I just noticed this on the

Connect 2 Edmonton site under the "Around the NHL" thread, that for the 1st time in over 46 years there will be no Canadian teams in the NHL for the 2015-16 playoffs. The real elephant in the room should be the on going issue over concussions in the NHL This controversy has the potential to be a game changer on how the game has been changed over the years, such as hybrid icing etc to make the game a bit more safer.

JT was in our city yesterday performing damage control over the ei controversy. Edmontonians shut out of extra ei benefits because of .2% point difference between Edmonton's unemployment rate and Calgary. Granted our economy has always been better then Calgary's. One just hast too look at all the activity currently going on around downtown. A lot of those projects downtown are about to wind down over the next 6 months or so. There's other projects that are just getting or about to get underway, like Station Pointe (finally) Valley line lrt, the ETS facility on the corner of Yellowhead and Fort road, The Vibe, Londonderry Mall and City Center mall each getting upgrades and others. Trudeau said politics had nothing to do with Edmonton's ei extension controversy. With that being said, sure I can understand that.

I got a ride home last night from Joyce getting into the apartment at 9pm, which was nice. Joyce is in her 70's. Most likely this will be the last campaign, I'll be asking for a ride home, if the new place is more centrally located. Because we reached a project milestone, management is ordering pizza for the staff. Tonight, I'm in from 4:15pm-8:30pm and home by 9pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

One of my colleagues at my second job who initially

hired me on at Xentel back in 2000 worked works at my 2nd job. Dave's been there for a few years now and recently moved house. I over heard him talking to Joyce one of the senior employees if he could get a ride after work to Clareview station. I caught up with her and said, I'm going out that way to, could I tag along? She kind of befriended me earlier  and cheerfully said ok. She doesn't live to far away over in Kirkness, slightly North of us. She dropped me off just outside of my place, which was nice. It saved me 40 minutes of commute time home. 

Our PM was in Edmonton yesterday applying damage control over the ei extension controversy. Because our unemployment rate is .2% greater then Calgary, we don't qualify for the ei extension rate. Its extra weeks onto a claim. Yet, more people are coming here looking for jobs. Even during the good times Edmonton over Calgary was the destination place for migrants workers. Now because of .2% we're getting the shaft. Those minimum 5 weeks could make or break the difference on a near future ei claim for me. JT said they are closely monitoring the situation, yeah right. Edmonton during Trudeau's administration gets shafted, again. First it was infrastructure spending and now this. 

Tonight its 4:15pm-8:30pm and home by 8:50pm. That's if Joyce can still drive me home. I'm going to suggest that if she pulls into the East entrance of Wyndham crossing, she can stay left and follow out of there into my buildings parking lot and out onto 137th from there. Its only for 3 days/week, Monday, Tuesday, Friday. This way working at my 2nd job Friday, I get home a bit early. If at my first job I'd get home at about 10:30pm on a Friday night, when I have a early shift Saturday, I get like 5 hours sleep. Makes more sense to begin that next Friday. Anyway, that's all for now.

I didn't get much reading done

this weekend. My goal for the novel I'm reading was to have it read this month. Just too many things got in the way. I hope to have it read in April.

Our dinner outing was nice. We took the #11 72nd street by Londonderry junior HS and walked towards our destination: Capital Pizza.

 
From the photo I took Anne is waiting for me in the bus shelter up ahead, about in the 11pm position if this photo was a clock. The little hand would be at about the 11pm position. Ann popped into Giant Tiger (the yellow sign) I went ahead of her to reserve our usual seat in the back. I ordered a diet Coke as Anne need to go into Giant Tiger to get her new cart. The pizza this time wasn't that great but I wasn't complaining. What we don't finish eating (and that's usually the case) we take the rest home. We went to DQ and I got my chocolate Sunday and then we walked back to the bus stop across the street from the basketball courts and home. I like that bus because it drops us off on our side of the street. It was a nice quiet day and had a Sunday feel to it. We were in by 6pm 8 hours ago. 

After some sober thought, I decided to hit the pause button and put my plans on getting a custom built iMac on hold. After seeing the upcoming iPad 9.7" pro on YouTube, I thought so much for the iMac. The 9.7 has 4 speakers, is 64 bit, about the size of the iPad air, and can support the iPencil. Plus the 9.7 has a better camera and a better chip. I'd like to get the 32Gb version, but its priced at $800. When I'm ready to buy however wont be for at least Q4 of next year. By that time Apple will have released the 9.7 2 or +.

Today I'm at my 9:30pm job but I think this current project could be winding down today, and we might be going home early. It's a new pay period anyway. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm at my 8:30pm job. Its a lot easier. Thursday, Friday I'm at my 9:30pm job and Saturday,10-6pm. Anyway, that's all for now.

My long weekend is about

to wind down. This afternoon Anne and I are heading out of here for pizza. Its a birthday dinner for her. Got to keep the wife happy and all. Hopefully, if everything works out ok this summer, I'll have a ei claim and I can take the summer off and a bit of help from Anne's family. If we can get help from Anne's family, I wont need to file a ei claim.

Looks like a nice looking day about to shape up out there. That's our temperature right now:

Over the weekend I managed to hook up my Ntendo to the Internet. I was able to download a Pokemon game demo and shot a video with the camera. I also unpacked YouTube and got it synced to my account. So I was able to get that done over the weekend. Happy Easter everyone. Anyway, that's all for now.

I ran into Audrey's to pick up my

book and into work. It was a short shift because the flow rate was low Super called the shift early. I only lost a few hours, which is ok. It meant I had a early start to a 3 day weekend. I paid Audrey's a visit on my way home and tuned in to watch what was left of the Oiler/Sharks game closing out the last minutes of the 1st. It was 2-0 Sharks. I watched the 2nd and it was all Oilers after that. Hall got his 25th goal. Next game is Saturday night. I'd like to see Hall get 30 goals to close out the season.

If all goes well, I'll be able to get a copy of Dutune's DNS-12 for my new Ntendo 3ds XL. I hope to get something going on that next month. I'm still fiddling around with some apps with audio bus on my iPod Touch. I hope to have something up on YouTube this weekend. 

Next week, I'm Monday at the market research job, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I'm at my 8:30pm job and Friday and Saturday at my market research job and Sunday off. In about an hour, I'm about to take a malathion listen to a bit of Coast and pass out. Anyway, that's about all for now.

My Audrey's book order came in yesterday

as they received all 5 of the Ultramarine Warhammer 40k series for me. I got the announcement in my email. I'll begin to pick one of them up on my way into my late job today. Its a nice way to start off the weekend. 

My friend down the hall, wants me to get her resume out but she's thinking that my 2005 computer is somehow better equipped then her Windows 8 laptop with 8Gb ram and 500Gb hard drive. So, I'm going to ask her if I can install my copy of Maschine and onto her system. Her laptop processor is a lot faster then my laptop. Plus I can easily screen record with no lag. Hopefuly I can program a little something this weekend.

I'll be heading out of here 3pm today for my 4pm-9:30pm. Since its Good Friday tomorrow, my other job is taking Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday off. My market research job is Friday, Saturday and Sunday but most likely will be there for holiday Monday. At least, I'll have 3 days off. If I have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. I'm going back to work at the other place Tuesday. My market research job next week will be Monday Friday, Saturday. The other job will be Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. If all goes well, Anne and I will be having her birthday outing from last week, Sunday. Anyway, that's all for now.

About 10am or so each morning I like to get out of bed and feed the cats

and then try and get another hour or two sleep. That wasn't going to happen after I fed the cats this morning. I laid in bed for about an hour and a half. What the heck, I got up and fixed myself a coffee and I noticed a fresh blanket of snow out there. Its a snow day. We haven't had one here in the Capital region in a long time. These Spring snow showers however don't last long and the snow doesn't stay on the ground very long. By Thursday it should be all off the ground. It's back to wearing boots for a few days.

I'm back to my 2nd job today, leaving out of here at 3pm. I don't need to be in until 4pm as we start at 4:15pm. This gives me enough time to set things up, get my file etc. The good news is I'm off at 8:30pm and home by 9:30pm so I can comfortably watch Monday night Raw. Anyway, that's all for now.

I woke up about half an hour ago with tingling feet and I

knew I needed to check my blood sugar. My number was 5. I usually like it to be about 7-8 in the morning. For most people blood sugar levels are held steady at 5.5. So I got up to fix a coffee. I had about 5 hours sleep overnight, and I listened to a bit of Coast 2 Coast before passing out.

Electronic cigarettes have been out for awhile now. I'm a non smoker. At the last market research job I was at, one of my co workers was a vapor (someone that uses e-cigarettes) On local CTV news yesterday, they followed up on a story I thought was just an urban legend: exploding e-cigs. Lithium ion batteries are at the centre of the issue. These things show no signs they are about to explode and explosions can happen when users try to “hack” their own vapourizer using mismatched components, or moding. I copied and pasted this excerpt from a CTV Health section. In January, Lethbridge, Alberta a teen made headlines when his family shared images of the second-degree burns he suffered from an e-cigarette explosion. He was left with a burned tongue, throat, and mouth. If he hadn’t been wearing glasses, he might have suffered eye damage as well. It seems there are no product standards for this industry and that might be the root of the problem.      

This could be my last Sunday shift for this project as next Sunday is Easter Sunday. I hope we have a long weekend. I could use one. I'm 10-6pm today and out the door by 9am. Then home for the night. There's an Oiler game on TV at 7:30pm. I'll be just getting in the door. The Av's are in town, then the Oilers are on the road for 3 games then home next Monday. Then they have 4 days off and play Calgary. Their last game at Rexall place April 6th as they entertain the Vancouver Canucks. Anyway, that's all for now.

Sleeping in until 8 am would have been nice but I woke up with a

bit of a headache about 6:30 this morning. I was awake anyway, so what the heck, why not get up? So here I am closing in on 6:45, with coffee and a hour and a half or so to myself, where I can wake up before I have to get dressed, some breakfast and out the door for a full day.

Finally, the first day of Spring is hours away, and with this Edmonton's next big Light Rail Transit (lrt) project is setup to get underway. The Valley line route is from Mill woods (SE) to City Centre and will be at grade, low floor. The first phase is 13.2 Kilometers. I have no problems with this project as a concept. What gives me pause is some of the P3 components such as Bombardier, Canada's largest aerospace/transportation company. Bombardier has been in financial trouble lately seeking a $1.3B bail out package. The aerospace sector is worth about $29 billion to the Canadian economy as well as 180,000 jobs, including about 40,000 jobs in the Greater Montreal Area. Bombardier has received bail out packages before, that's nothing new. Bombardier's recent struggle has begun with their C series aircraft and 100 of them are set for delivery. My confidence level with Bombardier at this point is wavering on the flat line. My big concern with Bombardier in this project is will they deliver the goods on budget and on time. 


Valley line lrt will also includes the construction of a signature bridge spanning the North Saskatchewan River, a 350m tunnel, and an operations and maintenance facility for the new line. The Valley line lrt is set to break ground this Spring. Well Spring arrives today at 10:30pm. I'm hoping to see some action on this in early April.

I haven't got a game yet for my Ntendo 3ds but the first thing I want to get at the end of the month is the Korg 3ds-12 music app from the Ntendo estore. At the moment I'm just living on "nickles and dimes" but I'm ok with that for about the next 18 months or so. If all works out ok, and I get a ei claim with the ei hours I'll have, I'm taking the summer off. I should be back at my other job mid September anyway. 

The Oilers won another one last night as their starter goal tender Cam Talbot won his 3rd shut out of the season 2-0 over Vancouver. I noticed last night in checking our position in the league that the Oilers have played more games this year then any other team in the NHL at 74 games played. Everyone else is at 70-71. That just shows how unfavorable the schedule was to us this year. That and injuries we keep struggling. Our position in the league is our own fault but at 74 games to everyone else's 70-71 games makes me wonder, what the heck is going on? It's not like NHL teams have their schedules configured by a computer. With 30 teams in the league each one of them is subjected to what's going on with their parent arena's. Again this 2015-16 season the Oilers were being hijacked by events such as the CFR rodeo. Sure it brings big money into the city but I'd rather see the Oilers do well then being kicked out of their building for 2 weeks. Other teams in the NHL face a similar problem. Not just the Oilers. Then there's this silly All Star break. Yeesh. Anyway, that's all for now.

My wife should have had her week off this week

then last week as this is her birthday week yesterday. She bought us Maximus pizza, which I paid for at the door from cash she left before she went to work.

I've changed this blob post title colour to indicate Saint Patrick's day. I'll reset it back tomorrow. I wish there was an easy way edit this just for one day without having to go into any complex css code. 

  
I left for work at my usual time and caught the bus to Clareview. I had a quiet trip to Central and upstairs/street level. I caught the #3 bus to work. I made good timing and had a good shift. I got home and went to visit my friend down the hall and asked her about her laptop. She mentioned that she doesn't use it all that much but she said she uses it for important things. Ok, no big deal. Anne came  in and she said because she got some birthday money from her sister, I could keep my new toy:

Anne picked up the new Ntendo 3ds xl at Eb games (Games stop) for me Monday night. The Hyrule edition. She also bought me the accompanying charger as well. the reason why it took me an extra day to open it because she didn't know if her other sister would be sending her any birthday money. I don't have any games for it yet except for the AR cards. I want to get the Korg Ntendo ds-12 music app but that's next month and I have a bunch of books that are coming. 

Anne suggested that because I've been going strong for 7 days I deserve a unscheduled day off. I'll call in later today. Having the day off will allow me to play around more with my new toy. Anyway, that's all for now. 

With all the mistakes I'm making at the

other job, I'm very surprised if I'm still there by the end of the week. I won't go into any details but suffice to say, I've got to have a meeting (initiated on my part) when I get in today. I've got 18 and a half months until I'm on pension, uggh. Can it come soon enough?

I'm involved in a interesting Connect 2 Edmonton discussion about city homelessness, post #52. Its my position that there will always be some element of homelessness, either transitional or otherwise in Edmonton. There is a small percentage of people that like being on the street. Its a "way of life" for these people. One good thing about the sour economy is there are a lot more housing options for people then there were a few years ago when the city's vacancy rate was very high. Now with the economic downturn the vacancy rate has opened up but at the same time the unemployment rate is high. Even with minimum wage at $11.50/hour a single person in a 80 hour pay period is barely existing. Half of that annual income is going towards rent. There's no room for extras and Lord forbid should somebody have a vice like smoking etc. I don't know a lot of people on minimum wage that drive a car. Here's what I added in my last post as Envaneo: "Consider a single person on min wage ($11.50) hr. pulling in a 80 hour pay period add vacation pay of 4% (min) is about $960 or $1,840/month. That's about $22,080 annually. A 1 bedroom (prices may vary) is about $1,200 month in the city. That's $14,500/year on rent (not taking into affect any rent increase without a lease) Bus passes are about $1092/year (although there can be some money returned from a tax break) Add about $600 for food/month, that's $7,200. That's a total of $22,792 and I haven't factored in utilities. Internet would be a luxury. The above person might have mom and dad nearby. But just going by that alone the above sample wouldn't be able to go anywhere or do anything. So, the above sample would need to take on a part time job just to have the head above water. The above single person even working full time at min wage couldn't cut it. Maybe there might be some social housing subsidies for our sample but none that I know of. Our sample above is called the working poor, which makes up of 39% of the countries GDP.". Then again there are homelessness stereotypes. One such is that homeless people have mental health issues. Not necessarily. Maybe somebody lost their job and significant other, we don't know. The conversation continues.

 
Yesterday morning I was able to email my pharmacist at my pcn and he said he would have a couple of boxes of set aside for me. Just mention to reception they are in the fridge. Good. Anne said she'd be able to pick them up fo me because she's going to pick up her birthday cake today. That means I'll be calling reception to let them know Anne is coming buy to pick up my insulin. So that's going to help me a lot. Anyway, that's all for now.

About ready to head out of here

in about an hour. 

I just noticed this in my Twitter feed today from Machavelli Medici

                            

So true. 

I've got my insulin covered for pick up tomorrow, so that really helps out. I'll get that tomorrow afternoon. If I leave out of here at 2pm I should have plenty of time to pick it up and go to work. Today it's over to my 4:15-8:30pm job. I'll be home in time to watch wrestling. Anyway, that''s all for now.

Its over at the other job

tomorrow 4:15-8:30pm. The other job isn't as involved as my primary job but it grantees work for me when my main job has down times. 

When I woke up this morning, I missed my alarm.  Nine am, shit! I called Super saying I could be late. I had to scramble to; feed the cats, pack my lunch, get my cola for the day, some change for later, dress and head out the door for the 9:20 bus. After a brief wait I was out there in the bus shelter under a grey snow/rain mix of ugly weather. However I made good timing.

 

I usually loiter about where that grey box is by the curb waiting for my bus coming right of this photo. The image above is just West of 100th and Jasper. Would there be time to grab a coffee at the Subway at the end of the block? There was nobody in line and I got a small coffee, no cream/sugar and a chocolate chip cookie to munch on my way into the office. I was 20 minutes late. I missed half an hour but that's not too bad.

At least it was nice enough outside at 6pm, and for a change my commute home was still in daylight. I was tired when I got home but still felt good that the day was over. Anyway, that's all for now.  

My favorite time of year

as overnight its almost daylight savings time. We move the clock ahead by an hour. Longer hours, weather is nicer.

Its the end of an era. It was in the mid 1970's from 1974-75 I was working at the Army & Navy department store (A&N) in New Westminster BC. I was 21-22, just a young man. I didn't take very good care of my appearance or my general health. I'm sure I looked a mess. That's when I took up that CokeCa Cola habit. That was a good job and I could walk to work. I lived in what is now called the Bench & Gavel building, where the Law courts building is now. It was a nice studio apartment. Then when I moved to Edmonton in 1978 I worked for A&N again at the Great West Saddlery building. A&N had 2 stores at the time here in Edmonton; Whyte Ave (still thriving there) and the North side across from the law courts building. Its that big old structure on 97th street and 103rd Ave in 1955. Army & Navy opened that building I was living with mom and dad in the Bay side apartment block (West end) as they moved here in 1973. My parents moved back to BC to retire in 1979. I worked for A&N off and on during the later 1970's early 1980's. I worked there again just before the 1980 recession hit Edmonton in October of 1982. I was living on the South side 80th Ave. I worked at the Cobogo warehouse from 1982-1989, first at the Great West location as they were moving to Cobogo (now Cobogo lofts) I was living in a small basement suite in a house on 155th street and 97th Ave in the West end and then a few years later to 9710 156th street. (I had a great little studio apartment) I was transferred to the department store in 1989 and lost my job but that's another story. Army & Navy moved out of their original store in 2001 and then to Londonderry Mall. Army and Navy stayed there until January of this year. Londonderry Mall decided it needed to attract the 18-34 female high income demographic and would not renew A&N's lease because A&N wouldn't look good next to a high end Simon's store. Londonderry Mall also kicked out Winners or will soon, Buds and Albert's. Speculation as too where A&N would be moving to would surface in the Connect to Edmonton forum. So after months of speculation I found the Army & Navy Facebook page. I sent them a text message inquiry about where and when they would be moving to a new location. I did this just shortly before I left for work yesterday. On my way back at Corona station I checked my email and there was a reply from A&N. They told me they have no plans for opening any new locations but rather they are going to focus on repurposing their Whyte Ave location instead. So much history with me and A&N North side Edmonton. The OTO/Ellen, SCA, the injury to my middle finger (off for 3 months) my studio apartment in the West end. All those Oiler Stanley cups, the 1987 Tornado. Working with ACT and my first computer. Wow. Yes its the end o f an era. I'll put some links to the above later tonight when I get back from work.

So today, I'm out of here in about an hour. I'm about ready to have my bath clean up and some breakfast Anne made me to heat up in the mic, then off to a 7.5 hour day. uggh, more dial tones, no answers, nis, quota fills. It's 7.5 hours, so I shouldn't complain. Anyway, that's all for now.

Before I left the apartment I had to call into the office at the

first job just to confirm I'm not on the schedule. Even though I'm sure I had my availability adjusted for the other job its always a good idea when your juggling two jobs like this. 

On my way into my 2nd job I had time to pop into Audrey's books. I picked up my 19th book in the "Space Marine Battles" Warhammer 40K. I don't know much about the "Flesh terrors" unit but they sound pretty formidable 



All the white books above are Space marine Battles. They've got some colored sketches done on high gloss paper in the middle of the books, which is a nice touch. The book on the angle is my latest. Sorry about the big photo. Blogger is acting up on me. When I try to shrink the applications shrinks it longer and narrower. I used to be able to take images from Twitter but Blogger makes that difficult now. When I try to upload a photo its says invalid url. On a photo? 

 

I'm back to work at the first job and it looks like they are winding down their big project. They are supposed to finish by the 15th. After that I don't know if they have anything and most certainly they wont have a Sunday. Anyway, that's all for now.

Sitting here in front of my new

monitor just beginning my first coffee of the day. At the moment, its sunny with a few clouds at +5 degrees.

A national carbon tax is making news but do we really need one? Canada is carbon neutral. All CO2 emitted by industry and consumers is absorbed back into the Canadian land mass. (Soil, trees, water.) PLUS an additional 36% or something. Canada is doing it's part and more just by having a massive untouched land mass. Russia is also up there.
Carbon tax = a new form of taxation for governments. It's a complete farce and only about money. Our Premier is bringing it in on the grounds that it will make our oil look more favourable for out of province pipelines. How's Keystone XL? Northern Gateway? Energy East? Canada's land mass absorbs most of our co2 emissions anyway. This is little more then another Liberal Boondoggle. 

 

In other words its another tax grab that could bring billions into Government coffers. After all they have to pay for that middle class income tax break the rest of us working poor don't get. I don't mind if its a tax like the GST, which is revenue neutral and we get some return on that tax back. 


I'm out here at my usual 3pm time in for my 4:15pm job After the 15th of this month, I wouldn't mind a break from the other place for a week or 2. I still think I have enough ei hours "in the bank" for another claim. One thing is for certain: Sunday April 3rd is Wrestlemania and both of us are taking that day off. I hope to have my Ntendo 3ds by then. Anyway, that's all for now.

Finally I have a day off

today. Seems every time I have a day off, I'm doing something. Or I have an event of some kind to go to. Tonight I'm heading out to a reading and book signing event at Audrey's books at 7pm. Canadian Science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer is coming out with his new book "Quantum Night."
 
                       

While I was at work last night, Anne was investigating the new channel rules advanced by the CRTC. By March first cable and satellite providers must provide a basic cable package for $25. In addition to the basic package providers must offer a pick and pay package model. Or offer small bundles of channels. the basic package must include, CBC, CTV, Global, and aboriginal and minority English or French language channels. In addition a group of U.S. channels could be included, usually CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX and non-commercial channel PBS. At least 10 of the channels must be local or regional, including the community channel and the proceedings of the provincial legislature, if available. TV viewers will then be able to supplement this with either individual channels or small bundled channel packages. The CRTC also ruled last year that consumers should have access to more choice in their cable and satellite packages as well as cheaper basic packages. So after a bit of tinkering, and keeping my WWE network, Space TV, Sports channels, TCM, AMC, our total package including Internet and phone is down to $140. It was $170. We lose some movie channels she wasn't watching anyway, and we got a $10/month credit off of our home phone. Plus we got a preview package the above for about $130 for 6 months. Sweet. With so many options out there like online streaming from computer to the TV, Netflex or VPN, there are many choices out there for the consumer. Our free trial offer takes into affect on the 16th.  

We're getting some fog out there at this hour, and Saturday night Sunday morning we set our clocks to daylight savings time hours. We gain an extra hour of light making the days longer. Anyway, that's about all.

Up and at

er for another day. I'd rather be sleeping in this Sunday morning with my lovely wife but I also need the hours. So I don't mind going in. Its going to be a long afternoon.

The Rogers place arena is about to open in 6 months. It just seems there is a lot of work left to do. At the moment they are adding the seats to the stands. Seating capacity is supposed to be something like 20,000. The cost is about $650M. The image below is from the Live rink cam taken about 7:30 this morning. 

 

There's very little parking around the area as most hockey fans will take the LRT from Bay Station or Nait line just behind the building or via the Winter garden plaza, which will open in about a year after the arena has been active. The Oilers are in Winnipeg at 5pm this afternoon, so I'll be getting an update on the scores before I leave.

I'll be waiting for my #5 bus at 6pm to Corona station. I've got about 2-3 minute wait for my train where I can get a game update. The 2nd period will be well underway. I'll most likely see maybe the last 10 minutes of the game, if I'm lucky. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm surprised that it took

under an hour to get iTunes to help me edit my security questions. I picked up my DM1 drum machine and its pretty cooI and I also picked up another app called "Bassline" and it does some really nice acid analogue bass sounds. 

It was a beautiful pc sunny day yesterday afternoon about 3pm as Anne came out with me to my 1st job. I got my cheque and I'm ok to go in for this morning. I've got a full day. I met Anne inside the stairwell waiting for me and I handed her my pay. We were at the corner and there was my #3 bus to my charity job. I hobbled across the street and just made it. One of my colleagues was on the bus with me to work. Nice. My wife has some time off so she went to the bank then home to pay on the rent right away. I have everything I need for my taxes. I've got $20 bucks to my name for 2 weeks, but at least all the bills are paid up. I headed into the other job. I had a decent day getting 4 "sales" at the charity job. They only wanted 1 per hour anyway but then that depends on the area. Some are better then others.

This week I'm 10-6pm today and Sunday, then I'm at the charity job Monday and Tuesday 4:15pm-8:30pm. Wednesday, I'm at Robert J. Sawyer reading and book signing event at Audrey's. Thursday I'm at the charity job, Friday I'm at the market research job. I'm on the go all day. Anyway, that's all for now.

My commute yesterday afternoon

began fine and well without a hiccup. We're trying a bit of an experiment until I turn 65 (1.5 years away) its a bit risky. I'm using a seniors monthly transit pass. Anne bought it at the 7-11. A seniors pass is $15/month, or $125/year and unlike a adult pass, a senior bus pass can be bought for the whole year. I'm considered (in my mind) a senior because I'm on cpp, but I don't look the part either. Even when I turn 65, which isn't that far out, I'm not going to look much different then I am now. I remember at the age of 25 I was still being asked for I.D in the bar. If I wasn't so low income, we wouldn't risk using a senors pass because if I'm caught its a hefty fine. A adult bus pass is almost $100/month. The City of Edmonton is looking into a low income transit pass but by the time that gets approved, I'll be 65. It might help my wife out. If this is approved It'll be based on ones letter of assessment after tax time and would be a huge income relief off of the shoulders of low income transit riders like myself. Most likely it will be based on ones household income. Lrt security never showed up on the train to check for tickets. I don't like a commute like this but its going to save us a lot of money. Its called fare dodging. Bus drivers don't usually care and don't challenge, as long as the transit rider has paid the fare or has a transfer or bus pass at the time of boarding. At Rexall I was surprised to see a hoard of people at the #5, wtf? I was lucky to get a seat on the #5 bus at Central station as it was standing room only from Central to where I needed to get off at 109th and 124th street. 

I have about half a block to the job site from the bus stop and I noticed a for "sale sign,"pending, on the property. Now what? I was received ok and there was quite a gathering. There were introductions by the team leader's stand in, and initial paper work to fill out. The Director confirmed that even though Dave and Verne were not there, they will be tonight. Dave has been on oas for about a year now. I need to compare my seniors monthly transit pass with Dave's transit pass. If there's no difference, then I might be ok. I need to know if there is a difference between a seniors buss pass and a seniors monthly pass. I'm sure there is. A senior aged 65 can buy a seniors monthly pass before a April 1st. They are non transferable. I'll be 65 in 2017. Apparently the building is up for sale and the higher ups have shortlisted two locations. Its hoped that because most people take the bus that the 2 short listed locations will be centrally located and not in a industrial park or out in the boonies. We'll know when before this project is over May 15th. After we did orientation and break at the last 45 minutes on the shift, I managed to do some cold calling. New people were being trained. I booked off a bit early as before we'd break off at 8:20pm so people could catch their bus. Most likely that's because the team leader wasn't there that likes to book off early. 

I had to scramble out the door as after looking both ways I crossed the street. 124th & 109th were not that busy that time of night. I got to about half way to my bus shelter as I did a shoulder check and there was the #5 bus fast approaching behind me. I was hobbling away but the bus waited for me. Otherwise if I missed this one I'd be waiting another 20 minutes. I'm thinking about taking the #5 back the other way to Westmount and then doubling back, which would take me to about the 9:25 bus from my other job. I don't mind in the Spring but in the winter, that's a long wait. I wasn't challenged on the #5 to Corona station and lrt security was non existent. I was kind of hoping they would be there to see if I can pass the at look. They just want to see the bus pass/transfer/tickets in hand. So, I'm out of here at 3pm, hopefully without any complications there and back. Anyway, that's all for now.

This is not the finished product

or the finale result. I've got some cable management tweaks to make, when I have more time of course. I'm going to make some adjustments to the positioning of the new monitor. I want to tuck the tower in the corner by the wall to the left of the image below. That means the hutch will slide over to the right. Maschine will be where the tower is in the image below. The new monitor is 23.5 inches. I noticed that it can fit in the hutch area but at the same time, I don't want to block the monitors speakers. At my lodge we have a guy that is a carpenter and I'm wondering if he can make me a custom made stand of wood, so I can fit the stand between the speakers. Even if the display doesn't fit straight, I can tilt it in which would be okay anyway.
 
                               

I read the Best buy reviews on this Acer monitor and the reviews are what they say they are. The monitor stand is wobbly. I had some initial problem getting the computer keyboard to work properly. I shut the monitor off then back on and it worked, no problem. 

I almost had a clean shift on the job last night until I got a disgruntled respondent within the last 40 minutes of the shift questioning the survey. He thought it was a biased piece of crap and wouldn't continue with the demographics. He was livid that the client was spending tax payer dollars on a survey. I coded it out as a partial incomplete refusal. I brought this to the attention of super. He couldn't find it anywhere in the system. Then he went to my station and noticed the first 3 characters of my condition were missing. Yet the system was still sending me calls. So we edited the condition and went from there. This didn't exactly make my night. Super even had to come over to me saying he called for time-sheet five minutes earlier. Ok. All of the above left me a bit bewildered and demoralized. I'm almost ready to quit. Super was engaged in conversation with another colleague. I just walked out. Next time I'm going in will be to pick up my cheque on Friday. Anne wants to come in with me so when I get my cheque she'll be meeting me outside. Like a relay race, I'll be handing it to her while I head North to the bus stop across the street. Unless I have another job by then, mercifully. I have a job lead and if my colleague from the job I'm starting today is there and is still working at his 2nd job, I'll give him a hard copy of my resume to take to his new job. If I get a call in the next few days for a interview, and I get hired, that'd make my day to go in for Saturday as my last day there for awhile and start the new job (hopefully) next Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Something like that. My colleague's other job is steady. I'm hoping he's there when I go in this afternoon. Hopefully even still there are no complications when I go into work. Management is jumping ship left right and centre at this job I'm starting tonight. I sent a conformation email to my contact to take the appointment when I got the letter dated before February 14th. I never received any follow up conformation. I even left my contact a voice mail and tried numerous times to reach somebody before the 15th. So, lets see what happens when I go in for this afternoon.

This morning about 7am I woke up to pee and my blood sugar was really low. I went to look for something in the fridge. I found the peanut butter chocolate chunks of ice cream, and a poured myself a glass of diet cola. After about 4 table spoons of ice cream, I felt better. I went back to bed and slept until just after 10 and I fed the cats, then back to bed. I woke up shortly around noon. I feel ok now except for a bit of anxiety heading into the other job this afternoon. I've got a 15 minute window because the job doesn't begin until 4:15pm. Since we're beginning the new campaign, there could be a bit of a orientation. Anyway that's all for now.