Better late than never! 20sb Blog Swap!
I love doing these things!! Lanette and I decided to do stories on our respective cities to clear up any misconceptions and to give people insight on our wonderful cities.
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First – I’d like to send a big thank you to Mai for participating in the Twenty Something Bloggers blog swap and for agreeing to let me guest blog.
Second, I apologize for the readers looking for a music-related post, but I am excited to have a chance to showcase a place that’s gotten nothing but bad press in recent years. It’s a place where people head to make money. A place most people–even those who have been here 15 or 20 years–still don’t consider “home”. It’s a place that supplies a good part of the world with the energy they need to power their homes, cars and places of work. Where is this place? Fort McMurray, Alberta – home to the world’s second largest oil reserves.
What do you know about Fort McMurray? Well, if you paid attention to any of the media through the Obama/McCain election, you probably think it’s a place full of greedy, environmentally-unfriendly rednecks who want nothing more than to rape and pillage the earth for the sole reason of padding their own pockets. And if you think these things, I’m glad, because that means I have a chance to tell you a different story.
My journey to this city began in April 2008 when I left another beautiful part of Canada – the Okanagan region of British Columbia (full of mountains, lakes and gorgeous weather). I flew up on my own, leaving behind my boyfriend, condo, dog and parents, for a job at a large Canadian oil company. Did I come up solely for the money? No, I can honestly say I didn’t. My last job wasn’t providing the experience or mentorship I needed and based on my last 15 months with this company, I’d say I’ve found what I was looking for.
Thankfully, I started working in the Communications department with a girl who was enrolled in the same Communications-Public Relations degree program I took between 2002 and 2005. Shortly after arriving, she introduced me to some of the greatest people I’ve ever had the chance to know - highly educated, awesome personalities and significant career aspirations.
But wait, you thought it was all drugs and prostitution right? Well, I’m not about to tell you Fort McMurray is Wonderland. Of course there are drugs and homelessness and crime. But, I ask you to show me a place in North America that doesn’t have all three. There are “bad” parts in every small town and big city across this continent. Fort McMurray is no different. If you really want to look for trouble, you can find it in every urban, suburban and rural pocket.
What else do I love about this place? For one, the sun is up at 3:30 in the morning from June to August and it’s still daylight at 10 p.m. In fact, near the summer solstice, it’s daylight until around 11. You see tinfoil , thick blankets and “black out” curtains in the bedroom windows of most homes. During the summer months, I have to push my bedtime back to 11 just so I can get to sleep.
I love that I can take my golf clubs to one of three golf courses in town (two of which are beautiful!) at 6 p.m. and get a full 18 holes in. And, while I’m on the course, I can see the foxes chasing one another, or basking in the sun atop the lip of a fairway bunker. Or, at the driving range, I can see the blackbear on the opposite end eating berries before deciding it’s time to lie down for a rest. Then there are the deer, who stand on the edge of the fairway munching on the greenery.
What don’t I love? Well, I don’t love that there was so much explosive growth in the last few years that it strained the local infrastructure and put the cities years behind in trying to catch up. I don’t love the Tim Horton‘s line-ups that are longer than most Disneyland ride lineups. I don’t love going to the local Wal-Mart, or any store for that matter, only to be disappointed because they are so short-staffed they can’t find people to stock the shelves with product. I don’t love that it gets cold here in the winter. And when I say cold, I mean extremely cold and windy (like -40!), sometimes even worse with the windchill.
And what about those big oil companies? The ones who don’t care about the environment or our children’s futures? Well, I can only speak for the company I work for, but I can tell you that I wouldn’t have looked for a job with this company, or stayed with this company if I didn’t believe they were absolutely committeed to sustainable development. We are constantly investing in new technologies to help our operations have less of an impact on the environment. Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Do we think we’re perfect? Absolutely not. But, would we need the oil sands if there wasn’t an insatiable global demand for petroleum products? No.
If you’ve never been to Fort McMurray, I invite you do a little research and if you’re ever in this neck of the woods, put on your PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and come up for a little tour. For those who are interested, I wrote a little more about Fort McMurray here.
Consider this post your personal invitation to Northern Alberta.
Thank you again to Mai for letting me guest blog.
