We're more or less out of that cold

snap. Ragnar on the cover of the Space Wolf Second Omnibus book looks about as cold as it is out there today. Except the illustrator forgot to put froth on his breath even after climbing upon that icy perch.

January has been a cold long month and I'm glad it's about over. February is begins tomorrow and is also known as Solmonath (mud month) and Kalemonath (named for cabbage) both old English names. For us here in more modern times we have Valentines day and here in Alberta we observe Family Day which is a stat holiday. My favorite Monday of the month. Plus February is a short month as Spring is just around the corner.   

Last nights Oiler's/Phoenix game had about as much excitement for most part of the game as reading some of my blog posts lately. I think I dozed off on the couch with my feet up on the coffee table for most of the 2nd period. If it wasn't for Anne calling me from her work place I might have slept through the game. Good thing she called because near the end of the 3rd period things got interesting. On a WTF? kind of head scratching penalty against the Oil, Phoenix manages to tie the game. In OT the Oiler's managed to win. It's going to be a different outcome tonight in San Jose. That game is televised as well, woo-who!  

I'm considering taking out a subscription to "Strategy & Tactics" magazine again and subscribing to "White Dwarf." S&T has a game in every issue and both magazines are published bi-monthly. A 2 year sub to S&T (with the game) cost's about s much as a ps3 game console. With White Dwarf I can order a subscription in the Games Workshop store at WEM. 

Speaking about Warhammer there is (in development?) an online version of Warhammer (not the 40K version) It's an RPG like Warcraft. I think it's by Bio-ware (based here in Edmonton) but I don't know if it's in development or in hiatus or folded or what. I'd be interested in playing this as I don't see myself building huge tabletop armies or anything. Anyway,that's about all for now. 

We've been in the grip

of a wicked cold snap over the last couple of days as we have another day of this, then on Friday we're at +3 in the Capital.

The above is a sampling of some stats for over the past couple of days. Green=page views, blue=unique visitors, orange means returning visitors. Yesterdays returning visitors were cut off (screen real estate) but there were 5 returning visitors. Monday's and Friday's seem to be my best time of the week.

This means because on the firs day of the month (Friday) we can use our ETS bus pass from January and for February. This means I can go down to my banks Friday take care of some business and pay a bill and head up to Canada Place to check in on my CPP.

Just read this article in i09 about cats. Here's an extract under the fair use rule: Our cats may be cuddly pals and adorable internet memes, but they are also destroying the environment more efficiently than humans. They have been called one of the "worst" invasive species. And a new study  published today in Nature Communications suggests that cats are responsible for killing several endangered bird species in the United States, and decimating bird populations on islands all over the world. In the US, cats kill as many as 3.7 billion native birds annually, making them a bigger threat to these creatures than buildings, towers, windows, poison, and cars. But there is a solution to the problem. We try our part to take these outdoor cats in as much as building codes allow. We already have Boots here and we might take in one more. But here's the full i09 article .            . 

As for today, we've been expecting the building superintendent to make a pit stop into our suite like the notice under our door indicated yesterday. They hadn't arrived yet so this could be anytime this week. Other then this, I'm working on my track and watching the Oiler's at Phoenix. Anyway, that's all for now.

We're having cold snap

this week with temperatures about -25 and today with the wind chill about -31.It's supposed to be a nice on the weekend.

I like this 6:15pm start for Monday night Raw, especially when there's an Oiler game on at 8 and I can bounce back and fourth. Both events were exceptional. Speaking of hockey and the Oiler's, when Anne was out earlier this evening she returned from "Giant Tiger" and she bought me an Oiler trash bucket: The old one was showing it's age:

 I'm really getting into my latest read: The Space Wolves Second Omnibus. This is the first Warhammer 40K book that I've read with the Chaos Space Marines,so it's going to be interesting to "see" these characters in action. Anyway, that's about all for now.

As you can see I began another

book to read. To be honest, I don't like prologue's or epilogue's. Just give me the story but in the case of a Omnibus, a prologue works. As boring as they are the good stuff is about to begin. 

I still need a few tools before I can begin working on my music tracks,which is why I haven't produced anything yet. The main thing holding me back is a faster computer with more then 2 usb slots and a larger hard drive and at least 8-12 Ram. I'm working on a couple of instrumentals and such at the moment. I work mostly in FL Studio and Cubase

I'm in my glory today. I've got Monday night Raw and the Oiler game,so in between wrestling I'll flip to the hockey game. Perfect.

I don't get the Twitter followers like Justin Bieber gets but for a hokey blog about my inane ramblings, I get about 20-30 views/day and I have just over 500 Twitter followers. Almost 8,000 visitors have taken a look at my blog I set up over 2 years ago. I have had other blogs as you can read my daily diatribe's going back to September 2005. The casual observer will also note there is no advertising associated with this blog, for now at least. That doesn't mean that there won't be any advertising if I get the right opportunity. Anyway,that's about all for now.
     

Yesterday afternoon from about

2pm till around 5:20pm, the gang I used to work with met at BP's for a few hours. There was about 10 of us. We had a good time and we will be doing this about every other month or so. After work I thought about going over to Audrey's for the finale book of the "Last of the Jedi" series but I was hungry and I wanted to try Tim's tomato soup and their new grill cheese sandwich. The soup wasn't that great and the sandwich even though the bread was grilled it looked like they just smeared cheese whiz between 2 slices of grilled toast. For that they charged me $7 for that and the bottle of diet Cola. That's one product I hope they remove. I would have got better value at Subway. After I ate and a wait for my Clareview train I was home about 6:35pm. Besides Tim's breakfast sausage-egg sandwich/hash browns and donuts/coffee, the only thing worthwhile about them is they have wifi.

I'm about ready to wrap up Stardoc #3 and then put this series to rest for awhile. I still need the last 3 books in this series but for now I need to go on and read some Warhammer 40K "Space Wolves" second Omnibus.

I read for awhile had a chat with Anne and watched the Oiler's/Flames game. I should have had them on my Proline today because I knew Calgary would win. They hadn't had a win this year, it was the over hyped "Battle of Alberta," the media likes to tout, the Flames were in their retro jerseys. They had all the ingredients. The team that played in the Saddle-dome last night was not the same team that beat LA 2-1 in OT the other day. Calgary was the better team and they needed this win, badly. The copper & blue came out of the gate looking bland but the Flames won by only 1 goal, 4-3

Tonight on Coast, the topic is on Vaccines & Geopolitics. Not exactly a topic I find interesting. Sunday night though the topic is UFOs: Secrets & Leaks! Should be a good one. Most likely I'll update this blog through out the day. Anyway, that's about all for now.            . 

Wow, what a game last night!

The defending Stanley Cup champions, the LA Kings come to entertain the Edmonton Oiler's and wow,what a game. The Kings take advantage of a sloppy turnover at the offensive zone blue line and get a break-a-away. 1-0. We get a goal and a second or 2 later the on ice officiating says no goal. Rexall Place didn't like that decision. Then with 1:05 on the clock in the 3rd the Oiler's score again to tie but that was disallowed and the place went nuts. They fans were so angry I couldn't hear the Rexall Place announcer, they were throwing stuff on the ice in the ice in the time keepers box,everywhere. It's almost as if the refs were trying to do anything they could to give the winless LA Kings a Win at our expense. But in the dying seconds Yakapov scores to tie the game at 1 sending it into overtime. Unbelievable. In OT the Oiler's scored to win a very exciting hockey game that could have gone either way. Now if I was working the 1-9 shift I would have missed this exciting game. I wonder how many other games like this, I would have missed over the many years.

Just when Anne and I thought we did a good thing yesterday by finding the cat named "Markus" a home, Anne goes out to take out the trash in the wee hours as she does the last thing before bed type thing. "Markus is back." What? Are you sure? "Same features on the cat outside as the one we gave to the University student this morning." I don't think it is Markus because he would have gone right up to Anne but he backed away Anne said apparently. If that was Markus, he would have came up to Anne and would have been all over her. But if it is then the prospective owner probably didn't like the cat and drove around back and release him and took off like a hit and run driver. We were so desperate to find him a home. We can't keep him because we would have 3 groups of cats separated: Sporty & Sparky as one group and Boots as another and Markus. There's a lot of stray cats around here and Boots probably "knows" most of them. 

I was going to go to my bank this afternoon but Anne said that she would go for me. Ok. So it means I have no place to go today,which suits me fine. I can read and work on my music etc. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Next weekend is

Super bowl Sunday. Not that I’m all that excited about it. Seattle is out of it but this weekend is the NFL All Star pro bowl. Besides the Oiler’s are back playing hockey and the NHL playoffs begin in May/June and the Esks play in July.

I’m still excited about the downtown arena announcement that went down yesterday. It‘s not just the arena it’s the arena district. There will be 6 office and condo towers surrounding the arena as there will be about $2B worth development in there area. Just the arena itself will cost $631M not including cost overruns. Shovels will be in the ground maybe in April or as late as August. We have the 2nd youngest team in the NHL plus 3 back-to-back #1 picks and a new downtown arena. And if that wasn‘t enough, I heard rumors that Vancouver Canucks disgruntled goal tender Luongo might be traded to The Oiler’s? Yeah right. If anything he will probably go to Carolina or Florida. So if the above isn‘t a recipe for playing meaningful games in April, I don’t know what is but Luongo in Edmonton? It makes no sense and a bit of wishful thinking. Besides,we already have an old goaltender and where did that get us? It'll never happen.

 About a month ago Anne befriend a stray cat from outside here. It fit’s the description of a cat’s photo taped up on a City pole out on the side walk here. Anne managed to contact the cat owner (Sarah) and said that the cat got out of a town home a few blocks from here and had got lost. His name is Markus. Well, Anne managed to scoop him up and brought him inside and he’s in the bedroom. Markus is a grey male tabby maybe about 1 year old. He’s a very friendly fellow. This has been one of the cats Boot’s has been jumping out onto the snow below to scrap with. I went and named him Skipper before we had an official name for him. Anne went and left a message on Sarah’s machine. Hopefully this is her cat. There’s no guarantee that Markus would get along with Sporty & Silky. Boot’s is going crazy. It’s hard to match the figure with the cat we have in the bedroom. I tried to take a photo of Markus but the cat wouldn’t stay still. I’ll have an update later today. If this cat isn’t Sarah’s then Anne says we’ll have to give him up to the SPCA where at least he’ll have a chance of finding a home. I’d like to keep him if the cat isn’t Sarah’s as Anne has him out in the living room and he’s not attacking Sporty. The his at each other but he’s not charging Sporty.
 
I like looking at action figures and toys. I‘ve got a few Star Trek Hallmark Christmas ornaments but Anne didn‘t get the up on the tree for me this year. I‘ve got the original Star Trek Shuttle craft and the NG Enterprise and a cool Romulan Bird of Prey. I even managed to get the original Enterprise ornament and I paid $200 as a collectible back over 20 years ago. Today they are sold for about the same price. Anyway, that's about all for now.

This has been a great

month especially if your like me a fan of the Edmonton Oiler's. First of all not only does the NHL come back but today City council approved of the new downtown arena! The vote was 10-3 in favor of the project getting under way in August.

What always bugged me about when the Oiler's played in November the Canadian finales Rodeo would take over Rexall place every year and send the Oiler's on a long road trip where they'd lose about 80% of their games. They are one of the few teams that face this dilemma as far as I know. Thanks to the NHL lockout the Oiler's obviously didn't need to face this but coming up in March the Oiler's are being kicked out of Rexall for 10 more days because of the Brier, which means the Oiler's will have 7 games on the road, which they will probably win about 2 of those. Most road trips are 2-4 games for most teams. Add the CFR in there and that's 2 long road trips or probably about 18 games on the road. They might win 5 of those 18. That a loss of about 25 points the Oiler's would guarantee to lose. When the Oilers finally escape being held hostage to these events maybe they can play meaningful games at the end of March. The new downtown arena will open September 2016 for the 2016-17 season. It's an exciting time to be an Oiler fan and I'm looking forward to the new arena. 

Apparently the guy that won the

 $16M last Wednesday, in an interview yesterday, he said he was shocked when he discovered he won! He bought a quick pick at a 7-11. Usually large amounts like that are won by a group of people. It showed him and his girlfriend receiving the check. I wonder if she's worried he's going to take off on her. They aren't married or anything. If I was in her situation, I'd be worried as well. She probably isn't saying this out loud but I bet secretly inside she's thinking, "How much am I going to get of that?" There is assurance from the lottery corporation a husband and wife always splits the winnings, they always investigate things like this but what kind of assurance does the girlfriend get?

One of my previous co workers dropped me a face book private message saying staff at my previous place of employment are going to meet for a Saturday afternoon get together. I replied saying I’d be there and I will, to play catch-up and see what everyone is doing. I’m probably the only one of the gang not yet working. This colleague of mine, like me also likes the Star Wars novels. We’re huge Star War’s fans. 

Last night’s hockey game a Rexall place was the Edmonton Oiler’s 34th home opener. The Oiler’s received 2 soft penalties against them giving the Shark’s 2 quick goals. Yakapov got his first goal and after that the Sharks were the better team giving the Oiler’s a 6-1 shellacking after the first period! Yikes. Dubnyk, let in a few soft goals as well having a bad first start. He's usually better then that. After a goal tender change, N. Shultz got a goal in the 2nd and so did Hall. That was about it. Denis played a lot better then Dubnyk and shut the Sharks down. I enjoyed the game anyway despite the outcome. Thursday LA Kings come to town.

On the news earlier there was a story about the floundering film industry in Vancouver. Vancouver and the Province in general used to be the place to be for the film industry to produce movies. Vancouver used to be called Hollywood North. Lately though that's not the case. There's been lay offs film companies leaving etc the Province for other places. The Movie "Total recall" for example was shot in the Province of Ontario because Ontario gave film producers lots of tax breaks to work in that Province. Vancouver always thought the BC scenery alone would be enough incentive to keep the film industry alive in that Province. High provincial taxes basically chased the industry away finding a home in Ontario. 

We‘re going to have another Civic election coming up in October. I hope Mayor Mandal run‘s again. In all the 35 years I‘ve lived here in Edmonton, Mandel has been the best Mayor since Lawrence Decore. Mandel can run for a fourth term but any Mayor after this can only go for 3 terms. Anyway, that‘s about all for now.

My wife had her outing

all day Sunday and I stayed at home. That was ok because she used her staff discount and ordered me a small meat lovers pizza that came with curly fries and chicken bites. So I had that around 5pm while watching "Looper:"

I really enjoyed this. I got to watch it for free, thanks Telus! On a scale from 1-10, I'd rate it an 8. I also kept watch over how the Oiler's were doing on their first game on the road in Vancouver. They ended up winning in a shoot out 3-2 giving the copper and blue their 1st W of the season. They entertain the SJ Sharks tonight for their home opener. I got 3 games on TV I can watch this week. They may be doing ok now but lets see how well they'll do at the end of March. I think with the group they have this year they will make the playoffs.

Thanks to my friend Dennis Hurd for pointing me in the direction of Google books. I signed up for a Google player and downloaded a Western by John Fox Jr. "A Cumberland Vendetta." I just started reading it yesterday morning. I just read the first chapter and it's building but engaging.

In the interest of being made aware of department, as most of you know the original 1960's bat mobile went up for auction over the weekend. The anonymous buyer paid $4.5 Million for it. More then likely he'll use it as an investment. "Want the original bat mobile for your show & shine or convention? Just $5,000/day. Your guests can actually sit in this piece of nostalgia for $100 photo op etc," It's a pretty good investment for that type of thing. Anyway, that's about all for now.

According a company called DSI they have plans to begin mining nearby asteroids in 2015. Their first attempt is to send a laptop size device then larger devices later on. The idea is to target small asteroids and work from there. They say that many of these asteroids not only have iron,nickel ore that sort of thing but also precious metals like gold and platinum. There is some speculation that these asteroids might even have water and oxygen. DSI invented the The technology, called MicroGravity Foundry. This printer is really cool

Well, I didn't win last weeks $16M lotto 6/49 but a man just North of us in St. Albert did. A lot of Albertan's have been winning the 6/49 over the years. That's good to see. Anyway, that's all for now.  


  

Yes I like

my first coffee of the day. When people see me drink coffee I often get asked, what type of coffee do I like brewed or instant? Well, I normally drink instant coffee because at home I can have one whenever I like and when I take my thermos along with me to work etc. The thermos as in this photo was given to me by Anne as a Christmas present last year. The Edmonton Eskimo's stickers were given to me by my friend James White a few months ago. In the past I could get away with drinking 2-3 cups of coffee/day up until midnight and still get a good nights sleep but the 1990's are history. Incidentally that Thermos is from Tim Horton's. What I like about these types of thermos's is can put hot water in it and it stays hot even overnight the next day!

Ok, as much as I like science fiction and fantasy, I'm beginning to branch out to other genre's such as historical fiction,thrillers and mysteries. I wont reed romance or young adult. I've read thrillers and historical fiction before

I'm considering Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series because of the Tom Cruise movie of the same. There is an Omnibus series of 6 books still in print. Audrey's might even have it in stock but I'm committed to a special order of Warhammer 40K books at the moment. I've read a bit of urban fantasy and it's not bad but my enthusiasm for this genre would be luke warm. I like other genre's too like historical mysteries, even westerns especially the Jake Logan Slocum series with over 400 books in that series alone!  Same with Trailsman and others. I haven't too many Western novels in the first person pov. Many of these series western's are published monthly.

I just concluded watching the movie "Looper." I liked it. On a scale from 1-10,I'd rate it a 7.5. I can see a sequel out of this but not with .     

I've got a bit of running around to do tomorrow, mainly to drop some cash into my Scotia account to pay off my ISP and if I have time to get a DBD form and Tuesday go to Canada place. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I left out of here yesterday

 just before it began to snow. I got down to Tim’s, lots of places to sit. I had my breakfast and even iM’d a evidence photo.

I went over Audrey’s and got book #5 of the Space Marine Warhammer 40K series. I also ordered the 2 Imperial Guard Omnibus books as well.

I had a cold walk trudging in the snow blizzard to Freemason’s Hall. This was my 3rd visit to Commercial and I’m going to affiliate with them this Spring. I had a great afternoon. I had a new beer I hadn‘t tried before New Castle. I like it. They had a Robbie Burns dinner festive board. Sorry I won‘t try Haggis. Yuck. The festive board even served up shooters of whiskey. Now I don‘t know what brand this was but, it was smooth. I need ask the JW what brand that was but I think it was Drambuie. I had a great afternoon. I got home slightly on the tipsy side and had a nap before Anne called.

So I had the Lodge‘s secretary take this photo of me earlier. The lighting from my left is from some stained glass windows causing me to squint here:


 
Not much on my plate today. I‘m reading watching “Looper” on our VOD and following the Oiler/Canuck game. The game isn’t on TV but there are 3 games on TV this week. Cool

I was considering Wendy's for a bite to eat while I was at Clareview station on my bus but I'd have to wait for another 20 minutes and a block to Wendy's on 50th street (in this weather) and a brief wait across the street from the church. (no bus shelter) I wouldn't have had to cross the street out here on my way home getting off the bus like earlier when some asshole cut me off as I trying not to slip in the middle of the road with the pedestrian light in my favor. Next time I'm carrying a golf ball size rock in my pocket and a little bit aware. This has been about the 4th time this winter I got cut off by these creeps and I've had enough. I'm not going to target the glass just the back or side of the vehicle. I don't think I could ever do such a thing but these creeps don't care if they run you over either. Giving them the finger doesn't do them any good they just speed off along their way. Maybe I should have gone to Wendy's Anyway that's about all for today.

 .

Ordinarily apartment living

 is ok if the building is managed well. In all our 12 years of living here, it’s been pretty good but last night the people below us have been not good neighbors. They’ve been slamming that door with their stereo blaring. Good news is, they won’t last long. If they are still when the snow melts, I‘ll be surprised.

I‘m up at about 9:00am this morning to get a shower clean up dress in my suit and tie. Then it’s leave out of here by 10am get my bus to Clareview and the train to Corona station across the street to Audrey’s get my Warhammer 40k book cross the street to Tim’s and get my breakfast hang around for a bit until noon and work my way to Freemason’s Hall to get there by noon as they start at 1:00pm. That way I can meet with the guys, enjoy my beer I should be out of there by 5pm. It’ll be good.

Speaking of Warhammer 40K in my Black Library Newsletter the library released a new hardcover novella. It’s part of the Imperial Guard series. There are 2 Omnibus books in this series I still need to get and hopefully this Spring a subscription to Hammer and Bolter. Here’s a cool video as a tribute to the Imperial Guard:

Last night about 8pm I get a call from our Internet service provider. We tried to arrange for a service call earlier in the week about the trouble we we’re having with our television’s aspect ration. We cancelled the request and I guess they wanted to do a friendly customer service follow up call and offered us 2 free video on demand movies. Great, with Anne out Sunday and no Oiler TV hockey, why not? They have “Looper” on VOD Anne mentioned something about Pizza. Sounds like a good time.

This Monday is called Blue Monday and not because Oprah is coming to Edmonton at Rexall place. Especially hot on the heels of her revealing interview with Lance Armstrong. Somebody is making money. Otherwise, not a lot is going on this weekend. Anyway, that‘s all for now.

I took it easy yesterday and same for

for today, not much going on. Just the way I like it.

Tonight on Coast the topic under way is Occult programing many cases of multiple personality disorder are the results of occult programming and many have been harmed. Their guest Russ Dizdar, might have a valid point. I had over 15 years of experience in the occult. Luckily for me I was not involve in it in a full time basis. Some people that have been in it longer then me, came out ok and level headed. Others didn't. A colleague in my local outlet about my age group was one of the most "go-it-together" people knew. Russel was a friendly fellow. he had survival training and was a Vietnam draft dodger. Still might be where ever he is. Back in the early 1980's we had a very prominent leader. I'll call him Mac. Mac and entourage were from California and was on a Canadian tour. He graced us with his presence with a slide show etc. He actually initiated me int the 1st degree. It really was a magical moment that night in 1982. I actually had Mac over at my place where the party was held. So getting back to Russel,he kind of took it personal that Mac allowed rival branch of the order to host Mac's tour. So much so that Russell was never seen or heard from again. The whole branch of the Edmonton order imploded upon itself.There was a lot if infighting and bruised ego's. By 1995 it was all over here in Edmonton. The order is still going strong in other parts of the world. I'm still in contact with some people from those days on Face book. In 1992 there was a story in our local papers about some guy that looked familiar. "Hey,I know this guy." Apparently he suspected that his common law girlfriend was seeing people from the rival group and he got paranoid because he found bus tickets in her pocket after work. After a heated argument he snapped and he punched her in the face a few times, took a crowbar to her, tied her up and tossed her into his pick up truck and said to her that he was going to the bushes out in the west end of the city and leave the body! Oh it gets better. He drove his truck along the Yellow head heading West.The Yellow head is a busy 4 lane highway. His wife got scared and stood and rolled herself out of the tuck and onto the road. Seriously. Someone in another vehicle on the road managed to help this frantic woman out and began taking her to the hospital. I guess Russel saw all of this unfold in her review mirror and as the vehicle got ahead of Russels truck Russel tried to ram it. Apparently he gave up on this and after this story broke 2 days later he turned himself in to Police. In his impact statement he said something like "They say I'm schizophrenia, I don't even know what that means." Knowing Russell,I highly doubt that. So what has the above anecdote got to do with Coast 2 Coast show's this morning? Was this schizophrenia of his incubating like an accident waiting to happen? Today most practitioners of the occult are isolated seekers of occult lore. That's where the danger lies. Sure some like Russell above, slip through but for the most part people getting into this stuff have no idea what they're getting into. I got in because this was organized. It had a unified code of ethics as stated within it's nomenclature. It was run in a professional and orderly way, which is why it has existed since the days of the Golden Dawn in the 1800's. People involved in the occult today do it for ego or financial gain, or something else. There is no accepted  manifesto. Most people in the occult today are playing kids games. There's no discipline or structure. These "kids" dress in black trying to become "Satanists" or Aleister Crowley wannabees,without ever realizing that there's actual work to be done. Russell ended up getting 4 years in jail for beating his wife and other charges. I doubt he's even in the City any more.  

Moving along here. On CTV local news the public got a good look at what the LRT tunnels look like be fore the tracks and other finishing touches look like. The City is on pace and on budget to have the Nait line open for business in April of next year. It's quite a departure for the City's LRT line because the extensions have always been going from South bound. Now the LRT is branching North for a change:
  

 As noted above from across the Epcore tower built a couple of years ago. Here's another shot of crews working inside the tunnel. They use something called shotcrete to spray tunnel walls. Here's another photo taken today like the one above from CTV news:

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The other track is on the other side of where work crews are leaning over. Here's a link to the story: https://twitter.com/AmandaCTV

Other then that my only outing is going to be Saturday as I'm taking the LRT down to Corona station to get some brunch at Tim's and then walk a couple of blocks to Lodge and that's it.

There might be a new laptop in my immediate near future when I get my tax return. I'm looking at getting the Acer V5. I like the fact it has a 3 USB ports, 8Gig Ram, integrated mic and Windows 8. I'm considering the touch version but it's $200 more then without the touch version. I'd like to have a bigger hard drive but 500 GB is double what I already have. It's an i3 processor and at just under $600 its a significant upgrade. We'll see what happens in the Spring though.

Hollywood is really running out of ideas for movies. They have one out about the last Tsunami and now there's another one about the shooting of terrorist Ossama Bin Laden. It must be a slow year for movies. Thank God science fiction is carrying Hollywood again. I am though interested in seeing: G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 29)looks good, Iron Man 3 (May 3) Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17 Cant wait.) Man of Steel (June 14 Superman) Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8) There's 5 movies I want to see.I'm saving my Scene points (now at 2600) for Star Trek and Man of Steel. Anyway, that's about all for now.  
  

Earlier my wife had

a tech from Telus scheduled to come over Thursday but we figured out the aspect ratio was a product of the host remote control unit. We got our TV working fine now so we called to cancel.

This means I can head out Thursday to Scotia  to make a deposit and ordering a plug-in from Waves Factory. For $20.00 I can’t go wrong. Then over to RBC and then to Canada Place. I’ve been “cooped up” in here for a couple of days now.

I read this fascinating article on i09 on what it might look like for observers in a space ship looking out at space going at near light speed. You can read it here. These were physic students that did the study. The image showed a ball of white light with no stars around it. The article said it had something to do with the red shift and other things. As always in these i09 articles it’s the readers comments that are entertaining.

Last night the City was out there with their graders cleaning up windrows out here keeping me up until 4:30am. I finally got some sleep around 5-1pm. So, I’m hoping for a better nights sleep. There could always be updates through out the day. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

Unbeknownst to me at the

time the music scene in the lower mainland in 1965 was really happening. I was 13 years old in 1965 too young to be aware of this music scene other then what I heard on the radio. There was a club in New Westminster called the Groove yard, which was a teen/young adult dance (18-25-ish ) club. Before that it was called The Hollywood bowl  I even stumbled upon a YouTube video about this as well. Hard to believe the Groove yard was only a few doors down from where I lived in 1974, 9 years later on the same street acts like The Supreme's, The Epics, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, The Kingsmen, Paul Ravere and the Raiders and many others were performing there. Bobby Taylor later  helped the Jackson 5 to get a record deal as well. Now I'm not a huge R&B fan or anything but the Groove yard was the place for young people in the 1960's to be and I think even into the 1970's. For years I recall a club Gord and I went to a club called "The Gold Nugget." Or "The Golden Nugget,” I'm not even sure where that name "The Gold Nugget" or something like that came from. Maybe Gord said somethng like, "I know this club where we might get lucky. Maybe we'll get a nugget or something." Maybe no such club called the "Gold nugget" or whatever, even existed in New Westminster in 1974. But maybe it was called Groove yard club. I was 22 years old at the time. I seem to recall us walking West down 6th street by where the Crown Tower apartments are now. Or maybe it was walking down Carnarvon from my place 631 Carnarvon. That was almost 40 years ago. I didn’t even know the Groove yard club existed until just the other day and I was almost shocked when I read the address from this article: 759 Carnavon. The Groove yard (New Westminster as there was another club with the same name by the same promoter in downtown Vancouver) New Westminster is on the site of something today called “The Metro Hall.” It’s probably been a lot of businesses over the years. I tried checking Waite Global to see if there was any 1982 references to the Groove yard but most shots are too far away too zoom in on any detail. There is an email address for the site owner but it has a .de extension (German)  but I left a couple of comments on a YouTube. The last post was I think 8 months ago. I'll keep checking a couple of times a year to see if I get a reply.

I know, I've been down memory lane lately but it's all part of my master plan to find some closure in the gaps of my memory.  I did a bit more digging on this and "Burnaby Bands and East End Friends Reunion III" met recently May 29 2010 at the Metro Hall for a reunion. That must have been an awesome night. Now that I think about it the club Gord and I visited that night (1974/75) was the Groove yard. It had to be. The Groove yard closed in 1968 and then "Magilla's." When Gord and I went it was probably called Magillia's after 1968-74 because they had The Collectors played there and that was before Chilliwack. I might have heard of The Collectors while at the VGH in 1967-68. Radio was about my only friend in those days. 
   
I emailed someone from the Metro Hall (formally of the Groove yard, lets see if a get an answer. I got an update from Metro Hall but nothing substantial. There might have been a club called the Gold Nugget in New West at the time but I can't locate a reference for it. There doesn't seem to be a New Westminster Forum like our Connect 2 Edmonton here.

I also added 4 links to my growing list of links. I have Strategy & Tactics magazine, Warp 1, Sentry Box, Decision games. They publish S&T among other games etc. Anyway that's about all for now. 

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Im enjoying my time off

although trying to get a good nights sleep lately has been  hard too come by but I did manage to get a good 6 hours of sleep when I turned in about 5am this morning, uggh.

The only down side of next week is the Oiler's opening season isn't televised and the day my wife and her sister are heading out for a all day outing (opening game day this Sunday) but there are 2 TSN games next week and a CBC Saturday night game. Wu-who, NHL hockey is back! 

During my sleep this morning a memory surfaced. I recall how it was about 1972 just before mom moved to Edmonton with Jeff & Mike. I should have joined them but stuck around wanting to strike out on my own. Anyway, I was really into SPI war games and I had a 2 year subscription to Strategy & Tactics magazine at the time in the early 1970's. SPI is now owned out of Decision games and still going strong and publishing,which is nice to see. I'm thinking about ordering some of their back issues. Moving along here, I recall in my quest for finding war game opponents at the time a fellow I contacted in Vancouver. At the time I believe mom was just packing to move that week. So with nothing better to do my war gaming opponent and I set up a time and place for a first meeting. I recall I had to take a bus to get there as he lived in the Wellington Heights area not far from East Hastings, which East Hastings had a negative reputation of sorts at that time. When I got to the guys place I was immediately impressed with his huge war game collection. I stayed way past transit shut down time but I didn't care. I recall walking home early that morning through episodes of sporadic rain showers. A voice called out to me as I was walking home. A hooker in a doorway saying hello. I think I actually stopped to reply but declined her invitation. I think I said something like "I'm broke" and she looked at the rain around her and mumbled something like, "It doesn't matter." No way I wasn't going to get into anything like that. It was a long walk home. I must have wandered in about 2-3am before crawling into bed. I never did hook up with that guy for a game. I didn't play that many SPI games after that as I ended up being a sort of a official squatter in those days after mom left for Edmonton. I was squatting at the abandoned Barnet Bible Institute shortly after this but that's another story.

Not much on my plate for this afternoon. We had a bit of snow earlier and it's warming up out there. This evening is Monday night Raw so that should be fun.

Other then that, I'm engrossed in reading Stardoc #3 but I'm taking a break from the series as I still need to order books #7-10 but after this I want to get into reading The 2nd Space Wolves Omnibus.

Speaking about Warhammer 40k goodness, in my Black Library newsletter, they are now releasing what's called "Digital Monday's." BL is releasing something every Monday. This is a cool concept. I'm still looking at subscribing to their "Hammer & Bolter" e magazine. Anyway, that's about all for now.



 

Saturday was spent waking up

 around 10:30am managing my diabetes then going back to bed. I woke up about 12:30pm, still slightly groggy from the sleeping pill I take on the weekends as I haven’t been sleeping well lately since having no routine for the day.
 
Earlier I went and downloaded Google Drive and tried Google Docs.  it kind of works like Apples pages but Docs is more or less free I put in a paragraph about my feelings about the idol no more movement providing 2 links with the parragraphs and linked it to view privileges only. Works great. kind of works like Static pages did with my website. Also Drive I don't have to convert to Google Chrome to use it. I like Chrome on my laptop but XP for my Desktop.    

Earlier this evening I watched this great YouTube documentary on “When your Strange.” It was well done and lasted for about an hour and a half. I was 17 when Jim Morrison died July 3rd 1971. I enjoyed some of their hits even though, I wasn’t a fan or anything. Music for me in the 60’s and much of the 1970’s was something that was just, there. It wasn’t a part of my life back then until the mid 1970’s when the punk rock movement came out. I remember when the album “LA Woman” came out and I bought it. I have this image with the song in my head walking North along Clark Road passing Loughheed Mall. In 1971, our family was still living on Regan Ave (barely) I was working in the distribution/shipping area of the Columbia Newspaper at the time between Delestre Ave. and Loughheed Highway in that area. Watching this documentary brought back a lot of memories for me of the early 1970‘s.

The NHL lockout of 2012 is now, history. The owners have spoken and now the players have voted 98% in favour. Training camp begins today the season begins on the 19th for 48 games. The Oiler‘s first game is Sunday in Vancouver. I hope I get a chance to watch it. There‘s nothing better then (other then a new Doctor Who) to watch the Oiler‘s playing hockey on a Sunday. I hope in my next job I get Saturday and Sunday off.

One of my favorite channels is Space TV or "Space". More specifically, Canada's version of The Space Channel. As seen in the US. One of my favorite segments of Space,is a half hour daily program called "Inner Space." It's about their Space TV line up and science fiction in General. The 2 guys that host the show Ajay Fry, Cynthia Loyst and Teddy Wilson. Loyst I think is a latter addition to the show. I like Aja and Teddy, they work well together. It's a Monday-Friday program. They don't do much gaming but they do have interviews and get into the shows the network runs. Other wise its a great show.  
 
Ending off with television,I think tonight is the Golden Globes awards. Anne likes shows like this. Today, I‘m sleeping in reading and working on some of my tracks. It‘s going to be a laid back Sunday, just the way I like it. Anyway, that's all for today.

Other then a bit of

running around later this morning, my weekend is more or less open.

It's so cold out there right now, we've got ice crystals in the air or ice fog. Ice fog during winter isn't that unusual in the evening or overnight. I've seen it during the day a few times during my 35 years here but not many

Coast has another lame topic this evening: Human development. They're also talking about current events and constitutional rights. Some boring shows on this week. Coast has only one good show next week: UFOs & Covert Programs.

I was reading this fascinating article in i09 about the fate of the Vikings in Greenland. I recall when I was with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) here in Edmonton we had a few members in our Shire of Borealis that had Viking persona's. Ok getting back to the topic. The question is, what prompted the Vikings after 500 years in Greenland to finally move back to their mother country? Some speculate that it was disease or at the time of the 10th Century thee Vikings were mostly farmers as weather conditions back then were different then in recent years. So what made the Vikings leave Greenland? Was it disease? Trade? Or something else? Here's a link to the rest of the story. 

Not much going on at the moment, just reading watching a bit TV and some music production that sort of thing. It's going to be a lame weekend but I do have a few things going on. Anyway, that's about all for now.
 .         

Despite the cold spell coming in for the weekend

and this evening, I decided against going to Lodge this evening as I'm not known at this Lodge and instead I'll go to Lodge on the 19th at Commercial, where I am known. Besides it's a Saturday afternoon Lodge, I can run down to Tim's at Corona get a quick brunch and make my way over to Freemason's Hall by 1pm next weekend. That makes more sense to me. I can't justify to Anne visiting 2 Lodges but I can with 1. Besides Anne's got me running around late tomorrow morning/afternoon doing a bunch of banking and stuff is going to be too much in 2 days. 

 The City is out there with Bobcats and graders removing windrows piled up along street curbs. They hope to have the job done in a couple of days.  

Is anyone tired of this Gangnam Style thing yet? A year from now like all crazes, it'll be pass`. I appreciate the Dubstep qualities of this craze or whatever you want to call it. Very interesting. I like Deadpool's version of this better though.

This “idol no more movement” is increasing it's tempo. Now “First Nations” (FN) are preparing formal letters to have an audience with the Queen of England! There are two sides to this thing going on you can read one point of view read more. and here's another point of view you can read it here.        

I got another set of 4 Warhammer "Space marine Battles" books email notice that came in from Audrey's yesterday morning. My only outing this weekend and maybe a Wendy's as well. 

As for the NHL, the owners voted in favour of the deal now it's the players turn and most of them want to play anyway. If all things go according to plan, the NHL could drop the puck January 19th. I hope I get to watch an Oiler hockey game this month. That's be great. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I've got an easy day

today. I'[m home with Anne, I'm sleeping in late (noon) and it's going to be a reading type of a day. I'm going to do my CPP stuff Thursday.

I haven't heard anything yet from an old ASL friend of mine. We were supposed to get together but he hasn't given me his phone number or anything like that to set up a time and place. I'm hoping to get back into gaming ASL again. Saturday non Lodge days work for me but I miss playing this board game. My friend Andrew is a tough ASL opponent. No doubt he's been playing  I can't game at my place because he's allergic to cats. I see us gaming at his place from 2pm-9pm where I can get home by 10:30ish. Anne's got Face Time now so we can do "video conferencing." Except when I'm in Lodge of course. 

I'm still considering heading out to Saskatchewan #92 on Thursday. It's a Canadian Rite Lodge. Normally when I go to Lodge other then my own it's been Commercial, because it's a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon have a beer before or after lodge in the lounge. We don't usually open our festive board at our lodge until after our meeting. I like the idea of having a bit of libation before Lodge. Get a little buzz going before the meeting. Only problem with #92, is I'm not known there so there's nobody that can vouch for me.

 
The NHL is back, maybe. The deal needs to be ratified and then voted upon. It's hoped that when that happens (Wednesday) the copper and blue might (fingers crossed) be playing a 48 game season on the 19th of this month. There are way too many fans that are over reacting about this last lockout. Most of the players would rather be on the ice playing hockey rather then sitting it out in the board room or whatever. I for one am glad they're back. I hope. 

Tonight on Coast the topic is about Money Laundering/ Natural Remedies, uggh. Anyway, that's about all from me for today. 

First person point of

view SF book series don't come along that often. I think I have 2 series in the 10 volume range. Stardoc is one of them. Very enjoyable. 

In the wee hours of Saturday night Sunday morning the NHL/PA have made a tentative deal ending a 113 day lockout. The owners now have to vote on the deal, which will be on Wednesday and maybe a short training camp, the Oiler's could be back on the ice by the 19th of January! the game is back.

One of the big stories for me that came out of 2012 last year was how Disney had purchased LucasFilm Limited George Lucas selling to Disney. Also the promise of 3 more Star Wars movies over the next couple of years. I just hope that Disney doesn't "dumb down" the movies and keeps to the original concept and spirit Lucas put fourth in the original 3 movies

WTF? JK Rawlings might do a Doctor Who story? At least that's the rumor going around over there at i09. It's not just Rawlings but other authors as well and apparently there will be a anthology when its all said and done. If it happens. 

In my wake up email, I got my Black Library newsletter and   
BL is releasing an ebundle of all of their 2012 Warhammer 40k short stories. Now this might be something worth getting. I'd rather the short story collection be in Trade paperback form but what the heck. For $32 or whatever, its a pretty good deal. Anyway, that's all for now.