The idea was to work

tonight but the big project that was, wasn't. I was off work last night at 8:30 and home by 9:30 as the project ended its last day. Nothing else on the immediate horizon at my market research job. However, I still have my other job, which I'm scheduled to go in for tomorrow. 

I had a brief wait for my #5 bus to take me to Corona station. You'd think even ETS would work for me but the Clareview train pulled out of Corona station as I was on the upper concourse not knowing (at the time) if that was Clareview or Nait. They share the same track until Churchill station. I had 16 minutes to wait until the next Clareview train. It wasn't a wasted wait as I checked my email on my iPod/open city wifi, and more importantly the score on the Sharks/Oilers game. At about 8:45pm while waiting the score was 3-1 Oilers. I got into the apartment at about 9:25pm and able to watch the last 7 minutes of the game, 3-2 Oilers. Just 5 games remaining. 

About 11:30 Anne came in with deli Pizza. I explained to her what was going on. Since I had a small cheque to pick up today at the West end job and with all the running around last week with my health woes etc, Anne suggested I take today off since the Southside job where I'll be at tomorrow hasn't got me down for today, sure I'll have a "night off." Its not much of a night off with an errand I need to do this afternoon. Its going to be a much needed quiet evening and I might even be able to get some recording done. We'll see. Anyway, that's all for now.   

After 2 weeks I'm back to my

regular sleeping habits. No more having the alarm waking me up at 6:30am to take those iV pills. I don't know exactly what they are called but that's what I call them. After all I went through in the past 2 weeks, I can sum up: Complications as a result of diabetes. Or poor leg circulation. These compression stockings should help improve my circulation overall.

I'm going to catch a bit of Coast this morning before bed. The 2nd half has new details about the Roswell ufo case underway right now. Roswell and Phoenix lights are for me the 2 most compelling ufo cases in this genera of the paranormal.

I'm leaving out of here about 3pm for my market research job. Its a 4-9 shift. The SJ Sharks are in town for a 8pm hockey game as all that remains for the Oilers last 6 games is just to jockey for position. I'm in again on Friday for another 5 hours, then Saturday its 10-2, easy. This weekend is Wrestlemania. Can't wait. Anyway, that's all for now.

Last couple of days

I've been at the Southside job. I'll be there tonight and then its 2 days at the other place and Saturday for 4 hours. They'd give me 7.5 at the market research job but that's a long shift and I've got a cough kind of thing I've had since family day. 

Finally after 10 years, 13 #1 draft picks, 4 1st round draft picks, 7 coaches, the Oilers finally clinch a playoff spot. It doesn't mean a instant ticket to the finale or anything. I'm just happy the drought is over. 

I'm still having trouble getting my Novation Circuit to send out a stereo signal. This week I'm getting one more cable. I noticed someone on YouTube use a 1/4" jack with a 1/8th end into a iPad. I think it goes into the stereo end of Circuit. If this doesn't work then in the fall, I'll get the Zoom h1.

I still haven't got my Federal supplement form done up. For some reason my cpp contributions were not listed on my Notice of Assessment. I'm going to sort that out while I'm on my way to my West end job. Do that then get the cable and into work. Sounds like a plan for tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now. 

My so called week off wasn't

much of a holiday. It never was intended to be one anyway. Anne and my situation had me running around "all over the place." Our jobs are such that they are mostly late afternoon/evenings, so up until Wednesday we were up at 7:30am to get to emergency for my iV therapy. We don't normally go to bed until 4am and up about 11:45am for me. So now currently the Doctor from emergency has me on oral meds and suggested I not go into work this last week. Other then a Saturday shift getting up at 7:30am is rare hours for Anne and I. Both my employers knew what was going on and were updated last Monday. Thursday I tried to get a cheque from one of my employers in the West end but when I got there about 5pm the place was closed. The following day (Friday) they just started a major project and ran out of work everywhere else Thursday. I had Friday night to myself and Saturday afternoon/evening. Anne's here all day so that was it. Saturday night!

This part of my post today is a bit lengthy and includes a grey/personal side of things in my life, which I don't usually talk about. I hope this doesn't sound repetitive. This could be all over the place and a bit disjointed in places, bare with me.
        I'm still struggling with Fl. Studio to work with my Novation Circuit. I'm getting advice from the Novation Circuit's Facebook users group, which is a great resource. My main problem with Circuit isn't so much with Circuit itself its my licensed copy of Fl. Studio and my 2009 laptop but the laptop meets Circuit's system requirements for using software to record Circuit's audio. For some reason I can't even get a Circuit mono signal into Fl. Studio. I can get mono everywhere else like my iPad 2 but I need stereo so I can post YouTube videos of my Circuit tracks. I never had a problem with Maschine into my laptop but that was software/hardware. No Ts cables were needed in that situation. I removed Maschine from my laptop hard drive awhile back to make room on my hard drive. That was a mistake. There's other laptop issues I have not with  Novation's Circuit. I tried installing Maschine software again yesterday and Auto play isn't responding properly enough to even load a cd so I'm reluctant to uninstall Fl. Studio and load it again. One thing is for certain: I don't know what I'm doing.
        My channel "Shannon on Sounds" is supposed to be about music production using a combination of iPad apps and hardware. I consider the iPad/i0s as hardware. My laptop is mostly software like Fl. Studio. Its a learning curve and there are so many hours in a day. Did I mention I don't know what I'm doing?
        This laptop I'm using came with a licensed version of Windows as all pc laptops come with a preinstalled OS, but in late 2011 I had got a major virus and my unofficial tech guy/co worker installed a *ahem other copy* of Windows. He said something like a short term solution not to depend on it and ASAP buy a Windows license. Then in late December 2012 life hit me with a setback: I lost my steady job at Xentel. My tech guy/co worker at that time cautioned me to get a licensed version of Windows 7 Ultimate but this was working fine until one day late 2013 my laptop wouldn't let me gain access. I'd need to go into safe mode and work from there to do a system restore, or a restore point. I must have done a dozen system restores since then. Even at that time other then CPU underruns, Maschine worked with my host software, no issues. 
         Now I got major internet issues (adware) with my laptop no Windows recovery cd. Late 2012 a licensed copy of Windows Ultimate was on my radar before I lost my steady job and disposable income I was enjoying with Xentel. I didn't lose my job due to the economy or anything but because the parent company wanted to consolidate their brick and mortar locations. A lot of good people lost their jobs in Edmonton and Calgary and elsewhere December 12 2012. But that's life.
        I got a market research job with Malatest in February 2013 a few months after losing Xentel and my severance package dried up and that was enough to keep our household in the black but no room for luxury's until I dropped the ball there, February 2014. I got the current job where I am now a month later (Malatest's competition) up the street and that's where I've been ever since. it's been a struggle. Still not enjoying the steady income I received from Xentel pre 2012. I miss that place and I'd still be there pulling in 37.5 hours week even today. In a way I kind of saw Xentel's Edmonton office demise when we moved offices from the Baker Centre down the street to the Energy Square building. For awhile Xentel had a work from home option until this current Government raised the minimum wage. That shut a lot of people out of work.
        For now I'm just 6 months from pension and I'll have that and my job, without any penalty to our household's bottom line barring anymore health issues. Our household income doesn't even come close to the threshold where there would be a income/pension penalty anyway.
        After doing a lot of research and following Novation's Circuit updates, I got Circuit last week on a payment plan for $40/month because my credit is good at where I bought it. I can afford the payment plan over the next several months and the summer until my situation changes near the end of September. If this was a year ago, no way would I even consider a payment plan but I'm 6 months away from pension and I have enough ei hours over the summer, without compromising our households income situation. So leading up to pension, its going to be a short term balancing act for our household. My short term goal is to set aside at least $120 for when work dries up (maybe mid June) so I can have July/August/September covered and ei should keep us barely in the black until late September. Playing around on Circuit will keep me occupied over the summer etc and the Facebook Circuit user group is helping me identify some issues. I'm reluctant but I might have to uninstall Fl. Studio but its this Auto play that could cause me some grief.
      My life over the past 6 years has been plagued with ups and downs and setbacks. Admittedly some of this was the choices I made along the way and choices life tossed at me. In the end its all good. At least the Oilers look like they could be making a trip to the post season.

So, I'm back to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, at the Southside job and that's only 4 hours/night. I'm home by 9pm if I get a ride from one of my co workers. If she's there. Thursday, Friday I'm scheduled to go in from 4-9pm at my market research job and Saturday its 10-2:15 at my Southside job. That's a good full week for me. Anne doesn't want me to pull any more long shifts. hopefully I can relax a bit over the summer. Anyway, that's all for now.

I was fortunate to grow up as a teen

in the 1960's in the greater Vancouver area. In one of the Facebook groups I recently subscribed to, had a post that evoked a lot of memories: "What was your favorite radio or television personality?" As a teenager recovering from my back operation in 1968 (at the Vancouver General Hospital) I listened to a lot of local radio at home recovering from my operation. The music scene of the 1960's is well documented and I lived through that music history. I remember wanting to tune into either CFUN or Cfox, Ckvn. I couldn't remember the name of the DJ but he was a rare bread of DJ. He would often play the voice of a "guest." In this case a teenager named "Lance." In the Facebook group above I did not know the DJ's name (as of yesterday) but one of the thousands of "Nostalgic Vancouver's," members might. I got a response from a TD Mulligan. Wait now, that name is familiar. If it was the same Terry David Mulligan, a famous Vancouver DJ from the 1960's/70's. Apparently he is well known in this FB group. He told me the DJ based upon the info above is JB Shayne. That was my favorite disc jockey. The character according to TDM, was "Lance Chance." I lived through am radio in the 1960's. I recall when all the big named artists of the time would have their music play, twice an hour, if not more.

Late yesterday afternoon I went and got my cheque from my West End job and home shortly after 6pm. I could have picked it up last Friday but I was obviously busy. I began messing around last night with my Novation Circuit trying various ways of getting Fl. Studio to record midi from Circuit. It was working for awhile but then Fl. Studio crashed on me. It's not Fl. Studio's fault, its my 2009 dual core 4Gb ram laptop. I tried recording midi into Blocs wav but that only got the external Circuit sound. Not what I was looking for. I'm going to try using my old iRig midi hardware and connect that to the "free" iRig midi recorder app I picked up a month or so ago. Failing that its a field recorder in the fall. But I think this iRig solution should work to record the midi out of Circuit. That's my project for today before the Av's/Oilers game.

So apparently what all of this medical stuff Thursday/Friday, led up to was 15 hours in emergency community clinic just over here on 50th and 140th. It took 2 bags of iV blood thinners, urine sample, a chest x Ray for heart, and a abdominal x Ray, a ultra sound to determine that my abdominal discomfort Thursday was a result of a infected right toe. Its all tied together as one of the complications leading to diabetes. The ultra sound turned up negative, no blood clot in the leg. Negative on the urine sample, ok with the heart x Ray. Finally the prognoses was poor leg circulation. I'm now wearing suspension stockings and I need to go in for a PDA scan to be fitted for custom suspension stockings in May. Why 15 hours in emergency? All of the above needs to be "read" to form a picture and there is more then just me as a patient there. All of the above takes time. They wanted to keep me longer then the 15 hours I was there late Friday afternoon, but I was whining of being there to long. They said I'd need to come in every morning at 8am for iV therapy. That ended Wednesday. They put me on the oral version and now I have to take 2 capsules every 6 hours until the pills are finished, which should be sometime next week. Its no fun growing old.

So I'm back to work at my Southside job on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and at the market research job Thursday and Friday. Saturday I'm the Southside job but now more 8 hour days. the boss penciled me in for the 2 days next week. For now I've got the weekend off and relaxing. Anyway, that's all for now.    

Up and out of here

about 7:45 this morning for emergency to continue the iV treatment. I got a prescription for some steroid type creme to remove the redness on my skin, more saline and anti biotics. They removed the iV but another one will be added tomorrow. Then more of the saline/anti biotics. That might be enough but I've got to go get to my pcn and they love to play telephone tag. I didn't get a chance to get in contact with my pcn today.

After that was said and done, we walked to the bus stop by the Manning Crossing apartments, waited inside drafty ETS bus shelter under cold windy skies. Its not a arctic type cold but there was certainly a noticeable hint of Spring in the air. After about a 15 minute wait our bus came by and we headed over to Clareview station boarded a train for downtown Central station Anne had us go up the wrong exit instead of the one across the street from Service Canada. My walking isn't the greatest lately.

I got Anne's cpp form and I got my gis form and I filled it out as best I could. Anne was over by the phone near the entrance. It wasn't too busy in Service Canada but it was early yet. After about ten minutes I got a worker and she said my Notice of Assessment didn't show my cpp income. That was strange to her and me. I got a t1 General (CPP) form and submitted this to CRA. This means tomorrow morning after emergency, Anne's heading home and I'm going back down to Service Canada with a copy of the original form, then process it and head for home. The good news since I can apply for gis upon getting my notice of assessment even 6 months before I turn 65 as it takes a good 12 months to get it and the household has to apply for it every year if they want to claim it. Most Canadian households don't claim the gis because there's so little involved. This year it makes sense, next year when Anne gets her cpp, it might not. 

Anne bought us a cheep pizza at the food court as I had forgot there was one there and a coffee, which I didn't finish leaving it behind at Churchill. I had some pizza at noon and then we went to bed for a cat nap. Four hours latter for me, Anne went to Walmart to get the prescription filled. Hopefully this will be the last day of this emergency visit. Anyway, that's all for today

Over the past 3 days I've been

getting up at 7:30am to be out the door with Anne by 10 before 8 so we can be at the Emergency for my iV therapy. Its a 5 minute bus ride, and we're there. Its about 10 minutes of intake and a bit of waiting and follow-up because there's always different health care professionals taking care of us. Its not too complex. Its just inserting 2 plastic containers of fluids and anti biotics.

Yesterday I called both my employers and updated them as to what's going on. Most likely I'll be back next week but when we left yesterday they said I'd be most likely wearing suspension stockings for circulation for the rest of my life. I've had the same iV in my arm since Friday night. I'm hoping this ordeal ends Friday at the latest. Today we're getting a prescription for the stockings. I'm getting the full length knee kind.

So we got back from the Emergency before 10:30am Anne made us a fried egg sandwich before bed. She's off until Thursday. We've been with each other for a solid week and we're kind of getting on each other's nerves.

During the afternoon I was able to download Ableton Live 9 Lite, that came with my Novation circuit. Ableton 9Live lite is a basic program. It has 8 tracks (which can be audio or midi) I just need to get it working then I'll use that and get the upgrade instead if I like it. Anne brought Taco time from being out earlier, which was great so I haven't had time to play with it.

I was able to watch a pretty good LA Kings/Oilers win. Talbot has a back to back shut out. After that while Anne did laundry I watched Monday night Raw encore edition which ended. So I'm about ready for bed. We received our notice of Assessments, in which case its back to Clareview station then to Service Canada to apply for my Federal pension. Then I've got to call my pcn to set up a appointment to see a podiatrist and get some insulin and bring along the prescription. Anyway, a busy day tomorrow. That's all for now.

This last Thursday night as my shft

was just winding down, I began to get the chills. Then stomach cramps. At first I thought it was a bit of food poising. I booked off early and hung around in case I needed to vomit. This was about 8:15. My shift was over at 9 I hobbled over to the bus shelter in extreme pain and a light throw up of something. Some of my on-the-way-home colleagues were concerned. One of the guys there Stan, usually rides with me up to Coliseum station. He was on duty from 1-9 so it was a long shift for him. He rode with me to Clareview and i hobbled to where the #11 bus waited. The bus driver let us out or when the bus stopped I must have been confused because I wanted to go to meet Anne at Boston Pizza (BP's) for a birthday dinner. Stan rode with me out of his way to Clareview and with me on the bus but when he knew I appeared disoriented I asked him if he could take my backpack into BP's Anne would be alone in the dinning area and would recognize my backpack. Stan was able to convince her that I'm alright just feeling stomach pain, I'm under duress of some kind. It wasn' t cold outside. I was slowly working my way around the corner where Goodlife meets 42nd street. Anne saw me and came running up to me. I thanked Stan for helping me. I had to lean on Anne to get to around Best buy. Some security or managers were by the stores entrance inside. Anne asked for help to call a taxi but they shrugged and ignored her. I mean, what could they do? I understand all that. So we hobbled to our apartment. I tried to get some sleep and for awhile I did but the pain came back. Anne had enough by this time, she called a taxi and we went over here to the North East medical centre. We've been here before a few years ago. 
       So after the intake they processed us and got me to a bed. I got the works, blood tests, 2 Xray's, 2 rounds of iV, urine sample ultra sound etc. Anne left around 9am for a few hours sleep and returned back about 2pm after the ultra sound and 3 enema's later, including a deep enema. I was really feeling stressed out and I asked if I could be released. They said they wanted to have me on iV therapy for a couple of days. They also discovered because of a toe nail I clipped off it became infected. If I didn't complain to go home, they probably would have kept me over night. I have no blood clot in my leg, my heart from the xrays were good. So they released me about 4pm. Be back Saturday at 8am for my first round of iV therapy. 
      About 5pm I felt better, Anne suggested because I wanted my Novation Circuit so bad we could go over to Long & McQuade on 107th Ave and 101st. I called to make sure it was there for me to pick up, and yes it was. "We're on our way," We took the bus to Clareview station, train to Central upstairs, street level and a brief wait for the #3 took us to the 1st stop on 107th. So I got what I needed. 
     Anne wanted to take me to the new food court at city Centre mall since I hadn't eaten much in the last 18 hours. I ordered some A & W. We had that and went home. Other then th long 15 hours or so at Emergency, Friday turned out ok after all.

So this morning we woke up at 7:30 and took a cab to Emergency. At intake, they processed me and Anne and I waited where we were told to go but instead of being hooked up to a iV stand a nurse came by and administered 2 plastic looking device (at different times of course) That whole process took less then 40 minutes. We were home by 9am. 

I slept until 1pm, Anne got up shortly after that and did her chores she likes to do and made me a bite to eat. She's off at work and I got a night off to myself and a Oilers game. Other then these 2 suspension sleeves on my legs and the iV in my arm bandaged and wrapped, I feel ok. We got to go back in Sunday morning but this time, we'll take the bus and after that walk down to Smitty's for our morning breakfast. Then back home and back to bed. Anyway, more about this later, that's all for now.  

It was great having that day off yesterday

as I'm still not recovered from my cold. My voice sounds like garbled sandpaper. Its well known in the office that I'm still recovering from this cold that began shortly after family day. I've never called into the Super before at the charity job to cancel a shift there. 

I'm almost ready to buy the Novation circuit. Its about $96 down and $32/month. The downtown Long and McQuade store doesn't have it in stock, but when I called the guy yesterday he said they could do a inter branch delivery for me from their Southside store. I just want to make sure I'm still good at my market research job, before I go and buy this thing. Late Saturday afternoon with a half hour in the shift we were looking for were 18-34 year olds (all day) on a project we were trying to close out. I wrote a pre qualifying intro to make it part of the intro of the survey. 
       By 5:30pm we needed 5 more completes 18-34. Normally when we get a interested person to do the survey, we're supposed to put the potential respondent on hold, see the super first if we can take the potential respondent so as not to go over quota. 18-34 year olds are the most difficult demograph to get. I knew we had 5 completes to go at 5:30. I had nothing all day and most of us were struggling to stay awake. The constant dial tones can put one to sleep, especially after about 7 hours of dial tones, quota fills and answering machines. 
      We had 9 completes between about 10 of us at 10am, and all we could get was down to 5 by 5:30pm. The complete I had on the phone was 21. After sitting in that chair for almost an hour (I don't move to well getting up and out of that chair) I'm very slow. I could have lost the potential complete. That's happened before. I took it without going to see Super first. Super came over "Can I put you on pause for a bit sir?" I explained to Super he said "Ok," In other words the getting completes bar to the end wasn't moving very fast on the day. I knew my colleagues were almost in the same boat as I was. My neighbor got nothing. I had nothing, except just the one. 18-34 year olds are like gold when we have age group quota's like this. I had always seen Super before I took the complete before on this project etc. And it wasn't like I didn't have conformation from Super along the way of the current. I would have coded it as Respondent refusal, if we were over before putting it through. 
       What has this to do with the Novation circuit? I just want to make sure (based on Saturdays hic up at the end of the shift) I still have a job before I buy and open up a payment plan/account. My Southside job (where I'll be later today) is good to go until May 19th and there's lots of work coming up for my market research job maybe to the end of June. I need this job for June as my wife has a shortage of hours on her job. I need work at my market research job for the next 3 months, then I can make 2 monthly summer installments ($32). My charity job begins in September after this one and that's when pension kicks in. I probably could have said the above in less wordy of a middle section then this for sure, but its my blog.

The Pittsburgh/Calgary NHL game was going on the same time my wrestling was going on last night. That game went into OT and Calgary won their 10th straight pulling 3 point ahead of the Oilers. There is just one game separating the Oilers at 6th in the Western Conference to 9th. Yet at the same time there is just 2 games separating 6th-4th. Right now the Oilers are in the middle of this 8 game at home stand and 3 of 8 games have already been played and lost. The sky isn't falling here but with 14 games remaining our playoff picture looks a bit fuzzy. Dallas is in town tonight. I've got a feeling that we're going to lose this one. So far this current home stand isn't doing the Oilers any good.   

At least heading into work today the weather should be a lot nicer then its been. At the moment its +3* but feels like 0* because of the wind at 8 km/h. Most likely I'll meet Dave (a colleague I've known since the year 2,000) on the lrt heading in. Its a quick 4 hour shift and I'll get a ride home tonight. Anyway, that's all for now.

I slept past twelve thirty

yesterday afternoon. I had a good 8.5 hours of badly needed sleep. I was mostly doing You Tube stuff all afternoon, while Anne returned her photo frame. She made us our late breakfast as the first period of the Oilers game got under way. What a 4-1 disaster that was. With 14 games left, my hopes for the Oilers keeping a playoff spot are fading fast. 

Update: Normally I'd be on my way to work right now and I waited for a long time for the bus. Traffic on 50th and 137th a block away was blocked Flashing Police lights were all over the place. Traffic was slowly trickling through but no ETS buses. A fellow ETS rider joined me and apparently knew more then I did: She works in Costco and said there was a shooting out there on the corner. It was about 3:15pm and no bus. I went back into the apartment as Anne was just getting up. I explained what I knew, "you could have walked down to Clareview station, you dumb fuck.." Then here comes my delayed bus. "Well, since your going to be late, why not phone in." So I did. Anne hadn't left yet but I got online to find the story. Apparently this man was on the corner of 137 and 50th a block away waving a rifle at bystanders. Police were notified and they got here asap and cornered off the area. This was at 11:30 this morning. The man that had the rifle fired 3 shots at Police. They returned fire and shot the man. The gunman was taken to hospital. He was still alive at 2pm. The story is under the heading of "locked and loaded."  Other then the ETS pedestrian last November a block away from us this is a quiet area. This gun totter wasn't inspired by anything. His Facebook page talks about the Illuminati, Satin, quitting his job. Obviously somebody that is very disturbed. Looks like I have a unexpected night off. I called in thinking I should say sick because I didn't know the ramifications of the above until I found the breaking news. But yeah, very scary.                

It looks like my market research job will have enough work to keep us busy for awhile. Some are suggesting we might have work heading into mid July. It's never happened during the 2 years I've been there but we'll see. It's my wife's birthday Thursday and she wants to go out for a birthday dinner after work, probably to BP's across the street since. It felt different to get the extra hour of daylight and somewhat weird seeing all that snow from over the past few days. Good news my commute into work today will about -1. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Its been really cold over the past few days

almost to the point that winter wants to punish us for what we lacked of winter in November. In other words, we're paying for it now. The good news is we just have 2 more days of this and by Tuesday/Wednesday, we should be in the plus side of temps.

Over the last few days, I've been working full days. That's 10 hours as I count the hour long commute there and back. I have one more day of it coming up. At 6pm, I'll be on the corner of 107/124th street waiting for my bus to Corona station/Clareview and home. I'll be inside about 7pm. Next week, I've got 2 days at my Southside job, then 3 days at where I'll be today from 4-9, then by this time next Saturday its at my Southside job. I need the Southside job for September when I don't have any work. I've got the above schedule like this because next Saturday I get off work at 2pm which gives me enough time to get to Long and McQuade order the Volca sample and my iRig lav mic. The weekend after that to pick it up. Then its back to 3 days Southside job, 3 days market research job. I've got lots of work coming up until the Southside job ends May 19th and the market research job, until it expires. Some there are suggesting end of June.

Its daylight savings time Sunday. We "gain" an extra hour of light. The day's get "longer." This morning, Anne had a craving for McDonalds breakfast. So she went out at 5am to get the works. I woke up about 6am to hear her puttering away in the kitchen. I really enjoyed that. She found $5 in the stairwell which helped to pay for half of it. So she's got 5 hours from 5-10 and I'm 10-6, ugh. Also, I've got a Oilers game as the Habs are here and that's a 5pm start. All next week I'm 4-9 except the Southside job, 4-8:30pm. I think next year, I'm just going to stick with my market research job. I'm good at that and I get more time off. Is it summer yet?

At first I wasn't going to blog today

but what the heck. At the moment its -18 overcast and snow is in the immediate forecast for today. We have only a few more days of this and after Sunday (daylight savings time) we're heading into a bit of a warming trend. Hopefully march comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, as they say. 

At the moment our tax guy is busy with our T4's and we'll know what to expect in the next couple of days. What's going to do me in here is cpp. Ever since I have been collecting cpp over the last 4 years I have yet to receive a tax return/cheque from the Feds. I usually end up owing and this is really frustrating to me. I usually make enough in a year to pay our rent and if that's the case and I find I have to pay this year, I'm not going with this guy next year. If cpp is the difference maker here its because I don't have that form that says to payroll "do not take cpp off his cheque because he is already collecting cpp." Supper says he doesn't have that form, neither does the boss. Maybe head office has the form. I'm pretty sure I'll have to get the form at Service Canada when I go apply for the gis when I get our notice of assessment That's why we're getting our taxes done today. 

This is my last three days this week at my Southside job. 
Then tomorrow its 1-9 for Thursday and Friday. Saturday its 10-2. Three long days. After this week, its just to days at the market research job. Anyway, that's all for now.

I met one of my co workers at Clareview

  Station at 3pm. We rode together to Southgate. I bought a couple of blackjack tickets and into the office. I caught the #6 in with my colleague. I didn't win playing blackjack but that's ok.

Our under construction Valley line LRT is in the early stages of construction. At the moment the tunnel on the North side of the North Saskatchewan river leading up to.

                            

street level. There's a better photo of 102nd street entrance. The entire 27km line should be ready for operation by 2020. My only concern is will Bombardier deliver the Flex cars on time since Valley is low floor.

Not much is going on with me. I'm taking advantage of these first 3 days for my 4 hour shifts. Then Thursday, Friday its 1-9 and Saturday 10-6. Its going to be a long week. But today we're getting our taxes done. It's been very cold lately, especially in the office and I wore a sweater. My entry's might be slow this week. Not much to talk about. Anyway, that's all for now.

I really enjoyed Sunday's

WWE pay per view "Fastlane." I figured someone was going to interfere; Samoa Joe, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, somebody. It was a predictable outcome. Goldberg won though and it took him less then 2 minutes after the bell rang.  

My Facebook membership in "Nostalgic Vancouver" is pending. I just discovered this group yesterday. In order to be "accepted," you need some connection to Vancouver. Well, I was born at the Vancouver General 1952. My dad was a bus driver with BC Hydro, my mom worked in a popular dress shop before I was born and lived about 2 blocks away from city hall in 1949 off of Cambie. She worked at the Laurie's dress shop chain before she got married. That and I lived in the GVA up until 1978. So, yes I have a connection.

Looks like we're back to winter, again. Good news is this wont last beyond the next ten days. I'm at the South side job for the next 3 days and at the market research job, Thursday Friday, Saturday. Well at least I have work. Anyway, that's all for now.

Despite the blowing snow

blizzard during my morning commute yesterday morning, I got to work on time. Actually despite just getting over my cold, all that talking (more so then usual) was playing havoc on my voice. The blizzard let up about my noon break. My 2 pm half hour was way too fast and even the Sun came out there for a bit. My 4pm break caused me to almost croak my voice was so dry. Even water didn't help or cough drops. Hot coffee helped a bit. I was relieved when super called for Time sheet. My commute home companion/co worker and I waited just as the blizzard showed up again. That's 2 weeks in a row we've had sown on a Saturday. I got home just before 7pm.

I've bee really trying to grasp this feud between Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger but my head spins just thinking

                          
about it. Two Republicans goin gat it. And I don't even watch Celebrity Apprentice. All this stuff makes my head hurt.

At the moment I'm enjoying a cold Sleeman's (helps me sleep)

                          

sleep) beer. That's me in the white shades behind Buddha.

Anyway, Coast this morning is lame. Tonight is a better show. Latter this afternoon, Anne is making our Sunday brunch and we're going to watch WWE Fast lane. That and the Oilers won last night. Life is good. Anyway, that's all for now.

I got an hour before I head out

too lodge on a night where I'd like to stay at home and have a night off by myself. I'm looking forward to summer. At the moment, I have very little energy to do much of anything but there's 3 more months of this until summer and 3 more months of this beginning September. Then no more chairs for awhile, if not ever. I'm done with that portion of the lodge.

Nintendo is to release their new controller "Switch" tomorrow. I'm not overly excited about this. Most likely its going to be $499 here in Canada. There's been lots of speculation about Switch. Sure the graphics look good and there a re lots of improvements under the hood. I just got the recent New Nintendo XL update and I'm hoping to get the Korg DS-12 synthesizer from Detune soon. I'm going to just stick with my Zelda edition XL. I'm in no hurry to buy Switch unless there's a killer application in there like a video capture card. Maybe the share button has something to do with video capture. So far video capture has been a 3rd party thing worth getting. If Switch closes the door on it being backwards compatible, then I might Homebrew my device. Not sure on that either.

Tomorrow, I'm up about noon out the door for a 4pm shift. I was supposed to go in for a 1-9 shift but I just got a call that my 1-9 shift was cancelled. I'm ok with that I have a 10-6pm shift Saturday. Too think I have another 10-12 weeks of this. Is it summer yet? Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm going to have to find a

alternate way into work for my South side job. Yesterday when I left out of here, I took the LRT to Southgate and it was standing room only. I sat on the seat closest to the isle with my backpack on my lap. I wasn't denying or suggesting that if anyone wanted the window seat beside me, they couldn't go for it. Was it just the time of day or what? So I got the #52 bus because unlike the #6 behind it its less crowded and I can get out without having to push my way out of the bus. I get out just by the Toyota dealership there on Allard Way. Just as I got out and to the sidewalk where "The Spirit of Halloween," used to be. I walk to Calgary trail and head North to the light switch and into Centre 104. So just as I was getting to the entrance of the dealership, there was the #52 Southgate heading the other way. That's the #52 I see from downtown at Central Station. I can use ETS bus tracker before I leave and it will tell me when the #52 Southgate arrives at Central station so there's not that much waiting around. That's what I'm going to try today.

This March holds a sense of restlessness or anxiety for me more then any other month because in just 6 months, I turn 65. So what happens now? How do I cope with really becoming a senior citizen? I don't have to worry about work because I have two jobs. In September I'll almost be on full pension. When we file our taxes (and we're getting our taxes done) I'll be able to apply for the Federal and Provincial supplements. One thing is for certain, I can't keep both of those jobs. Both of those jobs are not guaranteed. Or their longevity are not guaranteed. Even though the job mentioned above has been around for decades, its end product is slowly fading out of use. I just don't want to end up being something like one of these guys:
Used under fair use


                           

My market research job has its ups and downs but I feel I'm doing more good out of the Southside job. I also want time off to do more music production and to use the gym and look after my health more. At the age of 65+ is where thins start going wrong with the body. I'm not a well man, and I didn't take care of myself growing up. For now except I have no upper teeth and my bottom teeth are causing me some grief (I still have a bit of this cold and coughing up phlegm) my vision isn't bad and I can still walk. I'm just worried for my immediate future. I don't know what I'd do without Anne. Am I mad because I'm almost a senior? No just a bit worried because I'll be entering into a different dynamic. Uncharted waters. I don't want to do the things seniors do. I don't want to hang out with young people because I'm not one of them, nor can I relate anymore, sigh. One things for certain, I'm going to have to drop one of those jobs, but which one? Anyway, that's all for now.