In today’s interview with Roger Gillies, we discuss his life-long learning philosophy of educating one’s self far beyond the confines of the four walls of the traditional classroom environment. His curiosity with technology, and the chance opportunities that arrived at his doorstep via his teaching assignment in the Yukon, created the perfect combination for both his curious and creative personalities to flourish in the Website Design space.
As an early adopter of technology, he was also first on the scene with his Deranged Moose podcast nearly 20 years ago and has been the inspiration behind the My Amazing Yukon Life podcast and website.
After many years of teaching high school band throughout N.W.T. and Yukon, Gillies found his creative niche in what was to be the very beginnings of the electronic keyboard and computer technology era. As an early adopter of technology, willing to spend countless hours researching and perfecting code, he quickly allied himself with Skills Canada Yukon as a web-design coach. This relationship lasted many years and afforded him the opportunity to travel with his students to compete throughout Canada and internationally in the World-Skills Competition.
As a retirement “side hustle,” Gillies remains as active as ever with his website design business called First Contact Design, where he creates websites, streamlines businesses existing webpages, and assists in branding and search engine optimization throughout the globe for a wide variety of clients. First on the scene long before podcasting became “a thing,” Gillies hosted The Deranged Moose” podcast which quickly gained its gangly legs (pun intended) and took off on the local and international scene. I’m delighted to pick up the reigns of his Deranged Moose and to bring some memorable Yukon moments to life on the M.A.Y.L. podcast, by featuring guests and their amazing Yukon life adventures.
I’d like to invite you to help me build the knowledge base for future shows by becoming a member of My Amazing Yukon Life Facebook Group. This is where our stories come together as we build upon the collective memories of one another to record and preserve personal stories of the Yukon’s rich history and colourful life adventures.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and webpage and I thank you for joining me as a “M.A.Y.L. carrier,” as we deliver our amazing Yukon life stories to the outside world.
Cheers
“Trapper Dan your Renaissance Man”
Daniel Halen
Thanks Dan for the fascinating stories. You do make the Yukon come alive.
Thanks James : – ) I’d love to hear stories about your adventures up in the Mayo area when you worked in the Yukon for the summer.
Hi Dan,
I did get a ride from an ore carrier from Calumet to Whitehorse. In order to cross the river the driver drove onto the barge, slammed on the breaks and the barge then had enough momentum to cross the river. When he slammed on the breaks, my body lunched forward and I thought I might be going into the river. The driver had a good laugh. This was in the late fifties and my recall of the event may not be accurate.
I was part of a team of student who did surveying work for United Keno Hill Mines. I was surprised by the warm temperatures and the lack of mosquitoes and black flies where we did most of the work. We saw too many of them when we attended ball games at Mayo.
I loved the spectacular scenery.
Thanks for sharing pictures and stories of the amazing Yukon.