For late October we're getting some really nice weather even though

its only +6 or so, its still pretty nice out there. Even for this time of night.

It's officially Halloween and Anne carved out her pumpkin for the year. It's probably going to be up for the whole weekend. Something isn't quite right with my iPad camera. It seems the photo's are a bit grainy.

I decided once I get my guitar in tune and the strings replaced. Also get some advice on how to tune it, I'm going to use my guitar for my guitar sound. There's a novel concept. I'm also going to upgrade my laptop for that SSHD drive but that's in the new year. I'm just playing power chords anyway and that's easy to do. It's not for performance it's just to add to the tone I need. At the moment I don't need a $1,000 computer system.

If I can execute my part ok next Thursday I've got the Master's job in my Lodge. I know my material well enough I can open and close, no problem. The close part is about 80% but I've got the weekend.

Today I'm leaving out of here a bit early because we're having our staff appreciation day at 2pm. The boss is buying pizza for the staff, and it's a paid pizza party. It's a nice gesture Anyway, that's about all for now.

========

11:25am 
I didn't get much sleep overnight, mainly because unknown to me at the time, my blood sugars were way up there. Or I could "feel them" up there. I just checked and they're at 13.4. That's pretty high. One of the main culprits that increases my blood sugar levels is ketchup. Last night though we had my wife's home made perogies and one of those kielbasa cheese filled sausages, which I like so much.

At the moment it's very nice outside with Sunlight poking through various cloud. It's very mild outside with the high humidity at 0ver 70% even makes a low temperature feel warm. I could handle November like this but it's very dry out there. Or High is expected to be about +10 today.

I've got about 45 minutes before my bath and a shave and pack up to leave out of here at 1pm. Since it takes me a hour to get anywhere in this City. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Well

I "survived" Monday. I have a day off today and I'll take what ever the rest of the week has in store. If they want to get rid of me, I'm ok with it. I'll survive. It's on them not on me. I've got 4 more years left in the work force and I'll be glad when it's all over and done with and I can do my stuff go to Lodge and work on my music etc. Ok enough of that. 

I love Halloween week. It's something for all ages. There's office parties for the adults, trick or treat for the kids. There's something for everybody. It's a fun time of the year.

I think it was hearing about Lou Reed and the above office bs that put a damper on my shift yesterday. I was glad to get out of there when I did and on my way home. Anne left a note for me saying she had to go to the medi centre up the street. She left half of a papa John's Pizza for me but she came in as soon as I had my coat and shoes off. 

Today I'm sleeping in for as late as I want and this evening Edmonton Oiler fans turn into Leaf fans. Very scary kids! Even though the game is at Rexall place its a Leaf home game. Might be a good time to get a Proline ticket. Anyway, that's about all for now.

There goes another one

as it was announced on last nights news Lou Reed founder of the Velvet Underground died at the age of 71. Lou Reed was 10 years older then me but his music was in my consciousness. He was sponsored in the mid 1960's by Andy Warhol the avant-garde Manhattan artist that founded The Factory. Lou Reed had only 1 #1 hit song: "Walk on the wild side." A lot of rock n' roll artists were influenced by Lou Read,most notably David Bowie, who helped Lou Reed with Reed's album "Transformer." I enjoyed most of Reeds music and sad by his passing. Lou Reed passed away from complications of a liver transplant. Last year it was David Jones of the Monkees. Who's next Iggy Pop?

We figured out how to use the video camera in the recent iOS update. With that and Kingston mobile lite we can store tons of stuff and access it over wifi on the iPad.

I'm at my desk at noon ready to start and the supervisor before shift, begins with how upper management or whatever is going to be looking at the coding of this current project from each employee today and make decisions. My coding did not start off good during the first part of this current project but if I get pulled from this project and there's nothing else coming, I wont come back. That being said I had a decent day on the job Sunday anyway, more or less meeting my obligations. If I get pulled off this project I have a plan B. $10/hour isn't great but its better then nothing. I'm also checking into local Kijiji and I have a couple of options there. One thing is for certain, I wont do market research again. Also, I'll be asking for my record of employment (roe) and filing for employment insurance (ei) ei won't pull my claim because I refuse to take a commission job. On my day off Tuesday, I'm going to Service Canada to set things up for their job bank. If I'm not removed from the project I'm still looking for another job.

Today I'm on the job about 2:30pm to start at 3pm and if I leave out of there still on this project, then that's a bonus. If not I'm still buying my Kingston device anyway after work and home to watch Monday night Raw and stay up late working on my new toy. I'm not going to lose any sleep over the job thing. Anyway, that's all for now.

I got up out of

bed shortly after 9am a few minutes ago. Outside a new blanket of snow had fallen overnight. Hint: The skies are still overcast. It also looks pretty breezy out there as well for my late morning commute. Seems like the snow stopped falling awhile ago but we could see an encore latter today possibly again overnight.

I’m still looking at getting that Kingston mobile link. Most likely I’ll need to register the product read the instructions as part of the set up process. If it works, along with the last iOS update then it’s almost like having a new iPad. I’ll be doing this on my day off Tuesday.

At the moment, I’m enjoying a morning coffee but I still have time to go over my email and do some more “research” on this Kingston device.

As for today, I’m out of here about 10:45am for my morning commute. I had about 6 hours sleep so I’m ok for the day. My day at work is from noon-6pm today. I wish all my shifts were like that. At work I’m calling Audrey’s to let them know I’ll be picking up a special order this upcoming Friday and Anne. Then after work my train to Grandin and then home. Anne’s going to have our Sunday brunch ready and I should be home to watch the Oiler/Kings hockey game. The rest of the night is mine. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

I think I got about an hours sleep overnight

which made me feel exhausted by "last call" rolled around by 4pm. I went over to Tim's to see what they had on the menu and their lasagna is back! It was about this time last year they pulled it. If it's still there in mid December, then great. At Tim's using their wifi to get the results of Oiler's 4/Phoenix 5 game I finished my dinner and checked my email. My colleague in my Lodge, failed to get the DDGM position he wanted. It sounds like he had to go before a review panel like I did in order to get the position. I caught the train to Grandin and after a brief wait the train back to Clareview. Despite my day my voice held out till the end. I got home and began watching the Riders 25-29 Stamps game dozing on the couch for a bit until Anne called.

Now I'm wondering if installing that iOS update was such a good idea after. Anne said we can only take photo's no video. That sucks. I'm hoping it's something she overlooked. I'll have to take a look around. It's probably something to do with the update and location services or something like that. The other thing I discovered this morning in a last bid to have my iPad read a flash device, I stumbled upon a video for the Kingston Mobile Lite Wireless Reader. This thing can stream over a host's network, photo's, video, music and I think even data. I'm not sure about data though. But it means that I can use my external 1Tb hard drive and attach that to my iTouch and iPad. There are other competing products like it and I'm going to do some research tonight. For $60 it's a pretty good deal. I'm also thinking that I can utilize the contents of my Samsung camera and clone the photo's etc off of that.

The weather out there is still pretty decent. I think the high was maybe 15 or something like that. We should get a rain or snow mix tomorrow at +1! We're gradually supposed to get up to +10 by Wednesday. This weather trend could go to the first week in November. 

This week is a full week and we have at work our staff Halloween/ "staff appreciation" day party Thursday afternoon. Most likely without pay but they're buying pizza. So no training. 

I'm looking at another job doing something similar to what I'm doing now. Unless of course they pay in survey completions say like $1 a complete, forget it. If they pay an hourly rate, then it might be ok. It might be something I can do 4 days/week depending on the opportunity. The catch is (probably more the one) is I'll need another phone line. But it might be worth while, we'll see. 

So tomorrow, it's another 5.5 hour day as I'm in at noon and out by 6pm. Home by 7pm so we can have our Sunday brunch and watch the Oiler's lose in LA. Another Oiler loss. Anyway, that's all for now.

Despite having the day off yesterday

I still had a decent day. Last night I had hockey, CFL football, Impact wrestling, I was flipping channels like crazy. The Oiler game was hardly worth watching as the visitors won 4-1!  Last nights Oiler's played like juniors. The worst of it was I missed a good opportunity to make some Proline cash, what with the Bombers at Argos and the Argos won that one. Almost any Oiler game is a loss, which is always money, and Vancouver Canucks winning last night, I might have won enough cash to buy that Warhammer 40K 5 disk CD set. 

At first I was excited about the upcoming Captain America movie until I read a little bit into it. The side-kick isn't Bucky Barnes as I hoped it would be but we get the "The Black Widow" instead. This BW factors into the Marvel multiverse, which in my opinion kind of tarnishes the original Marvel "universe." I did like the 2011 Thor movie and I'm going to enjoy the second installment coming out soon and I'm still going to see Captain America maybe on video on demand or something. I'm saving my scene points for Wrestlemania in the Spring.  

Japans space agency has successfully test-fired a "space cannon" designed to launch a projectile into an asteroid as part of the search for the origins of the universe. Wow! They want to launch it in 2018. More about this here: 

This is a working weekend beginning with this evening and I'm in Saturday for 5 hours and same for Sunday. November is going to be alright if we keep this current project until years end. However I'm looking for a job I can do in the mornings say 3 days/week or even in the evening after work for a few hours but these hours aren't going to last forever, so best fit for me would be mornings from1-9 or something like that. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I have a

unscheduled day off today, lucky me. Not. That's 3 days I missed this week off this pay period, not good. So, tonight I'm following the Washington/Oiler game on TV later on this evening and I'll catch bits of Impact wrestling in there as well. 

I was going to make a visit to Service Canada today but I don't know if they can do anything for me. Other then use the computers to access their job bank, which I think I can do at home anyway. I got about 3 and a half years left in the "rat race" before I can "fully retire" at 65 and work part time just to get out of the apartment a couple nights/week and go to Lodge the rest, "living the dream" oh well.

During the game tonight I'm taking the files off the flash drive I bought yesterday and putting them back onto the iPad. The iPad can't read the flash drive because it needs more power. So, I'll be doing that this evening while following the hockey game. The other thing I'm trying to do is after backing up my 3rd Gen iTouch is to jailbreak (jb) it. Apple doesn't seem to support this device anymore with any new updates. There's a lot of ways to do this online and I'm about to do that today. I'd like to get a program called iFile I've been seeing so much about. 

This has been all over the Internet recently but apparently Nasa is expected to make a huge announcement with earth shattering implications November 13th 2013. There's all kinds of speculation about this. Some are saying it's a asteroid, or even space aliens. Posters on Youtube are saying it's a hoax that if anyone clicks on the link they collect data from your computer.  

I was going to go to the District Lodge on Saturday but with my shift changed today, that definitely makes that decision for me. So much for that idea. I'll be making a call tonight to let my colleague know I won't be able to make it. With Friday and Saturday's hours in there I barely have enough hours to meet my obligations this pay period as it is. I need a full time day job, or something that can give me better hours. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

Last night

after work I went and bought a flash drive at Future Shop and removed about 10Gb off the iPad onto the 16Gb. This morning I removed about 10Gb from my 80Gb desktop onto a 1Tb external drive.

At the moment I'm struggling trying to balance hours between my job and Lodge. Last weekend was a breakdown in communication on my part. This weekend,unfortunately I can't make the DDGM meeting because it conflicts with my job. I need hours and this pay period I only have about 29 hours so far, mostly because of the Thanksgiving day long weekend. I'll have 41 hours as of Friday but Saturday is worth 5.5 hours. Even though it cuts into my bottom line I still get paid for it. I'll still get 41 hours up to Friday and that plus stat plus vacation pay means I'll be able to cover my obligations with a bit left over in my pocket.

Last night I factored my availability to reflect missing Saturday. So I'm going to have to tell the boss I'm back on for Saturday. nothing would appease me more then to be at the DDGM meeting Saturday but I have my priorities. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

This post has more to do with city politics but

Yesterday I left out of here at 2pm and arrive downtown. The weather was great. I started my shift and then called Anne on my break at about 5:15pm. Little did I realize the action going on across the street from where I’m working at the Matrix hotel. At 7pm I did my time sheet and logged off meeting my obligations. I had a survey I was just completing as the rest of the crew had left and I shut my station down and headed for Corona station thinking about the upcoming election results, dreading the worst.

I had a slight headache and still do. I caught my train to Grandin and then the Clareview train on track 2 for Clareview and a bus wait and then home. Never mind Monday night Raw, I was more concerned with something that really mattered. The results were slow to come in and I caught a bit of Raw and a few results were coming in. By 45  minutes into the broadcast 2% of the poling stations (275) of them responded. Iverson was in the something like 1500+ votes and everyone else way behind. When Iverson was sitting at 8500+ at 14% of the poling stations reporting the TV station declared Iveson winner. Then I watched some Raw and went back and there was Karen making her concession speech. I knew it was over. Iverson won 132,16/62.2% followed by Karen Leibovici 41,182/19.4 % and last of the “Big 3”: Kerry Diotte: 32,917/15.5%.

What’s ironic about all this is unknown to me at the time when I left, Don Iverson’s election night gathering place was The Matrix Hotel. If I knew it was there I would have popped in. I can now and the city moving forward can breath a sigh of relief. In my opinion if Diotte had been elected it would have set our city back years.

Since I've been living here from the year

2,000 13 years now, our poling station has always been in Sifton school just down the block. When our voting card came in it read Homesteader School and I didn't look at the address. I figured maybe Sifton had a name change. So I go to the school, and the gymnasium doors were closed as the kids were playing inside. A mechanical shop beside me. I asked one of the workers and they said Homesteader was in Hermitage road about. I had no idea where Homesteader school was and I wasn't about too look all over the place for it with just a few hours before I need to head out of here for work. After taking a look on Google maps it's a fair walk from here. By bus I'd need to get to Belvedere station and take something from there. And I really wanted to vote in this election and I imagine a lot of voters from this area that don't have their own transportation are going to be shut out from this election. I don't know what prompted who's responsible for this but it doesn't look like I'll be voting this year. 

The guys showed up an hour then I

I thought they and Mike was first at the door as Anne was cooking our brunch. So she at first didn't like this but when the guys showed up she put everything away and then went out shopping. We had a pot of coffee and Anne bought some cookies, the nice ones and ice tea. The meeting was productive and John asked some interesting questions and asked some I was prepared for. I think I did ok. After they left Anne came in about half an hour later and made our brunch at 6pm. I had a great night, she used face time to call her sister. Anne made me a little snack and here we are.

Other then that I'm buying a usb thumb drive so we can take 10.5 Gb of video and photo's off of our iPad because Anne likes using the camera I'm not spending any money this week. I like using it too but she takes it to work to play games and too look at her photos of me and the cats. I'll be getting the thumb drive after work Tuesday. I'm trying to get the 32 Gb iTouch or a iPhone but I can't afford a iPhone plan on my budget not on getting $32/week for pocket money. This time last year I was getting more hours and $100/week for cash flow. Even if I put in 5.5 hours/day only gives me about $120/2weeks to play with. I need something better this this. I think it's going to be 42 hours/pay cheque from here until the end of the year and I can't live like that. I'll be going to Service Canada to see what my career options are. I need a new PC, I want the new iTouch/iPhone, I want the latest Maschine Studio so there are things I want and sorry but 42 hours in a pay period just doesn't cut it. I'll be setting that up for Service Canada Tuesday and this is going to be a process. Getting a decent job isn;t going to happen over night despite how good the economy is. My place of employment is a good job for anyone that's retired but it's nothing to live on full time and I won't work For $10/hour anymore especially for someone who threatens to fire you if your not as good as the next guy.

In the National news there was a conspiracy story about how Bobby Kennedy had JFK's brain. The rational for this had to do with any ramifications both legal and other wise to protect the family. There wasn't much detail and maybe other sources will have more information.

I'm in bed by 3 am this morning hoping to get a good 8 hours sleep in. Then it's off with my ID and my voting card to cast my vote for Mayor then come back with said card so Anne can go out and vote later this evening before polls close by 8pm. I should be home by 8pm to watch the results. All this week I'm in from 3pm-7pm. Unless we get another project. Anyway, that's all for now.

What with my hours changing at work so much and other calendar dates on my mind

I didn't mark on my calendar that the District meeting isn't until next weekend and I've been so busy this last week to check my calendar and as a result I not only lost a day's pay but I did absolutely nothing all day. The Installation was yesterday. I know one thing, my Big meeting is today, I hope.

The race for Edmonton's next Mayor is down the home stretch on Monday night we'll know the results. I don't normally trust political polls but the majority of them are saying that the front runner is Don and Karen is right behind him with Diotte in the back but anything can happen between now and tomorrow night. Most likely my choice will be either Karen or Don. I like both of them, Diotte, no way.

Unless something new really gets my attention, and other then the existing series I'm reading, I'm not buying any new SF. I'm still buying my SF favorite authors and anthologies of course. The Sawyer's, Peter F. Hamilton's, Weber's, Zhan's, Star Treks, Star Wars are safe. Mostly I'm concentrating on Warhammer 40K, Western's, vintage SF like the Ace Doubles and old school mysteries and Marvels on my iPad. Yes, you heard me right! The bulk of my reading activity is mostly Warhammer 40K now. Mainly because I don't have a lot of time to read and I doubt I'll live beyond 80 years or so anyway. There's just not enough time to read all I'd like to.   

This Thursday it's going to be staff appreciation day at work, which means that the boss is buying the staff pizza served in the office. I just had left over Pizza last night from what Anne got us. So if it's free, why not? If the boss really appreciated me he'd give me a wage review and or more hours but  its a nice gesture.

I was watching CFL football Saturday afternoon as I'm thinking the Oiler game won't be on until Saturday night but it was a afternoon game. Not only did I miss a day's pay but a meeting I thought was supposed to be today that never happened, which I missed but also the first road game the Oiler's won, and I missed it! 

When this day is over I'll breath a sigh of relief! If I pass this exam, then great. All of my 5 years of hard work would have paid off. If not then it's see what happens at my next Lodge meeting. If we're "off the rails," it might be because of what happens today. The picture will be a little less murky by the end of the day. If it's announced that we're going to have to turn our charter in or some other option, I'm ok with what ever the IPM's suggest. If we vote on turning in our charter, I'll activate plan B. Plan B will be to get 2 certificates of good standing a petition for affiliation for another York Rite Lodge and apply for that and then obtain a petition for the Royal Arch. Now watch, I'll call one of the guys today and he'll say "It's November 20th!"

Sometime this week when I get the chance I need to get a usb flash thumb drive to get about 10Gb's of video and photos off my iPad. They're not that expensive and there's not much room left on my iPad's hard drive. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

I had a decent day but I learned my hours have been reduced yet

again. It's not that bad though as it's only part time hours. I can handle it if I work every day and it's only from 3-7pm. It means I'm home to watch more Oiler hockey losses. Or at least the 2nd-3rd periods if they are home.

I had a hard day at work. I think I earned my money. Every person I know there has a part time job and I got to get one. However I'm not going to work $10/hour! 

I'm looking forward to getting out of the City Saturday even though I'll be inside all day. Hopefully it'll happen. Also about Sunday. If I don't pass, it's not like I don't have my options or a plan B. If I get the green light, then fine. If I get the red light I'm ok with that as well. If we're off the rails, then I've got a exit strategy for that as well too.

The other thing I have on my mind is our civic election Monday. I'll be following the results at work after I vote. I'm voting Don Iveson. Anyway, that's all for now.

My Wedensday

yesterday was ok. I was able to secure Saturday and Sunday off. Also, I talked to my ride out to Baseline and got that more or less arranged. I just half to be ready and call Saturday morning at 9am. We need to be there at 10:00am as it starts at 10:30am. 9am is kind of pushing it. 

On Coast overnight, the topic will be about The Merlin Project and Privacy. Soft topics for tonight for sure. However on local news and probably making international news the meteor that crash landed into a lake in Russia was recovered weighing at half a ton. It was the largest of it's kind. .

I had a great first half of the shift but I took my half at 7pm so it made night go by faster. last call rolled by pretty quick. I shut everything off and bolted out of there in a hurry to get that early train on track 2 to Grandin so I can get the train going the other way. I was actually at Clareview as the #182 Northgate bus pulled in and in the apartment at 9:30pm, wow.

I'm starting to come down with something. It's that time of year. The boss has it as well. My throat is getting raspy and probably by the weekend, I'm going to be into the Buckley's from last year. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I'm rushing a bit to catch my 2pm bus to head towards Clareview station yesterday afternoon

and some guy holds up the bus outside as soon as I board. The next stop someone boards and the stop behind the theaters and someone gets off. There's a train but as soon as I reach fir the elevator button, the elevator goes up without me and the train is gone when I'm on the platform, Yeesh.

Corona station on track 1 (my side for my home commute) is blocked off as city crews are working on the edge where the train comes by because a year or so ago a man's wife slipped off the train concourse and got hit and killed by a oncoming train. Because of this the city is putting this bubble type of material on the edge. I think it's hard stone or maybe even of steel molded construction type material. The City has been working on this since Spring and Summer along the whole line. Every stop along the system map has had this modification. It's a minor inconvenience because even though I can get off at Corona on my commute into work I either have to walk 2 blocks East along Jasper Avenue to Bay Station or take the train West where I can board a Clareview train further South along the line at Grandin and then catch the Clareview train home from there. The City is doing all edges by the track this way. Its a good thing. After they do track 1 then they block off track 2 when they're done track 1. This means when track 2 is blocked off I'll have to get off at bay station and walk a block from there West towards the office. That wont be until around the end of the month.

I had a pretty good shift on the job though for the first half and had an even better shift during the 2nd half. It was a decent 5.5 hours. I had to modify my schedule for the week for this weekend. Hopefully the boss will be in today to see the changes.

With some colleague after work we waited at Corona and just as I was coming down the escalator there was the Clareview train on track 2 pulling out. It doesn't stop obviously but slows down because of work crews. Then as we got out at Grandin there was another Clareview train on track 2 leaving Grandin. That's been the theme for my day. "Lets put obstacle's in Jimmy's way today." 

When I got to Clareview station the last #183 was just pulling in. With all that's been going on for my day I thought, I better hustle to get this before it leaves. When I got there a white City van with emergency lights but not activated was in the bus stall ahead beside the passenger bus bench. Some-body lying on it, and then the Police arrived with flashing lights. At the set of lights just out here I heard a emergency alarm from a ambulance and flashing lights heading from behind the theaters. Possibly related to the incident at Clareview. 

Then when I got inside our apartment Anne said she had a blackout in our building for a couple of hours while I was at work. This was a leading story at 11pm on our local news. Apparently a outage affected all over the Londonderry area and even Rexall place where the Oil Kings were playing and the power went off during the hockey game. Even the LRT from Clareview to Rexall was out of action as the power outage affected about 20,000 residences for 2 hours. 

I was able to call our lodge secretary when I got home and Dan said that one of our own members is up for a District nomination. I'm going to call him in the morning to see if he can give me a lift out there and I'll buy his festive board. There's a very good chance I'll be going to this event Saturday. There's also a important discussion on the Masters chair at the event as well.

The Oiler's on their road trip lost again to the 5-1 Pittsburgh Penguins. We got 3 back-to-back #1 first round draft picks and we still can't win a hockey game. Now the Oiler's are 1-5-1!  Up next New York Islanders and another loss.

On my plate for today, not much is going on. I'm going to get into more Lodge stuff tonight when I come home. It's been a long post and that's about all for today.

Holiday Monday was laid back

relaxing at home. I was mostly at the computer but I watched a bit CFL and did some Lodge stuff. At 5pm Anne brought out the Turkey and I watched the Oilers/Washington game. It started out good. Anne was face timing her sister in Sydney NS. I forgot Monday night Raw was on at 6pm so when the Oiler game soured I switched and watched what was left of Raw. For the most part Raw was a snoozer but the outcome of the last match was great.

From a link on the Coast website pointed me to this story about Amelia Earhart and how a research expedition is hoping to find her airplane. Starting about the middle of August 2014, the 30-day expedition will be carried out by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating the last, fateful flight taken by Earhart 76 years ago. You can read more about it here:
 
Also for the first time in over a decade I tried my wife's turkey. For some reason about 2002 or so, I got turned off her turkey dinners. I think it was because she had so much of it about 4 times/year. I used to like Turkey before I got married. I tried it again and it was surprisingly good.

This week I'm buckling down on Lodge stuff and I'm slated to work from 3-9 each day but I thought I had Saturday and Sunday booked off. I'll be talking with the boss about this when I get  in this afternoon. I think Saturday if I can get a ride out to Baseline, I'll go. If not then I'll take my laptop in for an upgrade. I'm not sure if I want to spend the $120 on the SSHD drive this weekend though. This upcoming Sunday I have more Lodge stuff at my place relevant to the opening sentence of this paragraph.

At the moment I'm enjoying a cold can of Pilsener beer. I don't know if single cans of beer could be purchased prior to 1993 here in Alberta. That's the year that the Alberta Liquor Control Board (ALCB) was privatized. Instead of the 12 or so outlets to get beer and wine in the city at that time, after privatization dozens of liquor stores popped up all over the place. I like our little Superstore liquor store across the street because we can buy 1 or 2 cans and they're open until 11pm 7 days week. I don't know if that was possible before privatization. This can of beer hits the spot and I don't have to worry about passing out because I don't have to get up as late as noon this afternoon.

Anne and I have been thinking about getting a couple of bicycles just to cycle around the neighborhood next summer. It's just to get out around town on the weekends but we'll need to get bike licenses from City Hall. I wouldn't buy one used because they could be stolen. We're thinking about getting them with our tax refund (if I get one) in the spring.  
Anyway, that's about all for now.

I took my wife out

for Sunday brunch at Rickies yesterday afternoon. It was a nice little outing but the trains were crowded yesterday.

About 4:30pm she comes in with a new addition to the family. A nice white budgie with bits of blue fur. Anne decided to name it Pecker. Stupid name for a bird, yeesh.

I try to see the important genre movies that come out. Anne and I went to see 2 movies this year at the theater. We went to see the last GI Joe movie. I rate this 3/5 popcorn's. I wanted to see Star Trek into Darkness at the theater but we managed to see it in Video on Demand. That was the best movie of 2013 just like James Bond Skyfall was the best movie of 2012.

I had a great evening going over Lodge stuff and reading a bit. I updated my Goodreads Space Wolf Omnibus. I'm about 63% done and I hope to complete by the end of the year. Then I'm starting the Horus Heresy series. That's my reading project for the year more or less.

On tap today, is to go over more Lodge stuff and work on my track a bit. This afternoon, I'm watching a bit of CFL. After that watch Monday night Raw and watch the Oiler's lose, again. 

This week is a short week but I'm having the weekend off because I'm going to try and get a ride out to Spruce Grove for a district meeting. Failing that I'm going to go to the South side and get that SSHD upgrade. My first choice is to go to the District meeting as it'd be nice to get out of the City. Even if it's just for a day and I'm inside for most of it. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Yesterday morning I'm feeling good knowing

I had a short day. I got into Tim's and yes, they had hash browns! I enjoyed my breakfast and headed towards the  office under beautiful autumn morning. 

I had a good start to the day but got nothing almost all day. When my half hour rolled by at 2pm and I called my wife I still had 1 completion. That was it for the whole day! I didn't exactly feel good about it but it being a Thanksgiving day weekend It was something I cold live with. At 4pm I was happy to leave out of there to get my Horus Heresy Warhammer 40k novel "Betrayer." Then I just caught the train home to watch what was left of the Esks/Riders game. It was 9-14 midway through the 4th Q.If the Esks would have won this game and the next 3, they would be able to make the playoffs via a cross over but this loss pretty much eliminated the Eskimo's from any hope of making the playoffs for this year.

After that I turned my attention to the Oilers/Leaf's game. It was tied at 2 in the first. I dozed off on the couch for awhile and woke up and the score was tied at 3, then tied at 4 then 5 to put the game into OT. The leafs got a suspect 3 on 1 and scored giving the Oiler's another heart breaker.

This afternoon Anne and I are heading out of here to go over to Rickies downtown and get some brunch. Just to get out of the apartment. It's a treat because I got my CPP this week. Anyway, that's all for now.

Another hour and a half and I'll be out there waiting for my Saturday 9am

bus to Clareview station for that 9:15 train to Corona and my Tim's breakfast. This time, I'm only going to get the sausage sandwich not the hash browns (which they probably wont have) I'll ask and if they do, great. If not I'll take what I can get and then get my coffee and get my hash browns and coffee at Subway and eat there before I get into the office.

I got a 6 hour day there including a half hour break and I'm still going to miss another Eskimo game. Including this one there's 4 more left to go on a 3-12 disastrous season. At least I can track the score at work. 

I called yesterday and the place that has the SSHD drives is still in stock. According to Seagates website, they only have the 1Tb SSHD drive but then a 1Tb SSD would cost a lot more money. Future Shop has them and they're not completely 1Tb, they're something like 960Tb. I'm going to need a anti static ribbon (just in case) a Phillips screwdriver and a Sata USB cable. According to a video Seagate  has the appropriate cloning software.  I've never done anything like this before but if I let them do the "operation" there, it's like giving them free money. It looks simple enough, load the software, hook up the non usb end to the hard drive and the usb part into the laptop. Then follow the prompts. I hope I wont have to register anything first. Most likely I will. From YouTube videos, I know how to remove my existing hard drive. I'm hoping for a clean install. If it doesn't work then I still will have the original hard drive. I can use the SSHD in a near future desktop computer when I get a second computer.I'll be doing this next month and to test the install I'll bring my Maschine controller along to see how will the new drive will work with Maschine. See how fast the computer boots up and see how fast it will load Maschine and open Guitar Rig and then RealLPC. Usually when I open Guitar Rig as a Maschine plugin no problem. It's when I load RealLPC guitar Maschine's CPU goes into the red and crashes on me. This won't be until the end of the month in 2 weeks.

I love the Thanksgiving Day long weekend. The weather is still pleasant as we move forward during the month. By this time next month, we'll have snow on the ground and it'll be -16 with a wind chill of -20. I don't mind winter, I just don't like extreme winter.

Tomorrow, I'm taking Anne out for a Rickies breakfast. We're going to try the other location just off of 109th street a block away from Corona station. It's easier to get to rather then the long passageway underground to City Centre mall. After work today, it's just straight home watch some football see how the Esks did and get ready for the Oiler/Canuck Oiler loss tonight. I get 2 days off including a Saturday night tonight. I'm looking forward to this. Anyway, that's about all for now.

A lot going on yesterday and today so lets get

started:

Canadian author Alice Munro won the Nobel prize for literature. Apparently she retired from writing but after winning the Nobel she said she's reconsidering one more shot. To be honest I've never heard of her but this is great news for Canada I'm happy she won.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today is a Facebook conversation I'm having, in Groups. I recall something that happened in the Summer of 1967 before I went in for my back operation. It was the birthday of a old friend of mine. We were both teens and into Star Trek. The closest hobby shop to us (at the time I knew  of) was in the Caribou shopping centre just South of Lougheed Mall. My buddy wanted the AMT Star Trek Enterprise Model. How heard about it even being there I don't know. So I went with him. it was a beautiful summer day as it usually is in the lower mainland that time of year. After he bought the model he bought us Pizza. We ate it in the bushes behind the mall. Back to the Facebook conversation, which was about Hobby shops as I'm trying to see if anyone in this group that go back that far remembers the name of the hobby shop. One  poster said he remembered my friend, even identified his wife by name. They lived in the same apartment building together before my friend moved into a house. My friend worked at the Vancouver golf club all his life and the poster said he probably retired from there. I'm trying to accomplish several things with this post. First to find the name of that hobby shop and to see if anyone recalls another hobby shop I used to go to called Raceway hobbies in Vancouver. For all I know both of these hobby shops might have survived late into the 1990's. Also to see if anyone knew my friend and sure enough to my surprise somebody did. I'd go to hobby shops all the time to get my wargaming fix and Napoleonic models, which I used to build and paint. Most of that stuff didn't make my migration to Edmonton in 1978. The poster replied back saying he hadn't seen my friend in over 20 years. My friend's wife was drinking a lot, but that's all the poster said about her.

The other item more closer to home yesterday just by chance I checked my RBC bank and my first cpp cheque came in. It's another chapter in my life. It's kind of bitter sweet for me because it just means I'm getting a little closer to full retirement. My sister in law in Sydney NS took out her early retirement as well. She's a breast cancer survivor and I'm diabetic. She was a teacher for most of her life and me, just a living from pay cheque to pay cheque. Yet she got twice as much then I did for all she did the difference between the two "careers" as far as cpp goes is like night and day. It also serves as a reminder to me that being a full pensioner is only a full years away.   

Today (I hope) I'm in for a easy 4 hours and out by 7:00pm. With any luck at all I might be able to catch whats left of the BC/Calgary football game. Saturday is a full day.

I was hoping to get some cpp back pay for months delayed while my claim was being finalized. I was going to use that towards a new computer. That's not going to happen. My next plan is to breath some new life into my old Acer laptop clone and install a 1 Tb SSHD drive. If the drive doesn't work at least the target drive would still work and I can use the SSHD drive in a near future desktop. Anyway, that's all for now.

Some days on the job are

good, some not so good but I do have my options and I'll leave it at that. 

Tonight's Coast is on alien coverups, UFO's, military reverse engineering and a lot of other related items. I like shows like this.

So my hours have changed at work and I'm ok with that. I was home shortly after 8pm last night. At least I'll be home in time to watch the Habs/Oiler's game tonight. Like I said, I have my options.

I had a glass of wine and and cheese and I'm ready for bed. Anyway that's about all for now.

I'm out of

bed about 12:15pm yesterday afternoon and after getting my coffee starting the computer. I checked my email and there was a email from my supervisor at work saying the boss would like me in for 3pm instead of 6pm. Uggh. I replied back, I'll be there. We had a brief training session and I got right into it. I tracked the Oiler/NJ game and at the 3rd period it was Oilers 0-NJ 3! Uh-oh another loss. We did the first project and then the other one. I hurried after work for the train, not that it made any difference because I still had a 10 minute wait. I read my Space Wolf book. I waited at Clareview and read more of the book even though it was pretty breezy outside. I got home and Anne was making my Sunday brunch. I watched what was left of Monday night Raw. It was a great show.

Tonight the topics on Coast will be Doomsday theories. I like stuff like this. I like these end of the world prophets that come out of the woodwork. Remember the Mayan calendar apocalypse? That was a good one.

Today, I'm sleeping in until about 11am and it's mostly going over Lodge stuff. I'm still thinking about going out to Edmonton #7 tonight for Lodge. Then I'm working full days Wednesday-Saturday. I'll have a more or less regular paycheck next week. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I'm still on Sunday night evening time even though it's early Monday morning here in the

big city.

Yesterday (Sunday) I was out there waiting for my bus shortly before noon. I got downtown in under 30 minutes at Corona station. Wow. It was a long slow work day but I talked with some nice people. My iTouch calendar alarm went off at 7pm just as I was going on my 10 minute break. I called a Lodge colleague to see if there's anything on for tonight. Nothing. I worked out the rest of the shift and a 10 minute wait for my train to Clareview. The air was mild and pleasant so instead of walking home, I waited for a Northgate bus and read a couple of pages from my Space Wolf Warhammer 40K novel and in the bus before it left out of Clareview and home. 

Anne had just finished "face time" with her sister and I relaxed until dinner, watched the news, with dinner and here I am.

Prior to the news and supper, I came across a laptop SSHD 1TB Seagate hard drive. It's $120 not including the cloning of my current drive (parts and labor) to the new drive and Windows 7 64 bit. Or about a $320 update. They don't have it across the street. It's a lot easier bringing my laptop to the south side then my desktop This could be an interesting upgrade for November. Anyway, that's all for now.

Everything went well until I got on the train at Clareview yesterday for my morning

commute. First of all the train was slow, very slow. I got into Tim's and and I tried to order my breakfast sausage sandwich and (are they going to have any?) hash browns and a coffee. "We don't have any hash browns." They never do at 9am on a weekend. I got my sandwich ok, "where's my coffee?" "I only charged you for the sandwich," I was pissed off. "That's ok, Subway is on my way and I'll get my hash browns and coffee there. They know what their doing." I walked off my anger and at subway a loud chirping type alarm sounded inside where they had about a dozen customers. Unusual for a Saturday morning. Subway is right on the corner of my building. A crowed of people were emptying out of my building. I think it was a fire drill or something. I used the elevator and went up to my floor and found a toilet stall and ate my sandwich and took my insulin. After a bit the alarm stopped. Great. Almost 10am. I'm so used to Saturday shift is 10am. The supervisor walks out of the elevator. "Your early." (huh by a few minutes?) I looked at my schedule and I was not scheduled to be in until 11am! I could have slept in for another hour! Then I realized because we're calling into BC. I was pissed! What else can go wrong on my day?

So, I went down to Subway (now empty) and I got my coffee and hash browns. Tim's hash browns are dried out and to crunchy. Subway's are tender and taste better and the coffee is just as good. I tried to figure out my hours while eating. Then I went upstairs. 

Work went well and at about 3pm I checked the Al's/Eskimo game. It was at the end of the 1st half Al's 31 Eskimo's 3! It didn't get that much better. Al's 47 Esks 24. Utterly despicable.

Then as I was having a great day and 2o minutes to go, I get another completing that took me 10 extra minutes. This is the 2nd time now this has happened in 2 days. Fortunatly for me, I didn't have to be anywhere pressing. I only brought 
$10 bucks with me so I couldn't get to Wendy's. 

So after that I got my train and walked over to Future Shop but the tech guy wasn't there. Just his assistant. I had a chat with him and he says what t hey do is look over my budget and price some items out for me as in a bundle to save. I need to talk to the guy as I have his name and I'll do that Tomorrow. I took a look around and they had desktops not featured in their website, especially I think a Acer i7 for under $700. There's others as well in similar configuration. I'll either build my own or get something like that off the shelf. 

I walked home after that. I loved how the clouds looked with setting sunlight behind dark cloud formations and blue sunset sky. It looked really cool. 

I got inside to fire up the TV to watch the last of the Bombers/Stamps game and waiting for the Oiler/Vancouver game and my wife to call about 8pm. I dozed off on the couch, my feet up on the coffee table and and passed out with the phone nearby. I didn't hear her call and I woke up and there was the Oiler game 1st period tied at 1. Then it happened 2-1, 3-1, 4-1 at the end of the 1st. It got worse from there and my wife didn't call. By the time the game was over it was 2-6 Vancouver! 

Today I'm in for 1-8pm for another 6.5 hours but from 1-8pm this time and I double checked it on the way out.  I should have close 2 almost the amount of hours on my last job what I'd get in a week.. 

 

Poor Jimmy in the dog house again over something I didn't do

so my wife claims somebody took a knife to the heel of her shoe and I get accused of it. This is causing her some pent up misplaced anger directed at yours truly. I looked at the heal of her shoe and it's on the side of the heal and it looks like a natural gouge based on ware (cheep shoe) but nothing worth getting upset about. So now I get that silent contemptible treatment a "I'm a piece of shit" attitude. The proverbial cold shoulder, venom. Sigh, some days I wonder if getting married was worth it.

Yesterday I headed out about 5pm and I cashed in a free 6/49 ticket I had time left over to go over to Audrey's to pick up a Warhammer 40K (Space Marine Battles) special order CD waiting for me: "The Ascension of Balthasar." Good stuff. I got that and headed into the office for my 4 hours. 

I'm pulling in a 5.5 hour day today in at 10 and out by 4pm. I'm going to miss our game Al's/Esks because it's a 1:30pm Edmonton start. I'm hoping to leave out of here at 8:30am to get some breakfast at Tim's at 9am and slowly work my way over to the office. If we get out at 4pm as I think we will, I might treat myself and go over to Wendy's over here on 50th street for a baconator burger combo. Then walk home to catch the Oiler/Canuck game. I think it's on CBC but I saw no mention of it on the Oiler website. If not, I'll catch what's left of the Bomber's/Stamps game, we'll see.

About computer stuff. The other thing I wanted to mention more of a "note to self"reminder. I thought well best thing to do if I can't get a affordable laptop at Future Shop/Best Buy because they are usually sold out, is to build my own. That meant getting the parts at a local retail/warehouse shop here. Or buy a desktop PC at said shop and they have some nice models for about $1,000. This would mean binging my laptop all the way over to the South Side near Gateway blvd and get the parts and have them build it clone my laptop hard drive, test it and haul it home on the train. It would take about 2 hours to build it, and test it, and clone the laptop drive. It's an hour trip there and back. I'd be looking at about 4-5 hours. That's if they aren't busy. I'd be taking my chances. So I was at Future Shop's website yesterday before I left for work and wondered, "Do they have any mATX motherboards?" I typed in the search field and yes they do. Both ATX and mATX. The have cases, power supplies, O/S's, Ram, hard drives, video, sound cards, DVD/blue ray drives. Everything the other place on the south side has and it's right across the street. Plus they have a dedicated tech shop. I'm thinking about buying the pieces one at a time and then bring them all in say on a Saturday after work, and I'll probably have the same wait time but I won't have to waste 2 hours going to the south side. I'm considering after my Wendy's is to head over to Future Shop after work. Maybe I might be able to even upgrade this desktop I have and put a mATX board in. Maybe I've got something here. I emailed some photos of the inside of this desktop.

I got a lot of hours this week. First of all tomorrow, 1-8pm. Then Monday 6-10pm, Tuesday I'm off visiting Edmonton #7 for their installation and to do a little promotion for my own (if I get there) Their guy was over at our elections Thursday night handing out business cards. Our secretary suggested I do the same but I don't have a printer. He suggested I email him a design this weekend and when he's at their installation with me, he'll give me about a dozen cards so I can hand  out during the course of the evening. So that's Tuesday night. Wednesday I'm in (tentatively) from 3-10 for 6.5 hours and, same for Thursday, and Friday. Saturday is similar to today and because of the long weekend, I'll have Sunday and Monday off. I should be out of the "dog house" after this weekend. By Tuesday at the earliest, Thursday at the latest. These things don't last very long. That's my week ahead if it holds. The challenging aspect of doing market research work as a job, is that its all project based. Nobody unless they are retired or have another job can survive on this type of work. Some projects last for 2 weeks part time, others can be full time hour days for 3 months. There might be a week or two even between projects. I've been lucky able to avoid field work like some of my colleagues and except for August always had a paycheck even though they've been small ones. I don't see myself doing this kind of thing much longer. Hopefully by the Spring I'll have something lined up that not only pays better but gives me steady hours.  Anyway, that's about all for now.

It wasn't like yesterday was all that busy but I had a few things to take care of and as a result

I didn't get a post in.

Lodge went well last night. We had about a dozen guys out and some returning faces. I think I got all my chairs filled more or less, whew! Then there are a few other things going on. I've got some visiting next week at Edmonton #7 and the week after a rare trip out to Baseline Lodge in Spruce Grove. A lot of Lodge stuff this month.

As far as a new computer goes, I think I'm going to go ahead and build my own at Memory Express. Every laptop I look at at both Future Shop and Best Buy website (same company) I find something that's interesting, I get excited, I like, it's ok, price is right, so far so good, lets check availability and, sold out. Sure they have a lot of stuff online (credit card) or i7's out of my price range. So building what I want at least it's expandable and I get 32Ram instead of this 6-8 Gb stuff where everything is Widows 8. Building my own is still the way to go and that's in the Spring. 

So today it's out of here at 5pm and run over to Rexall to get a $35 Visa gift card. There's a vst download I want to get and I'll get that card before I head in for my 4 hour shift. I'll be able to get the last half of Smackdown in before bed. I'll be up early Saturday morning so I can order the download play around with it, and go out and get some breakfast and get another 6 hours in. Anyway, that's all for now.

We're getting a little bit of rain out there last night and this morning

which is nice.

I had a slow start to the shift and didn't get my first complete until about 7:30pm but rallied at the end. I hurried out the of the building and ran for the train. Good thing I did otherwise I would have missed the train but I think I should not  have ran because I ended up walking home. If I caught the 10:20pm train i might have a Northgate bus there but I barely caught the train but had to walk from Clareview to the set of lights here anyway. 

At work I was tracking the Jet's/Oiler home opener and and when I left the Oiler's in the 3rd had a commanding 5-2 lead. I thought the win was in the bag. When I got home checking the sports highlights, the outcome ended up 5-4 Jets. I'm still standing by my original prediction earlier. 

With Washington shut down over "Obama care" it's going to have some devastating effects the longer it lasts. If it drags on longer say a couple of months, Canada could lose about $700 million/week. This is serious stuff. Both sides wont budge but something's got to give.  

Yesterday was actually decent day. First of all I got a chair filled in my lodge, which I'm happy about. I need 2 more including a replacement. Elections are Thursday and it looks like I'm going to have my year. The other bit of good news is my CPP has been approved. It's enough to pay for my cable bill and my insulin. I should get my first cheque in December. Some good news for a change. 

So because of this good news Saturday before work I'm going to get my Horus Rising audio book. Its a 5 CD set and it's going to give my Audry's book club points a shot in the arm. Anyway, that's all for now.

Here we are in October already

and it's one of my favorite months of the year, NHL hockey opens up a few days from now, the CFL is winding down. We can still get some good weather before it snows, often in late October.

Speaking of hockey, the NHL 2013-14 season begins tonight for the Edmonton Oiler's hosting the Winnipeg Jets. I'll be tracking the scores at work in between calls. I can watch Saturday nights game and it's in Vancouver and then the Oiler's have 2 home games and are out on the road for 6 games. Until I get some daytime hours I'm regulated to watching the TV games on weekends. Even the CFR will only take the Oiler's out for 4 games. This season, it's my prediction that the Oiler's will finish 10th and another American team will win the Stanley Cup. My guess is Phoenix. 

Rant alert! I was going to Service Canada this morning but dental pain kept me awake until about 5am this morning. I took a pill and some Orajel about 3am and about 5am I fell to sleep. I'm feeling Ok now though but tomorrow I'm going into Service Canada. The whole purpose is to get a 2nd job/preferably a better one. I miss the hours I was getting at my other job last year, and and the money it gave me as well. I'm getting half the hours and half the money, and out of half of that this cheque goes towards paying for my insulin because last year I made "too much money" according to CRA to get any kind of local help to pay for a subsidy for medical needs. Local agencies make you go through so many hoops I feel like I'm in a circus or a criminal. If I was First Nations, or a newcomer to Canada or in jail, no problem. I'd get all kinds of medical support. Nothing against those people. Most Canadians are in my situation. Maybe not health wise but financial wise. About 3% of Canada's population is First nations, about the same are union workers (trades everything else), and then there's the 250,000 or so that are newcomers to Canada every year. Many of these people end up being Canadians of convenience. Canada spends about $20B year on immigration alone. I'm thinking imagine what with that kind of money would do for LRT projects road work and other infrastructure projects. The majority of people (according to immigration watch Canada) immigrating to this country are from the Philippians and it's not like we have a labor shortage, it's employers get special breaks for hiring foreign workers. So in the meantime me a naturalized born Canadian citizen, that worked all his life I can't get a $45 month for subsidy to pay for my insulin because last year I made slightly under $25G. That was last year. This year, I'll be lucky if I clear $15G. unless I get a better job, which I'm in the early process of doing. So maybe next year we'll be in a better position. I'm tired of these supervisors saying, "You need a completion flow rate of such-and-such other wise your going to lose hours." That's called workplace bullying. I'm glad I just have 3 years and a bit left in the workplace. I'm not going to make anything out of the "bullying" tonight on the job, it's just smile and dial. Power through, I've get less then 3 years.

Native Instruments released Maschine Studio and a 2.0 update. Maschine Studio is like $1,000. I'd get it and open a account but not with these hours and the job I have. After 20% down, it's like $66/month. I checked YouTube and this Maschine Studio gives me another reason to get more hours. It's not even in stores until November 1st. My main concern for my music now is a better computer and this Acer 2009 laptop, doesn't cut it. 

As for today, I'm out of here at 5pm, for another 4 hour shift. I got my pay stub and I have enough insulin to keep me going for maybe another 10 days and that can come out of the stash when I need it. I've got to put $20 back into the stash so that leaves me with very little left over. I can buy the Warhammer 40K CD at Audrey's and have enough for a Wendy's Baconator, my Proline ticket and pocket money but that's about it. The majority needs to go towards half of our rent, sigh. Anyway, that's about all for now.