That’s right I am calling all bloggers, all NWT Bloggers. It is time again for the NWT Blog Awards. Blog awards are put on at the end of every year and just like Canadian Blog Awards (Vote for YkOnline) are judged by readers. The NWT Blog Awards is spearheaded by one of are very one bloggers, who is probably a blog celebrity.

Voting has not started yet, I will let you know when it does. Right now it is in nomination round. Bloggers must nominate themselves. This way if you don’t get nominated it is your own fault. So all NWT bloggers bet get on and nominate. Nominations are own open until Tuesday, December 15, 2009. To nominate yourself go to the nominate page and leave a comment with all the categories you wish to be in. Please make sure to link to the appropriate posts and such.

• Best Blog: This is an award for the best blog overall. It includes Flickr streams, podcasting and vodcasting.
• Best New Blog: Best blog that started in 2009. The blogger does not have to be new to the NWT, and it does not have to be the writer’s first blog.
• Best Post: The single best post of 2009.
• Best Series: This can be a number of posts over a long period of time or a time-limited series.
• Best Blog From A New NWT Resident: Best blog from someone who moved here in 2009. The blog must be mainly about moving to the NWT or about what it is like to be a new resident of the NWT. The blog itself can be more than a year old if the author moved here during 2009 and started to publish material that is mainly about life as a new resident.
• Best Youth Blog: Best blog written by an NWT resident who is younger than 20.
• Best Audio/Video Blog Post: Best individual podcast or video.
• Best Northern Story: Best story about the NWT. It can be a single post or a series of posts that tell a single story.
• Best Professional Photography: This category includes all professional photographers. In this category, the only content to be considered is the blog’s original photography. It can be a Flickr stream.
• Best Personal Photography: See above, but for amateur photographers.
• Best Theme Blog: Best blog in which all or almost all posts are about a single topic or use a set format. This includes corporate blogs and blogs about specific places. The theme does not have to have anything to do with the NWT.

Go now and nominate yourself.

I found this short but informative video about the NWT’s Legislative Assembly building. It seems the video was made by the Canadian Government and intended for tourists. If you haven’t had a chance to take a tour of The Leg it is definitely something to be do when visiting Yellowknife or just when you have time.

Have you been to The Leg lately?

When the NWT bloggers (including myself) saw the preview of Ice Pilots NWT, we though “We could do something like that”. So a dream was born and shortly after we all got together on a Sunday afternoon to film the Trailer Video. So here it is on the launch day of Ice Pilots NWT, the Ice Blogger of the NWT.

Credit goes to John and Megan for the idea. In the video Jason, Nancy, Megan, Michael, Karen and myself. Our hope is to make a bit of a web series out of it, with a monthly show starting sometime in January 2010.

Let us know what you think.

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of dropping by Dave Brosha’s Studio Open House. I have been a big fan of Dave’s photography for sometime, and was excited to hear a couple of months ago he was planning on opening a studio/gallery. Well that time has come, he is now working out of the studio.

Unfortunately because I myself am no photographer, I was not able to capture any photos of his new studio. Although I can safely say it is an awesome one. As I also did not take any video like I had originally intended, I shall reenact my experience via words.

To the untrained eye you may not notice the sign to Dave Brosha’s studio, so that is why I want to explain it to you. If you know where the Taste of Saigon and Fuego’s restaurants are, then you are more than likely going to be able to find the studio. The door leading up to the studio is situated right in between the two. Upon entering the door you immediately go up a flight of stairs and find yourself in a magnificent hallway. This hallway like the rest of the studio has just been renovated, with hardwood flooring and wall mounted light fixtures. One of the first things you will notice while going down this hallway, which I assume doubles as part of the gallery, is all the photographs that have been framed and are just waiting for someone to take home. There are several doorways off this hallway that lead to the rest of the flat. One door to another gallery area, another to an office and even a waiting room for clients. There is a large open area at the end of the hallway where the magic must happen. If you are ever in the area you should definitely check it out.

It was a pleasure seeing Dave and his studio again. Dave is a magnificent photographer and if you are at all interested in getting some photographs done I would encourage you to give him a call. Everyone that I have spoken to that has ever work with him has nothing but good things to say. You should also check out his website, he has one of the most active photo blogs of the north.

All photos associated with this post from DaveBrosha.com

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The 911, or lack of 911 in the NWT is back in the headlines. As well I touch on some of those issues that have yet to find solution, even after many years of discussion.

Election Results. Of course I talked about those.

I also discussed some new features that will be coming to YkOnline, that I am very excited about.

Let everyone know your thoughts below. See ya next week.

After not only hearing about the cancelled Westjet flight this past weekend, but also now reading about how someone was affected, I thought I would discuss this issue as well as ask your thoughts.

Many people when they heard Westjet was going to be coming into Yellowknife were excited, don’t lie I know you were, and so was I for a short period of time. The period of time ended, about a month ago when I was booking tickets home. You see, what I think most people; myself included thought was that with Westjet in the game prices would come down. They did for the first while but now, well they seem and are for the most part higher than our northern airlines. Therefore I didn’t think twice about booking my flight with Canadian North and I am glad I did for several reasons now.

As you know Westjet had to cancel a flight to Yellowknife on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. So were talking about a full plane with students, family and friends all wanting to return to Yellowknife. Normally a cancellation isn’t that big of deal, it happens, the airline does what it can to make sure you get to where you are going. Like putting you on another airline for instance, the only problem is Westjet cannot do that. They are the only major airline that flies to Yellowknife that is not apart of an alliance. All three others, Canadian North, Air Canada, and First Air are apart of this alliance. So this means if any of them have a cancellation they would be able to bump you on another airline if available, where as Westjet cannot.

So as much as I like Westjet and think they have great service, I’m going to stick with the Northern Airlines, while in the north.

What about you? Have you flown Westjet in or out of Yellowknife, what did you think? Or do you prefer to stick with the Northern owned Airlines? Please share any of your thoughts below in the comments.

Photo Credit: Flickr Webhamster

Today is “Read for 15″, where you read for 15 minutes. This is a challenge put on by the NWT Literacy Council. This year the NWT has once again challenged Nunavut to see who has the most people reading for 15 minutes.

Here is what you do.

1. Read anything for 15 minutes, anything.
2. Submit this form back to the Literacy Council via fax to (867) 873-2176.
3. Or fill out the form at the Post Office booth.

If you have any question you can call the council at 873-9262 or e-mail nwtliteracy(at)nwtliteracy.ca

Lets beat our friends to the east!

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.

I’m sure by now everyone who reads this is aware of the upgrade Northwestel has just done to their Internet Packages. I know I was excited even though I am unable to use it where I currently am. They are now offering faster speeds and high bandwidth caps the same as their old packages, which for a heavy user such as myself wonderful news. No longer will I need to continuously check my usage, always in fear of going over.

So that brings us to today and to the article in the Yellowknifer about how SSi considers what NWTel is doing unfair towards them. You see NWTel owns all the cable transporting Internet in to the Northwest Territories and so what SSi does is purchases bandwidth (Internet) as a wholesaler. Now you would think if your are purchasing it in bulk they would be getting the better deal or a more discounted price so that they can afford to resell it to the public. Well that does not seem to be the case SSi says. They believe they are paying 5 times more than what NWTel is offering their Internet Packages for to the public and small businesses. NWTel stated in their advertisements that the rates for small businesses will be going down by 40% and also says that over the last year they lowered wholesaler rates by 35%.

Now personally I have always used NWTel because of a couple reasons. One being it is easy to bundle with cable and second being they offer higher limits and faster speeds. The one thing I do like about SSi though is that portability of their modems. I would also like to point out that the average user does not need more than what SSi offers therefore still making it a semi level playing field. A suggestion would be if you can not match NWTel’s prices would be to focus strongly on something like customer service.

Now as everyone who reads this most likely uses one or the other I would love to get your take on the matter and which provider you use. I can see pros and cons with both and that is the case with most things, how do they affect you?

We’re starting something new here called the Sunday Morning Link Fest. On Sunday mornings every once and a while a new post will be published of different sites around Yellowknife. If you know of a good sites that you want featured like your own or one you may have just found go to the Contact page and send it in.

This week:

1. Yellowknife Ravens is Yellowknife’s official Broom Ball team. Check them out at  http://www.yellowkniferavens.com
2. NWTers is a neat new site the brings NWT Twitter tweets together on one site. Tags such as #yzf, yellowknife, x1a, inuvik and the GNWT, as well as some of the News accounts from around the north. It definitely deserves a bookmark if you don’t use a twitter desktop client.
3. Netvibes is an excellent cite for bringing together content from all over the web. In this case we going to look at Liz’s Yellowknife tab. You can find the page here and there you will find loads of Yellowknifey Goodness. Everything from Twitter updates about Yellowknife to Flickr Photos and Youtube videos tagged with Yellowknife. With news from GNWT and the City as well as updates from UpHere Magazine and YkOnline. If you haven’t already checked it out, do so for a nice refreshing ray of Yellowknife.
4. I thought I would add in the Folk on the Rocks site in light of the fact next weekend is the festival. You can find their site at  http://www.folkontherocks.com

There you have it folks 4 sites from and about Yellowknife. Remember if you know of a good local site you want to plug send it in through the Contact page.