I had a pretty good Friday but

next Friday night I'll be working and missing Friday night Football

Speaking of which I picked a tie game on my Proline Hamilton/BC. The outcome was 26-29, tie game Sunday it'll be Winnipeg/Riders in a Labor Day weekend classic. I picked that game to tie as well. Then game 3 after Anne and I come back from our little outing: Edmonton/Calgary and I picked that to tie (Edmonton to win) if I win, its enough for a PS3 and a game/s worth of winnings and makes up for any Proline losses this year and then some. My ticket is alive, for now.

There's been some interest in the moon lately. Firstly China plans on launching a rover on the moon by the end of this year. Even Canada wants to do something with the moon and then there's the Google lunar X-prize. There was a news item earlier about how shadows in craters on the lunar surface might contain frozen water. There are a lot of weird moons in our solar system, but ours is probably the weirdest. For one thing, it's really big. It's practically a planet in itself, fromi09 read here.

Down memory lane: I got to thinking about my days in grade school from 1960-1972. I missed a year and a half because of my back operation. But I was in a slow learners curriculum called "Occupational." Kids would call us "Occ's." I got bullied a bit. My parents were aware of this and unlike the other kids in my family I got moved to a different school just about every year. I went to 7 different schools within 10 years. It was hard to get any one-on-one help from my teachers because I would have to be moved all the time. Why invest in a child like that that has to move every year? I never asked my parents why I had to move so much. I doubt it was because they didn't have the program but because I didn't fit in. I day dreamed a lot and my attention span was low. I don't think it was my parents. I think it was the teacher's that said it would be better off to move me to another school. I just went with the flow. It was hard to get to know any kids even in the area. I had 1 friend growing up. I didn't have any interests or hobbies until latter on as a teenager I liked music, wargaming and comic books. I couldn't join any school clubs like band, art or drama but that was so far removed from my consciousness. If I had any friends I might have picked up their interests. Next week I'm going to be getting my grade school transcripts just to see what kind of marks I got. Do I really want to know?      

I got a notice from Audrey's that my 5 book/cd order is in. I got a couple of David Weber Omnibus books and I think there are 3 new "Space Marine Battle's" books in hard cover and hopefully soon in Trade. I'll pick one of them up when I get my Visa gift card to pay for my transcripts before work Tuesday. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

Our service provider went and grouped their channels

so all of our favorite channels have been moved around now. Space was on 174 now it's on a 4 digit higher number and all the other channels have been moved around to accommodate groups. It'll get some getting used to.

Earlier on the news under the section called "trouble shooter," a local man noticed that he was being charged .15% on gift cards. He bought a $15 iTunes gift card and was surprised there was a charge. There shouldn't be. I bought a $15 iTunes gift card just last month. I should check into that next time. No gst on gift cards.

It was on this day 1978 35 years ago that I got word my UI cheque was transferred to the TD bank at Grandin Mall. I recall getting a bus at Westmount and heading to Saint Albert. I recall how hot and humid it was like today. The cheque I recall was $149. I remember receiving it and they cashed it for me. That was a lot of money back then but that was the 1st week of my new life. Hard to believe I was just 26 years old.  

Some more details on the SE/W Mill Woods LRT decision yesterday. The project isn't cancelled, just on hold. It was a unanimous decision from council yesterday to delay the project until they got all the funding in place. Once the funding is in place they can then put the project up for tender. Public consultations are still going forward as the Design phase gets closer to the Build phase. Next public consultation is Wednesday September 18, 2013. The SE/W LRT line from Mill Woods to Lewis Estates (past West Edmonton Mall) will cost $3.2B, add $60-$80M every year the project is delayed. It will take all 3 levels of Government to fund 1/3rd of the project. The City of Edmonton (coe) has earmarked $800M plus a possible $235M from Ed Stelmach's old "GreenTRIP" public transit fund. That's our 3rd. We need $2B. The Feds said they'd help out with $255M but that means they still need to put in $750M. With the June flooding that alone will cost about $5B and the Feds said they'd pay for most of that. Yet in 2015 there's a Federal election coming up and if the Liberals or NDP get in we might as well write the SE/W project off but that's just my opinion. So far no money has come forward from any level of Government. November 20 to determine how to proceed on the project. I hope they have enough money for stage 1 Mill Woods City Centre. We wouldn't have to be under the P3 rules and we can build it under our own rules but we'll have to wait and see.

Wednesday was a decent day

as I'm at Clareview riding into work. At Churchill the ticket police were out in fill force asking for proof of payment. I got off of Corona about 11:20am and into Tim's for a breakfast sausage sandwich and a couple of hash browns. I got into the office with enough time to enjoy my breakfast my file was on my desk and I was determined to get my 3 hours. I actually had a decent afternoon with it as well. Very productive on my end. We had a nice little gab session with some of the staff and my boss over Syria. So after that I left the office with a good idea of my hours for next week. I think we're back to normal hours. 

So outside I noticed my office building this guy was unfolding one of those portable bikes. I'm kind of leaning towards getting one like it and he was nice enough to show the features to me. I want to get one that folds in towards the bike chain. His folded the other way. He told me he knew the bike I was talking about. It's very light and it can be folded inwards placing the chain between rear and front tires and can be put into a back pack. My problem with me and my weight I'd probably wreck the damn thing. Even with our climate here Edmonton I can still ride it from April-November, which is a good 7 months a year. Its a very expensive bike about the cost of a Mac Pro computer. A bit over the top for me I'm afraid.

The weather was hot and muggy yesterday afternoon my friends. So here I am happy to be on my way home on the train and about to get off at Clareview but something felt wrong. I left my bus pass holder as seen here I wear around my neck in the office.

it has a pouch as you can see that I put my lottery/Proline tickets, cash, my bank cards etc. As you can see it has my house keys and of course my bus pass. I realized because of the detraction in the office before I left I for got the above. So I headed downstairs to look for the ATM thinking I could just withdraw some cash right and I'd be ok. Wrong, guess where my bank card is. I went upstairs to the bus platform and the driver was just coming to his bus and I told him my story and he was nice enough to give me a transfer back downtown. I knew it was going to be in my desk draw where I left it and I got upstairs and opened the draw and there it was. I made my presence know and my boss said my wife just called as I came in 30 seconds ago. I called her back in the private unused phone room and explained. This has happened before from my last company. My boss asked why I came back to the office. I made some half baked excuse and left feeling embarrassed and a bit relived. I didn't want my boss to think I was a nut case or something. 

I got home an hour and a half latter and Anne  just laughed at me but she said next t ime instead of leaving the buss pass in that draw put it in my back pack. Good idea, Like that's going to happen again. 

On a bit of a sad note yesterday some bad news other then me not winning the 6/49. City Council decided to wait until they get the other 3rd of the funding for the Valley Line LRT

before they can go ahead. We got some funding earmarked funding from P Canada of about $250M but we need the other 3rd which is about $560M from the Province and the Feds and the June flooding kind of the deciding factor against the project moving forward. I mean with the flooding in Southern Alberta is a lot more important then a LRT project in Edmonton. At least Redford has got her priorities on the right track, pardon the pun. We'll get the money alright but it'll probably come in the form of a 2016  Provincial election campaign carrot then anything else. We could have gone into debt but that's not a good idea as well what with this being a civic election year, I just hope the next City Mayor has the vision as Mr. Mandel had. If nobody in the next City council has then the 2017 Civic election will be this next Mayor's last. He/she will be a one term Mayor. In the meantime we have the Nait line coming online in 2014 in April. The Oiler's get their new arena (possibly) in 2016. The Mill Woods line could get under way in 2016 immediately after the next Provincial election, in which case the first half will be online in 2020. If Anne and I are still together 7 years from now, I'll be 68. Yikes! It might get built before I pass away. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Yesterday afternoon I went down to Canada Place

and got my business done. I should get my first cheque November 1st, if its accepted. I hope there are no snags. They've also got a accessible job bank there as well, which might be an option for the future. 

US President Obama is poised to launch cruise missile attacks at various military targets in Syria. I don't know if this is a wise move. I'm thinking maybe impose sanctions on Syria's allies would be a better deterrent. 

I'm slowly recovering out of Zombie mode from the other day. It's kind of like "caffeine hangover," even yesterday when I was out I felt the left over effects. More then likely its a form of dehydration. Vitamin B is supposed to help.

I'm thinking of closing my Facebook account because of the "People you may know," bar under the header. Since Facebook is tied to ones email address I'm considering another Facebook page. See if this gets rid of the problem. I'll just post a link to my new Facebook page

Anyway, I'm in for 3 hours today and off until I think Tuesday. So I've got 5 days off. I don't know how much more of these short shifts of these my budget can take. More substantial hours might be available after the weekend. 

This first week is critical on a couple of levels: Mainly my hours and the other my Lodge. I need one chair to fill but I have options until elections. Anyway, I'm up at 10am this morning out the door 10:40am and into work from 12-3pm. At the  moment I'm taking it day by day. That's how market research is. It wasn't like my other job where I knew every week I'd get 37.5 hours in guaranteed. Anyway, that's about all for now.  
 

My wife thinks I was suffering from

dehydration but thirst was not an issue and I'm not even sure dehydration was what this is. Maybe it was caffeine overload. It's still there but I slept for about an hour after Monday night Raw and I have a cup of "sleepy time tea"for over night.

Over this last weekend Jessie Marcel Jr passed away. For those that don't know Marcel Jr. was the son of Jessie Marcel who was one of the surviving witnesses of the Roswell case apparently Jessie's father had brought into his house artifacts that a young Marcel Jr. was able to touch and examine. He said there was a piece of metal with hieroglyphs of unknown origin but the case is well documented all over the net.

Today I'm out of here about 11pm and take the LRT down to Churchill Square for Canada Place I've got some business to take care of there. Anyway, that's about all for now.

After Anne came back from Wallnart

with my over the counter-diarrhea-relief solution we had supper and watched the news. After that I basically worked out my weekend. Prior to this I was exhausted and I went to bed about 1am. Even Coast had a great show on Conspiracy theories. I tossed and turned all night. About 5:30am I decided to watch Turner Classic movies and I can usually pass out on the couch, no problem but they had a great movie I hadn't seen before: "Guns of Timberland." It had Allan Ladd and introducing Frankie Avalon. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it a lot and then tried for bed. It was like I overdosed on caffeine. I was in and out of bed feeling awful. I think I got about an hour's worth of sleep. 

I'm glad I have a short day of it this afternoon and back around 5pm for Supper and wrestling. Anyway that's all for now.

Its been a hot one this afternoon

evening.

The topic on for Coast overnight is survival. Not one of my favorite topics but I like to catch any of the "other" news they have on just at the beginning of the first hour but Wells unlike Noory doesn't cover a lot of this sort of thing.

The BC/Al's game Friday night, I never thought it would be a tie game because the Al's were so hungry for a win at home and they got it 38-39 for a Proline tie. Then last night Stamps/Argo's. It would have been an Argo's win except Ricky Ray got injured and had to be put on the sidelines. That was the momentum shift Calgary needed. This game was hyped as a Grey Cup rematch from last year. Calgary won 35-14. I forgot about the significance of the game. Then the double header today. Winnipeg/Hamilton. 14-37 for the home team. I called that one right. Then the Riders/Esks game and the Esks held the lead twice on the 1 yard line Esks football to take us into the lead late in the fourth quarter. The coach took our young quarterback Mike Riley out of play thinking back up Qb had this. Then after the ball is snapped the ball is fumbled then recovered. They should have gone for a field goal to tie the game at 30. Instead of going for the field goal they take the replacement Qb out insert Mike Riley and he spots his man in the end zone, the ball is tossed and it's picked off! Riders have possession and wind the clock down. Another Proline tie! Riders 30-27. Up next is the labor day classic and we got Friday Hamilton/BC. Sunday Winnipeg is at Saskatchewan, Monday its Edmonton/Calgary. Tuesday Montreal/Toronto. I'll be working up until 7pm so I'll miss that game. The labor day classic is the unofficial mid way part of the season. 

This summer was so short and NHL training camp for the Edmonton Oilers is right around the corner. September 14th. 

That's enough of sports.

I'm not a great fan of the Batman franchise. I liked the first 4 movies. I didn't see the Christopher Nolan series yet. So now Ben Affleck has been selected as the new Batman in the 2015 Batman/Superman movie. There's a lot of buzz about this, to which I say...meh. My response to the hoopla of Ben Affleck.

Seems that Obama is going to make a decision about Syria and about their use of chemical weapons on their own people. Obama wont do anything because Syria has Russia in they hip pocket. Syria can basically do what ever it wants. if Russia backed Iraq to the extent it does Syria then the war in Iraq never would have happened. Just my opinion

Fan expo in Toronto's last day is tomorrow and it looked like a good one. We get our own fan expo here in Edmonton September 28-29. It's not as big as the one we had last year. This year, Garrett Wang of Star Trek Voyager will be there. Christopher Lloyd. and a bunch of others I'm not familiar with. It's a stripped down version of last years event but for $20 bucks it's not a bad deal but there's nothing special for yours truly. I probably wont be going.

I took a sleeping pill before bed early this morning and other then waking up to pee the odd time, the pill really zonked me out. I remember up about 8:30am to use the bathroom and I passed out right after that and woke up at about 12:40pm. I like to wake up about 10am on a Saturday. Anyway that's all for now.

Just for the record

I'm not gay but I'm not going to come out and bash gay people because they are, it's their business. A bit of a rant coming up. The only problem I have with gays is this preoccupation every year to hold a Pride parade. I know why they have it. I don't understand why they need to have a parade every year to celebrate they're sexuality. Last year when I was working on a hot Summer Saturday afternoon I watching the Pride parade on my way to Corona station to get the LRT for home. I made eye contact with someone on a float and I gave a thumbs up. As I left I heard someone behind me say the F word in my direction. That's just a sample of hateful people in this world and the cretins we have that can't let others different then them live in peace. Your Gay, so what and if anyone says you can't do this or be this because your gay, is not what I'm about. In Russia they have a zero tolerance policy for their gay people. That's not a country I'd like to live in. Our country is inclusive of every religion and sector of our society. If my gay friends are persecuted I'll stand shoulder to shoulder and support them in anyway I can. I thank God I was born in this country.

I found this story in today's i09. A Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed a medieval bronze ring that might have been used for political murders some 700 years ago. You can read about it here.

Yes, I know. I had the Al's to win on my Proline ticket and in a real thriller, they won based on a field goal at the last second: 38-39! I needed the Al's to win but by more then 3 points. I've got another chance to redeem myself as tonight it's Calgary at Toronto, maybe I should pick them to tie. The Argo's might win 34-37, that's a tie Proline win. I'm going to pick all ties. Better odds as well, better payout.

Thanks to Coast For this: On this day in 565, the Irish monk St. Columba is said to have made the first sighting of the Loch Ness "monster." I'm surprised the monk wasn't executed for witchcraft for reveling his assertion. The monk was probably staying at Urquhart Castle.

I was going to go into Canada place this afternoon but we have to give Sporty his fluids before Anne leaves for work. He took them well yesterday. When the bag is gone he should be ok. I'm up about 10am to go down to the Superstore get my Proline ticket for the last 3 CFL games this weekend and maybe a bag of chips as well. Minimum games on a CFL Proline ticket is 3. 

Uh-oh another rant. "What's he going on about this time?" There's a movement in Quebec that's trying to ban all forms of religious head gear such as hijabs, turbans and kippas. The rational is to separate religious groups based upon what they wear so that they are Quebecker's first and religious supporters second. A lot of businesses don't allow t-shirts with sports logos, or mussel shirts, that sort of thing. They have a dress code. I don't agree with it this kind of behavior. If someone wants to wear a turban so what? Their not trying to convert anyone. The worst offenders of that behavior are Christians, especially people that have bibles at their desk. So now Quebec Premier Pauline Marois is looking into it, yeesh. Can we hold another referendum on Quebec separation please? It's been known to happen. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Its a Sunny Wednesday morning and Im in the office for a easy

3.5 hours this morning and home for 4.5 days! It's kind of  nice this way because I get a bit of a break in the summer.

The ground for the Oiler's downtown arena has been broken and infrastructure is being prepared. Its supposed to open for the Oiler's 2016 season. The Nait LRT line is directly behind the arena. Here's a short artists video of what the arena and district should look like: 

So the cop that shot the kid in downtown Toronto is out on bail. By the time he gets to trial it could take a couple of years. The court of public opinion however is still fueled by anger and is not going to let this one go.

After work:

On my Proline this morning I picked:

BC Lions

Montreal Alouettes

Calgary Stampeders

 

Toronto Argonauts W

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

  

Hamilton Tiger-Cats W

Saskatchewan Roughriders

 
Edmonton Eskimos W

Bold= Win

If I win, the winnings could buy me 2 cases of beer and 3 Warhammer 40K books! It's almost as good as sex, almost.

I put in a few hours on the job this morning. I might as well enjoy the time off while I can as after the labor day weekend I'm going to be busy. My hours and schedule will be more in line towards my last job. Anyway, that's about all for now.  

Our Siamese

cat is on his last legs. Anne took him into the vet yesterday morning to have his fluid looked at a tube down his throat and an appetite enhancer and his system flushed out. We got him back about 6pm and so far he hasn't eaten anything. That's what's worrying us the most at this stage. We're going to give him a few more days but at $200 a session like that we can't repeat the process as it's just going to drain us. We can help him along the way only so far and give him up until Thursday night. If after that  there's no change, then we'll be putting him down.The cat's only 8 years old which makes it sad. We think we should have had their shots while they were still in the litter and then take them home. What can you do?

Art Bell on radio again? It seems Art has a new show called, "Art Bell's Dark Matter," on Sirius XM Radio beginning on September 16, 2013. I'll still be listening to Coast because Coast is on AM radio which is free. Sirus is subscription based.

I had a short shift yesterday morning from 9-12:30pm. It's not what I'd hoped for. I was hoping to have my hours back 7.5 but I have a couple more weeks of this until the end of the month. Then I'm 1-9, which is ok. I might even do a odd Saturday morning in there as well, we'll see.

After work I went over to Audrey's and bought Horus Heresy book #16 and then cashed in  my club points and bought #22 and #23. There are 4 more books but not released in paperback yet. Also, there is one more Space Marine Battles book out now. I also have a bunch of David Webber's coming in but I'm not buying 2-3 books at a time for awhile yet.

So, I'm off today in for Wednesday from 9-12:30 off for the weekend and next week is a repeat of this week. I've got my income tax return saved for times like this. That's the trouble with research jobs you get maybe 8 months on and 3-4 months off, without pay. Anyway, that's all for now.

The weekend began ok but the pall

of losing our cat Sporty put a downer on everything else. Anne's taking him in for a check up tomorrow but I doubt he'll come home alive. With that said it's a easy day for me tomorrow. Sporty will be on my mind for most of it though but I still got to take care of business. 

I think this week Sporty will be a memory. I think when I come home tomorrow, it'll be done. He'll be gone. He's not eating, eventually he'll just shut down. Despite the almost 90% chance of losing Sporty, we still have Silky and Boot's. I'm going to miss the way Silky and Sporty would love up to each other always cleaning each other sleeping together. 

This weekends CFL Proline for week #8 went like this: Friday August 16th Hamilton/Winnipeg: 37-18. (W) I got 1 right.  Saturday a double header: Montreal/Riders 21-24 (T) Wrong. Calgary/BC 22-26 (W) I got 2 right. Edmonton/Toronto 33-36 (L) ordinarily I'd have chosen the Hamilton and Winnipeg game to tie. At $2 a hit, it's fun to play. I put $3 Despite the Esks 1-6 record I'm ok with the effort the Eskimo's made this evening. At least they found their star QB in Mike Riley. I think he played on par with Ricky Ray and a last play off spot isn't out of reach,yet.

Even though with Sporty on my mind at work tomorrow morning I have a short 3.5 hour shift. I'm going to go into Audrey's books and pick up that Horus Heresy "Age of Darkness" novel and cash in my book club membership for the other 2 remaining there for me. I think I might have to fork out a few extra dollars but that more or less catches me up in the Horus Heresy series that are still in print Anyway, that's about all for now. 

My team won last night

keeping my $67 Proline ticket alive. 1 out of 4 games. A double header today. The last one is Sunday.

Whitley Strieber was Gorge's guest on Coast this morning. Strieber is one of my favorite guests on Coast. Strieber was talking about the topic of "entanglement." Or quantum entanglement. Entanglement, isn't like a Edmonton Eskimo receiver getting his legs caught up by a safety risking pass interference. Entanglement in this case is on the quantum level of physics. Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance" In 1997, Nicholas Gisin and colleagues at the University of Geneva  used entangled photons to enable simple - but instantaneous - communication over a distance of seven miles. In a nutshell, entanglement is taking 2 atoms isolating them which makes them have communication with each other no matter the distance. Strieber and many others believe that alien (ET) activity here on earth is a result of them using a process of quantum entanglement. It's not far fetched at all to assume this might be the case for ET. Here's an entertaining look at quantum entanglement:             

Not much going on today just football this afternoon. I'm not going to plant myself on the couch all afternoon but I'll be following the games. Not only is CFL underway but so is NFL. I believe they are in training camp mode. 

I got some birthday money yesterday in a nice card and after I got my form from the bank I went and got 2 Horus Heresy books and a Space Marine Battles double CD. 

Last night I had a relaxing night watching the Hamilton/Winnipeg CFL game, eating chips and watching Smackdown, A typical weekend. Anyway, that's about all for today.

I had a nice day off yesterday

but the highlight of my day was watching Impact wrestling. It reminds me of the good old Stampede Wrestling I used to love to watch in the 80's.

Last night I was messing around with a drum kit in my Komplete 8 called Abby Road drums. It's one of the many drum kits in the Kontakt library. It'll never replace a real drummer but its the next best thing, I guess.

So now Anne thinks our Siamese cat Sporty has a touch of jaundice. It shows up around his ears but nowhere on his skin under his fur. He's still fairly lethargic but we're keeping him under observation Sunday which is why I'm not going to see Summer slam Sunday. Just as well, as I'd rather watch the Esks/Argo's game.

Thanks Coast: On this day in 1877, Edison suggested the phrase " Hello" for a phone greeting to the Telegraph Co. as an alternative to Alexander Graham-Bell's "Ahoy." What did Bell think we're in the navy or something?             

We've been having a bit of heat spell of warm weather late and I think this is one reason why Sporty might be feeling lethargic. Our +28 Celsius is like 83 degrees Fahrenheit for my American readers.

Hard to believe I'm 61 years old next week August 21st and Summer is just about over. Three weeks and I'm back in Lodge. I could have had the chance to join Freemasonry back in 1994 (Norwood Lodge) and I had a couple of guys interviewing me at my place. I didn't have the fee for them when they left, which is why they didn't ballot me. I didn't know what the process was. I also didn't have the money at the time either. That was 19 years ago, wow. I was 41 years old and if it was explained to me how the process works I would have been better prepared

Today I'm calling in for my availability for next week and seeing what my hours are. If the hours are not posted then I'm leaving out of here with Anne and getting a form from my bank then walk over to my office South of Corona station and by that time, the hours should be posted. After that it's over to Audrey's to pick up a book as my Horus Heresy books are in and a CD as well, then home to watch the Hamilton/BC CFL game. Anyway, that's about all for now.


.    

I\ve got a day with absolutely

nothing to do and I'm not spending any money. I like days like this but not too often.

This from the Coast website: Space historian Robert Zimmerman talks about NASA and the current American space effort. Should be a good show.

The Esks are losing players due to injuries (Last week Sherrit this week Grimes) almost as fast as their 6 loss 1 win season record and tomorrow they meet the red hot Argo's. My Proline to win ticket doesn't look good.

The construction expansion project at Stadium LRT to enlarge the platform is moving along nicely. I don't know why they need to enlarge it. Even at Eskimo games it's not packed enough to justify building it. Meanwhile the Nait LRT
line is progressing nicely. It's on pace to open in 8 months. Personally I think the City should have focused on the SW portion of the SW/West. 

Tonight I'm watching Impact wrestling, looking forward to it. Anyway, that's about all for now.

It's a hot August night

currently underway here in the big City. Anne's at work and I'm holding down the fort.

I've got the AC going on in the bedroom for Boot's. The other guys can go outside if they want. It's cooler in our room then here in this office.

The guy that I buy my 6/49 ticket a couple times a month told me this morning that the price of these tickets has increased from $2 to $3 starting next week. I remember in the 1980's when 6/49 first came out it was $1 a ticket for a chance to win $1 million. Then sometime in the late 1990's it went to $2 for a chance to win $3 million. Now at $3 a play I wonder if the basic prize goes up, maybe for a chance to win $4 million? When I had full time hours, I'd play once week, sometimes twice if it was a large amount and nobody won yet. The 6/49 prize usually doubles in size if nobody wins. Now, I play only after the first round if nobody wins. The prize usually starts at $3.5 million, to $7 million and so on until somebody wins. The game is usually played Wednesday's and Saturday's. I bought a ticket this morning and played my own random numbers. Most of the time I ask for a $2 quick pick and the machine at the till randomly picks the numbers for me. Most I've ever won was $10 (3 numbers) and I win 2-3 times a year. During the summer as the weekend approaches I like to get a CFL Proline ticket. Today I picked all for games: Friday, Hamilton/Winnipeg, there's a double header Saturday, Montreal/Riders, Stamps/BC and Sunday Edmonton/Argo's. Teams in bold I picked to win. Edmonton is a real long shot to win in Toronto. At $3 if all match I win about enough for a first run video game.

I didn't get out to do what I wanted this afternoon but I can always do this Friday. That's actually the plan because after I do that, I'm heading into the office about 5pm to check on my hours for next week. I could phone in but I'm downtown anyway. Well, that's about all from me for today.

If I had the

income coming in, I could get used to this.

Poor Blackberry is in trouble again. They are now looking for a strategic buyer. I got a feeling that Apple might get on board and buy Blackberry to catch up with Google. I don’t have anything to confirm this, I just think it’s something that’s coming, soon.

This morning I’m up about 10am and out the door by 11am to get my cpp set up while I have some time off. I got to go to my bank and get a form and the over to Canada Place/Service Canada.

I’m really enjoying Space Wolf (The 2nd Omnibus) and it  explains some missing details about the Dark Angels I never knew. I always thought the DA’s were agent’s of Chaos. Apparently they are a rival group of Space Marines and have nothing to do with Chaos. Sounds to me like they are a mercenary group. here I am at 1am during the weekday and I'm drinking beer. Beer and Warhammer 40K, life is good my friends.

Switching gears here (pardon the pun) this has been in the news lately and I like the concept. It’s called the “Hyper loop.” A rapid "rail" concept, a project conceived by entrepreneur Elon Musk of Pay pal fame. The technology would move passengers up to 700 miles an hour in a pneumatic tube. Kind of like the Jetsons. Musk already plays leading roles in the SpaceX rocket venture, the Tesla electric car company and the SolarCity solar-energy company. Imagine 700 miles per hour on a magnetic levitation system. Currently it takes about 6-8 hours to travel by car from LA to SF. With the Hyper loop it would take about 35 minutes. It takes 3 hours from Edmonton to Calgary. With a Hyper loop maybe 15 minutes. From Edmonton to Montreal is 1843 miles. In a Hyper loop, it’d take about an hour. These tubes would fit about 3 cars and or passengers in seats kind of like riding in a airplane. This article said the cost from LA to SF would be about $6B. In our case it would cost about $15B probably more due to right-of-ways and that sort of thing. Imagine using a Hyper loop to move oil? The other thing is according to this article, is that we can build this with current technology. I think Elon Musk has the right idea here.  

Anne went and got a form for us to fill out so we can get insulin subsidy and dental work for me. A previous colleague of mine said he got over $3,000 worth of dental work done and dentures. I don’t want to get dental work done right now but maybe next Summer because by then I might be able to go on EI and I’ll have my cpp set up and time off away from Lodge to get it done. Anyway, that’s all for now.

I was going to go out today

but I’ve got all week. Anne’s going to get some things she wants to do like look into a medical subsidy for us her Doctor referred us to. She also wants to check on insurance as well.

Saturday here in Edmonton we had “A Taste of Animethon.” It had 1,505 people for the event, which wasn’t to bad. I’m not a fan of Anime per se’ but it looked like a fun event. And I hope next years event is even bigger August 22nd weekend is the annual Fan Expo Canada and it's got a lot of stuff going on for that 4 day event. Including, Stan Lee, Joe Sakic, David Hasselhoff, Joe Montana, SLASH, Zachary Quinto, Alice Cooper and even Hulk Hogan brother! There's more about it here:

At first I thought getting a new PC has it's advantages. I can use it for gaming and of course music and I haven't ruled that out yet. Then I cam across the Akai Synthstation. It's been around for awhile but what I like about it is it can be used in conjunction with the iPad 3rd Gen. The only thing it's missing is 2 midi out cables. I'm looking at getting this and at under $75 it looks pretty good. 

Coast had a great show this morning UFO's & Wormholes: Joining John B. Wells on Sunday night, UFO researcher Wilbur Allen presented an update on UFO sightings that he believes are beyond this world, and demonstrate craft entering and leaving our atmosphere through a wormhole or stargate. Apparently he caught this stuff on cameras with very high frame rates and presented a video taken of frame rates per second. It's an interesting topic. I'm not sure why ET would come to this planet unless it's a staging ground between galaxies. Maybe we're the only civilization that hasn't the capability to detect them, who knows? A wormhole would be the only way to span large distances between systems not as advanced as theirs. We should be able to detect a wormhole by its magnetic field. it's a science that's beyond our capability.   

So this means I can check for my school transcripts this week and Tuesday I’m going out to start my cpp. Wednesday I’m in for a few hours and off for the rest of the week. I like having a couple of weeks off. Tonight it's Monday night Raw and after that Anne and I are going across the street to "Bo'diddly's Pub." I'm thinking about treating us to some nacho' but this is my chance to have a Guinness. Anyway, that's about all for now.

There's a lot of things going on this weekend

here in the Capital City. There's the Carry West Caribbean festival and the folk fest. There's Rock fest (Loverboy) There's a baseball tournament and the Embridge Ride for cancer. Never a dull moment here in Edmonton.

There's a massive Rainbow gathering on Vancouver island this weekend. It's this generation version of the hippie movement of the late 1960's early 1970's. Basically this group might be called "neo-hippies." You can read about it here.

I had a relaxing day holding down the fort while Anne was working. She's got a few days off and plans on following up for a medical subsidy for me for my insulin. While I have some time off I'm applying for my CPP early retirement. It takes about 4 months before it's activated.

Thanks Coast for this: On August 10, 1966, a daylight meteor was seen in the sky from Utah to Canada. It's said to be the only known case of a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere and leaving it again. I was 14 at the time and living in the lower mainland. We were probably camping at Emery Creek just outside of Hope BC at the time. 

Anne and I are leaving out of here about 3pm for the Clareview LRT and over to the South side for Pizza. I usually like to run into Chapters before they close. Anyway, that's  about all for now.

Its been a short week and short hours

and next week I've got most of the week off. I'm not complaining and I can take care of some other business as well.

Thanks for this Coast: The heinous Manson cult murders of Sharon Tate and friends on this date in 1969 were seen as the 'end of the 60's.' The Tate murders had become news on August 9, 1969. Today Manson is an old man at the age of 79.

I didn't make it out to get a cold one because of my hours next week. I went home and had a nice evening watching the Riders/Calgary game. I was rooting for Calgary and they gave the Riders a royal shellacking.

This way cool. Thanks i09. A strange, newly discovered particle could shrink a laptop computer's hard drive to the size of a peanut and an iPod's drive to the size of a rice grain. It's called a Skyrmion,it comes from Tony Skyrme, a British physicist who first theorized the particle's existence in 1962 – skyrmions are tiny magnetic fields that surround groups of atoms. I don't think we'll actually see Skyrmion based computers for a couple years yet and not in my lifetime but here's more of the article is here

So today I'm working on a track. I don't have a decent mic to put on any vocals so it's just a instrumental. For now. Anyway that's about all for now.

I had a pretty good evening doing

 computer research last night and following the CFL game. I more or less narrowed it down but I probably wont be able to buy until my hours are more or less stable. Maybe around the end of September.

I arrived in Edmonton August 16th 1978 to come up for my brothers wedding. If it was for that wedding invitation, most likely I’d still be in New Westminster. I had learned that my brother Mike and his wife had split up closing in on 35 years of marriage. This was a real shock to the system.

Not just the above but as I mentioned in my last post today marks the official day Tuesday August 9th 1988 when as I was brining in my cheese burger platter in from Joes a café in the basement of the boardwalk next door. I walked in as Bob had the receiving doors opened. “They just traded Gretzky.” Huh what? Bob turned up the radio. I heard the bad news and couldn’t believe it . I lost my appetite after that but I ate my lunch feeling ill. I cried that whole month. I don’t mean tears of grief crying but it really affected me. 25 years latter the ripple affects are still felt around the NHL. If we kept Gretzky no doubt we would have won another 3-4 Cups. I honestly believe though that better days for the Oiler’s are ahead as soon as they get out of Rexall place. Will they win another Stanley Cup? I hope they will in my life time.

So when I heard about Mike’s marriage  ending before it saw their 35th sours the whole day. Mike’s marriage the 25th anniversary of #99 has a foreboding sense of marking of one era and sealing the fate of another so close to home.

I’m going into work for a easy 4 hours and then a bite to eat and off to Londonderry mall shop around at Army & Navy and then grab a cold one and then home to watch the Riders/Stamps CFL game.

Other then that not much going on for the weekend. Sunday Anne and I are going out to Royal Pizza. I like to visit Chapters and see what they have there. Other then that not much is going on. Anyway that’s all for now.

Its good news for us that our cat

is feeling better. At least he's eating and that's a good sign.

Tomorrow marks a very important day in hockey history when Wayne Gretzky was traded to the LA Kings 25 years ago on that warm Tuesday afternoon. I remember exactly where I was that day coming in from coffee at Cobogo warehouse (lofts now) when one of my colleagues listening to the radio by the receiving door told me as I was coming in. I was stunned. At first I didn't believe him but he had the news on and turned up the volume. I cried for the rest of the month. It was a pivotal moment in Oiler history.

It was only a matter of time before Hollywood would make a movie based on Orson Scott Card's book "Ender's game."
Its very popular amongst the young adult crowd. It looks like even Harrison Ford is in it.

This evening is the Argo's at Montreal and I'm going to head over to the redimart and get a Proline as there are 2 games that one and the Riders at Calgary. Argo's and Al's to win. I might put a Jay's BB game on in there for laughs. Anyway, that's about all for now.

We're feeling a little sad here as our

9 year old Siamese cat Sporty, Sparky's brother is feeling under the weather. He looks lethargic and has no energy. He wakes up and cleans himself once in a awhile and changes positions. He's not eating or drinking or using the litter box or moving around. We're going to see if he improves over night but I'm fearing the worst. If there's no change in his situation we'll take him down to the vet. It might mean this could be treatable or maybe he has diabetes or worse.

Thanks i09: New $1.6 billion supercomputer project will attempt to simulate the human brain. In what is the largest and most significant effort to re-create the human brain to date, an international group of researchers has secured $1.6 Billion, read the rest here:

So ARod has been given his suspension in the Bio­genes doping scandal. At 40 years old his game suspension will probably be enough time for him to write a tell all book, which said proceeds (most likely) will go towards a related charity. If that's the case, it'd make a good PR move for him to save some face and return to the game or save some face and come out with millions or even a movie of the week. I'm not a baseball fan but I can see such a scenario like this happening. Nothing against ARod but I'm sure he's not going to miss a meal or able to pay rent.

A bit of a shocker this morning when I came in the office. Because this is a short week and all the 4 days I thought I had are now reduced to 3 days this week! That's the trouble with doing market research it's not a steady or reliable job. Since this is the beginning of a new pay period and if next week is a repeat of this week, then I'll be evaluating my options. I can't live that way. I cant exist on 24 hours in a 2 week pay period. I'd be better off on unemployment  and I can get 9 months off on a medical but I don't want to apply for that until I get my cpp as a last resort. Because of our sick cat Anne doesn't want me to leave the house after I come home from work this week. If I get my pension 20-30 hours including a full Saturday would be ok to take during off times. I'll hold out as long as I can. I appreciate the time off though.

Thanks to Coast a bit late but, On this date in 1890, at New York's Auburn Prison, axe murderer William Kemmler became the first person to be executed by electric chair.

Yesterday afternoon I called my old school district. They said their system is offline until next week but they can (after I provide them with suitable ID) defiantly provide me with a copy of my transcript. I'm hoping this transcript will show all the schools I attended from grade 1-12 during the 1960's, my classes, grade of subjects and classroom times, teachers etc. It would be even nicer if I could get yearbook photo's as well. They also said that the transcript/history follows the schools and ends with the last school I attended. It's a $10 fee. I have the phone number of my last school and next week I'll ask them about yearbooks. Anyway that's all for now. 

It’s been a great weekend

I watched some football, Smackdown and Raw did some computer research and read some Space Wolf, good stuff. I go back this morning but its only 4 hours.

This was featured on last night’s National news about a burger grown out of cow stem cells. It was a 5 ounce meat patty which cost $300,000. It took years to make. Even animal rights activists were saying they had no problem with this. Now if we can mass produce these and bring the cost of a burger down to $5 I’d try one.

About 3 years ago when I was with Shaw cable using Outlook as my email client before Gmail, I was in contact with School District 43. I was just about closing in on getting my transcripts/student records for my time there 1960-1971. I’m trying to find out what schools I went to the years attended, my teachers, my marks and maybe some school yearbook photos as well. I had a email contact and it was a shot in the dark to pick up where I left off but the email bounced on me. I’ve got the phone number. I doubt any school staff are there during August but you never know. I can call Wednesday after Anne leaves for work as BC is an hour behind us.

From my Coast newsletter Monday morning: At the age of 36, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home on today's date in 1962. While her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning," subsequent investigations/theories have suggested she may have been murdered.

After work today I’m off over to Audrey’s to pick up the last remaining Horus Heresy Warhammer 40K book from my last special order and then home.

The only thing I got to do this week is to go to my RBC get a DBD form and up to Canada Place service Centre. Other then that working 9am-1pm the rest of the week. It’s kind of like having time off during whats left of the Summer. Anyway that’s about all today.

My next long weekend wont be until

labor day weekend.

I've got a M-audio Oxygen 149 keyboard. It's a big keyboard and is taking up too much space squeezing me out as in this video. So I'm considering getting the M-Audio Axiom 25, which pretty well does the same thing but smaller so I can have room for my Maschine. I wanted the Axiom before I got the Oxygen. I'd like to get the Axiom just for the ignite software alone. I'll pick it up if its at my local music store Friday.

My time for my WM year at my Lodge is coming soon. Our elections aren't that far away. I have most of my officers except for 1 chair. I'm pretty sure I'll get that filled and I can complete my year in the East. It's hard to get the guys out to Lodge because we're a trade Lodge. That means that most of the guys work out of town because that's where the jobs are. That's going to change soon as the new downtown arena gets underway and the West/East pipeline gets underway but that wont help me during my year. My last couple of months as SW are going to be interest.

On my plate today, I'm watching the Winnipeg/BC game at 5pm and wrestling in between all of that. Then I go back to work Tuesday but its 9-am to 1pm all week. 

I had a sleepy time tea just now and I'm going to read for awhile and hit the sack. Anyway that about all for now.

There are still a few

Horus Heresy books in that series to pick up and I think I can get "Fallen Angel's" when we go to WEM on the 18th to see Summer slam. "Fallen Angel's" is the only book missing from the series I have so far that's right in the middle of the series because Audrey's supplier didn't have it. So when we go to WEM that day Anne wants to go see something else other then Summer slam and after I get my ticket I'm going Games Workshop to see about picking the above book up and the August issue of "White Dwarf." Well, that's the general idea.

As for today I'm working on a composition that I've been tinkering around with. I've must have had about a dozen stops and starts to this track but it's a work in progress. 

The laptop I'm currently working with for music production wasn't designed for that in mind when I bought it late 2009. It was just an every day laptop. In the last 3 years I've been "working at" this, I've been acquiring various components. Once I get the various pieces together I can begin and that's where the upgrade to my desktop comes in. Once I get that completed, I can start but I'm doing a couple of demo tracks in the meantime.

We're in the middle of "Heritage days" weekend here in Edmonton. I first came to Edmonton the (City I call Home) was just before my birthday week about August 16th on Via rail 1978. Hard to believe that was 35 years ago. The upcoming weekend of the 19th the day after I go see Summer slam is the 35th wedding anniversary of my brother Mike and his wife Doris. That deserves a special nod. It was that wedding that brought me to Edmonton in the first place. When I got here there was lots of buzz about this up-and-coming hockey kid, Wayne Gretzky that might be playing for the Edmonton Oiler's. 

There were several factors that made me stay here in Edmonton rather then live in the lower mainland. First of all the economy. I had been unemployed from the time I left Calgary in May of 1977. I was unemployed that whole year and my prospects of finding employment there were not great in the lower mainland. I was on unemployment insurance living in a apartment I couldn't afford. I had all my stuff in New Westminster. I had even bought a new stereo and color TV when I received a lot of unemployment back pay and I had a ton of wargames books etc. When I bought the TV and stereo I had no idea I'd live in Edmonton a few weeks latter. I probably could have returned gathered my things and shipped everything to Edmonton but it was more hassle then it was worth. Besides I had no resources to return to New West to get my stuff together and the land lady would have wanted a months rent in advance and that I didn't have. I'm sure before the end of that month I would have had enough saved for a return flight, settled everything and have my stuff shipped but it would have been too much of a hassle. It was easier to cut my losses and begin with a fresh start and I was 25 years old. The second thing that decided me to live here was family. I had most of my family established here. The other deciding factor was Edmonton was a smaller city and easier to get around although I didn't like the prospect of winter looming on the horizon there was and is lots to do here. In September 1979 my parents said they were moving back to Coquitlam to retire but by that time I had a job and I didn't mind and the rest is history.

Speaking about Heritage days and all Anne and I went a couple of years ago. The other thing about Edmonton I've been noticing then and now, is the demographic makeup of the City has changed. In 1978 if you lived here, you'd be hard pressed find any African Americans. We didn't have a Muslims population like we do today and there were no women wearing robes or covering there faces in black hoods. We always had a ethnic population here in Edmonton and that's great and is good for the city but lets face it the only reason the population ethnicity growth here is because of the economy. If it wasn't for the economy many of the people mentioned above wouldn't even be here. Too be honest same here. In 1978 according to this site Edmonton's population was just over 478,000 people. We're now at 817,498. Our population has almost doubled in the last 35 years. I like Edmonton because it still has that mid size feel to it. The above are observations nothing more then that. Anyway, that's about all for now.

That was some amazing

football game at Commonwealth last night. It was 30/29 Hamilton. It was Eskimo's ball with .2 seconds on the clock. Out comes the field goal unit for a 50 yard attempt. If it passes through the uprights, it's good for 3 points. Esks would win 32-30. The kick was made and it's wide by inches! Finale score Visitors 30, Esks 29. Riley played his best game of the year so far. Despite the Home team 5-1 loss/win record heading into the bi week (week off) I don't have a problem with the loss. That game could have gone either way and it was a lot of fun to watch.

After that I watched Smackdown as soon as the game was over. Smackdown was great. All-in-all, I had a great evening. 

I forgot I have a pay cheque coming up next Friday and with my savings I'm almost half way there towards the new i7 laptop. If I'm back to full time hours the week of August 12th I might borrow from my reserve and pay it back in October. 

The 18th of August is my birthday week and On that Sunday is SummerSlam. So we're both going to see something and after we order our tickets I'm going to Games Workshop to pick up some Warhammer 40K stuff. Anyway, that's all for now

.

The idea was to go into

future shop after work today before I come home, I was going to go shop for a HDMI cable and the Av adapter and have a nap and watch the Eskimo‘s game but that didn't pan out.

On the national and local news there‘s an ambitious project to move Albert oil across the country which would carry bitumen from the Alberta oilsands to refineries in Quebec and New Brunswick. It’s a $5B project over a 20 year operation. If it goes through. Eastern Provinces are paying for foreign oil and in 3 years it means they will be off foreign oil. It means we get our oil to market faster. Add rail lines to that, it’s going to be an exciting time for Alberta.

The next Star Trek for the small screen could be Star Trek Renegades. The plot looks pretty good. The producers are trying to raise donations from Star Trek fans at $10/donation. I’d like to get on board with that. The Star Trek: Renegades Indiegogo campaign will run through Friday, September 13. To donate and to see more information on Star Trek: Renegades, head to the link located here.
 
got in this morning ok, still working on the last project. The first half went well. I got 3 completions on a long weekend Friday calling into Ontario. Production wise I did ok. It had just finished raining when I got outside. Almost every Esks home game its been raining. It seems it’s clearing up a bit out there so it should be ok for game time. Other then that, since for having the afternoon off, I have almost a 4 day weekend.

I was reading this tidbit earlier that 74% of US citizens still prefer paper books (printed matter) for their reading experience. I agree with them. It’s much nicer holding a book that doesn’t run out of batter power and it looks nice on the shelf.

Growing up in Coquitlam BC just before the family moved to Edmonton, I was squatting in a log cabin type of building: The Burrard Inlet Bible institute. This was a big building on the bottom of Burnaby mountain just up from Burrard highway. I made a Facebook post that was dormant called ”I grew up in Coquitlam” about the Bible institute. One of the posters there replied