We went by way of the LRT to City Centre

mall specifically to try Fatburger. I had the double cheese burger with tomato combo. The burger was something like $18. Five -$7 more then Wendy's but no only do they serve it to you but all the pop you can drink. if Anne got the same combo as I did then our price would have been about $36! Yikes. Anne went for an A and W combo. My Fatburger burger was good and I'll be back but either it too spicy or salty:  

After the burger and on our 4:30pm LRT ride home, Anne talked me into getting a hair cut. Not bad for $18 on senior days. So from 3pm to now, not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

I've had 4 days off so far and the rest of the week and the weekend could be the same. However tonight at 7pm its Oilers hockey. Anyway, that's all for now.

Looks like I could be off for the next

several days. We completed a project in record time. That's what I like about this job. We often get a 2-7 day lay over between projects, as my last pay period before the end of the year is next week. I'm hoping I can get about 65 hours in before Christmas.


At the moment its overcast, cold and breezy. We're in a thaw/freeze pattern. This last week alone it was reported on the news that the city received 40 calls of people slipping and falling on City side walks. Lots of side walk sanding happening. Here's what our weather is going to look like this week:

By the looks of things above, our thaw/freeze outlook is going to last for another week. There's been stories on local news of seniors this winter falling on ice breaking a hip. I need a hip replacement like we need a hockey rink in Ottawa. And no, I'm not watching the Grey Cup.

Tomorrow before I head out of here, I'm calling the boss to see if there's work Monday night or work this week. If I get asked into the office then that takes priority over anything else. Otherwise I'm out of here about noon, to pick up a book at Audrey's, and order 3 more then to my bank to get those direct bank deposit GST forms filled out. Then to my Doctors for a counter pick up. After that to City Centre mall to try Fat burger. Super at work had one and they look really good. Then on my way home, its to get a haircut across the street and home to watch wrestling. And on that note, pizza is here. Anyway, that's all for now.

There has been some initial movement over changing

our CFL club Edmonton Eskimo's. Some people are of the opinion that the name Eskimo is a slur against indigenous people. At first I thought this was just silly. Then after a bit of education I began to see what they mean. Like how we have French for say a Two Year Planner would read in French "Agenda de Deux ans." Wtf? I'd rather see that replaced with the local indigenous name instead any day. Anne and I had a bit of Eskimo name changing fun. If the name needs to be changed (and I agree we need to have this conversation) I like "The Edmonton Empire." This actually cropped up when the season began as an ad campaign. Anne likes the name "The Edmonton Borealis." In a related topic our QB Mike Reilly in Ottawa last night received the Most Outstanding Player in the CFL. He deserves it.

The Argentina Sub The San Juan is days away from its last days. Its currently on life support. The sub made in Germany 1983 is 66 meters long with a crew of 44. Last I heard they had an explosion on board. Other countries are at sea trying to locate the sub.

That was a nice 3 days off. I go in today to pick up my cheque and start a 5 hour shift out by 9pm to the bank and get what's left for me. Across the street at Shoppers I want to get a iTunes card to buy Cubasis 2.3 and Luma Fusion the video editing software for my new iPad on the way home. After all it is black Friday. I made using i0s 11 screen recorder off of Garageband using Apples Live loops a crude video: You can see it here: Anyway, that's all for now.

Atco our local gas company

has been out here for about 3 weeks now. They have our sidewalk blocked off vehicles that look like large milk trucks out behind us here, "ditch witch's", crews with yellow X's on their vests and yellow helmets. There's orange security mesh all over the place. Its not just here its all over the North East. I think they are replacing sewage and gas pipe lines that have been imbedded in the ground since the 1960's.

What with this unexpected shift cancelation I could have gone to lodge last night. It wasn't my lodge but with Black Friday coming up in a few days, I don't know when I'll be called back in. Anne suggested because I had some unexpected resources that came in the other night, I could at least use some of that to get the iPad at the Southgate Apple store. I called ahead at the store to make sure they had mine in stock and my finale price for the iPad and the cover. We left out of here with that knowledge about 3pm in good spirits. We headed out to the lrt at Clareview station. The train we we're on was the same train I'd leave out of that time of day for my job at the Heart & Stroke foundation, that same time of day. We got the basic iPad (space grey black bezel) and the cover. Even the bag was luxurious. Over to the food court for Taco time, Anne had A&W. The mall was very busy. Anne took a photo of me:

Not much time to crop the photo but here I am at the age of 65. I hadn't eaten yet, which is why I look meh. After that Anne had a 2/1 coupon for Dairy Queen (dq). We went back to the Apple store (busy) to see if they could help me with the set up the iPad. They did and all I'd need to do was to when at home, to contact Telus and have it set up to access the Internet. By this time it was closing in on 6:30pm, so we left out of the mall and got the train back to Clareview station. I got home at 7pm. I probably could have rushed to dress and left out of here at 7 and would barely make it but I wasn't with it what with my new item.

I watched the Oilers/Saint Louis blues game at 2-0 Blues end of the 1st. I thought here we go again. I stayed with the game until it was 4-0 Blues. I tuned out after that and got my iPad set up instead. Better use of my time. The worse part of all this is the Oilers are playing tonight. Where? I don't really care. The Oilers woes began when Draisaitl received concussion like symptoms October 9th the 3rd game in and a stick to the eye. That and having a 4 day game lay over didn't do us much good. The Oilers fell apart after that. I'm not writing the team off just yet but the season for the Oilers looks like its over and done with. Best they can hope for is last place (again) to get a good position in for the lottery for another uggh #1. November is the make or break it in the NHL. I'm home tonight (I hope) and I'm going to try and make a track in the new Garage band 2.3 update. On Friday, I'm getting Cubasis 2 and another i0s app. Anyway, that's all for now.

Its a cold November

Monday but at least its sunny and feels like -24 with the wind chill. That's ok because after its starts warming up to single digit numbers.

It was interesting to hear the passing of Charles Manson this last weekend. His passing away is no love lost that's for sure. Even when Manson burst on the scene I was 17. We got the same news about what happened like everyone else did. At that age just recovering from my back operation, in a body cast, most teens of my generation were interested in Woodstock and the Hippy movement. Charles Manson was at the time a peripheral character to what was going on at the time in the broader sense of the term. To me the name Charles Manson barely registered into my daily life back then. I had other fish to fry.  

Despite the crappy Oilers and the bad decision making of the Eskimo's in the CFL Western finale, Survivor series made up for it. The trouble (I think) with the Oilers this year they have a target on their backs. What with making it to the 3rd round and nearly to the finale, plus all of the accolades of McDavid, the huge upcoming salaries, yeah I can see why the Oilers would have a target on their jerseys. As for the Eskimo's, we gave up 6 points on field goal attempts due to the wind, and add the lack of ball security (fumbles) and bad decision making by the head coach, is what cost the Esks the game. On the other hand, Survivor series made up for it. AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar, wow. Even the main event was a off the chart wow. Tonight is going to be interesting.

As for today, I had to call in and rebook a Doctors appointment for the 30th and its off to work back home for wrestling. I'm also trying to get Telus to walk me through how to set up my new Nintendo 3ds Xl since they replaced our modem a few months ago. I'll be doing that. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had one of those days where nothing was going

right with me. It all began with that Oilers loss in Dallas. And when I got the energy to get up and make some music in Ableton, I had trouble. Then Fl. Studio crashed on me, Sonar wouldn't work and even Korg Gadget on the iPad failed to do anything for me, its not just my day. I should have gone to lodge. I just got this image from my sisters Fb page:

So tomorrow I have the Esks/Stamps game on at 2pm. That should go to 5pm and from there its right into WWE's survivor series. Anne makes us her nice late Sunday brunch, she does face time with her sister. I'm just waiting for Anne to call, and I'm done for the night. Anyway, that's all for now.

There was a schedualing mix up

at work and I think I wrote myself out of today's shift. Anne said not to worry at least we have back up resources unlike if this happened a year ago. It's a long story but at least I still have a job.

I'm not sure what to make of this but a group calling themselves the "Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence organization" announced that they beamed a binary-coded missive via radio waves last month to a star system GJ 273 in hopes that if there is an advanced civilization, they could receive the signal 2029 in 12 years from now. Assuming there is an advanced civilization able to pick up the signal. The star system is 12 light years away. The only problem with this is, could these aliens be benign or hostile? MEIO thinks any success of this will happen in about 30 years. Its an interesting concept broadcasting us to ET instead of waiting to hear from ET. but why couldn't they do this with a star system that's closer? Here's a link to the story.

Odds are pretty good now that I don't have enough for the computer, I'll be getting the iPad next weekend instead. Garage band has a new update, there are some other music apps I'm excited to get and I want to test this new screen recording in i0s 11, and Apple released a new i0s 11 update. So, I have 3 days off. Enough time to get a video out there. Anyway, that's all for now.

The new

project at work is going well, I like it. We're hoping to have this completed by December 3rd. However, it doesn't look like I'll be able to put Saturday in for this pay period as we're at capacity now. I'm ok with that. A four day work week is just what I need.

Not that I anticipate dying anytime soon but I'm looking for a local solution for estate planning. Not that I have any cash. I'm checking around to see about settling my affairs before I die, like cremation, burial tombstone etc for both Anne and myself. Just to see what my options are. I never thought about this when I was younger. I doubt we ever do. Now that I'm a senior I don't want Anne to wake up one morning to find a lifeless body and not knowing how to cope with my passing away when that time comes. Or her for that matter. That way I can sleep at night knowing everything is taken care of with Anne and I. So, I think first of all, I need to appoint a relative as the guardian of my "estate" and I need to get out a will. I won't have any money to leave Anne when that time comes I just want her to know, everything is all set up for her. If that makes sense? Hopefully there will be room for our urns and our urns for our cats. I don't have much of a legacy but that's another topic.

I was in the office and focused on my job but I was surprised to hear the score of last nights Vegas/Oilers game. Visitors 1/Oilers 5 and that was at 9pm when I was signing out. It wasn't until I got the score at home it was Visitors 2 Oilers 8! To use a football term, the win did nothing to move the chains in the standings. We need a couple more wins to do that. But still, wow. I doubt we'll see the Oilers score like that again this season. Anyway, that's all for now.

Looks like our local

weather is going to become more steady then was actually in the forecast of double digits. The revised forecast now has us at single digits, except for one day. The way things are going, we could be at single digits all November. Works for me.

Sigh. All these recent Hollywood sexual harassment allegations are getting silly now. I wonder how many of these claims would stand up under a polygraph test? How many more of these claims would evaporate upon hearing the phrase polygraph verification? In my opinion there are several benefits for these people that make these claims. Firstly, it raises their profile. Being elevated as a victim, has more appeal. The other one is for financial gain. Ever since these claims have been out in the public eye, so far I've never seen or heard the word polygraph in any reference. Maybe the claims are hoping they can settle out of court for big bucks. These kinds of tactics are so obvious and transparent. Now don't get me wrong for the obvious high profile cases, I can understand and empathise. For everything else, yeesh already.

It seems that the gaming company Bioware here in Edmonton, wants to move from Whyte Ave to the EPCOR tower occupying 3 floors in late 2018 or early 2019. Its good on one hand but not good on the other because its just leaving another building empty.   

I'm hoping during the upcoming black Friday weekend, I'll be able to get a new computer to replace the aging 2005 media centre. If my product isn't in stock, then I'll get the iPad. I win either way since 10s 11 now has screen record. Anyway, that's all for now.

My next break

other then this Remembrance day weekend will be the Christmas break. I'll get 11 days off for that. I like having these little breaks in between projects.

What, so i0s 11 can now screen record? That's huge. I think I might need to rethink getting the computer for another time as not only will this new feature allow me to record i0s game play but also will let me record i0s apps as well in real time for putting together tutorials, that sort of thing. Because of this, I'm almost ready to buy the iPod touch 6 gen from across the street tomorrow. I also found some Nintendo mods from GameinCanada, which I need to research a bit more. Interesting stuff.

I don't pretend to know a lot about the Trans pacific partnership (TPP) except that 12 countries are involved. Excluding the US. The overall GDP of the 12 member country's represent ~ 40% of the economy of the entire world. The average value to Canada is something like $158.8 billion worth of natural resources to member countries. Its huge. There are going to be some winners and losers but the Federal Government has promised to subsidize something like $5 billion to protect those sectors of our economy adapting to the TPP should it go through. Just as long as sovereignty, internet and pensions are secured, I'm (in theory) all for this. Canada is in Vietnam right now, going over the deal and apparently a deal has been reached in principle.

Ok, Sunday I'll be watching the Eskimo's/Winnipeg CFL game on at 2:30pm tomorrow and the Oilers are in Washington. That game gets underway at 5pm. Then I've got some paperwork to do tomorrow night for my gis. I'm sure that's not the last of that I'm going to hear about that and my service Canada visit. Anyway, that's all for now.

Other then some running around

today, I have 4 days off. I needed to go to the office today and collect my cheque. I caught up with a colleague that discovered a New Age book store I used to solicit back in the mid 1980's.

I sometimes get asked this time of year: "Hey Jim, why don't you wear a poppy?" Its not that I'm not appreciative of what our troops did for us past and present. Its just that every time I wear a poppy, its life expectancy on my outer garments is very short and they keep falling off my coat. I got to the point where why bother? I know there are more permanent poppies. I have a lodge one but I lost the part that permanently clips to my coat. I'm going to get another one soon. I may not be at a Remembrance day ceremony tomorrow, but I hold great esteem for the sacrifices our troops have made.

Apparently Nintendo is ramping up Switch console production. Since last March when the Switch appeared Nintendo sold more then 7.60 million units. I'm considering getting one but I've got some big plans in store for my Zelda new Nintendo 3ds xl. I'm also looking into a You Tube gaming channel, when I get the new computer latter this month this month. One can not live on music production alone.  As for the Switch, that might be something to consider for the New Year.

Sports wise if I want, I can watch the Oilers tomorrow at 11am. Most likely I'll be up. Also, Sunday is the Grey Cup game at 2:30pm. The Eskimo's are in Winnipeg and it win and we advance to the finales. Lose and we're done. As for the Oilers, I'll follow the game but only watch it if it looks like there's a game and the Oilers play a back to back this weekend, Sunday in Washington. I think the Oilers are good for at least one of those games, good stuff. Anyway, that's all for now.

I tried the new

280 character version of Twitter earlier. I think its a good idea. Does it mean that we'll be able to upload more then 2 minute video's? Still its better then having a python down my pants.

I was never a baseball fan. I just found the game too slow to watch but I liked playing it when I was a kid. Its fun to see some of the highlights. I felt a bit of a disconnect when news broke of the death of Roy Holliday yesterday afternoon. Its a sad day for sport.  

Looks like I could have a couple of days off here from work for reasons I can't get into. If it happens its going to be welcome relief to say the least. I could use 2-3 days off. Anyway, that's all for now.

Just busy what with work and all

I'm in from 4-9 all week. Because its Remembrance day, we have that day off. Its not a stat paid holiday for me because I've been taking Saturdays off. I can't catch a break. What with working so much, looks like my chances of being invited to the Paris climate summit are slim too none :-)

So far early November the weather is holding. Its not great but I've been able to get away with a t-shirt under my winter coat and wearing a t-shirt in the office. If the weather holds up like this for most of November, then it could be a shorter winter. We're supposed to get snow today.

The under 500 Oilers are on the ice tonight. We have 13 games to play this month. November is a make it or break it month. Most of those games are on the road, so our chances of even playing 500 hockey I think are fading fast. Anyway, that's all for now.

That was a good 4 hours of sleep

and for most Saturday's getting up in the morning, that's ok. I'm 10-3pm today because I need to go to my music store and pick up a couple of midi cables for my Scarlet 2i4. I meant to pick them up last weekend but I didn't bring enough funds. This time I will and I'll check out "Monument" by the West entrance of Corona station after I get my book and get a bite to eat before I head out on my commute home.

I'm looking forward to the new Marvel movie. We, really liked Civil War. Doctor Strange wasn't too bad but "Thor Ragnarok" looks really good. "Justice league," and Star Wars looks good as well. I think there's a sequel to Civil War in the works coming out because it was very popular.

I'm still reading "Way of Kings," and the way I'm going, I'll have this read by this time next year. I read a bit everyday but I'm itching to read some cozy mysteries just to break up the narrative flow, so to speak.

My work hours look like they are returning back to normal next week. I'm in 4-9 and this Sunday we set our clocks back an hour. At the moment we're -17 but by the time I leave out of here it should warm up to about -10 with no wind chill, but I have a warm coat tuque and most of the sidewalks are clear. I'll use the ETS app to find out when my next #5 bus arrives at Central. Anyway that's all for now.

Too much running around this week is

beginning to catch up with me; what with Lodge practice Sunday night, leaving early for work Monday, off for Halloween, leaving early for work Wednesday, lodge yesterday and leaving out for that at 5pm and leaving out earlier then usual today plus I'm up early tomorrow, yeesh.

Actually I'm looking forward for work Saturday because its only a 5 hour shift. I need to get to Long & McQuade pick up some midi cables then its over to Audrey's (if there's time) and maybe get a bite to eat at Tim's on my way. I should have bought them last weekend but I didn't bring enough cash and I wasn't sure what I needed, until now.

I got up on the late side today about an hour ago. I've got just enough time to relax make a post and have my first coffee. Anne wanted me to take Saturday off but I said how I need to work that day. I'm trying to budget for a black Friday computer here in town. Anyway, I got some other stuff to do before I have my bath and pack up to leave. That's all for now.