Back to Nunavut, I go!

Hi NEP friends!

I have some incredible news to share with you! Today I was offered a job delivering health outreach programming to students throughout Nunavut and northern Canada with Actua. I am so excited! I will be spending at least 9 weeks in Nunavut this summer.

I hope you're all doing well! And remember to send those emails and letters to politicians about how much PEARL means to you...and the rest of Canada!

Miss you all!

Britney

PEARL needs you!

Hello everyone!

Long time and no communication so I don't know if this will makes it way to any of you NEP participants. I hope it does and I hope that it finds you all well.

You may have heard that CANDAC and therefore PEARL is out of funding. This unhappy situation has come about simply because there are no programs for us to apply to, for funding. Atmospheric research across Canada is affected, but in particular PEARL is because it is a (for Canada) large effort. However, in the large scheme of things it is really quite cost effective and not a lot of money.

So, we need to rally the troops! I'd like to think that CANDAC and PEARL had a postive impact on you and I hope that you will be willing to help us out now by making your experiences known once again, by contacting your MPs and other interested parties, and by visiting the SavePEARL page on facebook. If you're interested in day-to-day happenings for the next week, follow on twitter @pierre_fogal.

Again, best wishes to you all!

Pierre

Ashley - My Shining Star

In an effort to stay within the current posting theme, and because I know it will embarrass her to no end, I just thought I should mention that the NEP wouldn't have existed without Ashley's help.

She was my right-hand man, taking care of everything from scrounging up enough boots, to hotel bookings, to t-shirt design input (just to name a few). Most importantly, she was my sounding post and source of reason every time I needed to rant (or cry) because of some new NEP related catastrophe.

Thanks Ashley. I'll buy you dinner when you get home from Eureka!

Thanks Tara

It was nice to read the praise Pierre has for Tara, and to hear it from Kaley on the last day. I watched Tara all week and saw how much she carried this adventure on her shoulders - talk about a lot of pressure. The fact that it came out so well in the end is a tribute to her.

Tara, you knew when to compromise and you knew when to be tough. Thanks for everything. As a teacher who has organized everything from field trips to conferences to film festivals, I was amazed at how this trip was planned to the finest detail. You had everything planned for and when the unexpected happened you handled it. It allowed me to totally relax and enjoy the trip because I knew you had it all under control.

You are the nicest dictator I ever worked for.

Ken

Summing up the hours of effort

It's back to the day-to-day grind for all of us now, and so as is usual for me, I sit back for a few minutes at the end of a day(s) of catch up, for a bit of reflection on what has passed.

I think we can all agree that it was a success on pretty much all counts. It was also a great deal of work for a small group of people, and to them I would now like to offer a few words of admiration and profound thanks.

Ashley and Matt -- As always, you comported yourselves with a professionalism marked by grace under fire. You guys are top notch and CANDAC is fortunate to be able to call on you time and again in so many diverse capacities. You rock!

Jim Drummond -- Thanks Jim for all the support and the vision and not to mention being willing to take a chance on this.

Tara -- In a word, "WOW!" Tara took this skeletal idea that Kaley and I had dreamt up, and put the flesh and muscle on the bones. Without Tara's efforts we dont' have a program. She covered all the bases and has earned the respect and admiration of all of us that worked with her. As it develped, it wasn't always easy, and it wasn't always smooth but it got done and it was done well. As someone who has spent much of my adult life in the field away from the security of office and lab, I can offer no greater compliment than to say "I'd go into the field with you and do it again, anytime!" Anyone that's put something together far from home can only applaud your efforts. Thanks, Tara, for making it work, and for not getting too upset that I wasn't more upset when maybe I could have been ;-)

One last thing. Even though both Kaley and I get credited, the lions share of that credit on this should go to her. She was the one who was on top of it, keeping an eye of things, while I occasionally showed up to put my 2 cents in.

Hopefully, I haven't missed anyone!

Pierre

The end

Hey guys, miss everyone, it was good wile it lasted but all good thing have to come to an end unfortunately. I know realistically we will never meet again and so to you all that I don't see again it was great. To the few that I might ever run into one day I can't wait for that one day. It was truly the experience of a lifetime and therefore we have a lifetime to share it. Take care!

Once again I would like to thank everyone from teachers to CANDAC members, I won't mention any names to make sure I don't forget anyone.

This is Phil signing out for one last time...

Living a Dream

The morning after a dream is so hard, trying to figure out what was real and what was imagined; wishing you could go back to sleep and recapture it, but knowing you can never do it. It will never be the same, but it will always be a fantastic memory.
I went to school today but felt like I was living in a fog all day (probably because I was so tired). Everyone wanted to know how things went, and I couldn't come up with enough adjectives to describe the experience.
Thank you Kaley and Pierre for dreaming and inviting us into it.