The UPC has elected a

new leader as front man Jason Kenny won by 61%. It was a landslide. However Kenny doesn't have a seat at the Ledge. I'm not sure how this will all play out. Kenny's competition, Brian Jean still has a seat as Wild Rose as far as I know.

Last night after I came back from my music store to get the Scarlet ix2 audio interface, I settled into watch Calgary/Eskimo's. That was the first Stampeder Win this year and over the past several years in fact. Stamps 20 Esks 29. The halftime show was pretty good. However the Washington Capitals and the Oilers, well that game didn't fare so well. Oilers came up short on game 1 of a 5 game Home stand 2-5. Slow out of the NHL gate wont get you to the dance. If the Oilers make it to the playoffs at all this year, might be in 8th. I've more or less written the Oilers off this year. I'll watch the games when I can but I'm not expecting much this year out of the Oilers. The whole team is playing sub par. This time last year the Oilers we're 7-2, now the team is 3-6. Oh well, its all good.

This week is a short week work wise. Monday I'm in from 3-9, I'm off Tuesday for Halloween as the office is shut down, Flow rate drops during nights like this, so I can do some banking downtown, get my book and up to service Canada. I have a few lose ends to take care of. At least I can try the food court there in Canada Place. I'm in Wednesday 3-9, off Thursday for Lodge. That's our Lodge Remembrance day observance. I'm reading Palms 23. I'm back Friday 3-9 and Saturday 10-3. Anyway, that's all for now.

Its no state secret that I'm not a morning person

but running low on insulin prompted me to keep a 10:30am appointment to my Northgate mall PCN. It was cold out there for early October. We usually see temps around 13 +16 in early October. This is mid November weather before the snow flies. 

Update: Forgot to mention this but the Edmonton Oilers named Connor McDavid their team Captain. McDavid is the youngest team Captain ever in NHL history. That's why its so significant. Not quite as dramatic as tossing a beer can in baseball but noteworthy for this blog. 

Earlier this month our Alberta NDP in keeping with its campaign promise to raise the minimum rage. I could have worked Xentel by home last summer but Notley raised the minimum wage from $10.20 to $11.20. There were unhappy stirrings in the small business community and Xentel pulled the plug on Alberta, laying off anyone working from home. Then this month the minimum wage increased to $12.20/ hour and the small business community is responding accordingly. For restaurants, they will be cutting shifts, retailers will need to raise their prices and lay off staff. This is all because the NDP wants to raise the minimum wage here in Alberta to $15/hour. Thanks to Dan Mullet's FB page for this one


                                    

 This will have a negative ripple affect as it will lose jobs and further kill the economy already in a depressed state because of low oil prices. This could impact my market research job making it harder to bid for contracts. No contracts no job for me. My job I'm heading to later this afternoon could also be at risk as more and more people outside of this industry test the waters. I had trouble finding a seat last night. I'm $1 more then the minimum wage but next year when the minimum wage goes to $13 then what? I'm just thankful I'll be on full pension a year from now. Then there is the Provincial carbon tax. Hey newcomers, welcome to Alberta.

The other part of today was after my PCN, I wanted to head out to my market research job to pick up a small pay cheque but my pharmy guy was running late and I'd never make it back in time for lunch and head into the job. As it is, I've got enough time to eat a small snack and head out to work. I'll be making that trip tomorrow afternoon in my suite, bank a bite to eat and lodge. Anyway, that's all for now.

I lucked out yesterday when I came into the office

and there was the lady that drives me home. Nice. It's always good getting a ride home. My shift had a few surprises. I thought when I was asked into the office, I thought I was going to be fired but instead they they put some more responsibility. Ok. 

                  

The Alberta Government yesterday laid out the budget. Its not a bad budget. I never thought I'd hear me say I don't mind the carbon tax. Anne and I will get $300 cash back at the end of the year. Also, in the budget is a $35 billion job creation program over $5 years. I like this. Jim Prentice had something similar. There's no more carbon capture program and its going to cost $250 million over 3 years to get rid of it I like the fact that the Alberta NDP is promoting pipelines. The budget contains a $250-million plan designed to create 100,000 jobs over three years. It includes: $165-million in tax credits to encourage investors to support small and medium-sized companies. $25-million for the Alberta Enterprise Corp. to spend in an effort to “spur innovation, growth and employment in areas such as clean technology.”  $25-million for apprenticeship and training programs     $35-million “to attract and support new businesses to pursue regional economic development initiatives.” 

Anne suggested I call the boss today and say I'll be in Monday to pick up my cheque. That way I wont need to get up and leave early. I can always ask if there's anything going on for next week. I'm beginning to feel a bit of anxiety because my 8:30pm job is over May 15th and I don't know if I'll be back at my market research job this Spring. Anyway that's all for now.

Sitting here unable to get around

because the wife needs the bus pass to go to work. I've got this pent up anxiety over this typing test thing when I go in for training Tuesday. The wife is threatening to cut off the cable, power etc until I get a pay cheque. Money is tight and so far I haven't heard anything on my ei claim and even if I get one its going to be 2 weeks away. 

Yesterday our Premier released the long awaited 2015 Alberta provincial budget. For decades Alberta relied on oil royalties since the 1950's. In 1982 Liberal Leader Pierre Elliot Trudeau and then prime minister, imposed the national energy program or nep. Alberta suffered the worst. I was working during the 1980's and temporary permanent in the early to mid 1990's. Our economy grounded to a halt in 1982. Alberta was in a recession from 1982-1996 when the price of oil eventually rose. The recession of the 1980's took billions of dollars out of our local economy. Alberta's economy is cyclic, boom and bust. In 2008 the price of oil went to about $32 barrel responding to the market money crunch. We experienced a mini recession. Oil prices per barrel rose in late 2009 is when we finally got out of that recession. What this budget is supposed to do is to set a 10 year plan to get our economy off the reliance of oil royalties. This budget will hit some people hard but for this household it wont affect us. Some of the highlights: A return to health care premiums for Albertan's making over $50,000 (not us) annually. Its called a health care levy. A sin tax on tobacco and alcohol. I have about 1 beer a month, if that and I'm not a smoker. No Alberta sales tax. The Alberta Government under all Albertan's is also expecting to spend almost $30 Billion over the next 5 years on infrastructure projects etc. its a pretty good budget. More about Alberta's 2015 budget here.

Over the last few months the thought of not using a computer to make/process my music has held a lot of appeal for me. Not that there isn't anything wrong with using the computer to make music. Most EDM/techno is made this way. Its just that my laptop memory where most of my vst's and programs live is at 80% full to capacity, and has a lot of adware on it rendering the laptop all but useless for accessing the Internet. When I get back to work and once we're caught up with our bills,  I'm looking at getting an affordable synth. I'm looking at either the Yamaha MX49, or the Roland Juno Di. I like the guitar sounds on the Di. I haven't heard many of the guitar sounds on the Yamaha MX yet. The MX is cheaper and newer. I can use the iPad and for $18 I can buy Yamaha's Mobile studio sequencer. That's all I need.

So tonight I'm watching the Oiler's entertain Dallas and this weekend trying to fend off the wolves and attempting to keep our marriage from falling apart. Anyway, that's all for now.

The Alberta Wildrose party was and still is (barely)

the official opposition to the current Alberta Premier Jim Prentice Conservatives. Yesterday Danielle Smith leader of the opposition party, defected with 9 other of her MLA's to join the Alberta Conservatives or pc's. Over the past several months Wildrose MLA's began defecting to join the pc party. On various Connect to Edmonton threads yesterday, some of us (me included) were joking that the opposition leader Danielle Smith herself could join the pc's. Speculation to that end has been brewing for awhile now. I was shocked to hear this on the news late last night that Smith did indeed join the pc party of Alberta. Wow! This was shocking news but not totally surprising. With 5 Wildrose MLA's remaining in their party and Smith encouraging those left over to join her, what's going to happen to the party? If one more Wildrose MLA jumps ship, the rest will follow. I feel bad for all the Wildrose supporters that voted Wildrose in the last Provincial election April 23rd 2012. I'm sure they feel betrayed by the party leader defecting. There should be a rule that states if any MLA defects to another party especially as official opposition, they lose their seat. I wonder how many Danielle Smith supporters will vote for her during the next Provincial election, which is in the Spring of 2016. I'm sure many Wildrose supporters of those 9 that have defected to the Conservatives probably feel that the defectors now have zero credibility. If the Wildrose party is still in existence in 2016, I'm half inclined to vote for them.

It didn't take very long but we finally regained our internet connection over all 3 devices. It was a combination of Anne overloading the breakers and an old modem. Everything works fine now.

Thales is the signaling contractor for the Metro line. Its an lrt extension that was built last year and has been idle since last April when it was supposed to come online. Yet there have been several delay announcements since the initial April start. The City of Edmonton are no longer saying when Thales is handing over a certificate of safety and approval. I'm speculating that this wont be until mid April of next year. One year after, the initial line has been built. If oil prices keep dropping and the Province says they will be delaying the promised funding to the Valley line lrt (the next lrt line) that might get started in that case, until maybe after the 2016 election if oil prices don't rise to last Summer levels. Valley line delayed Provincial funding is a scenario that could easily happen. The Valley line from Mill Woods to City Centre downtown probably wont get under way if Provincial funding is delayed now until 2017. It also means that the City of Edmonton will have to revise its Capital City plan to the point that the Valley line might never get under way at all if the Province reneges on its promise and takes this project off the rails. Anyway, that's all for now.