We're getting a bit of an

Indian summer here, up until about Monday. After that we're in for a single digit "cold spell" of sorts, followed by a mild recovery to double digits. We're not getting 25's or anything but 12's and 13's are ok by me. I'll take 'em.

I was never a reader/voyeur of Playboy magazine. When Hugh Hefner passed away yesterday, it was met with a kind of meh moment for me. Hefner/Playboy never really did anything for me as I was more into Penthouse because it ahem, revealed more. Not that I ever bought a Playboy/Penthouse magazine. Oh don't get me wrong, before the Internet, I bought more then a few porn mags in my day. I still have a few of them around here, somewhere. Penthouse was "more hardcore" then Playboy. Even up until maybe 2012 I recall when I was working for Xentel in the Baker centre, the barber shop on the main floor had these mags scattered around the coffee table. While waiting for an empty chair, I'd sift through an issue of Playboy and Penthouse every now and then. Every customer would go straight for the centerfold. So when I heard of Hefner's death, I really had no sense of nostalgia or anything, just meh. I get the same reaction to  this Kim Kardashian and Caitlyn Jenner thingy, meh.

I got my 5 hour shift for tonight but then I'm off Saturday and there's the Bombers/Eskimo game. I hope nobody takes a knee here. I don't like politics getting in the way of sports but mercifully TSN doesn't show that stuff and maybe the Oilers are in there someplace. Sunday is lodge practice and Star Trek Discovery. Monday, work/Wrestling, Tuesday is work, Wednesday, Work, Thursday night Lodge, Friday night work etc. So, yes. I have some stuff going in.

So 31C might not be what they

have in the US now but that's 86F there. A bit on the warm side for me. I usually like it around 10-23C. Even 25 is too hot. So right now its considered to be a "scorcher." Sunday, Monday and over the next few days, the weather will be a bit more to my liking. I'd rather have this then -25 with a wind chill.

Maybe you might have heard this. With our CFL we have a sponsor with TSN that has a swipe and win thing during the game for a chance to win $1 million dollars. The contestant is selected before hand. The game wasn't here at Commonwealth. The contest was that if there are 2 kick returns netting in a touchdown the winner gets the $1 million prize. So during the game the contestant selected must have felt elated when a kick return for a touchdown took place. The sponsors must have been concerned. A lot of times on these kick return td's there's a flag on the field for one infraction or another. Then further into the game on another kick return, the catcher takes to ball to the 50, to the red zone and TD! The prize winner was related. Then (here it comes) the official indicates the ball is coming back for a soft call "illegal block." So much for the $1M. Collusion? Even the panel had mentioned the call was too soft and didn't see any illegal block. This caused a lot of fallout in the league and the sponsors instead awarded the prize winner a the consolation prize instead, and agreed it was a wrong call but the leagues stands by the officials. The consolation prize was a 70" home stereo system and a bunch of other prizes. I think one of the prizes in the package was groceries for life. I can just imagine in the off season after the sponsor tweaks the prize to 3 kick returns. Collusion or what?

Yesterday I went to see about the Provincial senior services office yesterday right after I got off the lrt. They told me I need this thing called a oas letter of entitlement, which I was supposed to get last August. It's just a letter confirming to Provincial services confirming them when my oas is arriving. According to Service Canada, I'm on automatic enrolment because of my date of birth etc. The Provincial top up isn't that much. Maybe enough to cover my cable bill. The clerk at Provincial said even if I don't get one of these letters of entitlement (I got one from CPP about 4 years ago) I can bring in my bank statement showing that amount I my account and that's ok to get the Provincial thing going. It takes a year to process and they pay out retroactively. Anyway, that's all for now.

Apparently Super Bowl 50

was one of the most boring in NFL history. I didn't watch much of it but I enjoyed the half time show, my pizza was good.

I like Justin Trudeau, don't get me wrong, however he has made some (imo) bonehead moves since becoming PM. I don't like the idea of pulling our aircraft out of the combat roll in the middle east. I'm not a big fan of having 25,000 Syrian refugees coming to Canada. I don't mind some but that's way to many. I don't like his position on the Trans pacific partnership. And I definitely don't like the $1B being spent to bail out Bombardier because some of that money most certainly go towards subsidizing jobs in the US. Thanks Bill for the share:

 
I don't have a problem with going into debt for a few years. Having the infrastructure spending is good but we here in Edmonton wont see any of it for at least another 2 years yet. While I appreciate JT's International presence, I'd like to see more job creation here in Alberta and more money invested in opening pipelines. 

So for the most part this week its leave out of here at 3pm for my 4-9:30pm shift And home to watch whats left of wrestling. After this week I'm taking off at 9pm just on Monday nights. Anne says she's ok with that. I've got no where to go after work this week anyway so its just 3pm commute 4-9:30pm commute home by 10:30pm do my stuff until 4am sleep until noon. Basically rinse and repeat from there until Friday. Now that could change if my other job sends me a letter asking me to come back for March. In that case, I'll work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (we get  off at 8:30pm) at the other  place. Other then a couple Oiler games I'll be following not much is going on this week. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Talk about a quick turn around in

in developments. Has Eskimo GM found a replacement for Chris Jones already? Now the other team is asking for compensation. If Eskimo GM has found his man, (I'm not saying anything to jink this) but why not give the new guy a promotion like the Riders did with Jones: Assistant GM and head Coach. This (in theory) would avoid an compensation issues. 

On my way into work Sunday morning the snow was slightly falling. I had a longer then normal wait at Central station street level as we received a major snow blizzard. This lasted a long time. I think the blizzard tapered off about 2pm. It was a significant snowfall but I not enough to bring out the graders. At this hour its still -6. Hardly cold at all.

Today I'm back to my afternoon evenings shifts. I'm 4:15pm-8:30pm at my 2nd job and we're having a staff Christmas party. Tuesday I've got to pick up some insulin at my pcn before work. Its going to be a long day. I've got work up to Wednesday. Not sure whats going on for Thursday and Friday at the other job. I'll know more about this Wednesday. One way or another I'll have a full week until Friday and then I'm off for 16 days. Ah, living the dream. 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.

I always seem to be blogging yesterdays

events but its all good. 

In just 365 days I'll be 64. OMG, I can't believe it. Who would have thought back in 1969 I'd get this far? 

All last week I was looking forward to last nights big game between Hamilton/Edmonton. Two teams 5-2, East vs West. I didn't have a Proline ticket but I would have picked a tie game. What was I thinking? The T-cats kicked our ass 49-20. Two many turnovers and points based upon them and ball security did us in. All I can hope for is for the Riders to beat the Stamps at Mosaic. That way it still keeps the Esks tied for first in the West if the Riders win today.

I'm progressing further into "The Descent of Angels" the Horus Heresy book I skipped over due to spoilers a few years ago. It kind of reads young adult but I'm still enjoying it. I'll be reading more before the game today. Note to self: Don't read reviews of a book before reading it as the reviews may contain spoilers. Other then Robert J Sawyer or if there's something that strikes my attention, Horus Heresy,  Space Marine Battles and Warhammer 40K Omnibus books are about the only books I'm buying lately. The Black Library publishes about 3-4 Horus Heresy mass market paperbacks a year and about the same for Space Marine Battles. I buy 1 hard cover book a year and that's only Robert J Sawyer's book and the matching RJS ebook. The Space Marine Battles books are trade and cost $18 a book. I pop into Audrey's or Coles at least once a month. I'm waiting for the next Horus Heresy book "Legacy's of Betrayal," it should be out next month in mass market paperback.   

The Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo (Sept. 25-27, 2015) Special guest will be Stan Lee. At 92 this might be the one and only time he'll ever come to Edmonton. A Saturday pass is $30, which isn't that bad. I'd book off work to see Stan Lee. There's a lot comic book artists as well. More guests will be announced in the next few weeks leading up to the event.

Not much going on for today. I'm hoping sometime after labour day weekend I'll be back to work. Anyway, that's all for now.

No rain yesterday and its a lot cooler out there

now 8 degrees. We're supposed to get a high temperature of 18 today. So with a temperature like 8 makes it nice for sleeping.

Not much going on for today. I'm trying to finish "Tales of Heresy" book 10/30 in the Horus Heresy series, and then go back to read book 6 in the series. I got influenced by spoilers and I'm not going to let get to me again. I'm going to finish that book if it takes me the rest of the year. Normally I find series books boring because they are almost written by the same author. With the Horus Heresy series almost every book is written by a different author which keeps the series fresh.

I was about to get into some good CFL action with a double header. Game #1 was the BC Lions/Hamilton game. In the first quarter it was BC 0 Hamilton 21. I was waiting for something BC's way to happen but it didn't until way later  in the game. BC 22 Hamilton 52! Boring. Then there was the Ottawa/Calgary game. I thought this one should be a lot better. That game ended up 3-48, even worse. Ottawa didn't show up! I really hate games like that. Even when my team has a commanding lead. Makes for a boring game. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm off work today until further notice

which basically means call in to
find out when the next project is ready. I heard next week. When, is why I need to call in but I don't want to activate my ei in case I find out I'm in on Wednesday. I was going to call in like everyone else today but that's just going to po the boss getting 20 calls all in one afternoon. I can hold out until after the weekend. 

Last night Anne didn't want to cook so she ordered pizza from a new place she visited while taking Skippy to the vet. It's called "Busters" She was raving about it over the last few days and thought it might be a good idea to have this while we're watching "Battleground" this Sunday. She couldn't wait and went to the phone and ordered for us. Two 10" pizza's for $25. I paid the extra $5 and when the pizza came, I was surprised. It was really good. It's probably on par with sit down pizza. We like Maximus up the road here and its a better deal for $20 for 2. 

My wife is leaving out of here for work at about 3pm. I'm home holding down the fort. It promises to be a nice easy

Thursday night and I'm going to watch some of the Hamilton/Al's CFL game on TV and a bit of TNA impact wrestling if the game is slow.

 

I'm actually looking forward to watching the rubber match between Esks and Red blacks tomorrow night. If the boss calls me in for Saturday, I'd be more then happy to go in and put the full day in. That'd be good. However, I'd take whatever I can get and I wont be as pushy about it the last time with the last company. What a slomosal that was in February. Now I've got a bit of time off and when I get the green light to go, great.
Over the last few days on the Black Library app, they've been releasing a free Horus Heresy short story. Every day 1 part out of 4 per/day. I've been tying to find a way how to get the story off the app to read offline, where I can read it at a future date. I tried a couple of free iPhone pdf apps but you get what you pay for, right? I can always go back to get the story from the Black Library app later of course. So far I'm really getting into this "Tales of Heresy" collection of short stories. I'm looking forward to "Legacies of Betrayal" paperback coming out I think in September.  

Finally, we're into more comfortable summer weather. Even right now it's a little on the cooler side at 13 and overcast. We had a nice brief thunder and lightning storm earlier this morning just after midnight but I can live with this. I like this and no higher then 22 or 24 during the summer. Some outlying areas of the city are experiencing drought conditions because its been so hot and dry around here. Anyway, that's about all for now
.

Blogging is one of my

favorite things to do at the end of the day. Most likely Blogger will be up and running long after I'm dead and gone. This is my legacy. Its to let the world in the future know I'm here.

This year I didn't get too much into the NFL. I won maybe $40 with Proline and about the same with Fan Duel. I've been following this NFL "deflate gate." Its where the New England Patriot's used deflated footballs during the 1st half of the game to give them a advantage to get a Super bowl appearance. I'm wondering why hadn't the officials on the field notice the difference right away before kick-off? The Grey Cup game is next Sunday. My wife has to work that day. Go Seahawks Go!

Just saw this in Coast Zone that the Frisbee is 58 years old! The Frisbee was older then the Hula-hoop by a year. As far as I know the Frisbee never caught on as much when I first noticed the Hula hoop. It was my first day attending Mountain View in Coquitlam grade 1. I was amazed at all the kids making these strange gyrations with this plastic tube. I believe it was 1958 as I started grade 1 a year late because we were moving house that summer. I started school at 7 years old. 

So, I've got 4 days off before I go back to work Wednesday and Thursday. Both those days are only 4 hour shifts. Then I get next Friday off and 6 hours Saturday. During this time I need to get in touch with my school district to see how I can get my grade school transcripts released. The information is on microfiche I believe. I've been trying to get this done for years but life always seemed to get in the way. I think the fee is something like $10. Anyway, that's all for now.

Having a

decent Sunday and in general a nice weekend.

I'm trying to get Anne out of bed so we can get to Swiss Chalet before the 5pm supper rush. If we can get out of here by 3:30pm we should be ok and we can pick our seats. 

In the East its Hamilton Tiger Cats and underway is Esks/Calgary. My 4 fan duel (fd) fantasy football picks are doing ok. My top entry at $1 is 16/100 and my bottom one is 22/100. I'm apparently still in the money game to win $1.80. Since I don't know a lot of whats going on with 22 quarters remaining (?) and my score is 89.9, I remain optimistic. The prize for my 16/100 game is $90! I got to get a better QB next week. If Anne and I can get out of here early, we can get a good booth and I can get a good position to watch some of the Esks/Stamps game and check my fd games in the meantime. I don't mind spending $4/week at this. Its fun.

At the moment we're holding at -6. We got  a -18 Friday but that could change as well. Anyway, that's all for now.

It was a 3 point game heading into the

half then Calgary opened the flood gates and the sleeping Esks fell way behind in the 3rd. Too be fair the Stampeders don't have a 9-1 record for nothing. Without the injured Mike Riley the Esks put up a bit of a fight near the end scoring 2 majors. It was too little to late in a 41-34 Calgary win. There was a major Edmonton fumble that gave the Stamps momentum. Turnovers and penalties is what killed the game for the Eskimos in their new signature big EE jersey's. So much for my 3 game proline tie ticket. Stamps have beaten us 11 straight games now. I forgot all about the Seahawk's game today and I could have put them on the cfl double header. Not to self: In any Stamp/Esks match up always bet Calgary to win. Next weekend have the Seahawk's on my ticket.

I'm watching football for the most part this afternoon now that the NFL is back. After that I'm heading out of here for a lodge practice. I'm under pressure by some of my senior lodge members who don't like the way I'm running lodge, but after Friday I just have 3 more months and I'm a bum in a chair in the New Year. I'm not getting a lot of positive reinforcement. After my IPM year maybe I ought to join up with another lodge, I don't know.

The Alberta pc leadership race ended yesterday and my guy Lukaszuk didn't get elected in a 3 way race. Jim Prentice got 77% of the votes, Ric McIver, received 12%, and my guy Thomas Lukaszuk got 11%. McIver's reputation during the 2011 campaign did him in with his march for Jesus initiative, which sabotaged the Wild Rose campaign. The only reason why I think Prentice got elected was because he resides in Calgary. Lukaszuk was already in the pc caucus and already had experience and knew his way around the legislature.  He didn't win because he's a mla residing in Edmonton. The pc leadership was decided on geographic lines nothing more. Next election, I'm voting Wild Rose. 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.

A quick glance at this mornings

  # Twitter feed, the casual observer will go, wtf? +25 at 12:30am? Here in Edmonton? Yes, it's true. Surprisingly if with temps like this and yesterday, I slept very well with the fan on last night. Our AC crashed on us but we're coping ok with just the fan on.

I'm going to start saving for my iMac when my other job resumes from its "summer break." Next weekend however, I'm going to be getting the the Yamaha MX49 midi keyboard and the Samson Go mic for my Maschine. What I like about this keyboard is it can act as a controller surface and has a built in audio interface and has 1000 Roland motif sounds. The Go mic can be scanned wight into Maschine After I get this account paid up, I'm getting either the m-audio trigger finger pro or Maschine studio.

My daily journal began back in may 1980 and I'll blog until I cant. But the hard copies of my diary remain and I'm wondering what to do with them and my books. Then it dawned on me; if I bought a nice glass case maybe the lodge will let me put them in the library. At the moment I'm scanning my diary as it's a ongoing process. The hard copies of my diary stopped September 2005 as I moved everything onto my computer. I'm thinking about uploading them as jpeg files to Google pw. Unfortunately even the hard copies wont last forever even in specially treated acid free comic bags. My original diary from 1980 is still in good shape. So if I put them in mylar bags, they might last beyond 75 years, maybe. but it's something to think about. 

Update: For the benefit of fam and friends about 5am this morning I started getting the shakes.Its what happens when my diabetes blood sugars get way to low. I tested my blood sugar after I took some some chocolate paste and even then it was 5.6. Anne made me a fried egg sandwich and that helped a lot. A reading of 5.5 is steady and normal for non diabetics. Fast Forward 5.5 hours later my sugars are 13.5. I'd rather they be around 6-9 in that area. When I get on metformin   

So will the NFL Buffalo Bills ever come to Canada? It's hard to say but it's an interesting story and the top runner buyers have Bon Jovi in their court. If it's going to happen, I think it's going to be 2-3 years away. Speaking about football, I managed to get my cfl picks yesterday morning. If all three come in I get about $17 and some change. Anyway, that's about all for now.