• He's totally the most news-savvy person I know. He reads several papers every day, and knows journalists by name (probably knows more of them by name than I do, and it's supposedly MY domain)
• The mail arrives on a day that has been kind of sucky otherwise (why are those days outnumbering the good lately? :S) and totally made me smile.
  

Thanks Dad.

My brain feels like mush, but has much to ponder

Lots of things running around my brain today.

A post from a blogger, and another's response.

The issue of language in the workplace - and what seems like growing resentment towards unilingual employees.

Trying to understand the intricacies of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

Not to mention a couple big decisions I have to make in the very near future... including one that has to do with the growing resentment towards unilingual employees.

I'm working on a couple different posts that deal with these topics. But I also have REAL WORK to do too. So who knows when they'll appear.