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.
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.
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.
Have any thoughts on coffee beans, roasting or coffee in general? We’d love to hear them, leave us a comment below.
I made a point to find the time Saturday afternoon between Caribou Carnival events to head down to the Snow Castle to see Karl Johnston. Karl is a young photographer from Fort Smith who specializes in photographing the Aurora Borealis. This was the first time I’d met Karl in person, although we have talked on occasion through Twitter and Facebook. At the age of only 21 he has exploded in to the norther photography scene.
The reason for his weekend visit to Yellowknife was to display his photographs at the Snowking’s Snow Castle, which is where I caught up with him. He said the day was going well and he had already sold one of his prints. Although at the time of my visit the castle wasn’t to busy, it was expected to pick up as other events took place.
Karl’s photographs are also on display in the Northern Images Art Gallery and have been for a couple months now. So if you missed him down at the Castle, be sure to check them out there.
He also told me he is planning on launching a new website in the near future to better suit his customer. Be sure to watch for the new site at www.KarlJohnston.com.
In the first part of this series Mira Hall shows us how roasting raw beans works and begins the process. In this part of our Roasting Coffee Beans Locally series she explains to us about where coffee beans come from, who consumes the most, the different types of beans, how pricing is done and more.
I knew there was a lot more behind coffee beans than them just being shipped to a factory, roasted and then made into coffee but I didn’t know what to expect. Coming out of it you actually have a better appreciation of how coffee comes to be.
Mira will go through a consumption chart as well as an industry chart and a chart they explains bean flavour aspects. Ironically, the country which produce more coffee beans actually consume less. Here is part 2:
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to find out what it takes to Roast Coffee Beans. Being able to Roasting Coffee Beans in the north is a rare trade. Mira Hall is one of only a hand full in the Northwest Territories and Yukon that have the trade. At this point it doesn’t look like anyone in Nunavut is doing it.
Most of us enjoy a good cup of coffee in the morning, whether it is from home, Tim Horton’s or one the downtown coffee shop; but we don’t often think about where the coffee comes from or how it ends up as the hot liquid in our cups. Importing coffee beans from around the world is only one step in the process and we’ll cover it in another part of this series. In this video post (Part 1) Mira explains the process of roasting the coffee beans in the roaster and how she does it. She talks about how the beans are kept fresh after being roasted and how soothing roasting beans can be.
Part 2 & 3 will be the actual roasting of the beans and a look at where the beans come from. Leave your feedback below.
If you haven’t heard already Shane Koyczan who wrote and performed the poem “We Are More” at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony was born in Yellowknife and has become an overnight sensation. If you want to know more about where Shane will be check out his Tour Group on Facebook.
VANCOUVER, B.C. – As Shane Koyczan stood obscured behind a curtain atop B.C. Place’s centre stage on Friday, only then did it hit him.
The opening ceremonies. The Olympics. The billions of people who were about to listen to him deliver his poem, “We Are More,” while preaching from a platform raised high in the air.
“I was, like, ‘You either go for it, or jump.”‘
Born to a French mother and a father of First Nations heritage, Koyczan grew up in Yellowknife, where he was raised by his grandparents.
He first began writing as a way to deal with his social awkwardness.
“Not knowing how to speak to people, I decided it might be best to go home and write some prepared speeches,” he recalled.
“Because somebody would ask me a question like, ‘How’s it going?’ Which I realize now is a very benign question, but at the time, it was: ‘Oh my god. I can’t believe this person just talked to me.’
“So I’d go home and write prepared speeches so when people would be like, ‘How’s it going?’ I’d be like, ‘Cheese is my favourite food and I’ll tell you why.”‘
Koyczan said the poem is about what he loves about Canada and Canadian people, and what he hopes for his country.
The genial, soft-spoken 34-year-old said he arrived in Vancouver a week before the speech and said that he managed several hours sleep – in total – over those seven nights.
And he wrestled with the idea of performing, not simply because of nerves. He has serious misgivings about the current Canadian government, specifically with the decision to cut arts programs.
“It was a moment I can’t even define in my life right now. I think I still need to process it. It was an absolute honour to be a part of it.”
If you missed his performance you can watch it below.
It was brought to my attention that a piece of the oldest rock in the world is now in Yellowknife. Mark Brown, a northern prospector, has been working for the past year to claim a plot of land along Acasta River where he found the worlds oldest rock. This Acasta River Gneiss dates back 3,962,000,000 years and is one of the most common rocks in the world.
Mark graciously donated some of the rock to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Museum for everyone to enjoy and learn from years down the road. To learn more about how he and his team are making out with their adventure, they put together a very well done short documentary on Youtube.
Over the past year or so the blogging community here in Yellowknife has gotten bigger. Many of us actually meet on a semi regular monthly basis. That is why when one of us gets recognition in the local paper, it is always nice to see.
Jason is one if Yellowknife’s best bloggers, but I have yet to get a blogger profile from him, which is my fault. He has been recently writing a lot about the Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” Bill. To read the article in Wednesday’s Yellowknifer featuring his blog follow this link.
As Christmas is only 2 days away I decided to finally post up the photos of Christmas Lights around Yellowknife. There were some amazing displays to see and if you take a drive this evening I’m sure you’ll see them as well. Last week was the judging of the City if Yellowknife Lights Competition although I’m not actually sure of the results. Let me know if you spot the winners and runner ups. Enjoy. Best viewed with Christmas music in the background.
This house was extra special. If you can see the poster in the window it says “Tune into 107.1FM 1 -10″. On that frequency they had none stop Christmas music playing. The nice things was we were able to drive fairly far away from this location and still get reception, which was pleasant.
This is the house I believe won the Lights Competition, and why wouldn’t it. This house is decked out. If you’d like to see it, it is in Bromley Court.
So what do you think, are you in the Christmasy mood now? I’m currently sitting down for the eventing typing this up while listing to Michael Buble’s Christmas album and watching my cat play under the Christmas tree. What do you do to get into the Christmas Mood?
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.
If you haven’t heard already Shane Koyczan who wrote and performed the poem “We Are More” at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony was born in Yellowknife and has become an overnight sensation. If you want to know more about where Shane will be check out his 
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