There’s no easy way to put this:   I’ve packed on the pounds since I moved up here last February.  Be it the cold creating an out-of-control urgency for carbs or the long, dark nights with my new big screen TV, my wardrobe no longer fits.

“It’s time to take myself in hand” I muttered Jan 1st.  But unlike Vancouver where there’s low-cal everything everywhere and a seawall that begs to be run, Yellowknife looked awfully cold and daunting.  I don’t like exercise at the best of times, but I knew it wasn’t just a case of eating less (although, alas, that’s part of the plan.  Farewell, TimHo’s French Vanilla Capuccinos!  Farewell, snacks, gorgeous, home-made snacks, on every third workstation at work!) … it wasn’t just a case of eating less but of integrating activity into my lifestyle.  *le sigh*  I’d much rather be blogging.

I gingerly considered my options.  I am simply not a gym person.  And that UltraIcyRockDeathByColdExcercise thing going on up here just makes me faint to think of it.   Xnay that. I also get bored easily of any one activity.  So with a buddy in Vancouver, we came up with a list of activity options.  Turns out, there’s a real variety of possibilities!

• squash
• shoveling snow
• swimming with the help of a coworker who coaches
• Wii Fit / Active
• shoveling snow
• power walks
• yoga
• Zumba (talk to Donna Wong.  Exercise has never had such an evangelist!)
• X-country skiing
• Snowshoeing
• shoveling snow
• skating
• Agility with the daschunds (in the spring)
• Running groups at Bodyworks (in the spring)
• exercise podcasts (justifies the big screen tv, non?)
• Riding lessons

So here’s my plan.   I’ve created a set of activities, but only through March.  Then, to prevent boredom, I’ll switch it up to something spring-ier.

For now, I’ve joined the Raquet Club.   I have to give them a shoutout.  It’s the most down-to-earth, cozy kinda/sorta gym I’ve ever been to.  We even have candles in our Nia class, for heaven’s sake!   And people there come in all shapes and sizes (and I contribute to that) and age ranges.  It’s not the yummy mummy lululemon club (which is not to say there aren’t any.  It’s just a nice variety of people.).  Anyway, if I can be comfortable there, I’m guessing anyone can be.  I imagine the same applies to Breakaway and BodyWorks

So it’s Nia Class at the club on Tuesday evenings, and Spin at the club on Saturday mornings.

Thursday, a group of us power-walk at lunch to the hospital and back.  Anyone is welcome to join us – we meet 12:05 in the courthouse lobby.

And last, I’m hoping to learn to snowshoe  (pssst – anyone have a second hand pair you’d like to sell?  I’m too cheap to invest in a new pair til I find out if I like it).

Wish me luck, folks.  And if you have any more ideas, I’m wanting to hear them – leave a comment below.

Eight months ago I returned to Yellowknife after a twenty year absence.   The adjustment from living in downtown Vancouver to living in Yellowknife had all the ups-and-downs you might guess.  On the whole the number of delightful surprises I’ve enjoyed in Yellowknife have far outweighed the items that – well, never mind that.  Here’s a list of a few of my Favourite Things that are unique and wonderful elements of my new life in Yellowknife, aspects that I hadn’t expected:

The fish man I don’t know who he is (you likely do – leave his name in the comment section below?) but never anywhere else have I walked out of my office to find I could purchase fresh-caught fish out of a truck on the street.  Love it.

Choral music If any readers were at the Home for the Holidays community concert this past week, I need say no more.  Coming from Vancouver, home of such Canadian choral groups as Elektra and Chor Leoni I hadn’t even thought to hope for the calibre of music Yellowknife enjoys.   Shad, Margo, a heartfelt thank you to what you and the many other uber-talented people contribute to Yellowknife culture.

Re-using stuff Boy, do we reuse stuff here!  The SWAP shop, YK Trader, garage sales (a contact sport!), informal exchanges and of course the legendary dump – I imagine this is as much a function of economics as environmental sensitivity but whatever.  It’s happening on a scale I’ve never seen before!  FTW!

Blogosphere Before I even arrived the local blogosphere invited me to their regular meetup.  I flew in on Friday and on Saturday bravely went to a (then) stranger’s home to meet a group of folks I’d never met IRL, and I haven’t looked back since.  Like nearly all bloggers I’ve ever met, they are warm, open, fun and have made me feel so welcome and included.  For a list of some of Yellowknife’s smartest, opinionated and funny bloggers, visit www.nwtblogs.com.

Housesitting This seems to be nearly an underground economy up here!  But for travelers like me who have dogs, finding a good house sitter is a godsend, and all the more in the winter.   How did I find my amazing house-sitter? In Yellowknife fashion, I asked a friend who asked a friend who gave me a name, et voila.

LEED home Doug and Mary are not building any old home for themselves!  They’re going for LEED PLATINUM status.  This blew my mind.  LEED is world-class design for energy efficiency.  For example, their home has 12″ of insulation rather than 6″, the water used initially for things like showers and dishes gets reused in the toilet, and I think there’s some solar power involved too.  If the Greenstone building can be built here, and now this residence, honestly, Yellowknife can disarm anyone’s excuse for not building efficiently.

Donny Days ‘Nuff said!

Spring at Niven Lake When I was a kid, Niven Lake was the sewage lagoon (sorry for the reminder, Niven residents, but it was!)  While I’d heard about the trail along Frame Lake, Niven was a surprise.  In the spring it’s lovely beyond telling.  The muted, lush colours; the ducks, bugs, muskrats; the many sounds of its fertile eco-system – truly a living prayer.

iPhone Roy’s Audiotronics has set the customer service Record Of All Time in my life.  For month’s I’d harassed them about the iPhone which of course was unfair as they had no control over what Bell offers up here.  And then.   One day.  One glorious day.  April bumped into me on the street, and before I could ask, told me that not only was the rumour true, ie., they were getting iPhones, but she’d already ordered one for me and would set it aside.  A week later when it arrived, indeed there it was for me.  And I’m living happily ever after (as I’m sure their staff are now that I’m not pestering them anymore).  ps:  you can follow them on twitter, too.

Aboriginal Day I knew about Caribou Carnival and Folk on the Rocks but Aboriginal Day was an unexpected delight.  Thank you, my aboriginal brothers and sisters, for sharing your northern space with me, and for the many individuals (you know who you are!) who have taught me so much particularly about Dene culture and history.  Thank you too, artists like Digawolf and Richard Vancamp – I’m so impressed by your work.   I rave about you to all my southern friends.

If you haven’t been to the SWAP shop (in the slightly rickety building a wee down the street towards old town from its sister store, Quality Furniture) it’s a must.   Under new management as of a few months ago, the new manager is x-naying the kitchy/tacky in favour of some rather nice items!   And the prices are wicked!

For instance, for $399.00, this was available.

$1249.50  for this genuine antique wardrobe

And this little table / wine unit was only $59.00

I imagine these items are long since sold but you can bet there are equally great treasures available there at a fraction of the usual price.  I’ve bought three items to date and all of them have been in great condition and are integral parts of my home!  Yay, reusing!  Yay, great deals!

It looks innocuous, doesn’t it? and it sounds kinda … classy … Centre for the North. Even the body that’s pulling it together has a neutral sound to it: Conference Board of Canada.

But being a money coach in my past life, I’m always interested in following the money (and those of you who have watched the Best.Series.Ever, The Wire, will have had that emblazoned on your brain too). And when I followed the money on this, here’s what I found at the end of the document:

Funding of the Centre
This Centre will be funded by a variety of organizations from the private and public sectors. We are asking each investor to commit for a five-year period.

There are three levels of investment:

Champion investor ($100,000 annually)

Champion investors will be deeply involved with Conference Board staff in the drawing up of the Centre’s research plan and meeting agendas. These investors will be part of the Centre’s Steering Committee and will play a leadership role in Centre meetings.

Lead investor ($50,000 annually)
Lead investors will help the Conference Board and Champion investors develop the research plan and review the research in progress. They will also suggest meeting topics and be invited to participate in Centre meetings.

Participant investor ($25,000 annually)
Participant investors will be invited to attend Centre meetings and will have access to the detailed research findings. They will also provide input on the choice of research and meeting topics.

So. People willing to cough up between $25K = $100K every year get to

• set the agenda
• choose which questions get asked and which don’t
• and have access to the research findings.

Anyone else find it hard to believe that the Conference Board of Canada will live up to their stated commitment of being:

• “The foremost independent, not-for-profit, applied research organization in Canada.”
• “Objective and non-partisan. We do not lobby for specific interests.”

I call bullshit. But I’m guessing the final document and research findings will be presented with little mention of who actually drove the whole project.

I dunno. I guess I thought we voted in MLAs every few years to, you know, set the agenda and direction for the north. Clearly I am mistaken.

No soapboxes, no sound bites—watch Mayor and Council candidates debate the issues in a mock Council session.

Can they cooperate to get things done?

Judge how candidates address Yellowknife’s important social, economic, and environmental issues!

Date:    Thursday, 08 October 2009
Time:    19:00 – 22:00
Location:    City Council Chambers
Town/City:    Yellowknife, NT

When I was a kid, it was gold mining in Yellowknife. Now it’s diamond mining. Anyway, back in the day, Yellowknife had two working gold mines, Giant and Con. Any local readers remember the Miner’s Mess and the Rec? Yep, Yellowknife had an element of rough-and-tumble to it.

I was too young then to know that the mines would some day run out of gold and they’d close. It also never occurred to me that a strike would become so tense that a union member would plant a bomb in Giant Mine and kill nine scab labourers – one of the largest murder investigations in RCMP history.

And. And. And: It certainly didn’t occur to me that the (US) owner of the mines would OOPS! declare bankruptcy and stick Canadians with the approx HALF-BILLION-DOLLAR clean-up (arsenic) bill.

And that’s just for Giant Mine. There’s also Colomac Mine and Tundra Mine. Oh, and that’s just in the NWT! There’s also Pamour Mine in Ontario, Hope Brook Mine in Newfoundland and Kerness Mine in B.C.

The owner (formerly known as Peggy Witte, now Margaret Kent) of the now-bankrupt mine, I see, is now CEO and President of a new mining company, Century Mining Corp. Interestingly, it looks like Century is up to the same shenanigans this year in Quebec. I hear she has a second home in Hawaii.

There’s worse, folks. Much, much worse.

She’s baaaccccck: Century Mine owns Tamerlane Mine and just guess who’s mining in the NWT – Pine Point. (We’re in good company. Tamerlane is also doing business in Peru.)

Dear us: Who is this Peggy Witte/Margaret Kent that not only does she leave us with nearly a HALF BILLION DOLLAR BILL, but now she’s allowed to have at us again?

What were we thinking?

And if you see her in town, send her my way, will you?  I want some of my tax dollars back.  From her.  Even if she has to sell her house in Hawaii.

Well now, this seems a bit peculiar.  Most Yellowknifers are aware of the spacious green park just developed outside of City Hall.  Last Sunday, my 2 daschunds and I lazed about in the 20C warmth on a blanket, reading books (me, that is.  Not the daschunds.  They’re only 4 yrs old.  But I digress.)

Apparently if I do that next Sunday, I’ll get a $2000 (?) fine, because City Hall is going to make a it a Stay OFF the GRASS zone.

I don’t get it.  Seriously, I don’t.  What’s the point of a park you can’t actually, you know, BE in?

What’s next?  No more sailing on Great Slave Lake?

Any city hall peeps reading this?  Care to leave a comment and weigh in?  What am I missing here?  Or have I misunderstood something?

ps:  a few folks are risking their wallets and protesting by playing a game of catch next Monday after work.

Calling all BALLS AND DOGS, Peace, Love and FRISBEES! – check it out on facebook.

What a great contest, Kyle!  OK, I’m in.   Here’s what I want in a city counselor.  I should say first:  I was born and grew up here, but have lived the past 20 years in Vancouver and just moved back this spring.   Still, it’s not too early to have some opinions!

1. Free wifi. I’d like to see someone who will champion free blanket wifi.  As far as I’m concerned access to the internet is as much (or should be) infrastructure and part of the economic engine as streets and traffic lights.   A robust internet could be transformative for the north.

2. Environment/Recycling. I’ve been really impressed by the number of people who clearly give a damn about this planet of ours, up here.  Someone is even building a LEED-Platinum house on my block.  That blows me away!  However, I am surprised at the number of items I cannot recycle.  I’d like to see a council who really takes this on, so that all my ♺ can get ♺!

3. Lively Downtown Core.  I lived in gastown in Vancouver so maybe I’m a bit extreme, but sheesh!  so is the dead Downtown of Yellowknife!  I’d like to see some urban planning which encourages more residents to live in the downtown, and a greater street-life (in the good way).  The other night I walked home after a late movie and I was the *only* pedestrian.  It was eerie!

4. Business. As a former small business owner, I’d like to see support given to businesses who are doing business in such a way that it benefits the community and the planet.  One example is the Swap Shop.  That place rocks!  It helps the community by providing great products at low prices and helps the planet by recycling stuff.  How perfect is that.  Wins all around.

5. More intercultural events. There are people here from all over the world.  It’s like a mini-universe.  I’d like to see more events like Aboriginal Day where we can celebrate and affirm all cultures.

My first memory of Sutherlands Drugs was as a thief.  Yep, I shoplifted a candy bracelet at the behest of the delinquent babysitter of my 6 year old girlfriend.  The statute of limitations has long run out (right, Karan?  Right?).

Fourty years later, with twenty years of Vancouver living in between, I worked up my nerve to walk back in.

While Shoppers is gorgeous, and the Co-op meets most of my grocery needs, Sutherlands has knocked my socks off.

I honestly think it’s the most understated, awesome socially conscious store I’ve ever been in. I can buy…

• My favourite fair-trade coffee, Level Ground
• Tom’s of Maine toothpaste and deodorant (all natural!  no animal testing!)
• Camino (cooperative) chocolate
• Happy Planet juice (the founder of this is now Vancouver’s mayor, after being one of the original organic farmers)
• and an incredible array of intelligent, quality magazines

What amuses and impresses me is that in Vancouver, a shop carrying such good products would be all slick and self-congratulatory.  Sutherlands has this completely humble look and feel as it quietly provides exactly the kinds of products I want to buy.   Hat tip, Sutherlands!

(posted by Nancy Zimmerman)

Going to #FOTR this weekend? If you decide to buy food there, first pop by the Ecology North booth, deposit $2, they’ll give you a “real” plate. When you’re done, return it and they’ll wash it for you. They’ll give you the toonie back .. but… you could just donate it