One unit of measurement I haven’t expected to use as often as I do is Julian Day. Many dates utilize the Julian day alongside the Zulu (or Universal Time Standard) time to avoid the confusion of time zones and DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY debate. Today’s Julian Day is 54 (the 54th day of the year), and…

From my perch on the old lab tower, I could see the winds stampede over the mountain ridges, billowing snow carving its way over the tundra. The wind was screaming in my ears. I watched it kick up whorls of snow that flew up the walls and through the slats of the wooden stairs. The…

“Oh yeah, you’ll need to wear coveralls,” Hannah added. I was already one boot on. Begrudgingly, I untied my laces and stared at the bright orange coveralls. Apparently, this was the size Hannah usually wears, though she had said it is big on her. Monstrous on me then. One thing about working up here is…

About two months before leaving Ontario for the High Arctic, I had a dream. I was sitting in the back of a truck at night with two people who I couldn’t identify sitting in the front, having a conversation about something that I knew nothing about. Looking to my left out the window, I could…

Dear Marty, I know Google is an amazing tool that can tell us a lot of things about the world around us and I hate to be the one to break it to you but…people lie on the internet. There is no Terrys Tacos, Subway Subs, or even a Tim Hortons up here at the…

Polar night is when the night lasts for over 24 hours in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. There are a few different types of ‘polar nights’ and all of them correspond to an increasing level of darkness as the sun lowers further below the horizon the higher north (or lower south) you travel.…

I lied when I said that the weekends are quiet at Alert. It’s the weekend MORNINGS that are quiet, and sleepy as everyone gets well-deserved rest before the brunch rush. It’s the weekdays that are truly quiet in terms of non-work-related hustle and bustle. I was originally planning on posting something on Friday to mark…

The weekends at Alert are quiet, and almost ominous. 8am is a great time to walk around, explore a bit and reinforce your sense of direction however half the lights are turned off and you get creepy hallways that seem to stretch on forever. Just kidding that’s the only hallway like that. This is the…

Another thing about the military is that no one tells you anything. It was 2 hours before our flight, and I hadn’t been told we were going to Alert instead. I had overhead some of the guys sharing the news amongst each other right outside my door. I got ready for one of them to…