All right, all right, I realize it has been a while.

I'm in Huntsville. Enjoying the fact that there is a Zellers and Dollarama within a 10 minute walking radius. Clearly I appreciate the high brow things in life. You try living without Dollarama for 4 months and see how you cope. I am never paying $3 for bobby pins again in my life.

I'm sitting in my bed in my big bright room. Which I think is the perfect setting to write a few blogs about my mom coming up to Dawson City. I meant to write them earlier but the whole moving across the country thing got in the way.

Mom's arrival in Dawson City was great fun. It was great fun because I got to drive my coworker's car out of town all the way to the airport. And when I met my mom she had not met up with my co-worker Nancy who was also on the flight with her. It was a flight of about 40 people. Nancy was on the flight with me when I went up to Dawson.

I drove Mom back to town and I am convinced she took about 100 pictures in the 16 km span between the airport and town. And for those of you wondering what she took pictures of. Not too much because there really isn't much on that drive. The highlights include: dredge trailings under snow, the department of highways and all of their equipment, the dump, 2 gas stations, and a bridge.

I decided she needed to get a taste for how cold it was so I took her up to Robert Services cabin and she almost lost a few fingers taking pictures at the cabin.

Lunch time was quite the treat. I had chicken fingers. She had a buffalo burger. Now this is not the Ontario version of buffalo burger where they put hot sauce on chicken, this is real ground buffalo shaped into a pattie. It tasted great. Its a lot leaner than ground beef.

You know what really grinds my buffalo?

In Ontario we call it Garbage...

I went on a field trip last friday. It was my first time leaving town since I arrived in Dawson on December 5. Picture that for a moment. Never leaving the boundaries of a town for 3 months. Its just such a strange concept in Ontario because there are so many other communities around. We are isolated up here. Whitehorse is 6 hours away by car. Carmacks is closer. But why on earth would you want to go there.

On to the trip. It was an exciting trip. Wanda had been promising to take me to "the free store" for a few days and I was tingling with anticipation. (Not much else has been going on in my life).

We drove down the highway and got to the dump road which hadn't been plowed. Which was bad because it has snowed for 12 straight hours the day before (a rarity up here). I was worried this small car was going to slide into a ditch and we would be stuck and die. (Nobody has cell phones up here and apparently they don't work out of town). We made it safely to the Free Store.

Now I know you are all going to rush to judge me and I am ok with that. Here in the Yukon we are resourceful and are attempting to save the planet by not putting everything in the landfill. That is the purpose of the free store. Also it houses a squirrel.

There are children's toys, books, clothing, bedding, appliances, and old computer bits. I went straight for the books. You can't take your mittens off at the free store. Despite the fact that it is covered it is Darn cold. And there is snow on the clothing. I took Death of a Salesman, and this other random book that looked funny. I was slightly disappointed to see not one, but two copies of one of my favourite books. But what can you do. I also picked up a corel plate (which has subsequently been soaked in bleach).

Wanda got some books and walked up the mountain of clothing. I wish I had my camera. This would make these stories far more interesting. I also got a "winner" medal for my coworker Jo who is working like a madwoman. I'm going to give it to her when her program is over.

If you have any questions about the free store I will answer them. If you want to judge me hold your judgement until you too have lived in the Yukon for 3 months.

One week

As you might have noticed I have been quite quiet lately. I do not have internet at my new place. So I've been crafty and have been sneaking into my old place to use the internet that I am paying for. And I have been using the phone too. It's not like the house is Fort Knox. It doesn't get locked. And the guys in the house don't really care if I'm there.

Some times I get crafty and use my own phone in my old room.

Anyway back to the point of my post. Mom is coming in a week!!! Yes it does deserve 3 exclamation points. Mom is flying from Toronto to Vancouver and then from Vancouver to Whitehorse and then from Whitehorse to Dawson. The trip to see me is not a short one. When I flew up here from civilization my coworker Nancy met me in the Whitehorse airport and we flew up together. Apparently Nancy is flying up with my mom too!

My mom will be engaging in the typical Dawson Activities... spending too much on food, layering up, and volunteering. She will be taking part in my coworker Jo's program "A Night in the Museum" which I am looking forward to helping out with. Grade 5 and 6 kids will become characters coming to Dawson in the gold rush.

I am all alone at work again. No more assistant. So I've taken to having conversations with myself. Because I miss my witty banter with Wanda.

This is going to be a 2 for 1 day. Yay for 2 blogs!

Owie

I am now in my new place... right next door to my old place.

If you will recall my previous post I detailed the icy stairs of death. 3 Months and the Stairs decide to kick me in the butt on the way out.

As I'm moving (with my stuff in garbage bags) I think I'm doing pretty well. Finally its time for my last load. I have all of my non-perishable food in 3 boxes 2 of them in the biggest one.

I get to the second stair and within seconds I'm on the bottom stair on my ass with groceries all around me. It was a pretty impressive fall. And even more impressive is that fact that I'm not hurt. I survived it relatively unscathed. I'm bruised and I lost an entire box of whole wheat spaghetini. And I can't sue the bastards.

Apparently the fall rattled my brain and has affected my ability to write. Better posts later.

Movin on up

Hi,
Guess what? I'm moving out of the Ghetto House! For those of you who aren't able to see my facebook pictures I thought I'd post some of the highlights of the house on here.

This is the side entrance that doesn't have the icy stairs of death. It is also nowhere near my room. I rarely use this far safer option. Maybe I subconsciously do it because I want to fall down and break my arm and sue the pants off my slumlords. As of this week there is a nice dog urine stain on the bottom icy step of death.

This is the tub surround from my shower that doesn't work. Well I suppose it works if you enjoy having cold water squirt out at you while only scalding hot water comes out of the showerhead. Personally not my ideal shower. Its alright though. The tub will fall through the floor soon because the caulking hasn't been doing its job for a while. I'm sure there are mold issues. Thank goodness I don't own this house.

This is the kitchen. My fridge leaks. There is quite the little puddle in the bottom of it and on the floor outside of it. The microwave is a dial that only has 20 second and 1 minute increments. God forbid I want something cooked for 30 seconds. And you can't see it in this picture but this carpet is hideous. Its something people in Ontario would reject for their cottages. And shacks. But good news for future occupants of the house. The landlords are ripping it up and putting in wood floors. (By wood it may end up being the subfloor but they claim hard wood will be put in, the plan is to do this before they fix the plumbing in my bathroom, smart slumlords, real smart).

See the Tv in the TV room. Its not there anymore. Neither are the lamps or the fans. They have all been snarfed (look at my Yukon Dictionary) by other people who have lived in the house while I have lived here. I don't even know if the curtains are still there. The couches are hideous and are covered by even more hideous comforters.

And I left the best for last. My room. In this picture you cannot see the sexy times shag carpet. It is a cream colour. Not white, maybe it was back in 1972 when it was put in. There is dog hair. In my one attempt to vaccuum the room more dog hair spit back out of the vaccuum. That is when I stopped vaccuuming.

You also can't see it in this picture but my bed schlumps toward the right (if you were in it) it has a dent, or divot for those of you golfers out there.

The Wood panel walls scream attractiveness. The print of the Waterfall over the bed has not caused me to wet the bed but that doesn't mean there isn't still urine on the mattress. There is also a sketchy stain that looks like blood. I don't generally like sleeping on a bed where somebody could have bled to death. Or spilled fruit punch. I'm one of the lucky people in the house who have a baseboard heater that works. One of my roommates had her books freeze to the walls of her room. (I'm not even making this up). Two of the drawers in my dresser don't actually have bottoms. Thus rendering them useless. My windows were frosted over for the better part of 2 months. I can finally see out of them now. The closet is the best part of my room. If only someone hadn't nailed "the ulgurtain" in front of it. uglurtain is an assimilation of the words ugly and curtain. And yet it cannot describe the sheer eye pain it causes. Maybe I could sue for eye damage.


I could go on but I need to leave things for future blog posts. I'm planning on bleaching everything I own that is safe to bleach. Maybe that will help me feel clean again.

Doggies.

I realize it has been a long time. So I am going to try to make this post extra-mega-super-awesometastic.

http://www.yukonquest.com/

If you go to this website the entire blog post will make a lot more sense.

The Yukon Quest is this killer dog sled race which goes from Whitehorse to Fairbanks, Alaska. Take that Iditerod. Anyway, last week was Quest week in Dawson. Which meant Town came to life!

There was a lot of pressure from my coworkers to see a dog sled team to come in. The teams have to come into Dawson and have a mandatory 36 hour rest period. At which point the dogs get massages and the people get to eat.

I planned on hitting up the concession stand because I figured there would be at least 5 different kind of chilis there and lets face it, I hate cooking for myself. I hit the jackpot at the concession however, some wonderful member of the community had brought in sushi. I love the stuff! So I had sushi. It was spectacular:) I also had moose chilli but I'm concerned she mixed it up with the beef one because it tasted quite beefy. At least I can say I ordered moose chili.

And then as I finished eating people started to pour out of the building to see the sled come in. Admittedly, it was a bit anticlimactic but when in the Yukon. Its one of those things that just has to be done!

I will summarize this in 5 words now. Dog.Sled.Sushi.Cold.Mush. (That was almost poetic).

Reputation

I'm starting to get quite the reputation around Dawson City. Don't worry Family, its not for any bad reasons, trust me.

I am becoming known as the girl who wears the pink kids boots.

The story is as follows:

In November 2008 I was in Belleville at the Quinte Mall. After a long Peterborough winter the year before I refused to not have good winter boots to keep my feet warm and dry. I didn't care how I looked all I wanted was a sock protector. Because if you do not know this yet I HATE having wet/damp socks. I thought I was going to be in Kingston for the winter so the -20 cold rating seemed adequate.

It is now February. And when I went to the art show a few weeks ago my coworker's friend (who works with my classmate) looked down and was like... "Oh you are the lady with the pink kids boots". I was like "you better believe it". Why would I pay more when a size 4 with velcro fits me perfectly? Despite the fact that they were advertised to -20 with a pair of thermal socks they were perfect in -50 weather.

To summarize (ha you could have had to only read this one sentence) my pink boots with stars on them make me known around town and are super cool.

Stuff....

Dear World,
I am not partial to people rearranging my stuff. It is disorganized in a way so I know where it is. The only person with permission to touch my stuff is my mom. Cause I trust her. Also using my toilet paper while I am sleeping... LAME.
That is all. Violators will be subjected to "The Shocks".
Jen

2 Months in Dawson

This week was my 2 month in Dawson. I've accomplished a lot in my job since I have been here. Not so much socially. In the next few months my goals are mostly social.

Goal 1: Find a friend that will take you out for a dog sled ride.
Goal 2: Volunteer somewhere in town. Preferably for the Quest.
Goal 3: Walk to the other side of town. And see the ice bridge.
Goal 4: Write some poetry.

That is as ambitious as I feel like being at 10 pm on a Sunday night. I've had a productive day figuring out how to fix my busted shower. The problem with it was the handle of the cold came off. And my roommate put on this temporary handle. The only problem is that cold water shoots out of the temporary handle. I had tried putting plastic bags over it, showering downstairs, and not turning the cold on at all (not my brightest plan) but today I figured it out. Putting a wash cloth over the craporary (a new word for crappy and temporary fix) faucet and it no longer sprays cold water all over me while I am trying to shower. Life is good.

Now if only I could find a way to make my bed not have a wierd dent in it, cover up the nastiness of my shag carpet, and duct tape my dresser into submission life would be ideal.

I should go do readings for my Yukon College Course. My professor is going to be in town for this week's lecture. Which means I can't slack off. But it also means we are having a class dinner before class at the Drunken Goat. And I've heard it has delicious food:) I'll let you all know.

I sometimes get bored in the Yukon

1.YOUR REAL NAME:Jennifer Lynn Gibson

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME(first 3 letters of name plus izzle):Lynizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME(fav color and fav animal):Salmon Bunny

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME(middle name, and favorite place to go):Lynn Hawaii

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name):GibJeThi

6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME(2nd favorite color, favorite drink):Turquoise Wild Vines

7. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME(mothers middle name and fathers middle name):Carol Frank

8. YOUR GOTH NAME (black, and the name of one your pets):Black Fissy

9. TERRORIST NAME(middle name spelled backwards, your mom's name spelled backwards):Nnyl Lorac

10. YOUR PORN STAR NAME (name of first pet you had and name of first street you lived on)Muffin Manitou

Hibernation

If bears can do it so can I. As a way to explain my lack of blog posts I would like to blame hibernation. True, the days are getting longer, and it is no longer pitch black when I leave my house in the morning and leave work in the evening. But I think hibernation, as a recreational activity is underrated.

In other exciting Yukon news, I went to an art show opening last week. It was at the local gallery and featured members from the community as well as students from the art school in town. There were some interesting pieces, pretty pieces, and those melon scratcher pieces of art such as a line of pencil drawn across a white piece of paper. I will never get art. Topping the disturbing list of art shown at the gallery was one that featured real human blood. I'll leave it up to your imagination of how the artist got this blood.

My favourite part of the art show opening wasn't the art. It wasn't the company of my coworker either. It was the free food. And free wine. But mostly the free food. See there were red peppers there. At this grocery store this week red peppers/ green peppers cost 5.99/pound.... insanity. I just want some fresh peppers. So I had no shame at the art show and stuffed my face with peppers. There was also delicious hummus, cheese, baguette, and broccoli. I may or may not be writing this blog just before lunch. If you out there reading this have any exciting recipes that can be made with absolutely minimal ingredients (Because everything up here is SOOOOOOOO expensive) please let me know. Send e-mails, facebook messages, reply on this. I'm starting to get sick of spaghetti. And I never thought I'd say that.

I shall now return to hibernation. The greatest nation on the planet.

Sick Weekend

No I'm not using sick in the "wicked, awesome, fantastic" meaning of the word. I am talking about popping nyquil, not getting dressed, and drinking soup sick.

This post may not be the most coherent because I am writing it from in bed.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about healthcare in the Yukon. I figured I'd examine it from an outsider's perspective and hope that in doing that the virus that is invading my body will leave and I won't have to give the insider's perspective. P.S. for all of you family members don't get worried. Its just a winter virus. I will be fine. No need to worry.

The Nursing Station in Dawson City is run by Yukon Health and Social Services. The building looks like a big portable from an elementary school. It is a orangey-yellow. And it is about 100 steps from my house.

The doctors work monday-friday in normal business hours. And I guess are on call. I think there are nurses on call all of the time.

I'm not quite sure what number to call if I need an ambulance. But the number that is similar to TeleHealth Ontario is 811 (there is no 911 up here). There is a nurse answering 811 24/7.

The "pharmacy" up here doesn't dispense prescription drugs. They are dispensed at the health centre. And if they don't have them they need to get them from Whitehorse.

For exciting medical conditions you are flown in a chopper down to Whitehorse. If you need to get fancy tests done (an ultrasound for example) Yukon Health pays for you to fly down to Whitehorse for the test and pays to put you up there. Due to the lack of hospital here in Dawson many things are done down there (yes Whitehorse is down there). If a woman is going to have a baby she needs to go down to Whitehorse. So siblings get to see their new baby sibling in the Dawson Airport for the first time. Babies come from the airplane kids.

An important lesson has been learned from this blog. Don't do drugs kids. Or get the wrong airplane baby.

Things that excite me about my job....

I haven't done a good ol fashioned bullet list in a while... And considering the reason I'm up here I thought I'd provide some tidbits for the museum folk and non museum folk alike

• the coolness of old stuff
• I have my own desk with my own computer and a really nice desk chair
• sometimes I find artifacts that are dated on my birthday... so what it if was 63 years before I was born
• I learn so much about people who don't make it into the history books
• My coworker Lynn gave me a cookie and sometimes she brings in other treats
• I get to play with artifacts (but not in a sporty way, just in a I get to catalogue and handle them properly kind of way)
• the view from my desk/office room is of beautiful trees on the mountains
• I am directly in the path of the sun when it comes up
• moldy ledgers get me all excited
• no day is the same as the one before
• artifacts don't generally talk back or get angry
• I can wear jeans to work
• and the single greatest part of my job is that it is not in the customer service field:)

I love Toronto

Philosophical question of the day

Can Mr. Big mini chocolate bars still be called Mr. Big?

A cold day in .......

I'm writing this post with a huge smirk on my face.
The temperature in Dawson City is sitting at about -15.

Using the Official Environment Canada Website I have looked up the temperature at various locations where you folks may be living in Ontario:

Kingston: -19 (-23 with the windchill)
Belleville: -18 (-22 with the windchill)
Ottawa: -23 (-28 with the windchill)
Etobicoke: -13 (-19 with the windchill)
Huntsville: -20
Hamilton: -13 (-16 with the windchill)

Which means it feels colder for all of you today than it does for me. And I live in the Yukon. What is wrong with this picture?

Also, please keep the cold down there. I'm quite happy with this heat wave.

The Shocks

No, I have not lost my mind from the darkness and am receiving electroshock therapy from Yukon Health and Social Services.

I am suffering from a far more sinister medical condition.

This condition can strike at any time, day or night, and is not precipitated by me doing anything, other than the possible occasional dragging of my feet.

This condition is highly contageous and can be passed to others through touch.

The condition of which I speak is called the shocks.

Symptoms involve large bolts of electric current running through your body that occurs from touching ANYTHING up here.

Culprits of the shocks have included:
My Bed
My computer.
The filing cabinet.
My winter coat.
Any type of handshake.
Water.
Any light switch.
And the worst offender is the fridge handle.

I've developed coping mechanisms for dealing with the shocks. I put my hands freakishly high in my sleeves. I touch touch touch anything in hopes of grounding myself. I have started to skip across the floor (and trust me that isn't pretty).

Side effects of the shocks can include freakish avoidance and attempts to open things with my elbows.

Although certain shocks have a bright blue beautiful flash to them most are just annoying and should be avoided at all costs.

I am thinking of investing in a full body rubber suit before I am forced to concede that the shocks have won.

An Open Letter to Sears

Dear Jerks at Sears,

I am sitting at my computer now in awe wondering about your incompetence. I live in the Yukon. Today the temperature is -50. That is right. Half way to -100.

I received an e-mail from your company this morning informing me that my order had been cancelled. This was not an extravagant order like spongebob squarepants slippers or Jessica Simpson Perfume. This order was for snowpants.

I placed the order on December 8 shortly after I moved to Dawson City, Yukon. In this order I purchased two pairs of long underwear, one bath sheet, one parka, and one pair of snowpants. I received my long underwear and towel in a timely manner and was very happy about that transaction.

About two weeks after my parka was ordered I received an e-mail from your company saying my order had been cancelled. I was upset but able to deal with this setback because there were other parka buying options.

The purpose of this e-mail is to express disgust about your system in regard to my snowpants. These snowpants were also ordered on December 8. They, like my parka, were backordered, and were scheduled to arrive on January 7. On January 8, I went to the Sears depot in town to see if my pants were in. There were no pants but that could easily be explained by a lack of mail reaching Dawson City. There is a cold snap going on right now, if you haven't heard. However, I was horrified to look in my e-mail inbox this morning to find that "order status changed" e-mail from your company.

How on earth could you not have known earlier that you were out of snowpants? You would think that if there was a possibility that my pants would not have arrived by January 7, or at all I would have received some sort of notice earlier.

I am angry. I am an upset customer because I am snowpantsless in -40 and -50 temperatures. If I had known I would have purchased elsewhere and would be wearing snowpants right now.

In future if you are going to cancel orders on customers after they are supposed to have received the order you will probably receive more angry letters like this. I am now paying the local inflated price to buy a pair of snowpants so I do not freeze. I wish I had known this earlier so I could have been wearing these pants when I had to go for walks to get groceries in -46.

Thank you for nothing Sears,
Jen Gibson

The greatest discovery up here since Gold.

I never thought I'd say I missed the -30's. The high today is -48. The current temperature and the one outside when I walked to work -49. I'm surprised my brain hasn't stopped working.

But this is a happy blog post. I have discovered the greatest website since sliced bread.com. It is better than ebay but not quite as good as chocolate. (I'm such a great comparer)

I am talking about www.well.ca Its like a shoppers drugmart that delivers all over Canada. There are two things about this site that get me super excited. a) the products are "Ontario Prices" meaning I'm not going to be paying $10 for a bottle of shampoo and b) free delivery to anywhere in Canada!

I'm pretty sure I'm in heaven right now. Or I will be when my Curel Continuous Comfort Lotion arrives in 13-15 days. I can get my own brand and scent of deodorant which I haven't found yet up here. All of the stomach remedies that are "Behind the counter" here are one click away.

If you want to get an idea of what the prices are like up here go to the corner store. And I don't mean a macs. One of those family owned ones. Then add at least two dollars to the price of everything. And that is the Yukon. So you can now understand why finding this site was so exciting.

Look, Look... I'm a moose

That's all for today.

I'm pretty sure I can't feel my hands...

Here is how my day at work is going......

I start shivering. I go to my boss' office to get her to turn the heat up. The heat goes on in my space for about 10 minutes. I get overheated my hands start to sweat. It dies completely and I start the shivering process again and no blood circulates to my fingers. I don't know about you, but when its -47 outside I like the heat in my workspace to work. Its one of those things I'm anal about. And I'm not anal about too much.

I think I'm going to head to the thrift store to buy more layers. I've decided that big burly plaid men's sweaters are going to be the latest fashion in my life. Who knows the trend could catch on elsewhere?

I'm too cold to write properly. If warmth could be sent through the Canada Post I'd be asking for some of it ASAP.

Time for jumping jacks.

Brrrrrrr......