Wednesday night I was at the Montreal vs Edmonton game. While I have seen a number of games in Calgary this was my first official bum in seat NHL game. I had a wonderful time. A friend from NU happened to be in town and managed to get tickets and lucky me...I got to go. After a lovely supper at Pappa's Pizza we were off to the game. I took a few hundred photos and have been deleting the fuzzy ones this evening in an attempt to find a few good ones. I have uploaded a few good ones below.

I'm off to Cambridge Bay in the morning...but my trip has been shortened. I have been needing/wanting a meeting at work with certain people and that is now taking place the last week of the month. So I need to cut my trip short in order to attend. Can't say that I'm overly sorry about that today. I am heading back in March for another week so it all works out. Now cross your fingers that during the week I am in town I get some sunshine for pictures.

Surprisingly enough it is only 8pm Saturday night and my bag is packed and ready to go. The only thing left to go in is some food out of the fridge in the morning. I have been packed since about 4pm this afternoon...there is a first for everything.

Another trip to the doctors office today...and more pills. Since the sinus issue has yet to fully correct itself..and I apparently still have a tiny bit of a fever I am having a second dose of the fun pills. The Dr wasn't overly concerned with the allergic reactions and figures that they are not being caused by the meds...so that is a bonus but the pharmacist and I agreed that until I am off the meds I will continue to travel with benedryl!

On a totally disgusting dr related issue...I picked up a toe fungus in India last year. I initially thought it was just a damaged nail ( you know, from one of the many bricks I dropped on said toe) and then once I decided it was fungal tried to treat with over the counter stuff and every home treatment I could find. Obviously it didn't work. I have known for a while that I should speak up and uncover the toe in the presence of a dr and get some help, but with everything else going on it seemed minor. This past weekend though I realized that sandal weather will be upon me sooner than I am used to and that I should finally speak up. A quick glance at the little piggy and the dr wrote a scrip. I have 100 pills to take...one a day for the next 100 days....though in actual fact dr and I decided I should get the sinus issue out of the way before I start on the toe! At this moment I am very glad for health insurance as the pills for my funky toe cost $278.40! Yikes! Lucky for me...my health plan covered it all!

I also finally managed to track down a copy of the results from my colposcopy in January. No, no additional information on the sheets, but I like having a copy...something about being able to look at the sheet and read it over and over again is re-assuring. And no wonder it hurt. The sample size was 0.5cm...which if you look at a ruler isn't very big. But when you think about where that came from...OUCH!

I am just over a month away from my LEEP and am feeling better about it daily. I think the more I have shared about it the better I feel. I guess having things oout in the open is always better than hiding them away.

Work is a touch frantic this week. So much to do. I am trying to get a new booth set up for the trade show next week, buy the 'kit' that I take to shows with me (safety pins, markers, duct tape, stick pins, elastics, stapler, extra staples, scissors, envelopes, post it notes, sticky velcro and clips) this 'kit' has served me well at past job fairs and I am sure will once again come in handy. I went candy shopping this evening and had ballots translated for the door prize done up this afternoon...there are so many little details to think about when getting ready for a show.

I found out today that they do have an apartment ready and waiting for me. Yeah! I will be taking some dvd's with me, my favorite tea pot, a good book and chicken. We will have some privacy during our stay and the ability to cook our own meals. I can eat in the bunkhouse with the rest of the folks whenever I want...but this will be great...especially seeing as most of the meals last time involved pork and I prefer to keep my body pig free.

It's been quite a week thus far.

This time next week I will be enroute to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. I'm heading North for two weeks. If course I am not packed, not organized and the house isn't clean yet...but I did say it is a whole week away. And those of you who have traveled with me via the written word know that the packing and cleaning will commence a few hours before take off.

I'm really excited about the first week of the trip. The annual trade show will be on and I will get to see a few old friends from Iqaluit. Not as many as I would like, but a few.

I am hoping to stay in one of the apartments the company owns rather than the bunkhouse. Oh sure, it was fine last time, but I would prefer something with a bit more privacy. We have also discussed if management should be staying with non-management. It is still being debated. The problem gets into the conversations in the evenings. Do the non-management have the ability to vent their frustrations with management if management is in the same room? Should evening discussion revolve around work issues? Etc. I'm more concerned about having personnel files with me and folks getting into them or at least seeing them.

As an update on the sick girl. I was feeling better on Thursday but did go home early to nap. I slept a record 7 hours that night and managed to be productive on Friday. Then in the middle of the afternoon it happened...I was hungry and decided a small snack was in order. I opened up a can of tomato juice and within 5 minutes my top lip rivaled that of Angelina Jolie's. And let me tell you ladies and gentlemen I will not be getting my lips done anytime soon. Not a good look for me. I pumped in some benedryl and a few hours later the swelling started to go down. But I was concerned. Today, Sunday was the last day for the meds. I have a follow up appointment tomorrow and hopefully more meds will follow along with some insight on the allergic reactions. Two in one week for a person who has never had any is a big scary. And while I am on the mend, I am not cured yet...so I`m hoping for another dose of drugs. I do not want to fly with my current sinus issues. It will be a painful flight.

My fish will be headed to the office while I am away. I have considered taking him with me, but I think he would prefer the office to my Northern stopover. I am hopeful for many, many pictures from Cambridge Bay. Surely in the two weeks I will be there I will get sunshine at least one day. And with my new camera in hand I might even be able to capture a few good shots.

This time last year I was in sunny, HOT, sweaty India. Up to my eyes in bricks and dirt...and loving every single minute of it. Oh I can't wait to do another Habitat trip.

Here's a couple shots from last year...as seen previously.

I'm in my office at work...my tongue is out I'm making a phhzzt noise and doing a happy dance. Why? Cause I was right!

Sure, it happens now and then.

When I got my new business cards in December I checked the translation against my old card and it didn't match. It didn't even come close. I was confused and mentioned it. Asked who had done the translation and all that but basically got blank looks and whatevers. Today an email arrived from one of the other staffers who got cards in December. Her card was on a desk in Yellowknife and someone read it. Asked why her business card said Jennifer and a different last name. LOL. I checked and sure enough my name is one her card.

So I have been proven correct.

I survived my first day back at the office. YEAH me! In spite of myself I was even productive this afternoon. And if you haven't noticed, yes, I hate being sick. And while I have been known to suffer the occasional down day due to cold, flu, hangover...I would say that up until the past few months I was a relatively healthy girl. And happy to only see my dr every few months.

By Sunday night I was crawling the walls. By Monday night (hives and all) I decided that maybe I should re-arrange my furniture. I didn't, but likely only because I didn't have the energy. By Tuesday night I was bored of tv and surfing the internet.

Today I was up and at least functioning. Tomorrow I hope I remember what did at work today. The great thing about starting work on a Wednesday is that Friday is just around the corner.

Decisions today...buy a bicycle and bbq this spring. Preferably the bike first. I am anxious to get out and get moving. While I enjoyed tromping around the tundra in my parka, I do not enjoy slippery sidewalks and rushing traffic. It is not very relaxing or restful to have large trucks driving by within inches of my body. I am under the impression that there are bike trails around the city...which will be proven when the snow disappears in a few months.


Won't this bench be nice for sitting on in the spring/summer.

I survived the weekend. Barely. It is now Tuesday morning and I still haven't managed to get to work this week. By a strange (but wonderful) twist of fate I had a dr appointment booked for Monday afternoon. I showed up extremely early and got the pity vote and was allowed in earlier than expected. As I went over my symptoms and he stuck the thermometer in my ear. "Whoo. You definitely have a fever." Diagnosis sinus infection. Gave me a scrip and sent me on my way but am supossed to come back in a week.

I took the first dose around 2:30pm.

Conversation with my mom: "I don't feel good. Make me supper." Which of course wasn't happening due to the over 3000km difference in our addresses. I got off the phone and decided some of those nice soft kleenex with the lotion were in order. I decided it would also be a good idea to pick up some supper. Rather than ruin an old favorite with sick taste buds I headed to Quiznos. I finally drag myself home and once again settle in on the couch. My BFA calls and as we chat I rudely chew my flatbread in her ear. I finish supper we continue chatting. Then I start scratching my arm. And I find I'm feeling kinda itchy allover. I figure the fever is spiking again. I finally look at my arm and say on the phone "My arm is covered in red spots" We discuss the spots and hang up. I head to the head and upon lifting my shirt notice that my entire torso is covered in large red spots. Scary.

I freak out for a few minutes. Then finally call the 24 hour RN hotline that AB has. As I wait on hold I google hives, allergic reaction, etc. After a few more minutes on hold I decided to head to the pharmacy. Pharmacists always know. Sam the pharmacist says definitely an allergic reation and gives me benedryl and sends me home. He didn't listen to my whole story about the new food and the new medication. He just figured it was the meds. I called the pharmacy I got the scrip from and they suggested that based on the timing it was the food.

The benedryl kicked in within 4 hours and I was hive free all night. I took a second dose just in case, but the problem hasn't come back. I'm hoping to be back in the office tomorrow...if for no other reason than a change of scenery. I have spent so much time on my couch since Friday night I will soon need to re-arrange the furniture for a different point of view. I hate being sick.