Overcast skies around here usually signify

warmer weather in the winter. At the moment its -3 degrees C. Tomorrow is looking very similar as it is now. However we're warming up a bit to -2 or +1C for much of next week. Its still sneaker weather as there's no snow on the ground but its cold enough where it could. I could wake up tomorrow morning and there could be 2 inches of snow on the ground. It could go either way.

Both of my places of work could be taking a Christmas break around the same time. My South side job (where I'm heading to later this afternoon and for tomorrow 10am-2pm) could be done by December 22nd. Some of us speculate we could be done by the 15th. My West end job could be done by the 15th as well, but I'll have decent cheque for the end of the month from both places. Plus, even though both jobs could be done by Christmas, the South side job takes a break January and February. My West end job resumes in January but there could be some spotty work for both months but I'll have enough for a ei claim I can open and put on pause. My South side job resumes March 1st and I hope to have at least 12 weeks of ei on pause before my South side and West end jobs ends mid May, end of June. Then activate my ei for over the summer, and slide right into pension at the end of September. By that time, I hope to be at my South side job. This way, my wife has my pension money, and I have my money from my jobs. Well that's the plan.

This weekend is the Eastern CFL finale Eskimos/Ottawa. Whoever wins this is in the Grey Cup finale. For the West, its BC/Calgary. The 104th Grey Cup game is next weekend and apparently no CFL crossover team has ever made it to the finale in CFL history since 1986. So, I'll be watching this. Its win and your in the finale. So should be a good one. Anyway, that's all for now.   

Its been 1 week now since we had to put Boots down

and I'm still crying over losing him. I'll get over his loss in time. Now its just Silky and Skippy. Boots was always the cat of the house and made that clear. 

Sunday while following the Esks/T-Cats CFL game, I was in Jakob Haq's chat room. It was a good 2 hour long YouTube Live session. Good energy among those of us in the chat room. Too bad in most casses music production is predominantly a male kind of a thing. There are a few ladies into this kind of thing but not many. Over the weekend I got to tinkering with how I could make YouTube Live work but I had trouble making this work with my Lenova PC stick. Its just the encoder doesn't work too well with this device. I thought maybe its time to find how I can wipe my own hard drive clean. I need to permanently wipe out the whole hard drive. Then all I do is get Linux and install from there. If it works that way. So the other good news is The Esks intercepted the ball while the game was tied and kicked for a field goal to win with seconds on the clock. The Oiler game on the other hand was another loss for the Oilers. Last nights 4-1 loss in Anaheim was brutal. That's 4 straight losses for the Oilers. looks like they are up to their old tricks again. Then there's the game in LA tomorrow night. Most likely a similar outcome.  

I'm up out of here at 1:30pm for my eye Doctor's appointment. He wants to check for diabetes damage. I'm a bit concerned. Anyway, that's all for now.

Its not very often that I give up on a

book I'm reading but "Back to the moon" wasn't doing anything for me, sorry. After a couple of years of reading "Horus Heresy", what can I say? I was spoiled. I'll return to the book "Back to the moon", eventually. Its just not on my reading radar at the moment. For that matter, I'm a little burned out from reading Warhammer 40K. I'll still buy the books. So, I thought I'd try for something a little different: A John Scalzi book. I've got a few of his books on my shelf. I thought I'd try his first novel "Agent to the Stars." I'm reading along and its got a few good things going for it already; first person point of view. That's always a plus for me. Its got some comedy :) Moving forward it looks like a good yarn. It'll keep me going far into January. He's got a few more books in the first person point of view. "Old mans war" looks interesting as well. There's also a few Robert J. Sawyer books I need to get to for 2016. So, I can take a break for a few years from reading Warhammer 40K. Like I said, I'll still buy the books and all.

Switching gears here, I've watched a few episodes of "Ring of Honor" (RoH) wrestling lately. I was really impressed with what I saw in last weeks recorded to pvr show. I really liked the fast pace of the "Television championship" match. It was really good and fun to watch. I'll be watching RoH on a more regular basis. I like how the announcer table is right up against the ring. Very old school and reminds me of the old Stampede wrestling in the '80's. Anne's recording this for me every week so I can watch it Sunday nights. 

I sent out a resume last night. I'm not trying to replace my job. I just need something that will keep me going during times like this. I've been without a income for the 3rd week this month and its bugging me. I got one cheque last Friday. I don't want to be caught without any income for summer 2016. When I get something part time I'd like to go 3 days at the new job and 3 at my current job type of a situation. If there's a month without work at my current job I'd like to have the option of pick up hours at the other job. Most people in the market research industry, working in a call centre do this. 

Tonight its wrestling and Oilers road hockey. Tomorrow I'm out at lodge for the evening as our lodge and another lodge are holding a joint degree. Wednesday night is another Oiler game. To decide the CFL West yesterday, we hosted the Calgary Stampeders at Commonwealth stadium to a 31-45 decision. In other words we're going to meet Ottawa at Winnipeg for the Grey Cup. First time since 2005. 

One thing about this downturn in the economy is we're getting a lot more faces out to lodge. Brothers I haven't seen in awhile are showing up, which is good for us bad for them I'm sorry to say. Thursday (where I work) we're having a staff Christmas party early because the office is expected to get busy from here on in. I'm hoping at the Christmas party we're going to get news of the upcoming project. Other then that, not a lot going on. Anyway, that's all for now.

Friday morning I did my banking downtown and

came home. I had a few hours to myself and about 5:30pm got ready for lodge.

I got there a bit early and nothing had been set up. Some of the guys came by and helped me set things up. We had  about 20 guys show up and had a great night. The highlights of the night for me was a ceremony called "The empty chair" and giving a Jack a 50 year jewel. I might get a 25 year pin but not a jewel, which for me will be in another 12 years. We also presented my ipm with a certificate, which I'll get at the end of my ipm year. It was a great night. I had a Molson dry and enjoyed the festive board and got a ride home. In by 10:30pm to watch what was left of Smackdown. 1 more Friday night and in January we're back to the 2nd Thursday. What was interesting is this evening we had the current DGM, current DDGM and the DDGM elect. All from our lodge! Lodge officers posed for a group photo for this historic event. I'm going to try and snag a copy of the photo on our SW's camera. I decided though, I'm paying my lodge dues in early January.

I got my schedule for this upcoming week: It's tomorrow 12-8, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 1-9. Full hours, less ot but there's a stat day in there as well, so I'm happy about that and next Saturday off. 

Tomorrow is the West CFL semi finale, Riders/Edmonton and at 7pm after the football game is the Coyotes/Oiler's. Should be a good one and I'll probably be home in time to watch most of the game. Anyway, that's all for now.