The other day while browsing through my email

and Connect 2 Edmonton threads. The topic of the Wee Book Inn came up. I have a bit of history with this company. I met and dated a lady that worked in their downtown location in 1980. She invited me over to where she had a suite in the old Arlington apartment building. Anyway, she had a 2nd floor suite and was heavily into Tantra yoga. Her place was a mess and she had a ton of these books lying around. I kind of got the hint right way but I'm usually not the kind of guy that goes for the home run on the first date. I think she felt burned about that, and when I went to see her the following day she gave me the cold shoulder. I would see her once in awhile after that but I don't think she noticed me. She had a few toddlers with her she was managing and pregnant. I have a history with the Baker Centre as well (the white building on top of the grey podium) where I worked with Xentel from 2006-2011. That's another story. Lots of fun times working in that building. When I lived out in the West end in 1983 at this address from 1985-1995, the West end Wee Book Inn, was where I met Chris. I had the bachelor apartment behind the trees on the top floor there. Anyway, Chirs and I had our one and only encounter in this building. She had the basement suite by the stairs with her daughter just behind that big tree I recall. I found out that their  their West End location was closed. Knowledge of this information hit me like the end of an era. So much history with this company.

We have yet to hear from the City about our low income rec centre application/pass. It's been 3 months now so we're expecting to hear from them soon. If I have time off this summer, I'll be enjoying that. 

Another bit of history when I worked at the Army & Navy department store (not the warehouse, that's another story) after the warehouse the general manager at the time was a Mr. Jay Siderson. I had never met this man before I was told I was being transferred to the store. I was in the warehouse from 1982-1989. Lots of history in this building as well, the Edmonton Oilers winning 4 of their 5 Stanley Cups, the 1987 Tornado etc. My "office" was where I hung out during days that were not busy where I ate my lunch, had a lot of naps where I had a portable typewriter when I wanted to be a paperback writer. So when I got transferred to the store at this address I was stunned, another end of an era. I met Jay Siderson, my boss. This would have been at the end of January 1989. The building I worked in was the Army & Navy department store. It's an iconic building here in Edmonton. Today the building has fallen on hard times and sits empty in its run down condition. In this building on that fateful day in March after a West End Doctors appointment I wanted to check into a job I had with ACT. It was a call centre in this building. Now owned by the Edmonton Association for the Deaf. In my chat with Gavin he asked me when the Spring campaign came up how could he get in contact with me since I had no phone. I opened my big mouth and said I'm working at the Army & Navy, North side store. That was a blunder that would come back to haunt me for the rest of my life. The day I returned for work, I got a message to report to Mr. Siderson. Ok. He said he received a call from a Gavin --- about a job for me. I said yes, it was a part time evening job. So right then and there he fired me. "None of my employees are going to moonlight on my job. You can pick up your last cheque on Friday." I was stunned. What just happened here? I pleaded my case but it fell on deaf ears. I even had the assistant manager Murray (who befriended me while he was working with me at the warehouse) plead my case. He just negatively shook his head. Because of that the 1990's were really hard on me. I never did get that job at ACT until the following year and even then it was temporary. From that moment on when I had left Army & Navy, I never had a steady job in the 90's. I regret it to this day. I don't blame Siderson for that. This was me mentioning to Gavin where I worked. If I would have kept my mouth shut during that talk or just mention I'm unemployed (Maybe it'd be better if I called you, etc) type thing I would have had my job through out the 1990's and work part time. Opening my mouth got me into trouble at Malatest as well a few years ago but that's another story. Back to Siderson. I had always wondered what became of him. Last week I did an obit search and his name and photo came up. He passed away (cause of death not mentioned) October 2006 at the age of 74 Apparently the obit had some good things to say about Jay Siderson, loved by all. A bit of history, and some closure. More for me then anyone else.

Ok back to the present. Today I'm home taking it easy. Anne has her sister coming in to visit as we haven't seen her in over 3 years. Its always been tradition when she comes for a visit to take us out for dinner, but we're having Chinese at home. So when she gets here I hope she brings up our current situation. At the moment, however I'm hoping my current job will give me a call in the next few days for work. The boss Friday said we have 2 projects waiting to start. A small crew is there now to test the project. I'm almost certain I'll be called in tomorrow night to start Wednesday or Thursday. If there's work for me for June, I'll have a ei claim and we'll be ok for the summer and beyond. If not and there's no work, then we could be n for a bit of a rough ride over this summer. We'll get by but it'll be rough and I'll be looking for a summer job. I'm hoping all of this will come out when Anne's sister visits. She's been really good to me sending me birthday money etc. She's more closer to me then even my own family. I'm hoping she might offer to help us out if I don't get work this week. 

The other interesting piece of information that our household can take advantage of, is how the City of Edmonton is working on a low income transit pass. I heard that the proposed bus pass is 60% off of the regular fare. This is subject to change but instead of $91/month its $54. Every bit helps. The proposed low income bus pass in my opinion should be 75% of a adult monthly pass. $54 is still a lot of money for low income. $25/month is more affordable.

Over the weekend I worked on another music video. I'm using Hypercam 2 to screen record a Winamp visualization. It opens up in Windows movie maker. I drop the audio in and there's my movie. These are going to get more elaborate. I'm going to have more of these until I get a action cam. For now this will do. You can see the video here. Anyway, that's all for now.

My sleep overnight was not an easy one

but I think I got about 5 hours, even with that Malathion in me. I woke up about 9am, fed the cats and went back to bed, with the pill doing its work in my system. However, my restless leg syndrome (RLS) had other ideas and I kept tossing and turning. I think I get about an hour in after about 11:15am or so.

Before bed I discovered while looking for free video screen capture software (I uninstalled Camstudio as it wasn’t working for me) in Windows 10. After a brief search I was awarded a bunch of options. Hypercam 2 was one of the first ones I tried. Its similar to Camstudio and I was able to record my screen and it gave me the option to record in Windows Movie maker, slick. I’ll be fooling around with this later. Windows 10 has a Xbox button as part of its Windows Essentials and I learned there is something called Game DVR. It’ll record the screen after pressing the Windows key and G at the same time. Hard to do that with a mouse controlled on screen keyboard. Three things I need for my Lenova: micro sd card, Sony bluetooth speaker, and a mini keyboard/mouse setup. Probably a sequencer would be a good idea to record the screen and sync the audio. What I’d like to do is to screen record a visualization as the movie into win movie maker, then sync the audio and publish. I haven’t checked Hypercam 2 (hyp2) will record my voice from the voice recorder built into windows essentials. I’ll be doing all of this after lunch, latter today.  

I have a night off again but I hope by this time next week, I'll be at the job working out the last hour. Well that's the idea. if I have work over the next 2 weeks, I'm saving that cheque for July's rent. If I'm working the full month, the cheque for the end of June will be for August. And if I'm invited back for September we should be ok from there. Anyway, that's all for now.

No sooner had I left the lab

Tuesday (I just discovered last night) that they had called me moments after I had left. Maybe my phone # was on the paper at intake. I'll be leaving out of here at 1pm for my Doctors appointment. Its not a physical.

One of the biggest projects in the Edmonton currently under way is the Rogers place arena. This is going to be the new home of the Edmonton Oilers. It needs to be ready for September but there is a lot of work not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. At the moment crews are assembling the massive scoreboard. Rogers place arena will have a seating capacity of over 18,600, when its all done. The winter garden work is currently underway as well but the plaza with the 2 cranes wont be open until a year after the building officially opens in September. The building is impressive and will also host concert events as well. The cost of the building is                          

The downtown arena is all part of what's called the "Ice district" as there will be about half a dozen large towers surrounding the arena with a LRT link on the North side of the building. There's even a community rink and a casino attached to the arena as well. The cost of just the arena is close to half a billion dollars. You can join in on the discussion here.  

Anyway, after the Doctor's appointment, I'm home for the evening and I want to catch the Eastern conference game. Should be a good one TB/Pittsburgh. Anyway that's all for now.

Just before noon I'm increasing my pace to the bus stop just outside our place and at the lights there was my bus

to Clareview station. The Capital line from Clareview station to Bay station was slower (under overcast skies), then usual because of the city adding another set of tracks along track 1, which is from the South Side to Clareview. Track 2 is from Clareview to the South Side and underground through downtown. My stop was Bay station downtown. 

I had to go into the Baker clinic building and I thought I might as well confirm my Doctors appointment for this week but the reception was away. I went upstairs to the lab and after intake and a brief wait, I got my blood work done, then to the Doctors office again and confirmed I'm Thursday for 2:30pm. After a bit of a wait at Bay Station, my train to Clareview arrived and again the train was in Coast mode  out of the tunnel approaching Stadium. Slow going at about 25km. Uggh. The train only increased in speed after it left Belvedere Station. I got to Clareview at about 2:15pm and home by about 2:30pm. That whole trip should have taken me about an hour and 45 minutes, tops. The lrt needs to slow down when construction crews are working nearby. This sounds like a make work project for the City. I'm sure the project was in the budget but in all the years of ETS operation, its never needed this upgrade before. Most likely this will continue all summer.

I got on the phone to my boss. He said it doesn't look like there will be any work until next week. I'll be going to pick up my cheque anyway on Friday on this short work week, and I'm hoping we'll start Monday on the 30th. Anne was doing her stuff and I was watching the Pens/Tampa Bay hockey game until 9pm. I had a great night after that. I get a couple more sleeps but I need the work next week (or earlier) for that ei claim. So tonight its Saint Louis/SJ Sharks for game 6 and that's on my plate tonight. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since Thursday night after work

I've had 4 days of toothache pain and living on pills for pain relief. First a tooth on my left side went abscessed, then a tooth (or what was left of one) on my right side caused me some discomfort. Monday morning about 6am the pills I took were not working. Usually they kick in about an hour. I was up for most of the morning. The discomfort on my right side is a burning kind of pain. I took some cold diet cola and after about 2 glasses of this the burning pain eased off. By 10am I was ready for bed. I slept until about 1:30pm. I felt no toothache pain from 10am until just now, except I feel a bit of toothache pain returning. I'm going to take the pills right now, just in case it takes another 3 hours before they kick in again.

About 5pm (we're talking Monday) Anne bought me back a Wendy's Baconator combo just before Monday night Raw. No toothache problems all night. Even right now I feel alright but there is a bit of pain lurking. I'll be in bed by 3am, well that's the idea.

At the moment I'm fasting because I have some blood work to do at the lab downtown off of Bay station this afternoon. Then down to my Doctors on the floor below the lab to check on my appointment because I didn't write it down in my calendar. I think its for Thursday but I just want to make sure before I head home. This time I'm going to go in with a bladder that really needs to be relieved because the lab always needs a bladder sample. After that its back home to make a call to the boss to see what I've got for work coming up, if anything. If I don't get a positive answer then I guess I'll be resorting to plan B, whatever that means. I'm just making it up as I go along here. Anyway, that's all for now. 

At this hour I'm not feeling that bad

after taking 2 tylenol pills about 2:20am while we were enjoying Star Wars "The Force awakens." The pills didn't kick in until the climax portion of the movie. Most of the swelling is gone now in my left side but its still tender. Now there's a problem with my tooth on my right side but so far its not too bad, yet. I'm just hoping I can get my dental work done asap. There are a few hoops to go through in the meantime. Its hard to eat when you haven't got teeth.

This isn't a review of Star Wars "A force awakens"but rather some impressions of the movie. No spoiler alert needed here. The movie was fast paced, with lots of action. The overall story narrative flowed well. One could tell there was a lot of quality in the writing and Disney spared no expense in this movie. There were no corner cutting, and I didn't get the feeling that this movie was rushed in any way. The bad guys were well thought out. "The force awakens" took the Star Wars fan into uncharted territory. Some of it  though seemed familiar, there are only so many way's one can produce a movie. I also liked the overall look and feel of the movie. For $6 and for both of us to be able to watch it together, was a good deal, and it was good entertainment value. I'm happy that Disney didn't dumb down this movie as I was expecting. The next Star Wars movie is going to be called Rogue One, with new characters. The movie is slated for release this December. Now this movie might be rushed but for us video on demand works well.

Last night I was working on my Lenova a I was able to get Windows movie maker on it (win movie). I had some initial difficulty getting a Outlook email account, however. I can sign into win movie easy enough as well. There doesn't seem a way to be able to convert the movie into various file formats and upload to YouTube. Probably because Microsoft doesn't support win movie anymore. My YouTube account is healthy, and I tested my account on my Xp system, it works good. I tried uploading the win movie but it needs to be converted into a proper file format. Once I do that it'll be good to go. At least I downloaded Windows essentials and that works. Also I was able to download Audacity and it works good on Win 10. Anyway that's all for now. 

Finally, we're getting some badly needed rain here

in the Edmonton area, but it eased off a few hours ago. More rain is in the forecast over the next few days. I like days like this because it reminds me of back in the day we used to get a lot more rain in Edmonton. It's an El Nino year but I'd rather live here in Edmonton then anywhere else: Here's what I mean and Ian's photos is a small part of this great city I call, home.

In a way I knew something like this was going to happen to me this weekend: The left side of my face is swollen due to a rotted tooth in my lower jaw. I took something Joyce gave me a few weeks ago when I thought I had something then, but that was a false alarm. Anne said she had some Tylenol for me but I thought maybe the worst is over. Then it flared up on me last night, that's when I reached for the oral gel and the pain re leaver. Surprisingly after about 9pm, that worked great. Then the pain flared up again about 4am. I tossed and turned in bed, and decided to take the last pill and a bit of the oral gel. That didn't help much. I went to the couch put the TV on for some repose. I had Skippy on the arm rest beside me and Silky to my left to keep me company. Other then a bit of swelling I feel a bit better. Every time I get dental pain like this my mouth fills up with saliva. This is going to be with me the whole weekend and a bit into next week. I'm just over a year from pension and I'll be able to apply for pensioner's medical benefits. Then I'll go through short term pain to have my teeth removed (whats left of them) and I won't have to put up with this crap any more. Yet life goes on.

At the moment I'm trying to enjoy a cup of coffee. Other then the above, I feel ok. I have 4 days off. Hopefully, when I call in Tuesday I'll have Tuesday off and I get a few weeks of work in to help cover for July. Before Anne leaves for her shift tonight, I'm going to hit her up for that Tylenol. At the moment, 12:30pm. I feel fine. Just a bit of toothache pain. Anyway, that's all for now.

The only serious casualty this week was I was unable able to attend

my lodge's emergent meeting last night. We had a couple Entered Apprentice's prove up to FC, nice guys. Hopefully at a emergent meeting in September I'll be a part of their MM degree and or prove up or both. It would have been great to be there but we were given short notice last night we'd have a early shift. Because we were let out at 7:30pm last night I probably could have made it in time for the second half of the degree. Now that I think about it, I could have been there for the 2nd half but not in suit after all. One of the ladies with years of seniority lives in Beverly. Her daughter picks her up every night and drives a bunch of the other ladies home after work. I probably could have fit in the van somewhere off to lodge and at least be there for some of it. I had a bit of a toothache for the last 2 days and that was taking its toll on me. 

Now that Star Wars "The Force awakens" is in video on demand, Anne and I are going to be ordering this for tonight on vod. Star Trek and Star Wars are my 2 favorite movie franchise's followed by James Bond and most anything out of Marvel studio's. Most likely once Star Trek has launched its streaming service, Disney might adapt this model for Star Wars. I could see a streaming treatment for Marvel studio's, James Bond etc. If Star Trek streaming is successful maybe this would be something Disney might do as well for Star Wars. This weekend looks good, 4 days off Star Wars, Extreme Rules, a outing and maybe even a Wendy's meal in there somewhere as well!

Since I began our Spring campaign at this job, I have had 1 day where I handed in a empty tally sheet. A tally sheet is how many "completes" we acquired in a 4 hour shift. I had only one empty tally sheet during our campaign. I was worried last night until in the 2nd half I'd leave home with a empty tally sheet. I got one warm "complete," last night "that saved" me. Just before the start of the shift I called my other job. Next week we're doing some clean up on the project we began last Friday. I hope to be in on that one, but I'll  know Tuesday. We got a badly needed rain storm about 7pm. I could breath easier last night because I could put my name down as online complete if push came to shove. I was relieved when I got another "warm complete" last night. We got out early and Dave (an old colleague from other jobs years ago) with the supervisor took the bus to Carona station. The rain had stopped about 7:15pm. Dave and I rode the train to Clareview and I was home by 8:30pm. it was a pretty good day and now, I have 4 days off. Anyway, that's all for now.  

We had a bit of rain about

6:45pm last night but it was barely enough to wet the pavement. Most of our rainfall occurs in June and September anyway. Hopefully we'll get some rain overnight. They could sure use some in Fort McMurray.

While its not breaking news apparently CBS has announced a new Star Trek TV series. There's just one caveat: Its going to be streaming at $6/month. Probably $10 here in Canada. I'd probably go for it if it was ad free. This new Trek will have new characters, new villains and heroes, new worlds. The new Trek is rumored to be a anthology, which could mean new crews every season. The new series takes place after Star Trek VI. I am cautiously optimistic. Streaming just begs the show to be pirated. I'd be surprised if its going to last beyond 2 seasons. Nobody knows what the new Trek will be called. I'd like to see a Voyager type series, kind of like an "In search of Voyager" type angle. There is a trailer for the new Trek on YouTube. The new Star Trek is slated to come out January 2017. I'd subscribe.

My last night at the other job tonight. I need to call the boss at break to see if there's going to be a shift after the long weekend. Most likely the project we started Saturday is almost winding down. Anyway, that's all for now.

About 9am this morning I was able to leave a

voice mail message on the phone to the lady that does our payroll at my current job. I need a record of employment from the last campaign to this one. That way all my hours are together. I'll know exactly how many I have from here for ei. She returned my call and I was able to complete my business feed the cats and back bed for about an hour or so of sleep. 

I'm aware of bluetooth selfie sticks. The good ones are about $40 cnd. Since I don't have any budget to produce the type of music I want to make, I have this clear plastic foot long  ruler and my iPod touch sits on that. Our iPad sits under that and I can work from there. The software sits in Audioshare, and I'm able to make my beats from there, while the iPod camera is running. Then in Audioshare I can upload the file to Dropbox. I need to find a way how I can get the file to iCloud Drive. Audioshare's iTune's file sharing doesn't seem to work for me or I haven't figured out how to get it there. One time I tried to export a midi file but that didn't work too well. Once I figure out a A, B, C workflow, I'll be able to produce more music video's. This is my project for the weekend. Life would be so much easier with a field recorder.

I'm in for today for 4 hours and my last day (until September) then I  have 4 days off. Back to work Tuesday. I'm hoping I can work right up to June with both roe's, for ei. Once this summer is over with, our house hold should be ok moving forward from here. Anyway, that's all for now.

Before I head into work this afternoon

I've got to call Audrey's to let them know I'll pick up my book at the end of the month. Its no doubt a good series but I'm not buying any books for awhile. At work I need to have the manager prepare a record of employment for me, which includes last December and year to date.  

I prepared a music video early this morning. Its nothing special. The video is more about refining my work flow then anything. Its a 2 minute video using the Diode drum machine. I've got the movie in iDrive which iMovie recognizes. The audio clip is in Drop box. I should have had it rendered in Audioshare, and I think I can still do that and drop it into iTunes file sharing. The video is better quality this time. All I need do while in iMovie. is drag and drop and sync the audio with the video. In theory. If I'm still around by this time next year, I'm looking at getting a action cam. I'll be doing all that stuff after wrestling tonight.

I'm out of here by 3pm for a easy four hours. If the manager is there, I'll be asking her if she can prepare the roe and include it to read shortage of work (which it is). Just these next 4 more days and then I get a 4 day weekend. Sweet.
Anyway, that's all for now.

Friday night Saturday morning I had about 3 hours of sleep

which is typical when I have to work Saturday. I felt good going into work and all, and I was on time. I thought because the North side of 109th was closed my #5 would have had to be re-routed because the Mayfair 2 construction crane is coming down this weekend. When the bus approached 109th there were red barricades up on the street but my way Westward along Jasper Ave was free. Typical milk run Saturday. I'm surprised I wasn't late. I would have got written up if that was the case.

I had a killer day on the project as well. For a 10 minute survey I had 4 by my noon break. For a 7.5 hour shift they were calling for a flow rate of 12 completes. I had 6 by my 2pm lunch break. I had 12 completes by 4pm. Some people leave early. By about 4:45pm I felt a bit of fatigue coming in but I powered through. I ended up with 15 completes by the end of the day when I left out of there at 6pm. It's all in the opening before the script and I just reworded the opening to flow a bit better but after the opening, I just stick to the script. At the end I say, would that be ok? Work ethic wise I "blew everyone else out of the water." Unless we're on the tail end of a project my flow rate is always quite high. I checked the schedule for next week on my way out. Because I'm using the last 4 days at the other job up the street, and this current project might be ending by Thursday, I'm not on the schedule. Also, because of the Victoria day long weekend coming up next weekend, both places are shut down Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. This job is shut down because of the Victoria day long weekend, the other job is shut down because the calling portion of the job is winding down. So this means not only will I have enough hours to cover my bottom line for the end of this month from both jobs but I have a 4 day long weekend as well! 

I felt good about all of that leaving out of the office for my bus. It was a beautiful day and the outside air somewhat invigorating. I wasn't tired waiting for my bus and heading home first to Corona and then to Clareview and home. After that I went to Shoppers and got a $15 iTunes gift card and home inside my apartment by 7:10pm. Once inside and after I got comfortable, I activated the gift card using my iPod Touch camera and bought Funkbox. After a bit of Youtube wake up later, I re discovered another drum machine diode something. I bought that and Boom 808! I have a few dollars on my remaining credit so I might buy a Maschine or Diode expansion packs. I had a nap on the couch and worked out my night until Anne came home. Anyway that's all for now. 

Life is moving along here one day at a time

with work and all that other stuff. I'm waking up with my first coffee this morning trying to get my brain in gear. I like this time of morning as I have a few hours to myself before I get on with the day, and its going to be a long one.

I've been using my little pc stick for the past couple of weeks now. Its pretty good, I like it and I'm enjoying Windows 10. I like how I can mark up any web page like google maps and 1 button gets to my email. I don't like the 32 Gb hard drive space but I knew that when we bought this device. I've seen 64 Gb micro sd cards locally here on sale for about $20. I also don't like the 1 usb port and I wish that this device had a audio jack. My sound card works if its plugged directly into usb port of my pc stick but won't work over a usb hub and the audio isn't that good when my soundcard is plugged into the stick. My usb mouse works ok over the usb hub but I'm constantly swapping the mouse between the pc stick and my desktop. My current keyboard is a ps2 serial port keyboard. I've seen ps2/usb keyboard dongles but I'm not sure if this will work through my usb hub, like my soundcard. I've been using the pc stick's on screen keyboard, and it has its limitations obviously. However my pc stick comes with bluetooth 4. The only compatible bluetooth devices we have is our 2 Apple products. This means if I want to use bluetooth, I'm going to have to get a bluetooth mouse, keyboard, headphones and a speaker etc, which increases the $130 investment. What I'd like to do is to have a way where I can boot 2 different operating systems on the same monitor like tab browsing. KVM switches are good solutions that have been out for awhile now but my Lenova plugs into a hdmi slot into my monitor. I've seen hdmi vga ports before. There's no vga port on my pc stick. Lots of stuff to consider here moving forward.

I'm out of here at 9am for my commute. By 5pm with a hour to go, I'm pretty wiped out. I like to have my 3rd Saturday break about 4:45pm, just to go out for a breath of fresh air. Anyway, that's all for now.

Management here had a notice the other day that yesteday they were going to shut

off the water for badly needed repairs. It wasn't much of a hardship because water was back online when I got out of bed. I learned this by accident. I had water for my coffee in the kettle anyway.

My afternoon commute was trouble free. After I settled my stuff at my station, I went to the store for a black jack ticket. Back to the office. I won a free ticket. Back to the store, back to the office. I scratched again. I won $2! Back to the store, back to the office. Could this go on all night? I lucked out after that as the dealer's table drew two 20's. I got 1 online sale before break and about 150 calls later. Raj gave me a file with 1 warm on it, and I got that. So that was 1 online and 1 warm for the night. Rather sad after work because Joyce said this was her last night. She wont be back until the fall. The ride home is nice and I save half an hour but with the nice weather the commute doesn't bother me that much. If I go back when I'm on pension, its going to be 4-7:30pm  four days/week. Anne completed the Canada census. She did this on our iPad after dinner. 

 

^ From James Neufeld's Facebook page

 

I'm up at 9am because I want to be on the road by 10am to get to my pcn. I should be home by 1pm. This way I get a chance to relax a bit before heading into work. Its my last shift there this week. Last year I heard they were working up to the end of May. Wouldn't that be nice if history repeated itself? Anyway, that's all for now.

I woke up out of bed just before

noon. Other then multiple bathroom trips, I had a good sleep.The trips to the bathroom are because I drink a lot of fluids before bed. I'm slowly cutting that down. I think I had a good 8 hours of sleep, that and I dozed on the couch watching the hockey game and about an hours worth of sleep in bed. 

When I get pension and back to work, one of the first pieces of gear I want to get is a portable synth/music production system called the OP-1. Its about the size of a quarty keyboard including the F keys. Its even got a keyboard and can record off of it. It has a built in microphone for sampling, a nice screen and lots of effects. The OP-1 has 4 tracks and has room for user samples and a external speaker. I think it even has an aux in port. It's portable and can be used anywhere. Of course it has full transport control. Its an amazing machine. There's lots of YouTube video's on this device but its a bit expensive at $800 cdn. None of the major retailers here stock it. If they did, it'd be about $1,000. Its on my wish list for sure.

What with it being mothers day today, I shared a pic of mom on my Facebook page. Anne is still sleeping. I think this afternoon before brunch she's going out to get her flowers for the balcony. I'm at my 8:30pm job Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Wednesday morning I have a 11am to get some insulin. Thursday Friday and Saturday, I'm at the other place. I'm hoping I can get 35 hours in this week. My week ahead is steady. Happy mothers day everyone. Anyway, that's about all for now.

My 3 favorite times of the year are

The Family day long weekend (also includes Valentines day) Daylight savings time, and this weekend, Mothers day. This mothers day. 

Anne is setting up her flowers for the balcony. The cats get to suck and gnaw on some long grass she puts out for them. The only other mother of my family still alive would be my sister. I received a email reply from her last night. She helped fill in some details for me about mom before she got married in 1951.

Today I'm in, my market research job hopefully until 6pm. The current project is almost ready to wrap up. If I'm there the whole day, I'll be surprised. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm considering a

kvm (keyboard/video/mouse) switch, eventually. What this will do will allow me to run multiple computers on one monitor. It will also allow me to use the same keyboard and mouse on the same monitor switching back and fourth between operating systems. I saw a 4 port kvm switch at Best Buy for about $40. I've used a kvm switch before, and it worked great between both computers. That was about 10 years ago. However, that's packed away in a huge suitcase buried in the closest somewhere. The switch was about the size of a coffee cup rim with big bulky cabling. Next time I win any cash on black jack, I'm getting this switch.

Some more details are emerging out of Tuesday's massive fire in For McMurray. Hours ago the Alberta Government released $100M for evacuees. Adults will get about $1200 and children $500. Many evacuees will be getting a glimpse of the devastation too see what is left. A organized exodus began earlier this morning. This is the largest evacuation in Alberta's history. Its been quite a year.

So, today I'm out of here at 3pm. Note to self, don't take the #3 bus to work. I'm going to leave a bit earlier so I can get there 20 minutes before the shift. Hopefully, I'll have a full shift and a full shift Saturday. For whatever reason, my shift is cancelled, or I'm fired, I'll be at the other job tonight. I hate this. Ever since Xentel closed late 2012, keeping a job has been a struggle. I'm screwing up on my market research job, my other job is done on the 20th of this month. If Xentel hadn't closed I'd still be there today in the office right now. 1:30-9pm. I'd cut back when pension kicked in. Now I'm struggling to gain enough hours for a unemployment claim and keeping the job I have. And I have another 16 months of this crap? Ugh. Anyway, that's all for now.

At the moment its dry and overcast out there

as we're sitting at +12 degrees C. Conditions are still dry. Although there is no rain in the short term forecast. It's tinder dry out there now we desperately need a couple of days of solid rain, especially for the folks in Fort McMurray. I was reading earlier that insurance could cost as much as $9B. Other communities in the area are also being threatened.

Over the past few days I've been doing some family genealogy on my mother's side. On my father's side other then a few holes, that side of the family more or less checks out. Our family had five kids with me being the oldest. Mike isn't online that often. He has a Facebook page but he doesn't use it much. My sister has one as well not much more active then Mike's but not by much. I'm on mine at least once a week. Jeff is on his 2-4 times/week but not interested in genealogy, much less family history. My mother's side has a lot of holes. For years I believed that we were related to the well known JJ Johnston family of New Westminster. JJ Johnston held 3 terms as a Mayor in New Westminster (where I was born) and was always known as Mr. May Day because his father William Johnston founded the May Day festival. On find a grave it shows he had 2 children Gordon and Mona. Why no mention of my mom? This bugged me for years. William Johnston and his wife died well before this. Mom was born in 1922 and died at the age of 78. I have a "visitors pass" with Ancestry set up by a cousin in Dallas on dad's side of the family. I tried looking for a obituary of mom but there doesn't seem to be one available. My sister would know if mom had one but my sister is hard to get a hold of even on Facebook. If the obituary is based upon the same information as I have, then the obit is wrong. I doubt an obit can be used as evidence in a court of Law, but its good too set the record straight. Thanks to Ancestry I was able to determine that there were 249 families with the name Johnston living in New Westminster during the 1921 municipal census. I checked on find a grave, and I've been to the grave site page often. During the 1960's a couple times a month dad would load up mom and the kids in the station wagon and we would drive from 944 Regan Ave in Coquitlam to where mom was living at the time. For awhile she had a apartment in uptown New Westminster. I recall that in 1964 on one Sunday in that summer, mom sent me to escort the kids to see a Sunday matinee of Mary Poppins. I knew that sending us to the movies was a ploy for something but we didn't care. After that our Sunday outings to Grandma would take us to White rock. I vividly recall it was shortly around the time of my back operation on one such trip. Somehow Grandma was in the car with us on a sunny afternoon and I don't think it was a Sunday. Grandma was blind at this time. It was sad. Grandma wanted to know what it was like outside on our way to her place in White Rock. I'm sure this broke moms heart to describe the beautiful sunny day. Dad eventually dropped us kids off at the new Guildford town Mall. I was 14 at the time. All this time I never knew Grandma's first name. That part was kept well away from us kids. We just never asked. For the most part it was "go with the flow" for us. Here's where it gets interesting. So I'm looking on the find a Grave site the other day and there's no grave marker for Grandma? I knew as of a few years ago that Grandma's nick name was Lottie. Then I discovered recently that she died in 1951 just when mom and dad were married. If that's the case then, who was that lady we drove to visit in the 1960's? Dad's mother Florence died in 1946. I recall mom telling me she went to technical school. I think I only half listened at the time and I did some more research and there was a notorious school in New Westminster called Trapp tech. It was located Simcoe park. Notorious because it was once a old prison converted into a school. If Lottie (Charlotte) died in 1951 and find a grave lists only 2 children as descendants then our Johnston name had no relation to that family. The family name Johnston was related to Raymond Burr but not our family. Most likely by 1930 for instance the same 249 families living in new Westminster at the time of the 1923 census were still there in New Westminster by 1930 in, which case mom would be 8 years old. I'm thinking how far back does school district 40 keep school records? All I need do is check to see how many kids with the same name as mom were in their data base between 1928-1939 and weed out from there to get a match. I'll be doing lots of this over the summer. One thing is certain we are not related to JJ Johnston.      

I had a great sleep overnight getting up to use the bathroom a few times. Tonight, I'm out of here at 5pm to get to lodge for 6pm to help set up the festive board etc. I'm not drinking anything other then a few cans of Coke. I sneak out a few deserts after the meeting because as a steward we leave a bit early before lodge closes. Friday and Saturday I'm at my market research job. I tried that other job and the line was busy. I might have a work extension at my 8:30pm job until the 20th of this month. This will at least cover us for rent for June. I'm trying to put together enough hours for a finale ei claim. I can't collect unemployment and oas at the same time. If I have steady work from after May 20th and work from my other job until June 15th, then I should have enough ei hours for a claim. Its for 15 weeks and 4-6 weeks are consumed in processing the claim but that's paid out in one lump sum. If I get a ei claim mid August before I get my first cheque for 2 weeks. That will leave me with 7 weeks left then I'll pause the claim when and if I'm called back in September to the 8:30pm job. Oas application process would have already kicked in by that time. Then I just work out the winter/spring of 2017. By this time next year I'll be looking forward to just working out both jobs and activate what's left on the ei. Then activate what's left on my ei before pension. I'll be on partial pension by the end of next August. That all covers my bottom line and anything I work covers for me, in theory. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since yesterday at about 3pm there is a

huge out of control fire in Fort McMurray that consumed whole neighborhoods. People were evacuating all afternoon by the tens of thousands. Many people lost their homes, businesses jobs as well as pets caught in the inferno while at work. The unforgiving blaze wiped everything in its path. Many 8-10 story office buildings as the downtown cor was untouched. There were some very mature communities, wiped out. Hospital patients were sent to here Edmonton. With all the dry conditions and temperatures in the 30's, July in May. Crazy Fortunately there was no loss of life. The fire even preempted the US primaries, national and other news. Over 1500 structures were raised due to the fire. This was the largest evacuation in Alberta's history

I've been harping about the Lenova pc stick 300 a lot to Anne over the weekend. I said I had $60 for it. She resisted, complained etc. For $130, Windows 10, 2 Ram, it does everything I need it to do better then my big tower for $130. I was surprised when I came home Monday night and there it was on my desk. After wrestling it took me awhile to set it  up but once it was, It works great. I have just 2 concerns about this: First I can't use my keyboard. I need a ps/2 usb adapter. I called around town and nobody has them. I saw one at Memory Express for about $10 and they have them for about $10. I'll get one next Sunday on the 15th. The other problem with the Lenova is there is no audio jack. My fast  track sound card works ok if I plug it in directly into the stick but not in the usb hub I've had for a few years now. 

I've been playing telephone tag with a job lead since Monday. I left a message thinking that its ok to call me back if its about a job. I forgot the umber to call last night so I'll call when I get into the office at my other job latter today. This prospect jobs hours start at 4pm and I'm on my commute without a cell phone. I checked it against my contact I have on file and its a different phone number. Monday I received the call at about 2pm. I was initially called on Sunday for a donation, which I had to turn down. I need a donation. Which leaves me to wonder, if this was for a job because it was a mid afternoon call? Most likely if I call this number later this afternoon it will ring busy. I took down my contacts Phone # and I can do a follow up anyway, just to see what happens.

And finally, after a couple of weeks of playing telephone tag with my pcn I was able to get the appointment clerk to call me. I'm seeing my pharmacist next Wednesday morning at 11am. As for today, I'm out of here at 3pm for my shift, lodge tomorrow, work at the other place Friday and Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now.

About 3am this morning I took a

malathion, add some "sleepy tea", Anne makes with a bit of ginger, that and a long day: I was out. That was a good 8 and a half hours of needed sleep. The last week was a long week and had its share of ups and downs. I forgot to go  into shoppers for my bp reading after work yesterday but I'll go in Monday after work when (if) Joyce gives me a ride home. 

A few days ago Nasa released an image of the mirror of the James Webb space telescope. The following excerpt is from the Nasa site: The telescope's mirrors are covered in a microscopically thin layer of gold, which optimizes them for reflecting infrared light, which is the primary wavelength of light this telescope will observe. To ensure the mirror is both strong and light, the team made the mirrors out of beryllium. Each mirror segment is about the size of a coffee table and weighs approximately 20 kilograms (46 pounds). A very fine film of vaporized gold coats each segment to improve the mirror's reflection of infrared light. The fully assembled mirror is larger than any rocket, so the two sides of it fold up. Behind each mirror are several motors so that the team can focus the telescope out in space. The James Webb telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018.
  
I'm just relaxing having my first coffee and getting ready to watch WWE Payback latter this afternoon. My evenings entertainment. As for the week ahead, I'm working at the other job Monday-Wednesday, then Lodge, then my market research job Friday and a full day Saturday. It never stops. I got 5 hours at my first job Saturday. I was too exhausted to continue past 3pm. I had circulation issues in my legs. Another 4 months and I can apply for pension, yea. Anyway, that's all for now.