Bandwidth - More Valuable than Gold!

You've probably heard me/us complain about the speed of our internet before, and how we have had to really scale down our use since moving up here. Actually, I wrote a comparison post before we moved up as part of the research of setting ourselves up for the move.

For the most part, we have been pretty good at staying within our monthly cap - and that is really good for us considering how much we were using in the south. The last while however, have been a little difficult and we usually find ourselves capped out near the end of the month (usually the last day or so). There is a brief phase of misguided optimism where we proclaim indifference to the dial-up speeds - but that usually lasts approx. 10 minutes before we cave and painstakingly try to log into our account and pay for more bandwidth.

Just a glimpse at what we get for what we pay - and before we go any further, I want to clarify that I'm not looking for alternatives for satellite internet or anything like that since we don't want to pay for the dish and deal with the set up. We are sticking to our current provider but just wanted to share what the plans look like.

We currently have the cheapest plan; though at $80 it's really not cheap at all. That gives us 10 GB of bandwidth a month before we are bumped down to dial-up speeds (and they aren't kidding - dial up speeds are enforced the second you hit your cap...and they are so painful). We are looking at 1.5 Mbps as the average speed we typically get. If we want more bandwidth to hold us over to the next month, we can buy them 1 GB at a time for $18 after tax, or upgrade for an extra 5 GB for $53 or 20 GB for $270 (HA!).

Compared to the plan we were on at home (which by no means was the cheapest plan we could have found, but did the job) - we paid about $40 a month for 14 Mbps and 125 GB/month. Huuuuuge difference.

Just wanted to share/shed some light on it since I was just checking our account and noticed that we are 6 days into the month and have used up 1/2 our bandwidth (eek!) - I'm seriously contemplating spending the $50+ to get us an extra 5 GB. Internet is our biggest indulgence here and what keeps us connected to our family and friends, plus allows us to do the things we need to do (ie. everything) so there's no way we could go through the whole month without internet.

To all our geeky friends out there - see? Yours isn't so bad now, is it?? :)

-L

Produce Problems

We try to eat fairly healthy when we can - and that typically includes as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. Sometimes it can be difficult because the produce isn't in the greatest condition by the time it gets to us, and sometimes when the weather is bad, the shelves at the store are pretty bare with no planes flying in to drop off freight.

It is no surprise that groceries and supplies are expensive in the north. Everyone knows it, we've talked it about it numerous times - it doesn't mean that it makes it easier when you're shopping. Flyers are home sometimes have multiple pages of fresh fruits and vegetables on sale - here, in a 3 or 4 page flyer, you might have 2 or 3 *items* that are fresh produce on sale. Even then, the sale prices are still many times more than what you'd pay in the south. The lack of fresh produce in great condition is amplified in the winter months, obviously. It makes you more appreciative of a good salad or fruit that is crispy and fresh.

 

 

 

 

The kicker is that produce is supposed to be heavily subsidized under the Nutrition North program. In some cases, such as milk, the savings are noticeable (4L for about $5.09) but you can't tell me that $14.99/kg of bell peppers is subsidized. Imagine what it would be if it wasn't!

We save a bit of money buying frozen fruits and vegetables (still not overly inexpensive, but better than the condition of some of the fresh stuff), but sometimes you just really want a good salad, you know?

I keep trying to make myself feel better by saying that it's ok, summer will be here in just 4 months.
Wait...that's not close at all. Sigh.

Trying to keep the scurvy at bay,
-L

Working in Nunavut, Part 2: Choosing Balance

A while back, I wrote about working in Nunavut for a blog community I subscribe to in my professional life. I was asked to write another post recently, but thought I would share it here as well, since the work posts seem to be popular searches when people are researching Nunavut.

Someone made a comment that it's a choice to be made whether you decide to find balance between your work life and your home life, and while that is true - it is nice to have the option. Sometimes when it feels like it is too competitive or the norm to work extra hours, the choice isn't really yours to make. I'm thankful for the ability to choose to be balanced as I feel it has made me much more productive both at work and at home.

Enjoy...

Price Check: Household Goods

We've talked about the high cost of food here in Nunavut, but I've had people ask what the cost of other items, such as household goods and personal care items, cost. It's just as bad as the cost of food, unfortunately. Although it seems like grocery costs for some items are going down (milk for example, was $8.95 a year ago and is now $4.99 a gallon. That's cheaper than what I was paying in the south!), the cost of the other items are still very high. I am not sure if they are covered under the subsidy program, but that could be a part of the reason why the cost is still so high.

Forgive the not-great quality of the pictures, but I didn't want someone to catch me taking pictures and being asked to stop. I've heard that in some communities/stores, people have been banned from some stores for taking pictures and posting them online! I don't know if that would happen here, but as there aren't really many options to shop here, I'd rather not limit myself even more. So these were hastily taken when I found myself shopping one day and thought to bring my camera with me. (As always, click in the picture to make it bigger.)

Shipping Woes

A while back, I wrote a post about online shopping and what sites we were using - specifically sites that offered good prices with reasonable, if not free, shipping to Nunavut. Unfortunately, in the months since that post, a few companies have now changed their shipping policies and it's left us scrambling to find alternatives. It seems counter-intuitive, but as more people started taking advantage of the shipping/buying from the sites, the more they "caught on" that they had customers here and needed to start charging more.

 Let's review what companies have changed their policies since our last post:

Travel Reward Cards

Traveling isn't cheap on a regular basis, but traveling when you live in Nunavut is crazy expensive. There are a select few airlines who service the territory, and they charge an arm and a leg because they have the market trapped (literally). If you're not using discount codes, or flying on a seat sale, just getting out of Nunavut can cost you thousands of dollars - not to mention the cost of the flight elsewhere afterwards, say if you're going on to Toronto or anywhere other than Ottawa, Winnipeg or Yellowknife. We've often said that for the cost of one of us getting out of Nunavut, we could both fly across the world...and we're sadly not even exaggerating.

Since flights are so expensive, most everyone who has a credit card here uses a travel rewards card to earn points to get free flights home - and that's something I would highly recommend you switching to if you're considering living in the north and have the means to a credit card. The most popular one seems to be the CIBC Aerogold Visa. Unfortunately, CIBC will only send your card to a branch and you have to go and pick it up - hard to do when you live a flight or two away from the closest branch. I recently switched to an American Express Aeroplan card because they mail them directly to you wherever your home address is, and the application process is relatively painless. The only downside is that there are still some places that don't accept AMEX, although we've been able to use ours all around Baker Lake without a hitch.

Whatever you choose as your card, you should keep an eye out for bonus point promotions when you sign up. Most cards will offer to waive the first year of your annual fee, which ranges from $120 to $500 per year depending on what kind of card you get/what benefits you want (though that seems like a lot, think of how much you spend on a card and factor in whether or not a high annual fee that allows you to earn free flights faster works out to be a better savings in the end. If you're paying $500/year and getting a free $3,000 flight - there's no question that it's worth it.) It's a little bit of research now that could save you thousands of dollars later, so I highly recommend taking the time to choose a card that's best for your needs/spending habits. You'll be so thankful for it later!

-L

Guest Post: Expectations vs. Reality

Next up in our guest poster series - a fellow Ontarian who moved to Baker Lake at the end of 2012 - a true "newbie's" perspective! 

Take it away, Jeremy...

What Else is Expensive in Nunavut?

Everything.

Everything is expensive in Nunavut if you've been exposed to prices south of here, or have discovered the beauty of shopping online (though some places won't ship this far north, and if they do, it could be crazy expensive...so that may not be a good option either).

One of the "convenience" stores in Baker Lake also has an electronics counter and I recently found out they also sell furniture from time to time. I think it's beyond a typical convenience store - which there are a couple of small ones in town - because it sells a variety of other things if the stock is available.

The store sometimes posts a few sale prices on Facebook, and I grabbed a recent flyer to show what non-grocery items can look like in terms of pricing:

I'm quite certain that you can get most of these items for a lower price with free shipping if you purchased online. For larger items (such as the appliances and furniture), the shipping is usually at a premium cost so people tend to wait until summer when the barges come and order it up that way (barges are also when many people purchase vehicles and have them sent up, but that's a different story).

Clothing is also quite expensive here, since the only place to purchase it would be at the Northern - and the mark-up is steep. I have seen track pants or jeans that are Walmart or Zellers brand go for $75. I get that sometimes it's necessary to purchase items that you don't have the luxury of waiting for it to be shipped, but stores need to realize this and cut us some slack - prices could be lowered significantly and they'd still be making a huge profit.

-L

Weekly Sale at the Co-Op

As I've mentioned before, the Co-Op used to offer more fruits and vegetables that were in better condition than the Northern, but there's been a noticeable decline in the past couple of months - to the point where we hardly go there anymore. One time we went, and the store was in such neglect that there were visibly mouldy bags of shredded cheese in the cooler and bags of fruit that were so past their edible date that they leaked onto the floor in a big brown puddle (ick).

Their prices have also gone up fairly significantly in the past little bit as well. When we first got here, bagged salad kits were $3 and now they're anywhere from $6 to $8. They've also stopped putting price tags on their produce so you're not quite sure how much something is until you get to the till. I was very excited to see Asian Pears the other day and thought as a treat for Lunar New Year, I'd buy one so we could share it. Unfortunately I wasn't man enough to pay $3 for one (not very large) pear, so that went back on the shelf!

When you don't have much choice in terms of shopping options, it still helps to do price comparisons for items. Although not as fancy as the Northern's, here's the flyer from the Co-Op from last week. We bought the apples and although they are very small, they are still pretty good and crisp.

Looking at this flyer makes me pretty thankful we stocked up on toilet paper before we came up though - pretty sure we paid no more than $0.16 per roll, and this sale brings it to an astonishing $0.71 each! You don't even want to know what the cost is when it's full price. So next time you're at the store and you're looking through your flyers, think of us and be glad you're not paying 4x as much!

-L

How the tables have turned!

Thinking of our family and friends today as they are battling a storm in the GTA that predicts up to 40cm of snow in some areas by the end of the day! The good thing about being here is that I haven't really seen massive amounts of snowfall at a time. There's a lot of snow after the blowing stops, and the drifts can be taller than buildings, especially after the plows push them up - but the amount that falls at any given time isn't a lot at once.

I feel like the tables have turned today and I'm actually glad to be in Nunavut with our weather today as Ontario digs itself out through the crazy snow. If you have to be out on the roads and take your time! It's cold here -54 with the wind chill, and the wind is definitely blowing, but at least it is sunny clear out.

My nice view this morning!

Stay safe!
-L

Working in Nunavut, Part 1: Making the Move

Update November 2013: You can read part 2 here.

Recently, I was asked to write for a blog community in my field about working in the Arctic. I started writing without a clear plan, and came up with an honest reflection of how I feel after working here for a few months. Here is what I came up with - apologies to everyone I already spammed with the article; I just really wanted to share it here as well. :)

Buffers

For those of you planning to travel over the holidays, let me offer you some sound advice; add a buffer. Or two. To put it more plainly: factor an extra day or two into your trip. I mention this because weather is that great unknown quality that can make your holiday beautiful, or strand you at an airport, and in my line of work, I see all too much of the latter. I've joked with my pilots before about the show Arctic Air, which shows planes taking off and landing in what appears to be really crazy weather, and ask them why they can't do that, and the response I get is that TV and reality are widely spaced. The truth is that the minimum conditions to land an airplane up here do contain ample safety margin, and the other day is a good example of why. Up until about 20 minutes before the plane was due to land, the weather was fine. In those last 20 minutes, though, we had thick fog roll in, making visibility on the ground impossible, and making some passengers' plans all for nought. So take it from the expert - don't assume that travelling in the north will mirror your experience in the south.

Online Shopping Guide

With Christmas around the corner, and a distinct lack of physical shopping at hand, we've (let's be real here, I'm the shopper in this family!) had to learn to be resourceful at using the internet to find sites that offer online shopping.

The trick is to find retailers that offer reasonable, or even better, free shipping. Some sites will do shipping for free in the South and because Nunavut is considered "remote," we may not qualify for these deals.

I thought it would be helpful to list some of the sites that I have found really useful/helpful/lucrative for our shopping needs. Mos of the Christmas shopping we've been doing for friends and family at home have come from these retailers. *I will update the list as I discover more sites I like.

Winnipeg: It's the New Buffalo!

A play by play of our spontaneous weekend trip to Winnipeg, complete with numerous pictures of  us looking ridiculously happy and some delicious food - this post is so long it may take you a whole weekend to read it! :)

Before we moved to Nunavut, we lived fairly close to the Canada/US border, and would often drive the 45 minutes to hop over and do some shopping and eat some food. This past weekend was sort of the same...only instead of driving for 45 minutes, we flew for 6 hours. Almost exactly (not really) the same thing! Either way, it was with the same intentions: buy things we can't buy here and eat food we can't eat here.

Duty Travel

I had to travel a fair amount for my last job, so it's been nice that I've been able to stay home for my current job for the past while. However, I was excited when I knew I'd be doing a bit of travel here and there because it's always nice to get out and meet new people/see different places. Here, they call it "duty travel" - sounds so official. Both Jeff and myself are traveling for work this week; Jeff left for training in Winnipeg yesterday and I left for Iqaluit on Monday. It worked out really well because we're both home on Friday within a half hour of each other, so neither of us has to be home alone.

Harris Meats and Groceries

We were recently introduced to Harris Meats & Groceries, a company based out of Winnipeg that flies in fresh and frozen foods to Nunavut a couple times a week. Depending on where your community is, the shipping charges vary – but the cost is also subsidized through the Nutrition North Program (healthier foods and necessities get charged very little in freight vs. processed/junk food). They have some things listed on their website, but you can also contact them and ask for anything you want and they will send a shopper out to get it (ie. I wanted "specialty" vegetables and they weren’t on the site, but they got them for me).

“Controlled” Liquor – Using the Term Loosely

One of the conveniences of living in Ontario, or most other areas of Canada, is that you could run to the liquor store or the beer store as easily as running to the closest gas station. Nunavut is a little different, because there are communities that are completely dry (no liquor is sold anywhere) or controlled (there is liquor for sale, but it is monitored by how much you are allowed to purchase, how often, etc.).

Baker Lake is a controlled community – something we knew before we came up. There are rules as to how much liquor, if any, you are allowed to transport across provincial/territory borders, and moving companies will typically say it is against their policies to ship it because of the border patrol and the risk of it causing damage on the planes.

Tuning In

Note: Another cost comparison post that may be a little boring for most of you (sorry). However, if you're interested in learning about TV options in Nunavut, read on!
 
I had no idea looking into television packages/providers was going to be as complicated as it has been. I feel like we've been researching so much that I'm practically an expert! We went into it thinking that we wanted something that made us feel connected enough that it felt like "home" but also wasn't going to break the bank. With very little social activities, and Netflix probably not being a viable option, we also figured we should be looking at something that offered a lot of channels.

The people that we've talked to have mostly been on Team Satellite. It gives you the widest variety of channels, but the reception may be spotty when there's bad weather. I suppose that's true no matter where you are, but I feel like we'd be more likely to have worse weather in Nunavut as opposed to Ontario. However, with satellite, you're looking at doing a self-install (I would be soooo useless in this task) and more money than going with a regular cable provider.

At the end of the day, here are the costs that we were looking at:

Goosed!

When we decided that we were making the move, one of the first things that we started looking up was which jackets to buy. I have a closet full of winter jackets that have kept me warm enough here, but we both needed something that would be able to withstand the extreme conditions that we'll be facing this winter.

There are a lot of options when it comes to jackets, and two separate camps of people when it comes to what is the "better" route for protection. First, you have to decide what is best for you: either you want to go with a lighter jacket and layer underneath with good base layers, or you can get a thicker jacket and you're all set. Most of the time, the base layer method results in a less expensive jacket - but don't be fooled, you can still spend a pretty penny by the time you're done.

The Cost of Staying Connected

Note: This is going to be a long post (sorry) - and not very exciting - unless you're one of our geeky friends, in which case, you too, will be appalled at our internet "conditions" we'll be facing; but I wanted to share the research we've done on what kind of bill prices we're looking at for phone, internet, etc. So family and friends: appreciate the lengths we go to so we can stay connected to you! HA! :)

One of the things that we've been researching is how to stay connected after our move - I want to try to work it so that the minute we walk through the door of our house, we just need to plug in a phone and our computer and be connected. I've heard a few stories of it taking days/weeks to get things hooked up, and I don't want to be disconnected from our loved ones for that long - especially when they'll be anxious to know that we've arrived/settled in ok. We've been told that we absolutely must have a land line because it is much more reliable than a cell phone, and we will obviously need internet (How did the world survive without the internet? I remember tying up my parents' phone line for hours with our horribly slow dial-up....sigh, those were the days!)