Ho-hum, it's a blizzard

Well, it's a blizzard day again.

Sometimes it's a little disgusting how many blizzards we get whizzing through Rankin.

Since I got back from vacation I don't think a week has gone by where there wasn't at least ONE day that I had to stay home because of the blizzard.

And it's not like I'm being a wimp, and don't want to go out into the cold. It just isn't SAFE to leave the house. I'm not exaggerating at this point (lord knows I've developed a reputation for doing so, eh Mom?) but the houses across the street (and we are talking a small street, maybe 50 feet away) are barely visible. The wind is blowing at 65km/h and the gusts are over 85.

I never really thought about the wind before I moved up here. It was never the "selling point" of a storm day down south. Back home it was always how much snow was on the ground, and if we could clear it away fast enough.

I also happen to live in "Area 6"... which is at the far end of town, and on the other side of "the bay" (note to self, upload map of Rankin at some point...). Visibility always tends to be worst out here. And, as I am sure y'all are tired of hearing... it is also a good 20 minute walk to work from my house. Pleanty of time to get turned around and end up in Yellowknife.

Everyone's a little famous sometimes.....*

It is a slow news day today. I hate days like this. Really really can't stand them.

It's like I've entered a serious story-slump after the sheer insanity of last week. But being as there's another blizzard about to wind its way to the Kivalliq... maybe it's not a bad thing that I'm not busting with a great story, because chances are I'll be off at least one day, or part of a day, this week.

In the meantime, I've been catching up on those long-neglected magazines (sometimes this actually helps me come up with story ideas, believe it or not) and I came across an interesting little article about micro-celebrity, that I thought might be of interest to some of my fellow bloggers... especially in light of the Nunies :)

Clive Thompson on the Age of Microcelebrity: Why everyone's a little Brad Pitt

Whenever Peter Hirshberg is at a party, someone eventually pulls out a camera and takes a snapshot with him in it. Hirshberg — chair of the executive committee at the blog-search company Technorati — performs a quick mental calculation: Does the photographer look like one of those people who will immediately dash home and post all their candids to Flickr? "If I think it's going to end up on the Web, I straighten up more, try to smile the right way," Hirshberg says. "Because if it goes online, people I know will probably see it."

Hirshberg has a blog, which means a couple hundred people — some strangers, some friends — regularly follow his comings and goings, his Facebook updates, his online photo trail. Any time he does something embarrassing or stupid, those people will know. So in essence, Hirshberg has to behave like a very minor version of Brad Pitt. He's got to watch out for the paparazzi, be careful with his public image.

But he's not a celebrity. He's a microcelebrity.

Microcelebrity is the phenomenon of being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group — a thousand people, or maybe only a few dozen. As DIY media reach ever deeper into our lives, it's happening to more and more of us. Got a Facebook account? A whackload of pictures on Flickr? Odds are there are complete strangers who know about you — and maybe even talk about you.

Continue reading here

*any "Avenue Q" fans in the house?

Told ya'

Bread section, early this week, Rankin Inlet

Early morning ring-y ding-ys

I was woken up by a phone call at 6 am this morning.

Newsworld chick: "Did I wake you up?"

Exhausted, sleep-deprived reporter: *mumble* "yes"

Newsworld chick: "Can you do a hit in 15 minutes"

Jackie: "uhhh, no? I am asleep?"

NWC: "How about at 7:30"

Jackie: "Um, yah, I can do that"

NWC: "Okay, i'll call you in half an hour"

I would LOOOVE to be able to sleep past 6 some day this week. It would rock.
But if not, I'll settled for a coma this weekend.

Adrenaline haze

Okay, so I've stopped shaking. This is a good thing.

I just did my first live news hit. Ever. It was a 2 (maybe 3?) minute "drive" (CBC-talk for quick 'n' dirty) on CBC Newsworld with Heather Hiscox.

As I was waiting on the phone, listening to Colleen Jones itemize the weather conditions ... I was concentrating on my breathing, and thinking to myself "I have to remember what this is like, I have to blog about this."

So if you are tired of hearing about my newfound CBC popularity, you might as well skip this entry, and go do the morning crossword... or whatever it is you people do :P I won't be insulted. I'm pretty sure even my parents are tired of hearing about it!

I think the key to doing this kind of reporting is not to over think it (lol, a challenge for anyone who knows me). I remember doing a similar thing in journalism school, and our prof telling us not to write out exactly what we were going to say, just to make notes of the points you want to hit. So of course, I wrote out exactly what I was going to say, and tried my darnedest to sound as "non-rehearsed" as possible.

This time, I actually... without really thinking about my j-school training ... did exactly what I was supposed to. But I maintain a lot of that comes from being the "national expert" (at least in CBC's eyes, it seems) on this curse-ed blizzard. I've explained the situation, and its many angles, so many times to so many people over the past couple days.

I have answered more phones, talked to more new people, and done more interviews in the past 48 hours than I have in any other point in my life. And I was just PUMPING with adrenaline the whole time. It's kind of funny to look back on yesterday. I wish I could have seen myself through my colleagues eyes.

Was I flustered? Was I excited? Was I focussed? Was I driven? Overwhelmed? Giddy?

I was trying to explain the complexity of my day to my supervisor yesterday evening, all the shows I was doing work for, how that compared to my normal duties... and I couldn't even get the words out. I couldn't even give a coherent account of the day. It's like I went through the day in an adrenaline haze.

But as I sit here and try to think back... I realize I really owe my co-workers big time. Normally I try not to involve them in my blog, but I really... think they deserve some mega props. If it wasn't for Selma... I never would have chased this story. She's the one that had the interview with the cashier in Whale Cove. She's the one that called her back to get a comment in English about the store stock. And Betty. Betty kept calling people, without me asking and then turning around to say "Jackie, I have X on the phone, you should talk to them." And when I needed additional sources for As it Happens and Sounds like Canada... she had them, a constant slew of names and phone numbers. The two of them, well, Selma and Betty made me look good. I couldn't have done this without them.

And finally Kevin. It is just, so refreshing to have someone just first, believe in you so much... but not just that, push you to believe in yourself so that you can make other people believe in you too. Monday night - back in the days when this was "just" a 5-day storm haha - Kevin says to me "you should pitch this to national news" ... and I am pretty sure I brushed him off. I didn't really think it was a news story, it was just a storm. A persistent storm, but a just a storm. I didn't call national news that night, but I did put a call into Sounds like Canada.

It wasn't until the next morning, when I looked outside, and it was as bad a blizzard as it had been all week (if not worse) that I realized our "little" blizzard was BIG news. So I did call, national news WAS interested. And things spun out from there. My phone calls and hectic day were punctuated by Kevin's enthusiasm and praise... all I could ask for, and more than I should have demanded of a guy who had stuff of his own to deal with (a very recent death in the family).
So thanks Selma, thanks Betty ... I figure you'll not ever really read this, so that falls on deaf ears...(I'll have to write a real thank you letter for them) but Kevin does.

So thank you Kevin. I couldn't have done this without your support. I'll always remember that.

The blizzard that never ends

... and the sleep that never comes....

It seems like every day I look at the detailed weather forecast on cbc.ca, the blizzard is predicted to go on. I remember when it was originally "scheduled" to be over by Friday morning.

And to be fair, it did die down Thursday night. Only to wind itself back up in a frenzy early Friday morning.

And I also remember when the forecast said the blizzard would be winding down Saturday night... with clear skies on Sunday...

And the forecast now reads:

Monday..Blizzard ending in the evening then a few clouds. Wind northwest 40 km/h gusting to 60. Temperature steady near minus 33. Wind chill minus 54.

It is almost surreal. It's like someone on the weather desk has forgotten to change the symbols on the map.

"Today: blowing snow, Tomorrow: blizzard"

I actually went out today. I threatened to go out on Friday, but my mom flipped out (via e-mail haha) saying it wasn't smart. So I listened to mother. And stayed indoors.

Today, I went to the Northern. I had no food. It was getting desperate. I hadn't left the house in 7 days, didn't do any REAL grocery shopping since I got back from vacation... and had made a food order. Yah. It was bad.

I dressed up in my finest:

• two pair of socks
• two pair of thermal pants
• a fleece sweater
• a thermal turtleneck with the neck pulled up over my mouth
• a thin scarf covering my nose and mouth
• neoprene face mask/balaclava
• wind-proof pants
• moon boots
• canada goose jacket
• knit scarf over TOP of the jacket, to secure the hood up over my ears
• lubsta claws (as they are affectionately known... they are mitts that happen to be cooked-lobster orange)

The walk over (it takes about 8-10 minutes) was a piece of cake. I actually remember thinking "seriously? This is why I didn't leave the house for the past 4 days?" .....

The walk back, now that was a different story. I actually felt like I was making one step forward, and half a step back every time I moved. Guess that walking with/against the wind really makes a difference eh?

I'm sure I'll look back on this week as the longest blizzard of all time... and smile ... but for now I will sit... and wait... and hope to eventually be able to look out my window and see a bit beyond the nearest lamp-post.

Warning

Six days stewing in a two-bedroom apartment = recipe for cabin fever/insanity.

Three of those days were spent sick and in a near-coma... (incidentally watching copious episodes of House, so it was like the coma-ee watching the coma-ed)

And the other three were spent pacing the apartment, simultaneously happy that I didn't have to go to work and frustrated that I couldn't go outside.

Still no groceries. I've been eating plain rice for the past couple of days. It was boring the first time I had it, let alone several bland meals later... when not only does it lack flavor but variety as well.

I think even the puppy is annoyed that I've been around so much. He pulled a total diva last night, and wouldn't stop barking until I opened the doors to every room in my house (so that he could explore them at his leisure) ... and shut myself up in my own little cave. On the upside, he now knows how to "sit"... I'm working on "lay down" ... but he's just so darn pleased with his "sitting" ability that I almost feel bad breaking it to him how much more there is to learn.

And the last time I checked, tomorrow was supposed to be blizzard-y too. That's four straight days of weather so awful I can't leave the house. And three days of just being sick.

Please please please let me be able to go to the Northern tomorrow!

Blizzarding alone.

**I wrote this last night, but was unable to post**

So my excitement over the blizzard has dimmed a bit. And as have the lights (couldn’t resist that bit o’ pretentious writing). The thrill of the blizzard, for me, was the chance to do some work from home, and enjoy some afternoon television. Which is what I did, until the cable went off… so I watched a movie (well… half of one… as I remembered only when it cut out that I had only recorded the first half of Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and all was well…

Even got to see the finale of Beauty and the Geek finale (guilty pleasure fix!)… but only just. At exactly 8 o’clock… the power went out.

And of course, I was in the washroom at the time. Last time the power went out, I was in the bath. See a pattern anyone?

So the power goes out… the phone rings… I gingerly make my way out of the washroom (because there are puppy training pads EVERYWHERE these days…) Jaime on the phone freaking because her power cut JUST as they went….

And the winner of this season’s beauty and the geek is…..

Gotta love killer timing.

So here I am, writing by candlelight, bored already. It’s only been half an hour. But the puppy is already passed out in my lap (must have found candlelight and clacking of keyboard keys soothing) and I have nothing to do…

Though it is funny to think that my grandparents are sitting across the (many) ponds… likely sitting in the dark as well. A nice big storm hit the island yesterday and today, and they’ve been without power for awhile… but they have a wood stove, so it’s okay.

But I have to wonder what they are doing right now. Maybe they have more candles than I do, and are reading. Or maybe they called it an early night. Or maybe they are just talking. What to people DO when they no power.

Make that, what to people do when they have no power, and live alone.

I feel like my biggest challenge up here, as a single gal in the north, is to just A.) ask for help, and B.) don’t shy away from accepting it.

I just am constantly paranoid that I’m imposing on people, and they just humour me… but it gets old.. even to me… and I’m the one that’s doing it!

It comes down to a conversation I had with co-worker a couple weeks back. She very bluntly told me (but with the best of intentions) that I would be miserable if I was intent on playing “independent woman” … and she’s probably right.

It just goes against … no only my nature… but also…

It takes a very independent, self-reliant… “strong” person to leave their family, friends, climate, culture, language, comfort zone… for the world up here. And so to encourage such a person to drop those “key qualities” once arriving… is very counter-intuitive.

It also just crossed my mind... what the hell would I do if the power went off for more than a couple hours here? Back home its "normal" for people to be without power for a day or more if there was a lot of backup, or the storm was really bad. Tonite I dined on crackers, cheese and some funny processed meat. But I don't keep non-cooking-intensive foods around the house. Mostly because I don't really like canned/dried/cold foods.

So, input time. What non-gross foods should I be purchasing so I don't die if the power goes out for more than 2 hours?????

**Insert Jeopardy theme**

Blizzard? Fo' Shizzard!

Snow Day!

My studio manager called me last night and warned me that she may tell me not to come in in the morning, because of some bad weather. I was like "pish posh" ... then went to look at the weather forecast... no biggie. Little did I know that I was looking at Iqaluit's forecast. Not Rankin's.

Can we discuss the -27 with windchill in the morning?
Does this mean Halloween is canceled?