Monday morning as I was getting ready to leave

out of here, we got another blast of winter. It was like blizzard conditions out there but it was like a rain and snow mix that lasted through out the day. It wasn't overly cold or anything. 

On Coast the topics are space news and UFO's. I've been wanting to join the Coast insider's so I can listen to these shows on my commute.

The City of Edmonton has another big project in the works, which is part of the Alberta Association of the Arts. This going to be for all kinds of arts and it's slated to be a $850M project with private money already in place. It's slated to be open in 2017 with an office tower and 4 theaters. It's going to be an awesome project.   

I had a decent day on the job although it was slow going. We hired on a few other people and if it means evenings and weekends, that's ok with me. Anyway that's all for now.

The game just over

Vancouver 2 Oiler’s 7! At least they went out on a high note with Yakapov scoring a hat trick for his 17th. And that was half a season! The Oiler’s finish with 45 points putting them at 11th. What did them in this short season was goal tending and losing those 6 games earlier this month. They needed 56 points would have got them in, or 11 Points. The Oiler's finished 12th with 45 points. If they get a better goaltender in the off season and make some minor changes with a full season, they will make the playoffs next year. The playoffs will begin next week. I’m looking forward to them. The first round in the West will be: Chicago/Wild, Ducks/Wings, Vancouver/SJ, LA/St.Louis. In the East: Pittsburgh/Sens, Habs/NYI, Washington/NYR, Boston/Toronto.

On the job front we now got the option of doing our own scheduling from any computer at any time. I tried doing this from my computer on my station Friday but for some reason it wouldn't work. My time schedule has to be in by Tuesday.
Speaking about my job, I've been kind of worried whether or not I'm going to have any work once this current study is done in 3 weeks (which is why I'm reluctant to buy those studio monitors) My boss said that more then likely we'll have something after this but it's going to be a combination of days/evenings. Since we don't do any cold calling, I'm ok with that. Also, it will gice me a chance to sleep in if we do a 5-9 thing. It wont get me much money but there is my CPP, which I haven't applied for yet but that takes 4 months to process.    

I'm generally feeling good about the Oiler's this past season and the way they played. Other then that 9 game road trip in February and losing those 6 games earlier this month, for a shorten season, they did ok. They escaped the cellar for the first time in years and ended on a high note for the fans.I'm looking forward to the 2013-14 NHL season. In the meantime bring on the playoffs, lets go Canucks.

We need another 400 points so each of us can see another free first run movie. Next month Star Trek "Into Darkness"comes out and I'm looking forward to this. I'd like to go to West Edmonton Mall on my own pick up the latest White Dwarf magazine

This week not much is going on other then Lodge night on Thursday. That in itself is going to be an easy night. Then Friday and it's the weekend,again. . 

My favorite time of the week

is Friday night Saturday morning.

Not much going on this weekend. I'm mostly working on a Maschine track when I get up in the morning. 

I think Anne is going to record for us a Doctor Who episode. I didn't see the "haunted house"episode but this one looks pretty good. 

I'm going to be watching the Oiler's last game of this short season later on about 8pm. I'm cheering on Vancouver Canucks after this. I'd love to see 2 Canadian teams in the playoffs.

Weather wise today we got up to +18* and that makes it the first time this year we're finally hitting seasonal temperatures. Anyway, that's all for now.

It was on this day

Friday April 25th 1980, was a huge turning point in my life. It was when I discovered "the Occult." (Insert Twilight Zone theme music here) Now I wasn't your typical practitioner of the mystic arts. I didn't do drugs, or had aspirations of being a Aleister Crowley wannabe as many of my peers. Yes, I went through the 4  OTO initiations and had been to many events but after our local Lodge imploded in 1995 my interest went with it. I initially got involved in the occult because I was trying to help a friend of mine from getting involved. She had got out of it early and I stayed in it for 15 years. I had some good times a few laughs and I don't regret my experiences. It took me a long time to realize that Thelema was/is a cult. I think I outgrew it but there were  some good people that are still around that I don't see anymore and many of them like me might still be in it if our local Lodge hadn't gone the way it did because of all the in fighting. Eighteen days after that first encounter with Thelema, it was suggested I began a "magical diary"of sorts.This diary became my daily diary and then my blog. I still write in my daily diary and open with Thelemic greetings and closings. There are some parts of Thelema that I miss like the Gnostic Mass. I never made any friends with these people as I made sure to keep this at arms reach. These people were colleagues,nothing more. So this is why April 25th (this Friday) means so much to me. 

I'm glad it's Friday because its the weekend. I've got some hockey to watch,music Smackdown. I'm hoping for a quiet weekend. Anyway, that's all for now.

Yesterday was ok. Not

 notable but ok. It was just a day into work in and out. We had a bit of a meeting for about an hour, which was very informative just before lunch and that kind of broke up the day a bit. I thought about going over to Rexall Drugs post office for another Visa gift card to order another plug in but I forgot my other gift card I still had funds on it. Instead I just wanted to get home and relax. I cared nothing about the Chicago/Oiler game. I watched a bit of it but I knew the Oiler’s were to lose and they did 4-1. They are where the Leafs are and if that’s any indication The Oiler’s wont be in the playoffs for another 3-4 years yet. I’d love to see an all Canadian team in the finale but yesterday was what I call lame. I didn’t even go to the library but I’m calling them tonight.

 So NASA's rover drew a penis on Mars Intentional or no, this is pretty funny. Don't even pretend like you're above it. Because you're not. I admit I had to do a double take but it’s pretty funny. You can read about it here

At least it warmed up today. On the way home even though it ws overcast, it was still nice outside about +11. Except in shadowed areas most of our snow is gone.

Canada Post is about to decide it’s future to save money. It’s no secret that Canada Post’s very existence is threatened by technology. Some of their proposals have been to reduce service to 3 days/week and or stop home delivery by installing community mail boxes and of course massive layoffs. It’s a move to save billions of dollars over the next few years. 

Update: After work I went over to Audrey’s and got thalassic the “Space Marine Battles” and a “Horus Heresy” on what was left over from my Visa gift card. I went into Rexall a block down and after standing in line for 5-10 minutes, I asked if they could check on the balance of the card and there was just under $11. Plenty for a Subway next door. I got the 6“ chicken club. It was ok. The best part of this was I didn’t have to break into my cash here at home or my funds in my bank. Anne had to take $20 to pay for my Internet tablet out of my Scotia account. I walked up to Corona and headed down to the LRT platform and caught my train to Clareview and the bus home. It’s +16 out there now. I called the main branch of the Edmonton Public Library somewhat was going on with my account and I was able to login ok. So, I guess it’s ok now. Other then that, I have almost 4 hours to myself so it’s time to unwind here. Anyway that’s about all for now.

Not a bad day for a Monday

despite the Oiler's losing and officially out of the playoffs, again. If they can continue losing, and if Denver and Nashville can win their next 3 games and we lose our next 3 the Oiler's could be last in the West (again) and tied with Florida for the #1 draft pick. At this stage in the game I'd rather see them get a chance for #1 then being in 10th place. The Oiler's got a better chance the #1 draft pick then winning the next 3 games. If the Oiler's picked #1 they'd get Seth Jones a D. He's a good player but there's a lot of guys like that in the Oiler's system. I hope we get Jonathan Drouin from Halifax Mooseheads. He's got 41 goals this year.What we really need is a good goaltender like what Phoenix has. 
  
Some good shows coming up on Coast this week: There's a couple of UFO shows and one on JFK witnesses. We're a week late watching Doctor Who episodes but the on e we watched Sunday before the haunted house show was a bit on the lame side.   

Not a lot going on this week except going to the Library to see what's up with my library card.I'm doing that Wednesday. Anyway, that's all for now.

Sundays

I had a great evening last night. I managed to work on Maschine and I got it to work with my hand held mic by changing the sample rate and the Asio settings. It’s not as good as a condenser mic with a pop filter in a treated room but in changing the sample rate I got rid of a lot of static.

Yesterday here in Edmonton, local pot smokers got together for their annual smoke in or whatever it’s called. I smoked pot maybe once in my life. It never did anything for me. Still doesn’t.

Apparently the powers that be are mulling over a tax on the use of using plastic saying that merchants are losing about 10% on transactions being made every time at the point of sale someone needs to uses a credit card or a bankcard. The Bank of Canada will make the decision by the end of the week. The ramifications of this could be huge. Namely I feel it will impact the economy in an adverse way and perhaps slow it down. It also means that those Scene rewards points wont be worth much if there is a 10% surcharge on every time consumers use plastic. If that‘s to stop people from using them, banks will see their profits dwindle and that‘s another aspect to consider. It‘s not going stop the use of plastic all together if the decision to do this goes ahead. We’ll know by the end of the week what’s going to happen here. Maybe it will only apply at the till. So for example if the consumer wants to use plastic to pay for anything online, it wont affect it. I can still use my bank card online by paying for that book at Audrey’s and then going down to pick it up. That type of a thing for specific. It smacks of another tax grab. 

Speaking about music earlier in this post vinyl records were in the news again. Yesterday was international record store day. I bought many vinyl albums back in the day. The first album I ever bought I think was in 1971, when I could afford to by music but the first 45 I ever bought was The Beatles “She loves you” but remastered cds and dvds sound a lot better to my ear but you feel you actually got something for your money. Vinyl sales have gone up as well, in 2006 vinyl sales accounted for something like $36M. Today they are selling something like $171M. The last time vinyl had sales like this, Bill Clinton was President. The last vinyl album I bought was in 1988: Kansas “Power.” I remember it vividly buying it here in Edmonton Woodward’s to be exact.

Not much going on today and that’s the way I like it. I’m going to work on my music and do some Lodge memory work, have brunch watch Doctor Who and the Duck’s/Oiler’s game check my email watch the news have dinner and go to bed. I‘m working all week 9-5pm all week. The only thing pressing is to go to the library check why my un and pw are not working properly. Anyway, that‘s about all for now. 

I had a good day yesterday

despite this crappy weather.

Finally, it took a game away from the Rex but the Oiler's won in Denver 4-1 Oiler's. Even though the Oiler's are out of the playoffs they can still play for conference position. If they can finish 9th and a point away from a playoff spot,I'd say that was a good but short season. Hall and Eberle could get 20 goals.

Not being all that well,I booked off for the rest of the afternoon and headed for home. Anne had something similar to what I got and after she called in she stayed home with me this evening.   

I was going to go to Commercial but I'm still not well and I was out the other night besides, I really want to go to their 100th celebration. That's the big one.

It looks like state officials and the FBI caught the younger brother of the 2 brothers responsible for Monday's Bombings of the Boston marathon. But the I think it was the mother of the brothers that said, they had no motive. But their behavoir up to this point doesn't exactly bode well to support that notion. 

In doing some BC transit research history this morning I came across a huge LRT project that's going on called the Evergreen line which when completed in 2016 will connect to the existing Millennium line. It's all automated but it's on the outskirts of Coquitlam. It doesn't pass through the heart of Coquitlam By that I'm referring to Blue Mountain Road/Austin/Como Lake road. Most of the Evergreen line is serviced by bus anyway If they had this as a kid in the 1960's I might not even know it existed as we never got out to downtown New Westminster that much except maybe twice when they had a bicycle museum there and when dad paid a visit to the union hall now known as local UFCW 1518. I have a fragment memory in the car waiting on a sunny day as dad gave me a bag of bbq chips. I recognized the back end of the building from Google maps. When that memory came to me I used to think that there was a bar there and there might have been one on that location in those days. I thought dad was going in to have a drink but in all reality if that had been a union hall at that time, dad might have been going there to check up on a job. I have no idea how old I was. So those were about the only 2 times I can remember ever being in downtown New Westminster as a child. At the corner of Como lake/Clarke road there was Super Value food chain. Similar to Safeway. Mom used to get groceries there and if this Evergreen line was there in 1964 I would have been slightly aware of it. I'm sure this new line will help some people but for the majority of folks in Coquitlam this doesn't help much because you still need a bus to get from central Coquitlam to the Millennium line. In looking at this now, it reminds me of a make work project and it's going to be an eye soar in some places. If the train was at grade fine but it's on a pillar type system similar to what Calgary has to their west end. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Yesterday I could barely talk but I ended up with

2 completions. I don't know how well I'm going to do this evening. 

Coast has a great show on tonight I can really relate to: Occult Trends & Predictions Director of the Institute for Hermetic Studies, Mark Stavish, is a life-long student of philosophy and mysticism.He'll discuss what he describes as the death of the New Age movement post 2012, the trend of Wicca practitioners turning to more powerful and sometimes frightening rituals of witchcraft,as well as his predictions for changes in social trends based on astrology.

Yesterday I had a nap when Anne left for work at 3:30pm. I spent most of my time night doing memory work. I'm about 95% but this cold might get in the way. I also worked on a track using Maschine,watched a few Hogan's Heroes episodes on YouTube etc. I had a decent evening. Before I left at work yesterday the Supervisor said if I come into work this morning sounding like I did when I left, she hinted that I might get sent home. I'm only in for half a day this morning. Personally, I wouldn't the day off to recover. 

This was in i09 today: If you text a lot, you are probably also a racist and shallow. People who write 100 or more text messages a day tend to be "less reflective," and more likely to exhibit prejudice against minority groups. Those are the puzzling findings of a three-year longitudinal study in here in Canada. Read… 

 Okay, when Disney bought Lucas film they said they would bring out a new movie every 3 years. Even then my initial reaction was QC better be working overtime. Then today it was announced that Disney wants to turn out Star Wars movies much like the same frequency as the Marvel movies. Translation: Disney is going to milk this franchise for all its worth.   

Last month we lost Stompin Tom Conner's. I was never a fan. He was Canada's version of Johnny Cash. Yesterday we lost Rita McNeil. I don't know much about her except she was from Nova Scotia. My wife being from NS is a huge fan.
Anyway,that's about all for now.

Story of my life:

I have "some heavy lifting" to do Thursday night and what do I get? A nice sinus cold to complicate matters and it's too short notice for me to find somebody to take my place. I can't get out of it. I'll be shaky as I'm about 70%. I've got tonight, with no interruptions to "polish" off what I know.

I booked off early yesterday and got some Sinus medication at the Baker Centre and I was going to get a Canada Post gift card to order a product from "Twisted Toys" that make third party ensembles for Native Instruments Reaktor as part of my Komplete 8 package. The clerk said the gift cards are being revamped. I was about to go home so at the corner across the street from Audrey;s I decided to get another Warhammer 40k book,11/12 of the "Space Marine Battles." I was talking about the Visa gift cards at the Baker Centre with my book ordering fellow and he said there is a Canada Post in Rexall at the end of the block. Ok. I decided to pop in anyway and they had the new Canada Post Visa cards. Great. I picked one up and headed back to Audrey's on my way to Corona station to let him know. "Hey thanks man, they have them there and they are the new ones." I felt good about that and went to the train platform and waited for my train home. On my ride home I did some memory work for my part tomorrow. 

Anne was still sleeping but got up to go make that bottle run she was going to do. i ordered my product but had a bit of trouble as my download didn't appear. I inquired about it and TT fixed me up right away.   

I was to busy enjoying that, memory work and watching YouTube "Hogan's Heroes" episodes to watch the Wild/Oiler's game. The Oiler's dropped their 6th loss as their playoff hopes dwindle. I got a feeling they're about to go on a winning streek over the next 5-7 games. 

Not much going on though today and not much in the world of Sci-fy or the strange. However I discovered this from the Coast website: On this date in 1866, a leaking crate of nitroglycerin in San Francisco exploded, leveling a Wells Fargo office and all surrounding buildings. And on this day in 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic effects of LSD. Anyway, that's about all for today.

It's been an interesting couple of days

first of all by now, most of the world has heard about the Boston marathon Bombings. Despicable. Most likely those responsible will come forward or the FBI will expose the ones responsible. 

Since Sunday night I've been having sinus problems and all day today. Hopefully they'll go away by Thursday night but in the meantime, it's causing me some grief.  

One of my favorite topics is the sinking of the Titanic. Check in my "Topics" section.  

 A few years ago I thought about writing a paranormal/historical fiction/romance novel about the Titanic and I used the above book for research. I never wrote the story. It's not that good of a picture,sorry about that.

So, the Edmonton Oiler's fired Oilers finally fire Steve Tambellini, name Craig MacTavish new GM. I knew the move was coming when Mac T was brought on board. Other then Glen Sather Craig MacTavish won more games then any other coach in Oiler history. This was a good move in my opinion. Anyway, that's all for today. 

For a Sunday evening

leaving out of here last night was like a weekday. Transit time wise that is. I got to the Lodge shortly before 7pm. One of the semi retired guys was nice enough to drive me home. 

 A Second Higgs Boson? Physicists Debate New Particle of another Higgs Boson. At least they'll have something to compare the one discovered last March. Now if we can only figure out what to do with it? Read the story here:

What's the matter with these celebrities and their off the cuff comments? Case in point Justin Beiber saying that if Anne Frank were alive today she “would have been a Belieber” — or fan of his — if history were different. I don't think he meant to insult anyone intentionally or anything. But it's just like these whacky politicions that can't keep their comments to themselves but it's okay they can say what they want right because there's no onus of responsibility. 

The only down side to this weekend besides the lousy weather was Anne telling me that Boot's has worms making it sound like a life sentence or something. So now that's another issue to contend with. It was actually warm in the Sun waiting for my bus to take me to Clareview station last night.

Anyway, tonight it's wrestling and I've got a bit of memory work to do if I want to be ready for Thursday. I'm about 6% of the way there. Anyway,that's about all for now.

This weather has been

getting me down lately and that's saying a lot because not much gets to me. After decades of doing telemarketing I've developed a thick skin and an abundance of patience with people. However I'm losing patience with this weather here in central Alberta. We have been for the last 10 days or so way below seasonal by at least 10 degrees. 

The way the Oiler's played last night, they deserved the loss they got. My teeth (or what little I have of them left) have been bothering me and I've got the makings of a soar throat and lodge later this evening and Thursday. So with this crappy weather the Oiler's playing like shit,I've had better weekends then I'm having now. Its not a lack of funds or anything I'm ok in that department. It's just everything else is pissing me off.

And I thought after getting my library card after work Friday and that nice Wendy's baconator after work, I'd have a good weekend. At least I have a cold beer here and hey life isn't so bad. 

On the news last night the end story had to do with a Roman archeological dig in London. At a construction site in the city workers began discovering more remains of an ancient Roman London. This is where the original city was when it was called Londondinum. At that time the City had about 60,000 inhabitants on about 360 acres of land and thriving port some 2,000 years ago before the Iceni led by their queen Boudica. Anyway, that's all for now.   
 .

Yesterday after work

I went out and got my free library card. What I like about it is that it gives me access to the Edmonton Public Library’s data base. I got it mostly for Anne to download music and stuff.

I09 is asking: What's the absolute worst space movie ever made? What is the very worst movie about space adventures? Weigh in below! Please make sure to include a picture of your choice. Read here. Personally the worst space movie ever made was “Starship Troopers,” and I thought “Saturn 5” was bad. Some think that. “Ice Pirates” pretty bad:


But I kind of liked it. I also liked “Buck Rogers in the 23rd Century.”

By now almost everyone has heard of “Bitcoin” the virtual currency. It’s a cashless system not controlled by any bank. This last week Bitcoin made the news because it was hacked by speculators trying to drive down Bitcoin’s value and fearing a “Bitcoin bubble” as a result. Some interesting points though about Bitcoin: Is it legal? Can it be enforced in any jurisdiction? Bitcoin on the other hand are not issued by any Government or Central bank and Bitcoin transactions do not go through banks or clearing houses. Bitcoin is an encrypted currency and now has a worldwide circulation worth of $1.4B. But Bitcoin’s book is still in chapter 1 and bitcoin has it’s challenges, such as disputes etc. I don’t know enough about Bitcoin to invest in them but they are interesting. 

Will we ever have Spring? Even now we’re expecting to have about 10cm of snow on the ground by this time tomorrow as it’s snowing right now all day today and all day Sunday. In all my 35 years here in Edmonton I’ve never seen April like this before.

Tonight I’m watching the Flames/Oiler’s game and having a cold beer and being a couch potato for most of tomorrow night. Then I have  Lodge practice Sunday night. 


One of my favorite comedians of the 60's Johnathan Winters has passed away. He was in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and recorded many comedy records. He died at the age of 87 of natural causes.

Not a lot going on this weekend and that’s just the way I want it. I’ve got some memory work to tackle for my Lodge this up coming week and I’ll be glad when its this time next week. I’ll be focusing on my lodge stuff this week. Anyway that's all for now.