Last post for 2014

Yes 2014 was a rough year. I'm looking to slow things down for 2015. 

Its 2-1 Oiler's in Calgary going into the 3rd period. Can the Copper and Blue, win 2 games back to back?

I've got a cold beer in the fridge, Anne has a pot roast  in the crock pot cooking away for supper. Bring on 2015. Anyway, that's all for now.

So long for

2014. So, here it is in brief a year in review as it applies to me personally and what went on in my life in 2014. It certainly had its challenges and its ups and downs:

January: Began in the chair of King Solomon (lodge master) I felt I was at the helm of a sinking ship what with the possibility of turning in our lodge charter and closing the lodge.

February: We had to haul our washer and dryer out of the building and we were in dire straights almost losing our suite. Fortunately we found a solution

March: Anne's birthday and we had our taxes done. My right leg began to stiffen up. I owed about $200, which didn't help.

April: We got some good news on some financial support we used to our advantage and passed a diabetic eye damage test and got my resume done with employabilites. We applied for medical subsidy. 

May: I attended a celebration of life for a lodge brother at Saint Michael's Very moving. Shortage of work 

June: Got hired on at Crime Watch for a week and bits and pieces of work for the month. Lodge BBQ.

July: Got hired on at Direct buy.

August: Direct buy, Got turned down for medical benefits. Turned 62. Lodge is saved. Pizza 73 (failed)

September: Hired on at SFZ but didn't last as my regular job returned with more hours.

October: District Lodge meeting (had a good time) had our apartment windows refitted for a upgrade.

November: Worked overtime, bought a Kobo ebook reader. Played Fan Duel.

December: Got installed as Immediate Past master of my lodge (ipm) bought the iPod Touch, got 3 weeks off.

In between all of that, answered a ton of email and JFK YouTube and Connect 2 Edmonton posts and read 6 books and put together 3 YouTube demo tracks all while maintaining my diary and blog. And if that's not enough, we recently acquired Skippy and I attended a lot of lodge meetings and organized the "Executive committee meeting and wrote the Master's message each month. Also, I attended a monthly session with my pharmacist and holding down a steady almost full time job and maintain a Facebook communication with my family. So, 2014 has been a fascinating and busy year. Less then 24 hours it's almost over. 

The big shocker this week was the mass murders here in Edmonton that made national news last night. I man committed 9 murders in 2 different parts of the city and killed himself in Fort Saskatchewan. Most of this was sue to domestic violence. Senseless. 

Now with December almost in the bank in another 8 months, I'll be (good lord willing) 2 years away from my full pension. It means every weekend can be a long weekend and I can relax and go to lodge, no pressures. Anyway that's all for now.

This month has been pretty good

what with getting my iTouch player, having 3 weeks off and now adapting the new edition to the family: Skippy. In other words I'm having a great season. 

I didn't get out yesterday but today I'm running down to get my book, the bus pass and coffee this afternoon. I'm going to try and get the bus pass first at the Redimart. If not then the 7-11 on the way home. Anne's working a regular shift tomorrow night and all day Thursday. Friday I'm in 5-9. I called and left a vm for next weeks availability. I don't know if there's a schedule up for next week. So he's got a email and a vm. I'm calling about 10am when I'm getting out of here to see if I have work for next week. Anyway, that's all for now. 

We headed out to brave the cold

about 3:30pm waiting until about 4pm for our bus to 72nd Street and 144th Ave. I knew we had about a quarter of a mile walk but it wasn't that bad out there. We miss judged our #11 bus so we caught the #182 instead and as soon as we were heading West along 144th and 72nd, I turned and there was our #11. As it turned out I didn't mind the brief walk to Giant Tiger. Our ultimate goal was Capital Pizza. Last time we went out there was Fathers Day 2013. The YouTube video top left is a result of our last visit. Anne did her shopping and I brought my book along. The Pizza was as good as ever. I almost bought a ounce of Drambuie but for $6 bucks I decided against it. Here's a picture of me after dinner:

The only complaint I had was it was kind of dark in there. My new iPod Touch though with the flash on took a decent picture. Subject matter not withstanding of course. We had pizza left over to take home.

After pizza we went to Dairy Queen. I had my usual Strawberry Sunday. They're the best. I love DQ ice cream. We caught the #10 back and got off at Belvedere. We had a bit of a wait for the train. We got to thinking that next time, we should take the bus to Clareview, train to Belvedere, #10 to Capital Pizza. The #10 drops us off right there. Anne walked home from Clareview and I read my book waiting for the #11. When I came in Anne had this:

There are a lot of these stray kittens out there. Refugees from refugee families. They abandon these poor things. Some survive winter others don't. I don't know if we're going to keep it. Silky has another year left to go out of 18 but Anne is leaning over to give him to the spca this week. We're calling it Skippy. 

Today early this afternoon, I'm running down to Audrey's too pick up my last book. Of the year that is and then home to watch Monday night Raw. My last week off. I hope next week is a easy 5-9 shift until the week after when I'm (hopefully) on days. Anyway, that's all for now.

It was 2 weeks ago tonight I began

my 2 weeks of not leaving the apartment! I've never been in this situation before. We're heading out today though going over to Giant Tiger then next door to Capital pizza for dinner and Dairy Queen. 

The Royal bank is launching cashless society/writs like device. It reminds me of one of those fitness type devices. I think a "cashless society" type system is a long way off, and by that time Nasa will have those inflatable platforms in the Venus atmosphere they were mentioning last week.

This is really stupid: Nasa wants to establish a cloud city in the atmosphere of Venus. They call it project HAVOC. Just type in YouTube Nasa Havoc for the video. I wonder if and when this gets built, they'll let Canada open a Tim Horton's franchise there?

The Oiler's continue along their losing ways. They were in Calgary last night and the Flames got 3 goals in the 1st period. There was no scoring in the 2nd and the Oiler's finally got a goal in late in the 3rd and so did the Flames. Finale score was 4-1 Flames. We desperately need a quality goal tender.  

Monday I'm running down to Audrey's to get my book. I called yesterday and they said they were closed boxing day. I'm off work until Friday then its business as usual. I hope. I think next week or the week after I'm back doing days 9-5 until about mid March. If I hold out that long on the project. Anyway, that's all for now.

Doesn't look like

I'm getting out of here today after all. Audrey's isn't answering the phone, so that tells me they're closed for Boxing. Its a cold day to go out anyway being Sunny and -13 and that doesn't include the wind chill. So I might as well just stay inside, again. Most likely Audrey's is open tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.

Christmas 2014 is over and done with

and I had a great 11 days off and another 7 more to go for a total of almost 3 weeks off. 

I had a nice day, doing some hard drive maintenance, music production, reading some Horus Heresy Warhammer 40K, Connect to Edmonton forum and email, supper, having a relaxing day off with my wife and our cats.

Sometime today before Anne heads out to work I want to run down to Audrey's and pick up my Space Marine Battles book. My last Warhammer 40K book for 2014, and maybe get a coffee at Tim's on my way back.

Also later today, I'd like to put a fd line up together for Saturday. There are no NHL games today. Anyway, that's all for now.

I got a lot of sweaters and garments

and diabetic chocolates and an Oiler cup. I bought Anne our traditional Shriner calendar, a perfume set and a large double box of chocolates and a photo frame, which she's going to get during Boxing day week. Also, I took her out to a Swiss Chalet, and a breaky and Sunday a Sawmill as part of her Christmass as well over the last 2 weeks.

In my email yesterday Audrey's books reminded me that I received the recent "Space marine Battles" (Warhammer 40K) book. That's another Christmas present I'm picking up Boxing day as I can go in with Anne as she heads into work. They only published 1 Space marine Battles book for 2014 but I think they published a some short stories and special editions.

For a few days over the holidays Superstore hours were around the clock. Anne got some last minute goodies for us and was in the lineup when somebody in front of her was in a hurry and gave his Superstore points left over to Anne. That bought her about $30 worth of groceries because some shopper wanted to "pay it forward." That was a nice gesture. 

I discovered a company called Drumdrops and wow, they have some nice sample libraries. I'm interested in a couple Kontakt 5 sample libraries they have like the Ludwig Super classic Kit that has almost 5,000 samples plus a ton of mixing and mastering instruments to go wit it. There's another sample library in the Kontakt 5 format (which I have) They also have a Gretsch kit with something like 18,000 samples. I'm not a drummer but these will go great in my productions. They are reasonably priced as well and don't take up a lot of room on my hard drive. 

Anne and I are in bed all morning sleeping. I have 8 more days off. Sunday we're going out to the Saw Mill for a Sunday dinner. Sounds good. Merry Christmas everyone, that's all for now.

Into my 10th day

off and the last time I had 10 days off was before I got married. It gets even better because I have another 9 days off ahead of me. I go back to work January 2nd but its only for 4 hours. I'll know more long term after that or do I have another week off. I'm ready to go back now.

Sony is now saying they are going to release "The Interview" after all, and I'm thinking cold this whole thing be nothing more then a publicity stunt for the move? Anything is possible.

The Magnotta trial had come to a head yesterday when the verdict of 1st degree murder was passed. It means Magnotta will get 25 years bars for life. He tried to claim Schizophrenia as a defense that determined if he knew the difference of right and wrong. Luka Magnotta killed Jun Lin because he was convinced the Chinese student was a government spy who was trying to assassinate him, a psychiatrist's report said. The Jury didn't buy it. Justice was served.

I was watching this hour long documentary on the Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT) Its going to be the longest railway tunnel in the world when it opens in 2016. At YouTube type in Gotthard. Its an amazing project with a $21B price tag. 

I'll be glad to get back to work. Having 3 weeks off is ok but not all at once. Anyway, that's all for now.

.

What with having

so much time off, even though its Christmas week, it doesn't look like I'm going to get any work next week with only 1 day off next week, it doesn't look like I'll get a schedule until that first week in January. We're doing ok though.

While Joe Cocker was a legendary British rocker from my generation I wasn't really a fan. I vaguely recall him doing that song "Up where we belong" in 1982 and he had other hits as well. Most of my generation recall him from Woodstock. Cocker died at the age of 70 from lung cancer.

My 4 fd picks were good, except the results were not very good. I barely got 16.3 as most fd players picked the Ottawa/Washington game. First position's score was 45.2 against the last in the top 10 was 37.8. I had 2 decent players in my line up. I just picked the wrong game. 

In the Horus Heresy series I began to wonder how many Horus short stories do I have. BL publishes a lot of them. In one of the Horus series I have "Tales of treachery" and that has a good bunch, and about 5 other Horus books have others as well. I have 33 short stories including some pulled from the audio books I currently have. Coming out in April is "Legacies of Betrayal" and that anthology has 20 short stories in it. Of course that's not all of the shorts BL has published. Anyway, not much going on today that's all for now. 

Miami is where my sister in law called from last night

in their Sunday night chat with my wife. as they are on the beginning of a Caribbean/Panama cruise for a couple of weeks. I thought getting out of the house is a big deal! 

The Oiler's had a 2 goal lead on Dallas last night at the end of the 2nd period. Wow. Then in the 3rd Dallas scored to tie the game at 5! They went into ot and into the shootout. We lost a heart breaker in a shootout. That 2nd period was the best I've seen the Oiler's play this year. They entertain Phoenix on Tuesday, the last game of the year. Hopefully they can improve their 7-20-7 record. I've got a feeling the Oiler's are going to unload Hall and maybe someone else in a deal with Buffalo to secure the 1st and 2nd pick in the off season I hope I'm wrong. I like Hall. 

Yesterday I put together 4 $2 50/50 games for fd. The games are for tonight and I'll be following the results while watching Raw. 

I've got to call the boss to see if there's any work next week. There are still 5 days left in the pay period. Every bit helps. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had a quiet day and stayed in doors

all day Saturday just on the computer messing around.  I was also working with Rolodeck a vst glitch program from Twisted tools. There's a link on my blog.

I tried setting up a ride from our JW for the lodge gathering later this morning but they know I wouldn't be attending. I'm surprised he didn't try calling me back asking what it was I wanted. The meeting is at 11am this morning and nobody has offered so far. Just as well because I'm sleeping until noon today.

Today it being the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. Sunset is 4:16pm. After today the days begin to get longer. At the end of January the Sunset is an hour ahead of where we are now. January is a long month in winter when average temperatures are about -20.

So today, I'm putting some fd games together and watching the Oiler game this afternoon at 4pm. That's the highlight for Sunday. Monday I'm calling to see if the boss is setting up a schedule for next week. Also, I hope to work on that track and read some Horus Heresy.

I never thought I'd hear myself say this but, I'm getting board. This is why even whey I retire, I'm still working at the job. Anyway, that's all for now.

I haven't been out of the house now since

Sunday night! I've got no plans to go anywhere today either but I'm going to try for that lodge gathering at our WM residence Sunday. Its a bit of a planning session for the upcoming year. It's way out West of the city in a private home. Maybe I can get a ride out there from one of the guys at Southgate. Its a (early for me) 11am Sunday morning gathering. It's not our regular business meeting.

I'm not much of a gambler. I don't play vlt's or go to Casino's or to the race track or play online poker. I even gave up plying the lottery. However I like to play Proline CFL and I've won small amounts here and there over the years to buy a hard cover book, that type a thing. When I tried Fan Duel (fd) a month ago, I played some NFL and I won about $8. My 2nd time playing NFL I lost what I won but it was my own fault for not studying my picks. I've been thinking about playing fd this week, only again this time nhl. This afternoon I picked 1 game: Dallas/Calgary and I added a player from another game just to meet the players from 3 team rule requirement. That same rule is in football as well. So I picked 3 $2 contests and 1 $1 contest and thought no way am I going to win just into game time. Half hour in I was in the $ game! My $2 bets were winning me $3.60! Even my $1 game was winning me $1.80. By the end of the night, I won $12.60. A net return of $5.60. It's not going to pay my rent or anything but I had fun. Once fd adjusts my new balance, I might play that way again, see what happens. The $2 entry's were in 40 player "leagues." I ended up in 5th, 4th and 3rd place respectively in the prize pool and 9th in the $1 contest. Lots of fun.

So now it was North Korean hackers that hacked into Sony pictures. President Obama was saying Sony made a mistake by not releasing the movie. Imagine some dictator telling Hollywood what to do. At the time though and in hindsight I think Sony over reacted. Now the decision not to release "The Interview" movie is going to cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue because of a dictator.   

Today I'm working on my track as I want to use a Reactor ensemble called "Rollodeck Pro." I bought this little plug in for about $70 a year ago and haven't used it that much but its a cool glitch type vst perfect for Maschine. There's videos on this plug in on YouTube. I might not be able to afford a Octatrack yet but this will do in the meantime. Anyway, that's all for now.

In the dog house again

it seems. Anne says leaving out of here for work "dinner is in the pan, and on low heat. If its smoking, then attend it but it should be ok until I come home." So she gets home and dinner is all dried out. She lays into me calling me names running me down, "Christmas is cancelled." Holy crap. I replied, "like you never burned dinner when you were even home!" Obviously it went over her head. "If it wasn't for the cats I'd have left a  long time ago," It went on like this for awhile. Things will be back to normal Saturday. In the meantime I'm in the dog house. When she called me at 8pm she said she tried to face time  me from work. I was away from my iPod not hearing that she would attempt a face time. After a lull in the fighting I said "You tried calling me 5 times?" Then she says maybe it was your girlfriend.

Now this scandal over Sony pictures is being called a National security breach in the US. North Korea, which sees "The Interview" as part of a propaganda war by the West, has been condemning the film since the summer — at one point an official called it "an act of war" and vowed revenge. What are they going to make their own movie with original actors of this movie? The plot thickens. 

I thought the Oiler's played pretty good up until the score was tied at 3. The Oiler's took 2 selfish penalties by Yakapov and Perron that cost us the game. The game ended 4-3 Sharks. The Oiler's actually out played the Sharks in the 1st and 2nd period. Our goaltender let in 2 soft goals as well. It almost looked like we lost by design. Next up is Dallas at Rexall Sunday at 4pm.

In my email Goodreads sent me a link showing me the covers of books I've read for 2014 beginning right to left. Most of these were Horus Heresy Warhammer 40K books. The other book was a omnibus Space Wolf of 3 Warhammer 40K books, so basically this is 8 books instead of 6, not including the current book I'm reading in the Horus Heresy series "Legion." With running lodge, monthly pcn visits to my pharmacists and Doctors appointments, keeping odd hours at work, bouncing between 4 different jobs, I'm surprised I got any reading done at all for this year, and Anne accuses me of having a girlfriend? How and where do I find the time for one? Anyway, that's all for now.

The Alberta Wildrose party was and still is (barely)

the official opposition to the current Alberta Premier Jim Prentice Conservatives. Yesterday Danielle Smith leader of the opposition party, defected with 9 other of her MLA's to join the Alberta Conservatives or pc's. Over the past several months Wildrose MLA's began defecting to join the pc party. On various Connect to Edmonton threads yesterday, some of us (me included) were joking that the opposition leader Danielle Smith herself could join the pc's. Speculation to that end has been brewing for awhile now. I was shocked to hear this on the news late last night that Smith did indeed join the pc party of Alberta. Wow! This was shocking news but not totally surprising. With 5 Wildrose MLA's remaining in their party and Smith encouraging those left over to join her, what's going to happen to the party? If one more Wildrose MLA jumps ship, the rest will follow. I feel bad for all the Wildrose supporters that voted Wildrose in the last Provincial election April 23rd 2012. I'm sure they feel betrayed by the party leader defecting. There should be a rule that states if any MLA defects to another party especially as official opposition, they lose their seat. I wonder how many Danielle Smith supporters will vote for her during the next Provincial election, which is in the Spring of 2016. I'm sure many Wildrose supporters of those 9 that have defected to the Conservatives probably feel that the defectors now have zero credibility. If the Wildrose party is still in existence in 2016, I'm half inclined to vote for them.

It didn't take very long but we finally regained our internet connection over all 3 devices. It was a combination of Anne overloading the breakers and an old modem. Everything works fine now.

Thales is the signaling contractor for the Metro line. Its an lrt extension that was built last year and has been idle since last April when it was supposed to come online. Yet there have been several delay announcements since the initial April start. The City of Edmonton are no longer saying when Thales is handing over a certificate of safety and approval. I'm speculating that this wont be until mid April of next year. One year after, the initial line has been built. If oil prices keep dropping and the Province says they will be delaying the promised funding to the Valley line lrt (the next lrt line) that might get started in that case, until maybe after the 2016 election if oil prices don't rise to last Summer levels. Valley line delayed Provincial funding is a scenario that could easily happen. The Valley line from Mill Woods to City Centre downtown probably wont get under way if Provincial funding is delayed now until 2017. It also means that the City of Edmonton will have to revise its Capital City plan to the point that the Valley line might never get under way at all if the Province reneges on its promise and takes this project off the rails. Anyway, that's all for now.

With all this time off

I'm blogging more often, so 2-4 blog posts a day isn't out of the unlikely. 

"So why is he up so early," you may ask? This morning tech support from my isp is going to make a service call. They said from 11-1pm so expect them to call half an hour before they arrive, tech support said on the phone. May as well fire up the computer before they get here. Most likely they won't get here until about 1pm, but you never know. I've got nowhere to go so what the heck, although I'd rather be in bed and get up when Anne gets up.

Since I've got no immediate goals in the lodge and no real goals, the only thing I'm looking for is my ipm jewel and apron. I should get that when we go back in January. Other then that, nothing. My next step after that pardon the pun, is to explore Royal Arch. I'm looking at getting a petition for that in the Spring around May or June. The next degree is the "Mark Master" degree and I've been looking at this degree for awhile now. It expands on the original Masonic story.

After this, I'm checking my email, visit the Rogers Place arena sky cam and put a fd fantasy jockey team together for tomorrow nights games. Anne is working tonight so I have the place to myself. Anyway, that's all for now.

Last night while Anne was

running the vacuum cleaner, outdoor Christmas lights, my computer running both TV's on dinner cooking in the oven, and the suite went dark. Power outage. We lost wifi to both ios devices. So Anne gets tech support and I'm on the phone for a good hour with this tech guy. We learned that our modem was of the old variety and the power outage took out our settings, so we've got a service call for today to have the modem replaced. It wasn't our isp's fault this happened.

In local news apparently the Metro (Nait line) is facing yet another delay. More trouble with software/signaling. The handover wont happen until about April a year after the line was built. It's annoying a lot of people but eventually ETS will open the Metro line.

Three "interesting" things are happening with me health wise. I'm having trouble swallowing without the aid of milk or water. The tips of my fingers on some fingers are tingling (we think its too much sugar) My left knee is tensing up and I'm walking with a bit of a limp. Earlier this year my psoriasis has been acting worse on my scalp. What's next?

In the post Dallas Eakins Oiler era, Craig MacTavish (MacT) and interim coach Todd Nelson were on the bench in last nights 2-1 OT win in Phoenix. Our old Dev Dubnyk and Sam Gagner with 0.03 seconds on the clock prevented a shootout. Up next its the Oiler's at San Jose Thursday.

Our new lodge master is calling for special a meeting Sunday at 11am at his place just outside of the City limits. Yeah like I'm going to be there. Maybe if I had my own transportation but at 11am on a Sunday? I don't think so. 

At the moment there are 29 active construction cranes in the City. The downtown arena is going strong, the arena district is going strong the new museum is in full swing. Despite the drop in oil prices nothing is slowing down here. Anyway, that's all for now.

According to my

boss from a phone call made a few minutes ago, all shifts this week have been cancelled, and because Christmas Eve Christmas and Boxing day are out, there might not be any shifts between now and the end of the year. I'm going to find a "disposable" advertising job something for the week after next, that last week for a couple of days, just to get the money. Until my job starts up again. Other then that I have 2, possibly 3 weeks off and my obligations covered for January. Two weeks off I can handle but 3? That might be past my comfort zone. Anne says even if I don't have shifts between now and the end of the year, take the time off. We'll be ok. 

I stumbled upon this earlier about Greenpeace pulling a stunt to draw attention to itself at Peru's Nazca lines site.
 Greenpeace activists laid out large, yellow, cloth letters reading "Time for Change: The Future is Renewable." The message was intended for delegates at the U.N. climate talks being held in nearby Lima. So now Greenpeace is back peddling because they could face serious charges over this. If nothing was said about their stunt Greenpeace would have said nothing. Greenpeace are scumbags pure and simple and I make no apologies .
  
The folks at Steinberg released Cubase Pro 8. This is another product on my watch list for 2015. This looks really good. I'd like to pick this up in the Spring. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Yet another update as it seems

all shifts for our main project have been cancelled! Though there could be some scraps and left overs from the burning embers of other projects as the boss hinted at last Friday. I doubt he's in now but I need to let him know I'm open for whatever hours I can get for next week. If I can work on the 22nd or 27th, I'd be happy with that. 

So Oiler's fired Dallas Eakins this morning! They still have to pay him the balance of his contracts, which was for a 2.5 year period. MacT is going to be the interim coach while they bring AHJL affiliate coach Todd Nelson. 

It looks like I'll have 2 weeks off here before the end of the year. Anyway, that's all for now.

My shift today has been canceled due to

numbers dropping on the project. Even with say 8 people here and 8 people at the other 2 centres for example that's 24 people total and we're smaller then the other 2 offices. I have 38.5 hours for this pay period and I can top it off from small amount of savings to meet my obligations for early January. I'm only scheduled to have 10 hours this week anyway. The other two offices yesterday didn't have many callers on the project either from what I could tell. I could tell by the amount of numbers in the shared calling cue that were steady all day yesterday and the numbers were not dropping if there were more callers on the project. The other offices must have had maybe 2-3 callers on the project yesterday. I was lucky to get 2 completions. Today apparently we have a full house but so do the other 2 offices. My immediate colleagues will be lucky if they get 4 hours each today. I have 1 more shift this week (Wednesday) and that's my 10 hours and that will get me over 40 hours unless things change. If I can get a couple shifts in during the next pay period (pp) I'll have my stat pay but I think I'll get that anyway, we'll see. If all I have is just 3 hours Wednesday then I'll have  a good 20 days off and my obligations met! This means I can watch the early Monday night Raw tonight. Anyway, that's all for now.

I missed my bus this morning

and had to walk down to Clareview about 10:50am. If I had to wait for another bus that might have been another half an hour and on a Sunday morning, that wasn't going to happen. But I enjoyed the walk to Clareview station just the same. Fortunately the train was there for me and I got to Corona station about 11:30. It was nice and Sunny and almost Spring-like walking to the office and unlike Saturday morning the sidewalk was dry.  

There was only me and another of my colleagues and the supervisor in the office for the shift. I figured I'd be out of the office about 4pm. There were 1200+ numbers in the calling cue. I thought, maybe between myself, Victoria and Ottawa offices we'd breeze out of these by 4pm, yeah right. When 4pm rolled around there was still 900 + numbers remianing. I didn't bring a lunch because I thought I'd be in and out according to the boss yesterday. Not having a good sleep the night before, and no lunch and I had about $5 on me, I was going to be in for a long day. However, there was food left over from the night before in the fridge so I felt good about that. The extra 7.5 hours is going to help the bottom line. 

I was tired when I left the office about 8pm. I tried doing face time with Anne because she was home today but I couldn't get through. I got home shortly before 9pm and Anne was on the couch in face time with her sister. She later said she saw me trying to reach face time with her.
 
Ok I don't know what's going on with Sony and these so called  "Guardians of Peace," hackers. Personally I have no interest in anything they do nor will it influence my decision to see the next James Bond movie. Some people are saying its an inside job, meh.

Anyway, I'm in the office from 4-9 today (or earlier) and off Tuesday. Anyway, that's all for now.

I got a couple of

contests going for fd this afternoon. I think I have a good line up for nfl weekend 15. I remember being across the street at Bo Didlies when the season got underway, time flies.

Its a beautiful sunny day out there. I've got about 2-4 hours this afternoon. Hopefully I can get out at 4. I've got a platter of cupcakes in the fridge at work and a box of chocolates and a toiletry pack of something. I don't know if its for men or women. I hope its something Anne can use. I'll call Anne before I leave so, hopefully I'll be home about 5pm for our late brunch. Maybe there's something I can Tweet about this afternoon. I've got a small bottle of pop in the fridge to get me through this afternoon. Anyway, that's all for now.

The photo I tweeted yesterday morning

didn't show the freezing rain we had overnight. I didn't know this until at the time i tweeted that photo. I didn't slip even without the cleats heading to my train. 

I got my breakfast at Tim's and took my insulin in the office. I had another look at the schedule posted and noticed how it was just me that had hours cut. The one of the supervisors was going to everyone saying because we're we're running low on numbers for this current project work is going to trickle to a crawl. I started lighting up a bit and felt better. We had our party and watched movies on the big screen in the background. There was no alcohol but everyone had a good time. Lots of food and some presents. I got a box of chocolates for Anne and some cookies etc to take home and stuff in the fridge over night for later. The boss and staff really did a good job on setting this all up. I had a bunch of candy canes for Anne some cookies, a box of chocolates and deserts in the fridge to take home for tomorrow. 

The boss said I might have 3-4 hours today, when the project numbers run out. I could be home by 4pm today, which is ok because I get to watch the Rangers/Oilers and see the Oiler's loose tonight. 

 Anne and I did Face Time with each other a few minutes ago from our iPad to my iTouch, so that was a first. I haven't sent a text yet and that's next. 

Friday night I had my installation, last night the staff party and just 2-4 hours in the office today and I can pop into Audrey's books. Also, there's a Oiler game on for tonight. So far I'm having a great weekend. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I went to bed about 1am this morning and even after having that

Sleemeans beer at lodge last night, I still got about 3 hours sleep during my 6.5 hour in bed.

Last night I was installed as ipm of our lodge and had a great night. The fellowship is great and Dan put together a excellent festive board. I wore a white lambskin apron in the MM position all night that the lodge had in the prep room.  The only problem I had with the night was I didn't get my ipm apron and jewel. This bugged me but I began to realize that the jewel and apron don't usually get presented to the new ipm until January. I got a ride home and it felt different not having a case in my hands. Anne had just got in and made us a bit of lunch. I went to bed about 1am and I woke up about 3am. That's when idea of not receiving my apron and jewel bugged me because our new secretary said I should have received it at the time I was invested ipm. All kinds of things began running through my mind: They knew where my jewel and apron were kept, (ordered by the last WM before me.) was I being toyed with here? Do I have to buy my own apron and jewel or what? If I don't get them then what do I take a demitt, join another lodge at the end of my ipm year? All these options are still on the table. All kinds of things were bugging me. Then a few hours ago I recalled when I invested our last ipm, he didn't have his jewel or apron either. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get mine next meeting. 

I got my schedule for next week, I'm working Sunday 12-8 and Monday 6-9, Wednesday 6-9. Not many hours but we're winding down over the holidays. I'll have enough to meet my obligations for January and get the bus pass. It's all going to be good. Anyway, that's all for now.

About 8am this morning

I developed a stomach cramp. I figured I could just sleep it off. Sporty needed to be fed so I opened  up a can of cat food and the smell assaulted my nostrils, vertigo crept in. I began to sweat. Uh-oh. I made it to the toilet. My head was spinning. I grabbed the waste bucket we use for tissue and after a minute or 2 of moaning holding this thing between my legs, I finally let loose. What a mess. I paused for a bit and cleaned up feeling better and had a shower, new underwear and went to bed. Then the sensations above happened again. I went to the toilet, only this time i felt like shit. My head was spinning but my mouth was dry. After a few minutes of moaning and groaning worse then before Anne comes out needing to pee. "Not now," I cried. Then as before with bucket in between my legs I let lose again. I heaved out several times. After I paused a bit and took some deep breaths of air, I felt better, cleaned up and went back to bed until Anne's alarm went off at 1:15pm. I think the episodes above had more to do with last night chilli. then anything else.

Not a good start to my day off but I'm still going in for tonight. I'm up early Saturday for 6 hours and our staff Christmas party. I should be home by 8pm. Since, I'm only getting 10 hours this week, chances are none of those 10 are going to be Sunday. I hope to have my schedule in this afternoon before I leave for lodge. They're cutting back hours over the holidays so they don't have to pay stat pay. That's my guess. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I had a good news bad news kind of a

day. This is good when I receive the good and bad the same time, not figuring it out as I go.

The bad: On my half hour hour break the supervisor comes in saying he needs to talk with me. Uh-oh. Apparently Victoria (head of this project) is saying to "coach" me and the following 5 of my colleagues. Essentially it means I've got 10 hours for next week because of my low flow rate. That's how many completions I need in an hour, is 1/hour on this project. The flow rate is different with each project. However if my flow rate improves they'll give me more hours. This is just day 2 of the new cycle and we're getting quota fills already. Usually we're getting quota fills near the end of the cycle. The email basically saying I need to pick it up but I had 6 Wednesday and 6 yesterday. I began to panic a bit and I thought: Why am I panicking? I've got savings, I got a full cheque today and enough hours next cheque to cover my obligations here for January. Plus I have a lot left over for Christmas. I'm not doing anything different. I closed off with 6 completions. The Good. So after working all of the above out and checking my calendar, I'm in good shape. Plus, in the new year I'm 9-5. it means I can go out lodge visiting and watch some Oiler games. It also means I'll have 15 days off to look for another job but most likely that wont be until the new year. Good thing I didn't buy that Maschine expansion pack bundle. 

I have today off, sort of. I've got lodge tonight and I'm looking forward to this. After lodge, I'm treating myself to a cold beer as I'm up early Saturday for my 6 hours and then our staff party. Anne wants me to get as much candy and treats for her as possible. Anyway, that's all for now.  

One last email check before I left the apartment

as I'm getting ready to leave out the door, Apple has a ios 8.1.2 update. I was reluctant (time wise) to download the install because I had a few minutes before my bus outside came by. I did the install anyway and hastily locked up and while out there in the +4 12:55pm weather there was my bus about Wyndham crossing. Close call.

I took this photo from within a moving train of a new Ets facility.

Finally we got to our next cycle so its like a new project at work. I did 6 completions and at the last minute had to let one go as a incomplete if I wanted to catch that last bus at Clareview. All in all, I had a decent Wednesday. Anyway, that's all for now.

When I went into my

email yesterday before heading out, I got a update from my supervisors saying the 2-5 portion of the shift was canceled since the project is done until today. Meaning my shift is/was 5-9. That's ok because it gave me more time to do some stuff at home. 

About that time I woke Anne up and said Donna called (her older sister) and gave Anne the bad yet expecting news that Rose passed away yesterday morning 9am Victoria time. Anne's coping with it as best she can. Rose is in a better place and at least she isn't suffering and after weeks of tests treatments the family has some closure. Rose's husband has family with him and no doubt he's having a rough night. I feel bad for him and his family. Anne's coping as best she can. She sobs every now and then.

I decided against the NI Maschine sound packs. Its a lot of money to spend even though the savings are awesome. I just can't justify the money right now. Especially after just buying my iPod Touch and Lodge dues are coming up but I'm considering going over to LM and taking out a account on M-Audo's Trigger Finger Pro. It's kind of like Maschine but with step sequencer on board, but we'll see. 

The big thing for me this week is Friday when I'm being installed as Immediate Past Master, or IPM of my lodge. I get to open lodge for the last time. Then after 2015 I'm just a bum in a chair. . . 

When I got to work I filled out my hours for next week and hopefully I'll get all 47 of them, which will make January ok. Anyway, that's all for now.

Obesity has never been in our family

and even though I've put on a "few "pounds over the years, I'm not fat. Chubby maybe but not fat as in this photo taken of me at work at my station earlier today. 

I might be losing hair above but I'm not obese by any stretch of the imagination. 

I've had slow days on the job before but Monday, the first project is winding down and so is the other project. I think on both projects I got nothing but no answers. During the 2nd half I took my lunch break I might have spoken with 3 people from 6-9 all night. We had tech trouble several times and I'm not the only one that had a poor show of things last night as well. Plus we have more of the same today. I just hope I'm working for most of next week. I'm going to try and take the 16th off. If I can work 6 days including 4 of which are Saturday and Sunday's over the holidays and have stat pay I should be ok early in the new year. The only major bill I'll have is lodge dues in January.

in my email Monday I got a offer from native Instruments, I'd be a fool to turn down. 9 Mashcine expansion packs about $60 each for $100. I'm going to buy them Thursday night when I get home. I don't have any of the Maschine expansion packs. This is a offer too good to pass up. It's called Cloud 9. Order countdown is Friday. 

Also in my email was a Warhammer 40K. All Horus Heresy novels in ebook format in one bundle. Its 45 novels and stories including all 31 of the novels. I have 28/31 of the novels. The most recent Horus Heresy in the mass market format I have is Scars. The bundle is $450! If I had the money. 

Today it's another slow 6.5 hours. I don't mean to complain. At least I'm making money. Anyhow that's all for now.

My iTouch camera takes better pictures then my

Samsung 16 Mp camera

although the flash didn't come on in this photo.

This is an outdoor shot looking at our building about 2:20pm yesterday afternoon. It was a bright sunny day.

I got a ride to practice last night. We had a good turnout about 8 of us showed up. Good thing I did because I'm opening lodge for my last time and I have a few things to say after that. I got updates on the Sharks/Oiler game and some of the guys are playing ESPN's "Streak for the Cash" or something like that. Its free to play. Not sure how it works but I got a idea. It was a 3 hour meeting. I got home shortly before 9pm and signed up for the game. 

Also today marks 34 years ago since the death of john Lennon. I was living at the foot of the low level bridge there just by the river:10234 88th street. Its a little duplex just off of Rowland road.It was there when I heard the news about John Lennon's murder. I was 28 years old.

Anne's sister Rose has taken a turn for the worse and it doesn't look good for her. The family is in distress and coping as best they can. Anyway, that's all for now.

Slight change of plans

for today.

Anne wants to go up the street here to Smitties as she needs to make a pit stop into Swiss Chalet. I need to go into Future shop to get a case for my iTouch player. Anne returned the shuffle and the rubber case I thought was for the iPod touch when I bought it last Wednesday. Then I need to get ready for lodge practice tonight so I've got to be out of here by 6pm for 7pm. That's the game plan for today. 

I was exhausted last night to do much of anything so I just went home after work. I probably should have tucked  into that Chaplin part I'm installing Friday.

Other then the above, I'm working this week Monday-Thursday 2-9, Friday off for lodge and work Saturday from 10-4 as we're having our Christmas party from 4-7. I'll be home Saturday night about 8pm. I need a schedule for next week as I don't know what I'm going to get. At least its a nice Sunny day out there at -4 and should be about -8 on my way to Highlands Hall, unless I can get a ride. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Finally I figured out how to use

iTunes and the App store on my iPod, sort of. After loading the new version of iTunes on my pc Thursday night I plugged my iPod into my laptop last night. Up came my iTunes library showing my new 32Gb iPod! I got all my music over to my iPod, and this weeks Starship sofa podcast and downloaded Tunein radio. I still have 20Gb left. I haven't been able to use the app store icon from my iPod directly yet ,and I'm going to better sort out my 1200 song library a bit better this weekend. So far, this is a great little device I'm still trying to set up a text message from another email just for my iPod. That's my project for this weekend.

My wife's sister Rose is fading in and out of consciousness. I feel bad for my wife and her immediate family. If she goes in a comma, that could be the end. I feel bad this has to happen over the holidays. Odd, my wife's sister in the state she is in now is identicle time wise to when my mother passed away 14 years ago. I was in another room off to where my mother was in a comma talking to Anne. When I came out of the little phone room my immediate family were in tears. Mom passed away on a Sunday morning December 3rd 2014. Three days later Anne and I got married. Rose could go at anytime, sad. 

Yesterday Nasa launched Orion. Their new spacecraft, which finished its orbital test flight, ushering in a new era of deep space exploration that could one day put people on Mars. The capsule reached a peak altitude more than 14 times farther from Earth than the international space station. No spacecraft designed for astronauts had gone so far since Apollo 17 — NASA's final moon shot — 42 years ago! Orion completed 2 orbits before splashing down. The earliest astronauts might fly on an Orion is 2021. An asteroid redirected to lunar orbit is intended for the first stop in the 2020s, followed by Mars in the 2030s. Even if Orion gets underway and a Mars mission say in 2035, would be 21 years from now. I'd say minimum. If I live that long to see it, I'll be 83 years old!

After work today I'm going to go to the Matrix Hotel bar and have beer. Maybe a bite to eat if there's anything good on the menu and head home since there's no Oiler hockey, other then tomorrow. I'll have the night off to plan for tomorrows NFL/fd line up and Sunday off. Sunday morning Anne and I are heading out to brunch to our favorite place: Rickies/City Centre mall. That's the initial plan to celebrate our 14th anniversary. On our way out through the mall there's a kiosk selling cell phone cases etc and I'm going to try and get a case, $20 or something for my new iPod. After that, it's home to check on my fd games and get ready for our lodge practice for Friday. I'm going to try for a ride there. That's the plan. Other then that, not much else is going on. I've got a full day today out at 6pm. Anyway, that's about all for now.

It was really slow going on

the job today especially from 5-9. On the weekend I'm working Saturday 10-6pm and Sunday off. Hopefully Anne will want to go on our anniversary dinner Sunday but I also have a lodge practice Sunday but I might have to get out of if Anne wants to dinner Sunday. If not then I'm going to Lodge practice. I'm 2-9 Monday-Thursday. Lodge Friday and our staff Christmas party Saturday from 4-7.

Still messing around with my new iPod 5th Gen learning the new features. I'm not (for some reason) able to connect to iTunes or the app store on the device itself, so it looks like I need to call the Apple store later this morning to find out what's going on here.

Looks like Anne and I are ok, for now. I think she read that note and realized, "Oh, right." kind of a thing. 

Next week we're getting some really nice weather in the +2-+5 ranges. We're also getting a couple of freezing rain days in there as well.

I hope I get to work a couple days over the Christmas holidays, especially Christmas week and from the 20th-3rd. I've got 2 stat days in there as well. Anyway, that's all for now.  

Ten years ago May

I was at work putting in a morning shift and my supervisor at the time came over to my station. "James, your Doctor called and said he wants you to get to the Royal Alex Hospital your blood sugar count is is up in the late 20's." So I booked myself in and they did some blood work. I was waiting in a bed. My boss who also knew Anne, had her phone # and called her but couldn't reach her because she was sleeping. My boss had to get the caretaker, Harry at the time. He tried buzzing Anne, he went and knocked on our door. Anne was in a deep slumber, dead to the world. Eventurally he felt compelled to use his emergency privilege and force his way into our apartment and shook Anne awake. Like I was in a deep slumber this morning. I had my ear plugs in my ears, in a deep slumber behind a closed door with the fan on. A bomb could have gone off outside and I wouldn't have heard anything. Apparently about 3am Anne had locked herself outside and couldn't get into the building. She's always forgetting her keys. Apparently a stranger eventually came in and let her in. Apparently she said our door was open anyone could have come in and robbed us. She's always leaving the door open early in the morning so the cat can venture out in the hallway. She's watching of course. Last time she got caught outside and I was sound asleep. When she got inside she was really pissed off and wouldn't let me here the end of it. This is a mother of a blow up. I wrote her a message reminding her of the above. Hopefully she'll read that without tearing it up. I'm in the dog house now.

I'm fooling around with my new iTouch. I was hoping I could use my old one for music production. I'd be using Music Studio just to write riffs on. There's a few of these apps available for the ios. I like Music Studio and nanostudio because it lets you mixdown your tracks to wav files, where they can be imported for latter into a daw. I can get the idea down in my iPod and still write in Maschine as it imports wav files right into the project. Thing is Anne wants or did up until her blow up. I bought her the iPod shuffle yesterday as a Christmas present. Now our future together looks uncertain. I hope that she hasn't abandoned her sense of reason and will read the note and the "Ahh, right" lights come on.

What I like about this new iPod (Pro's) is that it comes with, a word processor, Garage Band, Twitter, Flikr, a spreadsheet and other apps as well. Things is these other apps take up memory. My new iPod can do everything our iPad can do and a bit more. I even installed the new 8.1.1 update and used 10Gb of 32Gb of memory. Lots left. I haven't been able to the app store yet but I do have access to my email. The (Con's-just one). I don't like how thin and light it is. I bought a rubber screen protector but it wasn't for the 5th Gen. Customer service should have told me. Or I could have went back and looked around a bit more. I don't like how Apple isn't making the iTouch player anymore That's not a Con to this specific device. Anyway, that's all for now.

Wednesdays are my favorite days because its a hump day meaning that

we're just about over the hump of the week. For me its a day off but I was up for my bath and shave and out there for my #11 bus. 

I had a 5 minute wait for that but since Anne took the bus pass, I had to pay my way to Northgate. It was a beautiful sunny day at about -2. Good thing I brought my sunglasses. I was in a good mood and a woman at the entrance with a table had some toys and explained that they are asking for donations. I didn't bring any cash with me but I'd be back. I signed in at PCN about an hour early, so I went to Future shop and bought the iPod touch 32Gb and something for Anne. Then I headed back to PCN and made my appointment. After explaining to my pharmacist the amount of sugar crashes I'm having lately he suggested I take my insulin at my half rather then before I begin work. I usually get sugar crashes in the evening or on my way home and he suggested I take my 2nd at suppertime since Anne and I eat about 11pm. I'm also reducing my 32 down to 27. I got 2 boxes of  insulin to last me until about the end of January and Ibooked another appointment for January 14th. On my way out of Northgate mall I popped into Chapters and was almost about to get 2 Warhammer 40K Omnibus books but I'm spending too much as it is and moved on from there. I'd rathre order the books from Audrey's when I go thome. After that I went towards Rexall and I made a $5 donation to the Christmas kids toy table. Rexall didn't have a Canada Post because Canada Post is across the street near London Drugs. The idea was to get a $50 gift Visa for the new Maschine 2.2 update but like I said, I was already spending too much. I can get that before Spring. So I decided even though I wasn't that hungry I decided to go to Wendy's for a double baconaitor combo. I was tucking into that about 2:15pm. I got the #11 bus home. I had a great afternoon. 

I had a nap on the couch and I'm about ready to watch Oiler loss 11/14 to pass the record. They're on the road tonight in Winnipeg home Sunday to face the Sharks and on the road to face the Sharks and a week from now Anaheim. We'll see what  happens tonight. Anyway, that's all for now. 

As Mondays go

yesterday was meh. Oh work wise was ok. My path between Corona station and the Financial building was full of slush as we're getting out of this last cold snap. 

Coast to Coast tonight is about space exploration, Nasa and ET. I'll listen in for a bit before bed. 

Wednesday I have a scheduled day off. I'm off to get that iPod Touch (if they have any in stock) then I have a appointment to see my pharmacist After that it's off to Wendy's for a bite to eat then home to watch the Oiler's lose, again. If I got steady work up until the 20th then we'll be ok for the New year.

Today I'm leaving out of here for work at my usual time. Its a 2-9 shift as I'm looking forward to having Wednesday off. Anyway, not much for today.

Sundays shift almost never got underway

as nobody was answering the intercom to let staff in. We were all waiting in Subway. Finally about 20 minutes later we got upstairs. Fifteen minutes after that we got the sift underway because there was no numbers in the system. Sunday was more productive then any day during last week for the project I'm on. I got 3 completions where as my colleagues got "0" or even 1 doing the same thing through out the day. Its amazing what can happen when people are actually home. The bulk of my calls last week were no answers. Some of my colleagues were chatting about pizza and I thought it would be nice to order pizza to give Anne a break from our traditional "late night brunch" but she wasn't answering the phone at about 2pm when I called.

Anne got out of her job the same time I did but I didn't see her at Bay station. I thought about getting off the train and wait for her because maybe she got asked to stay a bit latter. She was asked to "work the Grey Cup game" because it's one of the company's busiest times of the year. I waited until the next train at Clareview but no Anne.

I waited for the #11 bus and got home shortly before 9pm. The door was opened for me as Anne was in Face time with her sister. She was all in tears because of their sister Rose in hospital due to cancer. I thought she had passed away but she hasn't passed yet. Anne's sister (a nurse) told a story how a friend of hers was feeling tired and didn't want to go out and she never woke up. Same situation that happened to Joe Strummer of the Clash. He was sitting on the couch and passed out and never woke up. When I go to the grande lodge above, I hope that's how I go. 

The Calgary Stampeders won the 102nd Grey Cup in BC last night 16-20. It would have been 1 point out of being a tied game as Hamilton was in position to kick a field goal and the Calgary defenders blocked the ball. That doesn't happen very often. Can't wait for next season but that's 7 months away!

Anyway, we ordered pizza but it wasn't as good as other times. I still have 2 slices for my lunch for latter today. Today its more of the same as we wind this project down. Or this portion of it. I hope to get more hours over the holidays. All I ask is just for 3 days off. Tonight I'll be following the Phoenix/Oiler's game. Oiler's winless streak was 13 losses back in 1992-93. Are they on pass to match or even beat that record? My guess is the Oiler's will win in OT. Anyway, that's all for now.