Its been an interesting couple of days

around here. Monday I played telephone tag for 2 days with my other job. They had sent out a invite letter around early July to have me back for September coming up but somehow the letter was returned to sender. They apparently sent me another letter to the address where I received my pay stubs: Here. Don't they have my resume on file from last year? There was a expiry response date on the original letter dated for July 31st, and based on the over the phone conversation I'm invited back for September 1st. I still need to have the letter filled out, and returned but I can always return the letter by hand, when....it..gets..... here. Mail, the way its been lately is so..........slow.  

I wasn't much of a fan of "Sesame street," when it premiered on November 10, 1969. I liked the frog, big bird, Fozzy the bear and the two old guys in the balcony would make me laugh. I was somewhat aware when the show came out but by 1969 I was a 17 years old teen, wearing a body cast living in Coquitlam BC here on Regan Ave most television escaped my attention at the time. I was just 3 months out of a 8 month back operation recovering from scoliosis. I had just discovered Avalon Hill wargaming. Back then, they produced board wargaming like "Blitzkrieg" "Jutland" "1914" and years later my favorite game Advanced Squad leader (ASL) That's what I was into in late 1969. Fast forward to the other day when I heard some of the original Sesame street people were let go from their jobs took me down memory lane. I don't know who Bob, Luis and Gordon are. I'm sure younger members of my family know of them. However learning of the termination of these people, and how said termination caused an uproar over Twitter prompted me to weigh in here. The "if it aint broke don't fix it department," has mentioned to me that this could come back to bite the owners of the show. Its as if the creative owner control system <huh? read my mind and said something like "but they could come back at a future date." Um its called "damage control." Kind of like when Trump said he was "joking" or being sarcastic when asking Russia/Putin to search for those missing emails. What can we learn here? Always make sure when you open your mouth, and something silly pops out always have your damage control team standing by with tools to repair the problem. Some tools are, "double talk," "passing the buck" and the ever poplar "I was just kidding." Or refer to the "Damage control for dummies" book if you have no damage control department, and or edit ones blog post for latter ;)

However, I digress. We are still waiting for the part for our oven. So much so that Anne got fed up and had to go to Walmart to buy a counter top oven:


                              
This sucker cost us $130 out of our nickel and dime budget.

I called the boss at the other job, and he didn't know if there is anything coming up for work. No timeline for anything. I need to go into the office next Friday to pick up my cheque, and hopefully pop into the other place up the street before 4pm with the second letter they claimed they sent me. Anyway, That's about all for now.

I woke up out of bed just before

noon. Other then multiple bathroom trips, I had a good sleep.The trips to the bathroom are because I drink a lot of fluids before bed. I'm slowly cutting that down. I think I had a good 8 hours of sleep, that and I dozed on the couch watching the hockey game and about an hours worth of sleep in bed. 

When I get pension and back to work, one of the first pieces of gear I want to get is a portable synth/music production system called the OP-1. Its about the size of a quarty keyboard including the F keys. Its even got a keyboard and can record off of it. It has a built in microphone for sampling, a nice screen and lots of effects. The OP-1 has 4 tracks and has room for user samples and a external speaker. I think it even has an aux in port. It's portable and can be used anywhere. Of course it has full transport control. Its an amazing machine. There's lots of YouTube video's on this device but its a bit expensive at $800 cdn. None of the major retailers here stock it. If they did, it'd be about $1,000. Its on my wish list for sure.

What with it being mothers day today, I shared a pic of mom on my Facebook page. Anne is still sleeping. I think this afternoon before brunch she's going out to get her flowers for the balcony. I'm at my 8:30pm job Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Wednesday morning I have a 11am to get some insulin. Thursday Friday and Saturday, I'm at the other place. I'm hoping I can get 35 hours in this week. My week ahead is steady. Happy mothers day everyone. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Remembrance day is one of my

favorite days to have a day off. Its more then a day off for me as my father Richard Warren Shannon served as a pilot flying bomber aircraft across the Atlantic ocean in world war 2. I often think of dad but more so for what he did for this country. He never won any honors or anything for his duty nor did he expect any. His position was to fly the aircraft to the theatre of operations not to go on any combat missions. My Remembrance observance took place at my lodge last Thursday. I wear my poppy all through out the month of November.

For what I need I'm beginning to think that the webcam idea to record my music jams was money wasted. It didn't dawn on me at the time of purchase that a selfie stick for my iPod touch could have served the same purpose and takes better video. Also, in real time and isn't as finicky. I can get a blue tooth selfie stick and I'm ready to go for about $20 bucks. I still might use the webcam but not for music production. By using iMovie in my iPod it finds any piece of music that's uploaded to my iTunes library and I sync from there to iMovie and publish accordingly. I've done this before. I don't need a $500 GoPro camera or even a $100 clone or a webcam.

Next Tuesday or there about, we're supposed to go into the minus side of the temperature scale. Its not going to be anything like -20 or anything like that but it could be. I always like to wear my street shoes when I'm out and about, so anytime when we can avoid snow on the ground is good. Anyway on my plate for tonight, I'm going to cash in my free 6/49 lottery ticket get a bag of cheese doodles and settle in for tonight's Oiler/Anaheim game. Anne's working tonight and I'm going to enjoy a night by myself as tomorrow night (my last day off this week) I'm going to make an effort to go to Freemason's Hall and visit Saskatchewan #92, have some adult libation and enjoy their Remembrance day observances. Anyway that's all for now. 

At least if anything the

weather is nice, although we could use some rain. That's been the big story around here over the past few days and haze from forest fires. We really need a good steady rainfall. 

My father had psoriasis. I don't know if its hereditary but I've had it all my life. Just recently as of a few years ago thanks to my diabetes, I acquired a rash about the hairline of my forehead related to psoriasis. It get really flaky and spread. I had to wear a hat. My Doctor gave me this sample stuff about a  year ago:

 
When I tried it the first time about a year ago it didn't work for me. The Doctor told me to use it like shampoo but its such a small bottle. I heard all the old wives tales and when I applied Vaseline that worked to a point. Then just last week, I thought maybe I'm using it wrong. Lets read the instructions. There's a novel concept right? According to the instructions, your supposed to shake the bottles contents and apply it on the tip of a finger and rub it into the affected area. My Doctor said every day. So, that's what I did and am still doing it, every day. Over the last weekend I noticed it working. No itching, nothing. The problem I've had for almost 2 yeas is now a memory. Its gone. I've got a few more bottles left and I need to see my Doctor before I go back to work. The product is by prescription only apparently.  

Not much is going on around here but just some odds n' ends: I'm just waiting to be called back into work. I was in the office about 2 weeks ago to get a update. I haven't had too much ambition to take on anything else right now. They said September but I'm not just going to jump on them the moment the calendar changes at midnight Tuesday. I've got some business to do Monday and Thursday is Lodge. Most likely I'll go in next Friday put in my availability see if there's a schedule posted get an update and go from there. I'll be looking if nothing develops from that update next week. I need something steady 2-3 days a week that isn't dependent on anything. The job I have now is great when I'm on pension but as it stacks up now, well at least its something.

So, tonight I'm watching the Argo's/Eskimo's game. Its military appreciation night at Commonwealth. Saturday its more football and Doctor Who. I'm hoping to get back into the stream of things. I enjoy the time off, to a point. The breaking point of that threshold is almost here. Anyway, that's all for now.

If I didn't know any better

I'd say at this point in time, the company I'm working with is playing me. For now I'm just going to site tight and see what happens. The boss said they will be back with more regular steady shifts in September. The super said pretty much the same thing. In the meantime they are running a skeleton crew doing something and with new hires. That's why I get the impression they are playing me. This company never fires people. If they don't like certain people, they just won't give them shifts and hope that they'll move on and find something else. As for the new hires since my 1 day on the 24th of July, they might be giving new hires a shift here and there type thing just to keep them hoping they wont bail. When I was there on Friday people were asking me where I've been, "Did you quit the job for something else?" The Super said that was his 2nd shift since the 24th of last month (that was the last time I worked) as of last Thursday and Friday. Out of 18 days the Super has worked 2 days? We have 2 supervisors. Where I work they have 2 pages of employees names on the sign for your cheque sheet as there are lots of people that show up periodically. I should have taken a photo of this weeks schedule when I was there Friday. Some people work a few days and I don't see them for a month. There's always that. I have enough ei to last me until that first week in September. Apparently there is another project coming up this week or next week. I'm calling in to find out Wednesday and I hope I don't get hung up on. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Until then I'm not to worried, at the moment.

Some good news on the tech front, in my search for getting rid of unwanted audio on my video, there has been success. Thanks to YouTube. In Windows movie maker I can use the edit panel, go to the volume sound icon. Click on that and a sound meter appears. Scroll the volume knob to mute, go to save video and save as computer (low resolution.) It renders the file into a Mp4 file and I can add my own voice over music from there. The upload options like Youtube don't work very well with Windows music maker. All I do when I'm at my You Tube page is upload the video from there. Slick. I uploaded the new video last night with crappy music. It was just a test anyway. Very happy. The new video is in landscape mode and you can watch the new video here.
When I get some hardware after the computer, I'll be doing more music video's. These music video's will be of my hands adjusting knobs playing with various types of hardware. Once hours at work are more or less steady, I can take out an account at LM for the new Electribe Sampler.

Later this afternoon, Anne is taking Skippy in for her needles. I'm home until further notice. So tonight I'm watching Monday night Raw trying to beet the heat suffering through this cold. The long range weather this week is calling for 29's-30's up until Friday. Uggh, too hot for me but this might be our last heat have of the year (thank God) I'm not going to worry about my job situation just yet. If they can't give me a schedule by the 21st then I'll be looking for something part time to complement this job, 3 days/week until this job has more steady hours. I can see 3 here and 3 days there type thing. What I'd like is something part time steady so when this job has slow times I can work more hours at the job that's steady. At least until pension, then as long as we have our health, I'll work a 1 week a month where I am now. If I get steady hours this fall, I'll build up enough hours for another ei claim for the future and put it on hold (pending another part time job of course.) The idea is when this job has another slow time and I have 2 months before my pension clicks in, I'll activate the ei until pension. They won't let me collect pension and ei at the same time because they are both Federal Government programs. Anyway, that's all for now.

I must have got 2.5 hours sleep overnight Sunday

Monday morning but after a shave and a shower I was ready to get on with my day. This was the first time I'd gone into work during a morning for the first time in at least 2 years. I'm up late tonight because I have a unscheduled day off today. It means I can sleep in late.

Its been pretty slow around here lately. I felt good leaving the office when there was actually daylight out there, and mild weather as well.

Since there is no lodge this week anywhere, I'm getting ready for next week. Anyway, that's all for now.

It was a simple 4 hour shift

last night from 5-9. Heading into the office was ok. I found my schedule post and its (for this pay period) Yesterday (4 hours) and today 10-6pm for a full 8 hour day for just 11.5 hours. Next week I have tomorrow (Sunday) from 12-8 for a full day and Monday for 4 hours, I'm off Tuesday (I can catch the Oiler game) Wednesday I'm in for 4, Thursday same, off Friday for lodge, but in next Saturday for a full day. That's 27 hours for the 1st week in the pay period. I'm pretty sure I'm back full time after that.

Yesterday Oilers traded LW David Perron. He scored 28 goals last year but like all the othre forwards on this team, their goal production is languishing. Perron is going to a better team and into the playoffs. Oilers get 2015 first-round draft pick and centre Rob Klinkhammer. Many Oiler fans were saying the team appeared down in last nights game in Denver due to the trade. I liked Perron. I hope he gets 30 goals this season.

I've been doing lots of research into a company called Elektron. They make synths, like their Analogue Keys (AK) etc. Speaking of, which I'd love to get ak. It comes with over 500 presets and can do some amazing things. It has a on board step sequencer. If I had about $3k I'd get that and their machine drum. Cool stuff.

Speaking of music the singer Bono from U2 might have to give up playing guitar. He's got plates in his elbow and his hand has playing hand been broken. He's not known as a guitar player anyway. I'm not a fan or anything of the group but they've kept the same lineup since they started in 1976. They have 13 studio albums and 7 #1 US hits.

The street out here last night was very icy and treacherous. Time to break open the cleats once more. It's mostly for on the way home. Anne came home with some disturbing news when she went to pay on the rent yesterday. We got a warning. Apparently the people below us were complaining that we're very loud. Anne and I have been fighting a bit and she's been raising her voice at all hours. What with me being home a lot could have edged her on as well. I have a full day today, and I'm going to get some Tim's breakfast before I start. I get my half hour break and a couple of tens in there as well today so it should go fast. I have a cold beer in the fridge for tonight. Anyway, that's all for now.

Into my 10th day

off and the last time I had 10 days off was before I got married. It gets even better because I have another 9 days off ahead of me. I go back to work January 2nd but its only for 4 hours. I'll know more long term after that or do I have another week off. I'm ready to go back now.

Sony is now saying they are going to release "The Interview" after all, and I'm thinking cold this whole thing be nothing more then a publicity stunt for the move? Anything is possible.

The Magnotta trial had come to a head yesterday when the verdict of 1st degree murder was passed. It means Magnotta will get 25 years bars for life. He tried to claim Schizophrenia as a defense that determined if he knew the difference of right and wrong. Luka Magnotta killed Jun Lin because he was convinced the Chinese student was a government spy who was trying to assassinate him, a psychiatrist's report said. The Jury didn't buy it. Justice was served.

I was watching this hour long documentary on the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) Its going to be the longest railway tunnel in the world when it opens in 2016. At YouTube type in Gotthard. Its an amazing project with a $21B price tag. 

I'll be glad to get back to work. Having 3 weeks off is ok but not all at once. Anyway, that's all for now.

.

Now if the rest of winter could hold like this

that'd make me a happy camper. This is winter but not arctic winter. Anything under -10 and no wind chill, I can live with.

I'm up a bit early because of the work crews banging away next door and above. I'll be relieved  when this project is done, or this side of the building. Management has blocked off the buildings main parking lot as they are upgrading it. Its a big inconvenience for people living here and they haven't even began yet.

I'm having my morning coffee trying to wake up. Returning home last night, management here has put notice up saying they are shutting down the plumbing for they day for inspections. I don't know whats going on with this place, first widows, then parking lot and now plumbing. What are they trying to do push people out so the owner can raise the premises and put up new ones like condo towers?

In yesterdays mailbag I received a notice from Alberta Monitoring for my diabetes management saying its well near the end of the fiscal year and I've barely used up any of what they give me for diabetes monitoring. The thing is, I don't test my blood sugar levels everyday now. The most important thing for me diabetes wise is insulin and they wont fund that because it's the star attraction here. Sure its $45/month but I'm on low income as it is and we get help when we need it. The other envelope in my mail was a notice from the feds. They said they owe me money for my cpp. Imagine that, the feds not taking money out but putting money in. Wow. 

It's either today or tomorrow that a Senate vote will be passed on the Keystone pipeline decision. The vote is expected to pass because of the of the majority of Republican voters in the in the Senate. That's good news for Albertan's if it goes through. 

Today, I'm in from 1-9. I'll be relieved when we're doing just an evening shift. I still get 4 7.5 hour days and I can take a evening off once a week and still leaves me with enough hours to pay my bills and a bit left over. Anyway, that's all for now.

Now we get the plumber is upstairs

pounding away and the window installers are at it next door. Anne said they left an inch of sawdust on the balcony and she had to convince them to clean up their mess. Reluctantly they did somewhat but it was a big job to clean up after them and replace everything. All this while I was on the job from 1-10 yesterday and I'm out of here for the same today, tomorrow and Friday. Hopefully I get the same hours right up until the 22nd, then back to normal.

Lodge wise, its pretty quiet for now. Sunday we have a practice and I'm going to try and leave work early at 6pm to get there by 7pm. Then we have Remembrance Day as a day off and my scheduled day off next Friday for lodge, then back at it Saturday-Friday. I'm kind of curious as to what my schedule is for next week, if I still have 1-10. I think we might have another week of 1-10 but after that the hours drop. Even now I'm lucky if I get 6 cmps/day. Most of the time its coding leaving messages on answering machines. This pay period if everything works out ok I could have 100 hours on  my cheque. Next time, about 81. I get some overtime and a buck added to my rate of pay. I lose out because of lodge night and Remembrance day. If I have up to the 22nd on this current project 1-10, I'll have enough for my computer before the end of the month. In theory. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Nothing much of anything going on for today

as I'm getting ready for the week ahead and not much going on this week as well.

This week I'm uploading some funds to my pp account so I can start playing Fan Dual (fantasy Sports) Mostly just $1 and $2 bets until I know what's going on but my limit is $5/week. I'm not a big gambler and I don't play slots or poker. This is something that on paper makes sense.

We change another month as we're almost out of September in a couple of days, a new month begins. I like this time of year. Early November is ok to. After that, is when it starts getting cold. I'm not looking forward to the -25's and windchill's. Winter is usually about 5.5 months. We still have spotted bits of snow on the ground in April around here. It's not unusual to have a major episode of heavy wet snow late April early May. November is the Grey Cup game and the JFK observances. For me lodge wise, I'm almost done my wm chair. 

So other then the above not much else is going on. I might be AWOL for a couple of days but I'll be launching the occasional Tweet. Anyway, that's all for now.

Although I missed out on a few hours I'm

ok with leaving out of the office with 5.5 then 7.5 yesterday. We lose two hours but I'll be making up for it, somewhere this week. I'm also more or less ok with having Tuesday off.

Lately I've been getting a lot of request or notifications from the "latest and greatest" social media trend, Linkedin. At the moment I have little or no interest in linkedin or what anyone else is doing on linkedin. If people want to contact me, I'm on Facebook. 

Google has been working on a self driving car fo awhile now. The Google car. You get in, program your destination and it drives itself. These cars will be most likely wifi enable to protect passengers in cars from other cars. Some US states already allow for testing of these kinds of vehicles. You can YouTube this and get a bunch of responses. Most likely when early models come out, the price point will be high. Later as they catch on and with more features, and killer apps, the price will drop. I doubt  the Google car will work here in Edmonton weather though. My main concern is these cars could be hacked into. Even cars today have been hacked into what with recent cases with "Onstar"etc. I think the Google car will go quietly away like Google glass but one never knows.

Some sad news from Hollywood: American disc jockey, radio personality and actor Casey Kasem died yesterday at the age of 82. While Kasem barely entered into my consciousness growing up as a teenager I was aware that Kasem was the host of the music radio programs such as American Top 40 etc. Sad indeed. 

I actually had a good day on the job yesterday pulling in 4 completes. We had a smaller crew on today then Saturday. I'm in for 4 hours today and off Tuesday and in for Wednesday. If I'm off for Thursday and Friday I have a plan B that I need to set in motion Tuesday for Thursday and Friday. I'll be doing this Tuesday if I'm off for those two days. I won't know what next week will bring until Friday. For the most part I was kept employed at my mr job last Summer from July-August pulling in 2 shifts/week and living off my tax return. Worked picked up in September, and it's been more or less steady since then. I expect shifts at my job to dry off though this summer at the end of the month. I know of a place that might start up in mid August but for the most part, it's going to be a struggle for Anne and I until I can get my pension. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Trees out there are supposed to have leaves on them by now

and just a few days away from mid month they are not even beginning to bud. This is one of the coldest Springs on record. Even right now its partially overcast with sunny breaks, and +6 but it feels like +3. Here's a photo taken about 2:15pm just now:

I was expected to work today but we got the word from the project manager that they only want non-English speaking surveyors to do any calling this weekend, which is pretty much most of our office. Its the end of the "month cycle." The new cycle should begin on Monday. From what we were told by the supervisor that the whole weekend was out, yet the supervisor said she emailed our schedules for this and it shows Sunday 12-8pm. So now I've got to pack my stuff up for the day and at noon call the office to confirm. My sketchy hours is what's causing this current friction between my wife and I and when she got home from her job last night we had a big fight over it. I might have a weekend off but I'm paying for it.

I've got bad teeth, I'm diabetic and my vision is being plagued by some annoying floaters. I've got early stages of Ostereoarthritest in my left knee. I've got psoriasis on my scalp I inherited from my father, I'm itchy all the time (blood sugars) I'm about 50 pounds over weight. I'm a real mess. If I get to live to 79 like good old Milt, I'd be a contented man and 79 isn't that far off. Seventy-nine is just 17 years away. I'd be happy if I keep what I have now and live to 65 and collect my pension.    

I was supposed to go into the Northgate PCN yesterday but since I made the appointment last week, my hours at work have changed. Add to attending Milt's service Thursday and heading into work for my 2pm shift would have been too much. The person I needed to see when I phoned to re-book said I can just leave the materials at the counter. It's not a appointment. If Anne's still talking with me and we can put out this fire, all I need from her is her Government ID and mine to show our address. We can photocopy that. This is not to get assistance, it's to get medical benefits for me so I can get onto Metformin and have my diabetic supplies and my dental work paid for.

Last night I had the chance to pop into Audrey's books just to say I wouldn't be able to pick anything up until next Friday. Not that I didn't have any cash on me but it being in between payday's would leave me short for all of next week.

On tap today, I'm working on my track and maybe watch a hockey game tonight but we'll see how it goes. Anyway that's about all for now.

Its not that I'm

overly busy or anything, there's been not much that's relevant to say. There's not much going on as well around here. 

Yesterday (last night) I went for my meeting and one of the guys drove me home and along the way I bought April's bus pass at the nearby 7-11. After I got home I was going over my duties of a lodge master in the constitution and worked on my Cubase and had audio coming out of most tracks then I lost audio. Reason for this is I'm running Cubase and Maschine on minimum system requirements. Through out my Sunday afternoon I did a lot of JFK research and found a real nugget of some information about a peripheral  character in the case. Also I learned yesterday that earlier this month James Tague passed away. He was the fellow standing by the triple underpass, when one of the missed shots in the JFK assassination hit the near by curb and a bit of he curb hit his cheek. I put my Cubase project away around 4am shut the laptop down and went to bed. 

About the first week of this month, I put my resume in for a call centre job at the Blue Cross catty corner to where to where I'm working now. My resume was languishing in their slush pile I more or less forgot about it. Finally almost a month latter they replied back with a generic email saying my application was not successful. Most likely I'm over qualified and people where I work were saying they were looking for kids mostly to fill summer positions anyway. After the kids go back to school, I'll probably get another generic email asking if I'm interested in applying again. Um, no thanks It's time to move on. 

Saturday was "Earth Hour," and my wife was saying how they were working in the dark during that time. They still had their computers on. Most of Edmonton was business as usual but I think City Hall was shut down. I think I was having a nap during Earth hour anyway. Some of the guys were talking about it at the meeting last night. I'm not much into that stuff as it is, so it's business as usual around here for me. Earth hour or no Earth hour. 

Today I'm out of here about 3pm. I've got 5 hours for today, possibly tomorrow as well, I don't know yet. For the most part this week I'm back to 5-9. I've got some business at the PCN/Northgate on Thursday and my Lodge night is Thursday after the PCN. I'm working Friday and Saturday is a full day and Sunday is Wrestlemania 30. It looks like this week, my hours will be reduced but next week I should be more or less back to normal. Other then that, like I said above not much going on. I'll be launching Tweets of course in between my next blog post. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Looks like a nice day out there today

from all the rain we had over the weekend and Monday's heavy rain. Yesterday was recovering from Monday, today's looking good.

Still working 9am-5pm and I'm going in Saturday 10-6pm. I used to like going in for my breakfast at Tim's.

*Last night on local news it was the 25th anniversary of Wayne Gretzky's wedding July 16th 1988. The event created quite the buzz around the City. I felt that this somehow was a turning point that would involve the Oiler's in a big way I couldn't explain. Sure enough 2 weeks later Gretzky was traded to LA Kings. I was 35 years old at the time working for the Army & Navy Cobogo warehouse.

At the moment I'm posting a quick update and a coffee before I head on out of here.

Friday is about my busiest day of the week as I'm in the office from 9-1 and over to get my book at Audrey's and  then over to see Jack as I'm getting a haircut. Ordinarily when I get a haircut like I did in April, this usually lasts me until at least September but yeah it's about time, again. After Audrey's I'm running over to my RBC and then the LRT home.

Other then that, not  much going on. It's the dog days of summer. Tonight I'm going over to Future shop asking some questions about installing about installing a ssd drive in a laptop and if their service department could copy my laptop or image the current drive and transfer it over to the ssd. I'm looking at this Toshiba P50 laptop.

Well that's about it for now. On the weekend I'm going to make a few Lodge related calls plant some seeds type thing, watch the Esks/BC game and of course work all day Saturday. Friday and Saturday are my 2 busiest days this week. Anyway, that's all for now.

Yesterday we got up to

+30 and I'm glad I got out of lifting that hide-a-bed out of here because I had a heat stroke in the morning that lasted pretty well much all afternoon. It was brought about by my sinus condition bit I feel a bit better although we could have used the AC unit on. I was in bed before midnight. 

Still working on my Warhammer 40K Space Wolf summer read and wondering if I should get the online or print version of What dwarf magazine. I'll probably get the online version because I own an iPad anyway.

Currently on my mind is a major decision city council is going to vote on Wednesday. It's to decide to borrow the money for a new downtown arena. People don't realize that Rexall place was built with public money. At the moment it wont be the end of the world or anything if city council votes "No." The Oiler's will still be at Rexall. It means the Oiler's will still have the oldest arena in the league and about 2-3 billion dollars worth of projects in the area that would not be developed if the arena does not go through. Plus if we don't build it now, it's going to cost a lot more a year or even 2 from now. Also, the tax benefits to city coffers is huge, like about $160 million/year. 

Anyway, it's a regular back to work day for me. I wish we could start at 8:30am and leave at 4:30pm but I'd lose an extra half hour. Anyway, it's a long day ahead for me. That's all for now.

I'm having a decent weekend

despite the snow still abundant on the ground and at this hour 3:15pm the Sun seems to want to come out. Even though it's been Spring for awhile now, it's winter conditions out there. I took this short video from inside my "office" looking out 

Usually by this time of the year, we'd have the odd patch of snow in the shadow area's but nothing like this!

Tomorrow it's Monday night Raw and the Oiler/Duck's game. Another game the Oiler's are going to drop. With about 10 games left and 3 points away from a playoff spot they better start winning some games. Tuesday after work I'm off to the Edmonton public Library to activate my library card. Wednesday and Thursday night I'm home. I'm going to see what happens Friday but I might be able to get Yamaha 5  studio monitors, the Cubase 7 update and the Akai audio interface on a plan but we'll see.

At the moment Anne is doing some shopping and then we're going to have some late brunch and watch Doctor Who. 

Anne's been wanting me to call our local Apple store to see if she can recover her purchased music lost on her iTouch she lost about a month ago and put it on my iPad and into my iTunes account. So I'm going to do this while she's out. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

I'm making some good

timing this morning.

Yesterday on the job I was marked in from 9-1 but at 12:30pm the file I was working on had been completed and it was lunch time. The floor had been vacated to the lunch room and I had half an hour remaining. I thought I was done. I hope I was and on the source I was using did I have to put my hours in? I'll know later on but today is a full day and on the new study.

Overnight the topic on Coast was about ESP and remote viewing. Now I admit I don't know a lot about "remote viewing" but it seems to me that 99% of it is guess work. I could be wrong but that's basically the gist of it. I drop out when Coast has topics like this. 

Also, for me tonight, the Minnesota Wild are in town entertaining the Oil.This is why I'm putting a blog post together this morning instead of this evening.

Other then the above, I'm working today and tomorrow full time which is 7.5 hours. The only thing difficult about the job is my way to the office. I usually take the direct way which is off Corona station's escaltor pass by the Metro paper person up the ramp and over the grill work to a tough going sidewalk. it's an old sidewalk that this time of year is iced up (I'm bringing my cleats this morning.) and I hobble to the end of the block pass Starbucks and the Matrix hotel and at the 4 way I can see Subway across the street,take another ramp incline walkway and there;s the door to the office and I'm on the 3rd floor.

Update 12 hours later: I didn't need the cleats after all. I felt pretty good settling into the job. I ended up with 2 completions right away. I had 4 by noon closing on one just before we logged off. I had 7 by the time I had a chat with Anne and 3 more by the close of the day. That was 10 on the day for the 3 people we had. All this and I know exactly how much my check for the 56 hours I put in is for tomorrow morning. After work I went to the Subway on the corner of the building and I ordered a clubhouse sub and cookies and a diet cola to take home. I had half of the sub for my supper and my insulin. I feel pretty good, that was a good day today.  

So in about an hour, it's the hockey game and I might doze off on the couch and have the 2nd half of the sub latter. 

Tomorrow after work, I'm down to LM to pay my bill and I need another audio interface as the cable I have is screwed up. I wish I could just get another cable. I should check Future shop and they have A-B cables for $30 bucks. If I get the big check, I'll get the monitors, if I get the small check I'll get Machine. Simple decision. Anyway, that's all for now.

Im enjoying my time off

although trying to get a good nights sleep lately has been  hard too come by but I did manage to get a good 6 hours of sleep when I turned in about 5am this morning, uggh.

The only down side of next week is the Oiler's opening season isn't televised and the day my wife and her sister are heading out for a all day outing (opening game day this Sunday) but there are 2 TSN games next week and a CBC Saturday night game. Wu-who, NHL hockey is back! 

During my sleep this morning a memory surfaced. I recall how it was about 1972 just before mom moved to Edmonton with Jeff & Mike. I should have joined them but stuck around wanting to strike out on my own. Anyway, I was really into SPI war games and I had a 2 year subscription to Strategy & Tactics magazine at the time in the early 1970's. SPI is now owned out of Decision games and still going strong and publishing,which is nice to see. I'm thinking about ordering some of their back issues. Moving along here, I recall in my quest for finding war game opponents at the time a fellow I contacted in Vancouver. At the time I believe mom was just packing to move that week. So with nothing better to do my war gaming opponent and I set up a time and place for a first meeting. I recall I had to take a bus to get there as he lived in the Wellington Heights area not far from East Hastings, which East Hastings had a negative reputation of sorts at that time. When I got to the guys place I was immediately impressed with his huge war game collection. I stayed way past transit shut down time but I didn't care. I recall walking home early that morning through episodes of sporadic rain showers. A voice called out to me as I was walking home. A hooker in a doorway saying hello. I think I actually stopped to reply but declined her invitation. I think I said something like "I'm broke" and she looked at the rain around her and mumbled something like, "It doesn't matter." No way I wasn't going to get into anything like that. It was a long walk home. I must have wandered in about 2-3am before crawling into bed. I never did hook up with that guy for a game. I didn't play that many SPI games after that as I ended up being a sort of a official squatter in those days after mom left for Edmonton. I was squatting at the abandoned Barnet Bible Institute shortly after this but that's another story.

Not much on my plate for this afternoon. We had a bit of snow earlier and it's warming up out there. This evening is Monday night Raw so that should be fun.

Other then that, I'm engrossed in reading Stardoc #3 but I'm taking a break from the series as I still need to order books #7-10 but after this I want to get into reading The 2nd Space Wolves Omnibus.

Speaking about Warhammer 40k goodness, in my Black Library newsletter, they are now releasing what's called "Digital Monday's." BL is releasing something every Monday. This is a cool concept. I'm still looking at subscribing to their "Hammer & Bolter" e magazine. Anyway, that's about all for now.



 

I slept in late this afternoon

woke up about 11am. That sleeping pill can give me 9-12 hours of sleep.

Last night Coast had a decent show on about UFO's in Montana. I didn't listen to a lot of it but it sounded like a good show for a Friday night.

So the NHLPA is looking at a disclaimer of interest vote this weekend,actually today. It means that the NHLPA union will be reduced to a trade association players have until 6 p.m. today to cast their ballots that would allow the board to take the action of the disclaimer. Commissioner Gary Bettman set a Jan. 11 deadline to save a 48 game season. This happened in 1995 and could go that way again.

Not much on my plate today. Anne's making me some lunch and then she's going off to work. I'm looking at something on Monday downtown. That's all I can say for now about that.
Anyway, that's about all for now.