Usually on New Years

eve we're sitting about -25 something. At the moment were having a bit of a mild trend. Great way to begin the New Year.

What did I do all day Sunday? I woke up about 11am to take my insulin and went back to bed until about 1:40pm and I was still feeling groggy. Anne went out to do the shopping I read for a bit until I got sleepy and had a nap. She made our usual Sunday breakfast late brunch and went out for about 3 hours to do more shopping. I did some more reading and had another nap and did some more reading and Anne made us dinner. I puttered around with a FL Studio track I'm working on, and that's where I am now. So in other words to answer the opening paragraph question, not much. 

Anne's working tomorrow night and I have a beer and her discount and I'm having Pizza tonight for dinner as she's working and I'm holding down the fort celebrating New Years alone. Sigh, hard to believe this time last year I was our branch office employee of the year. But I have a lot to be thankful for. I have a lovely wife, who is somewhat patient understanding but even that has it's limits. I have a roof over my head (for now) and some options to work with, 2013 will be a great year. 

I don't like making New Years resolutions but I have some goals. First off get a job I hope I can keep. Pay off my Lodge dues. Pay off that LM bill asap. Get my dental work taken care of. Activate my CPP, get my SIN card, Read more books and short stories, I've been a subscriber of "Daily Science Fiction," for about a year now and I want to read more graphic novels and listen to more podcasts. I also want to attend more hockey games and see more movies. That's just a few of my overall goals for 2013.  

Since this will most likely be my last post for the year. I've had so far this year, over 240 posts. It's been a good year for this Blog. New Years eve should be a time to look back and take stock of what went right and or what went wrong. I don't think I have any regrets for 2012. Anyway, that's about all for now, Happy New Year everybody.


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It felt kind of

strange watching Smackdown on a Saturday night. My Saturday night was relaxing.

I got some business done though. LM said I can come in and pick up Machine at anytime. Since I'm a few months ahead of my other lay-a-way. I'm about 6 months away from paying it off. This package came with 12 DVD's and it took me hours to install it. It's a big package:

  Apparently the NHLPA is supposed to respond to one of the latest offers of the league today. I don't know if they'll accept it but the players are losing a lot of money and this is their last chance to salvage the 2012-13 season. I'm waiting for a bit of good news to cap off a difficult year.

I love comics and graphic novels, although I haven't read many in the last few years. One that I've been following for awhile is Spindrift. The artwork is amazing and so is the story, so far. 

Several things are happening this week:1st, its the start of a new year, 2nd, I'm applying for my CPP. 3rd, for the first time in like 12 years I'm out looking for a job. 4th, It's Lodge week and I have a new chair and if all works out ok, I'll have a new job by the end of the week. That's a big if but it's the start of a new week a new month and a new year.

 I didn't get out at all this weekend but I will through out the week. We're having a bit of a warm spell right now as we're having a bit of a break. It's the humidity that helps to keep things warm. 

Not much going on for me today. There's a Doctor Who on TV I'm mostly reading and hastily preparing a "Happy New Year 2012" track from my FL Studio DAW so I can upload this to my Sound cloud account it's not a perfect product or anything. I'm just messing around. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Getting that

Apple ID, iM and Face time to work was extremely difficult but we've got it working now. At the moment, I'm charging my iPad:

If I can get a good nights sleep then the first thing I'd like to do this morning is to get up about 8:30 take the train down for a Tim's breakfast and then my Warhammer 40K book. I can use my Tim's card for my breakfast get my book across the street at Audrey's and take the train home and grab a 6/49 quick pick lotto ticket at the Redimart at Clareview and then home

Next week is going to be busy because I'll be doing some banking and applying for my CPP. Also, I'll be applying at Manpower to get a resume'. I haven't had it updated in 12 years. There wasn't a need to. I have several job opportunities one is where a lot of my previous colleagues are. I don't like the idea of coming all the way from Clareview, basically across town to get there. I'd have to be up at 6:30am to get to that location which means a bus>train>bus. It's a good 40 min/hour long commute. That alone will take a lot out of me. It's about 50% more money then what I was getting before but after leaving about 5pm, I'd be lucky if I got home by 6pm. I'm not ruling it out as an option but it would be of a last resort if I can't find anything on an LRT run. I have about 4 options on a LRT run (that I know of) and a couple about a 20 minute commute from the 40/hour one mentioned above. I'd rather take a position for a $1 more/hour then what I was getting saving myself that huge headache with no guarantee that I'd last a week little alone 3 months. My friend and colleague said if I last 90 days, he'd get a $500 signing bonus, to which he'd split it with me. That was what set up a red flag, uh-oh. I think that signing bonus is more or less secure for that company with that option. But I need to find something asap even if it means working from home. If I get the research job next week I'm applying for, I'll take it and I'll be in contact with my buddies watching how the job is going with them. See if they last 6-8 months. If they are still with that company 8 months from now, then maybe it might be something worth while.. 

One thing is for certain, when I get working again I am going to resume my plan 35 for tablets. In a way I kind of like the long commute home because, if the NHL resumes again (in the New Year?) I'll be able to listen to the games on my iPad radio app. 

One of my more immediate concerns is my payment plan with LM. Right now, I'm good for up until March, which is why I want to get something asap but something I know I can stay with. Anyway, that's about all for now. .   

  
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About this time of year

I reflect back on the year that was:

I got to admit, 2012 had its ups and downs. I got a nice bit of vacation pay (from December 2011) and began my JW post in January but lost most of that vacation pay when Sparky my cat had to be put down in February. I began my 3rd novel to read. March Davy Jones of The Monkees died at the age off 66 (very sad) and it was Anne's birthday. April I got the New iPad from my income tax return. I had a week off. The Alberta election had come and gone. In May not much was happening but in June I went and got my Government ID which we needed to try and get housing subsidy (which we never got and were turned down for) and still reading my 3rd novel. In July I bought from LM a cheep electric guitar and amp at LM, which was nice and we signed up for Scotia banks Scene for free movies. In August I organized the Lodge BBQ which was stressful on me and later that month Dan and I did our volunteer thing at Fort Edmonton Park for the Lodge the weekend of my 60th birthday. In September I had another week off and faced with no NHL hockey. Still struggling to read my 3rd novel. October I began a lay-a-way plan to rebuild my credit and got Komplete 8 thanks to a colleague, which said bill I'm paying off. Also out of nowhere in my email in a conversation with a Susan Shannon I learned some very interesting things about my fathers side of the family I never knew before, which added a bit of closure to my life. I still need to validate this information. In November I won the (4th Gen) iPod touch at work and stashed it away for my wife's Christmas present. Warren and I went to see a Oil Kings hockey game at Rexall. A first for me. Anne and I went to see the latest James Bond movie in November and in mid December I lose my job and we lost our Budgie bird Sugar, which really upset me but I managed to finish reading my 3rd novel. So, this year really had it all. Add that and there's still a few days left to go for the end of the year and I think I'm in for another let down before it's all over. Yet Anne's right, I should count my blessings. At least I'm onto my 4th book!

This year I'm into another chair at the Lodge called the Senior Warden, or SW. This chair isn't that hard but I'm preparing for my WM year. After that it's the IPM and the IPM (look it up) So, including this chair (SW) I have 2 more to go before I cycle through the chairs again. I don't think I want to go through the JW chair again though.  

There were some excellent things going on this year that I missed. I missed Robert J Sawyer's book signing in April our SF Edmonton Expo in October and Pure Speculation that same month. I hope it's all over, I've had enough for one year. 

One thing is certain (I hope later then sooner) 2013 will see a new job for me. That one is self evident, unless I get run over by a car or a bus. Anyway, that's 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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For most of last night

 I’ve been having a hell of a time trying to get Anne an email and then it dawned on me that since I already had Gmail and Yahoo mail accounts on my desktop, I was without a yahoo email account on my laptop. I got that set up for Anne but I’m having a hell of a time with Apple ID but I’m closing in on it. I’ll get her up and running shortly.

Just as an after thought actor Jack Klugman died Christmas Eve from throat cancer. Klugman played Oscar Madison next to Tony Randal as Felix in the Odd couple. I remember seeing the Broadway production of the first episode as it was on tour and I saw them on stage. That would have been 1976, a few months after that I migrated to Calgary to find work. But the show didn't feature Klugman as Oscar, I believe that was with Walter Matthau. Walter Matthau died 12 years ago. The Odd Couple, Mash, All in the family, we don't have shows like that today. With all of this politically correct bs a show like All in the family would never get by the sensors. I don't think I never heard Archie used the N word for (Jefferson). The Odd Couple never went that direction but Hollywood and they're politically correct obsession would probably (if the show were produced today) have made one of the roommates Asian or something. My only beef when it comes to Hollywood casting like this is the show was conceived as it was, if Hollywood made a remake of The odd Couple by tinkering with it to appease this political correct climate nobody cares about, would ruin the show. That's one thing I didn't like when Marvel changed the character of Nick Fury agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Hate to break the news to you kids, but Nick Fury originally in the Marvel comics was "Sargent Fury and his Howling Commandos." Look it up. Nick Fury was a white man not a black man. When David Hasselhoff played Nick Fury (1998) last time I checked I don't think Mr. Hasselhoff went from white to black in a decade. No disrespect to Samuel L. Jackson. He played an excellent version of Nick Fury and I think he did a great job in that role but casting of the movie Iron Man in 2008 was an obvious move to appease the politically correct climate plaguing us to this day. I'm happy when I was watching sitcoms back in the 1970's we didn't have this politically correct bs. Partially why these days I don't watch that much TV. How about this pc scenario: James Bond after Daniel Craig will be a Jamaican Bond with a British accent. I'm just sayin.   

Coast 2 Coast this morning is about Christmas movies but the next half of the show is about the Urantia. I did a brief study about this curiosity some 20 years ago. With about 2000 pages and going through a bit of it myself, kind of went over my head. At least Ched is back to normal. Tonight the show on Coast is about “Planet X.”

We just came off of watching the latest Doctor Who Christmas special “The Snowmen.” This was a great special. I liked this one better then last years and I hope they keep the supporting cast. On a scale from 1-10, I’d rate this a 9.

Earlier before I got into getting Anne an Apple ID I set myself up a Sound cloud account. I even set up a mobile app for it but it doesn’t look like the app is that well received.

Today being Boxing day is going to be a madhouse out there. If I had any Boxing day funds I’d wait until Friday for the end of Boxing day week.

As for me, I’m relaxing over the next couple of days as I don’t think I’ll be heading out anywhere until Saturday. Anyway, that’s all for now.

Christmas, I love it

Anne loves her new iPod touch. It's the 4th Gen but I thought it was the white one but it's the black one. Still she's got face time iM and wifi and I'm working at getting her an Apple ID so she can get some free games and iM photos etc. It can do all my iPad can do but smaller.

I normally do a year in review just before NewYears and it's something I don't usually share. However in the case of books I've read only 3 this year. Actually make that 2 because I read most of the "Game of thorns" book in 2011. normally I can read 8-10 books in one year, but here's a photo of the books I finished this year:

Before I got married I was an avid Advanced Squad Leader game player (ASL) I had a few opponents but I got married and that languished. I had most of the games and modules. Then the original owner Avalon Hill sold the game to Multi Man Publishing (MMP) went and the rest is history. There aren't a lot of people playing ASL now, I'd say maybe 5,000-10,000 players world wide but new people come into the hobby all the time. A YouTube search can offer a nice buffet of ASL goodness. Most of the players I hung out with have kind of vanished from my radar screen but only recently a few of them have surfaced and still want to play but since I bought my games (last one 1992-ish) MMP revamped the rules book and the counters, just about the whole ASL hobby and come up with new games every couple of years. Lately one of my gaming buddies from the old days surfaced thanks to Facebook and I've been trying to get his phone number but he always forgets to respond back. He wants to play New Years day, which would be perfect for me because Anne is at work. I doubt my friend will provide his number but if he does, I'm game. I don't know about purchasing all of the modules all over again and some are out of print. Even some of the ones I've missed as MMP. That's why we  have Ebay. 

As much as I love Warhammer 40K and all as I'm collecting all 13 (so far but I have only the first 2) "Space Marine Battles"I also want to get the Horus Heresy series and there's 22 books (and counting) plus I want to read all of the short stories The Black Library has out. Warhammer 40k daily!  

Our local Coast 2 Coast affiliate is off for a couple of days because of Christmas, so they've been playing canned Christmas music and I'm missing my Coast 2 Coast not that tonight's show matters too much but Wednesday night's show is on Planet X. I was thinking about joining Coast's "Insider Club" when I get back to work and that way I'll have all shows streamed to my computer for latter listening. 1 Year is US $54.95, which isn't bad.

Every month I get my Lodge Newsletter and I enjoy reading the "Alberta Freemason" but lately it hasn't been included lately. I think its because its going online. I'll find a link to it. Anyway that's about all for now, Merry Christmas everyone.

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I'm just about ready to wrap

up Stardoc #1. I found out from Fantastic Fiction, there are 3 more out of the 7 books I  have left in the Stardoc series. I hope to get the last 3 next month. 

I had every intention of heading out to Canada Place to get my CPP under way for next month but Canada Place has abbreviated hours this week. Today, Thursday and Friday they are open 8:30-10am and closed January 1st, naturally. It means I can't do anything until next week.  

Today marks the first day that we have had -20 as a high for the winter season since our first snow. It's not bad if you don't have to be out in it for a long period of time. My sister -in-law is getting ready to go on a 10 day cruise over the holidays that begins today. She's going on a Disney cruise and she says that Micky, Donald Duck etc are going to wish her nieces etc a Merry Christmas from the ship. They'll be in +25 we'll be in -25.  

Tonight is Christmas eve and we usually open our gifts tonight. We got a new budgie to replace poor Sugar #1.

Anne is getting us a little holiday Christmas platter from Safeway and I've got Monday night Raw (unless they're going to do one of their pre-recorded shows for the troops) which doesn't mean anything for me not being an American but I appreciate the effort WWE does for this but I hope its they're regular show.

It seems that The Black Library could be offering something for they're newsletter subscribers tomorrow. I'm going to check my inbox and see what it is. Maybe a free story? That's be nice.

Anyway it's time to finish the last 30 pages or so of this my 3rd novel I've read this year. Usually I read between 8-12 books/year but with all that's been going on over the last year It's been tough to find time to do much reading. Anyway, that's all for now.



 

I woke up around noon

and took my insulin and my cereal Anne had out for me and fed the cats. I was still tired. I went back to bed for a couple of hours and up around 2pm. I feel empty inside losing our pet bird Sugar earlier this morning.

It’s not a good idea to have a female budgie and a male budgie in the same cage. This was why Anne had them separated in two different cages. What I didn’t like was how Anne would pull the 2 cages slightly apart to bring the opening bird cage door like a ramp connecting to the other bird cage. There was only a brief space but Sugar would climb out onto the ramp and get close to Chirpy. It was kind of cute and occasionally Sugar got loose. A couple of weeks ago she got lose and we couldn’t find her. She was hiding behind the coffee pot on the kitchen counter. Then this morning in another episode of Sugar on the ramp as I’m in my office reading, Anne comes rushing in here screaming Sugars name. Yellow feathers everywhere. What the hell? It looked like Anne had rescued Sugar from Boots. Anne had Sugar on a piece of doweling rod responding ok. Moments later she was unresponsive, dead. I was upset and said somethings I shouldn’t have. I didn’t sleep very well this morning and Anne’s upset at me blaming me for upsetting the bird allowing him to fly out and get caught the way she did. This was the 2nd budgie bird that Boots had caught.

 

When Anne got up she headed out on her rounds to do what she had to do and all. When she came back I saw a small budgie box on the couch there by the pillows by the bird cages and Anne had bought another bird and gave me a warning about her we renamed Sugar. What so we could lose another one to Boot? Is she going to do this bird bonding thing again to open up Sugar 2’s cage and we’re going to lose another one? How long is this one going to last? The problem isn’t with my cats, Sporty & Silky but in Boots. More importantly to leave the bird cage open so the bird has access to the apartment, is mental. Cats and birds don’t mix, hello? 1+1, clueless. Ok, I’ll stop now.

Anyway, It’s a cold overcast day for a winter Sunday afternoon. It’s only fitting. Despite losing Sugar and Anne fighting with me, again I feel ok.

The Connect 2 Edmonton, forum I subscribe to has had a topic I’ve been following about the North LRT thread. According to the Google Maps update and all, it shows the construction coming along quite well. The update looks like it was taken about late April. Some posters on the thread are saying that it would have been nice if there would be some kind of LRT station connecting to the proposed downtown arena project. The one at Grant MacEwan college is just slightly to the NE of the arena site and I’m sure there will be a connecting pedway to any proposed arena. If it ever gets done.

If you’ve been following me on my website, I’ve had a heck of a 2012 so far haven‘t I? Losing Sparky, no NHL, losing my job and now last night losing Sugar. And I‘ve got 8 more days to go until the end of the year!

Yesterday, I left out of here facing a 10 minute wait in the bus shelter waiting for anything to take me to Clareview. A#11 came by and a train was waiting for me. I read Stardoc on my way to Corona station and took the stairs up to street level and into Audrey’s. I bought book #2 of the Space Marine Battles and ordered the next 4. I have 2 of the 4 still there and I hope to go into LM first make a payment then on my way back get the iTunes gift card and then into Audrey’s to get book #3. After I placed my order and said Seasons Greetings I went back the way I came and waited for the Clareview train home. I was at Clareview about 5pm and looking around on the lighted sing for a #12 and there is one right beside Bay Enterprise Square station just across the street on 102nd Ave. I managed to get home into the apartment at about 5:20pm. Perfect.

I got a call from one of my past colleagues at iMark and we had a bit of a chat. But I’m not doing any job search until I find out what’s going on Friday. I wouldn’t mind taking a month off and go hard at it in February.

As for tonight, I’m going to try and finish off Stardoc. This is actually a pretty decent first novel. The writing is good, classic SF. Anyway, that’s all for now.

Things worked out for (Friday)

me yesterday ok after all but next week is the real test of what could happen. I can't talk about anything but I have a couple of offers. 

So Friday the NHLPA approved to launch a disclaimer of of interest, which is a faster form of decertifying the union. Jan 14th is the deadline for when the rest of the season could officially be cancelled. January 2nd is the official day the of filing. I believe that something significant will happen between then and now. Personally, I'd like the idea of the season being cancelled. For the second time in just nine years since Garry Bettman took over as NHL Commissioner and 2 season lockouts later is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. This is an embarrassment. The NHL doesn't own the Stanley Cup but the Trustees of the Hockey Hall of Fame decide which league gets to challenge the cup. If the season is renewed why not an East/West 15 team round robin tournament to decide the Cup this season? Something to think about

Well the end of the world didn't happen. Yeah no kidding. There were some though that thought it would and took refuge in various remote locations around the world, like a mountain in Quebec,places in China etc. Some believe that the end of the world or they Mayan calendar would be around the 21st or within a few days of the 21st and this morning on Coast (underway now) George Noory will check in with various guests on the status of the post Mayan calendar world. 

On this date in 1970, (Yesterday) Elvis Presley paid a visit to the White House to suggest to Pres. Nixon that he be named "Federal Agent at Large" to help combat the drug problem. And Nixon's response? Ok, I wont say it.

Sometime later this morning I'm off to Audrey's to get another Warhammer 40K "Space marine battles book" and then a block West on the same side of the street to Rexall get a $10 iTunes gift card,my lotto/649 ticket and home but I might decide to sleep in instead because it's so cold out there but if I time my bus connections properly, this morning I'll be out there for about maybe 5 minutes. I'll be out of here at 10am as Tim's stops making breakfast at noon then home. I should be home before Anne gets up and out of bed.

Actually speaking of Pages and my diary, my current  "MS Work's" diary is 2 years old and has something like 725 pages or about 5Mb of text. Pages syncs automatically to iCloud where I'm going to store most of my diary. That's almost like 10 years of text documents! Anyway, that's about all for now. 

Ok so the big

“End of the World” even is supposed to be tomorrow: 12-21-12 the day of the winter Solstice. Or just about anytime give or take a couple of days. A caller on Coast called in last night claiming how he was working with a quasi government organization collecting solar data suggesting that major solar activity 100 times more in magnitude of the Carrington Event of 1859. Now I‘m no expert on this but according to Wikipedia on the Carrington Event from August 28, 1859, until September 2, for 6 days the soar storm was active, shorting out Telegraph lines etc. At one point Gold miners up North began to prepare breakfast because they thought it was daylight. The caller said that major coronal mass ejection will take place within the next couple of days. The caller said that a cme 100 times more powerful could wipe us out. Sunspot activity has been very active lately. According to Wiki we get about 2 every 100 years. We had 1 in about 1921 but nothing like in 1859.

On this date December 20th the world got its first look at the Zodiac murders, December 20th 1968. Lots of crazy things going on huh?

On Coast tonight Expert in theology, Biblical languages, and world civilizations, Mike Heiser will discuss the history of apocalyptic beliefs, why for millennia we have predicted "end times," and which ideas have some validity. I’ll listen in on this for tonight.

Anne said, she’d run down to the ban for me to deposit that $40 in my Scotia bank for my Telus account. The last of the plan 35 for awhile. I’m still considering Ivanhoe Lodge’s installation but nobody knows me there or can vouch for me. But it depends on how Friday turns out as far as my severance pay goes and if my direct bank deposit form went through without complications. So if My Friday turns out ok, then I might just head over to Ivanhoe. We’ll see.

This weekend depending on how My Friday goes I hope to go down to Audrey’s for another Warhammer Space Marine Battles book. I’m hoping to do this maybe Saturday morning and get some breakfast at Tim’s and head home. My LM monthly payment is ok up until the end of march. I was hoping to have it paid off by this weekend or at least by the end of the month.

I’m not doing anything with my CPP until the New Year. There’s no point on doing anything right now. I’m more concerned how My Friday is going to go tomorrow. If my severance forms were sent out as J said they were last week, then I should get something in tomorrow. If there was a complication on my Direct Bank Deposit form (DPD) then the cheque would have been cut and mailed out Monday meaning I won’t know anything for a couple of weeks yet. If I don’t get my cheque in my account Friday, then I know it’s in the mail this Monday/now. Meaning to say, I might get it next week. If by 4pm Friday there’s no indication that nothing is in my bank, then I’ll know that it was mailed and J didn’t get the form out or there were complications. But I’ll be checking and I should know by this time tomorrow. For all I know, it might even be in today but I’m not going to hold my breath. Christmas mail is notorious for being slow like this.

On Coast last night as they were talking about the electrical grid and how a massive CME would take it out, I began to do some research and the first street lights that went up here in Edmonton were in 1891 along Jasper Avenue and were turned off at 1am. They were turned on 24/7 in 1902. In 1905, Edmonton Light Department had 53 customers! In 1982, work began on the Genesee Generating Station, 50 km southwest of Edmonton.  The project cost was $1.2 Billion. Recently the Alberta Government went ahead with the Heartland transmission project but that’s a whole other topic.

Sometime around next August or so (2013) I’m looking at getting a new digital camera. In researching wifi cameras from the main brands I’m liking the new Kodak Easy Share M70 but I don’t think Walmart has the new wifi easy share versions yet, maybe they do but once. Future shop and Best Buy as far as I know I don’t think they carry them in stock. 

Seems that our Mayer Mandel and NDP leader Brian Mason are in a war of words here as Mandel claims that Mason doesn’t seem to support Edmonton very much when it comes to gaining funding on the proposed downtown arena. Mason said that while Mandel was making his money he had spent 12 years on City council. He doesn’t care about Edmonton? Sorry Mandel as much as I think you’re the best City Mayor we’ve ever had here in Edmonton in all my 35 years here, while I don’t like his politics I have to give this one to Brian Mason.

Not much going on at the moment for a Tuesday

evening. I updated my Blog friends page and finally got that organized and included some "Likes" on Facebook and added another page on my blog On politics. I consider myself to be slightly left of Centre. I tend to stay out of Federal and Provincial politics but more focused on. I vote every civic election not the National or Provincial elections.

On Coast tonight UFO Researcher known as the "Crypto Hunter," John Rhodes will discuss the reptilian humanoids and the secret underworld empire which consists of alien cultures, lost civilizations and secret government facilities which are networked across the United States.

We're about to go into a bit of a cold snap over the weekend, which will last between now and about the end of the year. I think because of this I'm going to remain inbound and get out Thursday to do the CPP thing. Anyway, that's about all for now.    

A full day off today

and I've got a few things to do this week as explained earlier.

The problem of my FL. Studio clipping issue is resolved. I switched from the sound card and took it off line and went to straight Asio 4 all and put the headphones in my laptop sound card, no clipping. 

So the NHLPA are in the process of decertifying their union which means litigation of existing contracts. The owners could be losing millions of dollars in doing this as they are already losing money from lost games. I believe that this power play will work on the players behalf. I believe that because of this the owners will meet players demands before the NHLPA goes into full decertification. We'll have NHL hockey back before the end of the year and on ice in the New Year but that's my opinion.

I thought while I had the time off and all, I thought I'd expand on my friends list in my links section. These are family and real people I know and care about. One link gets me to their Facebook page.

On Coast tonight its "hidden history" and cruise ships, ok. Yeesh. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I slept in late this morning

getting out of bed by about noon.

I wasn’t watching the news Friday night, kind of watching Smackdown instead. I heard about a shooting in the US but I didn’t hear any details. I heard nothing about it until the news  at 11pm. What a shocker in Newtown Connecticut for the whole world, 20 year old kid snaps gathers weapons his mother had in their house, kills her goes to nearby Sandy Hook elementary school bursts his way in and starts killing children, 20 kids and 6 teachers including the principle and himself and his mother. 28 homicides. Something like that could happen anywhere, tragic.
 
I was so wrapped up in my own world about losing my job running all over the place Friday the thing I was concerned about was what I was faced with. The shooting incident occurred about 9:30am Friday. What made the gunman go to the school and go on a killing rampage, only he and God know those answers and I don’t even think the killer knows. Unbelievable.

Earlier I was fooling around with FL Studio’s FPC. It’s a very powerful drum machine, which can be linked up to a midi controller and also linked up to the piano roll to lay down an easy drum beat. With this I don’t really need Machine. I’d rather have the studio monitors first but I’m more or less committed to buying Machine now.

Apparently the Doctor Who Christmas special wont be on today like I thought I heard. It’s apparently going to be aired Christmas Day and the episode is called “The Snowmen.”

Finally I have a label cloud on my site. I’ve always wanted one but never knew what it was called but it balances out my sidebars.

On my 6/49 I got 2 numbers but that wasn’t with the bonus number for a free ticket. I got 2 numbers right though!

I also added 2 new links to my blog: Cern, and the OTO phenomena, I just titled OTO, its a huge resource.

Anne was supposed to be home an hour ago but because Walmart is open 24/7 during the holidays and all she loses her track of time.
 
It’s -9 out there but there’s a bit of a wind chill. I’m working on a sample track in FL Studio putting together my drum sounds and I have a verse and chorus part. Trouble is I’m experiencing a lot of clipping and I can’t figure out how to eliminate it.

My first CPP cheque in February is going right for my Lodge dues unless I get a good job between then and now. None of this $10-$11 hour crap for me unless that's the only thing out there. If I don't come up with anything substantial then I might have to take anything.

I'm kind of sorry I missed seeing Dave Gross this afternoon but I don't want to spend anything major until I know what I'm dealing with by Friday. Anyway, that's all for now.  

   

An hour later and

I'm home. Exactly an hour ago Anne and I were waiting for the bus to Clareview station. I got to BP's and there must have been about 2 groups of people there and a couple of single guys. None of the usual crew were present. I wanted for about half an hour and when it looked like nobody would show, that's when I resigned myself to the realization that it aint going to happen. If it ever will. One last bit of irony here, I was the last GWE/Xentel/iMark Edmonton branch employee of the year. Weird huh? Anyway, enough of that. 

Ok, I'm home for the weekend. Monday I'm going to try for my RBC online banking and get that set up to see if I've got my severance package DBD'd (Direct Bank Deposit). Tuesday I'm heading back to my RBC bank to get another DBD form (for my CPP) to Canada Place/Service Canada and set up my CPP and get that activated. I'll most likely get my first CPP cheque in by the end of January. I can't say when my severance pay ends because I signed a disclosure form. Then on Thursday, it's off to Alberta Works and get that set up before the end of the year. So I have a few things to do over the next couple of days.

As for tomorrow, Anne and I are settling into watch the Christmas Doctor Who special on Space and we'll have our breakfast/brunch and relax.  

I heard on Anne's alarm radio something about the Stanley Cup being rented out to another league? I'd like to see this maybe in the fall. That would be cool. I'd like to see it go to the Canadian hockey league in years where the NHL is on strike every couple of years. The CHL has 60 teams between Canada and the USA. All of the American teams are in the WHL but still, get some national networks involved a couple of sponsorships and it could feasibly happen. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Doesn't look like

drinks are going to happen at BP's today but we can do this anytime. Just because we may work at different locations doesn't mean we can't still hang out and all. Warren and I are still going to that Oil Kings game next month.

Audrey's has another book signing this month: Forgotten Realms writer Dave Gross will be here. I'd like to go but Anne is bugging me now about spending money. She's just tired. 

I’m just wondering if I have a bug in my Battery 3 install disk? Some kits load ok, others respond to one cell and take over. I’m sure I’m not doing something right. I got onto Native Instruments Forums and into the Battery area. But that’s something I can do for later tonight.
 

 Good thing I checked Commercial's calendar for 2012, they had their Installation, Last Saturday! Bummer so I'm going to leave with Anne as she goes to work, I get off at Corona and head up to Audrey's about 4pm and get my Warhammer 40K book I couldn't get yesterday as they had a book signing. But after my book I can walk up the block and get a pint at BP's and see who comes by. I'll hang out for an hour and if nobody comes by, I'll take the train home.  

All is not lost though because Ivanhoe is having their installation next Friday on the 21st but I'll need to be there at 6pm and its a late lodge having a $15 banquette but I doubt I'll stick around for that. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

That's over with,

finally. 

I had a rough sleep overnight as I had stuff to do this morning. I got out of the house shortly before 10am and headed to Clareview station and boarded my train for Corona station to pick up my last cheque. Sad. Then I walked heading East along the South side of Jasper Ave and ran into one of the recent employees I befriended. I gave him my email address and I had a brief chat and continued on my ay. It felt like Spring out there, mid March. I got to my bank and did my stuff and then something J said about a direct bank deposit so I went to the teller and got the form in an envelope and headed back to the office. There were a few business people there and some familiar faces. I got Warren's new phone number and I'll be calling him latter for tomorrow. So, I assume J will scan the form and payroll will get that today for Monday. If everything works out ok, I'll have the first severance pay cheque this coming up Friday. I have enough for my Telus bill and maybe enough left over for my "Space marine battles." Warhammer 40K book.  

I hope this all works out for tomorrow that we have a little get together I get my Warhammer 40K book and have a nice relaxing couple of days. I'm also hoping that my severance pay will be activated as a direct bank deposit, so this means that every Friday up until the last one will be in my account every Friday or until I get another job, which ever comes first.

Monday, I'm out again only this time to Canada Place/Service Canada to apply for my CPP and hopefully get that out for January 1st. Then in early January it's off to AW and set that up for some employment counseling. All my life I've had nothing but these minimum wage jobs. My last place of employment paid me a little better but not by much but still when the hours were added up at the end of the day I got a nice cheque every week. I was getting just for myself about $100/week as disposable income. I had quite a run. Now I'm existing on severance pay and I have a bit of spending cash after I pay my obligations and all, enough for my LM payment a pint or two and a Warhammer 40K book. Life is good. So I'll be ok for awhile. I can relax but not for long. But I'm also going to take my time and get a better paying job. I want a good job, $15-20hour. I'll settle for $10 only if there's nothing else out there. Anyway, that's about all for now.

 

J answered the phone

and I said I'd be there within the hour. I got the forms together got ready, locked up and I headed out the door. My bus was just crossing Manning and 50th. There was actually a train waiting and I got aboard and was downtown in like 10 minutes at Corona station. The escalator was working this time. I hurried to Jasper and 106th and to the office and the elevator upstairs. Uh-oh. All the doors were locked. I tried the exit door and it wouldn't open. I thought to try the main door but J stuck his head around the corner and got my attention. All forms a signed and submitted and all I have to do is pick up my cheque on Friday. J was removing the "pucks" from the stations and the other guy was there from human resources in James office. J and I had a brief chat about where some of the other staff might be and he said I should check it out probably but in the New Year.

Today its 12/12/12 and how ominous that the date of the "end of the world" should be the day after I lost my job that I had for 12 years. Almost as if it's been preordained. So for those reading this (assuming if there's anyone actually reading this) 80 years from now it'll be 2092.

Well, when I got home I tried to have a nap but I was too wrapped up in all of this. At least I know  I'll be okay cash wise over the course of the next while. I don't need to begin looking right away, probably in the New Year. I'm okay.  

I don't have a lot going on over the next couple of days. I imagine, Warren, James N, and others are setting things up for going to the other place but it's all the way out in the West end. I've got a few options left over yet.

I wrote a brief goodbye letter to my audience at my website and to invite them all to my Blogger site. I just have Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and email.

As for today and the next couple of days, I'm going to try and finish my book and work on a song and relax watch some TV that sort of thing. Anyway, that's about all for now.  

Yeesh. That's about all I can say for now

I can't site any details but yesterday I lost  my job. I spent 12 years and 3 months at it. I was always on time for all my shifts. I did the best that I could. It's the end of an era. The worst part of all of this is I worked with some great people that I'm going to really miss. They were like my family. There's an empty feeling in my stomach right now. I'm not going to dwell upon it here as I can't say anything. Suffice to say I'm going to be ok, no need to panic or anything.

One thing is understood: I'm canceling my website until I can obtain something steady. My website saw me post 1723 blog posts. Many of those entries were excerpts out of my diary and or  copies from Blogger. Of course I'll keep my Blog open here. Maybe I'll come back to the website this time next year, we'll see. As for my 2Gb internet tablet at $37/month, I cancelled that yesterday afternoon. I'm back to the Flex plan at $5/month for 10Mb but I have wifi and my home internet. 

This morning I'm back in the office with some papers to sign and I'm picking up my last cheque on Friday. Next week, I'm applying for my CPP. I didn't want to do this so soon but it's necessary to get on it right away. I'll probably do this Thursday and next week I'm going to register for Alberta Works and get that thing going. 

I have 2 big bills to pay off, LM and my Lodge dues and also my current bill for my tablet. Not the $5 one.

One thing, I've got some time do get some reading done, that's for sure and maybe even go to Commercial next Saturday. I'm also learning the WM opening and closing charge, which is quite substantial but with all this on my mind it's going to be tough to sleep tonight. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I had a great Monday off,

I  managed to get The Mouth, The Finger, Razor and Session strings and I got Reaktor configured sound wise in my laptop. I need to go “under the hood” as it were and connect the inputs and outputs. Simple enough to do. The only instrument I haven’t been able to get yet out of K8 has been “Retro Synths 2. It might be under the Legacy file in Reaktor.”

I’m in bed in about 15 minutes Anne and I are going to spend some quality time and I’ll listen to a bit of Coast and pass out. The topic tonight is Crypto zoology (Bigfoot) and the “Fiscal cliff,” boring bed sounds like a better plan.

On my way into work I’m over to Rexall to get a $10 iTunes gif card as I want to buy the “Pages” app. I’m moving my diary away from my computer and composing everything on my iPad and after I get a month done, I’m uploading it to my iCloud account.

Other then that, not much is going on. I have this week and next week to put my vacation pay release request in, so I’ll have a cheque when I get back and that first week in January to pay my website and Lodge dues and take care of the K8 LM and bring home Machine. Can’t wait. Reaktor and Machine, is going to be awesome. Anyway that’s all for now.

Anne and I got out of the house yesterday and

I didn’t get a chance to begin my diary, working a lot with Cubase. I think I’m going to work in FL Studio as my DAW by choice because I have only 2 usb outlets and I’m not about to buy a usb hub just yet, although I’m thinking about getting Ableton Live 8 but 9 might be in development.

Anne and I went to Royal Pizza but she was tired and kind of in a grumpy mood for most of the trip but while we were eating our meat lovers pizza she brightened up a bit. After our dinner we went  over to Tim’s as it began to snow ever so lightly. We got ourselves a coffee and jay walked in between traffic breaks for the bus stop across the street. I had about 4 pieces of pizza left over. The train home at University station for a Sunday night was packed, which is unusual. We were home about 7:15pm.

Well. It looks like Google Earth gave us an update. I was surprised to learn that the old Shannon “ancestral home” after the landscaping the current owners had taken on, finally is completed and it looks really nice. The big shocker was Mr. Wilson’s house is gone. Something must have happened within the last 3 years. It’s nothing more then an empty lot. This is the same house I grew up in from 1959-71. A kind of before/after shot.  The photos didn;t turn out that great. I'll work on this later.

While at Audrey’s after my LM trip I bought the first book in the “Space Marine Battles” series. There’s a dozen books in the series so far and a 13th one coming in January. The top right hand corner got a bit damaged in transport.

 The idea was to head into work today for 6 hours and take Saturday off but I had a tough week. I wanted Saturday off to take in Commercial‘s installation. I might just go in for 2 hours Saturday and at noon. I‘ll still get 35.5 hours and I can always change in the mens room at the office.

Today I‘m messing around with Reaktor. There‘s a cool program I‘m trying to get up and running called Lazerbass. Anyway, that‘s all for now.

It was Monday

February 6th 2012 Sparky was put down. I still cast my eyes over to the Pet Smart when I see it from the train. I still love him and miss him.

Yesterday I was able to set up my Interac online debit card with my Scotiabank. I haven’t used it yet but in the morning when I get up I’m going to call Scotia and make sure I have it set up properly.

On my way into work the snow had just come down and was pretty heavy there for awhile. I went into my Scotia bank to deposit some funds into my account. The snow was falling thick on my way to work and I stepped inside the bus shelter on Jasper Ave beside Tim’s to shoot this photo. By about 1:30pm the snow was so thick it was almost like fog:

 

I had a decent day pulling in almost $400 in card and maybe $600 in sales, although doing CPC I stalled the last hour but it was better. Also I was able to call Neil to see about Frank‘s phone number but it was the wrong #, then I called Nathan but he didn’t have his number. I called Mike and Mike volunteered to do a Costco run for me for mix paper plates forks etc. Great everything is set up. I just need to review my material and I‘m good to go.

The last 10 minutes was brutal and I had to be careful paying attention crossing the icy streets and downstairs to Corona. I got home about 9:45pm. Tomorrow I‘m in for 4 hours and then home and off to Lodge. I‘ll be glad when it‘s Sunday and Anne and I are celebrating a positive and a bitter suit kind of an anniversary for us. For us it’s a full 12 years of marriage heading into our 13th year. That‘s the sweet spot. The sad news is, it‘s going to be 11 months since we had to put Sparky down. Anyway, that‘s about all for now.