I stayed up late yesterday morning because I had Wednesday off

so with that I went to bed about 4am yesterday morning. I get my coffee ready in the morning shave and fire up the computer. First thing I do is check out my email. There was a email from my supervisor at work. Uh-oh, that can't be good. I called the office and they wanted me in for Wednesday and Thursday I can have off. No penalty on me if I opt out. It was short notice. They wanted me in to start at 3 work to 9. That  in itself is ok. So, I opted out. Then I get another call saying that Thursday's shift was canceled. So I was able to work Wednesday after all. Sounds like they pulled one over on me but that's ok. I need the hours and I'm glad I went in, I love my job. I just wish the hours were better. I got today off instead and I'm not picking up the phone today and I'm ignoring my email except for personal email. Not work related.

I've been hearing a lot about "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," the upcoming TV show based upon Marvel's comic book. I'll watch a bit of it but I doubt we're going to see S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bad guy groups like A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) or Hydra. That was the 1960's S.H.I.E.L.D, gasp! I'm hoping to eat my words but I doubt the series will fly beyond the 2nd season. The original comic was called Nick Fury agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury was a James Bond type character. This is going to be a CSI kind of a show but a bit jazzed up.

Multi Man publishing is about to release a very ambitious addition to their ASL core modules: "Rising Sun." Its a "Monster" ASL game coming out soon on the World War 2 Pacific theater. With the modules I'm missing I could easily spend $500 on ASL games, I'd probably never play. The price is a bit steep but if I had the money, I'd probably get it and I still might, after I get my computer. The last ASL game I bought was Kampfgruppe Peiper I back in 1993 while ASL was part of Avlon Hill. I'm missing 8 games and the "new" rules book.. 

Despite all of what went down yesterday, I had a decent shift but it was slow. I had a 30 minute break shortly after 6pm and a 10 minute break about 7:45pm. I had a colleague to ride the train home on and I caught my bus and home. 

Friday I'm starting at 6pm and off at 10pm. I'll miss some of Smackdown but tonight I'll be home able to watch all of Impact wresting. Saturday I'm in at 11am and I can get my morning breakfast at Tim's. Since I'm off at 6pm, I'll be able to get home in time to watch the Argo's/Eskimo's game and check in on the Oiler game.

Speaking of which, the Oiler's made another dumb assed move yesterday. They put Ryan Jones on waivers. It means that a team can pick him up before training camp. I'd take Ryan Jones over 4 goals RNH and his $7M a year salary any day. I'm hoping RNH will prove me wrong but this year, because of the huge CFR road trip and the Olympic 10 day lay over, the Oiler's again wont make the 2014 playoffs. They won't get in the playoffs until they get out of Rexall Place, which will be for the 2017 season and that's another 3 years away. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

Lots going on this week.

Monday night Raw, Tuesday Oiler game, Wednesday Lodge, Thursday valentines day, Friday the beginning of a long weekend.

I’ve been having a bit of a problem with my right heal. It seems to dry up with crackling skin. We think it’s diabetes so I’m putting some Vaseline on it and covering it up with a sock. Hopefully that will help out.

My favorite board game Advance Squad leader seems to have a active presence on YouTube. Multi Man Publications most recent ASL offering has been one of their Historical modules called “Festung Budapest.” There is an un-boxing of this game and it’s a huge game. The only thing I don’t like about it is that MMP went and changed the SS counters from their traditional white on black to like every other counter in the German OOB. I don’t know why they did this and some of the comments about the SS counters not being their traditional colors put some players off. Even 3rd party ASL treatments keep their SS counters in their traditional color. The other thing about the game it’s like a $130 price tag. I’m thinking about buying this because it might have a limited print one.

Finally the Oiler’s won on the road. They are still in 9th place but I think this is where they will be all season. Roughly between 10 and 9th. Dubnyk was in net and he stole the show. Hall was called for goal tender interface and with his speed propelled him up onto the net and over. Made me laugh. 

I’ve got a full day ahead today as I’m up at 7am and out the door at 8am. I should be home about 5:45pm. Next week I’ll be able to pencil in my own hours. 34 hours is full time. I’m used to 37.5 at my last job but that was including Saturdays. I’m glad I don’t have to do them anymore. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

Christmas, I love it

Anne loves her new iPod touch. It's the 4th Gen but I thought it was the white one but it's the black one. Still she's got face time iM and wifi and I'm working at getting her an Apple ID so she can get some free games and iM photos etc. It can do all my iPad can do but smaller.

I normally do a year in review just before NewYears and it's something I don't usually share. However in the case of books I've read only 3 this year. Actually make that 2 because I read most of the "Game of thorns" book in 2011. normally I can read 8-10 books in one year, but here's a photo of the books I finished this year:

Before I got married I was an avid Advanced Squad Leader game player (ASL) I had a few opponents but I got married and that languished. I had most of the games and modules. Then the original owner Avalon Hill sold the game to Multi Man Publishing (MMP) went and the rest is history. There aren't a lot of people playing ASL now, I'd say maybe 5,000-10,000 players world wide but new people come into the hobby all the time. A YouTube search can offer a nice buffet of ASL goodness. Most of the players I hung out with have kind of vanished from my radar screen but only recently a few of them have surfaced and still want to play but since I bought my games (last one 1992-ish) MMP revamped the rules book and the counters, just about the whole ASL hobby and come up with new games every couple of years. Lately one of my gaming buddies from the old days surfaced thanks to Facebook and I've been trying to get his phone number but he always forgets to respond back. He wants to play New Years day, which would be perfect for me because Anne is at work. I doubt my friend will provide his number but if he does, I'm game. I don't know about purchasing all of the modules all over again and some are out of print. Even some of the ones I've missed as MMP. That's why we  have Ebay. 

As much as I love Warhammer 40K and all as I'm collecting all 13 (so far but I have only the first 2) "Space Marine Battles"I also want to get the Horus Heresy series and there's 22 books (and counting) plus I want to read all of the short stories The Black Library has out. Warhammer 40k daily!  

Our local Coast 2 Coast affiliate is off for a couple of days because of Christmas, so they've been playing canned Christmas music and I'm missing my Coast 2 Coast not that tonight's show matters too much but Wednesday night's show is on Planet X. I was thinking about joining Coast's "Insider Club" when I get back to work and that way I'll have all shows streamed to my computer for latter listening. 1 Year is US $54.95, which isn't bad.

Every month I get my Lodge Newsletter and I enjoy reading the "Alberta Freemason" but lately it hasn't been included lately. I think its because its going online. I'll find a link to it. Anyway that's about all for now, Merry Christmas everyone.

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