In this country we

call unemployment insurance Ei (employment insurance) Most people when I mention Ei don't collect it. In the past Ei used to be called Unemployment insurance Commission or Uic. I think I collected Ei, 6 times in my life. Once I'd applied for Uic (Ei) it'd take 4-6 weeks to get the first benefit. Uic used to send these 4X11 reporting cards in the mail every 2 weeks and a business reply envelop. There were about 8 questions. I still recall the format: No (x5) Yes No, No. The "Yes" response would be asking me if I was ready, able and willing to work? For the most part Uic was timely in getting a cheque out. I recall one time here in the early 80's when we had a postal strike, Uic cheques would be picked up in a area just East and over what was then the 105th street over pass. Every time when I got my first Uic cheque there would be about 4-6 weeks of back pay included. I got such a large cheque in 1989 when was let go from the Army & Navy department store. Even in the late 1990's I'd have to wait 4-6 weeks. So, Last week I applied for my Ei May 31st and when I asked when my 1st cheque would be in, they said by the end of this week. Yeah right. I was shocked to learn I received my first week of Ei over night into my account. Wow! So much for waiting 4-6 weeks. I won't need the whole 24 weeks I have left on this claim but it will get us by for the summer until after labour day when I'm back at my other job. And even then I'll be on pension and its either Ei or pension, not both. My CPP is Ei exempt but I still need to report my earnings and my pension. At least my account for Circuit is secure and I won't miss any payments and I'll have Circuit paid off by September. I'll still need to do a jobs search and do my 2 week report as part of my Ei obligations. Unlike last year now I have an income into the household so there is less stress on Anne. 

Speaking about Circuit and audio recording, one of the contributors to a thread I had running explained one way I could set Circuit up to record a Circuit session. He suggested I would need a dual 1/4" jack to plug into the back of Circuit. The other end of the cable would have 2 RC ends that go into the output of my M-audio fast track. The Fast track's usb end would go into a apple camera connection kit (cck) and that into the iPad and opened up in Audioshare. No background noise no squeaky chair or room noise. I'm waiting for a reply from this poster or from anyone else in the Circuit user group that can confirm this approach. The cable is only ~ $13 so its not a big hit if it doesn't work. The other thing music production wise is my video/light box. I've had the roughly 16 x 16 x 10 inch cardboard box for awhile now as in this photo: 

In this image I'm using our old iPod 3rd gen. The reason why the iPad is closer to the left side is because te iPad is closer to the power cord. The white pillow case should off set the semi darkness of the inside of the box. I'll be playing with the contrast a bit as well. I tried a sample and it seems to work ok. I need some kind of a bluetooth remote so I can activate the camera hands free. I know a solution is out there.

I called the boss earlier today he said there is a soft start date for a new project next week. I'm too call tomorrow for a scheduled. When I make my Ei reporting I'll have to report these new hours but I think this is the last project for the season. At the moment we have +27* out there so its a hot one today. Anyway, that's all for now.