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Talks with Creative Yellowknifers

By KyleWith on December 1, 2011 in People

I wont shut up about how creative the people of Yellowknife are. In so many avenues as well, we got photographers, graphic designers, interior designers, artists, musicians, crafters and more. If you want to shop local for a gift there is bound to be something produced right here in Yellowknife.

Several months ago, after much planning about how I was going to do it, I started to interview some of these creative people. Primarily photographers, but also a designer, so far, and what I would do is call them up on Skype and just chat about what they do and how they got where they are.

I’ll be honest and admit I’m not very creative, but what I lack in creativity I try to make up in showcasing those who are. I consider featuring these great folks my creative outlet. So please follow the below links to listen to great conversations with some great creative people.

KyleWith: Alexander Legaree
KyleWith: Photojournalist Pat Kane
KyleWith: Designer Janet Pacey
KyleWith: Photographer Dave Brosha

And also

KyleWith: Photographer Karl Johnston – NWT Photographer based out of Fort Smith
KyleWith: Nancy Zimmerman – Canadian Money Coach

I would also like to extend my offer for recommendation for people who you think would be great on my little show. So please leave a comment with your recommendation or shoot me an email. Also to keep up to date on these conversation please subscribe to the show on iTunes.

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Interview with Sam of Evaporating Water YouTube Video

By KyleWith on January 19, 2011 in FP, Local Profiles, People

As you know a local Yellowknifer has gone viral on YouTube because of her video of her throwing boiling water into cold Yellowknife air. Her video on YouTube is about to pass 1 million views.

I was able to email Samantha this morning and ask her some questions about the video:

What is the story behind why you made the video?

A couple of friends from Australia were visiting me in Yellowknife over Christmas in December 2009. I had heard about this experiment from a friend and had wanted to try it out. I knew it would be “cool”, so I had them record the experiment to get their reaction so we’d have something to share to our friends.

How long and have many views did the video have before it started to go viral?

A couple of friends from Australia were visiting me in Yellowknife over Christmas in December 2009. I posted this video just after their visit on You Tube and, until now, it only had about 25,000 hits.

How long did it take to go viral?

In the past five days it has skyrocketed to currently 850,000 views on You Tube alone! I’m blown away at how this has picked up worldwide and gone viral. Everyday I receive hundreds of comments on the video, messages, tweets, retweets and hear of websites and blogs it’s been embedded on. It’s been featured everywhere…it’s just amazing.

You said it first went viral in India, any idea why?

My thoughts on India is it was embedded on a website there and gas just taken off. They’ve been really active about tweeting it etc.
The top ten countries where this has been viewed in the last week have been India, United States, Pakistan, Canada, UK, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand.

Now that your one video has become viral, do you plan on making any others?

I am actually looking forward to creating a few video responses and keep this buzz going. Science is a wonderful world…now that I have their attention, imagine how they would react to seeing Aurora images, or the northern lights dancing in the sky!

The video is almost at 1 million views and has been featured on blogs all over, how does this make you feel?

I can’t believe it’s about to hit one million! I’m really excited about this and will be adding this to my resume for sure! I couldn’t have done it without the help of my Aussie friend Kristen though. As she would say “that’s amazing!”

Any other comments?

To solve the debate on whether it’s evaporating or freezing, it’s called the Mpemba Effect (where hot water freezes faster than cold). When the water vapors freeze, it turns into ice crystals and “evaporates” because of the dry air we have in the north. If the air was more humid, it would stay in the air longer. The same effect happens behind airplanes (contrails or condensation trails). It’s a cool trick and I hope people try it at home.

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Fit 2 the T – Zumba Class

By KyleWith on August 11, 2010 in FP, People, Yk Life

Have you ever felt the rhythm of a song and just wanted to dance, well you could call Zumba exactly that, but much more intense. Back on Canada Day Tara Newbigging, head instructor of Fit 2 the T Zumba, and her two co-instructors Donna and Heather, were about to go on stage to give a Zumba demonstration when she saw, local hip hop artist, Godson performing some of his songs. Tara said his music was really getting them going and they all thought how awesome would it be to workout to some of Godson’s music. A few weeks later the Fit 2 the T Zumba class has a routine choreographed to Godson’s Yellowknife City song, which they use to cool down after an hour-long class.

Godson, who has become a local sensation has just released a new CD just over a month ago. He has many originals, including Yellowknife City, but also mixes it up a bit by collaborating with guys like Frank Sinatra. His music can be heard on the local radio station or at CD Plus.

Watch the short video to get a full idea of what Zumba is and see the Yellowknife City routine.

So What is Zumba?

In short is a way to have fun while working out. It can best be described as Latin based fitness and dance combined together for a fast paced workout while enjoying it. From what I saw, it looked as those a Zumba class could be closely related to how backup dancers for big music artists train. You move with music, but not as if it is a task, but rather because you want to. Heck, just being in the same room as the music, makes you what to start moving. This is how Zumba is described:

Lets face it, working out can be healthy, rewarding, beneficial… working out can be lots of things, but its never been known to be much fun… UNTIL NOW! Zumba fuses hypnotic musical rhythms and tantalizing moves to create a dynamic workout system designed to be FUN and EASY TO DO! Our goal is simple: We want people to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. By integrating Zumba into everyday life individuals may achieve long term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exhilarating hour of caloric burning, heart racing, muscle pumping, body energizing movements meant to engage and captivate for life… More at Zumba.com

For Everyone!

Although there were no guys at the class I attended, there are a few that do attend other classes. I can see why it would be hard for a guy to attend, heck I would have a hard to bring myself to attend one of these classes, but I can see the benefit. As someone who is out of shape, and finds it hard to workout or do any physical activity, I would definitely have a good time at a Zumba class. That being said, I’m a bit of a closet dancer and get be rather goofy.

Get Involved!

If I have persuaded you to get involved here is some basic information to know. Fit 2 the T offers 7 classes, 6 days a week, so there is always something going on. All classes take place at Breakaway Fitness. To find out when classes are or more information about the classes, either head over to Breakaway Fitness or email Tara at FIT2theT [at] live [dot] com. Class information is also in the video.

Photo Credit: Dave Brosha

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Tour Cyclist visits Yellowknife

By KyleWith on July 12, 2010 in FP, People

I’m sure most of us, at one point or another, get tired of our jobs. We don’t enjoy it anymore, it makes us miserable, it is too easy or we just get too comfortable. Well that is exactly what happened to 32-year-old Dave Conroy when he turned 30.

He was living in Vancouver working in the Information Technology industry and worked from home. His commute in the morning was a mere 15 steps. He said when he turned 30 he needed a change. In his words he needed to press the reset button. That’s when he took up biking. With minimal research he said he got a bike and one thing led to another and soon enough he was biking across Canada, then possibly the world.

It didn’t just happen over night though. For a little more than a year and a half a lot of planning and prep was put in place. While sentimental items might have been put in to storage, most of it was sold. Eventually the bed and house were sold as well. That is when Dave knew it was real.

Dave first came on my radar back when he first left on his journey in April, from Vancouver. He had mentioned Yellowknife as a possible destination, which came up in a Google Alert. I looked through his website, TireofIT.ca, which has a lot of his stats, reviews, video and blog posts. It was interesting, but no date was mention as to when he might me in town, so gradually I moved on. That was until, I got an email from Dave, and I jumped at the chance to hear about his journey of a life time.

We got together one afternoon and created the videos below. The one thing that I think will interest a lot of people is Dave’s take on bicycling to Yellowknife. I often think Yellowknife is missed on tours of all kinds, just because we are the end of the road and so far away from anything. Bicycling to Yellowknife presents several risks, due to the lack of services and people and places. It is also a real downer to think you have to travel back the same road you came on. That being said, I got the impression that Dave was glad he came. He said “the reward at the end of the road was greater than expected”. Mentioning that within only being in town for a day or two he had found a place to sleep and was invited to a traditional fish fry. To top that, Yellowknife made such an impression on Dave, he will be flying back for a visit in the coming weeks.

Watch both video below to get a full idea of what it is Dave is doing and why (If you can’t at work, bookmark for later). Make sure you follow Dave on his website, Twitter and on Facebook.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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Roasting Coffee Beans Locally – Part 3

By KyleWith on April 23, 2010 in Business, FP, People

After Mira went through the how the roasting process starts and some interesting information about where the beans come from, we now get to see the final stages of the process. This is the stage where she needs to carefully watch and listen to the beans so that they are roasted just right. As she continuously checks the beans you can see their progression through the stages because of how dark they become and in some cases how much oil is on them.

Mira also explains to us about how the beans are cooled when roasting and how Yellowknife’s famous power outages can be a hazard to the roasting process. At a certain temperature, Coffee Beans, will actually heat themselves. Meaning if the cooling fan is shut off, the beans will keep getting hotter and hotter. When this happens they can get to a point where the beans will actually burst in to flames, and she tells us about when this has happened to her.

Finally we get to see the beans done the roasting process. Watch the video for full details.