December is going to be

extremely tight around here for Anne and I. We might even need to make use of the food bank. Including December I have 20 months 21 days to go until pension and I'm literally counting down the months. With pension, I'll be able to work a few days a week, go to lodge, make music sleep in late stay up late. Also, I'll be able to get a annual bus pass. "Living the dream" eh?

The other day city council selected TransEd its P3 (Public, Private, Partnership) for Valley line. Other then that, the line is just getting prepped for the odd obstruction along its path from Millwoods town mall to City Centre mall. Valley will be low floor and will use independent signaling architecture then that of the Capital line. Individual cars will be contracted out by Bombardier using their Flexity tram format. Also it looks like we're in good position to get funding for the 2nd phase of Valley line out to Lewis farms by 2025. We'll know more about that in the New Year. In 9 years I'll be 71 if I get there. I hope I live long enough to see it and ride on it. I think the challenging parts to this project wont be laying down the track but the individual stations. Some of the track will be elevated and the tunnel on the North bank of the Saskatchewan River might be challenging as well as the new train/footbridge. Phase 2 is the longest portion of the Valley line but no elevated track. All track is at grade and so are the stations, and no tunneling. Most importantly no house clearing. In You Tube just type in Valley line LRT Edmonton and there's a cool video on the what the project will be like when its done.

The Oilers played much better last night in Detroit. They had tied the game at 3 going into OT. D played good until the OT period. Oilers playing in Pittsburgh tonight. Also, Rogers place arena added a "bowl cam" so we get to see the whole ice area put together. Anyway, that's all for now.

Tomorrow morning about

9:30 I'm on the road to my pcn and then to my place of employment to confirm any work for next week. While there I'll check my availability for this month and fill out a calendar for September. While downtown I'll pop into the 109th and Jasper employment agency to see about taking a possible course this fall. Other then that, not a lot going on this week. Also Thursday night while I'm at home I can watch the Esks/Al's game. That's the highlight of my week. 

There's been no word so far as to when and if our 15 month delayed Metro LRT line will open. There was supposed to be a audit report August 1st. Monday the Mayor said "Eventually." Huh? Apparently there is something about this August 17 so maybe we'll know what to expect from there. That's not a opening date. The City is still testing cars on the Metro line. The city is also hard at work on the early stages of the Valley line with building demolition at key areas along its route. By this time next year, Valley line lrt construction will be well under way. 

Anne's working this evening. We've had to put up with each other and the heat for the last 3 days. I'll be glad to get back to work because being held in limbo like this isn't doing any good for my self esteem. If the office calls me today, great I'm there. This is why I'm looking forward to pension folks. I'll  be out of the rat race. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm still bringing up a lot of

phlegm but for the most part that cold I had last week is almost gone but never say never right?

The other day ETS went and fired their top manager over all the recent delays over the opening of the Metro line. Metro was supposed to be in full operation a year ago but ETS hired Thales to modernize its signaling system. The original system was put together by General Electric. Thales had to merge the old technology from 1978 with the new technology and that's why there had been so many delays. ETS's last manager had over 30 years of experience in transit so he ended up being the scape goat in all of this. ETS says the Metro line will be opened when its reliable enough. Translation: When the City can have a staged opening and the Mayor can make his speech with the Province, Feds and ETS partners as a backdrop. In the meantime the testing of cars along Metro and Capital lines is continuing, stay tuned.

Anne's getting up in about half an hour and wants to go over to Wendy's for me before she heads to work. Great. Then I can get cleaned up and leave out of here for Lodge. 

At least I'm sleeping a little better

over the last couple of nights. Saturday/Sunday night because I had that sleeping pill and this morning because I had that beer. Also, I backed off on the Coversyl because I feel it might have a side effect, which could be why my circulation in my lower right leg has been bothering me over the last week. Before I got married when this blog was just a hard copy diary in my own hand writing, (1997) I had a security guard job. It was then my sciatic nerve really acted up on me causing pain along my right side. I don't know how I was able to cope in doing that job. That was when I was in Amway at the time and I recall a trip down to Calgary. I felt every bump in the road there and back. I haven't felt body pain like that in a long time and that was way before the diagnosis of my diabetes was confirmed in 2004. So I'm also thinking this could be sciatic because I can feel it all along my right side but its not as severe as it was back in 1997.

Switching gears, I'm really enjoying this Horus Heresy series. "Mechanicum" is the 9th book in the series and the only one that I haven't read is "Decent of Angels" book #6. I just couldn't get into it. I can always come back to it. The book kind of strayed from the story line. Up next is "Tales of Heresy." Its a collection of 6 short stories.I hope to begin that one at the end of this month. 

The Metro LRT line is in testing mode. Posters on the Connect 2 Edmonton forum have uploaded some photos of cars on the track. Not that I'd use Metro much but it would take ridership pressure off the Capital line and make my commute more comfortable. I'll be able to find a seat easier on the way home at night and often Anne and I go out to the Ramada at Kingsway for brunch. It'll make it more convenient to get out to Kingsway mall.

Its a short work week this week because of Victoria day. July 1st falls on a Wednesday so our next long weekend wont be until August 3rd. Not that this was a long weekend because I was working Saturday. Two days off for me is a long weekend. As of this August I'll have 1 more year until I can apply for pension and as long as we keep things together here and I have my health, a year after that I'll be on full pension. Most likely I'll work 3-4 days a week. Anyway, that's all for now.

The contractor has had large flat screen

TV.'s for a couple of years now in our lrt stations, and they can become loud. So much so that some people have been complaining about being blasted by annoying ads. The city of Edmonton listened. Sometimes they can overpower the call arrival. 

This is cool. The main library downtown has had a market place for awhile now. The library has had a 3D printer, and book making materials to make ones own book. Now they added a couple of sound booths. These would be great for me to record "my vocals." I'm not sure if they come with microphones or whatever.

Not that I consciously wanted it but I have a long weekend. It means I have 3 days off. Nice, and at noon today there's the Oiler's/Sens game. What a lousy time of day for a hockey game.

The CFL went and released its 2015 schedule and Esks have a bye week game 2 and another one game 20! Even our QB had said on Twitter that the way this is laid out kind of defeats the purpose of a bye week. Anyway, that's all for now.

One of the most important projects

for Edmonton is the upcoming Valley line LRT (light rail transit) The city has set aside $800M for the project and Ottawa put in its share of $150M. With uncertainty over oil prices and its loss revenue the Province counts on to help balance its budget, there are fears the Province might renege on its promise its share of Valley line funding. The Province is promised $450M, through its Capita Plan and Green Trip initiatives over 3 years. If the Pronince balances the budget (March 19th) and the Valley line becomes the budgets sacrificial lamb, it could derail the future of this vital project. I'm hoping even if the Province does renege, the city should go ahead anyway and send the Province the bill for the balance owing. The City still has almost a $1B towards the Valley line. It's going to take about 4 years to complete phase 1 anyway and by the time the Valley line even completed a lot can happen between now and then. The budget will be before a Spring election April 1st. If the Province reneges on this, I will not be voting PC that's for sure.

We're getting a couple of snow days this week, Thursday and Friday. and then by this time next week we're warming up to about +1. That's not to bad to take.

I'm in the office for my 5-9 this evening. Then I have lodge Thursday, work Friday 5-9 and all day Saturday. I'll get a clearer picture of what next week will look like. I'm looking at a work from home situation just to fill in for missing shifts, only if it makes sense. If I can make $50-100 a week, this might have possibilities. Especially since I could use the extra cash flow. Anyway, that's all for now.

I can attach a memory to every

location I've lived in during my first 10 years. We lived in South Surrey and I recall standing at the top of the stairs one night afraid of snakes. We stayed in a motel room in between houses in Surrey but the memory is to embarrassing to share. We lived in a small house in New Westminster about the area of Royal and 10th. I remember a swing on a tire. Then we moved to Howie Ave in Coquitlam that's when Dad bought me my first bike. I recall riding it to show my friend. After Howie Ave. we moved to Regan Ave between Como Lake Road and Smith, Hailey and Townley. We lived in the home that is still standing since we left it in 1971.

At least its warming up out there siting at -13. We're supposed to go up to +3 Wednesday and enjoying a warming trend after that. With any luck we might be able to be above -10 for the balance of January. For now its Sunny  with a bit of cloud here and there.

Still down memory lane here but fast forward 2015, Vancouver is hard at work installing the Evergreen line. Its a 1.4 Billion dollar Northern LRT expansion from Lougheed Mall to Port Moody and Port Coquitlam, when it gets completed in January 2016. Photos are here.

I'm leaving out of here at 3pm. I'll cash in that free 6/49 ticket at Clareview station on my way in. I'm in 4-9 so I get 5 hours including half an hour break but only paid for 4.5 hours. All week its 5-9 and Saturday (I hope) 10-6pm. Apparently. Anyway, that's all for now.

The Alberta Wildrose party was and still is (barely)

the official opposition to the current Alberta Premier Jim Prentice Conservatives. Yesterday Danielle Smith leader of the opposition party, defected with 9 other of her MLA's to join the Alberta Conservatives or pc's. Over the past several months Wildrose MLA's began defecting to join the pc party. On various Connect to Edmonton threads yesterday, some of us (me included) were joking that the opposition leader Danielle Smith herself could join the pc's. Speculation to that end has been brewing for awhile now. I was shocked to hear this on the news late last night that Smith did indeed join the pc party of Alberta. Wow! This was shocking news but not totally surprising. With 5 Wildrose MLA's remaining in their party and Smith encouraging those left over to join her, what's going to happen to the party? If one more Wildrose MLA jumps ship, the rest will follow. I feel bad for all the Wildrose supporters that voted Wildrose in the last Provincial election April 23rd 2012. I'm sure they feel betrayed by the party leader defecting. There should be a rule that states if any MLA defects to another party especially as official opposition, they lose their seat. I wonder how many Danielle Smith supporters will vote for her during the next Provincial election, which is in the Spring of 2016. I'm sure many Wildrose supporters of those 9 that have defected to the Conservatives probably feel that the defectors now have zero credibility. If the Wildrose party is still in existence in 2016, I'm half inclined to vote for them.

It didn't take very long but we finally regained our internet connection over all 3 devices. It was a combination of Anne overloading the breakers and an old modem. Everything works fine now.

Thales is the signaling contractor for the Metro line. Its an lrt extension that was built last year and has been idle since last April when it was supposed to come online. Yet there have been several delay announcements since the initial April start. The City of Edmonton are no longer saying when Thales is handing over a certificate of safety and approval. I'm speculating that this wont be until mid April of next year. One year after, the initial line has been built. If oil prices keep dropping and the Province says they will be delaying the promised funding to the Valley line lrt (the next lrt line) that might get started in that case, until maybe after the 2016 election if oil prices don't rise to last Summer levels. Valley line delayed Provincial funding is a scenario that could easily happen. The Valley line from Mill Woods to City Centre downtown probably wont get under way if Provincial funding is delayed now until 2017. It also means that the City of Edmonton will have to revise its Capital City plan to the point that the Valley line might never get under way at all if the Province reneges on its promise and takes this project off the rails. Anyway, that's all for now.

I could do 50 hours

week for the rest of my life but I'm not going to get hours like that for awhile. If we just have a evening project, best I could get away with is 6 days and weekdays only 4 hours a shift. That's if they have evening calling only. In that case best I could get is 31 hours week or 62 hours on a pay cheque. However, that's not permanent. I need 50 hours/week until I'm on full pension. At that time, I could handle 31 hours/week easy.

Good news is I have articles and ebooks added onto my Kobo! Helps to have a memory card and ePub. I'm going to download a sample BL quick reads after I have about 8-9 hours of sleep before the Esks/Riders game. If the sample works out, I'll download "Legion."

Wow, the Oiler's finally won one in Buffalo last night! Good news. I'd be happy if they win 1 on this road trip. They won 3-2.

Whats this? Free wi-fi coming soon to all lrt stations? Soon meaning by this time next year. This is great. It means that I can access Esks/Oiler scores as my train pulls into the stations, nice. Anyway, that's all for now.

I had a good start to Tuesday afternoon and just exploded from there

and I had a record day. On my commute home it was +5 at 9pm!

I'm checking my email yesterday when I came home and there was a subscription message from the City of Edmonton. The Province is coming on board with the other half of the funding for the lrt Valley line/Millwoods to city centre lrt project. It's the missing piece of the funding project for phase 1 the Feds mentioned previously. It means now we can move the project forward and put shovels in the ground late 2015. It's a 5 year project. Phase 2 is from Edmonton Centre to West Edmonton Mall, which will be completed around 2024. It's just ten years away for t he whole project to be realized. I wonder if I'll live to see it.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is very strange (MH370) On the news last night a man broke down in front of authorities in the audience saying his daughter's cell phone still rings as authorities are doing what they can to resolve this mystery. Yet something sinister must have happened to have mh370 45 minutes into it's flight take a sharp left turn and "vanish." There are a lot of theories as to what happened. One conspiracy theory suggests that the plane was hit by a meteor, yeesh. Flight 370's transponder went off line after it had made the detour and the plan vanished from even primary radar. The most strangest yet are the 2 fake Iranian passports. Interpol has ruled out a terrorist attack and apparently the 2 Iranians were supposed to meet relatives in Germany.

I like this 5 hour shift but for now its only for the project I'm currently on. Anyway, that's all for now.

My evening wasn't that bad after all even though

I screwed up on several things, I didn't mess up that badly. I had a beer at the festive board and a good time. 

The Alberta Government had their budget unavailing and there is nothing yet for LRT. They did say they want to work with the Edmonton but the "Drop dead" dead line for the Valley Line LRT is April 30th. That's when costs are supposed to escalate by about $70 million every year the project is delayed. The City should just go ahead and build it now and pay for it latter and I think that's what they will do. it's to important for Edmonton. 

I'm in today from 3-9pm for a 5.5 hour shift and half an hour  break. So it's like a 4 hour shift with an added hour. Then I have Saturday off. I'm in on Sunday for a long day and Monday off. That's my weekend. Anyway, that's all for now.

Even though it took me almost a year to read

the Space Wolf Omnibus book, I finished it in January of this year and I'm counting it towards my "book quota" for 2014. 

Seems Russian military movement is massing along the Ukraine/Russian boarder. The Eastern half of the Ukraine speaks Russian for the most part and is pro Russian, while the Western part of the country is pro Europe. This has the makings of another 1968 Czechoslovakian campaign. If it gets that far. 

Our Mayor Don Iveson is in Ottawa at the Big City Mayor's caucus. He's putting some pressure on Ottawa to get more funding for our LRT. Ottawa knows that Edmonton is the fastest growing economy in Canada and or population growth is booming because of it. We need to move people and labor and the LRT is the way to do it. We already have $800 million and we're short $750M more to make this happen before the Summer construction deadline when after that the cost of the project price tag goes up. We're hoping to get $250M from the Alberta Government's Green Trip program and another $150M from Building Canada.The City hopes another $365M from the Provincial budget is released today. With the Province having $1B+ surplus this year, we might be able to access some of that. All the preliminary design work is done. Hopefully if all the funding is in place this Spring, we can get building this important LRT line. Even if we don't get the $365M immediately, I feel we should move forward with construction now and next year get additional funding. I got a feeling that's how this is going to go.

Finally the Edmonton Oiler's are back in action tonight against the Wild. I'll be working, what  else is new? I might be able to watch a Oiler game Saturday, so we'll see. With the NHL trade deadline coming up maybe MacT will make some trades but most likely they will be either minor ones or the Oiler's will be quiet. With 22 games left they want to end the season on a high note. My guess is they will be quiet and do nothing, I hope. 

Since I began my music creation/production hobby in the fall of 2010 I haven't been doing much music creating. Sure I got some hardware and software but my main stumbling block has been getting a computer that can keep up. That's what's holding me back. Don't expect a lot. I'm just doing EDM/Rap/Chillout stuff. I want to do some covers as well but nothing earth shattering. This year, I'm getting the computer working with what I got. Expect to see some material out of me in the fall.

I got another 4 hours ahead of me for later today and the inspectors are coming in between 8-5 today to do a follow up. We got that crisis out of the way, they just came in looked around where everything was and left. 

This weekend is going to be a cold one with temps around -27! My Saturday morning commute is going to be a cold one. Anyway, that's about all for now.

We're in for a cold spell for a couple of days but the way the media talks about it

OMG, we're all going to die! 

On Coast tonight: Future of the Mind/ UFOs. First Half: Dr. Michio Kaku will discuss the astonishing scientific research being done in top laboratories, all based on the latest advancements in neuroscience and physics. Kaku will detail how one day we might have a "smart pill" that can enhance our cognition, be able to upload our brain to a computer, and perhaps even send our consciousness across the universe. Old science fiction concepts but quite plausible the way technology is going.

Mayor Iveson will be heading for Ottawa soon. Mainly to meet with the powers that be that dispenses funds and try to get more funding for our LRT SE valley line. We need another $500M. If BC can get $2B for a useless "Evergreen" line that connects Port Coquitlam to their Sky train system, we should be able to get more funding for the fastest growing city in Canada. I believe he's going to make it happen. 

Probably Thursday afternoon I'm out of here to AW. I still want to keep my main job. I just want something to do during the afternoons. Preferably something along the LRT. If I can get a full time job that pays better, no problem. I wouldn't even mind a small stock room job as long as I can sit down once in awhile. 
            
We got the dishwasher out of here. The 2nd guy got it out  of here about 8pm and charged us $80. I felt bad for Anne because this was something her mother got for her 16 years ago They still have to give us a 48 hour notice, they are going to check our suite to see that we complied but if they are going to physically push my wife around I'll come in with the iPad and (if it happens, which I don't think it will) tape it. If anyone physically harms my wife, they'll answer to me. Anyway, that's all for now.

Today I'm off to my

second job, which means I'll be home to watch the last period of the Boston/Oiler's game. Even though my 2nd job has a higher rate of pay I'm currently losing money because my first job is giving me more or less full time hours. But for how long? We have another project about mid January that is days and this works out good in February because my 2nd job breaks for that month before starting up again March to the end of May. I don't know what I'll be doing at my first job in March. They might be just working evenings, I have no idea, neither do they at the moment.

The Alberta Government is stalling on LRT funding because they still think Edmonton's priority's are hockey arena's. We don't need money for that anymore. That's all taken care of. City of Edmonton (coe) yesterday made LRT (Valley line) their number 1 priority. This was made loud and clear and the Province is saying "wait until our Spring budget." Yeesh

On the Federal front Canada Post is downsizing big time. They're saying that within the next 5 years, there will be no more home delivery. Over the next 5 years through attrition, they are cutting 8,000 jobs. There still will be a Canada Post and mail but mail will now be moved to community mail boxes. These moves will save Canada Post $billions. 

Lately I've been doing some research on building my pc for music production. I'm looking at the AMD A10 as my cpu on a aMATX Gigabyte motherboard (mb) with 32 Gb Ram and 7.1 audio. I'm buying a new case as they don't cost that much and neither does the optical drive. The case I'm looking at has a built in 650W power supply. When I'm ready, call the vender and make sure they have the parts and have the time ready to see me. "So, I just go in and order the parts over the counter?" All I have to do make sure the funds are ready in my Scotia account the Friday before. Make an appointment and take a Saturday off, pack up my laptop take the train to Southgate and the shuttle bus to the vendor and hopefully get the whole thing done in about an hour. The big job is going to be in cloning my laptop onto the new drive. Anyway, that's all for now.

So I delivered the bad news to my wife that my hours

are reduced but I have options and resources, that's the good news. I still want to keep this job but get some pick up hours in the meantime until things pick up mid January. Thursday I'm heading down to Alberta Works to get some career counseling, resume` building and a job search. Since most employers want email resume` submissions only, that makes it easy to get my resume` into the hands of potential employers. I can always follow up from there. I've got great qualifications, good resources and a strong labor market going for me. Ok, enough of that.

This from i09:Turn your home into the Death Star with these amazing wall tiles. Turn any surface of your home into the cavernous surface of the Death Star thanks to these custom-made Star Wars tiles. This is really cool.

It looks like phase 1 of the Millwoods/Lewis Farms LRT project "Valley Line" will get under way in 2016 and completed by 2020. The preliminary design is done and the City is just waiting until the New Year to apply to the Feds and the Province for P3 funding. We want more from the Province (over $350 million) and just $150 from the Feds. the City has $800 million for the project. We should have the funding in place by 2015. It's about a 6 year project.

One of the really cool projects out of rocket company Ad Astra is their VASIMR plasma rocket or Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket. Basically unlike conventional chemical rockets that uses chemical fuel VASIMR uses plasma. The engine works and has been tested. It's hoped that the engine could be charged using the International Space Station. More of VASIMR can be found here.

One of my favorite shows growing up in the 1960's is a show called The Avengers and I don't mean the Marvel Superhero group. The Avengers became one of the first British series to be aired on prime time U.S. television. It had a budge of about $60,000 per episode. YouTube it! Great stuff. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Our service provider went and grouped their channels

so all of our favorite channels have been moved around now. Space was on 174 now it's on a 4 digit higher number and all the other channels have been moved around to accommodate groups. It'll get some getting used to.

Earlier on the news under the section called "trouble shooter," a local man noticed that he was being charged .15% on gift cards. He bought a $15 iTunes gift card and was surprised there was a charge. There shouldn't be. I bought a $15 iTunes gift card just last month. I should check into that next time. No gst on gift cards.

It was on this day 1978 35 years ago that I got word my UI cheque was transferred to the TD bank at Grandin Mall. I recall getting a bus at Westmount and heading to Saint Albert. I recall how hot and humid it was like today. The cheque I recall was $149. I remember receiving it and they cashed it for me. That was a lot of money back then but that was the 1st week of my new life. Hard to believe I was just 26 years old.  

Some more details on the SE/W Mill Woods LRT decision yesterday. The project isn't cancelled, just on hold. It was a unanimous decision from council yesterday to delay the project until they got all the funding in place. Once the funding is in place they can then put the project up for tender. Public consultations are still going forward as the Design phase gets closer to the Build phase. Next public consultation is Wednesday September 18, 2013. The SE/W LRT line from Mill Woods to Lewis Estates (past West Edmonton Mall) will cost $3.2B, add $60-$80M every year the project is delayed. It will take all 3 levels of Government to fund 1/3rd of the project. The City of Edmonton (coe) has earmarked $800M plus a possible $235M from Ed Stelmach's old "GreenTRIP" public transit fund. That's our 3rd. We need $2B. The Feds said they'd help out with $255M but that means they still need to put in $750M. With the June flooding that alone will cost about $5B and the Feds said they'd pay for most of that. Yet in 2015 there's a Federal election coming up and if the Liberals or NDP get in we might as well write the SE/W project off but that's just my opinion. So far no money has come forward from any level of Government. November 20 to determine how to proceed on the project. I hope they have enough money for stage 1 Mill Woods City Centre. We wouldn't have to be under the P3 rules and we can build it under our own rules but we'll have to wait and see.

I had a good day yesterday

despite this crappy weather.

Finally, it took a game away from the Rex but the Oiler's won in Denver 4-1 Oiler's. Even though the Oiler's are out of the playoffs they can still play for conference position. If they can finish 9th and a point away from a playoff spot,I'd say that was a good but short season. Hall and Eberle could get 20 goals.

Not being all that well,I booked off for the rest of the afternoon and headed for home. Anne had something similar to what I got and after she called in she stayed home with me this evening.   

I was going to go to Commercial but I'm still not well and I was out the other night besides, I really want to go to their 100th celebration. That's the big one.

It looks like state officials and the FBI caught the younger brother of the 2 brothers responsible for Monday's Bombings of the Boston marathon. But the I think it was the mother of the brothers that said, they had no motive. But their behavoir up to this point doesn't exactly bode well to support that notion. 

In doing some BC transit research history this morning I came across a huge LRT project that's going on called the Evergreen line which when completed in 2016 will connect to the existing Millennium line. It's all automated but it's on the outskirts of Coquitlam. It doesn't pass through the heart of Coquitlam By that I'm referring to Blue Mountain Road/Austin/Como Lake road. Most of the Evergreen line is serviced by bus anyway If they had this as a kid in the 1960's I might not even know it existed as we never got out to downtown New Westminster that much except maybe twice when they had a bicycle museum there and when dad paid a visit to the union hall now known as local UFCW 1518. I have a fragment memory in the car waiting on a sunny day as dad gave me a bag of bbq chips. I recognized the back end of the building from Google maps. When that memory came to me I used to think that there was a bar there and there might have been one on that location in those days. I thought dad was going in to have a drink but in all reality if that had been a union hall at that time, dad might have been going there to check up on a job. I have no idea how old I was. So those were about the only 2 times I can remember ever being in downtown New Westminster as a child. At the corner of Como lake/Clarke road there was Super Value food chain. Similar to Safeway. Mom used to get groceries there and if this Evergreen line was there in 1964 I would have been slightly aware of it. I'm sure this new line will help some people but for the majority of folks in Coquitlam this doesn't help much because you still need a bus to get from central Coquitlam to the Millennium line. In looking at this now, it reminds me of a make work project and it's going to be an eye soar in some places. If the train was at grade fine but it's on a pillar type system similar to what Calgary has to their west end. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I took it easy yesterday and same for

for today, not much going on. Just the way I like it.

Tonight on Coast the topic under way is Occult programing many cases of multiple personality disorder are the results of occult programming and many have been harmed. Their guest Russ Dizdar, might have a valid point. I had over 15 years of experience in the occult. Luckily for me I was not involve in it in a full time basis. Some people that have been in it longer then me, came out ok and level headed. Others didn't. A colleague in my local outlet about my age group was one of the most "go-it-together" people knew. Russel was a friendly fellow. he had survival training and was a Vietnam draft dodger. Still might be where ever he is. Back in the early 1980's we had a very prominent leader. I'll call him Mac. Mac and entourage were from California and was on a Canadian tour. He graced us with his presence with a slide show etc. He actually initiated me int the 1st degree. It really was a magical moment that night in 1982. I actually had Mac over at my place where the party was held. So getting back to Russel,he kind of took it personal that Mac allowed rival branch of the order to host Mac's tour. So much so that Russell was never seen or heard from again. The whole branch of the Edmonton order imploded upon itself.There was a lot if infighting and bruised ego's. By 1995 it was all over here in Edmonton. The order is still going strong in other parts of the world. I'm still in contact with some people from those days on Face book. In 1992 there was a story in our local papers about some guy that looked familiar. "Hey,I know this guy." Apparently he suspected that his common law girlfriend was seeing people from the rival group and he got paranoid because he found bus tickets in her pocket after work. After a heated argument he snapped and he punched her in the face a few times, took a crowbar to her, tied her up and tossed her into his pick up truck and said to her that he was going to the bushes out in the west end of the city and leave the body! Oh it gets better. He drove his truck along the Yellow head heading West.The Yellow head is a busy 4 lane highway. His wife got scared and stood and rolled herself out of the tuck and onto the road. Seriously. Someone in another vehicle on the road managed to help this frantic woman out and began taking her to the hospital. I guess Russel saw all of this unfold in her review mirror and as the vehicle got ahead of Russels truck Russel tried to ram it. Apparently he gave up on this and after this story broke 2 days later he turned himself in to Police. In his impact statement he said something like "They say I'm schizophrenia, I don't even know what that means." Knowing Russell,I highly doubt that. So what has the above anecdote got to do with Coast 2 Coast show's this morning? Was this schizophrenia of his incubating like an accident waiting to happen? Today most practitioners of the occult are isolated seekers of occult lore. That's where the danger lies. Sure some like Russell above, slip through but for the most part people getting into this stuff have no idea what they're getting into. I got in because this was organized. It had a unified code of ethics as stated within it's nomenclature. It was run in a professional and orderly way, which is why it has existed since the days of the Golden Dawn in the 1800's. People involved in the occult today do it for ego or financial gain, or something else. There is no accepted  manifesto. Most people in the occult today are playing kids games. There's no discipline or structure. These "kids" dress in black trying to become "Satanists" or Aleister Crowley wannabees,without ever realizing that there's actual work to be done. Russell ended up getting 4 years in jail for beating his wife and other charges. I doubt he's even in the City any more.  

Moving along here. On CTV local news the public got a good look at what the LRT tunnels look like be fore the tracks and other finishing touches look like. The City is on pace and on budget to have the Nait line open for business in April of next year. It's quite a departure for the City's LRT line because the extensions have always been going from South bound. Now the LRT is branching North for a change:
  

 As noted above from across the Epcore tower built a couple of years ago. Here's another shot of crews working inside the tunnel. They use something called shotcrete to spray tunnel walls. Here's another photo taken today like the one above from CTV news:

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The other track is on the other side of where work crews are leaning over. Here's a link to the story: https://twitter.com/AmandaCTV

Other then that my only outing is going to be Saturday as I'm taking the LRT down to Corona station to get some brunch at Tim's and then walk a couple of blocks to Lodge and that's it.

There might be a new laptop in my immediate near future when I get my tax return. I'm looking at getting the Acer V5. I like the fact it has a 3 USB ports, 8Gig Ram, integrated mic and Windows 8. I'm considering the touch version but it's $200 more then without the touch version. I'd like to have a bigger hard drive but 500 GB is double what I already have. It's an i3 processor and at just under $600 its a significant upgrade. We'll see what happens in the Spring though.

Hollywood is really running out of ideas for movies. They have one out about the last Tsunami and now there's another one about the shooting of terrorist Ossama Bin Laden. It must be a slow year for movies. Thank God science fiction is carrying Hollywood again. I am though interested in seeing: G.I. Joe: Retaliation (March 29)looks good, Iron Man 3 (May 3) Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17 Cant wait.) Man of Steel (June 14 Superman) Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8) There's 5 movies I want to see.I'm saving my Scene points (now at 2600) for Star Trek and Man of Steel. Anyway, that's about all for now.  
  

I slept ok from just

 after 2am until about 9:40 waking up before my alarm, shaved and showered.

I got a LRT notification from my “Connect 2 Edmonton” forum site and the LRT has service interrupted today as they are down to 1 track. Apparently the City is having a kind of breaking through the Nait line tunnel ceremony this  morning at 11am. I’ll see the highlights of this tonight. It’s going to be interesting to see how the timing between 2 tracks and 3 trains going in 2 different directions off the same track. Currently it’s just track 1 & 2. For the most part my train comes on track 2 heading either to Corona station or Clareview. Now there’s a train heading to Clareview and to Nait and the other way. In other words, 3 trains sharing 2 tracks. The only thing I can think of is if the Nait line doesn’t go all the way from Nait to Century park but stops at Churchill. Will passengers need to get off at Churchill to go South or East or go straight through? This is going to need some computer gymnastics to pull off the switching details. But it won’t be ready for another 15 months yet.

I’m having my coffee relaxing as I hope I’m in for a good full day. I don’t like the new script for CPC because it’s like were talking down to the public by saying that if they don’t support the party with a donation then like the NDP defending Iran, they become no better. Essentially we’re talking down to these people. I like the conversational selling aspects here and all, good stuff.

Looks like we’re going to be in for a decent day today weather wise. We’ve been under a bit of a mild winter so far. The past couple of winters haven’t been like what we used to have in the 70’s & 80’s. All these things go in cycles.

Monday I’m in early to make a bank deposit and get a haircut before work. But today it’s 7.5 hours and do the bank thing and home for a couple of hours and back to bed. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

I got up out of here

about 10:40am and had some cereal and fed the cats and got ready for my little jaunt downtown. At about 11:20am it was muggy out there but I had our Itouch player listening to some music by The Clash. I had a 10 minute wait for the train and a brief wait between Stadium and Churchill and I was at Scotia making my deposit. A brief wait for the train and (on track 2 this time, finally.) I was home about 12:40pm, so just under an hour. I got the funds uploaded to pp and this means I’ll have the funds in pp by next Wednesday.

ETS tunnel construction from the Bissel Centre to Churchill station is at the half way mark. They should probably break free to Churchill by the New Year if all goes well. I think they are 60% done and will have the new line opened on time April 2014. Which isn't that far away.

This upcoming round of CFL games are as thus Winnipeg(W)/Toronto, Saskatchewan/ Calgary(T), Edmonton/BC(T), Montreal/Hamilton(W). I'm going to play any game with BC and the Riders on the road as a tie. Week 3 I bombed out, again.

I like where I work downtown. What would make this perfect would be if I can keep my job or at least my next one, work in the general vicinity. I have Audrey's, BP's, Corona station, my Scotia bank, Tim's, Rexall Drugs and I'm within walking distance to LM. The only downside is my RBC bank where I do all my pay check cashing is a little out of the way. I hope I can stay at this job but I feel I'm on thin ice. I know I've said this before but it's a different company now where management is in the US. I won't be just called into the office on a moments notice. If anything, they'll give me a week to shape up or ship out kind of a thing. I'm ok with this, I just need some options to work with. I have a few. One thing I won't work for is for collections or Regional. I feel I have about a week or 2 before I get called into the office it's not a matter of "If" anymore it's a matter of when. I have some options to work with but I need a few more and I know a place where I can get those. Anyway, that's about all for now.