Kuujjuaq

Thierry, December 30th, 201030dec-1

Some photos of the last two days of the year sent by our technician in Kuujjuaq.30dec-2 Landscapes

Calm, relaxed rhythm of life… Landscapes invite us to travel.

Thierry, November 29th, 201029-nov-2010-1

Alone…or not! A black dog A black dog accompanied me during all my Saturday’s walk. It is walk in river bank. Well, almost because I have to back up on the hill. The edges of the water are frozen and slippery thus it is not very easy to walk, except when we want to have a quick dip feet. The view is attractive and the sun, gives attractive colors. In this period he does not rise very high and he has yellow and orange tones.29-nov-2010-2

For my walk of this Sunday, I went towards the radar Nav Canada. The road is far from the river and I can have a walk on a flat ground. The wind and the snow cool me. The hood on the head, I am totally protected by the cold but it is not practical to look what is taking place around me.

No noise…silence.

I feel that I don’t live the walk but that I view it with a camera…but, I’m breathlessly and it is reminding me that, yes, I walk in the wind, the snow, the cold.

Thierry, November 21st, 201021-nov-2010-1

This morning, I filled the back of the car with big stones. That allows to make the car heavier  and allows the back wheels to better hang on to the road. For a test trip I went to the marina.

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Thierry, November 20th, 201020-nov-2010-1

The weather is beautiful. A beautiful blue sky and a magnificent sun. Moreover the sunrise was very special this morning. It is pleasant to have breakfast by watching the sun getting up, especially when you are inside while the outside temperature is - 10 °!

I leave for a walk, well equipped, so I am not afraid of this temperature.

Once at the top of the hill, a dog joins me, jumping with enjoyment into the snow, looking for I do not know which animal. Farther, quite white ptarmigans. The winter dress. After the white rabbit, the white ptarmigan is the second wild animal I discover!

The view of the river is rather impressive. The ice has come, yet still the current is fast. I look at20-nov-2010-2 the current: waves sail up the river. The tide is rising, it breaks the ice. I walk to the river bank and it is rather funny because the snow hides rocks and holes. I expect being on the right track and then I bog into the snow up to the middle-thigh.

I return at home, still accompanied by the dog. The sun is a little higher, the wind fell. It is pleasant to walk. There are warmer colors than in the morning but temperature is the same. Back home, I try to warm myself with a Tea.

Thierry, November 19th, 201019-nov-2010

The wind blows since 4 AM this morning, it whistles through the trees. The snow is very light, and yesterday evening we could think that flakes of silver fell of the sky. It was a very brilliant snow, a dust of snow …

 

 

 

 

 

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15 cm of snow and just on one side! It is not a hole, a pothole, and not a rock abstructing the wheels. Just the snow  which is too high already.

4x4, chains to pull and a shovel to clear what piled up with the wind. Nothing less …

Thierry, November 11th, 2010

These pictures speak for themselves. How to resist going for a walk when we have this landscape? Even, the cold could not stop me.

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Thierry, November 8th, 2010

Some evening pictures: blue sky and sunset.

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Thierry, October 25th, 201025-oct-2010

2 cm of snow is just the beginning, no? And no, it is not cold… 1 °: it must have snowed a part of the night, and it is still snowing. From time to time there is a lost flake, one of those who do not want to settle on the ground, one of those who dawdle and wonder weather it might end up in a snowball battle...Yes, these are the existential questions of snow flakes!

Benoît, January 27, 2006

The day of my scheduled return... and the day of a new unplanned and urgent mission: Tamaani, the Nunavik Internet Service Provider has warned us yesterday of virus activity in Kangiqsuallujuaq network. We decided today with the customer that I will rescheduled my return to go in first priority to this village to fix the problem. A two-days commando mission is planned and I prepared myself for a guerilla tactic and gathered all the necessary tools. Tamaani is also requirring me to install an outside wireless antenna for the Northern Store. I hope the weather will be gracefull...

Benoît, January 25, 2006

Another day of training and this time to the basics of computer with rookie users. It was very interesting to see how people can react differently to the same computer behavior. We managed to gain their trust in their PC, the first step to the raising learning curve!

Benoît, January 24, 2006

After having prepared the training room, we welcomed our participants coming from across Nunavik: Puvirnituq, Salluit, Umiujaq... They are all here in Kuujjuaq for a few days. The course we give is always theorical and practical to ensure people are getting used to the system they learn. And with Tunu's help, we again offered personalized presentation of the new system, as well as we trained people to use it, answering their questions as they araised. A full day of training!

Benoît, January 19, 2006

The beginning of my trip from Montreal to Kuujjuaq. The last time I went to this town was only 1 month ago but I am as happy as for my first time (3 years ago) because it's a new occasion to see my friends "upon" there. My mission is to implement the new Application for a dwelling system for the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau (KMHB) and to train the staff to use it. I also have to train the staff to the basics of their computers and some other maintenance tasks to complete. The end of my journey is scheduled for 10 days. As soon as I arrived to Kuujjuaq I settled myself into the local Soleica office managed by Tunu Napartuk. Our office here is in the KMHB building, so my way to our customer is pretty easy to walk!

Benoît, December 2005

On December 10th I left Montreal to Kuujjuaq in order to help the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau (KMHB) to move into their brand new office. My mission was, with the help of Tunu, Soleica employee in charge of our office in Kuujjuaq, to move the KMHB information system from the KMHB old office to the new one. To do so, the Soleica team has designed an action plan with the objective to minimize services disturbations. Our action plan was scheduling intensive working days until December 21st.

But the reality of the North kicked down our plan as soon as I landed in Kuujjuaq. The prerequisites for our mission were not completed and we have to deal with this major concern. Because of several delays in the building construction, many sub-contractors were in turn delayed in their tasks. For our part, the building of the local network was not yet completed, as it was scheduled to be.

The moving day was scheduled for December 16th. Everything that we could prepare before this migration day must have been prepared, or at least as far as we can. Everything doesn't mean packing the stuff only, but also to prepare the new building for the KMHB information system. This system is composed of servers, workstations, printers, network devices, an Internet access... and delivers services up to 80 users located in Kuujjuaq offices and in the 14 Nunavik village housings. More, we had decided to take this chance to setup the core of the system into racks located in a secured and temparature controlled room.

On December 17th, Bell, Tamaani and Soleica installed the wireless antennas to connect the KMHB building to Internet and their Kuujjuaq Warehouse. Since then, we have been completing the local network cabling and installing all the workstations, printers and network devices. Work is still in progress.

On December 16th, the migration day, KMHB technicians took off one window from the old office (located on the 2nd floor of KRG building) to facilitate the loading of all their stuff. They used a Skytrack to load the trucks which were in turn unloaded manually onto the new building delivery platform. On our side, we moved all the equipment and immediatly began to install it into the new building. It took us the whole day to assemble all the devices into the rack.

Antoine, December 10, 2004

We had yesterday evening a dinner to celebrate the end of the Internet project in Nunavik. All the personalities in Nunavik were there : the villages mayors, the regional advisers, the former federal deputy, and also Johnny Adams, President of Kativik Regional Government. I was one of the guests and I can say the evening was fabulous. The evening began with a series of congratulations to the all I.T. staff. We are nearly 10 now.

Then Johnny Adams made a speech to reward the work done these past three years. He then told the audience about my relation with the North i.e. my passion for the First Nations which goes back from childhood, when we were playing cowboys and Indians in the small village I was spending my holidays. He then explained to the assembly that my dream had become reality partly thanks to him because he helped me meet the Crees and his friend Grand Chief Ted Moses. This enabled us to work with the First Nations. He then told the audience some stories notably about one laced evening we spent in Montreal. I made him discover what a Royal Kir was and Burgundy wines. I was deeply moved and tears were close to appear.

Lots of Inuit friends were concerned by my current personal difficulties. Some of them even believe that I have lost my wife and marriage because I was too involved in this Internet project. Several mayors came and told me this.

Then after the speech, there were gorgeous Inuit songs, among those there was the one from the composer and author George Kakayuk of Salluit. His song touched us so much : it was about being away from home. It was then followed by a song contest with Johnny Oovaut, the Quaqtaq mayor, and Luc Harvey. The assembly was laughing to tears. The evening ended up superbly with a plate served with Beluga meat that was fresh and still bleeding. I will never forget all these gracious moments which reward me for the years working, discovering and of self- sacrifice. All those moments help me fill better.

 

November 20th, 2010