Kyle Thomas

The Website of Kyle Thomas (KyleWith)

3 thing I learned on the first day in a new house

It is approaching 10:30pm Monday evening and I’m comfortably sitting with my feet up, in my favourite chair, in my new bedroom. The walls around me are dark red, like the colour of dried blood, and the temporary sheets on my new queen bed are two different patterns of plaid. It is an odd scene but one I would expect when the space has only been owned by myself for 10 hours.

This is my home, my space, I own it, I will improve it, maintain it and grow with it. But that comes with time. The first thing I would like to do is point out 3 things I noted today whilst moving most of my stuff.

  1. Toilet Paper should be the first thing you move over to your new house. If it isn’t you’ll most likely forget it until the end or when you need it the most. It is strange what we take for granted.
  2. It will most likely rain while you are trying to move. Even when the forecast isn’t calling for it. It will rain.
  3. New House, New Sounds. You have to remember that your big investment isn’t just going to fall apart when the money transfers. Those noises are totally normal.

None of these point have anything to do with actually buying a house, but are points about moving nonetheless.

Here are some photos. Note the bedroom.

photo 1-1 photo 2-1 photo 3Comments and house warming gifts welcome.

Make sure that Wood Stove is WETT Certified

I don’t know what WETT certification really is but apparently more and more home insurance agencies require wood stoves to have it.

My snag currently with getting house insurance on my new home is that, despite the wood stove having an approved mechanical inspection but the City of Yellowknife, it does not say that the inspector was WETT certified. 

This is what the insurance company needs, something that verifies it was WETT certified.

So I’m jumping through hoops with my closing date getting nearer and nearer and I’m hoping to say you some trouble.

I’m not saying to make sure your wood stove is WETT certified, I’m saying make sure you ask your insurance company if they require it or not.

I am what I watch on TV

Okay maybe this is a bad thing, but I don’t follow shows, I wait until they are all done and watch them in bulk by season. Watching TV is my mind numbing way of turning off my brain. I actually normally watch TV while baking or while I write blog posts, like right now.

When I watch these shows, in bulk, I tend to absorb them and associate them into my everyday life. Let me give you two examples.

Bakering bad

Mad Men

Well this is an easy one. They ran an advertising agency in the 60’s and 70’s and I work at a marketing agency here in Yellowknife. Despite it being based in the past and, well, a tv show, there were similarities. When I was working on a projects scenes from the show sometimes pop into my head. Things like how to work with clients, manage things, pitch ideas, etc. Now I’m not saying that I use it as a guidebook, but sometime it helps to think about things in a different way. 

Breaking Bad

It took me a long time to get into Breaking Bad, but now I’m hooked. When I started watching the show I was in full force at the Yellowknife Farmers’ Market. I was making the only locally made bread, producing about 100 loaves a week, and I was damn good at it. There was excitement, thrill, long nights and stress to meet quotas. I was known to many as the bread guy. All of which you could say about Walter White and his blue meth. Weird I know, but when I find myself in the kitchen weighing out different measurements that when combined make an unbelievable product.

Dexter

Well I just started Season 8. It has been a while since I watch Season 7 so I don’t recall how I associated this secret serial killer with myself… so we’ll have to see where this goes.

What TV show do you associate with your life?

Image Source: Slate

Last night was unreal

Last night, on a Friday night, I had the most wonderful time just taking in Yellowknife and the North. It will never get old and I will say it over and over and over and you will get tired of hearing it from me but it is oh so true.

If you are bored, just leave.

My evening started when a friend and I grabbed a quick dinner and our cameras and headed out. We didn’t know where we were going but I wanted to trying push forward with my project about recording the stories of many of Yellowknife street people.

I was absolutely blown away, and I have done this several times now, how welcoming, polite and generous many people are when I approach. I thank them for their time. I only hope they know how much I appreciate the conversations I have. Throughout the 2.5 hours we walked the streets we met many people. For the last hour we were down town we spent it with someone very special to me. We sat down with him and just had a blast talking about so much and I am so blessed to be called his friend. I can’t wait to tell this mans story, he is truly a wonder soul.

Happy playing Harmonica on Yellowknife streetsWe left downtown eventually and headed towards Pontoon Lake where we were going to set up for some aurora shooting.

As we pulled up to “the spot” a large lanky looking dog trotted out from the shore of the lake onto the road. Only thing was this wasn’t a dog, it was a white wolf. A beautiful creature. He slowly meandered across the road, checking us out. It was to dark for a photo but he  crossed the road and walked up a rock face onto a hill. Standing there staring at us, all we could see was his outline as a silhouette against the ever fading blue sky. It was special.

I often feel like I have this small gift for showing up at places exactly at the right time to get the best show of Northern Lights. After the wolf left, we pulled in and setup. As soon as we did the aurora just took off, dancing, twisting, sparkling and moving. Green and purple. It was a show that you’d think cost lots of money. Who is the lighting genius that created this number.

Aurora Yellowknife - Kyle Thomas15 minutes later it was over.

Nights like this don’t happen very often but boy am I feeling good that I got to experience all that.