Our household was stunned when we heard the news that

Star Wars Carrie Fisher had a heart attack but she was recovering. When I opened my email moments ago there was the "Famous lives led" thread. Now what? That's when I learned about Carrie Fisher dead at the age of 60. Oh my god. What a shocker. If losing Bowie and Prince this year wasn't enough, now this. Carrie Fisher was here in Edmonton at Our Edmonton Expo in September. I remember all the media hype leading up to the movie original Star wars movie in the Spring of 1977. Gord and I were keen on seeing it but the only place where it was shown was at a drive in located in Surrey lower mainland. There was so much going on in my life at that time. I was 25 when I saw the first Star Wars movie the week it opened and it was love at first sight. Hearing about Carrie Fisher, saddens me a great deal. Like Bowie, that was part of my youth. Now here I am at the age of 64 being diabetic, a heart attack could happen to me. Heart attacks are the #1 cause of death for people that are diabetic. Carrie Fisher, very sad news indeed. Losing our cat Sporty in January, hearing about David Bowie, Prince and losing Boots and now Carrie Fisher. Its been a rough year in this household. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Lots of people are talking about the price of

oil. Oil prices can make or break a Nation's economy. Just look at what its doing to Russia as their currency is devalued. Sanctions over Putin's missadventure in the Ukraine have something to do with it a well. Oil prices sank to a low of about $43/barrel earlier in March and for the longest time has been floating around $47-$50. Oil prices are having an affect on our local economy as well. Yesterday the price of oil reached a land mark high lately of $53! At the moment oil is at $53.98 and its going to go up and down like that for God knows how long. 

Some sad news recently out of Hollywood. James Best better known as the actor that played Rosco P. Coltrane (Dukes of Hazzard) passed away. Best had roles in dozens of TV shows. I always thought James Best and Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) made the Dukes better then it was. Roscoe kept on calling people in the show dipstick. The Dukes of Hazzard ran for 7 seasons and was one of the highest rated shows 2nd behind Dallas. Best passed away Sunday from complications of pneumonia.

I left out of here feeling better then I have had in over a few days now. We're not sure what's going in across the street when whatever it is that's being built. I was a bit early and I had a wait at the bus stop on the for half an hour reading my book and went to the office. Work went along ok and I had a couple of coughing episodes. I'll be able to work the week out. Its going to be a struggle but I'll be ok. Anyway, that's all for now.

I lasted just a little over 2 years

at Malatest. I have nothing but good things to say about my last employer. I would recommend R.A. Malatest to anyone that wants to get into market research work. The supervisors are great and are willing to assist at anytime. In no way did I find favoritism of any sort. I'm going to miss the people I worked with over the last 2 years. Now its time to move on to another chapter in my life. One thing is certain, I don't ever want to do market research again.

I was sad when I heard Leonard Nimoy passed away  yesterday. Almost everybody from my generation knows that Nimoy played Mr. Spock on Star Trek in the 1960's and later in the "In search of" series and in the Trek movies. I was 14 in 1966 when Star Trek first aired and too think, then I was barely aware of the show. I recall watching the odd Star Trek tos episode on our BW tv that autumn of 1966.Star Trek and television in general took a back seat when Beatlemania was in full swing and the landscape of the 1960's unfolded. With the exception of 1968 when television and radio had been my window to the world. Today Star Trek tos (the original series) is a cult phenomena spawning novels, comic books, games, clothing, toys and trinkets etc. I was barely aware of the show in its finale stages of cancellation in 1968, as I had other concerns I was going through at the time. From Star Trek tos came came Star trek the motion picture in 1979. Three other original Trek movies came out in the 1980's before Star Trek (live action) graced the small screen again with Star Trek the next generation in 1988. Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise were all later incarnations of Star Trek TV. In the 1980's the public had a strong appetite for Star Trek. Leonard Nimoy played in all 6 of the original movies. The term trekie didn't appear until years later after tos was cancelled. When Star Trek The motion picture came out in 1979, I actually took time off work (working at the Army and Navy warehouse across the street from the Icon towers) to see the movie being one of the first in line at the Paramount theatre opening day here in Edmonton. Out of all the trek TV shows after tos I liked Voyager the best. Nimoy played Spock in all 6 of the original motion picture movies and cameo's in the reboot movies. I liked Star Trek 2 and 3 out of the original movies. Sad to hear Nimoy's passing. He was 83. Live long and prosper Mr. Nimoy, somewhere.

The big news Friday in the social media world is the dress. The one that has Hollywood and everyone else talking about. Some people think its white and gold others think its blue and black. The dress is actually blue and black.it was causing a stir in Hollywood and all over Twitter trending at #1 for most of the day. 

What with losing my job I took the occasion to buy a 6/49 ticket. I've no expectations of winning anything more then a free ticket or $5 or $10. I think I'd have a heart attack if I actually won the jackpot. The draw Saturday is for $5M.

I've got a big week this week, what with a meeting at a employment agency Monday and meeting Anne at Northgate afterwards, looking for work, back to Northgate Thursday and Lodge later that night. I hope to find a job by the end of the week or something. Anyway, that's all for now.

I might have a busy

day of things today. I'm up and out of here to Northgate to my pcn to drop off the adult benefits letter I received and a hand written letter of appeal from me, then home. I've got a 3:30pm telephone interview tomorrow afternoon for a job. We went through 11 email exchanges yesterday. Hopefully that will translate into something positive.

After Anne left for her job yesterday. I caught the #182 Fraser bus to Clareview and a transfer and got my cfl proline picks for the weekend. Then to the hair stylist near Walmart. The lady there didn't know what short meant even after I gave the hint that I get a hair cut twice a year. I was losing my patience with her and I got up saying something like "Sorry, it's not your fault. I should go to m regular barber, he  knows how I want my hair cut," and left. I was pissed off and headed back home but I knew there was another hair stylist place actually across the street from me. I can look out my window and see its sign even now. The gal there knew what I meant and gave me a great haircut. After that I went to Future shop to look around. They have the ebook reader I want: The Kobo Aura. They also have the 4Tb hard drive I'm looking at getting and the hard drive dock as well. The last two components in my pc upgrade. I'll probably get the hard drive dock at Future Shop and the ereader. Eventually. After that I went to Bo Didlies a bar across the street from me and I had a pint of Molson Dry and headed home to watch the Seahawks nfl season opener with Green Bay packers. I worked on my track and followed the game after the first half waiting for Anne to call. 

I was never a fan of Joan Rivers but I'd be in remiss if I didn't mention her passing away yesterday at the age of 81. Hollywood lost 2 comedians, Robin Williams and Joan Rivers. Anyway, that's about all for now.

This summer has got to be the worst one yet

for mosquitoes. The fan I've got going helps to keep them off me, to a point. They're out in full force this summer.

We lost another Hollywood star today: Lauren Bacall. She worked along side Humphrey Bogart in the 40's. She was 89.

I had a slow start on the job and for some reason I got nothing before lunch. Strange. We had 5 telemarketers when I started but lost 3 for personal reasons. Now there's just the 2 of us and my colleague had the same kind of a day I had. The boss didn't say much. Hopefully today will be better. I usually get about 6-10 leads out the door in a 5 hour shift. Even my colleague said this was the worse day she's had since she started. Could be the heat as well.  

I read this great story in yesterdays journal about the Marx brothers. They played at the Pantages theatre here in Edmonton in 1913 for 46 weeks at .50 cents a person to sold out crowds every night. About 10 years before they hit it big on Broadway and in movies. 

We're still trapped in this heat wave with no sign of it slowing down. Anyway, that's all for now.

We are in the middle of another heat wave

this week, with +29, +30's all over the place and it brings out the skeeters. 

I was in good spirits about 1:30pm heading towards Clareview station. I got to my Doctors office about 2pm but apparently my appointment was for 3:30pm. Uh-oh. It was very warm about +30 so I went to my barber only his shop was closed. No note or anything. Ok. I went over to my part time job's office and put in my availability. I've got Saturday 3-6, Sunday off because of the birthday outing Anne has planned for me then I'm back at it Monday for 4 hours. Normally it's supposed to be Saturday and Sunday but I've got  Monday's as I'm trying to save up for the computer. Once I've got that, I'll go back to just Saturdays and Sundays. After that I went over to Audrey's and picked up my Warhammer 40K "Hunter's moon" cd, since I didn't get the haircut. Then to the Doctor's office building and I got a little ice cream treat. I had about a 40 minute wait. The main attraction for my appointment was to check my blood pressure and it was 132/70 something much to the Doctors surprise. I took the train home and had a bit of supper and watched a great Monday night Raw.

While I never was a fan of Robbin Williams and only remember him vaguely in Mork and Mindy, I was aware of some of his work. He was the same age as me. We lost 2 Hollywood stars this summer: James Garner and Robbin Williams.  

That was my day off yesterday. I've got a 10 hour day tomorrow but only 5.5 hours is work. I get the bus about 12:30pm and I have about a half hour wait from 1-1:30pm and about a 40 minute bus ride and a half hour wait on the job site. It's just that the job is across town for me. It's a long day. Anyway, that's about all for now.

For the most part

the header above is looking good. I could have centered my name over a bit to the right, other wise I like the look of the header. The photo of me was taken December 2013 from our iPad pulling into Belvedere station.

On Coast tonight, the topic is past lives, which is an intriguing topic bordering on reincarnation. I'm not sure if I believe in past life regression or not but it is compelling stuff. I wrote a bunch of junk earlier on this post about it so I'm rephrasing this post. Sorry about that. According to Wikipedia:Scientific consensus is that the memories are the result of cryptomnesia, narratives created by the subconscious mind using imagination, forgotten information and suggestions from the therapist. 

On a sad not actor James Garner passed away at the age of 83. I always liked him in "Maverick" and  "The Rockford files." Garner was also a huge L.A. Raiders NFL supporter. He was also an avid golfer. I miss TV from the 60's and 70's. The TV landscape of today is littered with reality based TV shows like Survivor, and stuff like Amazing Race, and America's got talent. The only good thing about CSI was their theme song. Now if there was ever a new Star Trek TV show, I'd be tuning in. We used to watch Doctor Who but we never know when it's on. That's why other then news and sports, I don't watch TV anymore. The other thing I don't like about TV are the many car commercials. With the millions of vehicle recalls I wouldn't buy a car today. It's sad to see great actors like Garner leaving us but he looked like he had a good long life. Mr. Garner died of natural causes yesterday. R.I.P. James.  

About MA flight 17 as tragic enough as it was this is my statement on the tragedy: Somebody needs to be held accountable. I wont name any names but that's my 2 cents I'll Put in. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

My signature needed to be on

our ALCB liquor license as our lodge secretary and I arranged to meet me outside my office building down town. So in between red lights I was able to sign the ALCB form on the dashboard in the front seat as he drove me home. Normally I wouldn't get home until about 10:45pm when we're doing BC. I got home at 10:45pm last night. In record time, wow!

The payroll officer of my 2nd job emailed me yesterday saying something to do with my tax form. I probably messed up somewhere. Doesn't surprise me. I'll call her in the morning.

*A blog update: I called payroll in Calgary and I messed up on my tax form when I had filled that out when I got hired on. It's all corrected. My 2nd job doesn't send out a pdf pay stub like my first job does.

*At the moment I'm enjoying my first coffee. I had 7.5 hours of sleep but the hot chocolate Anne offered me before bed and the sleep time tea before that had me going to the bathroom about 6 times over night but I still got the sleep I needed.

*This has been on my reading list radar for awhile now: Warhammer 40K Space Marine Battles: "Malodrak." It's available in Trade and I'll probably order it when I have time off. There's also a new Horus Heresy book in there as well "Vulkan Lives" hopefully will be released in paperback in the Spring and same with "The Unremembered Empire" and  "Aurelian."

I wasn't much of a Peter O'Tool watcher but did enjoy him in "Lawrence of Arabia." I was sad to hear of his passing yesterday. We're losing a lot of great Hollywood stars.  

The schedule wont be posted for my first job until Friday so before I go into my 2nd job, I'll call to see if I have any hours over the holidays. Every bit helps. Anyway, that's all for now.

Last night

I decided to leave about 5:35pm and after about a 20 minute wait a bus (1 out of 5) possibilities finally limped along over the Manning over pass and limped along finally to Clareview. I still had a 10 minute wait at Rexall but my bus there came more or less on time. I arrived at the Lodge, about an hour since I left out of my place. Unbelievable.

Yesterday Hollywood lost Jean Stapleton best known for the role as Archie Bunker’s wife Edith on “All in the Family.” The early episodes were the best. Such a show by today’s standards wouldn’t cut it past the politically correct climate of today’s network climate.

Still with television, Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor of Doctor Who will be leaving the show after the Christmas special. I began watching the show because of him. Matt Smith has done a lot of work in the media and has written a number of Doctor Who books. About every 3 years lately BBC seems to get a new Doctor for the show. Despite Matt Smith‘s departure, I‘ll still be a fan of the show.

My meeting was more or less successful and I’m glad I went. I was home shortly after 9pm. So I had a pretty good night last night but it’s back for a full week for me. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

Complaing about things too often only

makes you look like a whiner. I've got these Apple headphones that I bought with the mic and 6 months later the sound quality is dropping. I tried my wife's new headphones that came with her new iPod touch and I get a 60% increase in sound. I'm going to see how those same headphones sound in April. I get the feeling they wont sound as they do now.

It's a sad day in Hollywood when I learned last night that Gerry Anderson passed away. As a kid growing up in the 60's I often would watch the Thunderbirds. It was great stuff. My favorite Gerry Anderson production was Space 1999. It was way ahead of its time.Gerry Anderson passed away 26 December 26th 2012 (aged 83) Oxfordshire, England. R.I.P. Gerry. 

Not much going on this morning. I thought about putting a New Years message up on my Sound Cloud account and put it to music but not with Cubase. I'm finding out that I can't use my audio interface the Cubase dongle and my midi controller at the same time. I can use FL Studio and my midi controller at the same time along with my audio interface and still get better controller over my CPU monitoring.
  
I'm trying to get the Tunein radio app on my iTouch but my 3rd Gen is really slow and I haven't got Anne's Apple ID set up yet to get it from the app store. 

I was doing some genealogy research on my fathers side of the family. My father, Richard Warren Shannon's parents divorced and my grandmother Florence Shannon married a Xel Monsees and they moved to Vernon BC. Xel died at the age of 91 but Florence died at the age of 44 in 1948. I don't  know the cause of death. Yet Xel's parents died in 1930-31 and are buried together. Xel's father died while Xel was about 30. Xel was an only child. Florence and Xel got married in 1930 a year before my Grandfather's death. Xel married Florence a year before Xel's father died (1931 and Xel's mother died 1932. Xel would lose Florence in 1948. There's no evidence they had a child but there is a Cora Monsees in Vernon. I don't know if that's any relation to me.

Xel must have been a member of the "Knights of Pythias" because the cemetery his parents, Xel and Florence were buried in a "Knights of Pythias" cemetery which in itself is interesting.  

I got enough stuff going on right now, as later today I'm trying a few things before I get on the phone and ask Apple for tech support. Plus I want to call my sister and connect with her and see if she can help me validate anything with my mother and her parents. There seems to be some discrepancy going on there as well. Anyway, that's about all for now.



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