Like the mail its been slow around here this past week with not a lot going on around here

I've been just holding the fort sort of thing. Its pretty much the dog days of summer. I'll be editing this again tonight. That means a blog edit tweet to follow sometime tonight.

Yesterday the statue of Wayne Gretzky was taken off its pedestal at Rexall place for a makeover. The statue was installed in 1989 the year before the Oilers won their 5th and last Stanley Cup in 1990. Meanwhile the Rogers place arena is in its finale stages of preparation before the building is officially open. September 16th is when the NHL begins its training camp in the new building. At the moment work crews are finishing up Rogers Place arena. On the inside, lots of seats to install. At the moment they are working on the scoreboard and work continues outside. From what I've seen, they have done a lot of work on the inside. Its a beautiful looking building. There is still a lot of work left on the Winter garden. That's the "Oil drop" extension of the Oilers logo where fans will enter from the plaza area but that won't get completed for at least another year. In the meantime Wayne's makeover continues. When he's done, he'll be standing right outside the main doors on 104th street for all to see. Most likely that's another ceremony to take place when the statue is installed. The Oilers love ceremonies.

Our Valley line lrt project was in the news this week. It seems the "Save our footbridge" Not In My Back Yard (Nimby) group has now submitted a court injunction to stall the project. During the design stage of this project there have been many open house public consultation meetings. Even before and when this group was formed. Even the Mayor met with this group and heard their concerns. The footbridge they are talking about is the footbridge just outside the Muttart pyramids that crosses the North Saskatchewan river. The Valley line route intends to cross the North Saskatchewan at that point where the current footbridge is to the North side of the North Saskatchewan river. This footbridge is set to be demolished this month.  The footbridge there has been standing for decades. It's almost at the end of its shelf life anyway. The city wants to build a lrt bridge over the river to the other side where the lrt will connect to a tunnel (to be built) leading up to 95th street, and run down 102nd Ave. The new bridge will have a newer replacement walkway for bikes and pedestrian traffic underneath the tracks of the lrt bridge. Its all one component. This was part of the initial design of the lrt bridge. The Valley line train is low floor heading right into the heart of the city of Edmonton. The Nimby groups lawyer found a small clause in a legal document when the footbridge was put together, that says something like "The footbridge can not be dismantled or demolished until the Province provides the City of Edmonton (coe) a written letter saying they can do so. The Province (Alberta Government) has invested $600 million dollars into the Valley line project. Its a no brainer for them. Every day the project is delayed will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The court date is August 16th of this year. If the court says "No work can be done until the Province sends the city that letter," then the Nimby group wins, and can plan for another move to stall the project. Or the judge can dismiss their concern out of court, realizing the AG has invested $600 million on this project and the coe did everything they could to meet the concerns of this Nimby group. In other words the City negotiated in good faith. The plot thickens.

So for today, I'm out of here in about half an hour to get some insulin at my pcn and then to pick up a small cheque at my other job and home. We still haven't received a letter from my September 1st job but I'm good to go there anyway. We have yet to get the cpp form back I sent in to be processed July 15th. So, we're waiting for 2 pieces of mail. Also, we haven't received our oven replacement yet as well. We did receive our utility bill. Bills take top priority and ads of course. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Just before I left yesterday I thought I'd begin to download the

recent iOS 3.2.1 update, now that I had enough memory. I got about 2 minutes into the download and a message pops up saying my device didn't have enough memory. I was pissed off because this happened before. 

My commute into work was ok. We broke at 6:30pm and management ordered Pizza because we hit a milestone. I  had 3 slices of pepperoni something. We had a half hour break which was nice. I got 3 "sales" all night. It was a slow night for everybody. My co worker dropped me off across the street (its on her way home anyway) 

 

So I got into my apartment and decided to try and download the update again. This time I was successful! I really wanted to try the Garageband 2.0 and the new Live Loops but it wasn't working for me. Then I checked the details from the app store on the product and Live Loops only work with 4th Generation iPad's or greater. Mine's the iPad 2. At least iMovie works ok.

Anne came in and made me a chicken burger and fries as we watched the news and a bit of the Late show. Today I'm in at my market research job from 4-9:30pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

Before I left the apartment I had to call into the office at the

first job just to confirm I'm not on the schedule. Even though I'm sure I had my availability adjusted for the other job its always a good idea when your juggling two jobs like this. 

On my way into my 2nd job I had time to pop into Audrey's books. I picked up my 19th book in the "Space Marine Battles" Warhammer 40K. I don't know much about the "Flesh terrors" unit but they sound pretty formidable 



All the white books above are Space marine Battles. They've got some colored sketches done on high gloss paper in the middle of the books, which is a nice touch. The book on the angle is my latest. Sorry about the big photo. Blogger is acting up on me. When I try to shrink the applications shrinks it longer and narrower. I used to be able to take images from Twitter but Blogger makes that difficult now. When I try to upload a photo its says invalid url. On a photo? 

 

I'm back to work at the first job and it looks like they are winding down their big project. They are supposed to finish by the 15th. After that I don't know if they have anything and most certainly they wont have a Sunday. Anyway, that's all for now.

There's no real day off for me

tomorrow (Saturday) morning as I'm up at 7am out of here at 8am to get to Highlands Hall by 9am. Our district meeting is at 9:30pm. Hopefully they'll have coffee or something there. After we conduct our business I'll have a bite to eat and a beverage socialize with the guys. After lodge, I'll come back home and catch what ever is left of the Eskimo/Rider game. I got a proline ticket for this weekend. All games to tie. 

In my email this morning, Audrey's books reminded me that a Horus Heresy book "Legacies of Betrayal" is ready for pick up. Good stuff, I'll pick it up on my way in this afternoon. 

I wont know what my schedule for next week is until later this afternoon. I'm slotted in for Sunday and I'll be able to watch the LA Kings/Oilers game after work. Hopefully I'll get the same hours next week 1:30-9:30. Super knows I'm open. The current project I'm on goes until November 3rd so next week could be the same hours. Anyway, that's all for now.

I've got another day off

today as I need to go downtown to do some personal business and then to get a couple of beer for the weekend. I've got some other business to take care of at home its over the phone stuff.

Hard to believe it was 28 days ago today in 1987 that we here in Edmonton experienced Black Friday. It was a massive tornado that caused the deaths of 28 people. When it touched down about 3pm I was working downtown at the Army & Navy just where the Ultima highrise is being built. I was 34 years old at the time.  

One of my favorite YouTube channels is sillySUPERPOP It's all things WWE wrestling. Mostly action figures and he uses some colorful expletive language. Very entertaining comedy. Even if your not a wrestling fan, its hilarious stuff

There's so many but one of my favorite comic books has always been the Fantastic four. I'm very happy that Marvel Studios is releasing a reboot. I'm very happy that another 
 
movie is coming out. My favorite artists drawing the Fantastic Four. His attention to detail always amazed me. Every time I think of the Fantastic Four I think of George Perez. He has a Facebook page as well.                                                 

Other then that, tonight its Riders visiting Esks at Commonwealth. I'm looking forward to this one. Eventually the Riders have got to win one and I think our luck has run out. We don't fare to well when "Rider nation" comes to town but we're just as banged up as they are. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Instinct kicked in shortly before midnight

and I thought to check my phone call display. Our isp records who called and sure enough my place of employment tried calling Wednesday shortly after 1pm. That's why we need our vm activated. It could have been to tell me the project has been delayed for a week or two or for me to come in Thursday for training. It's not like at the other place where its a conference call between multiple offices. I just need a minimum amount of instruction and I'm ready to start. 

So yesterday I left out of here for my Doctors appointment noticing signs by the Muttart lands Brookfield residential popping up all over the place by Stadium South of the lrt tracks. I arrived to my Doctors appointment right on time. I got weighed at 204Lbs for my height I'm just about 40lbs overweight. I seem to recall my first visit my weight (2008) was about 260. I dropped a lot of weight over the last 7 years. I got another form for my X-ray and one was faxed over to that office. After that I went to this seniors office and they said that the Federal Government will prompt me a year from now to apply by sending me a form in the mail or through Service Canada via my email to apply. After that I went to Corona station to get a bus to City Centre mall. I decided why not go to Rickies? I treated myself to a burger and a beer. After that upstairs to Coles and I got a Warhammer 40K book, "The Grey knights" omnibus. I've got about 4 more omnibus books to get. Since I haven't been in City Centre mall for a long time, gone was the stationary store (formally Wilson's) but The Source (radio shack) was still there and on my way out there was a Tim Horton's. Cool. I got my train and I was  home by 4pm.

The only casualty of last night was (I think) that the British open preempted the Esks/Lions CFL game. I did see some of the highlights on the news so there must have been some TV coverage. The good news is Esks won 18-13. They're off to a great start.

Also in the news Telus was saying they are investing $1B to fiber every subscriber home over the next 6 years. Its at no charge to subscribers. It means that currently, broadband internet is 25 megabits per second. With fiber, Internet speeds will go up to 150 megabits per second. According to Telus only about 10% of North America uses Fiber. This is a highly significant announcement.

So having learned that my place of employment actually tried to reach me Wednesday, and me leaving a vm message last night, means I'm up shortly before 10am to find out whats going on. If there is nobody answering the phone at 10am, then that could tell me that the project has been delayed. Actually if that's the case, I could use a week or two off. Anyway, that's all for now.

Friday morning

and things are moving along nicely. Not a lot going on over the last few days. Just working the job thing. It's a half shift today but a full one tomorrow. I'm going into Tim's for breakfast tomorrow.

Yesterday shortly after I left for my commute Anne says that's when the office downstairs slipped another bed bug inspection notice under our door. This makes the 3rd inspection notice this year. It seems they do this every time a tenant moves out. Its the usual drill: dry all clothes and bedding, drapes and pack them away move everything out from the cupboards and all furniture out from the baseboards etc. The notice comes with 3 pages of instructions. What we've been doing previously is to get a form from the office which waives the inspection and all that work and allows the guy to come in shine his light in small nook and crannies. He says all clear and sets a few traps and comes back ten minutes later. "No bed bugs here." I need to check with the landlord and tenant and find out if this is legal. I can see once a year but this is the 3rd time now. We might as well just haul our belongings off to storage and live out of a suitcase. I'm getting the form on Monday after I call landlord and tenant. Right now its only June. The next inspection notice could be anytime.
  
Sunday is WWE "Money in the bank." Anne has a nice rack of baby back ribs. Yesterday Dusty Rhodes (American Dream) Hall of Fame wrestler passed away at the age of 69. Most likely, that'll be mentioned. Dusty is survived by his two sons Cody and Gold Dust still active on the Roster. anyway, that's all for now.

Every movement

I made heading into work Friday was slow going but I felt better. I was able to find a bit of time to read but I wasn't into it as much as I wanted. 

For the first part of the shift, about 4 of us in the lunch room were folding letters. Then we did reminder calls. I worked until 8:30pm. I lost an hour because there was nothing for us me to do because I wasn't trained on the project currently under way. I didn't mind so much. After I filled my time sheet and checked my hours my bus came by shortly before 9pm. I did my banking and caught the train at Central and home.  

When I got home, I checked my email and Audrey's emailed me a copy of a invoice saying my Warhammer 40K Hours Heresy book was in. Book #30, so I'll be picking this up Monday on my way into work. As for today, its a full day of it. All I'm doing after work is going home to watch whats left of the Chicago/Ducks game #7 and pass out.

Not that I'd ever go see

BB King in person if he was here. He passed away at the age of 89. He died in his sleep Thursday. I can relate to BB King only because he was diabetic. Still to live to 89 while being diabetic gives me hope. Yet Anne's sister Rose died from diabetes at the age of 68. I could go tomorrow or live to my 80's like BB King. As for his music, not a lot of people play the blues like he did. 

Talk about not seeing the forest before the trees kind of thing: Its all fine and well to have studio monitors and all but what about audio capture? I always thought my iPod touch would pick up the audio. Maybe that would be ok for audio voice dictation but not to pick up audio from my monitors. I'm going to try just my iPod but chances are I'll need a field recorder. I've been looking at a few like the Sony and Roland H2's. If my iPod can pick up the audio ok, I might just stick with that and or get the iRig mic. It could be a cheap solution to record my jams without the use of a computer. 

A little on the breezy side today. We haven't had any rain or very little. This month. Hopefully we'll get some rain overnight but not on my morning commute tomorrow. It seems though that Saturday's shift will be short because of the long weekend. In a way I hope so. It'll give me 2.5 days off. Anyway that's all for now.

Thursday was nice and relaxing

and when I get full pension if the status quo remains the same when I turn 65, I'd like to work just a few days/week. 

Today I've got a few phone calls to make and the Oiler game on TV. Saturday is much the same as today but Sunday Anne and I are going out for her birthday. I'd like to go try that new burger place that's going to open called "Burger priest." Hopefully we'll try it out next month.

A day late with this but On March 12, 1894, the first bottles of Coca-Cola were sold. Invented by an Atlanta pharmacist, the original formula included lime, cinnamon, and coca leaves. I got addicted to Coke in the 1970s and after 3 decades of drinking 2 L of Coke a day, gave me diabetes. My mom even warned me  that drinking this stuff is not good long term but I was a kid bullet proof. If I could go back in time to correct that mistake I would.

Other wise not much going on today. The weather is improving as we got up to +14 yesterday. Anyway, that's about all for now.

This is old news by now

but Target is abandoning Canada. All 133 stores will be closed.  This has got nothing to do with oil. Target will lose $5.4 Billion dollars. Target's demise was not understanding the Canadian retail market and moving in to fast. They boasted low prices and a great selection but their sloppy management, and near empty shelves isn't just a Canadian thing. Canadian parent American stores are just the same there. Target's 17,600 Canadian employees will be getting a 16 week severance package. Liquidation of Target stock will be happening soon. I've been through a Target store a few times but I never shopped in one. Also, Sony is closing 19 Canadian stores but not as many jobs will be affected.

Today I'm going to go visit the caretaker and ask what our options are. I'm going to ask if we can do this at the end of the month because our hours are fixed for next week (which mine are) and we can figure out what our options are. Or and if we can have the empty suite across the hall or something else just to stay for ourselves and our cats. We're off all day Saturday and we can make some headway there. 

Also, I'm going to be re booking my Doctor's appointment today for next week, once we're done with this. Crisis. Then after that it's off for another 4 hours. I booked for a full availability for next week from Sunday to Saturday. Anyway, that's about all for now.

On my way to Clareview station

I cashed in my 6/49 ticket for a free ticket and caught my train and a bit of a wait at Rexall under heated lamps on the train platform. I had another 5 minute wait at the 118th  street inside. My #8 bus came by and I got to lodge as one of the guys had just pulled in and he ad keys.

My Friday night didn't turn out the way wanted but at least I know why now. They were waiting for my certificate to arrive and present everything all at once. According to Neil that 's not done until October. It's an honest mistake. I'm getting my apron and jewel next meeting in February. They only learned this last night from a senior member, so it was news to them.

My work schedule came in just before I left and it's not looking great. I've got hours but they're only picket hours. Luckily for us I've got another check at the end of the month to work with and that's the one that's going to pay our rent.

I got a ride home after festive board and I met Anne outside coming in from Superstore. I didn't eat at the festive board but I had a beer instead and she made me a nice late lunch. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I might not get

paid for the long weekend because I haven't worked the 30 shifts yet  to qualify but I'm ok with that. I get 3 days off, to sleep in and relax and that's just as important to me. 

On my $2 CFL proline ticket my first game was Winnipeg at Hamilton. Winnipeg to win. They were ahead up until the half. Then T-cats came out of nowhere half an hour before home time late in the 4th and the game had 30 seconds on the clock. When I got home the finale was Winnipeg 27/26. They won alright, but it was a proline tie and I needed the Bombers to have 3 more points then that. A field goal would have done it to keep my ticket alive. In other words they won I lost. With 2 games on for tonight  and one on Saturday I might just get another ticket  There's a little snack bar at the Northgate ETS station but I didn't see any lottery stand. My only chance to get another ticket is at Clareview. 

I had a decent sleep this morning though. No sugar crash episodes as in yesterday.  I've got about an hour before I head out for the day.  

I'm still getting used to my new commute. It's a bus to Northgate about a half hour wait and then the #137 into work. It's a lot better then bus to Clareview, train to Campus, wait bus to wem wait and bus to work. As for this morning,m its time to check my email and then get ready to head head out on the day. Anyway, that's all for now.

Thursday was a bit on the slow side

but still a decent day.

My proline ticket is still alive as Montreal defeated Winnipeg in last nights CFL game in Winnipeg's new "Investor's Group" stadium 38-33. I have 1 W and 3 ties! 

Hmm, in i09 yesterday there is this cool article about how Japanese researchers extracted a blood cell from a mouse tail and cloned it. It's very interesting to preserve endangered species. Here's the article.   

After I leave the office, I'll have 3 days off over the Canada Day long weekend. Three days off. At my last job I got 3 weeks off with pay 3 times a year. Yet this is still good. Anyway, that's all for now.

Even though it was a short week, it felt a bit longer then

it should have been. Just today and 2 days off.

Yesterday after work (Thursday) I went over to Audrey's and bought another "Horus Heresy" novel. I've got the 1st 8 and I ordered another 4. I get 4 at a time but I buy 1 of them a  week.

My contacts around the city are saying some good thins about the new Star Trek movie they saw. Some of the guys at work were raving about it as well. One of the girls at Audrey's said she saw it twice. I might see it Wednesday night and book off work an hour early as the movie starts at 5:20pm.

After work I'm heading home, probably to watch some of the NHL playoffs and watch Smackdown. Anyway, that's all for now.

Even though I had

Monday off, the week behind me still felt long.

Next week, I’m getting the studio KRK 100 Wat studio monitors because they monitors have built in amplifiers. These monitors will cost me as much as Maschine itself, never mind the stands or the sub. It’s a big investment. 

In local news city beat cops are going to be using segue’s. This is a good idea but not very practical during the winter. Apparently they were even on the LRT.

Also, earlier the City was able to (with help from surrounding communities) able to access a special fund called the Capital region sustainability fund. I think that’s what it’s called. The City is going to make an application for $25/55M they need. If Katz can come up with the $30M the n the downtown arena will go through, hopefully.

I didn’t get out to Lodge last night because I’m going to the other Lodge Tuesday night. I’m known there and will be in familiar territory. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

I woke up yesterday morning

and a blanket of fresh snow on the ground! It was cold waiting for the bus.

*An overnight update; Anne said the guy that is doing our taxes called yesterday. Maybe it's to say he wont be in today (most likely the weather) but I'll call this afternoon before she leaves to meet me later today at the office. I'm so exhausted I could call in and cancel for today, but it's on with the show.

This one is just too weird, suddenly being swallowed up by the earth on a golf course's fairway drove a wedge between Mark Mihal and a stellar round. The 43-year-old mortgage broker was counting his blessings Tuesday and nursing a dislocated shoulder sustained four days earlier when he tumbled into an 5.5 metre deep sinkhole on the 14th hole of the Annbriar Golf Club near Waterloo, Ill. Read more here:

At work this morning I need to ask the boss if I can book off half an hour early so Anne and I (she’s meeting me at my office) at 4:30pm can go to her building to see if we/I owe Revenue Canada this year or if I get a break as one of her co workers does taxes as a business. Now I won’t mind if I owe something like $50, $100 something like that. We need it paid off to get that GST check every 4 months. We might not even qualify for that. Then after that, we’re boarding the #12 bus by The Bay out to the Kingsway Ramada Inn for her birthday dinner.  She’s got some shopping to do and I’m heading back downtown catch the train home to watch what’s left of the Oiler/Wing’s game and watch Smackdown. I’m up early to get my haircut, Tim’s breakfast, Audrey’s for my book down to LM pay off Machine bill at LM catch the #2 bust to The Bay and walk down to Freemason Hall. So, I’ve got a busy next couple of days.

 Another one for my WTF files: One of Britain's most famous "madams" announced in January that she was coming out of retirement to set up a brothel exclusively catering to disabled people and the terminally ill. An ordinary brothel would be illegal in the town of Milton Keynes (45 miles from London), but Becky Adams insists that the government could not shut hers down without illegally discriminating against the disabled. [Milton Keynes Citizen, 1-11-2013] Unfortunately I don’t have a link for it but that’s why we have Google, right?

This is good local news: Yesterday the Ottawa announced $250M in LRT infrastructure money for the Millwood’s/Downtown LRT. The line will begin in 2015 and will be open for business by 2017. It’s the 2nd route over the North Saskatchewan river. This means the City of Edmonton has $1.050B, they still need about another $800M and the City hopes to get that much from the Province (despite current cutbacks) We don’t need the money now, we can get it in 2017. By that time the current Government might not be around. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

My day on the job yesterday began slow

and I did ok getting 2 survey's before lunch. After lunch I had 7 and I would have had my 10th but my contact had ducked out on me. I felt good leaving the office knowing that I'm doing reasonably well on the job. Not only that but this weekend is the Valentines/Family day long weekend. My favorite stat holiday only behind Easter. I felt good leaving the office and I caught my train back to Clareview. I had a laid back evening just on the computer all night. Anne called at 8pm. Other then that it was a quiet night

Seems asteroid 2012 DA14 which flies by Earth on today, will not be in danger of hitting us as its making a record-setting close approach, for an object of its large size (about half a football field). It will pass inside the ring of Earth's satellites, coming within just 17,200 miles of the planet's surface. More at CNET and Space.com  <. This is a record breaking asteroid because there's been no other asteroid in modern times that's been this close. All we need is a gravity wave to nudge it towards Earth or maybe the asteroid to collide with some space junk and kaboom! .

This weekend if all goes well, I'm going to have some fun. I could get the big check, the small check or no check. If I get the big check, then I'm going to have fun, if I get the small one, then its home Saturday to watch the Oiler game and out to Freemason's hall Sunday morning for that officers training, then home to take my wife out for a Valentines day dinner if she's up to it. If that asteroid doesn't hit us. Anyway, that's about all for now.
 

This post is basically a recap from yesterday and what's

going on for the weekend. 

Thursday was great. I did some banking, got my Warhammer 40K book. At home a bite to eat a hour and a half power nap get ready for Lodge. Part of being a Mason is visiting other Lodges. Especially in Cities it's easier as here in Edmonton we have about 30 Lodges between 3 buildings. A couple of weeks ago I paid another trip to a Saturday Lodge, where I made an announcement we were going to confer a degree. I met some great people at that Lodge and befriended an older Scottish fellow  and invited him out to our degree. I learned a few weeks latter ours was cancelled. I screwed up my lines and made an embarasment of myself near the end, which nobody seemed to mind. This is the good part, the fellow I befriended was one of a district brethren and at the festive board he introduced himself and mentioned how I invited him to Lodge (even though we were suposed to confer a degree which didn't happen) so that felt good now that the guys in my Lodge know I'm out visiting. I had a beer some sandwiches. I was home by 10pm. 

This weekend I'm going to take it easy. There's an Oiler game on at noon Saturday but I'll be sleeping until about 1pm 

Anyway I have a full day today. Lots of stuff going on. I'll elaborate later, anyway that's all for now.   
  

I slept ok from just

 after 2am until about 9:40 waking up before my alarm, shaved and showered.

I got a LRT notification from my “Connect 2 Edmonton” forum site and the LRT has service interrupted today as they are down to 1 track. Apparently the City is having a kind of breaking through the Nait line tunnel ceremony this  morning at 11am. I’ll see the highlights of this tonight. It’s going to be interesting to see how the timing between 2 tracks and 3 trains going in 2 different directions off the same track. Currently it’s just track 1 & 2. For the most part my train comes on track 2 heading either to Corona station or Clareview. Now there’s a train heading to Clareview and to Nait and the other way. In other words, 3 trains sharing 2 tracks. The only thing I can think of is if the Nait line doesn’t go all the way from Nait to Century park but stops at Churchill. Will passengers need to get off at Churchill to go South or East or go straight through? This is going to need some computer gymnastics to pull off the switching details. But it won’t be ready for another 15 months yet.

I’m having my coffee relaxing as I hope I’m in for a good full day. I don’t like the new script for CPC because it’s like were talking down to the public by saying that if they don’t support the party with a donation then like the NDP defending Iran, they become no better. Essentially we’re talking down to these people. I like the conversational selling aspects here and all, good stuff.

Looks like we’re going to be in for a decent day today weather wise. We’ve been under a bit of a mild winter so far. The past couple of winters haven’t been like what we used to have in the 70’s & 80’s. All these things go in cycles.

Monday I’m in early to make a bank deposit and get a haircut before work. But today it’s 7.5 hours and do the bank thing and home for a couple of hours and back to bed. Anyway, that’s about all for now.