Its my Saytuday night Sunday morning which is my

favorite time of the week. I get a whole day off and other then going to lodge tonight I'm able to just relax. 

This morning on Coast the 2 topics are Robots and psychedelic research and lost ten tribes. Sunday's show is on ufo mysteries. I've never seen a ufo before but historical like the one pictures from Independent.co.uk, here give me pause.

                        
This last show especially intriguing to me because not only is it George Knapp, but about the case of a young girl that digs up a human looking skull that has no human DNA ,and a Mount Shasta California ufo encounter of a black triangle caught on film. This weekend is closing out the month with some great Coast shows. Love it. 

Anne ordered us some Chinese food not just to celebrate Chinese New Years, year of the monkey. She ordered it for a 10pm drop off. I paid for it at the door. It was really good. Anyway, that's all for now.    

I barely caught that

#5 bus at Central if not for the lady that caught the bus drivers attention just as the bus front right wheel was about a foot away from the curb waiting on a red light that just turned red. The driver said by rights he didn't have to open the door to let us on. I would have been late other wise, thanks lady. Thanks for nothing scumbag bus driver

                                                                   

I met one of my colleagues that rode in beside me to work. It was a beautiful sunny day and about +6 heading in. All in all I had a great night on the new project.

               Today I'm up about 8am for a bit of breakfast and out the door at 9am for the job. I'm back to more consistent hours on the job and about to get busy. I'm in from 10-6pm today and off Sunday but out of here to lodge for a practice. Then home. All next week I'm 4-9:30pm. So in other words I'm going to be busy. I'm about to post this and shut it down as I want to read for a bit, and listen to Coast open lines. I'm up at 8am and out the door at 9am for 10am. Anyway, that's all for now.

There is still a lot of work to be done on the

Rogers place downtown arena. The winter garden itself looks like its going to be challenging to be on time. They've got 7 months left and I don't think they can get it all done this year. They still have to get the skin up and the interior. If Rogers Place arena is on time, then they better start running shifts 24/7. I hope I'm wrong but I don't think they will be ready for another year yet. Even now there is no work going on inside.

It was 30 years ago yesterday the date of the Challenger disaster. I was working at the Cobogo warehouse when a

                          
Colleague heard it on the radio. I couldn't believe it. Four days prior to this L. Ron Hubbard passed away. Hubbard was associate for a time with Jack Parsons who helped found JPL. My office was right behind the white vertical sign on the street lamp there there in the 1980's. The building is called Cobogo lofts and a block away from Rogers Place arena.

We were woken up by the inspectors this morning. They came back to replace the fire alarm. I headed into work at my usual time. It was a beautiful day at +7, only to find the office working on running lights. There was just the manager and he was interviewing somebody. He said we start tomorrow. That meant no shift for today. So I went home and I got off at Michale's craft shop and headed to Bo'diddly's Pub & Grill. I wanted to buy a Sleemans but the closest they had was a Molson Dry. I sat there for half an hour and headed home and inside the apartment by about 5:30pm. I probably could have had a snooze. So I'll be in the office at 4pm today, regardless and hopefully for a full day Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now.

I left out of here at 3pm yesterday and

headed out to Century park on the lrt and doubled back. I got home about 4:40pm. The good news is I received no calls. Which meant if I got a call, chances would be today's shift would have been cancelled. Since I got no call from Super, I'm good to go in for today. 

I'm thinking back to how many computers I've had over the years. My first computer was the Atari 130Xe in November of 1987. Monitor sold separately. I came across this image of a 1959 computer from Cory Doctorow Tweet earlier. Wow, that's some computer:


Not quite as noteworthy as the image above, my 2nd computer was a Atari 130ST computer 1988. Still no Monitor. Then I graduated to a Pentium in 1990 and I had a monochrome monitor. My first real computer was a Pentium and I had Windows 95. My 5th computer was a white tower running Windows me and that would have been about 2001 running Windows me. Then in 2005 I got the Compaq Presario running Windows Xp. That's what I'm using now. My last computer is a Acer laptop. That's 7 computers, plus a iPad and 2 iPod Touch devices. That's 7 computers in almost 30 years. My media centre Compaq is working with a CRT monitor. It was given to me for $50! I had a heck of a time trying to carry it from the Edmonton motors area onto the lrt and out to Clareview. Next computer I'm going to get will be a iMac. Oh and in case you think I'm not a Cory Doctorow and just a troll, here's another image I captured of some of his books in my library: 

                                      
    
If indeed I have work over the next 3 days then great and if that big project begins there could be a Sunday in there. That means I'll be busy for awhile. I'll still be blogging just as much as ever. Anyway, that's all for now.

I managed to get my haircut

yesterday afternoon. No waiting. Anne made me a bit of lunch before I got ready cleaned and dressed up. I wasn't in any hurry but as soon as I left out of here it was a warm +6 and spitting rain.

I don't know how I missed this one but there was a major story about Adolf Hitler and Eve Braun in the bunker at the end of April 1945. The story unfolded last June. The "official version" has it that Hitler/Braun committed suicide. He shot himself in the head and she took cyanide in the bunker. But there is no physical evidence to link that scenario in any basis to reality. The Russians say they have a skull fragment complete with bullet hole confirmed the cause of death to be suicide with subsequent DNA testing in 2009 backing these findings, apparently. However DNA testing proved the skull the Russians had been claiming was Hitler's since the end of the war was actually that of a forty year-old woman. The Russian government is still refusing any access to the "body parts." Even the FBI was looking for Hitler months and even years after their so called deaths, and don't believe he died in the Chancellery bunker. Also Joseph Stalin told U.S.President Truman that Hitler escaped and believed so until his passing. Eye witnesses inside Hitlers bunker said he saw Hitler and Eva go into their apartment but didn't see anyone come out. This recent expose assumes that two prisoners would pose as Hitler and Eve, were executed and placed in a shallow grave and burned. Hitler often used look-a-likes or substitutes. Hitler and Braun's bodies were never found. Exactly what happened to them on 30 April 1945, has long remained a mystery. The truth is that no one saw Hitler and Eva Braun die in the Bunker in Berlin on 30 April 1945. No photographs were taken to document claims Hitler and Evan Braun committed suicide. Hitler's body was never recovered. No definitive physical evidence exists proving Hitler died in the Bunker in Berlin. So if Hitler did escape how did he do it? He might have gotten out by a nearby Ju-52 float plane to Sweden and then to Argentina. Its all part of the..unexplained.

Last night Reg drove me home after lodge. It was a great evening and I had a nice day off yesterday. Anyway, that's all for now.

Monday afternoon I got out of the house to

check in at the job hung around for a bit and left out of there about 5:30pm for home. It was a drive by basically. I'll be getting my haircut before lodge after I get up.

Planet X. Does it exist? Planet X isn't the 10th planet but the X stands for another planet. Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun. Through mathematical modeling and computer simulations the Caltech researchers have made this discovery. Astronomers have been looking for planet X for a long time. So what do we all this 9th planet? Pluto 2? Interesting stuff. The other theory is from Zecharia Sitchin and the "Anunnaki" in Sumerian mythology. The differences between the two theories/planets are their orbits are vastly different. The Caltech people believe the 9th planet is on a orbital trajectory 10-20,000 years out and could be part of a binary star system or a brown dwarf. Sitchin believes that the planet "Nibiru" is on a 3,600 year old journey. Sitchin wrote a series of books called "Earth Chronicles volumes." There's also, Nancy Lieder, David Icke, among others that are all over the place on the topic. Personally I believe the Caltech theory over Sitchin's work but for entertainment value Lieder and Icke are most amusing and at the same time thought provoking. I wont dismiss Sitchin's work because he has some great stuff. I have a lot of it on cd, cool stuff. 

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.
- See more at: https://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523#sthash.k8JTOujz.dpuf

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.
- See more at: https://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523#sthash.k8JTOujz.dpuf

I'm hoping to get my haircut across the street before I head out to lodge this afternoon. They are serving cocktails are at 6pm, dinner at 6:30pm (free for me because I'm a guest) we tyle at 7:30pm. Should be a good night. Anyway, that's all for now.

Last nights

wrestling pay per view "Royal Rumble" was surprising in many ways. Seeing A.J.Styles debut at the WWE was a shocker. He was mostly with Impact wrestling for years. Anne and I ate our pizza and enjoyed the show but near the end, totally out of left field who comes out? Triple H! What? And for the 14th time, Triple H wins the WWE title. Shocker. Also in keeping with sports, the Oilers Sunday had their annual inter squad skills competition. What made it such a historic event was they used a rainbow colored tape on the blade of their hockey sticks. This gesture is to help observe gay pride and to make the Oilers a more inclusive hockey club. Its a good idea. From Bill Ross's FB page:

                    

I'm going to go get my haircut today and then at Corona station do a follow up call on that job. See if I can get them a real resume and maybe even go their in person. I'd have to use the Nait line to get there. That's if I get the ok to do that. They might even call me tonight while I'm out. Outside of that if that doesn't happen, I'd like to go out to Dairy Queen for an ice cream/Southgate and then home. "We ran out of numbers at 6pm and no shift Tuesday but back Wednesday," type thing. Tuesday I plan on visiting Edmonton #7 as they are conferring the same degree we are in February. It'll give me a chance to see how this is done as spectator and watch my counterpart do his work. I an get a bite to eat there and have a beer as well. Sounds like a good idea. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had a nice day yesterday

even though the shift was cut short. Nothing coming until Thursday, so I have a few days off. Not that I'm telling certain people. I'm doing a follow up on another job this week and I'll be looking around for something more steady

The North American Music Mecca (Namm) 16 is underway. Its great to see all the manufacturers I'm interested in and what they are coming out with. Korg has released their Monologue synth and a new Volca FM, which has some really great sounds. If Korg can keep their FM Volca around the same price point, I'm on board. no pricing or release date. Korg has released a few controllers as well but I'm not much interested. Arturia has released their Matrix Brute synth, if only I had the money. There are lots of modular companies releasing products as well but so far Elektron (Analogue keys) is kind of quiet. I was kind of hoping to see something out of native instruments, or Moog. Nothing so far. Yamaha has their new Montage synth looks interesting. Teenage Engineering has released 3 new pocket operators. Of course there's the usual traditional instruments. 

After work yesterday I went to Tim's and had a coffee and donut, stalling for time in no hurry to get home. It was nice and mild out. Very Spring like. I got home an hour earlier then normal for a Saturday night to an empty house. Today, I'm off to get my haircut across the street and return for the afternoon and later its wrestling "Royal rumble" and Maximus pizza. Should be a fun time. Anyway, that's all for now.

Everything seems to be

ok as far as my job is concerned. I went into work last night thinking because of what happened Saturday, I was going to get fired. Instead I received another copy of my provincial and federal tax forms for 2016. I had a much better showing on my job then Saturday. Yeesh, what was I thinking? 

Well if this current crisis is anything like 2008/09, infrastructure spending is what Canada did to keep the wolves at bay. The federal government is now saying $60B will be going towards infrastructure projects across the country. Sohi was quoted to say but at $60B over the course of this mandate that's a lot of spending. Can we figure out where that money is going to come from? Taxation of course. 

Anyway, I'm in for my 5.5 hours tonight and up early for a full day of it Saturday. I'm trying to get enough ei hours before both jobs shut down for the summer. After my first ei cheque, the idea is to put ei on hold for a year and activate it again not this summer but next so I'll have income until pension. For now, I'll have work until at least the end of may, possibly June. After that until September, I don't know. Anyway, that's all for now 

One week ago we were mourning over the loss of

our cat Sporty. I still can't believe he's gone. We miss him every day but at least he's not in pain. 

Ok, this is weird. Under my Currently Reading tab in my left side bar I like to display the book covers of the book I'm, well currently reading. I go to Amazon because as a affiliate if anyone wants to buy a copy they can click on the link and order one. In theory when someone does that as a affiliate, I got a small commission. I mostly show the cover of the book I'm reading, more to give you an idea what the cover looks like, rather then to make a sale. I have yet to have anyone buy anything from my so called "Amazon store." The book I'm reading is book #2 of the "Eagle's" series. I bought the paperback as special order 2 years ago for $8.50CND. I was shocked when the book I tried to grab a link for at Amazon listed for $25.02! I'm sure that's a hard copy. So, if your thinking about ordering a copy of this book from the link at the left DON'T. That's right. You can special order it for under $10 from your independent book retailer and save $16.52 and that doesn't include shipping. Best price? Yeah right.  

The last day of calling for my part time job was yesterday. The next campaign is March 1st. Its a smaller project and needs fewer people, by invitation only. Invite letters are going out at the end of this month. So tonight I'm in at my market research job. I hope all goes well. Anyway, that's all for now.

At Clareview station last night about

9:15pm it was like a Spring like evening. As soon as I got off the bus just outside of Shoppers here, boom! An instant blizzard. Talk about a shock to the system. Anne suggested I call off the appointment and not go in. I did that before bed after I finished reading my book and left a message saying something that I'll re-book before Family day. So this morning I get up and I look out  my window and:
                          
At the moment its -12 out there and we got Rusty inside because it was pretty cold for him over night. We got him here for a couple of days.

So, its my last night at the 2nd job. Hopefully I'll have work at my main job tomorrow and beyond. My 2nd job has another project, which they send out letters of invitation at the end of this month. Its a smaller project so they'll need less staff to do the calling. If I get one of those letters in the mail, great, I'll go back. Unless there's another opportunity first. Last night a colleague was telling me that he will receive his first Guaranteed Income Security (gsi) cheque next month. Its pro active from the time he applied for it last year. The applicant for this has to be on oas first. That means he'll be getting a lump sum and the gsi will follow. I won't know how much he's getting (as his situation is similar to mine) because when and if I go back, I'll probably never see him again to ask. He told me he likes the job for pocket money. So, we'll see. Anyway, that's all for now.

Now if I could just

work these hours the rest of my life I'd be a happy camper. I'd work 4 days/week even while on pension. Its nice getting home at 9:30pm, rather then 10:30pm.The only problem with this job is, its not steady. Last day for calling is on Wednesday and they break for February resuming in March. My main concern now is what if my market research job fires me due to what happened Saturday and I've got no work in February?

I started reading this book "Eyes of Eagles" by William W. Johnstone Jan 6 and I've got a 100 pages left to go. I'll have it read by the weekend at the rate I'm going. Whats unusual here is that this book is a genre away from what I normally read (science fiction). And I've never read a western before. Also the book is a hefty one clocking in at 488 pages and I'm just breezing through it. That's a big book for a western, but the writing is so good. I  haven't given up on "Horus Heresy" but if this book is any indication, I'm beginning to like this genre. "Eyes of Eagles" is book 1 of 18. I've got about 12 of them here. I'd also like to read his "Ashes" series but no doubt a lot of them are out of print but there's always Ebay. This is my next read:
 
                                               
I'm out of here again at 3pm. Its a easy 4 hour shift and  home at 9:30pm. Not much other then that going on. I've got a couple of parts I'm memorizing for a upcoming degree next month but that's minor. Tomorrow I have a early appointment with the foot doctor at my pcn. Before that I'll get some breakfast at Tim's and keep my appointment, then home. I  haven't heard anything yet from the other job lead. I hope within the next few days I'll hear something from them  Anyway, that's all for now.

Star Wars the force awakens has reached over

$1.760B dollars and that's just at the box office. And that's just in its initial release. And it hasn't even hit the dollar theatres or video on demand (vod) yet. Merchandising is going to propel profits through the roof. I've been hearing that the movie is very loud, which is kind of turning me off from seeing it. I'll wait until it comes to video on demand where we can adjust the volume at home.

On Coast this morning the topic is artificial intelligence or A/I (ai) as its referred to. It is similar to Transhumanisim. . 

 

What is Transhumanisim? In a Wiki nutshell: Transhumanism (abbreviated as H+ or h+) is an international and intellectual movement that aims to transform the human condition by developing and creating widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. It is not to be confused with Secular Humanism. I've done a bit of reading on the topic of Transhumanism over the years. There are quite a few Transhumanism videos on YouTube. Artificial Intelligence and Transhumanism are two different things. 

Yesterday I was able to contact a job lead and I send a resume out there to them. Well sort of as my email kept bouncing. My contact said ok to copy and paste it in the email. They'll look my resume over and if they are interested, they'll call me for a interview. I'm trying to get out of this market research job and get into something that's more steady. I'm sure after Saturday they probably hope I find something else as well. I'm in 4:15pm-8:30pm at my other job today. We're having a bit of a Pizza party. Now watch, they'll order 2 meat pizzas and 6  vegetarian pizzas and nobody will eat the vegi pizzas. I'll be lucky if I get one slice. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Its been a rough week for sure last week what

with losing David Bowie and Sporty. At least the first half of January is in the bank. It's been a tough month so far. Pension is less then 20 months away. Can it come soon enough?

Anne's been looking after this outdoor stray cat that's been discarded from across from us in Edmonton Housing. He's been hunkering down under a utility shed all last winter. Anne goes over every night to feed him change his blanket and make sure he's comfortable from the elements. She brought him inside here 2 days after losing Sporty. I know that sounds kind of ghoul but its so cold over night. He's been hanging out here, separated from the other guys. I nick named him Rusty because of his colours:

 
 Heading into work yesterday morning I had a headache and I felt I could have used another 4 hours sleep. It was very cold waiting for my bus but I was inside at Central, about 4 paces away from my #5 that pulled up about 9:30am and then into the office. At least they had the coffee ready. After a briefing I was screwing up all day about 4 mistakes, logging in, adding conditions. It was brutal but the shift was shorter then usual. I screwed up near the end as I was getting a lot of call backs and I found out that I somehow added an extra number, which was the call backs for Monday. That's how my day was. I'm on thin ice at my job and almost expect to be fired on Thursday when I go back but Super said he wasn't going to write me up but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a chat with him and the boss on Thursday behind closed doors. I've got another job lead I'll be following up with in the next few days and my other job ends on Wednesday. The rate of pay is better then the job I was at Saturday but the hours aren't. My second job doesn't get underway until March and ends May-15th. If I get that other job, then I wont care so much. I haven't got anything yet from the 3rd job. 

After work I thought about heading to Wendy's for a Baconator burger but Anne's getting me one for WWE's "Royal Rumble." I settled in to watch the Flames/Oiler game. The Oilers won in a shoot out. Cam Talbot was amazing. Now the Oilers go on the road for a few games. I'm just relaxing today sleeping in late and reading. Anyway, that's all for now.

Its been a week of losses and

no gains on the ledger. I'm hoping to hear something something positive other then hockey related. Even though Oil is sitting around $31 at least our local weather is nice sitting at about -3. We're supposed to get colder on the weekend. I'll be calling my market research job, to confirm I'm going in for tomorrow before I leave out of here at 3pm today.

I'm really enjoying this western "Eyes of Eagles." Its a origins type story. The back drop is the Texas revolution and the battle for the Alamo in 1836. Our hero is Jamie Ian MacCallister. He was captured as a boy and raised by the Shawnee. We watch him go from boy to man. This story has it all, slave traders, betrayal, Indians and Mexicans. Theres enough action and suspense to keep me turning pages. Book 2 "Dreams of Eagles" is on my shelf and I'll probably jump into that one right away. 

I called the office and I'm scheduled to go in for tomorrow and Saturday. I'll have 29 hours on the week and 26 hours on my market research job and 28 hours on my other job. That's going to be a total of 54 hours between 2 jobs. Not great but it'll cover a bill. I'm just hoping that my first job has steady work from now until the end of June. Anyway, that's all for now.

First it was losing David Bowie

and I thought I'd more or less get over that. I left out of here yesterday about 1:40pm, ready to go see my Doctor. I went to this little Alberta Government office on the main floor right under my Doctors office. All they do there is process the Provincial supplement. I went to my appointment and got taken in right away. There was some waiting but not much. The appointment was just generic and had nothing to do with my insulin at all. I got some blood pressure pills and some scalp medication then on my way to work. It was a beautiful day. Work went well and I was happy to leave out of there for home. My colleague is going in for work at the other job today and will give me a progress report Thursday. if it looks good, I'll apply. So I'm coming home checking the Oiler/Arizona game and home. The first thing Anne asks me was about our Siamese cat Sporty. Something is wrong and she thinks he's had a stroke.

I checked in on him and he was on the floor in my office gnawing on this plastic Tupperware thing, whaling away flopping like a wounded seal. I knew something was up. His breathing was labored. Anne was in tears. We knew he had to be put down. I stayed with him while Anne was calling for a cab. They were gone. About an hour later I got a call from Anne saying the Doctor said he was in a diabetic shock. That's a death sentence. When Anne came home alone, with a empty cat cage, she was in tears. She had no choice but to put Sporty down. She nick named him Mam-a-lam. Sporty would follow me all over the apartment. That;s 2 losses in two days. My heart broken again. I'll have a photo of Sporty in here soon. Sporty is cat on the left of the above photo. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had a easy commute into work

yesterday afternoon. I actually thought it was going to be colder but it wasn't that bad. I got in at my usual time and I had a slow start to the day. I got a "online sale" and 1 cold before break. Pretty good for picked over numbers at the tail end of a project. At break I read a couple of pages from my book. I got one more "cold sale" after break. My commute home was uneventful. I snagged another little quote from a friends fb page so I thought I'd share. Thanks Dan:

 

I've got another job lead from a colleague last night. I knew about this earlier but now I have a name and a phone number. I'll be contacting this person after I get up from bed and have a coffee and wake up a bit. If I get to send my resume, I'll do that and see what happens. At the moment, since last April, my market research job says they don't pay deductions because of some 3 month probationary measure, huh? So my 3rd month of this "probationary measure" had come and gone last June. I kept asking about it and got no response until October I received my Provincial and Federal tax forms. I hadn't filled out one of these in awhile and I think I made a mistake. At my 2nd job I got some additional tax forms. I filled them out properly and before our break at my market research job I gave them to my boss in a sealed envelope. Now lets see if these were filed. If I don't get taxes taken off on my next cheque, then I'll take a leave of absence and if I get hired on at the 3rd job, I'll just do my 2nd job 3 days and 3 days at my 3rd job. February is a good time to do the 3rd job because of the break between projects in February. Confused yet? So am I. 

I'm up out of here today about 2pm for my 2:45pm Doctors appointment. If my Doctor doesn't come to see me before 3:15pm, (usually I'm waiting in that little examining room.) sorry but I have to go to work. I'll re-book for the end of the month. Anyway, that's all for now.

My heart just broake as I write this

learning about the passing of David Bowie. Bowie died from cancer he was battling over the last 18 months, and died peacefully at the age of 69. I followed his career as a fan from his album Pin-ups. When I bought that, I bought others when I could. Pin-ups is in my top 10 albums. After pin-ups he released Diamond dogs and so on. Those 2 albums are his best work. I was 20 years old when Pin-ups came out that came out and even today it stands the test of time. Diamond Dogs still resonates with me and I'll go back to listen to it on YouTube all the time. R.I.P. David. 

On that note: Not to add insult to injury but this book I'm reading took so much time I even forgot there was a Oiler game on television. I checked the score and the Visitors won, again. Our D gave up they puck and they scored on the breakaway. Hall scored but their coach challenged the play saying they our guys were off side and the officiating love flaky calls like that. They'll call them every time. This hockey team is embarrassing.

                                        
I snagged this from one of my colleagues from his Face book page before I posted about David Bowie. I couldn't resist posting this to add a bit of mirth over over such a downer.

Since I don't know if my 1st job will have any work this week, I'm going to alter my availability slightly on my 2nd job. At least this week, I'll have a full week one way or another. Today its my 2nd job all week. Maybe my first job Saturday. I have my Doctors appointment Tuesday and that's about it. Anyway, that's all for now.

Thanks to that

sleeping pill earlier this morning I was able to get close to 8 hours of sleep today. I'm ok for the day, just getting the coffee ready. 

Tuesday I have a Doctors appointment and while I'm there I'll be investigating more about my Guaranteed Seniors Income, or gsi that I'll (hopefully) will be able to apply for. There's a office on the main level directly under neath my Doctors office. I'll be checking into that as well. I think I made the appointment to late because I need to be at my 2nd job by 4pm. So that might be cutting it a bit close. I'm going to re-book for next week.

To the best of my knowledge I've never been in the Royal City Cafe in downtown New Westminster. I usually went to the Fraser or Pacific cafe 1974. I used to go by there all the time up the hill across the street to my studio apartment.

While browsing through photos members of the "I grew up in Coquitlam." I came across this photo. The post beside it said that the block all the way to the building with the structure on the roof burnt down. That whole block up to that building with the building on the roof burnt down. I checked Google maps and sure enough its a empty lot. The black and white photo is what the corner used to look like in the 1970's. Sad really. 

We've got a over cast sky out there and its -3. It was cold last night waiting for that #3 but I still got home in at my usual weekend time, shortly after 7pm. When my first job does that 2 month project they'll have a Sunday shift. Anyway, that's all for now.

This blog your reading now is being composed on my old

Compaq Presario computer in this photo below. It came with a whole 80 Gb hard drive and 256 Ram. I upgraded the Ram in 2007 but I think its the wrong Ram because it wasn't sat well in the Ram slot. I've got 2 Ram slots. I'm thinking about upgrading. Since this computer did not come with a CD recovery disk I'm unable to format the hard drive (restoring to factory default). By doing this, it would essentially after back up breath new life into this machine. I can still format the hard drive, because there is a copy of the Operating system (os) in a partition. I think I can still "build" a recovery disk from there. A colleague from my other job last night said he wold be able to give me a DVD. I need to ask him if its a double sided one. I'm in uncharted waters here:

           

It was nice getting back to work last night at the other job. I picked up where I left off. I'm there for a full 8 hours today leaving out of there at 6pm home by 7pm. Since there's no Oiler game on TV I can tinker around a bit with the hard drive. Since my blog is web based anyway, all I need is a link and a link toy YouTube and back up my daily diary.  

My Supervisor kept updating me on the game last night. About 8:30pm it was 2-0 Oilers. A leas like that is hard to defend. When I got to Clareview thanks to Open City wifi, the results were in 3-2 Visitors. The Oilers had a lot o f bad bounces; one from Hall into his own net, one off of or D (that scored one of our 2 goals) and they got a goal in the third. The good news is the Oilers are only 4 points out of a playoff spot. Once McDavid is back, and after he finds his game again, the Oilers could make a run for that last spot

About the only place where our economy is suffering here in the country is Alberta. Everyone is watching the price of oil. Right now oil is at $32.10. It hasn't been this low since when I got this computer back in 2005. Even if oil prices rebound to around $80/barrel, it would still take awhile for our local economy to recover. We're now at about 7% unemployment rate. I'm lucky I have the 2 jobs I have. Last night before I left we got word that there could be a short break while the client gets the sample (our numbers) to call. No sample, no work. Which is why I'm glad I have the other job but that's only going until the 20th. Part 2 of what they're doing wont happen until mid February. The job I was at last night has a big project that should take them through to the end of March. My 2nd job has a fixed stop date of May 15th. My job I'm going to today, could go again until mid July like last year. Anyway, that's all for now.

Wednesday was a perfect winter day out there and being inside most of the time I hardly noticed it at

all. I spent 5 minutes waiting for my bus to Clareview and on the train to Central. I had a brief wait inside upstairs at Central station until my #5 bus came by. I got my seat and headed into work under overcast skies. My footwear of choice were my running shoes. At work the boss says if we hit out goal and we're closing in on it, we're going to have a pizza party on the 13th. My colleague forgot to bring me that book but I did some research on the asb program and found out some of what I need to know.

It looks like McDavid is days away from rejoining the team. It would have been fun to watch him at the All star break. With 37 points the Oilers are 2 wins away from sharing the last play off spot. However, there are 6 other teams in the bottle neck. The Oilers are in last place they can get to that last play off spot with 2 wins. With 7 games left until the All Star break 5 of them are on the road. The All star break is the home stretch towards the play offs. If McDavid can remain healthy and the Oilers go on a winning streak, who knows the Oilers could wind up 4th or 5th this year. 

I had a slow day on the job but where we are with 3 weeks away I don't care. Chances are good I'll be back in mid February anyway. I reminded my super that I'd be in on Monday, as my availability states. As I left the office it had snowed during my shift and there must have been about 2 inches of snow on the ground. My commute home was basic, just the way I like it and hardly cold at all. I got home about 9:30pm. I'm off today as its Lodge night and we got balloting. Anyway, that's all for now.

If I get to full pension and I had to pick between my

market research job and my second job, I'd pick my 2nd job. Mainly because its easy to get to and I can leave at a later time and I get off at 8:30pm home at about 9:30pm. Plus no more Saturdays.

Thursday's Coast to Coast 2nd half is on The Tarot. I've always been fascinated by the initiatory aspects of the Tarot, especially the major arcana. Or the 22 Trump cards and how they tie in with the Kabbalah. What I like about the major arcana in this way, is that it is almost uniform in nature across all Tarot decks. The most popular Tarot deck is the Rider Waite Tarot and of course the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot, which I've had in my collection for over 35 years:
                                     

I don't use the Tarot to do readings or anything, its mostly for spiritual insight. Over the last number of years I've been thinking about producing my own YouTube video's on the topic  with my own Tarot deck. Since Aleister Crowley's Thoth deck there has been thousands of various Tarot deck themes, everything from Alchemy to Star Wars. 

An old colleague and I last night we're talking about pensions because he just turned 65. He said he's still waiting for his Guaranteed Seniors Income cheque to come in and he told me that there is also a Provincial one as well. He said he'd bring me the book about it today. I did some research when I got home and the program is called the Alberta Seniors Benefit supplement. Or abs. The abs isn't as much as the cpp but it just tops up the Federal pensions. I'll be applying for that as well in the Spring. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Sunday is the day

I look forward to the most. Normally its the only day I can sleep in not knowing I have to hustle to go to work. Anne fixes us her late Sunday brunch and we can wrap up the rest of the day to relax. If I get to pension every weekend will be a long weekend. No more getting up early on a Saturday morning when its -25.

If I had the money I'd get something like this: 

Yes I know its not music. It isn't about music, its sound design. The rig in this image is modular synthesis in a Eurorack system. I couldn't enjoy those white KRK monitors in this apartment. This system here is about $10K.  

So, today its taking it easy, sleep, eat read but at 6pm I'm heading out to the lodge. We've got our Sunday practice before our regular meeting. I'll get home about 9:30pm. Anne's making our brunch a bit latter and I can get ready for Monday. I'm at my second job tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.

Because of the

Oiler game early this afternoon, I'm blogging this time of day. I'm taking my sleeping pill before I go to bed at 3am this morning. Speaking about the struggling last place in the West Oilers local news film footage showed Connor McDavid skating with the guys at practice yesterday. They were all happy he's back skating with the team but I think its going to be after the All Star break he'll be playing regulation games.

Thought I forgot about this didn't you? Lets see how I scored on my predictions for 2015: Do I get a Ding or a Bonk:

1.) Cern will discover a new particle that will shack the world.
Ding. last July Cern announced the discovery of the Pentaquark.

2.) There will be a breakthrough in the JFK case that will reopen the investigation.
Bonk

3.) A nuclear bomb will be exploded by terrorists. 
Bonk.

4.) Canada will be the first country to go cashless. 
Bonk.

5.) Google will release the Google car.
Bonk.

6.) A Canadian NHL team will win the Stanley Cup. 
Bonk

7.) Someone from either the Rolling stones or the Beatles will die.
Bonk.

8.) A major disease will wipe out billions of people.
Bonk

9.) A major tech application will be introduced in the same scope and impact like the Internet. 
Bonk.

10.) Two major countries will unit. 
Bonk

I got 1 out of 10 correct. Now back by popular demand: My top ten predictions for 2016.



1.) Hillary Clinton will be President.


2.) A Canadian pro team will win a major championship.


3.) Oil will remain under $40


4.) There will be controversial religious figure emerging like a L. Ron Hubbard.

5.) Canadian Government legalizes Marijuana.

6.) NHL Canadian expansion


7.) A New music genre will take the world by storm.


8.) Someone in my family will die

9.) Major medical cure

10.) A major tech gadget like the iPad or virtual reality will wow the world.


There you have it. Lets see if I can score better next year.

I've been trying to look up an old "partner" of mine from the 1980's-1990's. She sponsored me into Amway at the time. We were working well together as a team in the late 1990's. Anne wasn't to impressed with her. I knew where she worked and all. I looked for her on Face Book, linked in etc. For the most part my friend became a ghost. I managed to see her once in 2005 on my way to work. I was getting off a rush hour bus and she was getting on from where the 7-11 is near Joey Tomato's is on Jasper Ave. That was the last I saw of her. She even recognized me and we made contact. Last night and typed her name and apparently she's a registered massage therapist. I doubt she's still doing Amway. I always thought she was a life'er. Her online foot print was as week as a flat line on a medical scope but what was there was enough to connect the dots. I don't know how to resolve this but I'd like to get together with her again for a coffee. Anyway that's all for now.

This is about the only time of

year where The City of Edmonton opens up ETS and lets everyone after 6pm-3am ride buses and the LRT for free.

                                                                         

   

 Any other time its $3.20 or a monthly bus pass like the one pictured above for $89. When I was in my early 20's living in New West in the lower main land as far as I know there were no monthly bus passes. Mainly this was because in the 1960's Coquitlam was served by the pacific Coast stage lines. You couldn't even get a bus after 7pm. This was before Loughheed Mall. I was surprised when a co worker said I could get a monthly ETS pass for $15. "For the whole  month? Crazy." Next year I turn 65 and I'll be able to buy a month bus pass for $14 and one for the year for $125!  

I don't normally make New Years reservations but I've made 8 I think I can keep:

My 2016 New Year’s resolution this year is to:
1.) Make sure I always have income between now and this time next year.
2.) Get our medical benefits lined up.
3.) Get my teeth done
4.) Get family membership to Clareview rec centre
5.) Join Royal Arch
6.) Read 5 Horus Heresy books.
7.) LM account
8.) Produce more music to YouTube

My wife got home 2 hours ago and we had a nice little cheese plater to ring in the new year. We watched the Doctor Who Christmas special. I like the actor playing the new Doctor. He's really good. Anyway that's all for now.