Awesome, awesome, awesome! I got a note from Clare today over at The House and Other Arctic Musings, and what a great surprise! Apparently I’ve been nominated as ‘best new blog’. Now, this kind of feels like cheating…I did, after all, have a different blog last year. However, I’ll take my luck as it comes.

The blogging world in the north is pretty strong…I haven’t yet been able to get used to being referred to as ‘Pang Bound’ (my site last year) or ‘The Daily Muise’, but it’s like family after awhile. ‘The Nunies’ is a yearly contest for northern blogs. If you win, the earned badge is a nice little piece bling to adorn your homepage.

Though I have some pretty tight competition, I’m going to do a little bit of shameless self-promotion here and say: vote for meeeee! Come on lurkers, make yourself known. You can find the ‘vote’ button here.

After getting into blogging, I became a little obsessive…posting at least once or twice a day and checking for comments, well, a lot. For some reason that hasn’t seeped into this year. What’s up with that? Have I finished with all my northern ‘firsts’? I don’t think so. Thankfully, when I read this post today, there were so many familiar references, I couldn’t help but smile. Thanks Breigh!

How many of you bloggers out there think in ‘blog-speak’? You know…you’re walking home or to the Northern or waiting for the water truck and, all of a sudden, something pops into your head. The grammar, the verb choice, the way you would choose your adjectives. Which element should be mentioned first? Perhaps I’m just a neurotic English teacher…it’s been a theory presented in the past. Perhaps.

Flexibility. I think that’s the thing that I’m learning more and more every day – especially in Qikiqtarjuaq! The mail hasn’t come in since Tuesday. It’s Saturday. There are no planes scheduled until Monday. Don’t even try to imagine the fresh fruit/vegetable section at the stores! I know there are ways to get those same nutrients, but I miss the fresh stuff. To all you guys who have access to fresh food…take advantage of it!

…and, to me…take advantage of the fact that I have food…

So enough with the ‘northern’ experience; how about just the ‘experience’? There should be something to write about (oh, and yes, I know that’s grammatically incorrect – live on the wild side, right?). Of course I can’t share everything in a public forum, but if someone’s interested enough to surf by this site every now and then, I’m sure I could make it a bit more interesting.

So flexibility? I’m teaching a media studies course right now which focuses on using blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, etc. in the classroom…and half the computers are riddled with viruses. The school doesn’t want me to download free programs online, so we’re waiting for the Norton software package to arrive. No planes, no mail, right?

Good luck to me. Flexibility. I got it! To be honest, though, this picture epitomizes the way I felt through most of the week.

I’ve been away from the blogosphere for months now; it’s such a weird feeling to sit here in Nunavut and begin again. I say “begin again” because this is an entirely new website. I just couldn’t continue with blogger and google’s propensity to change format options.

Unfortunately, changing sites leaves me with the distinct possibility that I will lose all my readers. Sure, some will maneuver their search engines to find me, but to most I’ll be the new-comer. So be it.

This year I was transferred from Pangnirtung - just south of the Arctic Circle – to Qikiqtarjuaq – a small hamlet just north of this longitudinal marker. A new community, a new year, and a new website.