With just 2 more

games left in the Oilers pre season, the club is 5-0. No where in Oiler history has the team ventured into this territory. Now if this translates into a few wins in the early go in the regular season, they'll be off to a good start. The only down side is unless I want to watch the pre season games I have to go to video on demand. It'll cost me. 

I'd like to get into playing iOS games on my iPod Touch, but with the 6th Gen iPod out makes this iPod look like a trot next to a marathon. The camera is a lot better from a 5mp to 8mp. The loop connector is gone (which I've never used on my 5th gen anyway) The inside chip is faster. The 5th gen single core read write benchmarks are 218 416. The 6th gen has a multi core and its read write speeds are significant at 1383 2442. Game play is going to be super fast. Before that though, I need my lodge dues covered and my desktop upgrade with a bigger hard drive. Then maybe in the new year I can start thinking about a new iPod touch for games.

Anne and I are leaving out of here at about 3pm this afternoon. I'm going to investigate a job lead. I used to work at this place last year for a few days but the other job was offering me more hours and more money. So I'm going to see if they'll take me back and this time, I wont bail on them. It'll be my primary job. They pay more then my current job that has no work for its employees. If my current job has work I can work 2 days. I'll leave the door open for my current job. Anyway, that's all for now.

Most likely one of the

biggest science stories of the year/decade, is how Nasas Opportunity discovered flowing water on Mars. Its not like its a babbling brook or the North Saskatchewan river, but the discovery demonstrate that there is life beyond this planet. This isn't going to change the world as we know it, but its big news.

Yesterday I received 2 pieces of expecting news. First, my transcripts came out in pdf to my email. Second, the last of my ei income. In other words my ei file is closed. Even though I have a  job, I don't have work. That's going to change this week, or asap one way or another. not much going on beyond that. Anyway, that's all for now.                 .

Other then struggling with this cold and

episodes of bringing up phlegm Sunday, I had a decent day. I got out of bed about 12:30pm, fixed a coffee and turned on the computer. Later I went to the dollar store across the street to get some items for my wife. My left leg felt better and I wasn't hobbling about like Saturday.

 


Our Edmonton Expo with Stan Lee here over the weekend ended on a Sunday where we have a blood moon. Talk about special. There's been only 5 of these kinds of lunar events since 1900. The next one wont happen for another 18 years. What with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders football club and today's lunar event, could that have been the reason why the Riders were able to win only their 2nd game of the season yesterday?

I got to call into the office this morning to find out when my shift starts for today. I've also got to get another fax off to Alberta monitoring. I'm calling another job lead before I leave for work. There's a chance my old school district found my transcripts and I might get something back from them this week in my email. Anyway, that's all for now.

I sat on the train at Clareview for about 10 minutes before it

left the station Saturday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day. At Tim's they screwed up my order and I was late for work. I was 10 minutes late and I got written up for it. Later on though I was told I can work a bit extra to make up for the lost 15 minutes. It was a real struggle with this cold virus but I had a great afternoon work wise until the shift ended at 3:15pm.

Super said if I'm needed for Monday he'd call me before he left the office Saturday. On my commute home I was pissed off with the day but felt better on my Clareview train for home. The lrt conductor said there was a pedestrian accident of some kind up ahead and that the train I was on was being headed back to Century park (end of the line) Sigh, ok then. However, at Stadium they said everything is ok to continue on to Clareview. I got home to watch the last 8 minutes of what looked like a BC over the Esks win. In dramatic fashion the Esks came back from behind to post a 6 point lead for the W.

Coast is going to have a great show overnight with George Knapp. Tonight they are going to be talking about Bigfoot, and UFO's. The Blood moon eclipse will commence in 17 hours from the time I post this. Last night on Coast they were talking about UFO disclosure. On the call in portion lots of callers had their theories what would trigger disclosure. If UFO disclosure happens, I feel its going to come from several sources: One source would be Chinese hackers as they've penetrated military security before. The other one would be the group Anonymous. 

With this cold, Anne wants me home today. If there is no work or I set it up that way, then I'll go to lodge Thursday. Even if I get hired on at another job, I'll ask to start Monday. I got a call from the office that came in when I was on my way home. The super said if I miss the call, just call the boss to confirm for Monday. It looks like I got work Monday. Anyway, that's about all for now.

With Thursday nights cold front that

moved in over night I get another cold. I'm coughing up phlegm hacking and I got a scratchy throat. Other wise I think I had a great night.

Coast this evening has another soft topic: Natural Healing and Reiki, crossing over etc. I like the Friday open lines show but I'm struggling with this cold or virus, I might just pass out. I don't know what's going on with my iPod Touch. I'm on the Coast website and the page keeps moving up and down by a few centimeters, as if its possessed. Maybe George Norry can help me solve this mystery. 

So this evening is a blood red eclipse. This hasn't happened since 1990 and the next one wont be for another 18 years

This weekend is the Edmonton comic expo. I'd love to have gone. I hear some of the panels last night were pretty good.

I'm in the office for a few hours today. Anne suggested I get something else besides a job that doesn't involve talking. I'm checking on a security guard job Monday. Anyway that's all for now.

I got another call from the office last night asking me in

for some hours for tonight. The shift is 4:30pm-9:30pm. I hope I'm in for Saturday but only long enough to get home for the Eskimo game. I won't know about that until later tonight.

My aging desktop is running on almost empty hard drive space. I thought am I going to have to buy a new hard drive, another os, a bi directional ide/sata adapter etc? I realize the 2 sata ports on the motherboard can support a sata hard drive. Lets go to YouTube and find a tutorial on how to install a sata hard drive. I found one and the process was so easy. What, I don't need another os? My local computer vendor has a well rated WD 1Tb sata hard drive with a 7200 speed for about $100. I can borrow a screwdriver set and a anti static cable. All I'll need is the hard drive to motherboard cable and I'm done. Insert the hard drive, hook up power supply cables, and the motherboard cable. The after everything else is hooked up fire it open then utilize the disk management system and prepare the hard drive at the os level. Restart PC and the os should recognize the new software, east. Its not that difficult a task.  

I already did my business with ei and I'm up at 11am to do my stuff, have lunch and out of here by 2pm to my favorite spot to read. Anyway, that's all for now.

My employer called me

last night. The bad news is the client is stalling. The good news is it looks like we will be back to work next Thursday with a project I worked on this last May. It's a good project. 

Earlier I was able to transfer one of my music Jam video's to my new You Tube channel dedicated to my music video jams. I'm calling this channel "Jim's Jams" for want of a better name. I posted a "music video" I did some months ago from my other channel. The "trick" is to go to the YouTube video. In the url between WWW.YouTube, type in ss. It goes to a sight called Savefrom.net. It takes the video and converts it into a Mp4 for further processing. It's slick, easy and free. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I got to thinking just now that the

fax machine at Employabilties yesterday wouldn't work for me was because it could not handle over 30 pages in one go. That was even after I confirmed the fax#. I tried 4 times and each time, even with help I got a failed receipt back. At least I got the printing done. I was also able to get the request transcript release form in the post. I don't think I'll get s response back until sometime next week.

I snagged this from Dan's fb page. I hope this comes out and shit hits the fan during the campaign: 

 

I wrote: Lucy, "you have some splaining to do."

The job has yet to call Monday and Tuesday. If they don't call today, I guess can write this week off as far as work goes. I'll leave the door open of course. I'll wait for them for as long as I can until something else comes up part time. I can then move forward from there. However, they could possibly call Friday or even Saturday. They've called Saturday before like this. I can't keep waiting on these guys for too long though. Of course they get first billing until something else comes my way. I don't want to burn my bridges completely. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I've had Apple's

iOS 9 for a few days now. Its a little buggy. My screen jiggles once in awhile, resets itself, tricks like that. What I do like about the new update is I can now save any webpage or photo as a pdf file to my news stand for offline reading. This is a handy feature for reading emails etc. What I don't like about the new update is that it doesn't want to send a iPod Touch photo via my email like it used to do before. I'm still testing iOS9, and most likely will discover other things over the next few days. 

Tonight I'm following the Calgary/Oiler's pre season game at Rexall place. Its Live on Demand (meaning to say we have to pay for it). Also, I'll be watching my usual Monday night Raw. 

Job wise, I'm laying low over the next few days. If I don't get a call to report to work by Wednesday, I'm going to be cashing in on my assets but leave the door open to who ever wants me first. I got a feeling I'll get a call latter today or Wednesday at the latest.

In a few minutes I'm calling my old school district to enquirer what the process would be for obtaining my school transcripts from the 1960's. I'm curious how much if anything is on file. It'd be cool to see my report cards, my marks, my old teachers, schools I attended and what years. Now that I have a bit of time off, I'd be cool to find all that stuff out. I just contacted my old school district and they will be emailing me a transcript request form. I'm sure there is a small fee to release this info. So I got a pdf form in my email and its a simple form to fill out. There is a $10 fee. I'll get that out tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.

Will there be work by

Thursday? I hope so but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting. I'll take what I can get of course.

I had a great afternoon at lodge yesterday. I even had my first look at a Canadian rite Fellow Craft degree. Very interesting. Festive board for brethren visiting from other lodges is always free. The fellowship was great. Lots of young guys there, which is nice to see. The Scotch was nice.

Today Anne is making us some baby back ribs while watching wwe "Night of Champions." Always a good time. What's missing is the beer. Anyway, that's all for now.

Today I'm out of here at noon to Clareview station

to obtain my CFL Proline picks for the weekend and get my business done at the employment centre. I've got a lot of faxing to do and a few phone calls to make. Then head to the office to pick my cheque. If there's no schedule for next week then I'm cashing in on my assets, moving forward. I'll leave the door open.

While getting a Face book update I noticed a colleague from my old Xentel days tagged his current location. He was at Bo'diddly's Pub & Grill (Bo's) across the street, posted minutes before 6pm. I got dressed and decided to see if he was still there. Sure enough, there he was by himself at a table cell phone in hand. He ordered me a draft. We basically played catch up. He was the official telephone committee organizing a gathering for a colleague of ours moving to Calgary to retire at the end of next month. Time to get the gang together for this guy one last time. I said count me in. My colleague at Bo's lives in the area a few blocks away. He said it was all you can eat Thursday shrimp night and unlimited beer. I think that's what he said. We had a nice chat. I posted a photo tweet about it here under Tweets in the right sidebar. I left out of there at about 7:15pm.  

Tomorrow, I'm at the employment agency doing some heavy duty faxing, doing a bit of a job search as well before heading out to pick up my cheque etc. I'll leave the door open at my current job but not for long. Then its off to Audrey's to pick up my Space marine Battles book and a bite to eat, then to my bank. I've got a $50 I'm going to have to break. Tomorrow (Saturday) I'm heading out of here at noon to go to Commercial lodge. I'll have another cold one there and a bite to eat and home to watch whatever is left of any CFL football. Sunday is wwe's "Night  of Champions," so I'm going to have a nice weekend. Anyway, that's all for now.

Monday I spent indoors and about the only thing I

accomplished was reporting for my ei pay for Friday. I could get so used to this. When I get pension I could see working 2-3 days week and off the rest. Once this month is over, pension is 22 months away. I'm counting the days, if I live that long.

The #1 topic on the minds of most Canadians these days is the economy. A poll was conducted and 95% of respondents said the economy was the #1 issue in the country, not the Syrian refugees or the Mike Duffy scandal, or even terrorists. Locally, Alberta has the 2nd lowest unemployment rate in the country. Even with $44 oil.

   

I took the above from a colleagues Facebook page the other day. I had to laugh because it rings so true. 

I was going going to do my banking yesterday but I'll be at one of my banks Friday anyway. A few days won't make much of a difference but it gets me out of the apartment. Anyway, that's all for now.

For the most part since about

4:30pm yesterday afternoon, I watch CFL football. First there was the Riders/Winnipeg game and then the Stamps/Esks game. That took me up to about 10:30pm.I've had enough football for this weekend.

The other day i09 had a amusing article called: "10 Historical People Who Were Real-Life Magicians," by Rob Bricken. Some of the people I've read about before like, Roger Bacon,John Dee and Edward Kelley etc. Any narrative about magic would be remiss if it didn't include Aleister Crowley in the mix. My history within the OTO and Thelema from 1980-1992 is well documented. When the article mentioned that practitioners of Thelema allowed them to see the future and travel astrally, well I must have passed out during that conversation, damn!

Skippy in this photo is having a nap because she's going out bug hunting later tonight. She needs to conserve her strength.

I was almost ready to buy the Logitech HD C525 webcam the other day. At $30 seemed like a low cost solution to capture my music video jams. A slight change in plans as I noticed on the Best Buy website they increased the price to $60. I might get it again or something better when I get back to work hopefully before the end of the month. I'm just using Windows movie maker, which is pretty good for audio and video. A few months ago I discovered a open source program called "Blender," which has some pretty good editing features.

On my agenda this week, I'll be doing business with ei and then my bank to set up my Provincial adult health benefits. I'm setting up and or calling on a few part time job prospects this week as well. Yet before that happens I need to get some information about the upcoming project when I go into the office to pick up my small cheque Friday. If the office has no update on the next project, I won't wait on them. I'll be calling some of these prospects Friday or earlier. I'll leave the door open for them of course.

Not a whole lot of things have been going on

over the past few days. I was down at Employabilities the other day and they couldn't do anything for me because I have a job, even though I don't have any work. 

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of what is often referred to as 9/11. September 11 2001. Wow, hard to believe it was 14 years ago. I remember on the bus heading into work that morning when Xentel was on 115th and Jasper. Anne was working at the Legion and still had the car. I recall in the bus close to the window on my right side passing City TV. They have flat screen tv's embedded into the front of the building as they still occupy The Bay on the corner of 103rd and Jasper. I remember just half awake noticing a bunch of bystanders collecting around on the corner. When I got into the office the place was buzzing. I heard all kinds of things: airplanes were bombing cities all over the world, to something going on in New York City. Over the course of the day I gradually pieced everything together. I met Anne at the Legion that day and we were in shock. I wasn't even in my 50's then. Crazy. 


I took the above image from a colleagues Facebook page. How fitting as it sums up my life today.

With a bit of time on my hands I called the Provincial adult health benefit program prompted by a letter I received from Alberta monitoring for diabetes. They said that if I was turned down for Provincial benefits I'd need a letter from them stating that, to qualify for diabetes benefits. So I called them the other day and they said I didn't need to have income from last year, they could process it based upon this year to date. The threshold for a married couple with no children is $28K. No way did Anne and I make close to that this year. Monday I've got to get to my bank and get my statements year to date and Anne's got to get hers. I've got a name and a phone number. If we qualify, then I might be able to get my dental work done up. Actually it would make more sense for the first Q of 2016 because when my place of employment shuts down in August I'll be able to utilize that time off to get it done. But it depends on how long that process is.

This weekend for my CFL Proline picks, I picked Hamilton/Argo's (Argos to Win), Riders/Winnipeg (Bombers to win), Stamps/Esks, Stamps to win. On a $3 ticket, if all 3 are correct, I'd win $60. Last nights game at one point in the 1st Q it was tied at 7. At half time it was a Hamilton landslide. Argo penalties were killing them. The Argos mounted a bit of a come back in the 2nd have and tried a hail Marry to tie a 35-27 Hamilton lead but the receiver coverage was too much for the home time. So much for my ticket. Across the street there's supposed to be a Shoppers Drug Mart going in. They have a lottery booth in their stores (which means I could go across the street when it opens and still get another ticket for the 3 remaining games for today and Sunday.) Anyway, that's all for now.

Ten years is a long time for a computer and

that's how long I've been using my 68 Gb hard drive that came with my desktop computer when I bought it in 2005. When I get some hours in at work, that's going to be one of my projects is to upgrade this computer. I upgraded it with Ram 2 years after I initially bought it. Recently I began to realize that I can put together a modest low cost upgrade with a 500 Gb hard drive for about $60. Since the motherboard is a ide mobo, I can pick up a Sata bi directional converter for about $25. I can get a hard drive dock (looks like a toaster) to copy the old hd to the new one. I don't plan on using the new hd forever though as its just a short term solution to prolong the life of the computer until the bigger upgrade comes in the new year. I'm buying parts one or two at a time.

My shift last night went by fairly well, or at least I thought it did. We more or less finished the project last night except for a few call backs and maybe a few hours work for just a few people for tonight. I could have used the hours but the more I make the less ei pays me. At least I got 11 hours work out of it. We have something on the immediate horizon but I'm off work again until then. I think I'm going to be called back around the 21st of this month. I have ei until the meantime. In other words I'm off work until further notice. However until then, I need to find something more stable long term and part time until I go on pension. I can juggle both jobs, so at least there is income coming in one way or the other.

The downtown arena is progressing nicely. Through the concourse cam, they are making huge progress on the floor of the arena. They did a concrete pour in the North West corner. The roof is more or less done. They are putting yellow siding on the outside. Even though the rest of the Ice district is a few years away from completion, they are making progress on the arena. Anyway, that's all for now.

There were not many highlights for Eskimo fans

in Calgary at the so called Labour day "classic" CFL game yesterday. Anne had some errands to make and said she was going to try the new Metro lrt line leaving me to watch the game. I found two highlights in the game: The first was a couple of rabbits that invaded the field and one even made a acrobatic flip "touchdown" pulling a Gizmo Williams type play into the end zone. The other highlight was to see Mike Riley make a appearance late in the 4th Q. Too little to late. The Esks barely showed up basically handing the Stampeders a 7-16 win for the home team. I should have put money on that game. On the whole cfl weekend actually.

Monday night Raw in Baltimore was also a sleeper although I liked The New Day match. I dozed off on the couch for a bit. I caught most of the main event and liked the part where Sting disposed Seth Rawlins bronze statue in a mobile city shredder at the end. On a scale from 1-10, I'd rate last nights show a 5. Rather on the tame side.

Anne came back with her Metro line progress report. There was a 5 minute wait at MacEwan station and she couldn't believe how close the entrance to Rogers place arena was from the platform. She said she liked the ride and will use it to shop at Kingsway mall in the future. I'm out of here about 2pm today and I'll get off at Rexall instead and take the #5 from there, just to try something different. I'm in from 4-9:30pm tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since I've been sick since Saturday night I must have used about

a roll and a half of tissue paper. Its not fun being sick on a long weekend. Anne already cleaned out my waste bucket of snot rags. For the last 2 days I slept in past 12:30pm. At the moment I'm just waking up ready to catch the Esks/Stamps labour day classic. I think over the last 53 years the win loss record is something like 24-29.

I'm sure there's more I can do with this video editing software. It was a free trial after all.The software seems to be at the mercy of my old laptop. In other words it can barely keep up. One thing is for certain. I either need a upgrade or a new pc and I don't see myself saving up to and or over a thousand dollars to get a retail desktop full of bloatware. I'm going to buy a few pieces at a time and keep the same case. All I need is the mother board, chip set, hard drive, about 8 Gb of Ram and a os. I can install it all myself or even take my desktop to where I'm going to buy the parts from and pay them a small fee to install everything while I'm having lunch. I might not be able to use the current hard drive in the new system. However, I need to get back to work steady in order to do this.

I don't know what my schedule is like for the week but I know I'll be there for tomorrow from 4-9:30pm. I need to know what the following week will be like. At the moment I'm just playing the nickle and dime game budget. I spent $5 for a beer at the lodge last Thursday and other then that, and a pay pall obligation no cash is leaving my pocket until I get back to work for anything. Anyway, that's all for now.                  

Last night I was having a great

time with some open source video editing software. I finally got it to work where I can record my Cubase sessions. The main obstacle was how to get my audio into the software. I came across a YouTube video on how to do it using iTunes. The screen record is a bit out of sync but the quality is  getting there. I've got a ways to go before I can get a video on YouTube, with this software but I'm making some gains. 

For the rest of the weekend I'm watching some football and I'm looking forward to Monday's Labour Day Classic Esks at Calgary. Should be a good one. 

Day 2 off this Coversyl pill. Anne thinks that the recent swelling of my right foot (after over 10 years of being dietetic) isn't so much that but the side affects of this pill. It even says in the instructions that the pill could have some side affects. The swelling is mostly above the toes and the ankle of my right foot. Anyway, that's all for now.

My ride to lodge was pleasent even though it was very

warm. The bar was open when I got there. I had a Sleeman's and did some fellowship. After lodge I called into the office work phone but there was nobody answering the phone. I called Anne but she was out. Lodge went well although we had a low turnout but it was a great night. I had a coffee and some pastry for desert and got a ride home. If I'm not working Tuesday night, I'm going to Highlands unity in our building. Anyway, that's all for now.

For the first time in over a month

I finally got a bit of work. I got 5.5 hours in last night. I won't know until later this evening if I have any shifts for next week though. I'll have to call from the hall phone at lodge later tonight to see if I have any kind of a schedule for next week. 

In a couple of hours I'll be leaving out of here early for lodge. Festive board is at 6:30pm. I'll be eating here before I head out and I'll have a drink at lodge before I we tyle. Should be a good night.

So, the office is shut down Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Including today, I get 5 days off. I hope though I get shifts for next week. Ideally I'd like to have my ei on hold for the rest of this month. Anyway, that's all for now.

I did my business with

ei yesterday and managed to contact an employment agency. I've got a appointment for another info session for Wednesday at 1pm. I tried calling another market research firm but like our office they probably have shut things down for the summer. I kept getting a voice mail response. Hopefully work for my company will pick up sometime this month. Today about 3pm however, I'm heading out to the office to put in my availability for this month see whats going on. Let them know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth and got another job. That I'm still interested. 

There's 50 days left in the national campaign race for Prime Minister. Do I vote for Harper, Trudeau or Mulcair. All have pros and cons. Here's a few: PC: Pros: BillC-51,stay the course in a uncertain economy, a tax break on membership fees to organizations like service clubs. Cons: Eliminate Canada Post. Cut programs. Liberals: Pros: Pro Middle class. Cons: legalizing pot. NDP: Pros: Increase GIS, Cons: Heavy taxation. Pro Eastern Canada. Balanced budget. I'm leaning more and more to the Liberals. I know one thing, we need a change. I'm willing to give Trudeau a chance One thing in all of this, either its a NDP win or a minority Government for anyone else.  

Last Friday one of my Xentel colleges that I used to hang out with, on his Facebook page said he was drinking at Bo Didlies across the street from me, or simply referred to as Bo's. Before I could arrange a chance to meet with him he had left. I was able to chat with him on Facebook later. He said we should do lunch. That's a good idea. So I reached him Monday on a new Facebook app called Messenger here at home texting from my iPod Touch. He said he's living out here in Clareview 2 blocks South from Walmart. Very close to me. Seems his new watering hole is now Bo's. We might hook up Friday. I think he moved in with James. Anyway, that's all for now.