I had a good time this afternoon

transferring some of my music from my music collection over to laptop and trying unsuccessfully uploading some of Anne’s tracks over to an earlier version of iTunes. That was done ok but I couldn’t get the sync process to take on her iTouch. Also, earlier this evening I was trying to get things done with the Lodge and the festive board. Anne’s going to cook the chili Wednesday night and put everything in a aluminum tray with a sealed cover. I hope it rides in Neil’s car ok. Then all I got to do is to get some donuts from Tim’s on the way to Lodge. We also have 2 candidates for Thursday night. I‘m looking forward to Thursday. Dan said he‘s got the beer, I know my part, what I have to do and say. Should be a good night.

I think what I‘m going to try and do over the next several months is get the process in motion for my dental work and get what‘s left of my teeth taken out. Because I‘m diabetic and all I might end up being in the hospital for a week or so on IV. I‘ll probably end up losing some weight. Because of all this, I might end up taking 2 weeks off. A week to have my teeth out and recover and a week off to get dentures in. But this is one thing I want to try and do this summer so by the time I’m SW I’ll have new “teeth,” well that’s the plan.

I’m also learning more about something called “Rewire.” It’s a protocol that lets software “talk with each other” and share some of their functions. So for example I can (in theory) have the playback feature of FL Studio be picked up on the play list of Cubase, type of thing. Fl Studio then acts as a client to Cubase as a host. I’m still learning more about it.

After this festive board is over with and I’m back on track, I’m getting back into my reading again, which has seen sporadic activity at best. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

The only

Difficulty with composing a blog post on my I pad is Blogger won't let me change the font in this version. They have a mobile version for tabs and phones.

After the late news last night about Midnight, Anne and I rented Mission Impossible 4 "Ghost Protocol." This isn't a movie review or anything but on a scale from 1-10 I'd rate the movie a solid 10. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the primer scenes at the beginning but other then that minor annoyance, yeah a solid 10/10. I got the feeling though I was watching a James Bond movie more then a MI movie. I saw some great movies last year. Ghost protocol was out December 16th and costs $145M to make but its return at the box office was $693M! That doesn't include DVD or video on demand sales. In watching the movie I was fascinated by the Burj Duba tower where one of the major scenes in the movie took place. The building is the tallest man made structure ever built built in 2004 and opened 2009 at a cost of $1.5 billion. The movie itself did nearly half of that in sales. Crazy.


If the space elevator ever gets built then that will obviously be the tallest man made structure in the world. Yet that won't happen in my lifetime. Or if it does, I'll probably be on my death bed when they announce plans to build it. 


Anne talked me into another day. I go from Tuesday through Saturday anyway and Monday is my natural day off and I said to J I'd try and be in for Monday but don't expect me in until Tuesday. I hinted at Monday because I have lodge night Thursday but I'm half a day on Thursday. Next week I'll have my Monday-Friday and a couple of Saturdays off.


I got a bug of some kind in my desktop causing my browser to lockup on me. It's nothing Telus is doing and its not a big deal so I'm going to have to go in and have it serviced get Vinny to take a look at it. 


This evening Anne is going to be making the chili for the festive board and I'm calling Dan to see if we got enough beer. Anne is getting the chili ingredients later this afternoon after a bottle run. She suggested getting some taco shells and sour creme and cheese to sprinkle on top. She's also going to look at getting another crock pot as they're selling them at Exes Cargo for under $20 and they have disposable soup bowls across the street for a buck at the Dollarrama (15per package.) I've also got to call Neil and see if he can pick me up for Thursday all I need is buns possibly donuts for desert. So the last thing we're going to need is the donuts for on the way back. I can get 3 boxes of assorted for $10 bucks. The good news for me is the JW fund will  reimburse me for what I spend out of pocket. I gave Anne $25 for the chili fixings and the bowls are a buck buns are about $3. If Dan says I have to get extra beer, then I'm SOL because I won't have that amount of cash on me. .    


The good news in this chair is I have only 5 more months to go (the Lodge shuts down in July & August) but there's our participation at Fort Edmonton park, which I've been attending over the last couple of years and the Lodge BBQ in  August. I'll be glad when it's over but the real test is who's going to do this in next year and my year and my IPM year? There's a lot of un answered questions. 


Tonight though I'm home, watching hockey and wrestling and making a few phone calls. It's a good thing I didn't go in for this evening. Anyway, that's all for today.

Ok let's try

and see if this works.

$ Another tech issue we're having around the apartment is our wifi connection sporadic at best. There's a software/router way to do this but I don't want to go through this right now at 3am.

I'll be relieved when it's this time next week, when the Lodge EA is over and done with. I'm not a 100% with it on this part I'm doing plus I'm trying to organize the festive board. I'm using my own money for the festive board because the cash box goes along "with the bar" and the accounting program to keep track of all of the drinks bought etc. I'll be glad when I no longer have to do this chair. It's a lot of work. When I'm done as IPM, I can take any chair. I'd love to do the JS chair. Easy and simple to do.

*Also, today is International Astronomy day and a couple of days ago was Free comic book day. Just a couple of space/sf like events going on. 

My Computer has been crashing on me all night so I better post this while I have the chance. Anyway, that's all for  now.

I’m going to leave

 out of here in an hour to pick up my cheque and get that done. After I do my banking, it’s off over to Audrey’s get my book and then hop on the #2 bus over to Cash Canada on 50th street and I‘m going to take my Ipad along so I can take some pictures if needed and test (finally) away from the apartment how good this 3G service is and pop into McDonalds for a bite to eat and head home.

I finally got someone from iTunes to respond back about my gift card issues. So I took a photo from my Ipad of the bill the back of the card and then emailed it to me. Then after receiving said email I opened the photo within Firefox and put it on my desktop. I replied to iTunes with the photo so they can pinch and zoom in for the PBH numbers and what numbers I have on the card. Easy process and helps to remove stuff from Ipad memory usage. I love this New Ipad but in future enhancements, I’d like to see them be able to take a photo from within photos and drag it onto the desktop to be used as wallpaper. 

As for now I’m relaxing enjoying a coffee charging up my Ipad. After I compose this and wrap a few things up, I’ll have a shower change and head out of here.

One week off isn’t enough. I’d like to have 2 weeks off. I’d still get a check when I come back. I think in August I’ll take 2 weeks off after I save a bit of cash. 

At Clareview station I bought my 6/49 ticket and had a few minutes to check out my 3G connection on my iPad. Works great. I took a video and tried it on the way into the office, Tweeting Twitter posts along my way until the train got underground. I got into the office and got my check, said hi to J and said I’d be (possibly) in Monday night. I asked about my vacation pay and he said something like “its all taken care of.” I said hello to my buddies, and got some text numbers so I can make text messaging calls which I hadn’t got made any yet. There was a bit of a line up at Scotia but I had my iPad with me so it wasn’t so bad waiting. I went to Audrey’s and thought maybe they wouldn’t mind if I could hold the book one more week because after giving my wife what she needs and buying the book, I’d be left with not very much. They said  ok, no problem. They’ve got some nice books there. Glen Cook’s Garret PI books look interesting, I was almost going to buy “Garret takes the case.” I probably will later after the RJS book. I was ready to take the train home, then realized, no, I need to go upstairs to catch the #2. I took a video inside the bus but I’m not publishing it because riders are in the way. I got off where I wanted to be and checked out Cash Canada, their guitars were in the back and they didn’t have much of a selection and the lowest price was the clerk said $350 for a Fender. I’d rather spend the extra $130 and get a new Epiphone ES-335 dot then someone else‘s headache. That‘s my next project. I had a double quarter pounder with cheese and fries and drink. The decor in the facility was gaudy, food meh. I got a #2 bus just outside and decided at 50th street and walk home. I was inside the apartment by about 3:45pm. I had a good day.

I was disappointed about Cash Canada and McDonald's but the afternoon was good to get out.. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

It was on this date 32 years ago I discovered Thelema. I never at that time ever thought I’d be married at 59 a few months away from 60 and ready to collect my CPP.
 
1 week 3 times a year is enough. I'm not big on traveling, I have to go downtown to the office Friday to cash my cheque and head over to Audrey's to pick up the RJS book. The furthest I went anywhere substantial was to the Edmonton International in January when Donna was here to drop off her rental car and we took the Airporter bus home.

Not much on my plate today. I think at 5:30pm there's the Boston/Washington game on this evening. Lets go Caps! The big news this week is Vancouver goal tender Luongo wouldn't mind being traded. We could use a goal tender like that maybe we can make a 2 for 1 trade for NK. Any takers?

The NLRT line is coming along fine. Workers are tunneling under the Epcore tower right now and are busy upgrading the escalator and preparing the break out part where the train breaks off from the main line. Phase 1 of the Churchill station begins this Sunday The line should be open for business April 2014, 2 years away.

I added another think to this site (Audrey's books) I thought I had them here before but I must have accidentally removed them. Next up is a link to my You tube page. Anyway, that's all for now

9:35pm The Washington/Boston game #7 went  into overtime as I knew it would and Anne called right at OT but five minutes into our conversation I watched with delight, Washington on the rush shoot the puck and in the net upsetting the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Wow. Two big upsets from last place playoff teams. Vancouver/LA and Boston/Washington. Poetic justice for Vancouver in a way. There are 2 games in the East to be resolved: NJ/Florida and Ottawa/NY, Washington and Philly are resting. In the West it’s LA, St. Louis, Phoenix, Nashville. The 2 games in the East get underway tomorrow. Then they take a week off for round 2.

I’m having a great night discovering more of what my Ipad can do. There’s even a dictation device but it doesn’t handle some words that well. My name Jim they spell gym. Anyway, that's about all for now.

It was on a day like today

32 years ago (Friday) with a light rain as I became worried about where Ellen was on a dark rainy night. I was hearing stories about Richard how he was some kind of “Satanist.” At the time I had no idea what that meant. I think I heard those stories from some of the people from within our local SCA chapter. We always met at the Central academic building on the university Campus every week. Richard had begun coming around to our weekly Wednesday night meetings. I recall on one of them he kind of gravitated towards Ellen and I picked up on this right away. I recall how on a couple of those meetings the two of them had walked out together during a lull in the meetings and how one time Ellen and I rode back with Richard on the bus back to his place. I seem to recall we were coming from an Eastward direction along Jasper Ave heading West. That whole bus ride to JP terminal Ellen was quiet towards me and I think it was April 16th. Richard had probably set it up for her to visit with him on a Friday.

I wish I would have kept a diary of those times from my whole stay here in Edmonton Wednesday August 16th 1978 on. I remember thinking about this on the train from New Westminster, this would have given me something to do along the way.  

The day Richard had Ellen over at his place was her turn. The following week was my turn (being introduced into Thelema)

I often think back to those days on days like today. I mean I’m happy in my life, being diabetic and what little time I have left. I have a job (for now) I have my Lodge (for now) I have goals hobbies and aspirations (music)

Ok so now, I’m going to call Apple and see if they can redeem my gift card from the torn numbers. Finally I have somebody from. After finally being able to talk with an Apple rep he said I go to Express Lane and fill out some forms provide a brief description of the problem and an email will be sent back to me. It takes about 24 hours of turnaround time to get a response. Hopefully I can get a response and my iTunes gift card redeemed as soon as possible. Anyway, that's about all I have for today. 

Great day yesterday

Now that the election is over with we can get on with the order of business.

Also at Future Shop (FS) yesterday the guy that took me to the check out we passed by all the Itunes cards etc and I mentioned my experience with the card the other day. The clerk pealed one off and preserved the numbers and I thought, maybe I should just buy the card but he folded it rendering it null and void to his colleague girl at the till because apparently it’s not in the system. Maybe I got a bad batch of them.

Today, I‘m calling Apple and ask how I can get my Itunes gift card redeemed with just partial numbers so I can get some apps from the app store. I want to get Garageband and iSequence and a game called “Swordigo” 

 and it’s only $2 from the app store. I’ve been looking at some of the books I have on my shelf and some of them are offered in iBooks, which is pretty good. Now that I have internet up on my iPad 3, this will be my go to gaming, reading on the go Internet device. Cubase 6 and FL Studio are my music production platforms. I think I need 2 weeks off

It was a good day Monday, the weather was warm, I got my headphones and info on the Itunes cards and also, the clerk said all I have to do is to call up Apple and give them as much of the number on the card as I have and they will redeem the card for me.

Also, I went out to vote about 5pm and the candidate in my riding Clareview riding wasn‘t elected. The results of the election were like this: PC-59, WR-19, NDP-4, LIB 4, Even though I worked behind the scenes doing fundraising for WR, I thought long and hard about it and over the last few days and I came to the realization that PC Alberta has always done ok by me over the last 34 years, which is why I decided to vote PC instead of Wild Roes. WR is too far right for me.

Now I‘ve got Inter net on my Ipad but I don’t know how to pay my bill which is $35/month but most likely I can pay it at a local Telus kiosk. There‘s one in Edmonton Centre and I‘m sure I can pay it there. I‘ll try it for a few months to see if it‘s something I‘ll be using for awhile.

Anne made me one of  her home made cheese burgers and fries. I‘ve got a cold beer in the fridge and when I‘m ready for bed, I‘ll be able to sleep easier.

On Wednesday Coast’s topics will be: Restoring U.S./ Illuminati. Should be a good show.

I‘ve had a small bit of a psoriasis on my leg which has spread due to  me scratching the affected area on my left leg. I think had this before I was diagnosed with diabetes and it‘s only on one leg but I have had psoriasis on my scalp before. I know I’m over weight but not by much. I weigh last time I checked about 236 lbs in weight with me being 5‘ 11“ and according to a height weight chart I‘m 42, which means I‘m about 95 pounds over weight. Most of this weight is in my belly. I came across this news item about tummy tucks and how it can actually cure diabetes in some cases because the stomach can only after the tuck less food intake means less weight. My problem is I like this diet cola too much the other thing is the operation might not be covered by Alberta health care or maybe it might be covered Alberta Works benefits along with my dental. But I‘m not fat in the arms or in the legs or back or anything, only in the belly. If I can get it done or even save up for it, maybe it‘s something I might want to do in a year or two. Something to look into.

Ottawa Senators last night had a chance to put away the New York Ranges but the Rangers got a couple of lucky breaks by the officiating. The Sens made it exciting near the end but the NHL was embarrassed the other day when LA defeated Vancouver and the last thing the NHL doesn’t want is a repeat of the LA/Vancouver game in the Eastern Conference. Some of the plays called against the Sens by the officials were really soft. Ottawa can‘t win, this is why no Canadian NHL team will ever win the Stanley Cup, not under Gary Bettman’s watch. I‘d bet a $100 on Thursday‘s game 7 that the Rangers will win the game. Easy money for me. But when the Sens lose Thursday I‘ll be pulling for the Rangers because of Glen Sather and Mark Messier‘s involvement. Anyway, that’s about all I have for now. 

I brought my Ipad 3

 along with me and about $45 worth of cash and my bank card. My bank card covered breakfast and on my way to the office I felt like doing a walking video but I was holding onto a coffee, not a good idea. I took this video just outside with one of my colleagues, after I asked him if he wouldn’t mind being in this video he was uncommitted but it’s just me, turning around. My colleague was just in the way. I took this cute cat video this morning before I left:

 

I had my breakfast and was ready to take on the day. I got one sale shortly before noon for $25. Most of my colleagues working the same source were barely under $50, we were watching the Washington/Bruins game for most of the afternoon. I tried calling Anne at 2:30pm but she must have been out, so back to the game. 
 
The 2nd half just dragged and I ended up with $50 and a card, which is about what everybody else got.

After work I was relieved that the little outing at the 1905 pub was called off. I headed over to Money mart to see if they had any Itunes gift cards but they didn‘t. Try Rexall across the street (beside them) I walked in and asked a clerk and she pointed to a rack of cards. They had them in all denominations. I got 1 for $25 and the clerk said (after scanning) it‘s activated to be used immediately. I headed up to the bus stop by Tim‘s and I had a long wait for my #2 and eventually it came by. I was at Wendy‘s within 20 minutes and I got myself a “Baconator burger” larger fries medium diet Cola, good stuff.

I took a leisurely no hurry stroll to the set of lights by the church and after waiting I could see my #183 coming towards me from the lights by Sifton school. Would I make it in time before the bus came and my light changed? My light changed before the bus arrived. I was barely able to board it, whew!

I got home by about 6:40pm. I‘ve been home for about an hour now. Other then the lousy day at work, I‘m having a great day. Let my holidays begin. I go back to work on the 30th because of that week being Lodge week so I‘m heading back Monday night so I get at least I‘ll get 37.5 hours in.   

At the moment I’m ripping

 a Alan Parsons disk I have of 18 tracks. I went and ripped about 600 songs last night, mostly classic rock. I’m using a program called Free CD Ripper 3.1 and it’s awesome. Doesn’t do much for the music I have as compressed files but Windows Xp does a good job at getting those files as well. What I’m going to do with this music is to not just tag it but organize the songs and more importantly back them up.

Finally, after 4 months I’m getting some bonus money but it was nice to get that large amount, about 1/3rd of my normal weekly cheque. This means I can get the Robert J Sawyer hard cover and get a $25 ITunes gift card and still have enough for another 2 iTunes gift cards if I need them.

So when Anne came home she was surprised to see another $25 added onto the amount I give her every week to help pay the bills. So this morning I’m out of here at 9am and to for some Tim’s breakfast. Some of the guys go eat at Albert’s near the old office in the Baker Centre. I’m going to Tim’s and get my usual breakfast on a Saturday morning. After my holidays, I’m going to take every other Saturday off so I’m at least there full time to get my 37.5 hours. 
  
After work today a bunch of us are heading over to 1905. It’s a very snazzy popular pub/bar. It used to be the “7 Seas” in the 1970’s and like BP’s its just across the street. So I’m going in for a pint and check out their menu.

The other place that just opened up around here is Cora it’s breakfast/lunch menu. It used to be in the old Rogers store. I’d like to check it out one of these days, maybe after work next week. 

Last night Nashville ended up taking out Detroit in an elimination game. There wont be any hockey this afternoon and the Canucks wont be hosting LA until tomorrow. Anyways that’s all I have for now.

Rather then add onto the last post

might as well just make a new one. 

The 3 big things on my radar coming up is my week off and then the election and more importantly my bit in our Lodge's EA degree after that I can breath a little easier. 

Today I've got 8 hours ahead of me and 9pm couldn't come fast enough. Sales in WR are harder to come by because the party candidates cant shut up by making stupid comments and its not just WR its the PC's as well. The only ones staying out of the mudslinging are the NDP's and and the Liberals. Anything other then WR is not an option. Most people I've been talking to will support WR but not financially. I don't like the new script of the Federal "NDP Leader" (official opposition)because its way to wordy and it makes personal attacks on the leader of the NDP and not on the issues of what the NDP would like to do.

The other thing that bugs me is there are 2 types of working class people in this country: Unions and the working poor. Union workers make $20-30hour where as the working poor make minimum wage-$18/hour. And of course executives but that's another topic. My father was a Union man when I was growing up in the 1960's and I recall our family suffering on strike pay more then a few times. Union workers whine the most as well if they are Legislated back to work or when the company needs other workers to replace them. I'm not saying all Trades are "Unionised" but most are. The NDP are for the unions that's where they get their votes from. Most of the guys in my Lodge are Tades people and chances are they are in a union.

I was watching this ^ video on The space elevator proposed project and even though it may look like science fiction, it's not like it's Star trek or Star Wars. The concept is simple enough: Build a platform at earths equator launch a rocket to Geo synchronous orbit 250 miles up and place a counterweight drop a carbon nano tube cable to the platform build a climber and propel the climber up the cable. The climber could have a platform where it could carry astronauts and materials to said Geo orbit (space). The platform would be lifted by a laser from the platform. Consider that 1 space shuttle launch costs about $450M per launch! It would cost almost nothing to launch a space vehicle from the counterweight to the space station. In the video above they're saying this project could be 15-20 years away. The major challenge would be the the carbon nano tubes themselves. I believe that Nasa's current next gen space travel vehicle is just a bridge from the space shuttle to the space elevator. The other concerns I have is all the space junk floating around up there but I'd say a prototype could be up and ready within 10 years.

Well. I'm about ready to pack things up for the day. We're supposed to have our cable hooked up today but the next Kings/Canucks game #5 won't be until Sunday. There are other NHL playoff games during that time, anyway that's about all for me today.

I'm having fun with my

new Ipad. I can take video's of myself and upload them to my YouTube account with the same application, which is pretty cool. I also went and downloaded Google Earth, which looks awesome on my Ipad. I'm going to have more fun with it when I get a Itunes gift card and subscribe to the iCloud on Saturday.

My friend Dennis Hurd has sent me a link from his Facebook page of a photo taken yesterday of downtown New Westminster taken what looks like from the overpass heading to the New West Que looking North along Columbia street. I recognize the Trapp block and the Keg and a hint of what Columbia street used to look like some 38 years ago when I lived there. Wow, must be expensive to live in New West these days. Thanks Dennis. 

I got 1 number right on my 6/49 quick pick last night but there were no winners so it went up to $11M for Saturdays draw. I'd settle for 1% of that. Yeah right. 

Within the next several months, I'm going to be thinking about applying for my CPP and if approved, I should have my 1st cheque in September or October. it's about $100 less of 1 of my weekly pay checks, but its "free money." Anyway, that's all for now.

I called into work what with diabetes "issues"

this morning plus running back and fourth from Future Shop this morning. I got my New IPad 4G, that's the good news. When they did a credit check on me I need a $200 deposit. The good news is from where I'm getting my 4G on my Ipad I get a $100 back out of that as a store gift card, which will go towards my ITunes card and the headphones/mic kit. I could  have easily have been shut out altogether because other then my rent and my utility bill I have no credit history (good or bad) but I did manage a cover for my IPad. Most likely I'll get the Sim card at the end of May. I can use it here.

Late this evening is the NHL Vancouver/LA game, which I'm only going to see the first period on our new flat screen in the office. (well, maybe) However, I'll be able to catch most of the 2nd period and all of the 3rd.

Big entertianment news: Dick Clark passed away. While I was never a "fan" he did leave a footprint upon my generation. I used to like seeinging him on American bandstand, keep on Rockin Dick. He was 82. 

I'm all in favor of the Gateway pipeline only because if the Keystone pipeline goes through all our bitumen will get processed in Houston where we need the jobs here. We don't have that problem with the Gateway pipeline. The Gateway pipeline makes more sense.

On Coast this evening the topic is: HAARP, Privacy, & Mind Control. I don't know if HARRP can control the weather or anything but with last weeks huge Hurricane episodes in the US kind of makes me wonder, anyway, that's all for now.     

If all goes according to plan

I could have the New Ipad 2 (Ipad 3) in my hands by later this morning. I'm getting the 16Gb (white) wifi/4G version. Assuming they have the 2 in stock and haven't sold them since 5pm yesterday afternoon. Otherwise I'll get the black one. I'm not getting it hooked up to 4G right away as one of the 1st things I'm getting on the weekend other then the RJS book is a screen protector for my Ipad. I'm up at 9:30am to check my wife's account to see if the money is in her account then if it is, I'll be running over to the store about 15 minutes before it opens and pick up the "Ipad 3." After I pick it up I'll bring it home and I wont even un box it until I come home.

Getting the New Ipad 2 will be the 2nd big ticket item for me so far this year. The first was Cubase 6 which I plan on using still with music apps from Apple's app store but I wont be able to get the Itunes gift card until the weekend. I'll get the gift card and the screen protector at the same time.

I had a nice day off yesterday. I thought I was going to go in for 4 hours this evening but I'm not going to go to Commercial Lodge until next month as I want to visit Ye old Craft and Commercial back to back kind of a thing.

Tonight on Coast the topic is "Mysterious Ruins & Skulls." I'm in early to listen to it for a bit and run over and try and pick up my New Ipad.

    

Anders Behring Breivik told the court yesterday he did what he did to save Europe from Muslims. The guy was actually serious and probably thought he would be a living martyr. The worst part about this guy was he was a Freemason and took all 3 degrees and one meeting from the time he received his EA in 2007 and until the killings July 2011. His Lodge promptly as a result of hearing what he did placed an edict immediately excluding him from the fraternity.

After I pick up the Ipad this morning, I'm bringing it home and then preparing for work and without even opening the box, get on with my day and hopefully I can get my 11:20am bus to downtown. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

After about 4 years of trying to get Revenue Canada (RC) to get my address correct, they finally got my tax return, correct! We went down to the Library March 26th when we filed and got our return Friday the 13th! Cool. 18 days from the time we filed until the time we got it. RC included in my tax return an option for next year to have my return automatically deposit in my bank. All I need is a void check from the teller and send it off and it‘s done. I‘m considering this because even though this year they sent my check to the right place, next year they might send it to the other place if we don‘t call next year to make sure they get the address right. I don’t want to have to do that every year. It takes about 10 business days now from the time they get my return (and they usually process my return from the time I file to the time my return arrives at my address pending nothing goes wrong with the address from their end to me.) This way I can get my return the day I file or at least the next day. Before present day computing even having the right address it would take at least a month to get my tax return, unless I went to say a H&R block or an auto tax return where the vendor gets their percentage and I don’t get the full amount. So next year I‘m going to try something different.

It didn’t dawn on me until later this afternoon that it was Friday the 13th today. Usually this is one of my luckiest days of the year. I bought a 6/49 quick pick ticket this morning and I ended up with about $1,150 and $650 of that was on card, heck of a deal. Then I come home to find my tax return. Love it.

So, I’ll have $10 towards my breakfast later this morning, enough for my RJS book and enough for my share of our Pizza for Sunday + $20 for the week. Perfect. My Tax return and COH will put $500/815 to go, I’ll be needing for the I might even put in a couple of Monday nights as well.

Also, the boss got my vacation pay release form ready for HO. I’m going in this Monday 5-9, Tuesday 8, Wednesday 8, Thursday 8, Friday 7.5 for a total of 35.5 hours. Plus, having Saturday the 21st off, I can leave out of here at 11:20am for Lodge.  

7:25am We got a nice blanket of snow out there this morning but it’s not sticking to the sidewalks or anything. I took this photo moments ago but Blogger the way they have it now you can't get a photo from your desktop anymore, which is shame. I've got to send the photo to Picasa and then from there to Blogger. Not as convenient as before With Picasa it has to scan all your files and then you have to upload a photo to Picasa then search for the photo then login, it's a headache. Google: Not everyone has a cell phone.

The sad thing about doing this current political campaign we’re on is I didn’t jump on the band wagon earlier enough and we only have about 10 days remaining until the Provincial election.

If you go to Google Maps, you‘ll see the building I work in, it‘s on the corner of 106th and jasper Ave. The big gold building. Its called “The energy Square.” If your on the 106th side across from Boston Pizza you’ll notice a tailor/dry cleaning shop. I went into this business yesterday before work to see about getting a new zipper for a wind breaker my wife got me some years ago from “Value Village.” VV is a 2nd hand clothing store etc where we bought the wind breaker for maybe $5-10. I like it’s shell kind of texture but the zipper frayed on it a couple of years back and I could just only utilize these Velcro latches by the zipper but the Velcro would never hold. I asked them how much it would cost to replace or fix the zipper. I thought maybe $5-10. I was shocked: $35! 7 times what the original jacket cost. I might still get it done but I’m trying to save up for the Ipad and I got myself stuck into buying this RJS book. I could go in today and get the book, and my jacket fixed but I’d have to take out of the Ipad accessories. Anyway, that‘s about all for now.

Yesterday was my

best day ever at the new office and more the I would have hoped for. I ended up with just under $800 and all of it on card! it felt kind of special in a way because of the provincial leaders debate. I had good energy, best day I ever had in the new office. 
 
I got home to check on the leadership debate and who won. Wildrose came in a close second. This campaign kind of reminds me of when I did the ACT Telerama in 1988 where everything we did on the phones was leading up to the Telethon. I get that sense when I do a ticket campaign leading up to say Old Timer Hockey.

Today I've got another full day and I'm waiting for my tax return so I can get the new Ipad2. Another 3 weeks and I'll have enough but I'm thinking about getting the 3G so I can receive Internet and make phone calls but that's only for the 64Gb version, we'll see. The longer it takes for the return to get here the closer I am to getting the 64Gb version.
 
Tuesday marked the 50th anniversary of Russian Cosmonaught Yuri Gagarian's historic voyage into space. I was 9 years old when this happened and barely even aware of its importance, amazing how far we've come and how far we haven't.

So today it's in for 7.5 hours tonight and then off to my bank get my banking done then home to catch what's left of the LA/Vancouver game. I think LA is going to upset Vancouver especially if they fail to win tomorrow, anyway, that's all for now.

10:55am I had a good 6 hours of sleep over night and I feel pretty good even though it looks like a rain and snow mix out there for my morning commute.

When I buy my New I pad 2 I’m getting a couple of accessories: Airport connection kit and the memory card reader and the headphones/mic set up. I got a charger already but the airport connection kit has a usb slot in it. I can hook it up to my Itouch as well. Also when I get my Ipad I’m going to see if they can set me up with my game centre not only on the Ipad but on my Itouch as well.

Construction on the North LRT line is going well. It should be open 2 years from now in 2014. I think just when they are within a year possibly 6 months from completion of the NLRT they're going to start the WLRT. Usually the city likes to launch opening day of any new line in April. In 2010 the City completed the Century Park line. I recall how me and a work colleague took the train opening day to Century park. Lots of twists and turns on that line. It's not like from Clareview to the University, all more or less a straight line. 

Speaking about the South Side and all, I suggested to Anne i take her out for a "Rickies" breakfast Sunday but she said she'd be just as happy to go for a Royal Pizza Pizza. With the pop and everything, it should cost us $30 each. I might have room in there to get RJS's book as well. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I went to bed tired

with a sleep tea in my system. I had a good nights sleep but I could use another hour.

I read this morning in my Google news that physicists in Germany are close to building a “Quantum network,” well the building blocks for it at least. In the article they were describing how say an Atom can share 2 different states at the same time. They were able to from across the street be able to use lasers etc. Their jargon is beyond the scope of this blogger but what this is all leading to is quantum entanglement.

I’m still hurting inside for Sparky and I think about him the last time I saw him alive was shortly before 6pm Monday February 6th 2012. My heart broke. It wasn’t like losing Pledges in 2009, although that was bad enough but Sparky was only 6 years old and I miss him everyday.

Not much on my plate today, it‘s 8 hours and home. I hope I do a better job today. It‘s everyday I‘m almost ready to be called into the office for one of those 3 month “Review” kind of talks. The thing is everyday is a different day. Some of my colleagues can “write” $700+ one day and the next barely break $75. Yesterday I “wrote”  $430/$215 on card, I’m hoping for another day like that but the source I was calling was on a TD file (turn down) Head Office always sets the bar (well if the average line hour across the country is $100, then that’s what it’s going to be today. Some offices can achieve that but not every day. They know this and I keep saying there’s no magic formula, its just the luck of the draw.

Well, the LA NHL play off win in Vancouver last night in the opening round best of 7 was a shocker! The next game is in Vancouver game #2 and that should be Friday night. I’ll miss the 1st period but Vancouver better win that one,  or they could be in real trouble and we could have a major upset!

The provincial leadership debate is on tonight at 6pm and that’s going to be interesting to see who had the best showing. Right now the PC’s have a 34% rating and the Wild Rose has 35%. The election itself is Monday April 23rd just a few weeks away.

I’m glad I got up a little earlier this morning as I think I got about 6 hours of sleep. The afternoon can go by fast it’s the evening after 7:30pm that kind of drags. Anyway, that’s about all I have for today.

The 1st part of the shift

 went really well and hat set the tone for the rest of the day. I had a excellent day for a change. 

After work I headed over to Audrey‘s and all the lights were off. Uh oh. There was one person behind the till on the phone and I got her attention and she said through the doors that RJS had asked to start a bit early and they were all done by 8:30pm but he did sign a few of his books and I asked if they could hold one for me for Saturday. No problem.I had a pleasant ride home and waited for the bus in the nice mild Spring air pleased with my day. Other then missing RJS, today would have been an excellent day. Still was.

I got home to notice the LA/Vancouver game was just nearing the end of the 1st period, tied at 1. I caught the 2nd period, and LA pulled ahead and Vancouver tied it at 2. Just ready to start the 3rd. Good stuff, anyway that's all for now..

Yesterday my first day getting

back was tough. I got one sale for the whole day but at least it was $100. Some of my colleagues got nothing or nothing until the evening shift. We got the campaign we were doing earlier before the political one and we were told we had to read from the script word/word, yeesh. Other’s doing this earlier before I got to it were actually doing quiet well. Its not like it’s a long script  or anything but the language of the script kind of repetitive with a lot of jargon like “civic engagement.” We’re able to shorten it latter once we’re comfortable with the overall candor of the wording etc.

I’ve been waking up in the mornings lately with about 2 hours on the clock before I need to wake up. That’s nothing new. I feel ok but an hour ago I had a headache that bugged me and Anne kept on getting up to use the bathroom, which was unusual. I’m ok now and will feel better when I get some air.

I did some more research on a lot of these cool music apps for the Ipad and a lot of them seem to be stand alone devices, there’s no recording/transport or export/import features. They’re nice and all but if you can’t use them in any DAW, what’s the point? I was looking at a program that seemed so promising and available in the app store called “SampleWiz.” This thing is so cool but there doesn’t seem to be a way that you can save the file to a wav/MP3 format. In other words its trapped in the app. There’s others I haven’t been able to check into yet, Nano Studio looks awesome and works with any DAW or it's own. I'm going to get this for my Itouch.

Tonight Robert J Sawyer is coming out for his annual book signing tour at Audrey’s. The show gets underway at 7pm but I’ll be hard at on the job. I need a full 37.5 hours in this week Rob. I’ll see him next year but he might be here at Pure Spec in October. Anyway, that‘s about all for now.

Uggh, i feel like lag today.

but I've got to get moving here.

Yesterday I've been doing research on the New Ipad. Apparently they have limited stock at the Apple store so I should call ahead to see if they have any. As of a few years ago Canadians couldn't get apps from a Itunes gift card. All we could as Canadians (licensing agreements that kind of thing) was to buy music. I was pleasantly surprised when the Apple rep there told me that was changed as of a few years ago and apps can now be bought at the Itunes store. The only thing now is getting a data plan. Most of the top 3 vendors have prepaid data/phone plans, all but Rogers requires said plan to be paid (I think) without a valid credit card.

I was watching this 6 part documentary on YouTube last night on the conspiracy of the Titanic. 

It's very well done and compelling to give it some credibility.The "Titanic" wasn't hit by an iceberg but rather the hull of the ship ran over part of the iceberg causing parts of it to buckle. It's believed that from this video a switch from the Titanic's sister Olympic, which sailed a year before met up with an accident just outside New York. The Olympic was towed to harbor in New York and repaired and limped back to it's Belfast docks. The weekend before the Titanic was launched (with under half of it's complement of passengers btw) was switched. The sister ship Olympic was put in the dry dock of the Titanic repainted and outfitted to look like the Titanic. Marine fraud is nothing new and is still going on today. I'm totally on board with this conspiracy, fascinating stuff. 

I've got a full day of it today folks. 

Robert J Sawyer is coming to town for a reading and I'm thinking of going if only to go down and get his book on my way in and ask to leave at 8pm so I can be there at least to get the book signed. We'll see. 

Supposed to be a windy day out there today. I feel I could go back to bed and maybe show up for 4 hours, but that would only give me 34 hours for the week but I'm up now anyway.

Wednesday it's LA/Vancouver in round 1 of the playoffs. I'll follow it of course but this year I've got this feeling its going to be Boston/Vancouver. Seems within recent years there always has to be a Canadian team in the finale. The Canadian team is there as a token to an American team and we know what the outcome of it will be already. We need a balance of Canadian and American teams in the NHL. otherwise American teams will win it every year. Vancouver even holding the NHL finale never even showed up! Ahh that cheese tastes good with a little whine huh? Anyway that's all from me for today.

Saturday began ok

I had my breakfast at Tim's to take out and I had that in the office and ready to take on the day. It being Easter weekend the calls (for me at least) were coming in slow. Right off the bat my colleague beside me got a $400 sale on card. I got a $200 sale just before lunch but not on card. I got a lot of "not home's" and answering machines. I did ok but my colleague beside ended up getting all the calls. I sat there sometimes 5 minutes without a call. I ended up with $250 ($50) on card. I had a long afternoon and began talking with the customer. One call lasted almost half an hour! They don't like you doing that but the day would have dragged on for me otherwise. I was sure glad to get out of there with what I had Suffice to say I left with a sigh of relief. I thought about going out for a bite to eat somewhere but all I had brought with me was (after breakfast) about $5. I figured, I might as well just go straight home and maybe have a nap. i think I got home about 5:15pm and Anne had left me with a can of soup and I had buns. No need to go out. 

I had a nap and got up to my wife's phone call and began to watch the Oiler's/Vancouver game. They're last game of the 2011-12 season. They played ok during the 1st. They got their 1st goal at the 15.min mark and it was on the power play. It looked like a cheesy goal because it hit underneath the crossbar and fell onto the blue paint. They went from there. The officiating wasn't bad except for the Canucks "1st goal." I thought Dubnyk played pretty good. That double minor by RNH was a selfish penalty that cost us 4 min and got them their 3rd goal but that was just inexperience on RNH's fault. Anyway, the 2011-12 season is over and done with. They did a bit better this year and improved their standings. Eberle getting 34 goals was fun to be a part of. Hall got 27 and would have got 27-35 if he wasn't pulled for the shoulder injury. Dubnyk out of 42 starts earned a record of 20-20-3. Khabibulin started in 40 games 12-20-7. That was the difference. If Khabibulin won even 50% of his games like Dubnyk we might not have been in the playoffs but we might have been around 9th, where Calgary is now. As log as Khabibulin (NK) is in our system (even our back up) we'll never get beyond where we are now. The good news is we have one more year with this guy. I wish we could put NK in the minors on a rotating basis for next season and bring up Bunz and let him play a couple of games. Anyway, the NHL Lottery draft begins on Tuesday, so we'll know who the Oiler's are going to draft. I'd make a trade with a couple of others for salary cap space and maybe a good D for the trade deadline in June. 

This week, $80 is going into my bank for my new laptop. I'm still looking at the end of the month for my new one probably about May 5th. 

Hehehe, there's a "funny" post in Above Top Secret that reads: "The Masons and Illuminati Team up to Rewrite the bible." Rev.22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. .refers to Revelations alone. Not to the rest of the books of the bible. And Christ didn't say it. John did. Silly ATS religious conspiracy people.

I thought I'd share this from SF Signal: Gardner Dozois has posted on his facebook page that he has just released his long out-of-print anthologies The Year’s Best Science Fiction, First Annual Collection and The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Second Annual Collection to the Amazon Kindle store. And you can get them for just under $7 each, which is a great deal. I have yet to get an ebook reader but I'm thinking about getting one on a tablet like the Samsung Galaxy Note, maybe this summer.

The only thing I don't like about my current laptop is the lack of hard drive space. Now that's not a bad thing. I've got about 236 Gb of hard drive space left and i really don't want to go through all the hassle of reinstalling everything. Komplete 8 is a 110 Gb library and I need about another 50Gb more then enough space to run everything else.

The more I look at it the more I'd like to have the New Ipad. it's great for reading my Marvel comics, for books. When one of the supervisors is verifying a sale, I can take my New Ipad and get an update on sports scores...more later. . 

Good Friday is my favorite

Easter Holiday weekend, other then Family Day.

Thursday we got 25cm of thick wet snow dumped on our City yesterday. The winter storm kept about half a dozen guys away from Lodge. We had a fast meeting and we were done, everything and festive board by 9pm. After clean up we were out of there by 9:30pm. We had an interim WM last night filling in for our usual WM that wasn't feeling well.

I went to bed about 3am this morning and slept in shortly before noon. I'd like to have a nap for about half an hour but it'd make sleeping for overnight this evening hard seeing as how I'd like to be bright eyed at it in the morning. Anyway, that's all for now..

7:40pm I tried having a little bit of a nap earlier but that failed on me. Anne should be calling about half an hour.

I was fooling around a bit with Cubase. They have a new update 6.5, which is an extra $60. I'm trying to drop some cash into my bank Tuesday. I think most banks will be closed Easter Monday. 

I was considering the New Ipad but at $800 for 64Gb of memory, it's not going to happen. I could get an Android device cheaper but for all that trouble I'm better off with the laptop, which I hope to get before the end of the month. The other thing I'm thinking about is getting a cell phone with a 4G network but I don't really need that over the Summer. Most CFL games anyway are on a Friday night or on the weekends.

Speaking about the CFL as soon as Sports Select has CFL games I'm going to play again. Last year I won about $70 playing the CFL in the first half of the season but in the 2nd half I lost a lot. This CFL off season the Eskimo's look like a notch above a collegiate Canadian football team. They kept the coach and their main receiver and really cleaned house. I don't expect big things from them this year. . 

Tomorrow, I'm in for 6 hours but I'll go into Tim's get some breakfast head into the office. The 10-2 part of the shift goes by in a hurry. It's the 2nd part from that shift that drags. 

I was thinking about Ye Old Craft next weekend but the only guy that can vouch for me won't be there. So I'm instead taking Sunday and Monday off and I'll do this for the 21st and go to Commercial. I won't have any trouble attending Ye Old either being JW in my mother Lodge, but I think I'd like to have 2 days off this weekend. So this weekend I'll have Sunday/Monday off. Next weekend, I'm having a full week, Tuesday-Saturday for 37.5 hours. This way other then 6 hours tomorrow, I get 2 days off. Sounds like a plan. Anyway, that's all for now.  .

I was in bed by 2:30am this morning

 and woke up about 7:40am this morning. The fan was off. My clock was blank. I went to the bathroom. Oh, power got shut off. Big snow outside, oh. I tried waking Anne up and she was pissed off. I tried to go back to sleep as I was thinking, oh great. What a way to start a long weekend, is Lodge going to be canceled tonight? Anne wants me to call her on my 2:30pm break this afternoon to tell me how much money I need to deposit in her account, how am I going to do this now if this keeps up all day? What a way to begin a long weekend. I‘m glad though the power was restored.

I‘m putting in a 4 hour shift today and my boss knows this. I‘ll get my check on my way out at 4:30pm, struggle my way in the snow to my bus stop to run up to my bank deposit what I need from Anne‘s phone call at 2pm and take out my portion, and head home, have a bite to eat and shower and shave and change into my suit and gather my stuff for the festive board etc and head down to pay our April rent as Neil is outside waiting for me and out to Lodge. We have no balloting, no conferring of degrees, its just opening our usual business, and then closing and then festive board. I’ll be checking in the Oiler’s last home game of the season. Finally a dismal season over and done with. I‘m taking a can of beer to take home and that‘s for tonight and I‘m up for a bit, pass out and enjoy our Good Friday day off. That‘s my activity for today and most of tomorrow.

Last night on Coast was another soft show about “remote viewing.” This has to be one of the most boring topics in all of parapsychology. That and “Bigfoot.” Two topics that has this listener tuning out rather then tuning in.

I’m still researching digital Marvel comics. I have time to read on my commute and breaks and a bit in the morning. I’d get a Ipad just for that reason alone. My favorite Marvels are: The Avengers, Fantastic four, Iron Man, Spiderman, The Defenders, Daredevil and Captain America, Fantastic Four #1 is available and almost all of them up to date are available as download. I‘m considering this summer saving up for the 64 Gb New Ipad. Future shop has them retail at $800 (after the protective cover and 4 G network. Oh and it has “Garage band built in.”), anyway that‘s about all from me.

Yesterday while I was in

midst of composing my blog entry, Anne was on the phone talking to somebody. She then came in and said how our service provider gave us a $60 credit for the technical difficulty causing me to miss Wrestlemania Sunday. At least we have that straightened up. Sorry WWE, no more pay-per-view events until my service provider figures out what they’re doing wrong. Next year Wrestlemania is April 7th in New York City but I won’t be ordering it. I’m sure on that date, is when Ectcs will once again be (I hope) at the Shaw.  

Last night I watched Raw and the fallout from Wrestlemania and the Oiler’s at LA. LA is in third place in the playoff picture in the West. The Oiler’s for the last 7 games against the Kings have a record of 5-1-1. Make that now 5-2-1. They lost 2-0 but last time they played the Kings in the building they lost last night they beat LA 3-0. Of course that was in last November. The Oiler’s play Thursday, their last game of the 2011-2012 season at home and then their last game of the year Saturday night.  

Also yesterday my wife was on the phone to Revenue Canada making sure they have our address. They said my tax return (sent out last Monday electronically) had been processed. Most likely then I should have my tax return by the end of the month.

I was able to call Neil and he said he’ll bring his crock pot. Dan said he would bring his and we have beer. Neil has buns, bowls and spoons but I think the hall has cutlery available. We have plastic spoons but they’re just serving spoons. All I got to do is get the soup and we have a festive board.

Tonight, on my way home I’m getting 4 large cans of vegetable beef soup and 6 cans of bean with bacon. That’s for the festive board. This week is going to be busy. I’ve got an 8 hour day today at work, and do some shopping after work. Wednesday (after work 8 hours) I’ve got to go up to Walmart and get a badly needed short sleeve dress shirt (they’re open until 11 or midnight during the week) Thursday (4 hours of work) run up to my bank and cash my check (Because of Good Friday.) get a bite to eat clean up get dressed and gather my things and run down to pay the rent and head out to Neil waiting for me for Lodge. Then after lodge (a short night) I can relax with a beer and when I get home I can pass out. I’m off Friday (Good Friday) and back at it Saturday. I’m thinking after work Saturday that I might end up seeing the movie John Carter before it goes. Maybe it’s at Movies 12 or maybe even just down here by Clareview movies. Anyway, that‘s all from me for today.  

I had a blog post ready to post for Saturday but Saturday

quickly became Sunday so I thought leave it until Sunday. But I got so involved in other things yesterday that I forgot about Sundays blog post, so here I am..Monday.

The big event was supposed to be watching Wrestlemania XXV111 which we ordered and I was getting right into it, then just about the time of Cody Road's/Big show match, the screen froze while Anne was out. It went that way for about half an hour until she came home and called up our service provider to see whats going on. They said they were having technical difficulty over the whole system. We were not the only ones complaining. Finally the program resumed and Anne went out again, I got to watch the Tripple H/Undertaker match In a word: Wow. Then I went to check in on the Oiler/Ducks game 2-1 Oiler's at the end of the 1st period. Then I went back to wrestling and got a little bit of something and the program went to this screen showing all of their pay per view events. Now WTF? Ok, lets watch the 2nd period in progress. I went back to wrestling and nothing was happening. Third period, back to wrestling. Anne served up supper and no wrestling. At least the ribs were good and the Oiler's won but no wrestling. I saw about 20% of the show I paid $60 for. Or will if Anne and I don;t get on it today and call our service provider and give us a credit on a program I couldn't watch. This is a lesson learned: Never order any pay per view events. The other service provider no doubt was having similar issues. I didn't even see the Cena/Rock match, which was the highlight of the 4 hour event.

The worst part about yesterday was not only did I not see something I ordered and was prepared to pay $60 for, but I missed out on the "Edmonton collectible toy and comic show" Yesterday afternoon. On local news they had a film crew out at the Shaw conference centre where the event was taking place, and John Lancie ("Q" of Star Trek the next generation) Steve Sansweet were the special guests among others for the day. They had a costume judging contest as well. Admission was $15 at the door but they were offering a VIP pass, which included a photo op and special seating at panels etc and I missed it. I knew the date and place of the show weeks ago and even the line up of the guests but because of Wrestlemania I opted to stay home and "watch it" instead. All that and I didn't get to even see all of the Oiler game.

Some of the things we got going on today is to call Revenue Canada to see if they have my current mailing address. For some reason they can send my GST credit 4 times/year here but when it comes to my return, Anne gets her's before I get mine. They even had to return to sender on my T4's because they didn't have my apartment number on my form. So when we call this afternoon, watch, they're going to have difficulties, again.

A couple of things holding me back from making any music/noise are lack of usb ports on my laptop and hard drive space. I only have 2 usb ports on my current laptop and limited ammount of hard drive space. When I bought my laptop in December of 2009 I didn't know much about music production and DAW's. When I met a fellow at work in late August of 2010 he made some songs on his laptop and lent me his copy of Sonar (demo) to play around with. That's when I thought well if others are doing it I can do it to. Byron made his music though with a real bass and electric guitar and he's a better singer then I am. I'm just using VST instruments. Then I found this demo of FL Studio 9 and I began messing around with that in November of 2010. Then last March 2011, I bought a full copy of FL Studio 10 and later that summer a midi controller and some VST instruments and an audio interface and mic. About 18 months later I'm almost ready to begin producing some noise of my own. I could have done this a lot earlier but I didn't have the midi controller and I've been looking at VST options for guitar and there are a lot out there. Slayer that comes with FL Studio isn't bad but it sounds midi. The closest vst instrument to a guitar that sounds realistic is Vir2 Electricity (E6). It's a $400 program. People say why not get a real guitar? Well, for one I don't have the time to learn how to play it and even though at some pawn shops used guitars are anywhere from $100-200 and two guitars they take up space. My keyboard controller is tucked nicely on my desk in my home office and it's easier to buy a guitar emulator. I could have bought E6 but I've been researching a lot about Cubase 6 and it had some tools in one package that otherwise would have cost me a lot more if bought individually elsewhere. I decided to pick up Cubase 6 early last month instead of E6. I think it was a good investment. Except for the usb dongle key, which takes up 1 of my only 2 usb ports. Also my current laptop had only 250 Gb of space and that was being eaten up slowing down my system. Also since I had this laptop I had one virus, which took me out a month and I installed Linux which cost me another month because I tried to install it on my own. My "musical carreer" has had its ups and downs but it's all part of the learning curve. This is just a hobby for me, it's nothing I plan on making any money at. I've been wanting to do some covers of some of the songs I grew up listening to. It's not all about arriving at point B from A but the jouney getting to point B that's half the fun. Back to E6 though, I'm about to get a demo of it when I get my new laptop and I should have a couple of demo tracks this summer/fall up on my YouTube account.

 

I was thinking about going into work this evening but I've got some phone calls to make. Firstly what to do about the festive board for Thursday. Our regular Lodge meeting will be an easy one. In and out. I'm considering Pizza's as Anne said she'd order the pizzas for me from her place of work. I was initially planning soup and buns for the festive board then it dawned on me: Do we have any soup bowls at the Lodge kitchen? In an email sent from Dan yesterday he said he couldn't help me with the festive board anymore because he began a new job and that's going to take him out of action except his regular lodge duties. Bummer. I asked him to bring his crock pot along and some crib boards. Anne would buy me the chunky soup from across the street. I don't know how many cans I should get. We usually have about 15 guys at the festive board on a night when we are not conferring a degree. I need to ask firstly if we have any soup bowls in the kitchen. I need to ask Dan and if we do, then ask him how many cans of soup would his crock pot hold? If not enough then I need to call Nathan and enlist the use of his crock pot. If we don't have any soup bowls in the Lodge kitchen then so much for soup and I'll call for Piazza where Anne works as there is an outlet on the way on 50th and 118th. We can pick them up if Neil can pick me up say about 6:45pm and we can get the pick up for about 6:45pm. Because Anne works for the pizza franchise it's smoother operation. Neil and I can pick up the pizzas on our way in. The stewards can prepare the pizzas as we are about to close lodge and they will be ready when we disperse from the lodge to the festive board. Ok that's this month. The JW chair in any lodge is the hardest chair to do because all of the organization involved. Anyway, that's about all from me for now.

I’m seriously considering a

tattoo (because they’re popular these days and in a way its symbolic of ones toughness.) Anne said the only way she’d tolerate me getting a tattoo if it was like on my ass or in a place where she wouldn’t have to see it. Or if it had something to do with Pledges or Sparky. I’d like to get one on my right arm. If I decide to get one, it’d be a rose cross/armband around my right arm. It wouldn’t have the cross part of it just the rose part with Pledges and Sparky’s name and room for Silky and Sporty. In the center of the rose I’d like to have a number #93 which in occult circles would mean an abbreviation of “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” I’m thinking about having that on the first inside ring. “Love is the law love under will.” The size of the rose would be about the size of a Tim Horton’s small size coffee cup. The band around the rose would be a ring of leafs and thorns. Of course most Thelemites no what 93 means. But like I said, I’m considering it.

Currently underway on this snowy Spring like day today is the Edmonton collectible toy and comic show “Ectcs” at the Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe. They have John Lancie that played “Q” on Star Trek the next generation and Steve Sansweets and some comic book artists etc. They had a VIP pass offering which got you up close and personal with the guests for $125. The VIP pass allows a photo op with the guests and the photo to be personalized etc but general admission is only $15. John Lancie would be the only reason why I’d want to go this year and they have a tattoo artist there doing tattoos all afternoon. Probably reserved for their VIP pass holders. They need to make this thing a weekend event instead of 1 day. They also need a SFF author of some kind. Now if they had say, Julie E Czerneda, or even Mercedes Lackey, now that’s something I could get excited about. I‘d like to sneak out of here for an hour or two but it‘s going to conflict with my 5pm start for Wrestlemania. Besides, I‘d have to take the bus to the train and then find out how to get to the show, even though I have a vague idea where it is. It’s still a too much too soon kind of a thing. And I only as of today (ok I admit I’m no expert) I put the name John Lancie to the character “Q.” If I would have known this in January, I would have been all over this VIP thing. Next January, I’m going to pay closer attention to this. I’d like to see Pure Speculation have a VIP pass kind of a thing.

Speaking about books I’m still considering a massive book order (after I get my laptop) to Armchair fiction. I’m considering 10 books of their double book classic fiction line. But that won’t be until the summer sometime. .  

In about 2 hours I’ve got Wrestlemania 28 to look forward to this for tonight. Anne’s got a rack of baby back ribs. It’s going to be a fun night.

This week, it’s a short week because of Good Friday and I’m off tomorrow. I’ve also got half a day because of Lodge on Thursday. This week is going to be a short week hour wise but I’m thinking about going in for 4 hours Monday night to make up for missing Thursday night. Monday 4 hours, Tuesday 8 hours, Wednesday 8 hours, Thursday 4 hours, Friday off Saturday 6 hours. I’ll have 30 hours in the bank. It’s not the 37.5 I usually want but the stat pay will make up the difference for a full check. By working the 4 hours Monday sets me up for next week when I need to work the full Monday through Friday because I’m off next Saturday for “Ye old craft” and the Monday- Friday after that for Commercial Lodge.

I could use a new short sleeve white dress shirt so I think before work Monday, leave out of here at 3pm for Moores and get one to take on my way to work and home. I also want to keep at least $20 for the week as Thursday we get our checks and I want to run straight to my bank cash my check and then home to have a bite to eat and change and wait for Neil to pick me up. For the festive board this week, I’m going to ask Dan if he could pick up a couple of cans of Campbell’s chunky soup. Split pea/ham and chicken/potato kind of a thing and some buns. And of course his crock pot and Neil his crock pot. I’ve got 2 people each bringing a crock pot and 1 bringing buns. I’ve also got memory work to do for the upcoming EA degree at the end of the month, so I’m going to be busy. Anyway, that’s all for now.