Earlier I was playing around with Elastic

drums. This was one of my Black Friday apps. Elastic drums is a synth/sampler/drum app for our iPad. Its got a lot of control and is really useful. I want to have a demo but I don't want to use just modify some presets. 

I take it all back, that 2016 has been a pretty good year. Sure in January, we lost our cat Sporty. I also read my first Western novel and I was still working between both jobs up until the end January, and the other place in February. In March I began work at the other job and working the other place and got the new Nintendo 3ds Zelda addition, and began ahem, using the seniors bus pass. It saved us over $700 this year alone. April still working both jobs. In May work slowed down but I got the Lenova pc stick, while the Fort McMurray fire was making big news. I was unemployed in June and looking for work, with no income coming in and Anne fighting with me but we were able to get our free city rec pass. Still reading lots of Westerns. In July I found more family closure thanks to a heavy email exchange with my sister getting the odd interview here and there. August I turned 64 and still more episodes of Anne fighting with me but I secured my other job for September. I didn't need to apply for my pension in because its automatic. I worked a bit between both jobs but more at the Southside location then anything. in early October the Oilers began their inaugural season at Rogers Place arena opened. In November Trump was elected President and we lost Boots. I took advantage of Black Friday and we had great weather all November. I also made a friend but I'm glad she stopped communication with me. I think I dodged a bullet there. Lots of memory work for Lodge as I was appointed Chaplin for 2017. Very little work in November at the West end job but we discovered the Hopalong Cassidy series, which we're enjoying. December, both jobs concluded for the Christmas within a day of each other and I had 11 days off. Also, what's this? The Oilers are in 4th place in the West? Thus, here we are December 31st. So despite a few losses and some setbacks, 2016 was a good year. I also broke the 40,000 page views on my blog, and gained 2 subscribers on my music channel. I thank God for small blessings. I almost forgot about our latest acquisition our new member of the family Rusty earlier this month,this guy:

So now Sunday is January 2017. I'm back to work at the West end job. Looks like its more or less steady until mid February. I'll be setting up the Southside job. When I'm on pension, I'll still work 4 days a week. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. That's all for now.

Over the past couple of days

I've been doing some family genealogy on my mothers side. My grandmother was Mina Hoy Johnston. Her and her husband Henry Hoy lived at 53 Elliott street in New Westminster. Henry Hoy was a contractor and Mayor of New Westminster in 1894. Mina Hoy married E.L. Johnston. They had 3 children, my Uncle Ed, Francis and my mother Elizabeth. Their residence was one of 3 historical homes the City of New Westminster moved in the summer of June 1990, to preserve the homes  from the wrecking ball. The moving of these 3 homes was a major undertaking. In our case to move the home to where it sits now at 202 3rd street Second Ave. in New Westminster BC. In order to move the home, the city put the home on a flatbed truck, removed power lines and trimmed trees to get it up to where it is today. My mom was invited to attend a city event when the home was settled. They named it Hoy house. I believe it's now a rooming house. Its the big blue house on the corner of Second & third street. The link to the above story is here type in moving houses.

http://www.nwheritage.org/database/heritage.php

Last night on Coast to coast, the topic was about The Egyptian Sphynx and the pyramids. The Sphynx and the Egyptian pyramids have long been a fascinating topic of mine. I've always had this notion that the Egyptian pyramids were built from the top down from a mountain of the same limestone material. One caller had the right idea but didn't mention the use of hot air balloons. My variation is on the hot air balloon theory, which advances the notion that crews had to carve the limestone blocks on location. The granite rock is another matter. Place stone block A on top of stone block B & C. Wrap rope between stones. The balloons could be controlled by rope or pulleys as crews on the ground and guided in place according to the design. The engineering would also account for the way there was no gaps between each stone because they could be just dropped into place. The ancient Egyptians didn't need to lift the blocks very high. The whole operation might need just a handful of people. Some rooms in the Gaza pyramid show hieroglyphs that suggest balloons. How they would heat the air I don't know. Its just a silly theory of mine that has a few holes. Here's a better way of explaining some of what I mean it somewhat supporting my theory.
      
                              

The Oilers just came off their long break hosting the LA Kings that played the night before. A fresh LA Kings team I'm sure would have walked all over us. Like Arizona the Kings have owned the Oilers but not yesterday. I purposefully missed the first period because usually nothing happens. I was right. The Oilers won 3-1 earning 2 points. The Oilers play Vancouver Canucks Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now.

It took me long enough but the book that

I began reading August 13th, was finished yesterday afternoon. It took me almost 20 weeks to read "Space Vulture." At the moment, I can't see myself reading a trilogy. So I opted instead for Greg Bear's Darwin's radio instead of Larry Niven/Brenda Copper's "Building Harlequin's moon." It logs in at 5380 pages. I hope to finish reading it around Family day weekend.
                          
One of the children's toys trending this year is Hatchables. There's a You Tube video where it appears the toy is saying something naughty: "F--- me." In local news a family was concerned about this and Tweeted the company about this strange anomaly. The parent company that makes the Hatchables toys says they are aware of the video but the local parents did not get a response. When our local news got in contact with the company they replied that the toy is not saying anything inappropriate. Like they are going to make a toy that says that right out of the box, yeah right. But it is funny.

Anne and I are having a couple of lazy days, at home lately, still processing yesterday. Its nice having this time off and when I go on pension in September, I can see working 4 days/week and a long weekend every week. I'm on YouTube a lot watching documentaries and reading. We go to bed about 4am these days. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Our household was stunned when we heard the news that

Star Wars Carrie Fisher had a heart attack but she was recovering. When I opened my email moments ago there was the "Famous lives led" thread. Now what? That's when I learned about Carrie Fisher dead at the age of 60. Oh my god. What a shocker. If losing Bowie and Prince this year wasn't enough, now this. Carrie Fisher was here in Edmonton at Our Edmonton Expo in September. I remember all the media hype leading up to the movie original Star wars movie in the Spring of 1977. Gord and I were keen on seeing it but the only place where it was shown was at a drive in located in Surrey lower mainland. There was so much going on in my life at that time. I was 25 when I saw the first Star Wars movie the week it opened and it was love at first sight. Hearing about Carrie Fisher, saddens me a great deal. Like Bowie, that was part of my youth. Now here I am at the age of 64 being diabetic, a heart attack could happen to me. Heart attacks are the #1 cause of death for people that are diabetic. Carrie Fisher, very sad news indeed. Losing our cat Sporty in January, hearing about David Bowie, Prince and losing Boots and now Carrie Fisher. Its been a rough year in this household. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I hope to finish this

Space Vulture novel this week. Up next I'm reading the Star Trek series "The Vulcan's soul." I think I might have read a few Trek books from the Alan Dean Foster series way back in the day. I've got the complete "Vulcan's soul" trilogy, so I may as well, most likely this will take me up to March. 

I had such a hard time trying to install Linux lUbuntu on my Windows Xp system last night. I got the iso but I'm not able to install it along Xp. I even tried to install it on my laptop, with no success. A colleague I'll be seeing next week at work knows Linux very well and I'll ask him if he can with "Team Viewer" go into my system and install from it from there, and Wine. One things is for certain when it comes to installing Linux: I don't know what I'm doing. 

Its been quite a year with losing so many pop stars. First (if that wasn't enough) we lost David Bowie. Then Prince, and then George Martin. The other day we lost George Michael. I was never a fan Michael's work. The real shocker for me was losing Bowie. With the Rolling stones up there in age, I got a feeling we're going to lose one of them soon. 

I also wanted to Home brew my new Nintendo 3ds and that looks very complicated. Since I've owned this device last March, I have yet to buy 1 game. I've got a demo of "Bravely Second," and the game cards that came with the system. It's not that the games are that expensive, I've just been buying music apps lately. I've seen some pre owned games at Best buy for like $15. Not much going on for the rest of the day, although I'd like to make a Gadget jam after wrestling, when Anne is done with face time. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm on day 2 of my 11 days off

as this is a bit of a primer for when I'm on pension this time next year. I'm still going to work 3-5 days a week even then otherwise I'd be board. I like the Southside job because both projects amount to about 26 weeks, even though its harder to get to it gives me a nice balance. That and it pays better. At the other place I feel somewhat under paid and over worked. 

I don't know if my iPod Touch 5th gen is jail broken but yesterday it died on me. This was strange because there was still enough battery in the device. So I was checking on the Best buy website before the Oilers/Sharks game, for a AV lightning add on for my i0S device and what's this, they are open to 11pm? I'm not going to miss anything in the first period of the game anyway. So I made my way over to Best Buy across the street and bought a usb lightning charger and returned home opened the package and began charging the iPod and watch the rest of the game. There was no score in the 1st period so I was right, I didn't miss much. Intermission. How come my iPod isn't charging? Did I break the iPod somehow when I tried to jail break it? Did I buy a bad charger? I tried our iPad charger with the new cable, and tried that and went back to the hockey game. The Sharks scored in the 2nd they got another one and I thought, well, can't win them all. Then we scored 2 goals to tie the game in the 3rd at 2 each, wow. At this point I was resigned to assume the iPod was broken and I'd have to use the old iPod Touch 3rd gen. The Sharks scored in OT bringing us 1 point behind them in the standings and that's the last game until the 29th. The Oilers also advanced to 4th in the West. The Oilers hadn't been this far in the standings since the 80's. I tried to find a online solution to my dilemma. There were several. Turn Home button on/off rapid fire for 10 seconds, then hit power button on top, all kinds of different things. I tried once more holding down the power button. Then the white apple logo cam on. Success. That was scary there for a moment. 

Over the past several months I've been researching how these You Tube music producers get the results they do when recording a iPad screen. I know about Elgato screen capture. My results with my iPod Touch always come out looking poor. One of my favorite producers/channels Jakob Haq directed me to one of his play lists that demonstrate how he makes his video's. All he's using is his 2nd gen iPod Touch mini and his iPhone. Then he shows how he's using a "light box." A what? So he places the iPad on the fabric inside the home made light box, and his iPhone with Pinnacle studio (which I have) on top with the camera facing down in a cut out hole for the iPhone camera. He also uses "Cute cut pro as well." The light box diffuses light around the iPad screen, which in turn "manages" the contrast of the iPad in the iPhone. He uses some external lamps as well. Before he begins, he has the iPad using Audioshare, then I'm sure he uses a bluetooth switch to control the iPod's on and off video. Pinnacle Studio has more then one lane for audio. He probably has the same Audioshare account on his iPhone. He said he uses Airdrop for audio. I have Airdrop only for my iPod touch. For voice overs he uses a IK multimedia app and mic solution but what I'd like to use is a Lav mic and a audio interface/sound card which I have. Just a few things and a bit of trial and error probably next month or so I'll have more professional looking video's out there. I tried making a beat using Korg gadget but the battery went on both devices. Gadget really needs an undo button.

Anne went crazy buying a cat perch and running here and there for various things.

We're going to have a nice Christmas eve and Anne's going to midnight mass. We'll have a nice supper, here with Silky, Rusty and Skippy. We're opening gifts around midnight while we're watching "Hopalong Cassidy." We'll be in bed by about 4am with a sleeping pill and staying in as its snowing pretty heavily out there. Merry Christmas everyone, that's all for now.

Winter solstice arrived here in

Edmonton at 3:44 this morning. After today the days get longer by seconds and then by minutes moving into January and February. With the weather warmer then its been some time off and some income coming in, I feel pretty good about myself.

On my commute home from work last night I began getting mild blood sugar shakes. I had a cookie left over from my lunch at Belvedere station and felt a bit better. I had one thing on my mind pulling into Clareview and boarding the #183 as it was ready to pull out: Getting my $15 iTunes gift card. I picked that up at Shoppers and headed home. Anne was making us a kind of "Shepherds pie." I make mine better in layers and put more cheese in the mash potato and some dried onion in the hamburger with a mix of regular and lean ground. Anne had to go across the street to Shoppers for cream corn and I had a couple of cookies to boost up my sugars. Feeling better I redeemed my iTunes card, and bought Elastic Drums, and Bilbao for Korg Gadget. I'll be playing around with these over the holidays, installing Linux on my laptop, finishing my book and relaxing.

My Westend job's last day of calling before they break for the holidays is today. That's when the cheques are ready. Last day of calling for my Southside job is tomorrow. So I'll be out of here at 2pm later today to run over and get my cheque, then swing into work. I need to have my iPod charged so I can catch the scores on the Oilers/Anaheim game tonight. Then Friday, the Oilers are in San Jose. As for this afternoon, I'm going to suggest to Anne because I have the extra days on my Southside job, that I should just leave my 2 day cheque at the other place for the New Year. Saves me a bit of running around this afternoon. If it was left up to me, I'd say ok. I might anyway. 

I'll have another blog post over the weekend, most likely Saturday as I'm getting into my Christmas holidays. I had such a good night on the job yesterday, I'm hoping for about the same today and tomorrow to close out the year. Anyway, that's all for now.

Heading home after work

last night I felt good completing almost a full day on the job. Even the weather on my commute home felt good and I got work (more or less) secured for January and February.

This morning before bed, I thought about hacking my iPod Touch 5 gen, since i0S 9.3.5 there will no more os updates after that for this thing. A bit of YouTube research later, I came across several jailbreak options. All without the use of a computer. One video, (August) for i0s 9.3.5 demo a 4 step process. I did everything right but no Cydia. There were no changes on my iPod. Oops, I forgot to turn off the application (which wasn't made clear in this process/video. It was made clearer in another video) before shutting off my iPod. I tried again and the first attempt kept refreshing the process. I tried (properly this time) and still nothing. I found another video and a different process, which was more complicated but it works, more or less. When I use the Cydia app, the second process states this is a Cydia alternative (clone) My iPod still isn't jail broken and when in "Cydia" the first process keeps refreshing with other apps to try. Later on I'm going to delete all this stuff and try again back to the first attempt. Its a easy process as long as the instructions and the one hacking knows what they are doing. I hope hacking my new Ntendo 3ds is as easy. I'm trying to find a screen recorder my 32 bit iPod can handle, since Airshou wont work and Vidyo won't work on my 32 bit iPod. I'll be doing stuff like this over the Christmas break.

This week I'm at the other place on the South side until Thursday. I just have a out of my way stop to pick up my cheque for the 2 days. Then after Thursday, my Christmas break for 11 days begins. Excellent. Anyway, that's all for now.

Other then the weather this Saturday morning

I don't mind heading off to work. I had about 4 hours of sleep and Thursday/Friday I had about 6 hours. So its just out the door at 9am, in by 10am.

Not much going on this weekend. The Oilers are entertaining Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers place tonight. The Oilers are slowly sinking out of a playoff spot. They are still playing 500 hockey but better teams like San Jose Sharks are leaving the Oilers in the dust. I'm about 10% confident the Oilers will squeak into a playoff spot. I'm not very confident the Oilers will win against Tampa tonight but I'll watch. 

We began 2 projects at work yesterday (I can't name of course) but one needs about a 100 completes and that's our only project for today. In other words I'm hoping for a short shift and out by 1pm. At least I have steady work for January. Not much more then that this weekend. Anyway, that's all for now.

I like overcast skies heading on my

afternoon commute. That Sun even while wearing sunglasses can be glaring in my eyes. At least we're no longer in that arctic vortex that's held a ice grip over the city for the last ten days. Right now its -16/-23 wind chill.

So Trudeau is ramping up its national legalize marijuana (pot, mainly to tax it) campaign promise. I'm split over this whole thing. Just the ethics of legalizing pot alone gives me pause. On one hand by legalizing pot and having pot sold at specific retail vendors, will have a significant impact on crime. Also, by legalizing pot, pot users will know what their getting. Buying pot by a dealer, could be laced with anything. What I don't like about this, is that I might be faced with breathing in unwanted 2nd hand pot smoke. I live here in Capital place apartments, and have been doing so for the last 16 years. Use street view and zero down the first building across the street from the Dollarrama. You see that strange wooden thing on the main floor? I go past that everyday. My wife and I suspect pot users. More so in the summer, but now we'll be breathing in 2nd hand pot smoke. I imagine a lot of my colleagues will be "high,"during their shift. I can see companies installing a periodic work place drug policy, that could affect me as well. Many people I know in the trades face that already, now with this even more so, and what about the legal snags surrounding that? Who can I trust now getting behind the wheel of a car that drives me to Southgate or from the lodge home? Also, what about the dealers that are going to target their customers? "You continue to buy from me or else," threats, and the collateral damage that can cause. Pot gets on peoples cloths and smells bad. What about quantities and price? There are other issues as well such as mothers smoking cigarettes around their children. Now children will be exposed to 2nd hand pot smoke. What about the ramifications of that? Since pot (depending on who you talk to) is addictive, how is that going to affect the household? Again price. "But Jim, as a teenage from the 1960's didn't you smoke pot?" Once and I got nothing out of it. Since JT and this plan to legalize pot is in uncharted waters, there's just too much we don't know, like how will this affect the Canadian US boarder for the states that have yet to legalize pot? There's all kinds of legal snags to get around over the next months ahead.

So, today I'm in at my South side job as that's winding down next week. I expressed my desire to work in January if there is any clean up work. I have a few things I'm looking at for January. I'm hoping to go in on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the market research job, and 3 days at the South side job to wrap up the year. Anyway, that's all for now.

Heading into work Saturday morning

wasn't too bad. I was happy to get out for the "weekend" when I did. At the moment, its -13 with a -19 wind chill. Coming home will be a bit different but we should be out of that extreme arctic cold snap for a few days. By the weekend the long range is about -1, which is going to be nice.

This week is going to be busy. I've got a full week's worth of work between both jobs. I didn't get that iM1 app this last weekend but most likely I'll order it on the weekend coming up. The highlight for this last weekend was watching the Winnipeg/Oilers game last night. Kassian on a breakaway scores into the jets net but Jets coach called a challenge saying the play was offside. Kassian's foot was in the air on the blue line. Good call by their coach. It was Patrik Laine of the Jets that scored our 3rd goal. He was trying to clear the puck making a defensive play that went into their own net. Charlie Huddy (on their bench) might have reminded Laine about our then rookie defense Steve Smith goal in 1986 during a game 7 that helped the Flames to get their one and only Stanley Cup. Laine should be grateful that goal wasn't in a playoff game. I think Winnipeg was the better team last night, tbh. Late in the 3rd, Laine banked the puck off a stanchion that hit our goal post, and had our goaltender fooled. McDavid once again tries to score into a empty net and can't beat the clock and scores on 0=0 time. 

So, I'm on my 2:30pm commute to my South side job today and same for Tuesday. Then its my West end job for a couple of days in the middle of the week and then next week, on the 21st my West end job breaks for the year and the day after my South side job breaks. So I get 11 days off, wu who! Anyway, that's all for now.

The theme for my opening blog this morning is

weather. At the moment it's -23/-28 out there. Its the 2nd number that concerns me at -28 and it supposed to get colder as the morning progresses to -41. The good news is its supposed to warm up over the next ten days to about -8. I can handle that. 

Yesterday during my commute I bought a blackjack scratch n win ticket at the redimart, and played on the train as it was waiting to pull out of Clareview. I won $10! Wu who. What the hell I can always catch the next train. I went down to catch it and there was a line up as there was this one person two down from me tying everyone up for five minutes. Then there was a debit card, yeesh. Finally my turn. I got my $10 and went to get my next train there waiting upstairs. I knew I was going to be late, what the hell? At least it was bright and sunny on my way in. I got to Southgate and from the platform I could see across 109th my #52. Would I make the connection? I began to pick up my pace in the pedway and hurried down the stairs. As soon as I got outside the doors the bus was raising its entrance and opened its doors for me. Any longer I would have missed it. Whew! 

I was able to make it into the office right on time. I got the Metro, the area manager said, "Hi Jim, cold enough for you?" "Oh, yeah," as I'm taking off my face mask, scarf etc. I told her a brief story as she was heading about where my wife is working and how I tried and failed to write a test to work their. "So she's working this weekend," She said "Well, your a better fit here, have a nice weekend," That was nice. I felt good about that. So I got a hot chocolate, settled in and signed in. By 4:10pm we had 6 people. Looks like a short crew as others began to show up, eventually. At least I never handed in a empty recap at the end of the shift. A colleague from Brazil and I walked down to the bus stop and joined by one of the new girls as we waited in front of Tony Roma's there on 51st Ave and Calgary Trail but the bus was delayed or it felt like it was a long wait because of the weather. Five minutes can seem like 15 in this weather. At Southgate the new girl and I were on the pedway there was our early Clareview train ready to pull out, crap. I checked on the Edmonton/Wild, nhl game tied at 2 ready to go into ot. I'll catch this oncoming Nait train to someplace further up the line where its warm but my iPod Touch battery was in the low red. At Grandin, I checked the game and Minni scored in ot. We're losing too many of these ot games now. That's 5 points we let go. Next game will be a Sunday event I'll watch tomorrow. I got home shortly before 10pm after leaving out of the office before 8:30pm. That late #6 was the difference maker last night. After dinner I was able to watch a bit of the "Late show," shut the computer off and I went to bed.

I'm out of here at 9am. I'm sure its going to be very chili. At least I'm not in at the other job. Their shift for Friday was cancelled and the office is closed for today. At least I have my other job I was at yesterday. I'm in the market research job office on Wednesday at 3:30pm and for Thursday hopefully Saturday. I need those 3 days. The market research job is done for Christmas break on the 21st and the South side job where I'm at today, closes on the 22nd and resumes in March. My 4 hour shift today is done at 2:15pm and I think Mark is there today. He usually drives me and Brazil to Southgate, which makes a difference in this weather. 

So after work its my commute home and I'm going to buy a iTunes card at Shoppers so I can get iM1. If I can make it across the street in 1 piece. I'm home all day Sunday and I have the Oilers game to watch Sunday night. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since May 12 1980

I've been writing a kind of daily journal. I'd write this out on hard copy, sometimes going on for pages at a time. Those hard copies are still here and there could be about 20,000+ pages. Just things going on in my daily life, the women I've been interested in my ahem, "encounters" with them etc. The journal was to be a kind of "occult journal", a documentation of the "The great work" whatever that means. I wanted it to be like Aleister Crowley's diaries, however, it never got to be that way. I hid each "volume" here in my office as best I could until September 2005 when my wife found my diary and read my musings about this woman I had a passing interest in. That interest evaporated within a month but as that interest was sputtering out Anne read the entry. Since Anne and I have been married December 6th 2000, I have never had a external relationship with another woman. Anne occasionally rubs salt in those wounds.

So as of 2005 I've had a electronic copy of my diary on 2 different computers. The first was a custom made pc in 2001. The PC came with about 10Gb of hard drive space. There's nothing on that pc worth saving. Thanks to the Ralph Kline resource cheques in 2005 I bought a Windows Xp media centre pc. Right after Anne discovered that journal entry September 2005, I went from that to my blog in 2005. I can't recall if my journal went electronic on my old pc. It was a ATX tower and I recall I had both of them running together, so most likely I was running a journal on the old ATX machine running Windows Millennium 2005-2010. I still have the original millennium cd. Since I took out the ram of the old pc for a colleague and I don't know where it is  to reinstall it. It might be easier to take out the hard drive from the old ATX and install it into one of my empty drive bays into the Windows Xp machine to see if I can still use it.

Okay, so where all this is going (finally) this morning when I tried to open my diary pt. 2 Microsoft Works wouldn't open it. I had pt.1 on a usb flash drive and pt.1 was a longer document and it opened for me, no problem. Pt. 2 on the flash drive went until May of this year but there is 6 months of a journal gap. I tried downloading Abiword but there are some programing issues and Open office with the same. Works, fits best for me but now I don't know if I can trust it any more  to open a new document. I need to eventually migrate from that platform anyway, eventually. 

At the moment my commute weather this afternoon is going to fell like -27. I wore a t-shirt under my sweater and that worked ok. I don't mind cold, it's just the ice. Coming off the curb just by Shoppers here is a stretch of ice where vehicles have been packing it down. So its better to cross a few paces before where there is less ice. otherwise I need to where cleats for that one little area.

Anyway, I'm out of here in an hour to Southgate on the lrt, for my short bus trip into work. As long as I'm dressed for winter, it doesn't bother me too much.

Here I am shortly before 9am looking at my bedside

clock. Huh, its 9am. Shit, I'm going to miss my 9am bus to work and I didn't have supers phone # to call in. I'll miss my shower, I'll fill my empty pop bottle. Friday night I can leave my work file and box of pencils, etc on our stations reserving our spaces if we're in on Saturday, so at least I have my spot reserved. I'm up out of bed feeding the cats, scrambling, wait now, its Monday morning. I'm getting too old for this. I went back to bed.

About 4pm yesterday we got this huge snowstorm. It was howling out there my friends. Long range weather showed -20's never mind the wind chill. Looks like its going to be boots and my open face balaclava mask for me from now on. So this morning I'm up just before noon, fixing my coffee and it's -17 out there now. The thing is we got ourselves a dusting of snow (again) here in the Edmonton area, that's it! The long range is anywhere from -18, to -22, with an average of -20. Still not too bad. Last so called blizzard we got, was just a dusting of snow like this one but we get the change of temperatures instead. Over the last number of recent years, our snow accumulation in the Edmonton area hasn't been very much anyway. Usually we'll get maybe 2 inches of snow that stays packed on the ground and melts in late March. Besides I'm not working outside, so weather doesn't affect me that much. The only hardship winter has on me is waiting for the bus and if I time it right my wait is 5 minutes maybe 10. The only thing I don't like about winter is the freezing rain. I'd take this weather over freezing rain any day. 

My wife has her sister here in town on a working visit, so Anne might be leaving with me. She can ride in with me to University station. Her sisters hotel room isn't that far away. As for me, this week, its my South side job until Thursday. Friday and Saturday its my market research job. If I can get the next 2 weekends in at that place and my South side job goes until December 22nd, then we should be ok from there for January. About the only exciting thing for me this week, is getting my iTunes card for iM1 for Gadget and one of the 3 "Space marine battles" books I have waiting for me at Audrey's. Anyway, that's all for now.

That so called blast of winter Wednesday

was just a dusting of snow. If anything it feels like Spring out there. Yesterday morning it was nice and sunny but my commute was under overcast skies, with a dusting of snow. Heading in this morning should be ok. I'll be at my South side job because my shift was cancelled for last night and today as the market research office job is closed. They have nothing going on. My weather heading into work this morning, should be ok. I almost feel like heading into Tim's for coffee, we'll see.

Thanks to YouTube I discovered before bed this morning a Korg Gadget a "Ah, so that's how it works," moment. Gadget kind of looks like a digital audio workstation (daw), and can be played that way but it seems to me the real value is in the performance of this tool by muting and un muting tracks as parts, intro, Verse, Chorus, etc. I'd like too see as a possible future upgrade where a track could have more then one gadget on it but where each gadget is its own track, might be hard to do or even redundant. Since, there's no CFL football or Oilers hockey, Sunday, I'll be playing around with Gadget etc.

This morning I'm on my way to the job and if I run into Dave, I'll head straight into work. If not I'll pop into Tim's at Corona station. I don't mind being 10 minutes late. They wont mind either but we'll see. After work I'd like to get my free flu shot at the Rexall drugstore on my way home and pop into Audrey's and on my way home. Anne has a frozen thing in the fridge for me. If I'm tired I'll have a bit of a nap and for latter watch the Oilers game at 8pm. Anne is out with her sister Sunday night as she is making a rare job appearance here in Edmonton. Anyway, that's all for now.

Well we're back to winter at long last

which could be good or bad, depends on your point of view as a resident here. At the moment its -7 and if I was on pension, I'd call in sick. I'm not yet, so I can't. Next week we're supposed to go into the -15's. It's been a rough month for us what with losing Boots.

The Oilers went from 2nd place in the West just a few days ago down to 5th in the standings. This team's main problem is they have only one line that can score goals: Connor McDavid's line. The rest of the guys aren't scoring. I knew this would happen to us eventually. Its my feeling that the Oilers will be hovering around 9th in the West in March, in and out per game. The last game of the 2016-17 season will be a back to back weekend pair of games with the Canucks. Just a gut feeling but the Oilers will squeak into a playoff position but just by 1 game and 1 goal down to a shoot out. 

I'm more or less happy with the PM's decision yesterday that saw approval for a couple of pipelines. It was the right decision to pull out of the Northern Gateway. He gave the green light for the Burnaby Trans Mountain pipeline, and the Edmonton/Wisconsin pipeline. There are a lot of hoops to go through first and I'm not holding my breath the 2 pipelines will get underway, anytime soon. Its good news for Alberta though. 

Ok, my schedule for the rest of this week, is looking good. my last day today at the South side job for this week. I got my 3 days in. Then I got lodge tomorrow as its our installation. Then I'm working at the West end job Friday and Saturday, and that is confirmed. Hopefully I can get a full day out of Saturday. I've got possibly 3 weeks to go for December. Anyway, that's all for now.  

The only problem with blogging

once a week, is there are events that unfold in the world, that go missed in this blog. I'd like to cover as much as possible. While I'm not a socialist, my eyes cut to the death of Fidel Castro. His death and legacy brought the attention to the world stage. Castro was a friend of Canada (not of me) but this country. There are many in my generation remember the Cuban missile crisis. Later many Cubans left Cuba and fled across to Florida in what's known as The Mariel Boatlift. It wasn't until recently US President Obama brought the two countries closer together.

Closer to home, a few yards away from us on our side of 137th ave, there was a Police presence and first responders flashing lights just as Anne was coming through the door. This is just across the street from "Chianti's." Its a dangerous heavily marked 4 way. We latter learned during evening news this was another traffic fatality but there were few details. So, this morning I'm checking local news and the fatality indeed occurred at the 4 way on 40th and 137th involving another ETS bus. The fatality involved a 13 year old girl as she was crossing alone as she must have done dozens of times before facing South crossing to the other side of 137th. The bus apparently was crossing as it must have done hundreds of times as well at about 7:45pm last night. The girl might have been shopping at Walmart. Apparently the bus was found at Coliseum station later that evening. So the bus was apparently trying to cross 137th facing South on 40th turning onto 137th Eastbound and the driver doesn't see the pedestrian in a marked crossing? The driver's field of view covers a wide area and ETS is blaming the bus's blind spot? Is this just a case of careless driving on behalf of a ETS bus driver or something else? The bus driver might have been about to go on a shift change most likely at Abbotsfield and didn't know he/she hit somebody until ETS informed the driver. However, another ETS bus driver that was involved in another collision last month involved a collision with a 83 year old woman and the bus driver was charged in that situation? Something doesn't add up here. This doesn't look good for ETS that's for sure. Most of these bus drivers are okay and are good at their jobs except when they become distracted by bus patrons standing behind their shoulder chatting away at them. I'm not sure but I think that's what happened in this case last night. Many of these bus patrons stand right behind the fare box, blocking the driver's point of view as the driver is trying to make a lane change. I've done it myself and often chat with the driver as well. If anyone is to be charged, charge the person distracting the driver. The "blind spot" has nothing to do with this case, its distracted driving. This is a real eye opener for me today.  

My day yesterday was a lot better on the job, however I missed my bus after work as it pulled up by Tony Roma's. Even if I wan for it, I'd not have made it. And I missed my train at Southgate. A trip that should have taken me an hour, took me almost 2 hours to get home. I had a great night playing with the Korg Gadget app. I need to get the sampler as a in app purchase called Bilbao. For $7 its a good deal. There's not much bass options without Bilbao. Also, I'm trying how to see if the sequencer can have the play head scroll across the tracks and down the scenes. Gadget's sequencer options are limited.

Anyway, I sent a email out to lodge saying I won't be at the practice tonight. I'm not required to do anything at installation anyway. This afternoon in about half an hour is the Arizona/Oilers rubber match game. Also, I'll be following the Grey Cup game as well. I think that's a 4pm start as I'm enjoying my weekend. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Its often hard for me to get any sleep

overnight when I need to go into work on a Saturday morning. I might have got an hour and a half sleep. Usually when listening to some ambient music on YouTube can put me to sleep. Not earlier at 4:30am. Its hard getting up to go  into work on a Saturday morning but once I have my first coffee, I feel pretty good going in. 

Over the last couple of years I've been wanting to get Korg's digital audio workstation or daw, for the i0S called "Gadget." At $54 its an expensive app. Last summer Korg had a major update for this app and made it available across all i0S platforms, including our iPad2 and my iPod Touch 5Gen. Plus its 32 bit. However, I never had the cash even when it was reduced in price at that time. Since I was able to save a bit of cash from my blackjack winnings earlier this week, and it was black Friday, would Gadget be at 50% off again? It was. I hurried over to Shoppers Drug mart across the street got x2 $15 iTunes cards and hurried back home across the street. I opened up iTunes on our iPad and let the camera do its thing to take the picture of the code and I bought the app. It works great, very happy. 

That set me off feeling good about black Friday and I headed into work and I figured, eh, why not buy 2 more $2 blackjack tickets. At my station settling into the free hot chocolate, I played and got nothing. My shift wasn't great either. But at least I got a ride to Southgate, and I feel good about that, and the Oilers were winning in Arizona. Happy days. The supervisor at work doesn't like me at all. She's a young 25 something, loaded with tattoos. But my ride encouraged me that the offer to drive me to Southgate goes beyond just me. I know Super goes to Southgate. I asked her on the way out at the end of the shift if she wanted a ride to Southgate. She said "I'm good," mainly getting in a car with me even with another person in the back with us (I take the front seat anyway because I'm the old guy) is not agreeable to her. I'm on the Southgate lrt platform and I can see the #6 bus roll in and Super in her familiar red coat. I know she needed this Clareview train and it was coming my way. She'd have to take the escalator and run through the over pass run down the stairs beside the escalator to catch it. I knew she was going to miss my train. I had to smile at that. When I got home, to catch the last 5 minutes of the Oilers game it was tied at 2 and went into over time. McDavid scored but fractions of a second went down. The goal was under review. Even colour commentating said the goal wouldn't hold up. The ruling was no goal. Into the shoot out. We got 1 goal but lost in the shootout, 3-2. Wait to Sunday when they come to our barn. By then the 104th grey cup game (hopefully) will be over. Lets go Ottawa. 

Except losing at blackjack, my negative performance and the Oilers losing. I felt good about yesterday. Today, I'm going in for my south side job and out of there at 2:15pm. I might go get my Space Marine Battles book at Audrey's on the way home, go to BP's and have a drink at the bar and head home. Maybe pass out on the train. Anyway, that's all for now.

Its been overcast for about a week now

which is really strange. We're supposed to get a bit of sunshine today. I recall when living in the lower mainland in the 1970's, we'd go through a week or two with straight rain. So this week kind of reminds me of that.

Tuesday I got $12 bucks playing Blackjack, scratch 'n win. Then another $10 Wednesday. I bought 3 tickets yesterday and not one winner. 

Basically I'm at the South side job all weekend (which is good) I need to call Monday to see whats going on for the market research job. 

The Eskimo's lost the Grey Cup, but the Oilers won Saturday again on Monday and again last night. This is unbelievable. We're #2 in the Western conference. I caught the 3rd period and where most of the goals occurred. Anyway, that's all for now.

Having a nice Sunday

and Sunday evening. I watched the CFL Eastern finale Edmonton/Ottawa. They were playing in a snow blizzard. The first half it was Ottawa 17/Esks 3. Finale result was Esks 23, Ottawa 35. It got interesting near the end when we scored 13 points in the last Q. 

I between the football game, I was in chat with a friend and doing some research on running virtual Linux and answering email. then Anne made a late brunch and at 6:20pm, here I am. While having brunch the BC Lions were in Calgary to decide who is in the West. it was a pure blow out but with better weather. BC lost 15-42. It was 32-0 in the half. BC Lions barely showed up. So, next Sunday its the big show. The 104th Grey cup in Toronto, Ottawa Red Blacks/Calgary Stampeders. Should be a good one. So this afternoon was a lazy Sunday, just the way I like.

Over the last few days The City of Edmonton issued a presser saying they want to install 200 electric vehicle (EV"s) charging stations across the city. The city wants to get a Federal grant worth 1.2 million. The City will match that grant to have the 200 charging stations in place by 2018. Its a important step in climate change. Its a step in the right direction. Some of the more advanced charging stations could recharge a EV in half an hour. The charging stations could be installed along major roadways like the Yellowhead or the Anthony Henday, or along the Whitemud. The article is located here. 

This week it could be (or I hope it could be) my South side job, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. My West end job, Thursday and Friday. Saturday I'm back at my South side job. No Doctors appointments, just straight work. Anyway, that's all for now.

Overcast skies around here usually signify

warmer weather in the winter. At the moment its -3 degrees C. Tomorrow is looking very similar as it is now. However we're warming up a bit to -2 or +1C for much of next week. Its still sneaker weather as there's no snow on the ground but its cold enough where it could. I could wake up tomorrow morning and there could be 2 inches of snow on the ground. It could go either way.

Both of my places of work could be taking a Christmas break around the same time. My South side job (where I'm heading to later this afternoon and for tomorrow 10am-2pm) could be done by December 22nd. Some of us speculate we could be done by the 15th. My West end job could be done by the 15th as well, but I'll have decent cheque for the end of the month from both places. Plus, even though both jobs could be done by Christmas, the South side job takes a break January and February. My West end job resumes in January but there could be some spotty work for both months but I'll have enough for a ei claim I can open and put on pause. My South side job resumes March 1st and I hope to have at least 12 weeks of ei on pause before my South side and West end jobs ends mid May, end of June. Then activate my ei for over the summer, and slide right into pension at the end of September. By that time, I hope to be at my South side job. This way, my wife has my pension money, and I have my money from my jobs. Well that's the plan.

This weekend is the Eastern CFL finale Eskimos/Ottawa. Whoever wins this is in the Grey Cup finale. For the West, its BC/Calgary. The 104th Grey Cup game is next weekend and apparently no CFL crossover team has ever made it to the finale in CFL history since 1986. So, I'll be watching this. Its win and your in the finale. So should be a good one. Anyway, that's all for now.   

Its been 1 week now since we had to put Boots down

and I'm still crying over losing him. I'll get over his loss in time. Now its just Silky and Skippy. Boots was always the cat of the house and made that clear. 

Sunday while following the Esks/T-Cats CFL game, I was in Jakob Haq's chat room. It was a good 2 hour long YouTube Live session. Good energy among those of us in the chat room. Too bad in most casses music production is predominantly a male kind of a thing. There are a few ladies into this kind of thing but not many. Over the weekend I got to tinkering with how I could make YouTube Live work but I had trouble making this work with my Lenova PC stick. Its just the encoder doesn't work too well with this device. I thought maybe its time to find how I can wipe my own hard drive clean. I need to permanently wipe out the whole hard drive. Then all I do is get Linux and install from there. If it works that way. So the other good news is The Esks intercepted the ball while the game was tied and kicked for a field goal to win with seconds on the clock. The Oiler game on the other hand was another loss for the Oilers. Last nights 4-1 loss in Anaheim was brutal. That's 4 straight losses for the Oilers. looks like they are up to their old tricks again. Then there's the game in LA tomorrow night. Most likely a similar outcome.  

I'm up out of here at 1:30pm for my eye Doctor's appointment. He wants to check for diabetes damage. I'm a bit concerned. Anyway, that's all for now.

I’m trying to use YouTube Live Streaming but its not working for me on

my little Lenova PC stick. Actually I even lost audio from my sound card. Most likely its got to do with my OBS encoder as my Lenova can't keep up. Next up is to try and see how this would work with a VCL player iPod onto iPad. 

 

To expand on the above, I think the pc stick couldn't keep up with the YouTube live stream or the OBS encoder was too sluggish. I have the 32 bit one even

 

Switching gears here, after work Friday I picked up my Space marine Battles book at Audrey's last night. They were in the middle of a book signing and had a lot of people in line blocking the way in. "Pardon me, excuse me," type thing. There was Barry at the other station by the basement stairs. He went and got the book for me from below. I was going to order a few more books in that series that are about to be released this year but they looked pretty busy.

 

The lrt Corona station North/West entrance a few short paces from Audrey's has a steep set of stairs leading down to the upper concourse below. This entrance is visible from street view. As I was about to come through this character was in my way coming towards me swearing and cursing at the 2 lrt security guys. His foul mouth was chirping at them as I worked my way down. I couldn't believe how big these guys were. They were like 2 feet above me. I shook my head at the guy cursing the 2 lrt security showing my bus pass. One of them said "At least we didn't get spit on." They were friendly people just doing their jobs but last thing I wanted trying to get to the sub concourse was to get in between something I didn't start.  

 

I'm enjoying my day off. Apparently Remembrance Day is a stat holiday here in Alberta. It works on the last 5 days it falls on. In this case, the last 5 Fridays, which doesn't apply to me because of the other place and my Friday/Saturday shift there but its a nice day off. Tomorrow I'm at the South side (ss)job at 10am-2:15pm because the market research (mr) job has had no work all week. I need to be working somewhere. In some cases the mr job is better then the ss job but the place where I'm at might pay me for today. I won't know until the end of the month. My ss job, I can work a minimum of 3 hours/day, 3 days a week. I like the lrt train ride going in for a Saturday as it gives me a chance to have my coffee and wake up along the way.

 

As for today I have some time off to myself. I slept in with a melatonin pill in me, which I took early this morning. I got up at 12:30pm today, which is going to make sleep overnight Saturday tough. This evening I'm watching the Oilers/Dallas game. Anyway, that's all for now.

So, after 2 days

I'm more or less ok with the results of the US election. I find it interesting that about 50% of America didn't come out to vote. A lot of people in my circle were Hillary supporters but are now ok with a Trump win. 

Tuesday afternoon at 3pm while I was on my commute South, Anne was en route to the vet. We had to put Boots down. Boots was our first outdoor cat that Anne had brought in about 2007. He would always get into what Anne would call a tumble and tuck with the other cats. He would always find a spot between Anne and the headboard of our bed and always sleep with her. He made me laugh when he would drag his bum on the carpet with his front paws. He was pretty much the cat of the house but over the last year he had been ill. He wasn't that healthy to begin with (I suspect he was in a lot of dental discomfort.) During his last year Anne was giving him fluids and he was being aggressive with begging for human food. He was also losing a lot of weight. When Anne found him under the reclining lawn chair , apparently he was on his back, twitching. Most likely going  into shock. With the passing of Boots has left a empty space in our hearts. 

The vet down the street was very good to us and charged Anne only $60. Anne didn't have enough funds to have him cremated, so she took what was left of Boots and stored his body in the freezer. She'll have him cremated with her Christmas money. I'm still crying over Boots and its going to take me a while to get over him. We got lots of photos and video of him on Anne's iPad. This is one of the first I found of both him and Skippy together. Boots really loved Skippy and bonded well together. I'm getting another photo of Boots for my Blog but this will do for now. This has been a tough week.

I'm trying to do some You Tube Live streaming but there are a few technical issues I need to deal with. I'm trying to post something on my music channel with my webcam. I had it working at one point, so I'll try and do something tonight when and if there is time but its still in Beta at the moment. Once I have it set up on my Windows 10 device I'll post a sample. Lots of music producers are beginning to use You Tube streaming.

So, this afternoon I'm in for my South side job. The pay cheques at the other place wont be there until about 4pm but I'll be at work. I'll call the boss and ask if I can pick it up early Monday afternoon on my way to work. Because tomorrow is a day off, the office has decided to let the staff go an hour early with pay, which is nice. My Space Marine Battles books came, so I'll pick up one of them on the way home. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Earlier this morning I finally got a chance to

play with the iPad on a more or less full charge. First thing I did was play around with Samplr. I got the camera angle figured out to record the iPad screen, and when I'm ready to record the audio, Audioshare will be recording the audio in the background. Then the video gets synced up with the audio in something like iMovie. I hope to have a video uploaded to my music channel (see pages above) on Friday. Remembrance Day. I'd love to get a audio recorder. I'm looking at the Zoom H2, not the cheap one.

Another beautiful day is shaping up out there under blue skies. Now that we're in Daylight savings mode its going to be dark at about 5pm. So its going to be nice heading into my Southside job today. I enjoy the lrt commute on the train, as it gives me a chance to wake up, then I catch the #52 bus at Southgate, and if there's time, I'll buy a Blackjack ticket, or get one at the Redimart at Clareview. Well see. I'll most likely be at the Southside job for the balance of the week.

The Oilers won 2 weekend road games back-to-back, wow. They go into Pittsburgh tomorrow for a 5pm game. There's been a bit of hype generated over this game because of the McDavid/Crosby match up. I'll be at work when the game is underway but my neighbor in the cubical next to me usually gives me the scores on her phone when I ask. Next year I hope to have my own cell phone with a data plan. I'm getting tired of always asking: "what's the score on the Oilers game?" etc. Right now the Oilers are in second place in the Western conference with almost identical records with the Chicago Blackhawks, except their plus minus is better then ours. Looks like we'll be (I hope) chasing these guys for the balance of this campaign. On another sports note, Our CFL Eskimo's blew out the Argos Friday night here at Commonwealth. Ricky Ray's last CFL game? The score was 41-17 for Edmonton in the last regular season. Twenty weeks went by so fast. We now represent the East thanks to the crossover format. This last weekend was a great day for Edmonton sports fans. This CFL season had its controversy with our head coach Jason Mass. The league fined coach Mass with a $15,000 hit to his wallet due to not complying with his mic not being on. This time he obeyed the ruling. The ruling didn't say when the mic had to be on. So instead of calling the plays with the mic on he turned the mic on and said stuff like "Good job, here" and "Good job there," type thing. Its a stupid rule. But the way the plays were called that last time there was a lot of technical chatter, "Alpha, to Beta, run wide, copy," Sounds like air traffic controller jargon then football plays.  

So tomorrow is the big election day in the US. Personally, I'll be glad when its all over. Whoever gets in wont matter too much to my bottom line. They'll be one term Presidents. If I was a US citizen, I'd probably be a Republican but not with Trump. I was hoping Jeb Bush would get in. Bush kind of reminds me of Premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan. Anyway, that's all for now.

My public speaking last night went by

ok, although my nervousness showed in my voice. I did 23 Palms but I read from that. I had the odd infliction in my voice. The closing prayer I couldn't get the first line out but after being prompted, it came to me clear enough except for when I got stuck in the middle there. Nobody said anything. 

I can't believe this weather we're getting. Yesterday we got up to +19 as a high. For November? Today we're at +14, which is pretty good. We got sunny skies and looking at temps around the +12 for the weekend. Tonight its a sweater and my windbreaker. Last time we had temperatures like this was 1978! Its mainly the way the jet stream is as its around the Beaver lodge area. This warming trend is expected to go on until about next Friday. Great weather for Remembrance day. It means this could be a short winter.

I'm hoping for a short shift tomorrow that we're done this project by 3pm. That way I can make it back for the Oilers game which is on at 5pm. I need this job because my South side job has no work in January and February. I'm hoping I get more work at my market research job this month and over the next 3 months until at least the end of February and I'm welcomed back my South side job for March. I'll apply for ei in February and put that on hold for when work between both jobs slows down to a stop in the Spring and I can go on ei over the summer and into pension. That's the idea. Then I can have more time for music production and lodge. As for now, I'm out of here at 3pm for the market research job. The boss says our current project will be done this weekend. I'm there tonight, 4-9, home by 10pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

At my market research job

(wont name the company/or project for security reasons) we're down to the demographic wire: Males born after 1962. Good luck with that when playoff baseball is on. Even at my South side job last night, I had trouble while calling into Grand Prairie. I'm not a baseball fan but I like watching the highlights. I'll be glad when that's over.

Yesterday my Doctors office called but I was on my way out the door to work. I returned the call this morning before noon and they said I have a eye Doctors appointment November 9th 8:30 appointment. The eye Doctor wants to scan for diabetic eye damage. I went there 2 years ago and there was none present in the scan at that time, ten years after being diagnosed with Diabetes. I'm getting floaters but nothing serious. I have maybe 10% vision in my right eye anyway. I can read a book while holding a book out stretched full arms length. Ask me to read a eye chart might be tough and if I can qualify for seniors benefits I want to get glasses anyway. But a Doctors appointment at 8:30am? Yeah right. I'm in bed by that time thank you. November 16th is a day off because my South side job has a open house event that night. I can go to that but I'm not required to and its a day off so that's probably a better date on the calendar but not at 8:30 in the god damn morning. My market research job, might have a project at that time underway but I clocked my availability for the weekends at that job. I just called the eye Doctor's reception desk, and they can slot me in for 2:30pm on the 16th. Eight thirty in the morning, yeesh.

I thought all I had left was a $10 bill after the weekend this time yesterday. I bought a Blackjack ticket yesterday and both dealers hand was 20. Good luck was all I got. So last night out of my backpacks front pocket where I pull out my Sun glasses, where I keep my book a couple of candies (when I have low blood sugar) I found another $10 bill. It's middle of the week, in between pay cheques and I have just under $20 remaining. Plus its lodge night tomorrow, sweet. This means I can have a Sleeman's after I do my public speaking bit in lodge at the festive board. This year I'm the Chaplin and I "had to" memorize the opening and closing prayer. Both parts are about 15 lines long. I just had 2 weeks to memorize the parts. I go Live tomorrow. 

In an hour I'll be on my commute to Southgate for that #52 bus. I'll have my usual 4 hours of work tonight. We're supposed to be in for a bit of a double digit warming trend, leading right up to about November 20th here in the Edmonton area. That's balmy for Edmonton. Its pretty much hoodie and sneaker weather, possibly even between now and the end of the month. Anyway, that's all for awhile. Possibly on Sunday. Anyway, that's all for now.

Halloween weekend is in full swing as

there were lots of adult costumes at the "Roadhouse" last night a few doors down from Audrey's. The usual suspects were there, Storm Troopers, clowns, Batman, etc. I wonder if Audrey's books ever cringes when the adult Halloween party goers stagger out of the Roadhouse at 3am. They might fear the morning after to find their front window smashed. By the time I'm down that way to notice, wont be until this Friday anyway. 

I still hope to finish reading "Space Vulture" in November. It's not a bad read. Its my 8th book in my 10 book 2016 Goodreads book challenge. I might get to book 10 if I pick up a couple of Westerns and I can breeze through November and December if I'm without any drama in my life. I've been so busy struggling with 2 jobs, lodge, getting pension sorted out, Doctors appointments, that type of thing. Life in general.

I've got today and tomorrow night off but tonight, I'm missing the Sens/Oilers game at 7pm because I'll be at lodge leaving out of here at 6pm. I catch the #8 at Rexall to Abbottsfield and double back to get off just at lodge for 7pm. Its practice for step up night Thursday. I'll also be paying the balance of my 2016 lodge dues as well. Maybe I can get one of the brothers to give me a lift in tonight. I'm on his way. Nathan also a Oilers fan will have his cell with him and I'll get updates through out the night. I could work tomorrow at my market research job but I'd also like a night off. I might decide at the last minute to go in anyway. The only thing on tomorrow night is wrestling and I'm usually home in time to catch that after work. Otherwise its Tuesday, Wednesday at my South-side job. Thursday, I'm at lodge, Friday (if the project isn't done by then) I'll be at my market research job. If Saturday looks like its a short shift, I'll go to the South side job. I just might go into the West end job tomorrow for 5 hours and cancel Saturday there and do the South side job instead. Anne's making our Sunday brunch and its lodge tonight. I'll be out of here at 6pm tonight. That's my week ahead. Anyway, that's all for now.

We have been getting a few days this week that are

a rain and fog mix bag. Its weather that sets the mood for Halloween weekend. All our snow from last weekend has melted off the ground but we're still getting temperatures of about +3 to +6C. Its the humidity that makes it feel warmer. Its still hoodie and sneaker weather but the Sun now sets by 6pm. At the moment I'm having my first coffee just waking up. I don't have to be out of here until about 3pm this afternoon anyway. Its a shorter commute.

Last night after work Anne brought home a really nice personal 10" Royal pizza for me and her own. The pizza place is a few side steps away from where she catches the train for home. I ate half of it last night and I have the other half for my lunch today.

The Oilers are still first in the West but that stat wont hold up for after tonight's game. The team is in Vancouver and the Canucks seldom lose at home. If we can beat these guys at home, its another test for the Oilers. Also tonight is the Eskimo's/Hamilton CFL game. I think its the last week in the regular season. The Eskimo's have crossed over to the East by virtue of where they ended up in the regular season. Because Calgary is first place in the West, during the playoffs we could face Calgary with the Esks representing the East. In other words we could have a Edmonton/Calgary match up for the Grey Cup. Instead of a winner take all,I wish the CFL in the Grey Cup finale would adapt a best of 7 like in hockey or baseball, to make the playoff season last a bit longer.

This afternoon I'm at my West end job from 4-9:30pm. I haven't worked there all month. So, I'll be following both games tonight. Its times like this where I need internet on the go. By this time next year I'm going to have it. By the time I'm out of the office tonight, the Oiler game will be in its 2nd period. I'll catch the scores at Corona station and the Eskimo results as well.Tomorrow I'm in the West end office again from but from10-6pm. Its a long day but we could be out early if there are no age quotas or cell phones. Last night I found out the project is at the half way mark. After work tonight I'm getting a iTunes gift card for Samplr. Its a cool iPad app. Looking forward to playing around with it Saturday after work. I've got Lodge practice Sunday and I'm paying the balance of my lodge dues, so that's good. I'll be missing the Oilers game but someone there will have a internet. Nathan usually does. Then I'll have Monday off as we're not working Halloween night. My West end job might be working that night but I doubt it and I'll know more tonight and I can plan for my availability for November on my break. Anne says if there is work, I'll have that for myself. I could have enough for Korg Gadget. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Not that I mind a fog rain type day that we had

had yesterday but Its nice to have like we have now a sunny day for a change. Best part is there's very little wind out there. I like days like these because after Halloween, we're back to daylight savings time. The first half of November temperatures is usually above zero. The 2nd half is solid winter, shorter days, its all good.

The Rogers place arena experience is having a mild impact on our household. Not so much me but Anne. When she gets off work at 10pm Bay station is underneath her building. That's a block away from the arena. Patrons of the arena that are not taking their vehicles have to other areas to leave: MacEwan lrt station directly adjacent to the arena, or Bay station lrt. When the Oilers play (like tonight) Anne gets the security police and the fans clogging her commute at Bay station. She's not too happy game night. Then if there isn't a game there's a concert, or some other event going on. When the Valley line comes online in 4 years patrons can then use that because phase 1 of the last stop will be on 102nd and 104th about equal distance away to the arena. Most patrons of Rogers Place arena will still use Mac or Bay station. 

On my commute to the job yesterday I decided with my last $2 to get another Blackjack scratch and win ticket. I do more buying and scratching then winning lately. I've only been able to win at the store where I first began playing last Spring. I tried almost half a dozen ticket outlets and nothing. I won $50, $7 and a handful of $2 and free tickets at the "original" store. I got into the office shortly before 4pm and played the ticket. The curse is broken: I won $2! That put me in a good mood I got 3 prospects to agree to sign up online. Even while the big boss from Calgary was within ear shot of me. I had a change of address but there was no phone number. I'll get that when I get in latter today, and cash in for another Blackjack ticket. 

I hope to leave out of here by 2:25pm so I can get that early train. I like to be at Southgate by 3pm. I'll cash in that ticket board my #52, get off behind the Toyota dealership there, work my way around the "Spirit of Halloween" building, to the crosswalk and into my building. The lady that sits beside me (I save her a spot) always lets me in on game scores from her phone. We're out by 8:25 anyway. The first period is done by then. If I catch the connections, I'm usually home 9:30pm, which is pretty good timing and if the train stays long enough at the station, I can usually refresh my iPod Touch web page (above ground) to get the scores update. Tonight, I'm thinking about taking the #52 into Southgate this evening, to see if that makes sense. Anyway, that's all for now.  

Last nights chili isn't sitting with me that well

this morning. Note to self: No spicy food before bed on a Friday night. Especially when I have a 5 hour window for sleep. But I'm ok now (more or less) and its only a 4 hour shift today.

Yesterday's East Coast DNS hack attack shut down the Internet for much of the day. I was able to get through and do some FB messaging this morning. Apparently the DNS was a very costly day. Internet security experts know the code, they just don't know (or are not saying) where it originated from. Some speculate this was an attempt to compromise the US election. This is DNS attack was on a massive scale. Personally I believe this is an effort to shut down Wikileaks because of the major announcements that might have a serious implications on the US election, November 8th.

Later today is the Oilers/Jets alumni hockey game. Its a outdoor winter game in Winnipeg. It isn't like the original heritage classic that occurred in 2003 13 years ago here in Edmonton. There was something special about that game. That was the NHL's (in the modern era) first outdoor hockey game. This game is an exception to all of the heritage classics of the past. The Edmonton/Winnipeg rivalry runs deep. Now its becoming a (in my opinion) a bit of a joke. These guys like Gretzky are getting old. They can still skate and all but by their own admission, its getting harder and harder to play the game like even half of what they used to. And then the NHL has these "winter classics" that are outside of "traditional" winter cities, and that aren't  even original 6 teams. However, I'm talking about 2 different events: The "Heritage Classic" and the "Winter Classic." At least the Oilers/Montreal Canadians had an original 6 team rivalry. I can see Boston/New York Rangers in a outdoor game. Those are two original six teams. Where they would have it, is another story. This afternoon is mostly for the fans. It doesn't mean anything but the regular season game will be tomorrow afternoon and its also an outdoor game. Watching a NHL regulation game outdoors is why I watch the heritage classic.

After work this afternoon, I'm meeting Anne at Clareview again, so she gets the bus pass for tonight. Then I'm getting a bag of chips for my CFL game: Its Eskimo's at BC lions. I think there are 3 games left in the season and the Esks want to win in the West for that finale play off birth. This way we avoid a cross over. But if it happens there's a strong possibility that if we get to the finale it could be a Edmonton/Calgary match up. The Oilers are playing at 1pm this afternoon in Winnipeg. I'll be at work or on my way home for most of this one. My "wing man" sits beside me. She's been with the organization for a lot of years and does some important work for the company. She's almost like the 2nd in command of the Super and she usually gets the games up for me on her phone, and I can access open city wifi (if this gets posted) and get the scores at Southgate and along my way home. The third period might be underway by the time I meet my wife at Clareview. Then I get a day off tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.