On Ignorance

I was party to an interesting conversation the other day and it centered on a theme that I’ve heard before in various places and by many people. It goes something like this according to the proponent:

If I don’t understand how something works, then nobody does and nobody can. Anyone who says they do understand this can’t be right and is therefore not to be trusted.

-A corollary of the above statement may also often be this: -And although I’ve nothing but hearsay and (wild) speculation to back up my position, I won’t try to find out if I’m wrong or if they’re right.

This sort of perspective can relate to any number of topics and in my experience, is extremely difficult to change. Adopting a different perspective would necessarily entail acknowledging ignorance in that area and accepting that someone else may know a great deal more about the topic of interest and that that’s okay.

For some people this different approach is a wonderful perspective to have as it allows one to challenge oneself to learn more. How else can one expect to learn and grow unless one recognizes that they don’t know everything and that they don’t need to be personally threatened by someone who knows more than they do?

As in the conversation I listened to, this can present serious challenges for the knowledgeable party who must inform (for various reasons) a less knowledgeable person about the relevant topic. If this occurs in an academic situation, usually no one bats an eye, as this is the typical state of affairs between an instructor and a student, but out in the public sphere authority isn’t so easily granted and may be challenged even when it is deserved. How to answer that challenge without making a bad situation worse may take no small amount of finesse or the challenge may be dismissed or avoided altogether. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it.

It's not you. It's me.

Although I accepted one job offer and have already started work, I didn't phone up the other company to decline their (soon to be formal) job offer immediately until I'd actually signed a contract for my new job. That happened today and so I just got off the phone with the owner of the rejected company to let them know I won't be working for them and I must say, I am glad to have that over with!

The owner was surprised, particularly as when he answered my call he'd jumped right into the salary and benefit details of the job before I could stop him and was also hoping that I'd be free for a curling tournament tomorrow that he'd already penciled me in for as a way of meeting some of his clients. He was obviously disappointed and caught rather off guard. He briefly tried convincing me to change my mind, declared that I'd have so much more fun with his company and then in response to my extremely awkward and flimsy attempt at honesty, without being too honest about why I turned his job down, he was gracious and understanding. He wished me well, said that I needed to do what was right for me and then invited me (and ManNorth) over to his house for coffee any time we felt like dropping by.

It was like an awkward high school break up and I'm still feeling badly, like I just broke some poor kid's heart. Is that a normal reaction to turning down a good job offer? I feel like such a bad person somehow. I do think though, that I made the right decision for me.

Northern DINKS

Now, before all of you get concerned about this post's title, it's not what you think it means. I was laughingly instructed by ManNorth this morning to describe he and I as of today, as a couple, as DINKS. (As in Double Income No Kids).

That's right all you internets, I'm employed and I started work today!








Hooray!!!


Here are some of my first day of work highlights:

-My computer refused to give me internet access and the IT guy can't come in until (maybe) sometime tomorrow to see why it's acting as though it knows me.

-I was asked to play harmonica in the company band. (Thankfully, I only fell for the joke for a few seconds. Okay, maybe it was a minute and I spent that time panicking at the thought of my nonexistent musical skills and tendancy to slobber the few times I've tried the harmonica. My horror must have been obvious for my new boss quickly let me know, with some concern, that she was only joking.)

-I served myself and drank coffee from a pot of coffee that was so old that no one knew when it had been brewed or that the (obviously unplugged) machine even had coffee in it. I did wonder at all the CoffeeMate floaties refusing to sink and disperse after adding the whitener and should have realized that it doesn't dissolve in cold liquids. (Note to self: bring my own milk to work). After spitting it out, I drank water the rest of the day.

-I'm now an -ologist (!), albeit a "casual" one. (Hint, hint)

WomanNorth's own Super Tuesday

Finally I have something new and wonderful and scary and intimidating and a million other adjectives to report. I have a big decision to make: I've just been offered work in Northern Town by two different companies. Both are attractive for different reasons and both very much want to hire me!

One will give me work experience that I would LOVE to be doing in the region of Northern Town and is likely to provide connections to other potential future employment (and employers) of the type I see as ideal for me, although the position, albeit temporary, sounds rather close to ideal already. However, it is only as a casual employee without the benefits and job security of a full time position. The hourly pay is quite reasonable but may not be as much as the other job is offering. I'd be replacing a current (and valued) employee away on maternity leave and there may not be work for me with this company when she returns, potentially this August. There is a possibility though, that she won't return (so I've been told) and there is also the possibility of another attractive position opening in the company in the next month that I could apply for when it comes up. I could qualify for that position although it would be advertised and I'd have to compete for it. The work involved for the casual work will be in a field in which I have relevant training but the specific work involved is new to me both subjectively and geographically, mostly owing to me being new to this area of the world. I interviewed with this company (although I'd not intended to -long story there) 5 weeks ago and just heard back from them today although they promised to get back to me within two weeks of the inital meeting. They have work that they would like me to start on immediately before the end of the week and preferably, tomorrow (as they have a deadline they need to meet and the work I'd do for them would help them meet it)!

The other job will give me as many hours as I want to work (although they'd like to hire me full time immediately), likely a good salary, job security and benefits and will consist of work that is much more loosely related to my current experience and training than the other position. The environment of this position may be very fast paced, and stressful at times with looming deadlines, occasionally needing my weekends and evenings and be quiet and slow paced with little to do at other times. It will not offer nearly as much time out of the office and in the field as the other position but field work (when it comes) is likely to be quite varied, both geographically and subjectively, and not always within my field of expertise (although if I'm willing to spend lots of time away from Northern Town, they have a position for me which would specifically use much of my academic training). This job will involve much less active science (i.e. very little) than the other position and the subjects I'll be working on will not be for me to decide and the data owned by someone else. I don't see this job as being one that I would like to make a career in but it will give me valuable experience should I choose to find other work in a few years. However, some specific (and very attractive) experiences that the other job may offer will not be possible in this position and these would also be a significant advantage in finding alternate (ideal) work down the road.

I found myself accidentally interviewing for this position (long story there too) initally a few weeks ago and it was followed up two weeks later with a formal interview via a conference call and meeting last Friday. The job offer, although promised, won't come until after I speak with yet another person from their company. I've been assured that I'll be getting an offer regardless of this third interview which is more to discuss some specific experience that I have and how it may (or may not) be useful to the company in its operations much farther south than Northern Town. No date has been set for this conversation and thus, I don't know exactly when I'll be getting the formal offer to accept or decline.

I'm unfamiliar with the work environments for both positions and both represent significant challenges to me in different ways. I find both positions somewhat intimidating but am confident that I'll be a valuable employee in either position.

On top of all of this is a significant committment to finish an incomplete project from Prairie Town, one which I've irresponsibly neglected but needs to be finished as soon as possible, both for me and for others. Both employers would like me to finish this but (obviously) want my focus to be on the work I do for them. Completion of this project is not essential to either employer but it is to me and leaving it incomplete will also negatively impact my career options later, should I look for other work or seek other positions within each company. Finishing this project will be of significant advantage to me should I need to compete formally for a job with first company should the employee I'd be filling in for not return to her job.

Time may be provided for this project with the first company should I choose to work only part of the week for the next month or two but they'll need me for full time work come spring and summer and some of those periods will involve long periods away from Northern Town and ManNorth.

At the second company they'll hire me part time if needed but would prefer me to work 4 days a week until I finish my own project (during the three consecutive days off per week and after hours) after which I'd be employed full time. If they hire me, I'll immediately be sent south for a few weeks of full time training before coming back to work my 4 days a week until my project is done and I can work full time. There may be occasions where they'll need me to be away for long periods (ie. 4 weeks) but not as frequently as in the first job.


I know I've been vague, but if any of you have any suggestions that would help me make this decision, I'd be happy to hear them.

I'll never look at a cough drop the same way again

Perhaps it's just me and my strange associations, but doesn't anyone else out there also think that the Vicks drops showering down all over the unsuspecting world in the current Vicks television commercial look an awful lot like Oobleck?

(As in Bartholomew and the Oobleck.)

I keep waiting for the part in the commercial where the Oobleck-Vicks Drops finally land in big gloopy sticky messes, trapping everyone where they are until finally King Derwin says he's sorry for trying to mess with the weather and it all mysteriously evaporates.

It'd be hard to sell a product that way. I guess the folks at Vicks edited that part out.

Hrrm. They want me to put WHAT on my face?

Cheese and chocolates weren't the only things finding their way to the North household in time for Valentine's day. ManNorth thoughtfully bought me two bars of lanolin soap. In spite of them being pink, I'll certainly use them as the cold of Northern Town and Northern Region has a way of drying out the skin and lanolin soap will be wondeful for remoisturising. My nose is thankful.

We wondered a bit though, about one of two samples included in the shipping box:

Dry skin? Smear some sheep placenta on it. That'll do the trick!

(With apologies to my veggie or vegan readers.)

A pair of meese

With intentions of stirring up thoughts of visiting us here in Northern Town, or perhaps just a wee bit of jealousy, here are a few photos ManNorth took yesterday from his office window.

What's outside your window?

I cardiovascular organ you

I gave you my heart, as a sign of my love

And I thought that you’d keep it from harm.

But you put it to work, in a flask in your lab

And I find, to my growing alarm,

That you’re growing another, and more after that,

In a regular cardiac farm!

But then, when I saw them, in sterilized jars

Neatly ordered, in columns and rows,

I thought that, perhaps for the first time in history

Anyone looking now knows

And can see, with the placement of every new heart,

How much greater my love for you grows.

-Digital Cuttlefish

ManNorth's valentine treats

(He ordered them weeks ago and they arrived early.

We've since eaten all three tins of chocolate

and are doing our best with the cheese.)

Wednesday reading

This morning I'd like to direct you all to a few blogs of note:

Are you into photography and have an appreciation for the challenges involved in getting great photos? Get yourself on over to Kids and Nature and ply photogirl with all questions photographic...and check out her seriously good photography (of kids and nature, no less).

Steph over at When I Drop Dead has been cooking up a storm and has just posted instructions for making goi cuon, also known as Vietnamese summer rolls. If they're half as good as the samosa recipe she posted a few days ago, I'll be regularly emptying Northern Town of its rice paper and vermicelli noodles.

Steph also brought another great blog to my attention and as I've been quite impressed with it as well, I'll also send you all on over to Hark! A Vagrant (and/or KateBeaton.com) where Kate Beaton's comic strips, often with a Canadian flare, are sure to impress, amuse and educate. Her collection of history comics is fantastic and I've loved them all. Tesla!! (I made sure to show ManNorth Kate's recent comic about Sandford Fleming as the Man's been sporting a beard of his own of late, though not nearly as full as Fleming's.)

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a scientist or an engineer? Over at Being a Scientist and a Woman, Sciencewoman has just been joined by Alice Pawley, an engineer and a woman. Together they'll be blogging about their work and their experiences as women in their fields. I expect their blog to be renamed now that they've merged but for now, Being a Scientist and a Woman is where to find them. Go say hi!

Have fun reading!

Some things you just don't forget

The recent news that the Toronto School Board is going to create an afrocentric school, despite much controversy and reports about the decision around the world (see here and here for instance), led to a discussion between ManNorth and me about how and when children learn about racial and cultural diversity and hopefully, also about the need for equality and kindness in their interactions with others.

Although I'm certain that my parents did their best to teach me to be a good kid, respectful of others, cognizant of diversity and desirous of equality for all, what made me really understand how hurtful racist behaviour can be was seeing the result of it firsthand, caused by none other than me.

It was in grade two when one of my classmates told me a joke at recess that seemed funny at the time. I can't remember the details now but it involved 4 people on a plane, the need to quickly jump out and only 3 parachutes. A Chinese man was the butt of the joke although I'm sure that the other 3 passengers were also racist stereotypes. I don't know what possessed me to pass it on, other than that I actually remembered the entire joke (which is rare for me to this day) but I did. In spite of knowing it wasn't a nice joke, I told it to David P. who then told it to Andy H, a cute little kid of Chinese heritage. Andy broke into tears, David (who didn't give me up) was severely disciplined by Mrs. F. and I felt terrible.

Andy wasn't a close friend of mine (although by grade 5 I had a HUGE crush on him) but he was my classmate and I liked him and I had done something that was cruel and made him feel sad and horribly aware of a difference he had from many of his classmates.

That was the moment that the lessons about racism made sense and it wouldn't have occurred if I'd had only classmates of the same heritage as me. I'd like to think that I would have treated any child equally, irrespective of their skin colour, if I'd never had a chance to be friends with kids who looked different than me, but I can't be sure.

I hope that the new school in Toronto is a success and is of help to kids who need it but I can't dismiss the positive impact that exposure to classroom diversity had on me and is likely having for thousands of other children in classrooms today.

Hey! It's a lookout!

On Saturday ManNorth and I went on a small adventure that gave me a chance to check a few “firsts” off my list. Here’s a smattering of them, along with some photographic evidence.

1. I travelled the farthest north I’ve ever been.

2. I both melted and added to the ice of a winter ice road. (Hey, when one’s had too much coffee and there isn’t an appropriate facility for hundreds of miles around, what else is one going to do?) No, there’s no photographic evidence of that. Here’s another section of the road instead.
3. I crossed a section of Canada’s northern tree line and was surprised at how abruptly it ended. See the trees on the closest two hills on the right? There’s only one on the next hill and then nothing but tundra. 4. I drove on, walked on, ate and drank the Beaufort Sea (also known as the Arctic Ocean). (Drinking occurred after I hacked off a piece of ice from a pressure ridge, had it freeze to my tongue and then melt. It wasn’t as salty as I thought it would be. Eating was accomplished by chewing some of the ice.) 5. I climbed on a pressure ridge made of sea ice and marvelled at how much it looked like a frozen wave. (The formation of the ridge necessitated relocating a portion of the winter road onto the southern side of the ridge. You can see the old section of the road on the left side of the photo below.)
6. I saw my first pingo 7. ..and then I saw a whole bunch of them. 8. I discovered that although groceries are expensive in Northern Town, prices aren’t bad compared to those of Northern Hamlet. 9. I was asked, quite loudly and enthusiastically, if I was “Spikin?!?” by a happy woman wearing beautifully beaded sealskin boots on our way into the Northern Store in Northern Hamlet. “No,” I answered rather confusedly, although I wondered if perhaps we were or should be.

Big Red even experienced a few firsts, one of which she was quite familiar with, although never this far north:
1. She was the farthest north she’d ever been.
2. She got to drive on the Arctic Ocean. 3. She got stuck the farthest north she’s ever been and for a truck that has been stuck pretty much any where she goes, this wasn’t a particular surprise, although we’d hoped she’d forgo the thrill of it in Northern Hamlet.
(She capitalized on the opportunity to get stuck while making a sharp turn from Northern Hamlet back down a steep and narrow slope onto the ice road. In spite of her winter tires, they wouldn’t grip enough to back out of the snow bank she was close to sliding into, which she’d ended up in because her turning radius was too big, she has only rear wheel drive and the steeply angled road was made of ice. Before we could pull out the tire chains, two friendly and bemused locals helped her & us out, with a friendly tip to ManNorth that the trick of winter driving here is to avoid the snow banks. I completely forgot to take a picture to the very great appreciation of ManNorth who had been the one behind the wheel.)

One of the men helping us out informed us that a local hunter had just taken a polar bear quite close to town a few days ago, making it a total of three bears successfully hunted by the community this winter. He chuckled and said that it was lucky to take a bear so easily without having to go far and that it was good that someone was having fun in the cold. (Not the bear, of course.)

Last but not least, here’s my favourite story from our weekend adventure:
While driving around doing the secretive-touristy thing through Northern Hamlet (which involves looking like lost tourists while wandering around and hiding one’s camera while taking photos on the sly), we found a road that seemed to be taking us to one of the nearby pingos. I was keen to get a closer look and was pleased when the road abruptly ended at the edge of a small pond with a pingo perfectly framed between two low hills. Tourists who come this far north are sure to visit at least one of the nearby pingos and so I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that the local residents had decided to capitalize on the tourism and create the road and lookout to the nearest pingo for their occasional tourists.

I did wonder though, at the material used to create the barrier, believing for a moment that they’d used whatever scrap metal they had on hand.

Of course, ManNorth was shaking with laughter at my shout of “Hey! It’s a lookout!” and my musing about the barriers for we’d just arrived at Northern Hamlet’s sewage lagoon. “Can’t you smell what you’re standing in?” ManNorth inquired with a huge smile as I took a look under my feet at the brownish ice and a second look at the “lookout barriers”.

Hmm. That explained what the big truck leaving the lookout had been doing just before we drove up and why part of the lagoon was still steaming.

I won't leave you with that lovely image of the lagoon. Here's a favourite photo of the sea ice and another taken on our way back home.

Friday News Brief

The sun is now rising at 10:45 AM and setting at about 5PM in Northern Town. I'm eagerly anticipating long sunny days and planting our veggies in a to-be-rented plot in the community greenhouse.


It's cold here in Northern Town ('twas -42C early this morning) and ManNorth and I are particularly glad that the cost of heating our apartment is included in our rent. When we first moved into our apartment we were surprised that our access to the balcony was through a single, poorly sealed metal door. We would have sealed it off completely for the winter with insulation and a plastic window cover over the entire door frame but we use the balcony to store extra frozen food, such as our Christmas turkey and our buttermilk haul. Unfortunately, this means that we lose a lot of heat through the balcony door. We've installed weather stripping around all four sides of the door in addition to a single length of weather stripping that was already in place, which has made an enormous difference, but we still end up with this some days:



(The three snowy balls perched along the bottom trim are actually entirely made of frost that has accumulated on the top of flat headed screws that are flush with the trim.)

Tomorrow ManNorth and I are having an adventure and taking Big Red....out onto the Arctic Ocean (providing we can get enough gas for the trip)! ManNorth is very excited to show me the sea ice and to have a winter picnic with the pack ice for a backdrop. I'll do my best to post a few photos from the trip on Sunday.

Sometime early next week I'll be getting some important news that may very well change things for me in Northern Town, in mostly very good ways. For now, I'm jumping every time the phone rings...

Stay tuned for the updates!

Ta da!

“Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?”
-John Donne

We’re hoping that the new curtains we put up yesterday in our living room and kitchen will not only block the sunlight streaming through the windows in the middle of the night this summer, but will also help to insulate against the cold in the winter.

Yes, yes. I did quote Donne just now. ManNorth quite likes Donne’s poetry which provides one justification. I also didn’t think that Churchill’s iron curtain speech would be an appropriate segue into this post’s topic. ;)

We purchased the curtains in late August but stubbornly refused to pay for the single kind of expensive curtain rods that were available in town (or to purchase ugly, cheap and flimsy aluminum rods which was our other option) and devised our own plan that would require lumber to be brought up with us from Prairie Town during our New Year’s trip and a wee bit of creativity and elbow grease from us. Of course, we not only love building things and projects that we can do together but also making these projects more complicated than they need to be so this fit right in!

We knew exactly what we needed when we came up with our design. We wanted to block sunlight that would shine up towards the ceiling along the top edge of the curtain rod as well as providing a good base from which to hang our blinds. It would be nice too, if the contraptions could also serve as additional shelving. Something like this:

(Excuse the coffee stain.)

ManNorth did the honours and cut the boards I’d marked, routed the decorative edges and used our jigsaw to cut the s-curves in the side supports.
I had great fun routing out ¼ inch holes to counter sink all the screws and less fun using our hacksaw (of all things) to cut all the doweling to cover said screws. I had the most fun putting it all together and then staining both units. The “red mahogany” stain was supposed to be a bit reddish but it came out simply dark brown, which was also just fine. Staining wood is one of my favourite things as I love seeing the grain come out as the stain goes on. I wish I'd known though, that wood glue doesn't pick up stain well and a few areas along the joints now show all the glue that I smeared on the wood when I tried to wipe it off after it leaked out when I attached all the boards. Ah well.

...and voila! Scratch another project off our to-do list.

For the curious, here are the materials used:
Tools: router, jigsaw, hacksaw, drill (which also doubled as a screwdriver), hammer, sander.
Lumber: 2 8ft X 9 inch X ¾ inch boards, ¼ inch doweling, 4 wooden drawer knobs (cheaper than buying finials), 2 5ft mop handles (I couldn’t find any doweling long enough), 8 ½ inch wooden craft “buttons” (to cover the mounting screws instead of doweling because they can be popped out when we need to take the shelving down)
Misc. Gear: 32 1 ½ inch wood screws (plus 4 de-headed 1 inch screws to attach the wooden drawer knobs/finials to the ends of the mop handles that were used as curtain rods), wood glue, wood filler, plastic gloves, wood stain, brush, varathane, patience, absent neighbours.

I've got a what?

This weekend the Man and I took our truck, Big Red, out for a spin to do some errands and simply to run the truck as we don’t drive it often. It’s been COLD lately –dipping down into the -40’s (C) before windchill and generally staying in the high -30s and we’ve been impressed with Red’s ability to handle the cold. She needs a few minutes to warm up and is a bit sluggish for the first minute or so of driving, after which, she’s just fine. We do plug in the engine block heater and the battery warmer whenever she’s not in use, but not everything can be plugged in, of course. This is a picture of what she usually looks like while parked in our lot and in our parking space which is on an incline, as the apartment building is on a hill.
After we’d driven her for a few minutes and I’d wondered why the apparently smooth road felt so bumpy, I discovered something new that happens when the mercury drops to the chilly temperatures common in Northern Town in February.

Square Tires!

Yep. The tire pressure was on the low side and the truck had been parked on an incline, putting a fair bit of the truck’s weight on the back tires. As it was so ridiculously cold (-39C that morning and -41 overnight), the tires had frozen...and kept their frozen shape as I drove off, bouncing the truck every time the flat side of the tires rotated around. ManNorth explained the problem and the moniker as we spent some time trying to inflate the tires after the squareness had worn off, so to speak, during the drive. It’s a problem that will be hard to avoid. Correct tire pressure will help, but only warmer temperatures (or a heated garage) will really do the trick.

Pancake anyone?

There's nothing finer on a cold (-39C) weekend morning than sleeping in, being brought a hot mug of coffee to sip while reading in bed and having one's spouse get up specifically to whip up a batch of buttermilk pancakes.