I'm getting an average of

about 4 & a half to 5 hours of sleep every day. Not bad for an old guy (72) that does nothing all day. My step count is usually about 3,100/day.

Not much on my plate this week. Tomorrow is Game 6 with the Oilers in Florida in the NHL Stanley cup finale. I'm not going anywhere this week at all. No go, no spend $. Good formula. I almost forgot there is a CFL game on CFL+ Elks are hosting Montreal. 

I haven't given up on my music. We just came off a rough move late March, work, appointments, and life just got in the way. I'm taking the summer off. Be back at the channel after Labour Day weekend. Anyway, that's all for now. 

My sleep overnight was not an easy one

but I think I got about 5 hours, even with that Malathion in me. I woke up about 9am, fed the cats and went back to bed, with the pill doing its work in my system. However, my restless leg syndrome (RLS) had other ideas and I kept tossing and turning. I think I get about an hour in after about 11:15am or so.

Before bed I discovered while looking for free video screen capture software (I uninstalled Camstudio as it wasn’t working for me) in Windows 10. After a brief search I was awarded a bunch of options. Hypercam 2 was one of the first ones I tried. Its similar to Camstudio and I was able to record my screen and it gave me the option to record in Windows Movie maker, slick. I’ll be fooling around with this later. Windows 10 has a Xbox button as part of its Windows Essentials and I learned there is something called Game DVR. It’ll record the screen after pressing the Windows key and G at the same time. Hard to do that with a mouse controlled on screen keyboard. Three things I need for my Lenova: micro sd card, Sony bluetooth speaker, and a mini keyboard/mouse setup. Probably a sequencer would be a good idea to record the screen and sync the audio. What I’d like to do is to screen record a visualization as the movie into win movie maker, then sync the audio and publish. I haven’t checked Hypercam 2 (hyp2) will record my voice from the voice recorder built into windows essentials. I’ll be doing all of this after lunch, latter today.  

I have a night off again but I hope by this time next week, I'll be at the job working out the last hour. Well that's the idea. if I have work over the next 2 weeks, I'm saving that cheque for July's rent. If I'm working the full month, the cheque for the end of June will be for August. And if I'm invited back for September we should be ok from there. Anyway, that's 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.

Whenever I do a Friday night Saturday

shift, rarely am I in bed by 1:30am. I usually go to bed about 3am. That way I can count on a better sleep. I was tired enough to want to pack it in by 1:30am and even though I got about a hour and a half power snooze, I woke up about 3am and laid in bed tossing & turning for about 3 hours. I had enough at 6am. I'm working Sunday from 10-6pm again and by the time I come home, around 7pm, I'll be wiped out. I'll most likely have another power nap. May as well since I'll miss the Eskimo game and the Oilers are wrapping up their 2 week pre season game, which I wont be able to see anyway. Since nothing else is going on I may as well, and I might go back to bed for an hour yet. 

*Update 8:20am I tried for that hour nape but when the lower back aches a bit its saying I've laid down long enough. The "good news" today is I get 2 paid 15 minute and 1 half hour breaks. 

I was sifting through my 250+ YouTube subscriptions earlier this morning to see what I missed. "The Sound Test Room" had a demo of a new iOS app called "FingerBeat." Such a great app for musicians and hobbyists like myself. For under $6 it's worth picking up. Time to shut this down and get ready for my commute. Anyway, that's all for now.

Again overnight I ended up

having about 2 hours sleep yesterday. I think this is because I'm going to bed to early. This morning I'm going to be in bed by 1:30am listen to a bit of Coast, read then go to bed.

I'm making some good progress in the "Battle for the Abyss" Horus Heresy book. The narrative is excellent and the pacing is first rate. I'm enjoying the story arc's and the action. This is solid space opera at its best. I've been looking for some models or drawings of Warhammer 40K ships but they're hard to come by.

Its day 3 of this project. I've been making a few mistakes but I recognize them and I know how to correct them. Hopefully I'll get enough sleep over night so I can get better at this. Anyway, that's all for now.

Poor Oilers cant win a game worth trying

but neither did the Leafs until the Oiler's showed up last night. I don't know what's wrong with this team. We got 3 first round draft picks. I think before the trade deadline, the Oiler's are going to move 2 of those first round players. One to Winnipeg and the other Toronto. Right now the Oiler's are playing junior hockey.

By this time next weekend (Family day) we should have much warmer weather. Looking at the calendar another 5 more Sunday's and its Daylight savings time.

Lately my right knee and calf area have been causing me some discomfort. Its like I'm walking with a limp. Could be just the weather. Maybe its gout for all I know but most likely its arthritis more then anything. 

After not being able to sleep during the past 24 hours, I'm about ready for bed after a bit of reading and a bit of Coast. I have a full day today (I hope) They let us out at 5pm instead of 6 last night. So I'm out at 11am into the office for noon-8pm. Then I get Monday off. Anyway, that's all for now.

I didn't sleep that well overnight but

I got what I could. I think the reason why i couldn't sleep was because my bed sheet I sleep on was not smooth but had wrinkles from my knees to the edge of my bed. It was hard to get that sweet spot. I'm such a light sleeper as it is. 

Since the summer Native Instruments (ni) has brought out these midi controllers they call the S series. The keys light up by where they're attache to the frame and merger with their komplete series. Akai has had their mpc 25 which has the pads like in Maschine and a screen and touch based mod and pitch wheels. The Akai mpc has 25 keys, which have adjustable octaves. I initially want to get this controller but local venders didn't have a copy, which s why I got the M-audio Oxygen 49 as nobody had the 25 key version at the time. In my email this morning ni has a major Maschine update to 2.2. I know that, ni eventually will be merge their S series controllers with Maschine like the Akai, and this will most likely be ni's next step with Maschine but at the moment Maschine is still at 2.2. When they get to 9.8 or something, then that's when I feel they will merge their S series controllers and Maschine to a new Maschine after Studio. Maschine came out I think 2010. Then in 2012 out came Maschine Mk2 (this is the one I have) and shortly after I bought it, ni brings out Maschine studio. I usually like to upgrade tech stuff after every other release. I'm hoping ni wont wait until Maschine studio 9.8 to merge both products. Maschine studio came out last October and I've been resisting the urge to upgrade because with my luck I'll get studio and then ni will release the next version of Maschine. They're about due for another version if 'history" is any indication. NI likes to do these major releases near Christmas for obvious reasons. Maybe by this time next year I'm hoping. The Mk2 set me back about $600 back in the day when I had a steady income not that long ago. I knew then that my steady income was nearing an end but Long & McQuade let me take out a account on MK2, which was nice of them. 

Anne mentioned yesterday that Pat Quinn past away. He coached the Oiler's a few years back, when the Oiler's had a string of head coaches they kept letting go thinking that was the answer to their problems. After Quinn they had Tom Renney and then Kruger. In hockey news a lot of media insiders are saying that MacT is about to make some significant moves. All players are on the table (except Hall) they need to make a huge change because MacT says the coach is not the problem and I agree. This means that, players like Perron, RNH, Eberle, Yakapov, lots of guys. Pat Quinn didn't have the best line up to work with either but like Kruger after him,Quinn was well respected. RIP Pat.

Today I've got another full day. What I like about this project about food that we're doing is that it's a 30 minute survey. it also means I get that train before 9pm. The other thing about this survey is that it's month-by-month and a parent can proxy for a child member in the family, which s nice. It's a full 6 hours today (in theory) Anyway, that's all for now.

What I like about taking

a melatonin during the week is, it's not like a sleeping pill that can knock me out and remain in my system hours later. A melatonin has a similar effect but I don't get that "after taste" in my system like a sleeping pill gives.

The Keystone pipeline got the axe by 1 vote but it's only temporary. When the Republicans get in power next year, it'll happen. We still have the Trans Canada pipeline that will go ahead soon as well, I hope. 

There was a hockey poll of the best and the worst NHL coaches and its no surprise that the best NHL coach has recently won a Stanley cup. Our Dallas Eakins came in "last" place, if the poll means anything. Taylor Hall said the poll is stupid and Eakins is a good coach. I agree.

I was working 3 different projects yesterday. Yeesh. The first one is winding down and I spent 1.5 hours on it and got nothing. The other project about 3 hours and the new project for 3 hours.

ETS had scheduling problems yesterday morning and I barely got into the office on time. Anyway, that's all for now.

After Anne came back from Wallnart

with my over the counter-diarrhea-relief solution we had supper and watched the news. After that I basically worked out my weekend. Prior to this I was exhausted and I went to bed about 1am. Even Coast had a great show on Conspiracy theories. I tossed and turned all night. About 5:30am I decided to watch Turner Classic movies and I can usually pass out on the couch, no problem but they had a great movie I hadn't seen before: "Guns of Timberland." It had Allan Ladd and introducing Frankie Avalon. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it a lot and then tried for bed. It was like I overdosed on caffeine. I was in and out of bed feeling awful. I think I got about an hour's worth of sleep. 

I'm glad I have a short day of it this afternoon and back around 5pm for Supper and wrestling. Anyway that's all for now.

Well as short as it was, that was my weekend.

This past Friday night I got Machine and I’m playing around and having fun with it. I watched the Oiler’s lose 0-7 Friday night played around with my new toy all day Saturday. Sunday another Oiler game but with Shawn Horcoff (team Captain) is back! The Oiler’s won 6-5 and playing around with Machine and here I am.

My wife went and took our T4’s down to her building because at her job site there is a semi retired guy that works in her office building Sunday & Friday’s. He prepares taxes part time but last year Anne and I qualified for the free tax service at the library. This year (collectively) we don’t. So her colleague said his going rate is $50/couple as we’re filling separately. If I don’t owe the Feds anything then after work if I can get down there by 6pm to LM I’m going to pay them off for Machine. Anne was saying before I open another account I need to have an RRSP. I can see that.

From my WTF files (in case some of you missed it) comes today's strange date: March 11th 2013. Omit the 20 take away the / and the numbers read 31113! Those have to be winning lottery numbers for sure.

This week, its Monday night Raw and the Oiler’s are on the last leg of their 9 game road trip Tuesday in Denver. For me this week, its work and playing around with Machine. Anne has a week off and wants to replace the couch we‘ve had for 13 years. Friday night after work I hope to meet Anne at her place of employment to sign the forms as the guy doing our taxes is filling them electronically. If I owe the Feds like more then $200 or so, I‘ll be paying LM on my account. Saturday, I‘m heading to Freemason‘s Hall again for Commercial Lodge and because it‘s Anne‘s birthday after Lodge, we‘re heading out to as I‘m taking her to dinner. So, that‘s more or less my week. Anyway, that‘s about all for now.