I thought the previous version of

Connect 2 Edmonton was a bit cleaner looking then this new version. Most likely I just need to get used to it. The site came back up Sunday night. I launched a new thread on the demise of the old Jasper Place theatre being demolished on Friday but otherwise I'm very happy c2e is back. All the posts I have been subscribing to are back.

The new Rogers place arena is getting its lettering on the outside of the building done. They were working on it last week. The old Greyhound bus terminal building was demolished Friday as well. Interesting how the end seating of Rogers Place is done on portable grand stands. They unfold to fit, and then the seats go in. Looks like the Zamboni is coming through the East end of the arena. That makes sense because of the community rink close to where there outside Metro lrt line emerges from underground. The scoreboard is raised but not finished. There's a lot to do on the outside, and the edges around the roof but pcl should have the arena on time and on budget within the next two months. Oilers training camp might still be at Rexall, hard to say. Opening game day for the regular season is October 12th against Calgary Flames. I'll be watching that one. You can join in on the Rogers place arena discussion and see new photo's here.

I woke up about 11am. I'm out of here at 3:30pm today for my 4:30pm shift. Hopefully I'll have enough hours to last me until Thursday and then I have Friday off for Canada day, and that means in the NHL its Free Agent Frenzy. I get to watch everything unfold, who goes where, which team are buyers and sellers, who gets traded. Fun times. As far as work goes, I'm just taking it one day at a time. Anyway, that's all for now.

No sooner had I left the lab

Tuesday (I just discovered last night) that they had called me moments after I had left. Maybe my phone # was on the paper at intake. I'll be leaving out of here at 1pm for my Doctors appointment. Its not a physical.

One of the biggest projects in the Edmonton currently under way is the Rogers place arena. This is going to be the new home of the Edmonton Oilers. It needs to be ready for September but there is a lot of work not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. At the moment crews are assembling the massive scoreboard. Rogers place arena will have a seating capacity of over 18,600, when its all done. The winter garden work is currently underway as well but the plaza with the 2 cranes wont be open until a year after the building officially opens in September. The building is impressive and will also host concert events as well. The cost of the building is                          

The downtown arena is all part of what's called the "Ice district" as there will be about half a dozen large towers surrounding the arena with a LRT link on the North side of the building. There's even a community rink and a casino attached to the arena as well. The cost of just the arena is close to half a billion dollars. You can join in on the discussion here.  

Anyway, after the Doctor's appointment, I'm home for the evening and I want to catch the Eastern conference game. Should be a good one TB/Pittsburgh. Anyway that's all for now.

Three days late better then

never on this one but early Friday morning ex Premier of Alberta Don Ghetty passed away. he was Premier from1985-1992. Ghetty was a Edmonton Eskimo and won a grey cup. His legacy was Family day and since then every Province in the country adapted this special holiday. He died at the age of 82 of heart failure.

There were just 2 of us working on the cell phone Northlands project yesterday. 95% of those calls were answering machines, busy, nis, no answers etc. Conditions were changing through out the day. At the end of the day we got new conditions updates and I misread them and screwed up that portion of project. With 3 days to go and a limited sample rate, there is no way we were going to get those last 11 completes anyway. With my mistake we ruined the chances of trying to get some of them but something from nothing is still nothing. If most of that sample were missed calls yesterday, we're going to get more of the same today anyway. Its fatiguing work coding answering machines, no answers etc. At least with fresh numbers to call my complete rate goes up and talking to the respondent makes the day go by faster. The only thing keeping my job I think is according to super, I'm a good interviewer. At least that's some positive reinforcement. I asked how do we resolve this? He didn't have a solution for me as there were other things he was juggling. Later I'm going to suggest to super next time new condition updates are given on the same sheet of paper, super should use a highlight (at least for me) marker on that whole condition update. That way, I'll enter the complete condition. Of course I didn't come to this realization at the time. I felt like shit with the last half hour left and I requested to leave early as my head was just not into doing the other project. My error took a lot of the wind out of my sails and sank my moral. I'm ok for today though. I'm sure I'm going to get shit for this one. I like doing market research and I'm good at but I make mistakes. With the cell phone sample rate we have left I doubt we'll get 11 completes out of that bunch regardless. 

Its hard to tell from today's Rogers Place arena webcam Rink view but the seats are being installed along the right west side of lower bowl. There's still work to do near the "end zone" area. The concrete seat supports have yet to be installed. Anyway, that's all today.

There is still a lot of work to be done on the

Rogers place downtown arena. The winter garden itself looks like its going to be challenging to be on time. They've got 7 months left and I don't think they can get it all done this year. They still have to get the skin up and the interior. If Rogers Place arena is on time, then they better start running shifts 24/7. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think they will be ready for another year yet. Even now there is no work going on inside.

It was 30 years ago yesterday the date of the Challenger disaster. I was working at the Cobogo warehouse when a

                          
Colleague heard it on the radio. I couldn't believe it. Four days prior to this L. Ron Hubbard passed away. Hubbard was associate for a time with Jack Parsons who helped found JPL. My office was right behind the white vertical sign on the street lamp there there in the 1980's. The building is called Cobogo lofts and a block away from Rogers Place arena.

We were woken up by the inspectors this morning. They came back to replace the fire alarm. I headed into work at my usual time. It was a beautiful day at +7, only to find the office working on running lights. There was just the manager and he was interviewing somebody. He said we start tomorrow. That meant no shift for today. So I went home and I got off at Michale's craft shop and headed to Bo'diddly's Pub & Grill. I wanted to buy a Sleemans but the closest they had was a Molson Dry. I sat there for half an hour and headed home and inside the apartment by about 5:30pm. I probably could have had a snooze. So I'll be in the office at 4pm today, regardless and hopefully for a full day Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now.

Not that working on the

weekends is a bad thing. It has its ups and downs. Morning commutes are a challenge because out here in Clareview the bus to the LRT ("Clareview station") runs about every half hour. My shift is at 10am on 124th street/107th ave, and if I leave out of here to catch my bus to Clareview station too early I have about half an hour to waste downtown. If I leave out of here at 9am, I'll be late. If I arrive at work at 10:15 this morning for a 10am start, I'll get written up, but I can always forfeit a 15 minute break to make up the difference. I leave at 8:30 and I'm downtown at around 9am nothing is open. I'm going to dread that for the next several years until pension. The good part about Saturday and Sunday shift is I get a full 7.5 hour shift. That's 15 hours in 2 days. Not the best but in a job where I need the hours, that's 30 hours on a cheque. Most likely I'll leave out of here at 9am. I'll leave a voice mail message before I leave saying I'll be late. Anne gave me a melatonin pill, which helped me get a few hours sleep over night. I'm ready to go and no worse for wear. Once the mornings are done, a weekend shift is just like a afternoon shift. I'll get in at about 7:10am, while Anne has our late brunch (breaky) cooking for me.

Rogers Place arena seems to be on pace to open for the 2016/17 season. There's a link on my sidebar list of links that reads "Downtown arena webcam." They've added a rink view. You can watch workers adding in the support structures for the seats on the South side of the rink area. They haven't got the seat structure for the North side in place yet but I'm sure they'll have everything in place to open for next September. The surrounding buildings in the Ice district are under construction. The hotel infrastructure is well underway and the City of Edmonton and Stantec tower is well under way as well. 

The other thing is my first job breaks on the 11th of this month until January. When, I'm not sure. My other job could be breaking for the holidays on the 19th. I'll be able to cover my bills but that's about it. The good news is I'll have about 2 weeks off and I can work on that memory work for the lodge. I'm doing the oral exam for one of our members that took his Master Mason degree. Its public speaking. I've done this before much to our lodge masters confidence in me to do it again. Also, I'll be able to work on that beat, watch some Oiler games and stay up late and sleep in late. Anyway, that's all for now.

Ten years is a long time for a computer and

that's how long I've been using my 68 Gb hard drive that came with my desktop computer when I bought it in 2005. When I get some hours in at work, that's going to be one of my projects is to upgrade this computer. I upgraded it with Ram 2 years after I initially bought it. Recently I began to realize that I can put together a modest low cost upgrade with a 500 Gb hard drive for about $60. Since the motherboard is a ide mobo, I can pick up a Sata bi directional converter for about $25. I can get a hard drive dock (looks like a toaster) to copy the old hd to the new one. I don't plan on using the new hd forever though as its just a short term solution to prolong the life of the computer until the bigger upgrade comes in the new year. I'm buying parts one or two at a time.

My shift last night went by fairly well, or at least I thought it did. We more or less finished the project last night except for a few call backs and maybe a few hours work for just a few people for tonight. I could have used the hours but the more I make the less ei pays me. At least I got 11 hours work out of it. We have something on the immediate horizon but I'm off work again until then. I think I'm going to be called back around the 21st of this month. I have ei until the meantime. In other words I'm off work until further notice. However until then, I need to find something more stable long term and part time until I go on pension. I can juggle both jobs, so at least there is income coming in one way or the other.

The downtown arena is progressing nicely. Through the concourse cam, they are making huge progress on the floor of the arena. They did a concrete pour in the North West corner. The roof is more or less done. They are putting yellow siding on the outside. Even though the rest of the Ice district is a few years away from completion, they are making progress on the arena. Anyway, that's all for now.