I don't mind the Saturday shift s long as I've

had a good sleep, some breakfast and it's only 5 hours. That gives me the whole night all of Sunday and Monday morning/afternoon. Right now we're in full swing of the project. I hope I get some work for the rest of this month, and February off. 

James Webb is well on its way to L2 and fully deployed. There are a lot of other things that could go wrong with the tension of the Sun shield. Fingers crossed.

Other than Kontakt, it's hard to believe that I don't have my Native Instruments installed into Fl. Studio. That's what I'll be learning how to do tonight. 

Last night I was messing about playing Castlevania with OBS/Nintendo Switch. I think the key to getting everything to work, is the Elgato game capture interface, my Camlink andof course my mirrorless dslr. Anyway that's about all for now.

I had that Nintendo Switch

for like 2 days before (and even after my research.) I can't get Switch to open on my monitor much less record game play using OBS. Its packed up and ready to go back to where I bought it, within the 14 day return policy. The next item up for OBS is an Elgato green screen. It sits on the floor and folds up like a projector. I did my research on this product. I could use the Switch if I had an Elgato capture card, but that's an extra $225. 

So game 4 of the Stanley Cup finale is Monday. I'll be channel surfing, that and wrestling, unless I get a call to go in for work. But this series is a  long series, like 3 days between games? Game #4 Monday, Game #5 Thursday,  Game #6 Next Sunday, Game #7 next week already. Its kind of like the lack of work I've been getting lately. Good thing I'm on pension. I'm kind of hoping St. Louis can come back bc if they lose the next game, it will be Boston in 5. Last week Oilers hired Dave Tippet as their head coach.

Lately what with all of the forest fires here in Northern Alberta, I've been paying close attention to the Air, Quality, Health, Index or AQHI. I first learned of this when doing some market research about 5 years ago. I'm in the high risk area for doing any exercise outdoors. The aqhi dropped enough for me to go on my 2 mile walk after my wife checked in on me from her place of work. Well, 3 days a week is better then nothing. I've got my sights on a club membership for $300/year. When I get that this summer and until the first snow, I'm going to go out for a "walk like" that everyday. Its just one bus ride there and back. No trainers, no pool. Anyway, that's all for now.

While I'm not much of a

gamer these days, I've been busy with other things. The world is catching on to Pokemon Go. Its "augmented reality." It seems media is more enamored with the hazards of playing the game then the game itself. I can't play this game because we don't have a smart phone. One of those is integral to game play. While I have a new Nintendo 3ds I haven't been able to get into it that much. I know people that have hacked into the device. I could see obtaining a video capture card as long as it doesn't violate my tos. Pokemon Go is very popular on Twitch TV.

The second part of Coast 2 Coast this morning is about the Knights Templar. These are not the same Knights Templar's as in De Molay's era. The Knights Templar's are associated with York Rite Masonry or the Royal Arch. I was initiated as a York Rite Mason in 2002. Any Master Mason York or Scottish Rite (Canadian Rite Masonry) can become a member of the Royal Arch. The Knights Templar's is part of the Royal Arch Masonry. George's guest tonight of course is trying to promote his book, and doesn't go into any of the Royal Arch as far as I could tell. Basically its laid out like this: Royal Arch Masons, Council of Royal and Select Masters (Cryptic Rite) Preceptory of Knights Templar. The Order of Knights Templar is the last degree of the Preceptory. All of this is common knowledge, so I'm not giving away any "secrets" here. I still plan on doing something with the Royal Arch probably in the fall. I'm going to enjoy the second half of the show this morning. 

I'm up out of here this afternoon to get this CPP crhc form filled out after lunch. I'll be on the road before Anne heads out for work. That's on my plate for today. Thursday the Edmonton Eskimo's are in Winnipeg, and I'm looking out for that one before management here does something with our fridge, I mean oven. I may be out of action for a day or two. Anyway I'm outa here, that's all for now. 

My Valentine's day yesterday was

pretty decent. Anne and I went across the street to Cora's as mentioned below. We'll be back maybe in the Spring. I left out of here for lodge for a few hours. We did our practice and I got a ride home. I was home before 9pm, sweet. Anne made me a burger and fries for supper. We watched the news and that leads me to today: Family day.

The last fantasy role playing game I played was Elder Scrolls Oblivion on the Xbox 360. I had a great time with the game and my player character leveled up quite high until I got bogged down. Then our Xbox got some kind of a bug and we couldn't use it any more. I was burned out playing it and at that time got into music production. So the other day, my Super at work an online gamer and I were talking about World of Warcraft. I was wondering if that's still as popular as ever. He said its still $15 month to play. That's $180 a year! Yikes, to rich for me. I'm not really into gaming that much anymore but if I was I'd be interested in getting a Ntendo DS because I can use that for music production, and gaming. Eventually within the next 2 years I'll be getting iMac anyway, but I like the allure of hand held on the go gaming. Especially when I'm waiting for a bus or on my commute. I can see a Ntendo 3DS in my immediate future. Would I get another Xbox again? Hard to say but the good news about a console gaming system is it can be hooked up to the iMac display.

I'm sleeping in late today taking it easy and enjoying my day off. Tonight its Monday night Raw. Life is good. Anyway, that's all for now.

Comic con is well underway

this weekend in San Diego. There was no casting information available in a upcoming Dr. Strange movie. That's understandable, sure but what in the name of the Hoary Hands of Hogarth is up with that?

On my way home yesterday at Corona station, I ran into a colleague of mine from the old Xentel days. It was nice to see little James again. We rode with each other all the way to Stadium and he filled me in on other colleagues we worked with.

I had a relaxing night following my cfl picks but BC lost. So much for week 5. I should have played the favorites. Next weekend I'm going to do just that. 

The World of Warcraft movie has wrapped up its filming a couple of months ago. According to i09 the WOW movie (out 2016) is supposed to be loaded with action and imagery. They want to turn this into a origins movie how the world of world of Azeroth falls into conflict between orcs and humans, or Lord of the Rings meets Avatar. This leaves me to wonder if the wait has more to do with damage control or getting the marketing machine in full gear.

This upcoming week I have only 4 days but they are all within this pay period. It's a short week this week and next week. I still get my 63 hours in for this week and on the long weekend, Anne wants to go Saturday out for Pizza. Sounds like a good idea. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Everybody has seen them and lots of

people have them. I'm talking about tattoos. Tattoos have been around since Neolithic times. I don't have a problem with tattoos on men. Women with tattoos look ugly and there's nothing that turns me off more then a pretty woman and she has a tattoo, uggh. Women wearing tattoos is a feminist thing, I get that but sorry ladies. It doesn't do anything for me. I find tattoos gross on women. During the 70's, 80's possibly as late as the 1990's even,not many women wore tattoos. It was only recently did women begin to wear them. Now children even wear them and I think they wear them as a symbol of "I have a tattoo, look how tough I am. You want to bully me?" Type thing. I wouldn't wear a tattoo because I'm diabetic. Tattoos, don't like them.

I'm not much into video games but when I get my iMac this year, I'm going to get Diablo 3. I like games like this I bought the "original" Diablo Spawn, I think 1998, something like that. I "lost" my little DS I bought last April but that's another story. When i get my iMac, Diablo 3 is going to be one of the first video games I'm buying. 

Normally the 1st weekend in August is a stat holiday but it's either in lieu of something. Its mostly a holiday for civic and bank employees. Imagine my surprise when I learned that we're taking this stat holiday off I get Saturday August 2nd, 3rd & 4th off but not with pay.     

My usual commute goes something like this: Catch a bus to Clareview, the lrt to Campus station. From there take the #4 to wem and from there the #137 after about a 40 minute wait between Campus and wem. That's 4 buses and trains. I asked the driver of the #137 if he just goes between wem and Northgate. That's all. So I thought maybe if I get a bus to Northgate and the #137, I avoid a crowded lrt to Campus and cut out 2 buses to work. So, today, its a bus to Clareview and I'm stopping off at Clareview (just for today) to get my proline cfl picks. Then a Northgate bus to get the #137 and into work. Sweet. Anyway, that's all for now.

I tweeked this blog here

a few days ago. The big changes were mostly cosmetic. The header was changed and so were the pages. Where it read My favorite Topics, is now Topics. Gallery is now Flikr photo stream and I took out "On politics." I'm not big on politics anyway and where it read Conventions, etc is now just SFF Cons. I also put a bit of a disclaimer in my header about grammar and spelling. Hopefully its just cleaned up a little. 

The new project is very interesting and it gives me hours from 2-9 and we're braking an extra 15min early, which is nice. 

At Audrey's the other day I checked on my western novels book order. I ordered the first 5 in William Johnstone's Eagle series.
 

Apparently the whole series is available so I got the 1st out of 5 and the others are on their way. Good stuff.

I've been playing with my new gaming device I got Sunday afternoon: My new Nintendo 3ds. Since it came with a game, I have yet to buy a new game. They're about $40 each at Future shop. I want to get the latest Zelda and the Lego games. I can also get them used as well.

I'm off to attend a Masonic funeral tomorrow. I've got some speaking parts in front of strangers in a setting I'm not at all comfortable with. At least the speaking parts can be read, so that's a good thing. There's also a turkey supper latter. I might not attend this part. Anyway, that's all for today.

Lots going on this week.

Monday night Raw, Tuesday Oiler game, Wednesday Lodge, Thursday valentines day, Friday the beginning of a long weekend.

I’ve been having a bit of a problem with my right heal. It seems to dry up with crackling skin. We think it’s diabetes so I’m putting some Vaseline on it and covering it up with a sock. Hopefully that will help out.

My favorite board game Advance Squad leader seems to have a active presence on YouTube. Multi Man Publications most recent ASL offering has been one of their Historical modules called “Festung Budapest.” There is an un-boxing of this game and it’s a huge game. The only thing I don’t like about it is that MMP went and changed the SS counters from their traditional white on black to like every other counter in the German OOB. I don’t know why they did this and some of the comments about the SS counters not being their traditional colors put some players off. Even 3rd party ASL treatments keep their SS counters in their traditional color. The other thing about the game it’s like a $130 price tag. I’m thinking about buying this because it might have a limited print one.

Finally the Oiler’s won on the road. They are still in 9th place but I think this is where they will be all season. Roughly between 10 and 9th. Dubnyk was in net and he stole the show. Hall was called for goal tender interface and with his speed propelled him up onto the net and over. Made me laugh. 

I’ve got a full day ahead today as I’m up at 7am and out the door at 8am. I should be home about 5:45pm. Next week I’ll be able to pencil in my own hours. 34 hours is full time. I’m used to 37.5 at my last job but that was including Saturdays. I’m glad I don’t have to do them anymore. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

I've got an easy day

today. I'[m home with Anne, I'm sleeping in late (noon) and it's going to be a reading type of a day. I'm going to do my CPP stuff Thursday.

I haven't heard anything yet from an old ASL friend of mine. We were supposed to get together but he hasn't given me his phone number or anything like that to set up a time and place. I'm hoping to get back into gaming ASL again. Saturday non Lodge days work for me but I miss playing this board game. My friend Andrew is a tough ASL opponent. No doubt he's been playing  I can't game at my place because he's allergic to cats. I see us gaming at his place from 2pm-9pm where I can get home by 10:30ish. Anne's got Face Time now so we can do "video conferencing." Except when I'm in Lodge of course. 

I'm still considering heading out to Saskatchewan #92 on Thursday. It's a Canadian Rite Lodge. Normally when I go to Lodge other then my own it's been Commercial, because it's a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon have a beer before or after lodge in the lounge. We don't usually open our festive board at our lodge until after our meeting. I like the idea of having a bit of libation before Lodge. Get a little buzz going before the meeting. Only problem with #92, is I'm not known there so there's nobody that can vouch for me.

 
The NHL is back, maybe. The deal needs to be ratified and then voted upon. It's hoped that when that happens (Wednesday) the copper and blue might (fingers crossed) be playing a 48 game season on the 19th of this month. There are way too many fans that are over reacting about this last lockout. Most of the players would rather be on the ice playing hockey rather then sitting it out in the board room or whatever. I for one am glad they're back. I hope. 

Tonight on Coast the topic is about Money Laundering/ Natural Remedies, uggh. Anyway, that's about all from me for today. 

I had a great weekend and a day off for Friday

I’m very close to obtaining a copy of my fathers birth records. This could also have parents information street address as well. Its out of the California department of vital stats. Or CDVS. They have birth records going back to 1905. I know Richard Warren Shannon’s name is in the database because of a search under one of these geneology companies that flagged it but in order to get the info, you have to join. It takes 10 weeks though to get a reply and if there isn’t any response then they send the funds back to you, I think. But I might be able to also find out death records as well and from there find out about my grandfather and if he died in California as I think he did, which is what brought him and my aun Evelyne out here. I know my dads brother is/was in San Diego. If I can find his birth certificate and it has listed my grandfather, then that validates my enquierey as the right one. I’ve just got to get the right forms and process together and away I go. It costs $16 for the birth certificate and $20 to get an acknowledment of parentry. I just need the right forms. If I can do it all online (except payment) that’s a check or money order, then fine. If I have everything in place, then I’ll get the process started this week.

Other then the great news about Ryan Smyth returning, Canada Post is back and mail will resume again this week. I was worried I’s be laid off it dragged out like the NDP wanted.

I hope I can get some family closer from the above this year on my dad‘s side. I‘d like to also know if my grand father was born in California (CA) If so, he‘d more then likely be born within 20-30 years of my father. Probably in the late 1890‘s. In that case the county (Imperial valley) would have that information. I even tried looking for a El Centro phone directory for around that time.

After I read this Star Wars book, I‘m going to delve right into RJS‘s WWW trilogy. I hope to have it read by the end of September. All but the 2nd book is signed by the author. If Sawyer comes to Edmonton next April, then I‘ll ask him to sign the 2nd one for me and his new book, he‘s calling Trigger. Then to round out a week book reading year, I‘m going to jump into another Warhammer 40k Omnibus book and if possible, book #4 of Timothy Zhan’s Quadrail series. This will make it for 8 books on the year. But because my reading time has been a bit compromised du to my work schedule bouncing back and fourth between and business and add a busy Lode year, my reading has taken a setback this year. After the WWW books, that makes 6. The Warhammer and Zhan books only goes to 8. If I take out the Warhammer book for next year, (Lodge work doesn’t get easier when I take the Jr. Warden chair.) but at least I can revisit the City of Pearl series, and another Star Wars series in there as well and if I‘m lucky I can get something small to carry me to 10 books on the year. All Science Fiction. The other series I‘d like to get into is the Star Trek Voyager and SCE series.

And if all that isn’t enough last night while surfing You Tube, I came across some more Advanced Squad Leader videos. I uploaded a few of them to Itunes. They’re good primer videos featuring the Starter packs. I don’t have the 2nd ed rules book because it’s out of print. They can be bought on Ebay for about $110. $80 at the MMP site when they get back into circulation.

Switching gears here: This completely escaped me Saturday as I was leaving the office. Friday is Canada Day July 1st. I have another day off with stat pay. Sweet. I took today off which is my regular scheduled day off little realizing, wait now I’m only going to get 24 hours, +4 for Saturday for a total of 28 hours. My stat pay will make up the difference but not by much. If all goes well I should have the funds for Cubase 6 by the end of July. Anyway, that’s all for now

This upcoming

weekend is a long weekend here in Canada what with Victoria Day. Its my favorite long weekend of the Summer.

Yesterday I mentioned about how a CBC camera trained its lens on Darryl Katz and Gary Bettman, who were at the SJ/Vancouver game. Well, they had just received a call from Edmonton City Mayor Stephen Mandel that a principle framework for the downtown arena is a go. All that remains is to finalize some odds and ends and to get $100M from either the Province or the City or both. It also insures that the City keep the Oilers in Edmonton for another 35 years.

Oh, I meant to mention earlier that one of my random calls the computer made for me was "Absolute power." This is a video/computer game store for people that don't have powerful game computers who still want to game. They charge $35 for 10 hours or $3.50 hour to play. That's bot bad really. But at $35 week can get to be quite expensive. I can see myself going over there on a Saturday night to play a couple hours of "Warcraft" or say "Warhammer 40k." I might actually even look into this, time for bed. Anyway, that's about all for now.