Our new downtown arena in the ICE district is called

Rogers Place arena. There's been talk of an open house tour when the developer hands over the keys to the owner and 19,000 free tickets were picked up in 80 minutes! The tour is on September 10th but I'll be working that day anyway. The following Sunday our lodge is having its annual BBQ from 1-9pm.

Anne was out shopping before my wrestling show last night and returned with Mary Brown chicken and taters. I'm not a big fan of junk food chicken. Mary Brown's competitor's chicken is greasy and often raw around the bone and the fries are cheap. When I tucked into a box of Mary Brown's 3 piece dinner and the taters I lit up. Good. Way better then the other guy. Anne brought back a few more packets of taters in the order, 1 packet isn't good enough. I had a fresh iced cinnamon bun for desert. Awsome. 

Anne was on Skype with family while I was watching my show. I don't usually talk a lot about wrestling. Like its wrestling. It is what it is. Last nights show's main event was a no disqualification (uh-oh) fetal four way for the Universal championship title. The outcome came out of nowhere Triple H? What? Kevin Owens the new champion? What, no way. I'd like to see how Smackdown Live will respond to this tonight. What do you do for an encore? Wow.

This Thursday I'm at lodge and Friday I'm taking care of some business, then over at Service Canada to see if I can get some help with my oas, so when the application (its usually a sure thing) goes through nothing comes back to me because I failed to dot the i or crossed a T just to cover my bases for this time next year. I'd like the oas out the door and at work after the labour day weekend. I got the first half of the last sentence secured, all I need is the paper work for the 2nd part. Anyway, that's all for now.

Our day out here today

and lately has been somewhat over cast over the past few days with threatening skies. It didn't impact the Esks CFL game last night at Commonwealth. Right up to the end of the first half the Visiting Riders hadn't be able to anything on the board until the closing seconds of the half. They could barely register a field goal. Our D was brilliant and they took Chris Jones and his 1-7 record to record a 1st half rout. The Riders made it a bit more interesting managing a 25-33 comeback. As the weather held, it looked like they might tie the game as they had possession of the ball but it was too little too late. The Rider fans left probably dreading why they took the Eskimo Grey cup winning coach from us knowing he was going to be this bad for them. They were gloating about the jump ship during the off season. Riders are now 1-8 and the weather held.

Not much going on, just having a quiet night at home for a change. I'm just drinking juice, reading, email that type thing. All is quiet on the Clareview front. No drama, no excitement. Its just over cast +14 with a hint of rain.

I've been messing around a bit with the Flimora (Wondershare) iPhone app on my iPod Touch. I uploaded a recent nature video test to my JimTube channel and the video upload was surprisingly slick and easy. I haven't added any of my music to any video's yet but I'll do that when I get a license. What I like about the iPhone app is that it doesn't need my slow lagging computer to process the video. For $40 bucks its a good deal. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I got a unexpected call from

the other job yesterday. They want me back for September after the labour day weekend and the office has relocated to the South Side, one bus ride away from Southgate. With this job its going to not only get me enough hours for a ei claim but its steadier work. I might not get the hours but the pay is better and its steadier. I'll be working right up to mid January. There's no breaks in between projects, type thing and its easy to get to. Hop on the lrt to Southgate and the #52, which lets me off across the street from the office. Cool.

I'm having so much fun watching this 3 ring circus America calls the Presidential election. Both of these candidates are fun to watch because you never know what they're going to say next. Our federal elections here in Canada are lame by comparison. On the Democrat front, their candidate has trouble with emails and the Clinton Foundation. The Republican candidate shoots off the cuff so much the media has a field day. The Republican candidate would be good for Alberta, however and that's a deal breaker for me.

Oops, almost forgot about the new Earth size planet that was discovered in Proxima Centauri b, Alpha Centauri triple star system yesterday. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star. The new planet is apparently a rocky type planet. The planet was detected by the subtle change in light of the parent star. The problem with getting a actual photo of the planet is the light of the star. Enter project Starshade being worked on at JPL. Once Starshade gets up and running then a clearer image of the object could be realized. The new planet is in the habitable area of the star where water might exist. Its actual composition of course cant be confirmed totally at this time but it is exciting stuff. 

Before I got the call yesterday, I thought the start date for the upcoming campaign at work was September 1st but because the office is moving, it wont be ready until after the Labour Day long weekend. This means that I'll be able to attend Lodge next Thursday and still have a long weekend off. So I'm happy about that. I'm still working on my oas but that's going out after the labour day weekend. Because we could have a postal strike, I can just drop my oas form off at Service Canada on my way to work. I don't know what to do about my market research job though. I might put that on hold until I get pension, we'll have to wait and see. Anyway, that's all for now.

Things have been picking up

around here for the birthday boy lately. I discovered by accident on Friday that my place of employment had moved since I last spoke with the area manager about returning in September near the end of July. The office had been there since 1968 and we knew last March we were going to move but near Southgate? I couldn't reach anyone by phone Friday to confirm or deny or to get any details over the automated greeter. Press 1 for that, 3 for this etc. When I was on the phone with the area manager in July, I asked if we were in the same building, she said yes. Most likely they moved all the admin stuff over to the new place but we could still do the calling at the original office until the new year. I have very little information but that's what I figure.

Last night after watching a convincing 46-26 Eskimo win over the Argo's, I got into my you tube channel subscriptions. So I'm scanning Home, Trending, Subscriptions, and following the Riders/Hamilton game. I came across a Paul McCartney urban legend video. "The last will & testament of George Harrison" might be good for a laugh. Read the "show notes" under the video and it explains that this is a mockumentary, a spoof. John Lennon apparently called the faux Beatle Faul and It seems that John was so overcome by losing Paul he kept putting clues in following album covers like Sergeant Pepper, and backwards masking in the audio. The break up of the Beatles had to do with Paul's death and deception since 1966. Now I'm no stranger to concept albums. Frank Sinatra had a few concept albums, Sergeant Pepper, The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd "Dark side of the moon" Here's a list of some concept albums. So basically Sergeant Pepper was a concept album about "the death" of Paul McCartney, which never happened. So this got me to investigate a bit further as to when this rumor of Paul's death originally surfaced. I came across this interesting article. I stumbled upon another article that had Ringo Starr "admitting" the deception last year but surfaced again earlier this month. This got me going. This can't be true. It had to be a gag article. Then I read Sir Paul's reaction to Ringo's claims. Then I found out that Ringo's admittance was a work of fiction not on his part. I'm wondering then since the Ringo Starr "interview was a work of fiction" why did Sir Paul invite the media to his home to debunk Ringo's claims a few days ago? The media should have seen the work of fiction for what it was. Personally I think Sir Paul's media gathering was a chance to promote Wings going into the rock n roll hall of fame. Then there's the dna conspiracy over a paternity lawsuit etc. Its a convoluted story. Personally I'm not buying the Ringo Starr "interview" any more then I'm buying the Paul is dead urban myth. Its fictional folks. Paul McCartney didn't die in 1966 but its a fun conspiracy. Oh and the Riders lost to Hamilton 53-7 Chris Jones is 1-7. I hope he goes 1-19 on the season, since he jumped ship for the money.     

I had a great weekend, watching football, reading, getting my Space Marine Battles book Saturday morning at Audrey's. Last night though a tooth started to bug me. The sleeping pill Anne gave me over night helped and I was able to get some sleep. Anne made us a great brunch and I started to get into Summerslam. What a show. I thought the main event was to short. It could have gone longer. Monday afternoon Anne and I need to go to a Commissioner of Oaths to have a document signed and I'm having my oas form notarized (if it needs to be done) at the same time. Anyway, that's all for now.

Sure summer is great for a lot of reasons but there are pros and cons

for example: Here in Edmonton, we get the nice weather, lots of summer festivals, lots to do, women are looking great. CFL. Cons: screaming kids emergency vehicles all over the place, lack of work, apartment upgrades, bugs, the heat. I'll take the quietness of winter any day of the week.

This morning Anne and I were able to find a loop hole that bought us a some time into our situation. At least now we can pay our bills. Our cat Boots hasn't been well this summer and Anne has been playing nurse maid with intervenes like fluids every other day. She's anticipating Boots could go into shock at any time. If Boots goes into shock we have the money to put him down humanely, and not like some barbarian killing a helpless animal with a spear. We can now pay the basics to help cover us until the end of this month when I get back to work in September. We're going to go with basic cable (as long as I can watch my wrestling and CFL.) Also, while I was at Service Canada the other day, I discovered my cpp form to rental subsidy went to the subsidy not to our address as I was led to believe. We wasted a month waiting for that document. Also, oas doesn't send any application forms out in the mail. OAS forms can be picked up at Service Canada or requested by mail. I picked up 2 to practice on. I'm going to fill out as much as I can get the necessary documents next week, and prepare the application at Service Canada in front of a clerk for example: "What does this section mean etc?" I can drop the application off on my way into work later first week in September, and take it from there.

Over the past few days we've had the roofers on our building. They're ripping out the old shingles for new ones pounding away. They're nail gunning the roof directly over head as I speak. I'd hate to be on the top floor. Yesterday new carpet was installed in the hallway. Anne and I are holding our breath because we're thinking that management will send us the bill and increase rents. These are upgrades not repairs. If that happens we're moving out. More so if we get that rental subsidy is approved. Anyway, that's all for now.   

Over the past several days

management has had a roofing company out here as they've been replacing the shingles on the roof of this building. Its not a hardship for us because when they start work in the morning we wear our earplugs before bed. Every time I think of roofers lately I keep hearing the song "Barry the roofer" in my head by the Toy Dolls. Yes its on Youtube.

I've been watching a lot of Canadian Football League, cfl out of market games and of course our own. Thursday's game hosting Montreal was a 23-12 Eskimo Win. For the first half it was a 1 point game. The Esks had trouble holding onto the ball. There were challenge flags all over the place. Crazy. Last nights Winnipeg/Argo's game was 34-17 for the Visitors. Toronto had 5 turnovers and the Bombers scored 24 points off those turnovers.Today I'm watching Calgary/Riders game at 5pm. Chris Jones is in a bit of trouble being fined by the league. It's complicated to get into here but you can look into that on your own.

I haven't been using my new Ntendo 3ds as much as I was hoping to do this last Spring. I've been so busy with work, what with trying to get as much hours as possible and struggling here at home over the Summer with lack of work. I've had about 47 hours since early June. I'd be on the street right now if it wasn't for my wife's hours but I'm scheduled to go back to work September 1st so I hope to have more time to play. I know that sounds cart before the horse but even though I've had time off, the money hasn't been there either. I'm considering hacking my 3ds to play legacy games along my commute. I'm just not a computer video gamer. I can't see myself spending hours in front of a computer playing Warcraft or what have you. Last time I did anything like that was about 2002 when I was into this game: The Exile trilogy.


 

I really enjoyed playing this game for several reasons. It was free, I liked its simple interface and game play. We still  have our Xbox 360 collecting dust but for some reason we haven't been able to get it to work since when Xbox made changes to its market place. I can't recall the game a few years back from Walmart but it crashed our system so we had to take the game back. It had nothing to do with Walmart. I think that was about 2009. I haven't done any gaming since. The new Ntendo 3ds is probably my last venture into video console gaming at my age. 

Monday I have a job interview. Its customer service. Kind of a high end type of a opportunity. Its right downtown. Close to the old place. I've got that for 1pm. Its only for a 3 month appointment and its days. If I get the job, I'll do the full time job and the other job (nights) 3 days a week including a Saturday. We still haven't received our part for our oven and I have yet to receive my cpp form for rental subsidy. Its a one page document for crying out loud. I'll be heading over to Service Canada to find out its status. Its probably still in the slush pile somewhere and the guy handling them is on holidays (its August after all) I was being ahem, sarcastic. Its not a mail kind of a thing because I received a birthday card from my sister in law the other day from Winnipeg. I can't wait to get back to work and start paying some bills. Anyway, that's all for now.

At least this would be good news for

Alberta if Donald Trump is elected in November: TransAlta (Keystone XL) should make another application. Many people are saying that it doesn't mean that Keystone would get rubber stamped right away but that it would get closer to become reality. 

Since "Game of Thrones" came out in book form, I bought and read the first book. I have the 1st 4 books which, I have and don't intend on reading the others anytime soon. Not that there is anything wrong with the series or the writing. Its just that I have too much other things I want to read more. Sure I could watch the television series on HBO and I watched parts of the first one and it was good but its just not what I'm into right now. 

Last February my other job invited me back for their Spring campaign beginning March of this year. Apparently this letter of invitation to begin in September for their winter campaign was sent out early last month with a response due date for July 31st. I talked to the boss over the phone on the 27th of last month, and apparently the returned letter was sent out to "where I receive my pay stubs" and based on that over the phone conversation I would be hired on in September. I have yet received any letter. Because I save everything, I looked for this letter for the last Spring campaign and I found it. The boss dated and signed herself February 4th 2016. I emailed the boss in February, saying I'd accept job. For some reason they had an older address dated from when I was working there before Anne and I got married. I think the team leader was supposed to send out the letters but because the office was in a state of being moved no letters were sent out. Its a very confusing situation.

My wife is enjoying watching some of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. I'm proud of our Olympic athletes don't get me wrong. However I don't think winning bronze is something to get all that excited about. So far Canada has yet to win a Gold medal at Rio. I think the Edmonton AA Prospects baseball team have a better chance to win a title before Canada gets a gold medal this summer. We got 1 gold medal at the London Summer games. I'm more of a fan of the Winter Olympics anyway. Canada seems to do better in the Winter Olympics but there's still lots of time. Anyway, that's all for now.

Like the mail its been slow around here this past week with not a lot going on around here

I've been just holding the fort sort of thing. Its pretty much the dog days of summer. I'll be editing this again tonight. That means a blog edit tweet to follow sometime tonight.

Yesterday the statue of Wayne Gretzky was taken off its pedestal at Rexall place for a makeover. The statue was installed in 1989 the year before the Oilers won their 5th and last Stanley Cup in 1990. Meanwhile the Rogers place arena is in its finale stages of preparation before the building is officially open. September 16th is when the NHL begins its training camp in the new building. At the moment work crews are finishing up Rogers Place arena. On the inside, lots of seats to install. At the moment they are working on the scoreboard and work continues outside. From what I've seen, they have done a lot of work on the inside. Its a beautiful looking building. There is still a lot of work left on the Winter garden. That's the "Oil drop" extension of the Oilers logo where fans will enter from the plaza area but that won't get completed for at least another year. In the meantime Wayne's makeover continues. When he's done, he'll be standing right outside the main doors on 104th street for all to see. Most likely that's another ceremony to take place when the statue is installed. The Oilers love ceremonies.

Our Valley line lrt project was in the news this week. It seems the "Save our footbridge" Not In My Back Yard (Nimby) group has now submitted a court injunction to stall the project. During the design stage of this project there have been many open house public consultation meetings. Even before and when this group was formed. Even the Mayor met with this group and heard their concerns. The footbridge they are talking about is the footbridge just outside the Muttart pyramids that crosses the North Saskatchewan river. The Valley line route intends to cross the North Saskatchewan at that point where the current footbridge is to the North side of the North Saskatchewan river. This footbridge is set to be demolished this month.  The footbridge there has been standing for decades. It's almost at the end of its shelf life anyway. The city wants to build a lrt bridge over the river to the other side where the lrt will connect to a tunnel (to be built) leading up to 95th street, and run down 102nd Ave. The new bridge will have a newer replacement walkway for bikes and pedestrian traffic underneath the tracks of the lrt bridge. Its all one component. This was part of the initial design of the lrt bridge. The Valley line train is low floor heading right into the heart of the city of Edmonton. The Nimby groups lawyer found a small clause in a legal document when the footbridge was put together, that says something like "The footbridge can not be dismantled or demolished until the Province provides the City of Edmonton (coe) a written letter saying they can do so. The Province (Alberta Government) has invested $600 million dollars into the Valley line project. Its a no brainer for them. Every day the project is delayed will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The court date is August 16th of this year. If the court says "No work can be done until the Province sends the city that letter," then the Nimby group wins, and can plan for another move to stall the project. Or the judge can dismiss their concern out of court, realizing the AG has invested $600 million on this project and the coe did everything they could to meet the concerns of this Nimby group. In other words the City negotiated in good faith. The plot thickens.

So for today, I'm out of here in about half an hour to get some insulin at my pcn and then to pick up a small cheque at my other job and home. We still haven't received a letter from my September 1st job but I'm good to go there anyway. We have yet to get the cpp form back I sent in to be processed July 15th. So, we're waiting for 2 pieces of mail. Also, we haven't received our oven replacement yet as well. We did receive our utility bill. Bills take top priority and ads of course. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Holiday Monday today

which is ok by me but I've had so much time off, it doesn't matter much anyway. In the line of work I do, I seldom get paid for stat pay anymore. 

Luke Aikins at 25,000 feet jumps out of a airplane, without a parachute. Unbelievable. Our reaction was, "This guy is crazier then Trump opening his mouth." Anne and I were watching this thinking, the net may catch him but the force of the fall wont save him from the impact when he hits the ground or bounces him out of the safety net. Kids, don't try this stunt on your own. Well he made the historic stunt ok. Yeesh, takes all kinds.

I'm not a fan of Harry Potter but I had too smile when local news last night were at Audrey's before the Harry Potter book launch party for "Cursed child." Like most stores they went from 9-pm to midnight. It was like Halloween in July. I hope they got lots of people there of all ages and sold lots of books. It's almost like a mini convention. Good energy, lots of fun. I wonder if there were any Pokemon Go people crashing the book launch?

We've had a lot of rain over this long weekend. So much so that both Klondike and Heritage days got rained out at some point. On local news the 29th anniversary of Black Friday were featured. I was living in the West End here at the time, 3rd floor in the middle bachelor suite, just behind that tree left off the stairwell. Hard to believe I paid $280 a month for my rent. That's Inflation for you.

Today, we're watching wrestling. Tuesday, I'm trying to set up a appointment at my pcn to get insulin as my usual pharmacist is no longer with the organization, which was a bit of a shocker. I also need to call Service Canada to find out what's going on with my cpp form they said they'd process for me. Then that evening we're going swimming at the rec centre. There's a couple CFL games Wednesday, Thursday I'm following. I'm at the other office to pick up my cheque Friday and to get a update. Saturday its Eskimo's/Ottawa. There might be another blog post in there but I doubt it. Anyway, that's all for now.