We have our first ever Bitcoin ATM

machine here in the city. 1BTC= about $816CND. Bitcoins are stored in "electronic wallets" on smart phones. Bitcoins might make solid currency obsolete but I doubt it will be in my lifetime. Yet look at cell phones. In 1973 when the cell phone was invented it's coming out party was mostly ignored until about 10 years later. Cell phones in 1982 were a bit of a novelty but they gradually became ubiquitous. Bitcoin will no doubt experience growing pains and a cashless society might yet be around the corner. Whether it's Bitcoin or something else the potential is there.

I arrived at Corona station on my afternoon commute in record time yesterday: 4:15pm! So I went into Tim's and ordered a decaf. No roll up prize yet. Having a bit of time on my hands, I read more out of False Gods enjoying my coffee. 

I got into the office with 10 minutes to spare and got organized. So the announcement was made that if we don't keep up an individual flow rate of 1 completion/hour we would be sent home! Unbelievable! If it happens a 2nd time then we lose shifts. I got my first survey done 45 minutes into my shift. The next three were scattered after break. I said to myself, "Send me home so I can watch the Oiler game." The trouble is Ottawa and Victoria don't realize that our economy is a lot better off here then it is in those cities. Even during my 13 years at Xentel I had been sent home only once for a low total and the manager apologized to me the next day. I was never sent home again for low totals, even when we had really ghetto campaigns. That was before we moved into the Baker Centre. It's times like this I wish I had my 2nd job to go to. Tuesday Anne and I are heading down to AW and I'm going to use their job services to get another part time job or a better full time job. I'd love to do a security guard job again, like the Pacific Rim Mall (PRM) location I had in 1994. I only had 3 days from 7-2am and I got a ride home every night. At that time it was only $7 hour. The PRM has 2 levels and mostly occupied at that time with karaoke, video and gift shops for the Asian community. It also had a dinning facility and a bank as it's 2 major tenants. Getting to the site from my place in the West end was hard, which is why I quit. I should have kept it. I wouldn't mind a site like that now. I did 1 round every 2 hours. I sat down reading books most of the time and writing. That was my second time with Whacken Hut. I don't think they exist any more. I tried finding them awhile ago but no luck. A job like that would be ok. That's what I thought Inner-tech was in 1999 but no way. HO needs to get a grip, this is not Victoria or Ottawa with a 8% something unemployment rate. Only one phrase comes to mind: Boiler room operation.

This afternoon it's more of the same as last night. I got another 4 hour shift and Saturday is a 7.5 hour shift. I'm looking online and in the paper for something else but it's more of the same as what I'm doing now. Tuesday is when I turn it up a notch. Anyway that's all for now.

Even though it took me almost a year to read

the Space Wolf Omnibus book, I finished it in January of this year and I'm counting it towards my "book quota" for 2014. 

Seems Russian military movement is massing along the Ukraine/Russian boarder. The Eastern half of the Ukraine speaks Russian for the most part and is pro Russian, while the Western part of the country is pro Europe. This has the makings of another 1968 Czechoslovakian campaign. If it gets that far. 

Our Mayor Don Iveson is in Ottawa at the Big City Mayor's caucus. He's putting some pressure on Ottawa to get more funding for our LRT. Ottawa knows that Edmonton is the fastest growing economy in Canada and or population growth is booming because of it. We need to move people and labor and the LRT is the way to do it. We already have $800 million and we're short $750M more to make this happen before the Summer construction deadline when after that the cost of the project price tag goes up. We're hoping to get $250M from the Alberta Government's Green Trip program and another $150M from Building Canada.The City hopes another $365M from the Provincial budget is released today. With the Province having $1B+ surplus this year, we might be able to access some of that. All the preliminary design work is done. Hopefully if all the funding is in place this Spring, we can get building this important LRT line. Even if we don't get the $365M immediately, I feel we should move forward with construction now and next year get additional funding. I got a feeling that's how this is going to go.

Finally the Edmonton Oiler's are back in action tonight against the Wild. I'll be working, what  else is new? I might be able to watch a Oiler game Saturday, so we'll see. With the NHL trade deadline coming up maybe MacT will make some trades but most likely they will be either minor ones or the Oiler's will be quiet. With 22 games left they want to end the season on a high note. My guess is they will be quiet and do nothing, I hope. 

Since I began my music creation/production hobby in the fall of 2010 I haven't been doing much music creating. Sure I got some hardware and software but my main stumbling block has been getting a computer that can keep up. That's what's holding me back. Don't expect a lot. I'm just doing EDM/Rap/Chillout stuff. I want to do some covers as well but nothing earth shattering. This year, I'm getting the computer working with what I got. Expect to see some material out of me in the fall.

I got another 4 hours ahead of me for later today and the inspectors are coming in between 8-5 today to do a follow up. We got that crisis out of the way, they just came in looked around where everything was and left. 

This weekend is going to be a cold one with temps around -27! My Saturday morning commute is going to be a cold one. Anyway, that's about all for now.

We're in for a cold spell for a couple of days but the way the media talks about it

OMG, we're all going to die! 

On Coast tonight: Future of the Mind/ UFOs. First Half: Dr. Michio Kaku will discuss the astonishing scientific research being done in top laboratories, all based on the latest advancements in neuroscience and physics. Kaku will detail how one day we might have a "smart pill" that can enhance our cognition, be able to upload our brain to a computer, and perhaps even send our consciousness across the universe. Old science fiction concepts but quite plausible the way technology is going.

Mayor Iveson will be heading for Ottawa soon. Mainly to meet with the powers that be that dispenses funds and try to get more funding for our LRT SE valley line. We need another $500M. If BC can get $2B for a useless "Evergreen" line that connects Port Coquitlam to their Sky train system, we should be able to get more funding for the fastest growing city in Canada. I believe he's going to make it happen. 

Probably Thursday afternoon I'm out of here to AW. I still want to keep my main job. I just want something to do during the afternoons. Preferably something along the LRT. If I can get a full time job that pays better, no problem. I wouldn't even mind a small stock room job as long as I can sit down once in awhile. 
            
We got the dishwasher out of here. The 2nd guy got it out  of here about 8pm and charged us $80. I felt bad for Anne because this was something her mother got for her 16 years ago They still have to give us a 48 hour notice, they are going to check our suite to see that we complied but if they are going to physically push my wife around I'll come in with the iPad and (if it happens, which I don't think it will) tape it. If anyone physically harms my wife, they'll answer to me. Anyway, that's all for now.

I was at Tim's about 4:20 pm yesterday

so I had a bit of time to get a Tim's decaf and read up on some JFK assassination research.

The more I study the case the more I'm leaning to a conspiracy. I still think Oswald fired some of the shots but they all missed! Shot #1 hit the curb near bystander James Tague. Shot #2 hit the manhole cover left of the limo. Then there's the smoking gun shot, FMJ round fired by accident in the followup car. Then there's the fatal shot fired from the Dal-Tex building. Many witnesses said they heard 4 shots. Oswald fired 2 shots because there was a round still in left in his MC chamber. These rounds were non military issue. Only ce399 was a FMJ military round. That was the so called "magic bullet." Only a FMJ round could come out the way it did.

My shift at work yesterday was ok. I think I got 6 completions. I got home shortly before Monday night Raw. What a show and that's where I am now and after the show ended.

Anne scheduled the "junk to the landfill" guy to come by and pick up the appliances for 7:30-8pm tonight. I hope when I come home, the dishwasher will be gone. I'll rest easy after the "inspectors" give us the green light Thursday. 

I'm thinking Saturday after work, just to unwind is to take $20 with me to Century casino by Belvedere station, have a beer and play the penny slots for a couple of hours. I never could before because my wife would always like to call me but that was when she had a half hour break. She gets 10 minutes ans says she doesn't have enough time to call me. Its just a chance to unwind a bit. I'd only go a couple times/month. if I can cash out ahead, all the better. I've never been in a casino before. 

I got a busy week next week what with our lodge EC meeting Sunday then I have a Doctors appointment Wednesday and my Lodge meeting Thursday and I'm going to try and follow the NHL free agency trade March 5th. Anyway, that's all for now.

We have 2 sources that will aid us in getting the

appliances out of our apartment and by Tuesday night at the latest. 

The bars were open at 5:30am yesterday morning all over the city. I was in bed sleeping. We owned that game and Sweden never stood a chance. We got the gold medal again. The 2nd time since 1952 (when I was born) we defended the gold back to back in men's ice hockey. My wife was up until 8:30am watching hockey! If I'm alive in 2018, I'm going to get into the winter Olympics a lot more. We came in 3rd place in the medal count and I think we tied the medal count in 2010. When it was all said and done the Sochi 2014 price tag was $51 billion!

I'm surprised local media or even for that matter the Edmonton Collectors Con wasn't mentioned in "Connect 2 Edmonton" forum or on local news media. With the Olympics and a lot of other things going on in the city it got buried.

The Clareview rec centre looks like it's going to open in April. I hope we're still living here but when it opens up, I'm going to go. It'd be even better if they have a Saturday night adult swim. We used to go to the pool a few blocks away from Rexall when Anne had the car back in 2002. 

The idea was to try and complete "Horus Rising" this weekend. I have about 50 pages to go. 

I'm in for my 5-9 shift tonight. It's a quick and easy in and out. If I don't hear from my 2nd job (I know I said this before) by Wednesday, Thursday at noon I'm at AW before I leave for work. Anyway, that's all for now.

That was a long day yesterday

and even though I need the hours, I'm glad I have today off. Even though it was a short week.

It's only a 1 day event, 4 times per year. Its the 1st ever Edmonton Collector Con (ECC). This year it's at the Chateau Louie across the street from the Ramada and way smaller then the Edmonton Expo held in October. Next ECC dates are: June 8th, August 10th and Nov 16th. I'd go but there's not much opportunity to sit down.

I'm waiting for a invitation to work at my 2nd job, which begins next Saturday. I really need a break from my current job though and work just Saturdays. Only if I can find something steady during the afternoons. If I don't get the invitation back for my 2nd job that is. If not, then I'm off to AW to find something I can do during weekday afternoons with an hour for traveling to my 1st job. I'm going to aggressively look for something like that in March.

It's been in the news recently. By now everyone has heard about Apples email hack with it's iPad etc. This apparently is only if one is trying to access email and use the app store at a free hot spot. I'm sure Apple is trying to fix the problem. not that I'm a huge fan of Apple but I do like their iPad/iTouch devices. I wouldn't buy a iMac etc. Way to expensive and their Ram is overpriced.  

Now I'm sure this is a product of diabetes but I'm having difficulty swallowing food. My wife says it's got to do with blood not flowing properly at the back of the neck. She thinks it's the sign of a stroke about to happen and she could be right. I take a aspirin every day as this has me a bit worried. I can swallow soups, ravioli, canned stew, chili that sort of thing. This only began to happen about a year ago. Personally I think it has to do with drinking too much diet pop.   

The Canada/Sweden mens hockey game is on at about 6:30am Edmonton time? Local bars have got a special license to serve alcohol at 5:30am! It's a historic occasion. I'll be sleeping at that hour. Anyway, that's about all for now.

As slow as things were going on the job

I still managed to get 4 completions. Each one about 20 minutes. I made sure I didn't stay any longer they I had to.

At home I'm enjoying Smackdown (Wrestling) and so Anne comes in with bad news (what else is new lately?). She showed me our iPad. She said she accidentally dropped it on her way to work causing the glass to break about an inch away from the start button. It's a clean break about the length of my thumb and some scratches after the break. She says she doesn't want to take the iPad out of the apartment. Like that takes words out of my mouth. It's a 2 year old $700 device. She uses it more then I'm able to do. 

We're hoping to get our appliances out of here Sunday. We got a note from management under our door suggesting we use U-haul storage. They charge $85/month. We don't have that kind of money and the washer doesn't work anyway. We're just going make sure it doesn't work before it leaves off to the dump. .

This morning my alarm goes off (apparently) by 7pm but I woke up around 7:30 this morning. I can tell what kind of a day I'm going to have. I might put 4 hours in today. We're in a bit of a cold snap and at the beginning of a pay period. I've got nothing going on this weekend so I might as well put 4 hours in today and tomorrow. Say go in from noon-4. It's next Sunday for our Lodge non regular meeting. I could even do that day 12-4pm.

The worst of all of this is my wife got her hours reduced at work for next week, yeesh. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm in for my usual

5-9 this afternoon. I like the shift because it goes by fast and I can stay up late and sleep in late. Except for Saturday 10-6pm that is. It's a short week because of Family Day Monday. Even if we have another day project, I think I'll just work just 5 hours, from noon-5pm or something like that as I close in on my retiring years. 

About my 2nd job, which has been on hold for the month of February, starts Saturday March 1st. It doesn't look good that I'll be invited back. According to my super last night that works at my first job, she said the boss sent invitation letters out by mail last week. If I get a invitation to return, I'm making my 2nd job my primary job and work Saturdays at my current job, so at least I'm on the payroll of my first job. My 2nd job pays more but it's not steady and that's part of the problem. otherwise, I'd be there instead of where I'm working now. If I don't get a letter from my 2nd job, that's ok but it's going to have to be between today and Thursday of next week. I think the reason why I wouldn't be invited back would be because of that accusation made against me (unsupported) by one of the volunteers and that I was working just a few days/week. Those two things could go against me. As far as I know, I might even get a letter today from my 2nd job. I won't know until Anne comes back from work tonight.

Switching gears, I'm on the last 100 pages of "Horus Rising" of the Horus Heresy series and I should have the novel read by the weekend. I came across this one site which seems to be supported by the Black Library (BL) "Bolthole." I'm looking for fan fiction. The BL is publishing a Warhammer/Warhammer 40K short story on a weekly basis over the last few years. I have the first one. It makes sense to have a fan fiction site to get an idea of emerging writers that could advance to having their work go from armature to pro. I couldn't say, how many short stories BL has published so far and I get the email notices all the time. I'm enjoying this Horus Rising book though. 

This is the last weekend of the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi. I haven't been able to enjoy much of this because of our current crisis with our washer and dishwasher. Also what with events on TV at odd hours due to Sochi being, what 11 hours difference? I've been following bits and pieces of the Olympics on the news and in the papers. We got 2 gold this week in women's Curling and Bobsled the other day and a gold today in women's speed skating. I think we have 7-8 gold medals. In mens ice hockey Canada beat USA in the semi finales today to go on and defend the gold Sunday! It's going to be Sweden/Canada. I'm going to have a front row seat watching this one.  

Our family Doctor's office reception called earlier to rebook Anne's appointment. I asked if I could book one as well March 5th. Mine's at 2:30pm. I want to get some blood work done and check for my diabetes. I haven't had that done since I became diabetic in 2004.

So far Anne's not doing anything about our washer/dryer crisis. She has (sort of) about our washer and we have that taken care of. We have until next Thursday to get our dishwasher out of our suite but they still have to give us written notice they are coming in to check and see both appliances are out of the premises. If not we will be faced with a eviction notice. Not an option what with a near zero % vacancy rate. One of the downfalls of have a strong economy. My wife knows what the options are but if nothing has been done by Wednesday about our dishwasher, then I'll be doing something about the it myself. I got a number of a guy with a hand dolly and a truck and I'll be calling him to have it hauled out Wednesday night. Anne has that number as well. If Anne hasn't done anything before, then she knows the consequences but keeping me in the dark like this wont do either. She says "I don't want to talk about this over the weekend." I have a couple of options as well and I'm sure she'll do the right thing. I'll be relieved when it's this time next week. Anyway, that's about all for now.

My sister in law is on a 7 day

Caribbean cruse on the "Oasis of the sea." Anne's been following her sister on her cruise with our iPad and the ship's web cam. Right now Anne's sister is in Mexico and before that Hatti. Then they sail back to Fort Lauderdale Saturday morning and back to, shudder...Manitoba. My wife's sister is a close friend of our family and is always sending me birthday and Christmas cash. Anne was invited to go on the cruise with her sister and Anne would only need a few hundred dollars spending money. She said she couldn't leave me and the cats alone for 7 days. Yeesh. I said go. I'd even give here the cash but she turned it down. Seven days on the "Oasis of the sea" no less and everything paid for. Mostly my wife is afraid of flying and has nothing to do with me. 

Somewhat related to the above on my afternoon commute yesterday we had a bit of snow but it was wet Spring type snow. We're supposed to get back into a cold snap but it's going to get around -15, -18 in that area. Nothing serious. Last year in the middle of March, we had about 14 inches of snow on the ground that left us about late April.

I'm closing in on the end of "Horus Rising", Warhammer 40k. I want to read a bit more before bed. Hopefully I'll have it finished before the end of this month. Up next, book #2: "False Gods" but that's my March read. Or I might just read a Western instead, I don't know yet.

Inspired by the potential of what the iPad can do for music creation (which is why I bought the iPad. (about 2 years ago) Earlier last night before supper, I bought a program from the app store called “Audiobus,” for $5 bucks. This program is kind of like a DAW Rewire but for the iPad. Audiobus lets iPad music programs "talk" to each other through a signal chain. I might end up getting “Sample tank” Pro ($40) for the iPad. Sample tank isn’t a full daw but it can talk to Cubasis. I already own Sample tank, which has a ton of midi and acoustic instruments for the PC. Cubasis is a daw for the iPad, a version of it’s bigger brother Cubase, which I already own on my laptop. Sample tank is from IK media that makes products like iRig midi (plus many others), which I already own as well. Also, there is a competitor to Native Instruments Guitar Rig that works with the iPad: Amplitube and they have a ton of virtual stomp boxes that work well with Sample tank. For example, (in theory) I can open Sample tank in Audiobus with Cubasis with my midi controller keyboard. It’s all in the signal chain. Cubasis is a $50 program and Sample tank is $40 and both can do mix downs and share to social media sites. The only problem is, Anne uses the iPad more then I do. She takes it with her to work and if I need to work on a beat on the train or home early before she does, I’m sol. For music production I think I’m still better off with the pc for about the same price as a 32 Gb iPad. Also with the PC I can still use Maschine and Komplete 8 etc. Still the iPad is yet another option.

Normally by now, I'd have my pay stub from my employer in my email. This way, I know how much I'm getting on Friday and what to work with. The delay might be because of the Family Day long weekend but I should have had the pdf pay stub in my email by now. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I had a good day on the

job last night and it went by fast.

It's a slow week this week as not a lot is going on. It's just a routine kind of a week but I'm getting spoiled with these hours. I get home about 9:45pm have some dinner and I'm up until about 3am up around 11am and 3 hours to myself and I leave at 4pm. The only hard day to any of this is Saturday and I'm not getting enough disposable income. I'm getting 54 hours on a 2 week period and that's ok. It's enough to pay my bottom line and enough to make it worth while, for now. Also it's about half of my disposable income compared to the other job I had in 2012.

The Olympics are in full swing but I'm not really into it as much as I thought I would be. My wife is up watching it until 5:30am! I'm in bed at that time. I don't like this Olympics mainly because it's in a location where it may as well be in Southern Oregon. In 2018 the Olympics are going to be in South Korea. At least I'll be able to watch Olympic hockey at a decent time.

We're having some decent weather for February but we're in for a bit of a "cold spell". If -12 is considered cold. I can live with that. Anyway, that's all for now.

Family day long weekend is one of my favorite long

weekends of the year. Mainly because it's so close to Spring and I have 2 days off. One with pay.

The auto industry is testing V-to-V (VV) technology. Vehicle to Vehicle. This could potentially save tens of thousands of lives and reduce collisions. It's basically where air bags were in the early 1990's. V-to-V is where wifi communicates with other cars. It's a real game changer. I don't know if it's going to stop pedestrian accidents but I believe we're going to see VV technology by the end of this year.

We're still not 100% certain what we're going to do with our washer and dishwasher (appliances). We have up until the 27th. My wife is going to management directly on Tuesday and ask if she can have permission to keep them here. Neither of these appliances are working, they are mostly just pieces of furniture. If management still insists they have to be off the premises by the 27th, then we're probably going to put them into storage for a couple of months until we know what to do with them.

I always knew 1 finger guitar chords existed but didn't know how to use them. I always thought they had a tinny, weak sound. I saw this guy use them in old rock standards, "Smoke on the water," "Iron man" and they sound pretty darn good and fat. It's just 2 adjacent strings on one fret. I'm going to get my guitar fixed and have the sales people at Axe music and teach me how to use a tuner and try them out next month. I was quite excited to see them being used like this.

Bitcoin is a currency that is very volatile. Just recently it went from $800 down to $500. In March we're getting a bitcoin machine in West Edmonton Mall and 3 others in the city. I might buy a few of them but the virtual currency is still to unstable. This could, in a decade or so be the world currency. 

Today I'm reading and working on my music so its going to be a relaxing day. There might be an Olympic hockey game on as well. Anyway, that's about all for now.  

I think next month I'm going to get the

i5 pc after all. It's faster then a AMD not by much though. I've always had AMD processors in the past and they work ok but I'm going to try the i5. It's about $50 more for the money then the A8. 

But I've got to pay my Lodge dues first before I get the pc and I'm at least month or two away after that. If I get days, then ok.

I left out of here for Londonderry mall about 4pm yesterday afternoon and 15 minutes later I was in the mall looking for Coles. They had one small book case of Western's but no "Eagles" books. The girl there had one not on the shelf of books to be placed and I bought it to me anyway. I was seriously thinking about the Louis L`Amor books but they were small, under 200 pages and for $7.99, purchasing 1 is hardly worth it. Next time, I'll buy 2 of them at a time but maybe from Audrey's. I found the food court and ordered a Taco Time burrito combo. Now to find Albert's. It's like a Smitty's and beside Albert's is Bud's lounge. I sat up to the bar and ordered a Molson Dry and read my Horus Rising book having a good time. I also watched a bit of Olympic mens hockey. I left shortly before 6pm and was told that Sport Check a store that's been there for awhile pulled out but a new tenant is slated to move in soon. I walked out the North side entrance beisde the old Sport Check location across the empty snow/ice parking lot. Both the #182 and #11 behind it pulled up and if it wasn't for a rider using the wheel chair ramp, I would have missed it. I got out of the bus beside my place and once inside began to watch Impact Wrestling.

I had a good night and Anne called from her break and then I got a iPsos Reid call wanting to do a survey. I was ready go ahead but I didn't qualify because I do market research. I enjoyed wrestling until I got a call from my office saying that the boss wanted me to come into the from 3-9 instead of 5-9. It'll give me some extra hours. I've got 2 days off after Saturday and most likely I'm 5-9 after that. And that's good. .

Anne found her copy of our 1997 lease and it clearly states that unless we have special written permission no washer's/dryers in our suite are allowed. So we're going to try and negotiate to keep them as they are mostly furniture but if we can keep one, Anne said she would prefer to keep the washer at least. The dishwasher, we can take to the dump, she's not happy but ok with that. It's a compromise. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm getting into trouble all the time with these

educational type surveys. I'm not coding something correctly, or some aspect of the project I'm not doing right. It seems this job is a lot harder to do then it's worth. I'm not getting the hours and there's little remuneration. I almost got pulled off the project yesterday until another project comes about and that could be a week, 2 months, whatever and I'm out of a job. This I wouldn't mind so much when I'm retired but for now I don't have a lot of choice in the matter.

Making great progress with Horus Rising and wow, learning new words every day. I'm discovering new units as well. I have the Word Bearers Omnibus book for that but I'm enjoying the Horus Heresy series, so far. 

The ISS will soon be outfitted with a "Laser Cannon." It's not like a Death Star planet smasher or anything out of Star Wars.The International Space Station will be getting its very own laser, designed to track volcanic ash to make air traffic safer. Or could it be used to move objects like asteroids out of a near earth orbit flight path?

Yesterday morning we got this envelope under our door.
It was from our management company and they said that we are in violation of our lease (we have lease?) because we have a washer (that isn't working) and a dishwasher that is. My wife has had these since she first moved in here back in the mid 1990's. And only now they are saying it violates a lease we never signed? We have 15 days to either negotiate due to the fact that we never signed any lease as we're month-by-month. Or find a self storage facility to store them until we can figure out what to do. There are a few storage places nearby but they don't display pricing and they are also changing our locks as well, yeesh.   

My wife suggested I go next week to AW, Tuesday before work and that's a good idea. This way we can go together and I can go into work after that. This way I can sleep in this morning on my day off and make some calls about self storage and then go to the mall and get a bite to eat get my book and my beer at Buds. Sounds like a plan. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I'm still giddy over the announcement made yesterday of the news that the new

downtown arena guaranteed maximum price (gmp) has been finalized, and beginning next month, the project will go ahead. Shovels and cranes will be in the ground. This is great. 

Actress Shirley Temple was a bit before my time. Even in my late childhood years, I was aware of her. I was quite surprised to learn last night of her passing. She died at the age of 85.

Distracted driving is a huge problem here in Edmonton. The Province is saying they want to keep trying with education. Here's the thing, everyone knows that if your distracted behind the while driving a motor vehical, your focus is not on the road. This can lead to accidents. Hello, 1+1. So the Alberta Government now is saying, they will take a wait and see approach if education is working. How many people have to die because some shithead is on a cell phone driving her car? What's the threshold? If the Province wants to stop distracted driving, put red light style cameras everywhere but don't tell drivers where they are. First time offenders get their vehicles impounded for a month and a $500 fine. Second time caught and your vehicle is impounded for a year and a $1,000 fine. Third time and no more driving for you and a $5,000 fine. That's one way to curb distracted driving.

I had a decent Tuesday night on the job although I worked a little over time to make a last minute completion and they wanted me to stay a bit longer to wipe down my station. I said not tonight, I'm already going to miss my bus and I want to get home by midnight. They didn't say to much because I met my obligations. I'll take an extra five minutes early tomorrow and log off to clean my station. I know it's only a couple of minutes and not a big deal but gees. They wanted me to put my time in at the end of the shift and after staying late to get a completion they wanted me to wipe down my station on top of all that. Yeesh, I would have been out of there at 9:30pm, without pay and home by about 10:30 mabye even in 11pm.

Today I'm in at 5-9 pm and a day off Thursday to do my business at AW. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

I had a nice commute

into work this afternoon reading my Horus Heresy book. My next Goodreads update will be when I'm at the half way part.

My 4 hour shift went by well. Only one of the new people showed up this evening. One of the people from my other job. After work I walked right in the middle of a snowfall and about an inch of snow on the ground. It wasn't terribly cold. I rode the train to Belvedere with the new employee. My Northgate bus pulled right into Clareview as I came off the train. I read a bit on the bus until it pulled out of Clareview and let a few of us off at the set of lights just out here. I came home to an empty house but Anne was right behind me.

*Big update: It was announced at city hall an hour ago that the guaranteed maximum price (gmp) of the new downtown arena will be $605 million. Construction will begin next month. $7 million going towards the pedestrian corridor, LRT and community rink. ICON Venue Group is the project manager. PCL is the construction manager. PCL will assume any cost overruns should the project go over the GMP Construction begins next month and will open for the Edmonton Oiler's 2016-17 season. It's a great day for the City of Edmonton. The arena is the catalyst for the downtown revitalization project laid out in 2006. This is just the first phase. More can be found here at:

We we're in good spirits and we watched Monday night Raw  with surprised guest Betty White. It was a great show, especially the main event: John Cena and Randy Orton. Classic Cena win. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had a great day off for Sunday even though it was

cold outside, I just stayed in.

I was going over my T4's and I made about half of what I did in 2013 then in 2012. So, I might be able to qualify for blue cross and get my dental work done this summer. Qualifying for Blue Cross is based on the income from the year before. In which case for me it'd be 2013 but we're waiting for my wife's T4 to come in the mail.

A Dj in Nova Scotia might be the first ever to play a Beatles record over the radio in here Canada. On National news they had a story about Loren Fevens a Dartmouth Nova Scotia DJ who at the age of 18 received a package in the mail one Saturday morning: The Beatles record, "Please, please me." There were bootleg Beatle records that were played before this. He played the A side and then the B side. At a local teen dance that evening he put the A side on and the kids booed it and same with the B side. Later he did some research that more or less confirmed that he would be the first to play an official Beatles record in Canada. Capital records gave the same package to a radio station in Toronto and Vancouver. Also, it was Sunday 50 years ago when The Beatles first were on the Ed Sullivan show. I was 11 years old when I saw The Beatles on TV that night. They came to Vancouver in 1964.

I'm enjoying my book "Horus Rising." It's a history of the Warhammer 40K's "Horus Heresy" origins and the concept of "Heresy" as refereed to in the Warhammer 40K universe. I'm enjoying the book a lot and feeling very sanguine about reading it.

I'm out of here shortly before noon so I can make way to Alberta Works. Well, that's the plan. See if I can get some health benefits but I might just do this on my day off Thursday, when I have more time. Anyway, that's all for now.

Yesterday about 9am I was on my

morning commute and in at Tim's by about 9:20am. I had a nice breakfast feeling good about my day ahead. 

I got a bad feeling that due to the amount of new people they hired last week, my hours are going to be reduced. In other words, I'm expendable. I'm taking steps while I have the time and going out tomorrow afternoon and set some things up, before the inevitable happens. I'm not saying 100% it's going to happen but I just have a feeling it will. At least the economy is good and that's in my favour. I've got 3.5 years left in the work force anyway before I retire. .

At least our local weather will begin to improve about by Wednesday. We should be in a warming trend until the end of the month. In another 5 weeks, it's going to be daylight savings time again.

I'm relaxing today and out tomorrow around noon to get downtown for 1pm. Not that I have a appoint but I'm going to set some things up. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Looks like I have a full day

on the job today and I hope I get a full 7.5 hours.

I'm having trouble (again) with my laptop as it's crashing on start up. I'm considering a system restore but I'd be losing all of my programs. I have a 1 Tb back up drive and I'm considering backing up my laptop and then reinstall and hope everything works from there. 

One of Harper's recent pieces of legislation is immigration reform. Bill C-24. The bill makes dramatic improvements to the immigration act making it more difficult for people to immigrate here. The bill is aimed at preventing immigration fraud and improving wait times for a citizenship application backlog which, stood at 349,249 cases at the end of 2012. It takes just over 25 months to process a new immigration claim. First of all new Canadian prospects must be able to speak English. They must reside in Canada for a minimum of 4 years instead of the usual 3, and adults who apply for citizenship will also have to show they have filed Canadian income taxes. Canada spends way to much on immigration, over $20 billion annually. The proposed legislation would streamline the application process by allowing citizenship officers to make decisions on applications, something only citizenship judges can do now. Lots of these people use Canada as a soft place to land during challenging times in their own country. Recently about 11,000 people were deported for committing immigration fraud. The new bill would also,increase application fees for each adult to $300 from $100, effective immediately. Fees for minors would remain the same. The new bill also addresses "lost Canadians" as well.

So, I got my hours for the week ahead and I have just half days. They got me off for Sunday and Thursday. Yes, I have a Sunday off, which means I can try and "fix" my laptop Sunday. Or just get the new pc and reinstall everything. Komplete 8 is a 110Gb install and Maschine is about a 2Gb install. Then I've got my audio interface and midi keyboard, Cubase and FL Studio and a few other programs. Should be about 180 Gb but I have some decisions to make here. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Everything turned out ok last night at lodge

as I got the bar and the pizza order came shortly after that We barely had enough guys to open lodge as we missed a good amount of the guys for one reason or another.

The City of Edmonton has awarded the Katz Group the contract to build a 27 storey office tower, which will be just across the street from the new downtown arena. It's all part of the downtown arena/district and revitalization plan. The office tower will take about 2 years to build. That should make the opening of that tower coincide with the arena opening itself.

I have work today from 5-9 and possibly Saturday, 10-6 but  more likely it's going to go from 10-2. I don't know what next weeks schedule will be like until I go in for this evening, then the picture will come into focus a little clearer. This means that other then lodge, I'll be working Monday-Sunday until the end of April and sending my resume`s out there as I need full time work. I need 80 hours on my cheque. Then when Anne came home she said that after the family day week end, her management cut her down to 2 days/week. It's time to go look for another job. Anyway, that's all for now.

My day yesterday was decent enough

as I had a good start to the shift. About 3pm we were asked if we'd like to go home at 5pm. It's complicated but I'm in 9-5 for today, as far as I know.

Four chapters into Warhammer 40K "Horus Rising" and I'm enjoying this book. It's not as action packed as the "Space Wolf 2nd Omnibus." It's still a good story so far.

Despite my JW having some health issues preventing him from attending Thursday night, he said he'd have his wife drop off the bar. Plan B is to have our previous JW use his Costco card and get some deli lasagna and in this emergency sub for our current JW. That's if I can reach him before tomorrow night. I can't just call my IPM's 2 days before: "Hey can I get you to take this chair for the meeting?" Response: "I've got some stuff going on Jim, sorry but I can't make it etc." Human nature, if you give people an out, they'll take it. If worse comes to worse, I'll order a couple of pizzas and we'll have pop, coffee and or juice. Almost every Lodge faces hurdles like this.

My wife had to postpone her Doctors appointment yesterday for today. Mainly because of inspectors coming into the premises doing a "inspections." They're saying she can't have the dishwasher. Something to do with water mains and pipes or something. What? We've had the dishwasher here for 16 years. The dishwasher hooks up to the kitchen sink tap and water comes from there for the dishwasher. As far as I know there was nothing in the original lease saying she couldn't have a dishwasher. Now they're saying its an issue? So Anne had to postpone her appointment for that.

Other then that I have a day off tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that. It's like having a Saturday night in the middle of the week. Anyway, that's all for today.

Cleats were not necessary on my way into work yesterday

afternoon, even though I wore them. There were a few icy patches here and there but nothing major. Nothing I couldn't handle. 

The 1st part of my day was slow going. I wanted to have my half hour about 6:30pm to make the rest of the shift go by faster but we had some down time. The 2nd half went by a bit better then the first for my first time doing a new project. On my 10 i went to Subway to get some air and a package of dark chocolate chip cookies and a diet cola for my commute home. While waiting for the train at Corona I had a cookie and it went down the wrong way burning my throat. I had a weird reaction I couldn't get rid of no matter how much cola. I was hacking and coughing all the way home. Anne gave my some ice creme which helped a bit. I can still feel it 4 hours later.

I got my email during breaks in the show and my JW wont be able to make it, so I somehow got to make arrangements to get the bar and or maybe just get a case of beer and work the bar from there. I've also got to find someone to take his place and the SD's place, so I've got to make some phone calls this morning when I get up. Yeesh, there's always something.

Coast right now they're talking about giants that roamed North America some 400 years ago. Then if that's not enough they're going to talk about auras and parallel dimensions. Should be a good show.

Anne made her perogies and I watched a pretty decent 3 hour Monday night Raw which ended half an hour ago. Anyway, that's all for now.

That was a decisive victory for

the Seahawks but what was Denver thinking? Still I'm happy Seattle won. That was a blow out and then some! 

I was doing computer research for most of my Sunday afternoon. The Intel Next Unit Computer or NUC, isn't bad but for something that can't get above 2 Ghz cpu speed and has only 16 Gb Ram, isn't something I'm interested in at the moment. 

The new Captain America winter soldier and The Amazing Spiderman-2 looks awesome. I'm especially interested in seeing Captain America when it comes out later this Spring.

After the game I figured out how to upload pdf files to my Itouch. I needed to download iBooks and then I found a site that takes any url from a webpage and turns that page into a pdf. I need to open the pdf in the Firefox folder and upload  it from my desktop to iTunes. Check on the pdf and sync and there it is in iBooks. Works really nice. Anyway, that's all for now.

A couple of things going on this week

I've got a full week ahead this week and it's Lodge night Thursday, my only day off in the week. At least I have the hours, for now. 

Yesterday was a good 6 hour shift and as I was heading out towards Corona station after work shortly after 4pm figuring out what to do, there was the #2 Clareview bus adjacent to Audrey's. At the time I thought Wendy's. I took the #2 bus outside Tim's. I got a fast look at the Corner's tower 1 pit in the projects early stages. Then up the road there was The Edgewater twin tower project in it's early stages and if that's not enough, then there's the downtown arena breaking ground next month, and the Nait line about to open in June. Lots of stuff going around Edmonton.

At Stadium, I was deciding should I get off here and catch the train back to Clareview, or go to Wendy's or get off by the church on 50th and 136 and enjoy the walk home. I already had a A&W burger this week. I pressed the button by the church and noticed the #183 coming towards me on 136th street. I'll catch that and it's a 2 minute ride from just outside my place, sweet. I was home by 4:40pm. At that time I was tired of burgers and not hungry anyway.

Last night I was looking at a non gaming pc on a local website and I think this is the pc I want. The price is right for just over $500 but no os. I don't need the os now. The only thing I need to do is clone my laptop drive and add the 1Tb SSHD drive. If all goes well and my hours hold, I should be able to get this by the 1st week in March. I was looking at gaming pc's and I don't do much gaming (gaming pc's are more expensive because of the graphics card) but this pc has a cpu speed of 3.6 Ghz. I'm also looking at a NUC 4th gen i5 but only if I can get cpu speeds of over 2 Ghz. I like the NUC's form factor.

This afternoon Anne and I are going to have our nice brunch and watch the Superbowl and wind out the rest of the night. Anyway, that's about all for now.

LRT service from Stadium-Corona is shut down

again this weekend as the City is doing more work on the Nait line, which opens sometime in June.

Yesterday after work at 7pm I went to Audrey's and asked if anyone of them could get my book in the back downstairs because I'm having trouble with my knees. I got the Warhammer 40K "Path of the Eldar Omnibus." The good news is thanks to my Audrey's book club membership I got the book for free because I have $20 in rewards bucks. Good deal. I brought my list of books with me and my book ordering guy began to fill them out for me. After that I went 2 doors down to Burger Baron  and bought a order of fries to munch on the train on my commute home.

Today I'm out of here about 8:30 to get to Stadium replacement bus and downtown to Corona station, get some breakfast and head into work for a full day. I'm going to miss the Oiler/Boston game at 11am. I wont get home until 7pm.

It looks good that Anne and I are having Sunday the off  together to watch the Superbowl. Anyway, that's all for now.