Working Sundays at my job

is good. It's like a afternoon shift and 2 hours near the end. I'll be getting home tonight about 9pm.

Today is Grey cup Sunday in the CFL. It's Hamilton/Calgary. I was watching on TV yesterday as they were saying the next CFL Commissioner (after Mark Cohon leaves after today) needs to focus on making the CFL more appealing to younger fans. The average age of CFL fans is 54. So they need to make this more appealing to younger audiences during the off season. That's going to be the next challenge of the new cfl commissioner. I'll be following the scores during my day. I get 2 ten minute breaks and a half hour one. It's a 6pm Eastern start or 3pm BC time, 4pm Edmonton time. I'll take my 1st break at 4:30pm and half at 5:30pm hopefully after half time and my last ten about 7pm. Its a long day but at least I have the Grey Cup game to break up the day.

It's a full day today 7.5 hours and even though its -22 out there with a strong windchill making it to feel like -32. I put my cleats under my boots and I'll be packing this up and ready to leave. That's all for now.

Lots of people hate winter and I

can't find fault with any of that. I like winter when its around -20 and no wind chill and walking conditions are good. I don't like the ice. Other then that, I like winter. Its a nice time of year. I brought my face mask with me during my commute and last night coming out of the office was very cold and icy just before 9pm walking to Corona station. It was icy just out here by the cross walk. I'm wearing my cleats to work Sunday.

I'm not going out today. I'm just staying home to work on my beat and chillin. I wish I had 3 days off, hopefully over the holidays.

The new Star Wars movie trailer "The force awakens" was released yesterday. It looks really good. Apparently the full movie will be released December 18th 2015. I'm really excited about this movie. Hopefully this movie will rejuvenate Hollywood and bring back a revival of science fiction like it did in the late 1970's. I remember the original movieStar Wars movie "A new hope." My friend Gord Kalvic and I went to see it at a drive in theatre in Surrey BC May 1977. It was, and still is the greatest film of all time in my opinion and best of the original trilogy. When "Empire Strikes back" came out, with all that was going on at the time with Ellen and Richard, the SCA etc was a special time in my life April-May 1980. The 3rd movie with the "Ewoks" didn't do anything for me. It thought the movie was dumbed down, appealing to younger audiences. When the other movies came out 1999-2005 I was into them as well. "Revenge of the Sith" was the best of the 2nd trilogy. Now with episode 7 about to come out a decade after the last movie, I'm excited as ever. I'm hoping this will be a trilogy as well.  

One of my favorite shows on cable TV was "Attack of the show." ATOS had it all that was relevant to me: Science fiction, gaming, the works. It was a great show. They had great interviews. I was saddened when the show ended last January it went from 2005-2013.

The Oiler's are still on the losing side of things, again. They were in Saint Louis last night and lost 3-4 in OT. At least they are getting better. The Oiler's road trip is over and they're back at Rexall Monday night. Anyway, that's all for now.

Making predictions is something I'm not very good

at doing, however after hearing the news about Opec and oil dropping to $69 and how this is going to affect our economy, buying a big ticket item doesn't make sense right now. I got work up until possibly the end of next May. Then I'm reduced to 2-3 days a week, if that. Then what? I can't predict beyond that. Even though Alberta's unemployment rate is currently at 4.4% by Spring we could easily be at 6%. I can't justify a new computer now, what with Lodge dues coming up. This new computer might have to wait until spring or maybe even on hold. I can make minor upgrades to my laptop like Windows 8.1 and a 1Tb sshd hard drive. That's all I need for now. If I can hold onto as much as what I have and save some until if and when I get a tax return, then I can survive the summer until work at my current job resumes again in September. 

Right now we are having a blizzard out there like you wouldn't believe. At this hour its -20 with blowing snow. It was tough trudging through the snow howling and blowing shortly before 9pm yesterday when I left the office for Corona station

The Oiler's lost their 8th in a row against Nashville last night but held the Preds to a 0-0 contest until the home team won in ot. That's a positive step forward.Tonight they play in Saint Louis and it can only get worse from there. The longest Oiler's winless streak was in 1993 when the Oilers had 13 losses and 1 tie. If the Oiler's continue like this, they will match their winless streak record Wednesday December 10th and beat a new winless streak record December 14th. I doubt that will happen but they have some tough teams to beat and there is never a easy night in the NHL.

I'm in the office today from 2-9 and Saturday I have off. Then I'm on for next week, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday off, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Snow days are here again and

we're getting it good. Were supposed to get about 20 centimeters or about 8" when its all over. It's suppose to let up sometime Friday. Its nothing like they have had in Buffalo last week.

Since its Thanksgiving day in the US there is NFL football. I put another Fan Duel line up together for 4 games this afternoon, I'm going to be following. Plus the Oilers are at Nashville for another beating. I'll be following this one. If they lose tonight, its going to be their 8th loss in a row. How Lowe can they go?

I've been following this Burnaby mountain pipeline story for awhile now. In Tuesday's Edmonton Sun, Sun commentator Ezra Levant published a expose of the "protestors" against the pipeline. I would have had a measure of respect for their efforts if the protest was a grassroots movement, however its anything but. These are professional protestors. Their beef against the Trans Mountain pipeline which would take Alberta oil to load oil onto tankers for market would be disastrous. Thing is Kinder Morgan has had a pipeline there since 1953. The protestors hate fossil fuels as they all drive up Burnaby mountain and fill the Simon Fraser University parking lot. These Pro protesters are funded by their non Canadian bosses, foreign interest's groups. Tides foundation and Forest Ethics (or their Canadian affiliates) fund tens of millions of dollars on their war against the Alberta oilsands but never against OPEC or Russian oil. Even the famous Canadian environmentalist for hire David Suzuki made a cameo appearance last weekend. Suzuki runs about $8 million/year out of Tides "charitable" number. He even took a jet plane from Malaysia to give a anti capitalist speach before returning to his multi million dollar home in Vancouver during last weekends protest. This was not a grassroots protest, it was a foreign funded attack pure and simple. Odd how we don't see the protestors during the week, only on the weekend. If I was still living there and able I'd carry a sign for for the camera. This protest funded by Tides.

I tried calling Best buy computer department but everyone is busy. Yep they (customers) all came out to pick up the computer I want in a snow storm. Most likely they are all out at lunch but if they don't have it I might have to wait until next paycheck. The only quad core pc's Future shop has are either $1000 + laptops or desktops. They have a few in stock and I'm about to put one on reserve. Anyway, that's all for now.

If everything works out ok between now and

Friday morning I'm off to buy the new computer. I'll probably
 get it at Best buy because of the price and its hop on the #137 Friday morning get my purchase call a cab and from almost one end of 137th ave to the other. The cab ride is a straight line from point A-B. I should be home about this time and ready to leave for work. This way I have my day off Saturday to play around with my new pc. The computer will need at least 2 major upgrades in the new yeaar: a 4Tb hard drive and 16Gb of ram. The motherboard only has 2 Ram slots. I know there are 16Gb Ram sticks available but they are probably sold in pairs. Ram is expensive now 16Gb will cost about $200. At least from here that's the plan for Friday

Today its mid week Wednesday. Nothing going on today its into work in about 45 minutes for 6.5 hours. For the first 2 hours we're mostly doing quota fills and that's boring. Then the other project from 4-8 and then back to quota fills for the last hour but we're usually gone by about 8:50pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

I didn't sleep that well overnight but

I got what I could. I think the reason why i couldn't sleep was because my bed sheet I sleep on was not smooth but had wrinkles from my knees to the edge of my bed. It was hard to get that sweet spot. I'm such a light sleeper as it is. 

Since the summer Native Instruments (ni) has brought out these midi controllers they call the S series. The keys light up by where they're attache to the frame and merger with their komplete series. Akai has had their mpc 25 which has the pads like in Maschine and a screen and touch based mod and pitch wheels. The Akai mpc has 25 keys, which have adjustable octaves. I initially want to get this controller but local venders didn't have a copy, which s why I got the M-audio Oxygen 49 as nobody had the 25 key version at the time. In my email this morning ni has a major Maschine update to 2.2. I know that, ni eventually will be merge their S series controllers with Maschine like the Akai, and this will most likely be ni's next step with Maschine but at the moment Maschine is still at 2.2. When they get to 9.8 or something, then that's when I feel they will merge their S series controllers and Maschine to a new Maschine after Studio. Maschine came out I think 2010. Then in 2012 out came Maschine Mk2 (this is the one I have) and shortly after I bought it, ni brings out Maschine studio. I usually like to upgrade tech stuff after every other release. I'm hoping ni wont wait until Maschine studio 9.8 to merge both products. Maschine studio came out last October and I've been resisting the urge to upgrade because with my luck I'll get studio and then ni will release the next version of Maschine. They're about due for another version if 'history" is any indication. NI likes to do these major releases near Christmas for obvious reasons. Maybe by this time next year I'm hoping. The Mk2 set me back about $600 back in the day when I had a steady income not that long ago. I knew then that my steady income was nearing an end but Long & McQuade let me take out a account on MK2, which was nice of them. 

Anne mentioned yesterday that Pat Quinn past away. He coached the Oiler's a few years back, when the Oiler's had a string of head coaches they kept letting go thinking that was the answer to their problems. After Quinn they had Tom Renney and then Kruger. In hockey news a lot of media insiders are saying that MacT is about to make some significant moves. All players are on the table (except Hall) they need to make a huge change because MacT says the coach is not the problem and I agree. This means that, players like Perron, RNH, Eberle, Yakapov, lots of guys. Pat Quinn didn't have the best line up to work with either but like Kruger after him,Quinn was well respected. RIP Pat.

Today I've got another full day. What I like about this project about food that we're doing is that it's a 30 minute survey. it also means I get that train before 9pm. The other thing about this survey is that it's month-by-month and a parent can proxy for a child member in the family, which s nice. It's a full 6 hours today (in theory) Anyway, that's all for now.

Finally it looks like were getting

sunshine out there  at -3. Next Saturday we could be in for a -21/30 wind chill kind of a day. November weather wise, was a nice month. Real winter begins December-March anyway. 

Looks like the Kinder Morgan Burnaby mountain pipeline project is moving forward despite the protesters. Special interest groups tried to block the Northern Gateway pipeline and delayed that. At least the Burnaby mountain pipeline in its early development could go through despite the protestors and the Trans Canada pipeline could get underway soon and when the Republicans get into office in th US they will approve Keystone. 

With the Oiler's losing badly Saturday night and with the CFL Eskimo loss to Calgary yesterday, this weekend was not a good weekend for Edmonton Pro sports teams. It gets worse for the Oiler's because they still have another 4 more months of this to endure. The Eskimo's in 2013 came off of a 4-14 record to this years complete turnaround of 12-6, they have nothing to be ashamed of. The only reason why Calgary won like they did was because of home field advantage.

I'm in for a full day 2-9 for 32.5 hours on the week as we begin a new project. I'm home about 9:40pm to watch Monday night raw. Anyway, that's all for now.

Having a

decent Sunday and in general a nice weekend.

I'm trying to get Anne out of bed so we can get to Swiss Chalet before the 5pm supper rush. If we can get out of here by 3:30pm we should be ok and we can pick our seats. 

In the East its Hamilton Tiger Cats and underway is Esks/Calgary. My 4 fan duel (fd) fantasy football picks are doing ok. My top entry at $1 is 16/100 and my bottom one is 22/100. I'm apparently still in the money game to win $1.80. Since I don't know a lot of whats going on with 22 quarters remaining (?) and my score is 89.9, I remain optimistic. The prize for my 16/100 game is $90! I got to get a better QB next week. If Anne and I can get out of here early, we can get a good booth and I can get a good position to watch some of the Esks/Stamps game and check my fd games in the meantime. I don't mind spending $4/week at this. Its fun.

At the moment we're holding at -6. We got  a -18 Friday but that could change as well. Anyway, that's all for now.

Were having a snow day out there today and its coming down

pretty good. Hopefully we don't get the snow they had in Buffalo the other day. 

I'm thinking about what to get my wife for Christmas. Since she doesn't read this blog or even know it exists, I'm safe. I'd like to get her a digital photo frame and Staples has a nice one for about $50 and I'd like to get her a Tim's card and the iPod Nano. When I get the xbmc system set up hopefully we can reduce our cable down to something more manageable. At least that's the idea, in theory. 

This afternoon I'm putting a Fan Duel (fd) fantasy nfl football team together. Under the salary cap of course. For some reason fd deposited $10 into my fd account and my pp account shows normal. Strange. Anyway, that's all for now.

Thursday we got a lot of rain

while that might not be unusual keep in mind that this is Edmonton, where by this time of year it's usually -23* with a windchill of -28*. Add a foot and a half of snow onto that. At the moment it's overcast patchy snow spots on the ground. It looks more like Spring then winter. Right now its a mild +5. Next weekend we should be down to about -8/-11 wind chill. Even then, that's not bad.

I'm in the office again from 3-9. I could get used to these hours. After tonight I'll have 74 hours on the cheque not including stat pay and ot. From here on in I'll be lucky if I get 3-9 but all we have are evening projects. We got to many people all doing part time and that takes away from those like me that want to work full time. We have people that are just using the job as filler until their regular job comes back. There's about 4 of them waiting till then in the New Year. Can't blame anyone for more $. I would too if I could.

The good news is I have the weekend off and even though its between checks, I'm taking Anne out to Swiss Chalet Sunday and watch some of the game on the big screen and home for the rest. There's no Oiler game on TV other then Saturday.

Hey, hey, Black library has another (in Trade) Space Marine Battles book, "Pandorax." It was released last month and I'll order it before I leave out of here this afternoon. I can cash in on my club points towards it.  

I'm waiting for my schedule in my email from the office for next week. Most likely it's going to be posted on the board when I get there at about 2:45pm. Anyway that's all for now.

It was a good news bad news day

today. I got my Horus Heresy "Scars" and a Eagles book at Audrey's. Also out of that, I'm able to cash in on my book club awards now at $20. I'm saving up for a Warhammer 40K Omnibus book. On my way into work from there, the eather was holding at at about -4. Then the bad news. I got into the office and the supervisor says I'm in at 3pm. I lose 2 more hours. I already lost about 4.5 hours this cheque. At least I'll be able to sleep in a bit and do the project that pays me a bit more. I had another slow start. I got nothing on the good project for 2 hours and 1 completion on the other one in 2 hours and and 2 on the evening project for 3.5 hours. Its hard for me to build momentum like this. And to top off more bad news the Oiler's lost to Vancouver but that was almost a given. My evening commute was quiet and uneventful. Anyway that's all for now.

What I like about taking

a melatonin during the week is, it's not like a sleeping pill that can knock me out and remain in my system hours later. A melatonin has a similar effect but I don't get that "after taste" in my system like a sleeping pill gives.

The Keystone pipeline got the axe by 1 vote but it's only temporary. When the Republicans get in power next year, it'll happen. We still have the Trans Canada pipeline that will go ahead soon as well, I hope. 

There was a hockey poll of the best and the worst NHL coaches and its no surprise that the best NHL coach has recently won a Stanley cup. Our Dallas Eakins came in "last" place, if the poll means anything. Taylor Hall said the poll is stupid and Eakins is a good coach. I agree.

I was working 3 different projects yesterday. Yeesh. The first one is winding down and I spent 1.5 hours on it and got nothing. The other project about 3 hours and the new project for 3 hours.

ETS had scheduling problems yesterday morning and I barely got into the office on time. Anyway, that's all for now.

Now if the rest of winter could hold like this

that'd make me a happy camper. This is winter but not arctic winter. Anything under -10 and no wind chill, I can live with.

I'm up a bit early because of the work crews banging away next door and above. I'll be relieved  when this project is done, or this side of the building. Management has blocked off the buildings main parking lot as they are upgrading it. Its a big inconvenience for people living here and they haven't even began yet.

I'm having my morning coffee trying to wake up. Returning home last night, management here has put notice up saying they are shutting down the plumbing for they day for inspections. I don't know whats going on with this place, first widows, then parking lot and now plumbing. What are they trying to do push people out so the owner can raise the premises and put up new ones like condo towers?

In yesterdays mailbag I received a notice from Alberta Monitoring for my diabetes management saying its well near the end of the fiscal year and I've barely used up any of what they give me for diabetes monitoring. The thing is, I don't test my blood sugar levels everyday now. The most important thing for me diabetes wise is insulin and they wont fund that because it's the star attraction here. Sure its $45/month but I'm on low income as it is and we get help when we need it. The other envelope in my mail was a notice from the feds. They said they owe me money for my cpp. Imagine that, the feds not taking money out but putting money in. Wow. 

It's either today or tomorrow that a Senate vote will be passed on the Keystone pipeline decision. The vote is expected to pass because of the of the majority of Republican voters in the in the Senate. That's good news for Albertan's if it goes through. 

Today, I'm in from 1-9. I'll be relieved when we're doing just an evening shift. I still get 4 7.5 hour days and I can take a evening off once a week and still leaves me with enough hours to pay my bills and a bit left over. Anyway, that's all for now.

Computers are much like

Government, the bigger they get the slower they become

If your thinking about buying a computer for anything other then everyday use fro m Future shop forget it. Their desktop pc's have 2 Ram slots on their motherboards. Get a Mac? Even worse. Try upgrading past a 2Tb and more then 16 Ram and your paying 2-3 grand.

I'm going to be following the results of the Riders/Eskimo dame this afternoon. Game starts at 2:30pm, I figure the 1st quarter will be done by 3pm and that's a good time to take my first break. Then again at 4pm on my half once at the beginning and near the end, and then on my last ten about 5pm, just as its all over to see the finale result. Go Esks!

I decided to get that 1Tb Laptop hard drive and Win 7 I'll get them at Future shop only if they can price match. If they can't then I'll go to Memory express next weekend. Anyway, that's all for now.

Friday morning I did my banking downtown and

came home. I had a few hours to myself and about 5:30pm got ready for lodge.

I got there a bit early and nothing had been set up. Some of the guys came by and helped me set things up. We had  about 20 guys show up and had a great night. The highlights of the night for me was a ceremony called "The empty chair" and giving a Jack a 50 year jewel. I might get a 25 year pin but not a jewel, which for me will be in another 12 years. We also presented my ipm with a certificate, which I'll get at the end of my ipm year. It was a great night. I had a Molson dry and enjoyed the festive board and got a ride home. In by 10:30pm to watch what was left of Smackdown. 1 more Friday night and in January we're back to the 2nd Thursday. What was interesting is this evening we had the current DGM, current DDGM and the DDGM elect. All from our lodge! Lodge officers posed for a group photo for this historic event. I'm going to try and snag a copy of the photo on our SW's camera. I decided though, I'm paying my lodge dues in early January.

I got my schedule for this upcoming week: It's tomorrow 12-8, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 1-9. Full hours, less ot but there's a stat day in there as well, so I'm happy about that and next Saturday off. 

Tomorrow is the West CFL semi finale, Riders/Edmonton and at 7pm after the football game is the Coyotes/Oiler's. Should be a good one and I'll probably be home in time to watch most of the game. Anyway, that's all for now.

Even though we had

Remembrance day off it was still a long week, and I'm glad I have a couple of days off. 

When I signed up for this current project I thought it was for the duration of the project and nobody had come forward to inform me otherwise. I forgot to ask yesterday what my shift for next week will be. I just assumed. After dinner I realized, wait now, I hadn't mentioned my availability to the boss. So about an hour ago I left a message on his answering machine saying I hope I'm on the current project for the duration of the project and or for whatever hours I can get. Otherwise if it comes back on me: "Sorry James, you didn't put in your availability for the next week and I have nothing for you etc." I could be screwed and all that I've worked for gone. So now I have this hanging over my head all night. I'll be up at 9am calling the boss hoping he gets my message, or hoping I can speak to him before he gets the schedule out. Otherwise all I get on my next cheque is 33 hours and anything I saved up so far, is on my next cheque. If he doesn't get my availability then I could be out 50 hours. I know the schedule wasn't up for next week when I left..  

Now I have this thing over my head all night. I didn't even think about shoring up my hours for next week. I just assumed I'm on this project until it ends. The next 8 hours are going to be tough. I'm really sick over this thing. Thing is there are only a few of us doing this project. I'm pretty sure I'm signed up for the duration of the project and he hasn't said anything official. I've been coming in 1-10 all week. Thing is we have a lot of extra people now but only a few of us in from 1-5. Some just come in for limited hours. I'm going to call just in case. Anyway, that's all for now.

If we keep holding

at about a high of -0/-10 as it looks like its going to go between now and the end of the month, I can live with that. its cold but its not arctic weather. 

At lunch I wanted to read Legion, my Warhammer 40k Legion ebook. However the memory card I put in my Kobo, the one I've been using for a couple of days now for some reason, popped out. After  trying to insert it, it now says I have finished reading the book I just started. Huh? I don't know whats going on so, I'll be check into this on the weekend.

I had a better day on the job as I was away from my loud neighbor. For a 8.5 hour day ending at 10pm, it went by fast. This project will be over next Friday. So, I'll be off at 9pm and able to catch that 9:25pm bus home. I hope I'll get at least 2-9. I can handle those hours now until the end of the year.

Yesterday, the European Space Agency was able to land their comet probe "Rosetta" on comet 67p. This made international headlines because its the first time a probe from earth has landed in a comet.

I've got another full day today and 2 off. Well, lodge Friday so really 1 day off where I can just relax. Anyway, that's all for now.

I needed that

9 hours of sleep in the middle of the week. I love these mid week stat holidays for that reason alone.

My day yesterday was ok except for the person beside me. She's a nice lady but has a drowning nasal voice that penetrated right into my headset. I think my respondents heard more of her then me. I ended up with barely 5 completions. I don't make the seating plan up but I know who does now and I'm going to implore him to put some separation between us. Its bad enough having to listen to my loud neighbor score on every call while I'm getting 1 every 90 minutes or so. Tomorrow, I'm going to leave an earplug in my ear and see if that helps a little. About 80% of the time a 15 minute takes about half an hour because most of the respondents have accents. Because they hear the echo of my neighbor more then me, their asking to repeat the question. I like the project I'm working on but I think it's going to come to an end (and the calling) Saturday. I'll know my schedule when it gets emailed as the availability sheet  has been missing lately. Since I don't have spell check on the computer where I'm sitting, I'm going to open up Google and use that as a spell check in another window and just copy and paste. Many times I can't go back after the survey is done to correct spelling. We're not supposed to use the Internet for inappropriate use but this is appropriate use as far as I'm concerned. 

The other day I found (after almost 2 years of working in the building) my service provider wifi. Listed was Shaw's Go wifi, which since I'm not on Shaw wont open for me. So, I thought the back door to Subway was on the main floor of the building. Subway has free wifi. I thought maybe all I have to do to access it without going outside (sometimes the intercom to the building doesn't work, and I don't like to stand there outside when it gets -25 waiting for the buzzer to click to let me in) While on the other side of the "Subway door"I go to my list of available networks and there's my ISP's open. I just type in my email hit the TOS button and I'm online. Oh, wait..this isn't Subway. It's another business! It just says my ISP and I think I can get online access anywhere on the main floor. I'll try that tomorrow. I wish I would have known about this during this last CFL season. The CFL season is now over as of this last weekend. Esks lost in Regina but they played all 18 games. Having known about this during week one in June I could check on the games during my 2 breaks and my half. At least I can check on Oiler games. 

Speaking of which the Oilers are in Nashville tonight at 6pm. This is a market we have trouble winning against while on the road. I don't think we're going to take this one but our boys have been playing good on the road winning their last 2. Here I was thinking they'd win at least 1 in OT. Now two back to back? Can they make it 3 tonight on the road?

I decided on my day off Friday before lodge, I'm running down to my bank then over to Audrey's to get my books and then to Memory express to get a sshd 1Tb drive for my laptop, a 1Tb drive for my desktop and a sata/ide connector, a screwdriver set and memory card for my camera and a dedicated memory card for my Kobo and Windows 8.1 64 bit. I'm going to just start over and reset my laptop back to factory settings and install Win 8 and then reinstall my music programs. Komplete 8 is about 110 Gb, Maschine is maybe 4 Gb, the Oxygen keyboard is minimal and that's all I need for now. On the desktop, I plan on getting a hard drive dock duplicator. They're priced at about $75 take out the desktop drive and do the data transfer and install the new drive with the sata/ide connector inside. Anyway, that's all for now.  

Sunday was the 25th

anniversary of when the Berlin wall fell. I was 37 at the time and aware of the event. It also signified and end of a era but for me it meant the end of anything resembling my youth. Three years inside of turning 40. I'm glad the wall came down and the city of Berlin united.

I didn't sleep well over night for some reason. I had Cost on with a new host I never heard before Jimmy Church. I tuned in when they were talking about Ruth Paine and I thought this was one of Coast's JFK shows but they got into a discussion of everything from the Scientology, Jack parsons, Aleister Crowley, Nazi diaspora, global terrorism Tracy Twyman,the secrets of Freemasonry, the Knights. Tonight's show is kind of a encore to last nights show. Templar, and the Apocalypse as well as Lucifer the Lightbearer, all kinds of fun stuff. 

A couple of observations about my Kobo ereader. Pros: I can now get Black Library books on my Kobo. Cons: A ereader unlike a book doesn't let me display 2 full pages like a book. I have to swipe the screen every page instead of turning the page in a book every other page. My right hand gets a work out. That's one thing I hadn't considered when buying this thing. Also, when the font is lower it can take 2-3 sipes on the screen to get to the next page. 

Tomorrow is holiday Tuesday Remembrance day. Wednesday and Thursday is a standard work day and I think the last of the 1-10 hours. I'll know what my schedule is for  next week Friday. If I can get another full week 1-10 I'll take it. If I'm back to doing 5-9, as long as we have Saturday and Sunday, those hours are sustainable to our status quo around here, even with me having 1 day off. In the New Year, I need to think about my lodge dues which is why I'm looking at settling up with that this month. Anyway, that's all for now.  

Yesterday was a snow day

as winter came in snarling and in a bad mood. I haven't been outside yesterday and currently we're sitting at -10* I'll be out there in about 20 minutes for my afternoon commute.

I'm seriously thinking about getting a pc from across the street. They have some decent i5's. I can add a 4Tb drive and slot in the extra Ram latter. It's not that I don't think I can not build a pc but I just can't see myself running back and fourth to the South side all the time, making several trips.

Sunday is a quick afternoon shift and a bit more in the evening. I'm home by 9pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

I could do 50 hours

week for the rest of my life but I'm not going to get hours like that for awhile. If we just have a evening project, best I could get away with is 6 days and weekdays only 4 hours a shift. That's if they have evening calling only. In that case best I could get is 31 hours week or 62 hours on a pay cheque. However, that's not permanent. I need 50 hours/week until I'm on full pension. At that time, I could handle 31 hours/week easy.

Good news is I have articles and ebooks added onto my Kobo! Helps to have a memory card and ePub. I'm going to download a sample BL quick reads after I have about 8-9 hours of sleep before the Esks/Riders game. If the sample works out, I'll download "Legion."

Wow, the Oiler's finally won one in Buffalo last night! Good news. I'd be happy if they win 1 on this road trip. They won 3-2.

Whats this? Free wi-fi coming soon to all lrt stations? Soon meaning by this time next year. This is great. It means that I can access Esks/Oiler scores as my train pulls into the stations, nice. Anyway, that's all for now.

Another nice looking

day out there.

I'm still fiddling with my Kobo reader. Trying to get ePub books onto the device that are not from the Kobo store. Pocket doesn't seem to work but I'm going to try a few more things tomorrow on my day off. I'm not giving up on this thing yet but if there's no possible way to get my Warhammer 40K books onto this thing, I'm buying a iPad mini. 

Anyway, its time to get our of here, that's all for now.

At 10pm last night after 8 and a half hours

I get my last comp. I was tired and drained but ok. I just wanted out of the office and on my way home. I met Anne on her way home at Bay station. We were in good spirits. Anne made her chili and rice bowl and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert, yum.
  
Update: I wrote before the update this morning after I had a good 7 hour sleep. I'm ready to go for another 8.5 on the job today. The first thing I do when I get into the building is go to the elevator, press the button for my appropriate floor, buzz to get into the office, go to the board and look at the sheet of paper posted as to what project I'm doing for the day. If I'm on the current project, good. If not and my colleagues are doing my current project, I know I've been pulled from my current project. (That means a talk with the boss because usually I've done something wrong the day before) If all looks good from there then I check to see where I'm seated according to the seating plan posted on the board, hang up my coat, get my folder, put it on my station, check to see how much time I have before I need to log in. Then I'll have half a sandwich or something with my insulin in the lunchroom, scan the Sun or Metro, a brief bathroom break get back to my station, log in open the project and I'm ready to go.  
     Yesterday I had one of my colleagues from Sri Lanka sit across from me on the other side of the partition and later in the day the respondent could barely hear me because she was so loud. My Sri Lanka colleague is a nice lady  and one of "the regulars" but the Respondent couldn't get half of what I said and a 15 minute survey would have taken 35 minutes, tops. I was having a slow day as it was. One of the regular supervisors knows this about my colleague and would have taken appropriate measures. I think on the day I might have had 6 completions (cmp's) possibly 7.
     I was more or less ok with the day I had. I would  have had a few more but several Respondents bailed on me. Every day I can do this current project is a blessing. I really like it.         
     
Temperature wise we're sitting at +6* right now and apparently we're reaching a high of +10. Sunday -2, Monday -7, holiday Tuesday -8. Today looks like our best day until about mid-late March.
    
I'm still researching motherboards for my pc build.  I'm looking at a i5 or possibly a A8 cpu, 32 Gb Ram, and a 4Tb hard drive. Most likely in 5-8 years or so consumers will begin to see Petabyte hard drives. For the moment though a 4Tb drive will suit my needs, for now. Anyway, that's all for now.

Now we get the plumber is upstairs

pounding away and the window installers are at it next door. Anne said they left an inch of sawdust on the balcony and she had to convince them to clean up their mess. Reluctantly they did somewhat but it was a big job to clean up after them and replace everything. All this while I was on the job from 1-10 yesterday and I'm out of here for the same today, tomorrow and Friday. Hopefully I get the same hours right up until the 22nd, then back to normal.

Lodge wise, its pretty quiet for now. Sunday we have a practice and I'm going to try and leave work early at 6pm to get there by 7pm. Then we have Remembrance Day as a day off and my scheduled day off next Friday for lodge, then back at it Saturday-Friday. I'm kind of curious as to what my schedule is for next week, if I still have 1-10. I think we might have another week of 1-10 but after that the hours drop. Even now I'm lucky if I get 6 cmps/day. Most of the time its coding leaving messages on answering machines. This pay period if everything works out ok I could have 100 hours on  my cheque. Next time, about 81. I get some overtime and a buck added to my rate of pay. I lose out because of lodge night and Remembrance day. If I have up to the 22nd on this current project 1-10, I'll have enough for my computer before the end of the month. In theory. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Just watched the encore

edition of Raw, wow! What a show. Randy Orton. Even though I missed the first hour, wow! 

I got my bus and train and rushed towards the corner of 108/Jasper. What a beautiful afternoon. I rushed ahead of people some holding parcels and I knew that's where they were going to the post office. I scooted ahead of them and got my gift card for $25 and behind me I recognized 3 people on the street. I had 15 minutes to get to work and if I would have taken my time. If I would have let those people ahead of me, I would have been late.

It took me about an hour to get my first completion (cmp) and by my 5:30pm half I must have had 3 completions. I had a tasty 3 piece TV "chicken cutlet" dinner. Very nice. I tried calling Anne a couple of times but she must have been out. The only time my night dragged was after my half as my sugar was dropping. I hurried down below to Subway to get a regular bottle of Coke and back upstairs. I fared a bit better later on cmp wise.

After work I got my train home and walked home from Clareview. Anne as making our "Sunday brunch" a bit later. She gave me the low down on what's happening later ths morning. The installers are doing the windows next door first and ours in the afternoon. Anne's going to get everything sorted out over night. I just half to help her with my computer desk hutch here and that's coming up right away..

Anyway, once I get back from work later tonight. I'm going to try and order that "legion" ebook and see if I can downloaded it to my Kobo. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm hoping my current hours will continue up until the 22nd

of this month. If they do there's an inside chance I'll have enough for the new pc in January. If not I'll take on a advert job during the day. Usually these jobs give a couple of days or a week try out before they fire someone. The job I'm doing now is something I care about because I'll be doing it (I hope) when I'm on full pension. 

We're holding out at +4 under beautiful sunny skies this morning. If this holds, and we don't get that first snow that stays on the ground until the 11th, then I'd be happy with that. We'd just have December, January, February, March. I'm thinking we're going to get our "real" first snow just before Remembrance day. That's close to mid month.

Speaking of which, Remembrance Day is on a Tuesday next week. I like this because its a stat holiday and a mid week break for me before Lodge on Friday the 14th, which I'm off that day the Oiler's are playing Nashville on TV as well, nice. 

Since I was working Sunday I missed this but daredevil Nik Wallenda wowed Chicago and those watching around the world with two hair-raising skyscraper crossings on the high wire without a safety net or a harness. Thousands of cheering spectators watched the first tight rope walk and then the 2nd blindfolded! Wow.

Today its a full 8.5 hour day and Monday night Raw when I get home. Anne and I are up early expecting these window installers guys to finally get here to do the job they were supposed to do 2 weeks ago. If they are not out here this time tomorrow chances are they wont get here until Spring Anyway, that's all for now.

We're holding at +5 so far this afternoon

and calling for +8 today.

Before bed this morning I signed up for a Chapters plumb account which gets me wifi at all Chapters locations. Handy to download ebooks a gift card. Apparently though my set up got compromised somehow as something went wrong. I'll bring my Kobo into Chapters to see if I can still access their wifi anyway.

If everything goes according to plan I should have 100 hours on my next cheque. That's if I get all the hours in from tomorrow until Friday. However, anything can happen to offset that plan off the rails. The client could pause the project to look at the data, or even end the project right there and other things that could take me off the project. For now I'll take it day by day. I haven't had 100 hours on a cheque since the old ACT days in the early 1990's over 22 years ago. These days I'm lucky if I can get 40 hours/week.

It's a nice looking day out there for our last day of daylight savings time. Overnight the clocks get set back an hour. I'm about to head out to Northgate/Chapters get my things, Wendy's Dollar-rama and home. 

Today its BC/Eskimo's and Vancouver/Oiler's. I love weekends like this even though I'm back tomorrow noon-8pm. Anyway, that's about all for now.