Because of Anne fighting with me and all last night, about my leg, I went to bed without a hug or a goodnight. I’m not even going to call her this afternoon. I have a red skin rash about the size of a golf ball between my foot and my knee, that isn’t healing. It began with a protrusion of small dried skin that wouldn’t go away and not even Anne’s Doctor knew what it was when it was about the size of a pea back in 2008. The original skin pea is still there but there is a rash that has developed around it, that is giving us some concern. I put vaseline on it before I leave for work and when I go to bed. Its not spreading that’s the main thing but Anne’s right about seeing a Doctor at the medi clinic. I was there about maybe 18 months ago for some Tylenol 3’s I think when I had some abscessed tooth pain. So I think after work Saturday I’m going to go over and wait.

What I’d like to also do on my way is to take a few photos of the construction going on over by the Clareview arena site. The arena this Spring was torn down and there’s a lot of construction going on over there from 42nd street to 37th street along 139th ave and down to the tracks. It’s a big chunk of land called Clareview campus. I hope to have some pictures of it Saturday but that depends on when the hockey game is on.

I won $10 on yesterdays 6/49 draw and another number would have got me $80. I’ve never won 4 numbers. Most I ever win has been $10 maybe 2-4 times, year. The jackpot hasn’t been claimed yet so now it goes up to $26M. Anyway, that's about all I have for today.

I went to bed about

3am when I fell asleep. I got about 6.5 hours but I was over tired as it was and set the alarm for 9:30am. I got up a bit earlier then that had put the kettle on the stove and had a shave and a shower and fed the cat and at the computer to make a blog post. 

On local news last night it was announced that our local newspaper The Edmonton Journal (1903) is no longer running a Sunday morning edition citing its not cost effective. I recall when I was delivering the Journal in 1981, we never had a Sunday paper. Most likely the Edmonton will follow in the Journal’s path and go no Sunday edition as well soon. 

The rail strike here in Canada is just about to wrap up with back to work legislation. Apparently the strike was costing Canada something like $5 billion/week. Trains going to Vancouver was costing about $250M/day. Union workers only represent about 3 million workers in the country anyway. 

Well, I got a full week ahead of me here. This morning I’ve got to go to my Scotia bank and make a deposit, just a slight detour. Telus apparently “sees” that I have set up a preauthorize billing arrangement for my flex plan for my iPad. My bill is just over $11 but that’s for May and June. Anyway, that’s about all I have for now.

The other day some of my colleagues

were asking me if I have any photos of me from say my early 20's? The earliest picture I have taken of me was in 1987 and that was in a photo booth. I was 35. Of course I have pictures taken of me in grade school and high school but nothing as a young adult. I wish I had some of every year since I could take pictures but I wasn't interested in photography that much. I think Ellen took a picture of me when I was over at her mothers place sleeping overnight and I was under the covers sleeping. That would have been 1979. Also, I recall while working with GWE (Pre-Xentel days.) a group of us were holding this banner for some sponsor and I was in it, 1989. I also have a photo taken of me 1997 in a Heart and Stroke function. I wish I had a camera back then but chances are it would have found its way into a pawn shop pretty darn quick. Since I had got the digital camera in 2005 of course, there are lots of photos and from the Lodge as in group photos.

I took my blood sugar reading about 40 minutes ago and I was sitting at 16.8! Yikes. I think it had something to do with the sugars in the sauerkraut in the Rubin sandwich Anne made for me but if anything sauerkraut actual controls blood sugar. 

I had a nap earlier about 6:30pm and napped for about an hour and I'm ready for bed. Not a lot going on and I don;t have the energy to get into my Cubase/Wav files. Right now, I could just go to bed. Anyway, that's about all I have for now. .

Two days off is

more then enough. Theoretically I could go in for tonight for the 5-9 shift but I need 2 days off after a full week.

Earlier yesterday I was working on a track in Cubase. I was able to use Garageband and cut a couple of vocal tracks and they show up in vari audio just fine but I couldn’t figure where the metronome in Cubase was coming from. Then I realized I had it turned On in GB. I’ve also got to redo the Wav files because I missed a bit of a step.

The topic on Coast tonight is about how media is lying to the public. I think lying is a strong word here. I think its more not making available all the news that’s fit to print. For example I watch CTV news and they have out of a 1 hour broadcast their first hour is the National and International news. Then a half hour of local news. Local news they cover news, weather and sports. After commercials etc, there isn’t a lot of room to cover the more exotic stories. But Jim Marrs usually talks about conspiracy theories and that’s the angle he usually comes from. But if an alien space craft lands on the white house lawn and says, “take me to your leader.” You can bet that’s going to be front page news. But your not going to get X-files stuff on CTV, ABC or maybe Fox news or CNN.

Sigh, another controversial headline grabbing book out there. First it was Harry Potter for kids. Then recently it’s Hunger Games for teenagers. Now it’s 50 shades of Grey for women but its mostly about erotic fiction type of thing. What‘s with all of these books appealing to specific demographic markets lately?

Not much is going on this week. It‘s a full 37.5 work week ahead. I‘m trying to save up for the Komplete 8 package as LM has it for just under $600. I figure at $75/week, I should have it by about mid July.

The other day Matt Smith (Doctor Who) carried the Olympic torch for the Summer 2012 Olympic games. I’m not big on the Summer games but I do like the winter games because of the hockey. It was nice to see Smith though to carry the torch. Anyway, that’s all I have for today.

Big is the if

this morning as far as having a good sleep is concerned. I think I got about 3 hours sleep. On top of that I have a full 6 hours ahead of me so I'm not going out anywhere after work today. I'll be lucky if I can stagger home ok from the bus at Clareview station. I'm almost thinking about going back to bed and coming in at noon, I've seen that happen before.

Last night the NJ Devil's beat out the New York Rangers in the NHL Playoffs. Now there are only 2 teams, NJ and LA. No hockey this weekend as the series resumes on Wednesday. This Spring, the Canucks were eliminated by LA in 4, the IHHF Juniors Team Canada had been eliminated, The Oil Kings are gone. There might be a Memorial Cup game this weekend but that might not be until Sunday. The NHL could wrap up by June 11th or when I go to Lodge if the LA Kings keep going the way they have been. I think the City of Edmonton is going to hold a rally for the Oil King's this weekend. The last celebration the Edmonton Oil Kings had was in 1965 and 1966.

After I get home I'm going right to bed until Anne calls and then I'm going to get up for the rest of the day. I've got a few projects to work on.

But this morning, I'm going to have my breakfast at Tim's and try to do the best job I can today under the circumstances. .

,

Not quite the end

of a long week but close enough.

The Feds went and made changes to the EI act again and made it harder for people to collect it and focusing on those that are unemployed to take any job they can. And that makes sense in a way but its harder for those that rely on foreign workers but I agree Canadians first.

The Edmonton Oil Kings lost last night to Shawinigan 6-1 blowing their Memorial Cup chances. Its a round robin tournament many believe should be a best of 7 like in the NHL. It least it gives teams a chance. The Oil Kings might not be around this way again but at least they were WHL Champions, which is good news. I like the Junior league. it's fun to watch these young men develop and many f them could be future Oiler's as well.

Coast's topic tonight: ET Artifacts & Tree/Dolphin Die-Offs. Investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe will discuss ET artifacts & dragonfly drone technology, a dolphin die-off in Peru, and the crisis of trees dying all over the planet. Should be a good one.

On this day in Strangeness: It was on this day in 1543 that Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus died. His heliocentric concept displaced Earth as the center of the universe, and served as the starting point for modern astronomy. Called a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church, Coper.

LOL! I was reading in i09 just now the etymology of the word "Fuck." It first occurred in a came from a satirical poem, written in Latin, in the year 1500. The line is referring to a group of friars, and runs like this: "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk." Here's the link.

Yesterday I began getting a couple of my podcasts again. The 2 I really like are SF Signal and Starship Sofa, so I subscribed to both. I was also able to listen to Coast from 630 Ched on off of my iPad yesterday.

This also from i09: Russia Will Build a Permanent Moon Base We knew Russia had ambitious plans for interplanetary exploration, and on Tuesday, an announcement from the head of the country's space agency really drove that point home. Russia wants to go to the Moon; and they want to stay there. Here's another link.   

      

Anyway, I've got a full 7.5 hours ahead of me today but the best part is I'll get my paycheck even though because of their mix up, it's going to be a short one. Anyway, that's about all I have for now.

On the train

Heading to work this morning. This just a rough draft composed on my iPad heading to work

I had a good day yesterday.. This

morning while watching “The Attack of the Show” (ATOS) I heard what thought of the last ATOS but as I checked on my morning commute I got some  more info. Apparently     Kevin Pereira, the shows host for the last 10 years or so is leaving to pursue other interests. He has a production company called “LeeUp” and another endeavor called  “Super Creative” or something. His last show is from E3 in early June. I got in about noon and did some internet stuff on my tablet on Kevin Pereira and it looks like he‘s going to be well taken care of but he‘s going to be a tough act to follow.

I had a pretty good day on the job and got about $200 in card and about $500 in sales, not bad on a cold campaign. We watched a little bit of hockey to see the Rangers lose game #5. I was thinking about heading over to BP‘s for a beer and meet up with Anne at Bay Station as she‘s getting off work. I still might do that tonight when I get off work. Instead I popped into Tim‘s for a Boston cream donut and ate that and played with my iPad on the way home. I have 3 days on and I‘m off for 2.

I didn’t win on my 6/49 ticket, not that I‘m ever expecting to. Nobody claimed the prize of $11M anyway, so that‘s ok.

Also, Edmonton Oiler ex coach was in town today to give a press conference type thing. He said he didn’t feel too bad about being let go but kind of felt that he got cheated out of getting to the good stuff. Tom Renney coached 600 games with the Oiler’s, and this was his 3rd NHL coaching job. He said he has other NHL teams talking to him, so lets hope he’ll get another coaching position.

On Coast Author and lecturer on Magick and the occult, Lon DuQuette, “will discuss his recent work on spirit evocation for the purposes of self illumination and life mastery, as well as The Book of Enoch, one of the first ancient texts that describes a hierarchy of spiritual beings, angels and demons, who interact with humanity.” This guy has been on before and is an old favorite of Coast. DuQuette follows in the tradition of Aleister Crowley. Should be a good show. Anyway, that’s all for now.

I’m currently working on

the Ontario PC Party campaign. We’re (some of us) raising funds for a bi-election in Kitchener/Waterloo riding (KW). The Liberals who are the minority Government (barely) thought that if they could get 1 riding it would push them over the edge from minority Government to a Majority. By doing this, they need a bi-election. What they did was pick a riding and “bought off” the current MPP of the riding. Nothing pisses people off more then their elected officials jumping ship for another party. Most people I’ve talked to said there ought to be a Law against this sort of thing. But the MPP left her post immediately after the election and “accepted” the job, essentially leaving that riding with no representation in the Ontario Provincial Legislature or “Queens Park.” So now, Elections Canada has to call a bi-election within 6 months. Said MPP left her post April 23rd. Almost a month ago. Most people in Ontario I talk to are concerned but they live in a Province with high unemployment thanks to the Liberals who have held 2 Majority terms and every term when an election is called, guess what? They rack up the debt every year they try to pass a budget. Most people I talk to about this are sympathetic but they‘re unemployed. If you have someone actually listening to you, chances are they‘re unemployed or a senior dangling the senior card in your face as if that‘s supposed to mean anything. It‘s like they‘re exempted from life or something. So call after call I carry on and maybe I‘ll get 2-3 sales in a 4 hour shift or about $100 on a week day, $250 on a mild day, $600 on a strong day. I get a lot of people saying: “I don’t live in that area so why are you calling me?” When I explain most of them understand but like most people in Ontario, they‘re broke and or they think that a political party has all the money or why don’t they have one of their $200 plate dinners and fundraise that way. My afternoons are good but the evenings suck because I have James and Warren watching hockey and laughing all the way to their bank with their $200 taps. The taps are harder to do because the Line Hour expectations are higher on politics then they are on cold calling which is what I‘m trying to do with OPC. If I‘m having a slow afternoon sales wise, management will put me on taps to make my day look half assed decent good.

Somebody/group won the Lotto Max $50 jackpot over this last weekend. Sure wasn’t me. I’ll get a quick pick for Wednesday’s draw which is worth $11M. If I won I’d show up to work only until I actually collect the prize. Then I’d say something like “After 12 years on the job, it’s time for me to retire. I’m collecting CPP and AISH and I’m going to say sayonara to the work force. I‘ll give them a weeks notice of course.

The sequel to the 2009 Star trek movie is in full swing but I haven’t heard much on Star Wars television series that was hinted at 7 years ago after the last movie. Star Wars is more concerned with animation projects like “Clone Wars.” Animation to me is for kids and not very credible. In the meantime, I‘m reading the Jedi series. Anyway, back to bed.

I didn’t get a lot out of that back to sleep for an hour and a half but I’m awake now. Looks like we got a bit of a drizzle of rain coming down. I’m about ready to tuck into a cup of coffee here.

On the news just about every night of the week we get to see pent up Quebec University students out there protesting the Provinces proposed tuition fees. By contrast a undergraduate full time study degree here in Alberta is the most expensive in the country at 5,318/year for this year according to stats Canada. In Quebec thanks to transfer payments by Alberta and BC Quebec university students pay now $2,175. Quebec Government wants to increase their fees an extra $1,625, over the next 5 years to a maximum of $3,800 even after that, the lowest in the country, which us an extra $325 more/year. Even after the hikes, Quebec will have the lowest University education fees in the country. What’s the matter with these people? They’ve got an 8% Unemployment rate, Ontario 7.4% and Alberta is the lowest with 4.9%. Most likely after Quebec University students graduate, they’ll come out west anyway.

I’ve got a full 8 hour day ahead of me here, not that I’m or anything. It’d be nice to know how many of us across the country are doing OPC. All our supervisors are able to tell us what the previous days line hour was. Last I checked I think the campaign was running at a $40 line hour and that was Saturday. Anyway, that’s about all I have for now.

What a night, hockey, wrestling

and a lot of Tweets on Twitter. When Monday night Raw goes for 3 hours, it's going to be great. 

Well, my "long weekend" is over. The next one wont be until July 1st but it's going to be on a Sunday but by that time I'm taking a long weekend off. if I still have a job that is. 

Hard to believe in a few short months I'm going to be 60. At the end of August I'm applying for my CPP before the Feds make some "emergency powers" and cutting off anyone from early retirement or whatever they're capable of. They might come out with stiffer penalties, that sort of thing. 

I like how Apple updated its Calendar as it now includes the whole year to look at in advance. I like this.

On this day in 1956, the United States exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb. It was dropped from a B-52 bomber over the tiny island of Namu in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. I was 4 years old when it was dropped. 

I'm so not into this book "Stardoc" but I plan on finishing it this summer. It's not that I'm not into its just reading novels have taken a back seat to other things like Lodge, music production etc.  

It seems there's going to be a television series called the "Green Arrow." Inspired by "The Hunger games?" What's with all these arrow gimmicks and things lately? Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Victoria Day Monday

I love this time of year. A day off with pay and a full week ahead. This check wont be very big but next week‘s will. Weather wise out there, it’s +20 out there.

This summer I‘m going to get on the phone and call up Telus and find out how I can turn iPad into a hot spot. My iPad is great for music and games and internet and with the NBA/soccer crowd the Oiler games this next season will be a low priority. The other thing is when 2 of my colleagues sit on the other side of my cubicle to watch TV they‘re pretty loud and I rarely make sales when those two are on the other side of me. During the afternoon, fine or if there‘s no hockey. So this summer I‘m going to get the iTouch 8Gb just to add as a hot spot device so I can put it in my pocket to get the scores. When it‘s 5pm for the evening shift and there‘s hockey, I‘m moving to a more quieter part of the floor.

If you‘ve been watching Canadian National news, you might have seen the massive amounts of student protesting university tuition fees. Most people outside of Quebec here in Canada are aware that Quebec has the lowest university tuition fees in the country. These student protesters are an embarrassment to the rest of the country. Quebec has introduced new Laws that if students don’t inform the Police they are holding a protest then Police have the right to make arrests. Good. I hope they get criminal records for life and let them try and get a job with a criminal record, bunch of scumbags are what they are. They were even talking at one point how Quebec university students deserve free education, only because its through Alberta transfer payments that pays for what they have now.

This morning our Telus service was down for about half an hour including my 3G. Including my iPad tablet flex plan. It was a service wide shut down obviously.

One of the hottest products out on the market is the electric car. Early automobiles were electric as early as the late 1800‘s. But the development of the internal combustion engine in the 1920‘s made the electric car obsolete. Today the electric car such as the 2 passenger Reva and hybrid vehicles are gaining in popularity but the initial costs of these vehicles are so expensive not everyone can afford them. They still need to be charged up and that‘s going to cost as well. Abut half of our electricity comes from coal and coal is dirtier then Canada‘s so called “dirty oil.” There was a story in our local news how this character plugged his electric car into the jack at his apartment building and wondered why on his electric bill was up by 75%. I‘d rather take the LRT to work over an electric car any day. Anyway, time to watch some hockey.

Not a bad

day of things today.

But I've got 2 days off one with pay. Victoria Day is my favorite summer holiday. If I would have worked last Monday like I originally wanted to, I would have 3 days off as well. My bad.

I get asked a lot about my politics. Am I right or left? Mainly I'm Centre. If anything I'm a separatist as I favour the West. That's BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I morally support the Western Canadian Concept Party in principle but while living and working in Canada I must abide by it's Laws, always keeping in mind my ob. I get asked "Well, what about the oilsands and the Gateway Keystone pipeline, aren't they a hazard to the environment?" Hardly. Kinder/Morgan for example has been running oil/gas pipelines from Edmonton to BC for close to 60 years now and you don't hear anything bad about them. "What about oil tankers negotiating fjords and waterways in BC, what if there's another Exxon Valdez oil spill?" Good point. Norway has been successfully moving oil tankers to its markets through their waterways similar if not more treacherous then BC successfully for decades and we never hear anything from them like the Valdez disaster. "Well what about the First Nations peoples of BC, if they say the Gateway pipeline is bad for the environment then it must be right?" Some not all First Nations peoples have been given large grants from US environmental groups by the tens of millions of dollars. If that grant funding were to dry up then you wouldn't hear a peep out of them about this issue. For years Alberta has been paying have not provinces here in Canada billions of dollars every year in transfer payments. If that were to dry up then these provinces would be in deep trouble. "What about Alberta's contribution to Greenhouse gases (GHG's)?" This global warming debate is so stupid because the environmentalists are not taking into consideration water vapor water vapor accounts for 99.9% of all ghg's on the planet. Environmentalists ignore this because it contradicts their numbers. Water vapor overwhelms all other natural and man-made greenhouse contributions and I don't mean droplets. To see what I mean visit here: The whole debate on Global warming is political more then anything else or see this YouTube video:

Anne and I are going out to our brunch this afternoon as a result of that I'm going to be missing the LA/Phoenix game. I'll be able to see up to the end of the 2nd period as this could be an elimination game for Phoenix.

At Audrey's I bought book #10 of the Malazan series. I've got way to much fantasy and not enough science fiction. I've got a abundance of short SF on my iPad but not enough books. I haven’t read a lot of Ian M. Banks but his Culture Saga looks good. He's releasing a boxed set out in October and I might pick it up. But there is a lot of old SF I haven't been able to get into that I'd like to. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Yesterday after getting off at

the LRT I’m opening the doors to my Scotia bank expecting a large noon time line up. Surprise, surprise, nobody in line. I went right to the teller explained my situation and they wrote me up a preauthorize statement to give to Telus mobility (Tm) I also topped up my account a little as well just in case service charges kick in over the weekend. So far my data usage for my iPad for the 3rd part of my billing/plan is up to 286.17mb. I think I’m at 500mb before the Flex plan kicks in. I  have  up to 25 iM’s (instant messages) I can use and I haven’t used any so far. I’ve got the account active for that but I think I might have sent 1 test message to one of my colleagues.

I’ve got to get on the phone this weekend for several things: First to call Tm and ask about my bill. I’ve got the preauthorize billing set up but after the process was complete it said that it may take a complete billing cycle for it to activate. So what happens to my account in the meantime? Am I cut off for failure to pay my bill past its due date? Or will they see a preauthorized payment set up for my account in progress?  The other call I want to make is to Neil to make sure that in his up coming master’s message in the June bulletin that he marks in there the Lodge BBQ on the 19th of August. Then I need to call Dan our lodge secretary to see about this email he was supposed to send me about the BBQ and a few contact names as far as getting the fixings for this thing. I want to have all of this set up before the end of this month so the members know the who, what, when, where. Then it’s just up to them to come out. Of course I’ll be there.

This morning after I lock up and get out of here I’m getting a lotto Max ticket. There’s still $50M up for grabs. Also I have 7.5 hours on the phone ahead of me. There’s also the NJ/Rangers game this afternoon at 5pm. LA won game #3 of their series last night 2-1 and lead the series 3-0. Phoenix is in real trouble. If they don’t win tomorrow, this will mean LA has not only swept the #1 and #2 seeded teams in the West and about to do so for the #3 rd seeded team to get to their 2nd conference finale appearance. Their 1st was LA in 1993 when the last of the Canadian teams won the Cup. Looks like it’s going to be NJ/LA this year. But I wont be able to watch the game because I’ll be in Lodge Saturday afternoon (I hope)

Sometime Saturday morning, I want to go try out Cora restaurant over here that opened up this Spring and then run over to Moore’s and get a dress shirt and a tie. They have a 2 for one sale and I could use a couple of short sleeve dress shirts and a clip on tie. After that it’s come home and get dressed out of here by 11:20am and hopefully into Lodge by noon. I’m going to bring my iPad along just in case and of course my apron. After Lodge, I‘m on my way home and once home, I‘m going to check on the scores and have a nap. Hopefully, with any luck at all I can pop into the Empire theaters over here and see the new Avengers movie. Most likely if it starts at 8:30pm Anne should be just about getting to Clareview station. We might end up meeting each other, but we‘ll see. I might be too exhausted after Lodge. Not that I have any work there or anything to do. Anyway, that‘s about all I have for now.   

Hard to believe its

Thursday already and the month of May is just clipping by. 

My work week is going slow but I've got 2 days in the  bank and today is day 3/4 as I decided a short week this week because I'm going to Lodge Saturday. I haven't had a Saturday off this year. it's a long weekend and I'm entitled.

The NDP leader Tom Mulcair is bad news for Western Canada and the country as a whole as on his agenda is a National Carbon tax and it wont be anything like the GST either. Yesterday he was complaining that the oilsands is whats killing manufacturing in Eastern Canada. What's killing manufacturing in Eastern Canada Tom is Provincial taxes, like HST's and PST's. If you want to slow down the oilsands there goes your $14B/year from Alberta transfer payments to pay off your rich union buddies. Lucky for us the NDP have never formed a Federal Government and Tom is just the opposition.

So far on my Flex plan I've used  up just 280mb of data. I think I'm allowed 500mb before the Flex plan goes beyond it's initial fee. 280mb in 22 days, I can't tell if that's good or bad yet. I'm off to the bank latter this morning to see about setting up an auto payment structure to make it easier to pay for this thing. 

This weekend I'm going to try and see the Avengers movie over there at Clairview movies across the street from us. The movie starts at about 8pm so if Anne might miss me when she calls. I really want to see this on the big screen. She'll be getting out of the office by the time the movie is over but it depends on how I feel. I might go Sunday afternoon instead, we'll see. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I was in good spirits on my morning commute into the office and the weather was pretty good as well,

all things considering, despite it being slow, it was a good day today.

Out of the gaming world, Diablo 3 was released yesterday. I imagine there was a line up of gamers to get the game. I played the first one but I didn't think much of it at the time. The game designer also did Warhammer 40K among others.  

This is fairly common place in Europe but talking surveillance cameras are apparently coming to the US and Canada. Seems like there's an invasion of privacy issue going on around here.

The other day on the news they were talking about the Google wallet how smartphone users would be able to use their smartphones to pay for items at the retail level. Consumers are already used to electronic banking. I'd be a little worried about hackers getting into the system.

Wednesday before work I'm heading over to Audrey's to pick up my RJS book that's been there for over a month. I've got the cash for that and enough to last me until payday Friday. Anne got my insulin this afternoon and some needles. 

On the job after 7pm I watched bits and pieces of the LA/Phoenix game #2 and LA is leading in the series 2-0. Phoenix is in real trouble here and the way LA is going they could sweep this series as well. It could all end Saturday night for Phoenix. 

Yes, I knew it was coming: Disney is making an animated version of Tron. Yeesh. I loved the first 1, the 2nd one was pretty good but an animated version? Anyway, that's enough silliness for today. 

I was considering the

camera connection kit but I have a Internet bill coming up for my iPad tablet. I’m on this thing called a “Flex plan” and as long as I don’t use a lot of 3G like streaming video my bill will be around $5-10 month. I mostly use my iPad for music, Twitter, email and I’m just getting into iMessaging and playing the odd game on my commute home. I checked my ebill and at stage three of the billing month, my ebill shows something like $5.78 if I pay it before May 22nd which is after this upcoming long weekend but I don’t know where or how to pay this bill. I meant to ask when I got signed up about this, the day after the election.

I tried getting a hold of somebody in cell phones but they’re a little busy. I’d rather call the store where I signed up from and maybe I can pay my bill there.

Last night on Coast was very interesting. They were talking about Adolph Hitler’s last hours in his apartment/bunker in WW2. I was watching this well done documentary as a follow up to my own research and discovered some interesting things. First of all, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin had for years claimed Hitler had escaped the bunker and may have used a double as a result of the attempted assassination on him in July 20th 1944. The Russians have claimed they have a portion of his burned skull and the couch used in the sitting room of where Hitler allegedly committed suicide they‘ve held in their archives for years. The Russians have also made it impossible from the West to examine the evidence until recently in the 1990‘s. DNA and blood samples were taking from the couch. Forensic DNA determined that the skull and blood samples were taken from a woman. The Soviets that have claimed for 60+ years that they have the skull of Adolph Hitler were in fact lying. It‘s a fascinating topic and there are a lot of resources on this topic. Here‘s the video I watched:


Also Anne said she’d give me the money for the RJS book as she might get her estate funds today. If so then I could get the RJS book tomorrow on my way in. Once I find out more details on my Flex bill for my iPad,

I’m not going in for this evening mainly because of the long weekend. This could be worth about $80 bucks of “free” money to me. If Commercial didn’t fall on a long weekend then I’d say sure, but I need to work the day before and the day after. The day before is that Saturday and the day after is my regular Tuesday getting back. But because I hadn’t taken a Saturday off since moving into the new office because I haven’t exactly been putting in the min of 35.5 hours for full time, I can’t guarantee HO will pay me my stat pay. Better safe then sorry. I’ll go to their last one in June. There’s no long weekend in June.

In about 10 minutes, I’m about to watch some, probably not all of the New York/NJ game. This should be a great series. Anyway, that’s all for now.

Even though yesterday my

sales were low, I had a 100% bank. Next week is going to be a great check because I’m getting some nice bonus money and a full check. And the RJS book after Lodge.

Me and my colleagues from the office were out having some drinks at out local watering hole. I had a nice bacon cheese burger and a pint of beer watching the first part of the Rangers/Caps game. I headed home with a slight buzz feeling alright and in by 7pm to watch what was left of the 2nd and in the 3rd was a real disaster for Washington because “OV” had coughed up the puck and turned it over making a tie game into a 2-1 lead for the Rangers. Ovechkin has made game difference turnovers before but to do this on a game #7 was a disaster. I’m sure nobody feels as bad about it as “OV.”

 I had a bit of a nap after the game for about an hour or so after Anne had called. I checked my 6/49 tickets and I got 2 numbers from a quick pick. #5 and #37 and if one of those numbers had been the bonus number I would have given me $5. Somebody though did win the $21M prize last night. Nobody as of yet, had claimed the $50M on the Max. It’s still up for grabs.

After I get out of bed around noon and after I call, I‘m going to see if they have the iPad “camera connection kit.” With this I can plug my midi controller and play Garageband (GB) instruments from my controller, which will have a different dimension to GB.

Anne said she‘ll lend me the cash for the RJS book and before I head into the office Friday afternoon, I‘ll get the book and head into the office and after work take the train up to my bank cash my check wait for Anne in 2nd Cup and head home for 3 days off. That way Saturday when I go to Lodge I‘ll just go in enjoy the afternoon and fellowship later.

Also, I‘m thinking when I go in, I‘m going to see if I can get Frank and if Reg is there get my affiliation petition in so I‘ll have that ready for June when I go in. I‘m not going to become a member but I will be affiliated with them. This way I can do parts in their Lodge, without having to take chairs in the Lodge. I have no interest in taking on any chairs in that Lodge but I‘m interested in becoming a member to get the degrees in the Canadian Rite Concordant bodies.. I have a petition here for affiliation I was going to do in October but being JW in my Lodge is keeping me pretty busy. I wont take any chairs in Commercial until after I become IPM in my Lodge, then I‘ll take chairs.

This afternoon I‘m calling to see if FS has any camera connection kits in stock. If so I‘m running down to see if they do and then pick one up and home to try it out and work on my track. Then it‘s brunch and after that the NHL LA Kings/Phoenix game #1 then do my stuff and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I‘m also following the Oil Kings as they‘re having game #7 between Edmonton/Portland at Rexall tomorrow night, so I‘ll be following both games this evening. Life is good. Anyway, that‘s about all for now. 

Not a lot going on recently around here

I've been just going to work and coming home.

I had a slow day on the job today barely pulling in under $250, so it was a slow day. 

I'm following the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). They are leading in the finale 3-2 beating Portland Winter Hawks. Last night at Rexall Place, they had their largest crowd ever and they won 4-3. Some of those players could be Oiler's soon. Game 6 could be an elimination game for the  Memorial Cup. last year it was won by the  Saint John Sea Dogs. Game 6 I think is in Portland Saturday night.

Tonight on Coast the topic is Power of Crystals with guest Dr. John DeSalvo, a Biophysicist with an interest in the ancient worlds and the crystal skulls. I usually catch the last half hour or so but I'm getting a little tired so I might call it an early night. Next Wednesday's show looks good on Lost Civilizations. 

Today is another 7.5 hour day and then 6 hours along with my pay check. Then 6 hours for Saturday and I'm off for 3 days. Other then that I don;t have a lot going on. Its been pretty quiet around here. Anyway, that's about all from me.

Not a lot going on for

today. I had a killer day yesterday pulling in $880/550 on card. Two awesome days in a row. I like credit cards because that’s bonus money for me, if I hit line hour and work my full 37.5 hours in for the week. It’s just into work for 8 hours and home. There’s no NHL hockey this evening but I think the IIHF (team Canada) are playing this afternoon. Tonight they’re watching is Basketball. Well, the TV on behind my station that is. Me, I’m not interested in it.

I’m thinking what’s the best way to get the word out about my blog, so that it has a permanent mark on the world? One way I thought was pretty clever was to upload a photo onto Google earth. I might not be able to advertise on the photo but what about after the photo in the frame of the boarder itself? In my little part of the world where I am now, there isn’t a lot of Google Earth photo activity, I could for example label the photo icon “eJim’s place.” But it’s still a Google app. You don’t get to see that until you roll the mouse curser over it. But 1 photo standing out in the middle of nowhere would link to me and a photo showing our balcony in the summer full of flowers would in the container give a blog address. In the photo’s container has a link to the name of the photographer etc. Chances are Google will still be around outside 25 years from now maybe even 50-100. I also need to write a Wiki page on me as well.

One thing I need to do is to start saving some money and after I get Melodyne editor, I’m going to start putting about $50 away in my account each week after this week. This will be week 19 so starting at week 20. At $50/week I could have about $1,600 set aside and have that as an RRSP I could have a nice little bit of stash when I do my taxes next year.

I found some good royalty free dubstep production track intro candidates for my track I’m working on. I should specify non commercial tracks. My music is a cross between old school punk and modern debstep. Kind of like The Clash meet the Stranglers meet dubstep. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

A week with nothing pressing

 on the agenda. Just the way I like it. The only thing I have in fact this month is Commercial Lodge on next Saturday and after that “my calendar” is open.

With nothing pressing and no memory work ahead of me I can now relax and work on my music and a track. I got a percussion line going from a WAV file and after I figured out how to use buses and channels from my audio interface, it plays back my Wav files, which I’m told are the basic audio blocks in Cubase.

I’m also back on track with my reading as well as I’m back into reading Stardoc #1 but I’m not going to read the whole series in one go. I hope to finish this book this month. Next up maybe I’ll read a RJS novel.

This evening I was watching the Caps/NYR NHL game #5 and flipping back and fourth to watch wrestling. I didn’t miss much but I did see the “main event.”

On Coast tonight Amygdala/ Messages from the Dead Mon 05-07 In the first half, brain researcher Neil Slade will talk about his research into the amygdala, a part of the brain believed to cause increased creativity, intelligence, and paranormal ability. Not my area of interest but I’ll listen for a bit.

My wife was kind of hoping to see the weekends “Super moon” but then after it was explained on local news she realized the event was mostly hype and kind of a let down. Especially since we had partial cloud cover that night here in Edmonton.

I’ve got about $7 on my iTunes gift card and I’m considering some marvel comic books. I just downloaded the Marvel comic book app. I don’t know if this lets you read the comic books. Anyway, that’s about all for  now.
 

I’m about to do something I haven’t done since the 70’s, decades ago: Grow a beard. The trouble with me and beards is psoriasis and grooming. Beards itch, with most guys and they are hard for me to keep a decent shape. Nathan at the Lodge has a nice beard and it looks good on him. I know there are grooming kits for men out there.

I decided having 2 days off

was more important then YOC Lodge next Saturday anyway. I’ll take next Saturday off because I like Commercial Lodge. I’m right downtown and I can go to Audrey’s before I visit the Lodge.

I was trying to figure out how I can get the “guitar sound” out from Garageband and export it as a Wav file and apparently it can be done but I need to have my apps synced to iTunes. So I got music on my iPad, my apps synced and now my photos. This gives me about 6Gb free. Eventually I’m going to upload my music to iCloud anyway. At the moment I’m downloading my photos and my download session is 240/922 files. There’s lots of cat photos.

Next cheque is when I begin saving up for Melodyne editor. I’m saving up $400 ($365) of that is for Med. I’ll be able to pick it up at LM about mid June.

This morning I watched the LA/St. Louis game and LA won the series in 4. They beat out the 2 top seeded teams in the West. Tonight I’m watching Phoenix and Nashville. There’s lots of hockey to watch. Anyway, that’s all I have for today.   

Finally everything since the beginning

of the week has come to a head. Yesterday, I got the dinner figured out and my parts in the lodge figured out. Too  make matters worse Anne calls me just before break and makes a change of plans for me. I hope she said she wanted me to put my check (what I give her) in my account. Otherwise I would have brought cash. Up until they began handing out checks to everybody at 8:15pm, I was wondering if I had a check at all. And if so how much was it going to be? I’ve seen them dicker me out before and others. Ok, I got my check and opened the envelope, $325 Whew, almost a full check. Instant relief. I headed up to the bank cashed my check and left the $265 like I hope Anne wanted me to do. All of it the festive board, my part in the Lodge, my check all came out ok. Thank God. I even have $100 to play with as well which means I can get my RJS book and a bite to eat after work tomorrow. The only downside to all of this today was I had only $25 on sales but it was all on card. All I can say was, what a week! I even got my iTunes card fixed up. All in all, this week turned out great. It could have been a disaster.

Music over the years has changed so much not only in genres but how music has been produced. It used to be from the beginning a collection of musicians or one person with a flute or plcucked instrument of some kind. In the "modern era" the phonograph was introduced in the late 1800's. Music was then recorded in a control room on a 4 track device and then evolved to 100 banks console to digital music on the computer making the art of producing music open to anyone. So along comes the iPad, which is becoming a serious music production tool. It's going to be a long way off before the iPad will replace a 4 piece band or anything or even someone with an iPad on stage. But with Digital Audio Workstations (DAW's) so accessible for hobby musicians IPad's/Apple's Garageband Gb isn't quiet there yet. I'm a hobby musician. The only instrument I can play (barely) is the DAW, which is an instrument in itself. Gb isn't even like the same thing of it's Mac big brother. For example, I paid $500 for Cubase 6 2 months ago. Gb comes free with every Mac computer but for the iPad it's a $5 app on a $700 device. I haven't produced any music yet but I'm about to as soon as I get over this bout of laryngitis or what ever it is. Here's what the interface of Garageband looks like: 

I gave Anne another $50 to help cover the rent last night. We we're only $50 short of rent and I did want to get that RJS book. Looks like I'm going to have to wait another week

This weekend is a short weekend. I'm paying for it now because next Saturday I want off to go to Ye Old Craft. We start Monday at 2pm, which is ok. It will still give me 37.5 hours on my check next week and more importantly give me an opportunity to visit other Lodges. Me being one of the 3 principle officers of our Lodge I should be visiting m ore and that's what I'm about to do this month. 

Today however, I've got 6 hours ahead of me and I hope J will put me onto "Harper" and not OPC. At  least I can make money on "Harper." After work I'm considering going over to Audrey's to pick up something. It wont be an RJS book but something within my price range. 

The next project for my music is going to be Melodyne editor for my voice as I'm going to need an affect on my voice. I'm  not a singer but I want to "sing" or create noise with my mouth. I want to save up $450 but the product itself is about $350. I don't want to leave myself short. So $75 over the next 6 weeks will do it. So I hope by mid June I'll have it. Anyway, that's about all for now.

  

Another Friday at last

Today is the last day of the Canadian penny. Canada mint says the coins cost more to make then their value and believe they will save $11 million/year. The coin box at Tim Horton’s is full of pennies and lose change. Charities like the Salvation Army will take a hit from the absence of the penny.

I’m enjoying my morning coffee before I head out to work. Hopefully it will help my voice. It’s not soar or anything, its just raspy. Most likely a change in the weather but coffee should help.

I’m having (and I’m not alone) trouble with these black bars that keep showing up on the sides of YouTube videos. At first I thought it could be a bandwidth issue or perhaps my display like 720P etc needs to be adjusted in my YouTube settings, but this video “ghosting” is showing up even in my own videos I make on my iPad. Its really strange but I suspect its in my IPad settings. Anyway, that’s all for today.

I had a better day of

I had a better day of things sales wise today and about half of what my total was on card. Five minutes before 9pm, I already had my coat and stuff packed. The LRT is running only 1 side of the tracks from Churchill out from the tunnel. Here’s a video I took of the moment inside the train. The big tan yellow building with the white structures on top is tower A of Riverside Towers. Tower B is slightly to the left. There was a person sitting in the seat beside me preventing me from capturing the other building identical to this one. I used to stay I the other building in 1979. There was only me and the other guy on this part of the train. I'm at a loss as to how to get rid of these big black bars in these videos. I'm sure the settings aren't managed properly.

I’m in for half a day tomorrow as I’m ready for Lodge and by this time tomorrow we‘ll be winding down the festive board and I‘ll be cleaning up. Last meeting I forgot to empty the coffee pot so I‘ll see if I‘m going to get any flack about this tomorrow. Most importantly though, we have a festive board and 2 candidates and I have a significant part to play near the end of the degree. I‘m going to be busy.

On my way home, I checked my email and I got a response from Itunes. I got the full number back from my gift card I got last week. Good stuff so I‘m going to buy iPhoto and Garageband.

We were watching the NHL NYR/ Caps game and it‘s in double OT tied at 1 with 5 minutes left to go  in the 3rd OT period. Yikes. Warren and I had a bet for $2 and the Rangers just scored bringing it to 2-1. Crap! Rangers lead the series 2-1.

I had a good day today and tomorrow looks good. I just hope there‘s no snags in my vacation pay for Friday, that‘s what I‘m really worried the most here. Anyway, that‘s all for now. 

At 4am I knew I was going to be in for

trouble, sleep wise and sure enough I couldn't sleep and when 4:30am rolled around, well at least I'd get 5 hours. I was lucky if I got that and I could use another 6 hours. I'm exhausted at the moment but I got an 8 hour day ahead of me.


I'm thinking maybe I should pick up one of those "5 hour energy" drinks but I heard somewhere they're not that good for diabetics. But after reading a few comments on the forums, nobody is saying anything bad about them. Maybe one sip is all I need but if they cost around $10/per bottle, no. I can see $5 yes.


We're finally getting a little bit of Sun out there after a weekend of overcast (Thursday-Monday)


Whats up with the LA Kings? A last place seeded team in the playoffs taking out the Vancouver CanucksPresidents trophy 1st over all in the league get taken out by the bottom dwellers? They go into Saint Louis and I figure well that was a one hit wonder with Vancouver. Now they're up 2 games to 0 in St. Louis's own building. The way the Kings are going (They've never won a Stanley Cup) could ended up with a sweep with the 2nd seeded team. I think St. Louis though will bounce back in game #3 Wednesday. If though the Kings keep going like they're on 5 hour energy and win all for games and sweep St. Louis in 4, they might go to the finale. It could be LA/Washington. Like I said elsewhere the only time that a Canadian team is ever going to win the Cup will be if there are an even number of teams in the NHL. Say 12 Canadian 12 American teams and to make it truly a National hockey league "league" have the American teams have a cap "like" in the CFL 80% domestic players and 20% Import players. Like that'll ever happen. 


Ok time to start packing up my things and getting ready for the day. It's going to be a long one. I'm going to post Twitter tweets through out the day.  


If you see some strange text, it's only because my laptop mouse wasn't frozen. Anyway, that's all I have for now..