Montreal Canadians earned a

spot in the Stanley cup final. Very cool. Now all we need now is for New York Islanders to beat Tampa Bay lightning. Two Eastern teams Montreal representing the Clarence Campbell Western Conference, and either Newy York Islanders or Tampa bay lightning, reresenting the Prince of Wales. Thanks Covid, lol.

I'm working tonight and Saturday plus 3 days next week. I hope that's the end of it for awhile. I could use a couple of months off.

We're about to head into some really active warm weather, after today calling for some +32's, even some +34's. And we're going to have +27-+30's over the next week, uggh. 

Earlier I went and downloaded from the app store Synthmaster 2. Its got somehing like 2,000 patches its Auv3. Its a full synth capable of programing as well. I'm also enjoying my Loopcloud Studio account. Anyway, that's all for now.

I would have gone into work this evening

but it looks like a short shift anyway. Looks like I'll be back sometime next week. This kid of schedule fits in well with my lifestyle. I don't mind the time off at all. Plus it will give me a chance to check out Sage, get some lunch there, maybe get in a game of Cribbage.

Finally, I have Fl. Studio almost where I want it to be. After a bit of tinkering, It works well now with Streamlabs. I can play my vst's talk between sounds and screen record just fine. I'm looking to get the Keystep pro midi controller, and the Presonus Studio Live AR12 mixer, hopefully before the year is out, and Omnisphere.

Last night it was so cold as we were waiting for our 9:15pm bus. I was with Carolyn, Jen and Steve. Steve doesn't work with us. He's a truck driver that befriended me. When I went to cash in my free 6/49 ticket, he went to the adjacent liquor store to get a micky. He offered me a snort but I had the girls there with me. It was only ~ -21 but that wind chill even with 2 layers of clothing under my parka, just stung right through us.
It was pretty cold. Tonight the weather heading home will be much better for the shift there if there is one:

Tonight its Boston/Oilers at 6:30 tonight. It'll give my wife a chance to go on the computer in between loads of laundry. Friday the Oilers entertain Minnesota Wild. Saturday, I'm out with the lodge for a breakfast business meeting at Max. I'm going to try and get a ride out there. One of the guys going agreed but I have to set it up. I miss going out with my friend but while one door closes another one opens. Anyway, that's all for now.

We're having a snow day out there

but at least its mild enough for my commute in a couple of hours.

Even coming home tonight should be alright. Hard to believe that within 27 days Edmonton Sunsets about 7:25pm. Although the snow will still be on the ground, our cold snaps 
will be more or less behind us.

My activity tracker on my iPod has been sketchy lately. Some days are better then others. On a good day, I'm lucky I can get ~ 4k steps. Others like yesterday about 700. At the festive board bar the other day the guy there showed me his activity tracker on his phone: For that day 36,000 steps 😲? his job requires lots of walking. Plus he has a wrist activity tracker connected to his phone. Heck if I had one of those and a set up like his when I was working at the Army & Navy in the 80's, I'd have at least that many steps. Plus I had the paper route at the time as well.

I had a great 4 days off there. The wife and I were fighting for a bit in there, but that happens. I was able to lay the groundwork for a bit of a drum & bass track. Its just a short track but its going to have a trumpet as its main melody. I'm working on it when I get home this evening. Its in the C Major scale.

I should have enough work this week to last me up until Friday. This weekend being Valentines and Family day next Monday. I'm hoping to take Anne out for brunch at Albert's Londonderry mall. Anyway, that's all for now.

Jealousy is nasty business

folks. Jealousy can lose lips and sink ships. It can break up a marriage and divide a friendship. Jealousy is poison. Jealousy is blind and knows no loyalty. Jealousy has a mind of its own. Jealousy betrays and harbours feelings of anxiety. Jealousy breads bitter fruit and is possessive. I was on the other end of jealousy late last year, when someone I thought was a mutual friend of a friend of mine, betrayed me. In a text meant for him when I was vulnerable, does he talk about it with me first like most friends would? No. Without my permission he shows this text to the other friend and has her turn against me for his own ends. Be careful if these people. They may think they are your friends but in reality, they'll turn on you faster then a Game of thrones villain. Make certain they know that text messages are private, not to be shared without your consent. Don't just assume.

After about five months I managed to get a piece of music uploaded to You Tube last night. Its a music video of some samples I arranged in Fl Studio. Its an ambient number using an arpeggiator, a drum loop and a synth vocal sample plus some effects from FL. studio in the intro. The samples were lifted from some iPad apps and then uploaded to Audio share. Its a cool work flow. I used some automation, to make the track my own. The video is just under 2 minutes. I uploaded it to my Facebook "Shannon on Sounds" page as well. I'm also having a go at VCV rack. It's open source virtual modular software. VCV is kind of like a free learning source for those that like the concept of modular synthesis without spending money on the actual gear itself. I hope to get a video up on that in the next couple of weeks.

Still no word about work. Some people are saying that work is being slowed down due to the upcoming Provincial election April 16th. This makes sense because of all of the robo calls from the various candidates and political parties homeowners and cell phone users receive. Last night on the news, the Alberta party (Stephen Mandel) had a great idea to transport oil. Its probably nothing new but is to me. He has the idea to solidify oil to the size of hockey pucks, or larger. This way there is no need for expensive pipelines, or even rail. I imagine they could even be shipped by cargo planes. I like Jason Kenney's idea of pulling out of the equalization payment program, which sends billions of $ out of the Alberta economy to wealthy provinces like Quebec. lots of interesting stuff. I'm hoping to get back to work after the election. Anyway, that's all for now. 

The good news is that its Friday

and looks like I could be going back to work after our Thanksgiving day weekend. Like everyone else I have bills. Also, I have some plugins I want to buy for my music. When work slowed down at the end of July, I saved a bit for August and September.

Normally our local weather this time of year would be about 10-14. We're lucky today if we can get temps up to +6. 

We have a few days ahead where temps gain a bit more ground, to about 10-14. This autumn has certainly been cooler then past years. 

Looks like Kavanaugh passes, and gets to advance to the full US senate. Most people including myself thought this was a smear campaign but I got to admit I admire the bravery of Doctor Ford to give testimony under oath. I've been more siding with her then Kavanaugh. The vote was close one 11-10. Remember allegations are not fact. 

The wife is sleeping I'm sitting here thinking about another video I want to upload to You tube. Its part three of my "Jim's dub beat." Before I do though I want to get a 1/4" male to male cable that goes from my Novation Circuit, to my Focusrite audio interface to my computer. Signal path. This way I can record the current sample in my daw (Reason 10) and use the filter sweep of Novation. I might have to load a snippet of the sample in Circuit and affect the sample directly then record it from there. So, lets see I've got a Eskimo football game to watch tomorrow, two nights off to myself, this weekend and lodge practice Sunday So I've got things to do this weekend. Have a nice weekend everyone, anyway, that's all for now. 

A night off too myself at last

and one more tomorrow night. lately I've been messing around with Beat Maker 3. I couldn't grasp all of this Song mode pattern mode scene mode stuff, until I watched a video offered by Doug woods. I'm beginning to see the possibilities of this app. So that's my project for the weekend. And I'm undecided if I want to run over to pick up a mic stand with an extendable boom arm and the iKlip grip expand for smartphones tomorrow for overhead shots.   
Our household has been waiting until video on demand came out with the recent Star Wars movie. Now its here and we are resuming "Movie night" for tomorrow night. The cliché's in Star Wars are getting a bit old, so I hope that aspect of the last movie is toned down.

We had snow overnight. Not a lot but at his hour we're sitting at -11/-17< what it feels like. Its overcast. I'm hoping this weekend I can put together a Trap style beat on BM3, watch some Oilers hockey tomorrow. Anyway, that's all for now.

Since after Family day

I'm just doing the old rinse and repeat thing: Out of bed about 11am coffee feed cats, computer stuff, clean up ready for my commute and the job. Three pm bus to Clareview, try and catch that 3:05 train at Clareview to Central, into the office by 4-9 get that before 9pm #5 to Corona station, train to Clareview home before 10pm, relax a bit before Anne comes home, dinner about 11:30pm whole watching the news and then a bit of Late night and at the computer until about 4am. Rinse & repeat, 5 days/week, Monday-Friday.

I got most of my T4's for tax time. I just have the pension T4's and then Anne and I can file. Hopefully we'll have our notice of assessment by the end of March and I can apply for my annual low income seniors bus pass and our monthly Leisure Access Pass.

Over the last weekend I uploaded a You Tube video how to use i0s 11 screen recorder and how to get a screen recorder project workflow in stereo. All I did was get the audio as a separate track and muted the video using my Roland Go mixer to get the audio. Export both into my video editor on my iPad into 2 different project lanes on my video editor. Works great. The video wasn't that great itself as I was trying out different video production techniques. 

I had ten days off, which my last day was this Monday. And even though its a short week, my weekend begins today. TGIF. That's what I like about my job, sometimes we have breaks between projects. Anyway, that's all for now.

For some reason I needed to find out what kind of video

camera the downtown Library Makerspace uses. I was "shopping around" for a Go pro video camera. Searching on the web, I came across a bit of a list of equipment, and software the studio uses. They have Wondershare and Blender? Nice. These are popular computer video editing and screen capture software tools. It means I can make a beat on a sequencer like FL. Studio and screen capture (with audio) and upload it to You Tube. I'm going to try and book some studio time over the next few days.

Connect 2 Edmonton is a forum I visit everyday. Its all things Edmonton. A popular thread is Station Pointe. Station Pointe is a designated lot located just South of the Belvedere lrt station or more appropriately 129th Ave 66 street and Fort Road. Its been a bit of a running joke as its been more or less a empty lot. The developer seems to like hole in the grounds as in Corners 1. The City built this long decorative retaining wall along the lrt tracks about 2011. That's about the last time anyone has seen or heard of Station Pointe (other then on the c2e forum) until I noticed a couple of backhoes on the site the other day on my commute into work.

                             

The idea behind this concept was supposed to be a geothermal, totally green shovel ready project. Yet the developer has been dragging its feet for a long time on this something to do with a Government grant. Station Pointe was initially part of a Fort Road revitalization plan, which was original conceived in September of 1980. I'm not sure what the current status of this plan now. Is it ongoing or in hiatus or what? Station Pointe was to be the anchor of the Fort Road revitalization plan. Not that I could see anything from my vantage point on the train as in the above image but there has also been some hoarding done on Fort road, and maybe along 129th as well. I hope those backhoes I saw on site are the harbinger of things to come for this project

I have a day off but I'm going steady as of tomorrow. I've got Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday at my market research job. Tuesday, Wednesday I'm at my other job and Thursday I'm at lodge. Friday at the other job and Saturday and Sunday I'm at my market research job. The above will be going on like this until mid May, yeesh. As for tonight, I'm home watching the Oilers/kings game. We'll see how far I get with that but that's another story. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm enjoying my time off more so now then I did last year this time where my main job

I worked at this time last year as projects all but fizzled out last summer. I was fortunate to grab the job at Direct buy for July and August 2 last year. When I left my last market research job in February this year, I was left wondering what to do. Situation normal. I applied for employment insurance immediately (ei) and sent out two job searches and got the job I'm doing now. It didn't take long to find work. However work is slowly drying up at this job as well. They said around the end of June there would be projects over the summer even though work could be somewhat spotty at best. If I don't get confirmation of another project coming up this week, then I'll be out there along with the rest of of the unemployed masses looking for work. I need something else to fill in between short term and something steady 3 days there 3 days at the current job. Ideally the way things are going now, that'd be my best situation. The economy was a lot different this time last year then now. Or even more so April then even now. I've got a few call centre job options to pursue and being on ei at least I have some income until about the middle of September. After that, I'm back to where I was at the end of February. I'm not that desperate but by the middle of this month if I'm not working, I'll be feeling the ice buckle beneath my feet.

Switching gears here and a bit of a rant to follow. Now I'm about as tolerant of other religious beliefs as much as any Caucasian Anglo Saxon male can ever hope to be. There are so many religious beliefs out there as there are race and nations behind them. I welcome diversity but over this weekend there is this person (I'll call him Sparky) above us in the corner suite of my apartment building to the left near the street on one of the top floors that in this case give me pause. I mean my patience can only go so far. So Sparky is shouting out to what exactly I have know idea. We know who Sparky is. We've seen him independently of each other. Sparky is an old man with thin shoulder length bushy hair. He wears robes. When I'm waiting for my bus out here, I'll often see him squatting by the curb smoking some kind of tobacco at the set of lights or out in front here smoking, squatting. Because its a long weekend Sparky decides he should be shouting again to who knows what. He's speaking English from what we know. Its not in a monotone voice so its not like he's speaking in tongues. I'm not even sure Sparky is motivated out of some obscure religion. After Sparky makes a statement or whatever it is, he'll pause for a minute and something else comes out of his mouth and he's very loud. He'll go on like this until 3-4 in the morning. He went from about 3am to and started again about 9 this morning waking me up. Ear plugs helped for a bit. I'm sure we're not the only one's that hear this shouting. On our side of this unit we have 5 suites per floor of four levels. That's 20 suites including us, I'm sure somebody has made a complaint and has said something by now. I'm also certain our resident manager (rm) knows about this. Now because Sparky has been able to go on like this all weekend and even before this, its been going on, tells me a couple of things. 1.)He's either allowed to and is ignored by our rm. 2.)Or my neighbors are afraid to make a complaint. 3.)Or if my neighbors have complained to rm by now (and I'm sure since this has been going on through out the weekend they might have complained multiple times) and the rm shakes head "Its a religious issue," my neighbors simply gave up in frustration. 4.) Sparky is has Schizophrenia condition and is off his meds and the rm sites that as a answer. It has to be one of those 4 things. How come we haven't made a complaint? We need to keep a low profile here as well because we're paying about $300 less for our 2 bedroom apartment then the going rate. If we begin to make waves around here and bring undue attention to ourselves we could be faced with a rental increase so we don't dare complain. We avoided a rental increase last month but there's always this month. The security guard hasn't been seen for days and maybe that's another reason why Sparky isn't being challenged. Or if my neighbors have complained the rm might just say, "You'll have to take this up with on site our security after the weekend. If we hear anything from security then we can react accordingly." The other thing is as this is a long weekend the rm is unavailable. It's now going on to 1pm and I've been up composing this since 10am and Sparky is still going at it but easing up a bit. Hopefully tomorrow morning he'll get a notice under the door. 

Yesterday PM Harper had dropped the writ and has called for a formal National election. October 19. This is the longest pre election campaign in Canadian history. It will cost $500M. Since the bulk of the election will be decided over Ontario and Quebec because close to 80% of our Nation's population resides between those 2 Provinces. Our votes don't count for much beyond Ontario and Quebec and our votes out west wont decide which party gets elected. All our votes do is to decide which MP gets a seat in Ottawa. There are 338 seats this year from the 308 last election. This time I think I want to vote for the issues and not the party. I'm thinking our mission in the middle east is very important.  The NDP take that to lightly. I'm also voting with lrt funding in mind and the Liberal's have Amarjeet Sohi here in Edmonton. He worked with Mayor Mandel at City council. He's going against heavy hitter Tim Uppal. Lots of time to decide yet. 

Yesterday afternoon while the 4th floor man from upstairs gave us a break, I shot a video iPod Touch video and apparently (as I thought ) I took the volume down so low on the iPod, the volume sound icon had a slash for sound. I put together another little tune out of Maschine and sequenced it in Cubase. Then I did a mix down of a 2 minute song to a wav file. After uploading the wav file to iTunes and synching to my iPod Touch came the moment of truth. I could hear the kids from out back over the audio. Fail. The audio (more or less) is clean. My only other option is to book some time in the sound booth studio downtown and shoot the video again from there. Also, I'd be in a position to use some of the equipment in the studio like the video camera and use the Mac with Ableton. if they have monitors even better. Anyway this post has been over an hour in the making and that's all for now. 

My 2 minute iPod video with my

iPod I made Saturday night wasn't to badly handled. I even "synched" some of my own "music" to it. I just need to mix the audio better in Cubase. it could use some normalizing and some, and some compression. Also it could use some text. I'll be working on another video this weekend with different music. The iMovie format isn't bad and does the job but if I was going to do this more professionally, it would be with something like a Nikon d5100 on a tripod mount or take some gear and record it over in the sound booth. You can listen to it here.

The Stamps won on home turf 25-22. That last play the Al's had and they fumbled the ball. From the highlights the game was a good one. Thursday we're in BC and that's going to be a good one. 

Even though I'm more or less caught up with all 4 novels (I  haven't got the 5th one yet). I was over joyed to read in i09 that Ian McShane (sorry i couldn't resist) is getting a bit of love as a character in the "Game of thrones." I read one of the books and I found that I got a good idea how the series is going to play out. Anyway, that's all for now.

Having all kinds of

"fun" trying to get a short Maschine audio clip to sync with Cam Studio. Making some progress with Cam studio though. I'm missing a few components to have audio sync with video.

This weekend is Heritage day long weekend here in Alberta. Every Province calls it something else but here in Edmonton its just called Heritage days held at Hawrelak park over the last 40 years. Anne and I went together a few years back but there were few places to sit down. Another 5 pavilions will be added this year. So with having what looks like another 5 more days off I'm getting spoiled I worked 1 day in the last 15. Add to all of that, there's a out of market CFL game on tonight and I'm considering a trip across the street to have a beer and watch some of it on the big screens. Friday is the Riders/Eskimos and that's going to be one I'm looking forward to. What I like about Heritage days from a community point of view is that this is one of the largest drives for the food bank, which keeps them going until winter.

With no work over the next 5 days, I hope I get something soon. This coming up pay cheque will only net me about $50. I'd be in real trouble if it wasn't for me ei. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I've got a unexpected week off

next week but back to work next Monday. Especially since I've got a Doctors appointment Friday and we got this inspection hanging over our heads. What's great about this week off is I might be able to catch the Eskimo's/Riders preseason CFL game in Fort McMurray today and game #5 of the playoffs.

I've got my sights on the Electribe Sampler. I called LM and they said ETA should be about mid July. I'm almost sorry I bought Maschine MK2 when I did since Maschine Studio came out within a year of MK2 and another Maschine could be 1-3 years away. Any Maschine software packs after MK2 won't work with MK2. At least with the Electribe and my Komplete 8 I can create a wav file and import said file to the Electribe. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm excited about the

Markerplace at the downtown library and the sound booth they have. Most importantly the production equipment they have. I can't tweak my hours for Saturday but I hope we have a short shift so I can head over and cheque it out. 

Last night was David Letterman's last Late Night with David Letterman broadcast. I'm not big on TV much less talk show TV, but I liked watching the occasional Letterman when he had "Stupid pet tricks." Letterman had a lot of great guests over the years: David Byrne, Alice Cooper etc. If I needed a laugh, Letterman was always there. The only other talk show I like other then Letterman, if I was to endorse any of them would be Craig Ferguson. After the news Anne hogs the TV for all of her shows and I have other things to do anyway after midnight then watch TV. I'll miss Dave. 

I still haven't gotten around to booking for that x-ray, but I hope to do that this morning. Other then that, its a full day today. Despite Victoria day I'm still going to have 65 hours, on my pay next week, which isn't bad. Anyway, that's all for today.

Sitting here unable to get around

because the wife needs the bus pass to go to work. I've got this pent up anxiety over this typing test thing when I go in for training Tuesday. The wife is threatening to cut off the cable, power etc until I get a pay cheque. Money is tight and so far I haven't heard anything on my ei claim and even if I get one its going to be 2 weeks away. 

Yesterday our Premier released the long awaited 2015 Alberta provincial budget. For decades Alberta relied on oil royalties since the 1950's. In 1982 Liberal Leader Pierre Elliot Trudeau and then prime minister, imposed the national energy program or nep. Alberta suffered the worst. I was working during the 1980's and temporary permanent in the early to mid 1990's. Our economy grounded to a halt in 1982. Alberta was in a recession from 1982-1996 when the price of oil eventually rose. The recession of the 1980's took billions of dollars out of our local economy. Alberta's economy is cyclic, boom and bust. In 2008 the price of oil went to about $32 barrel responding to the market money crunch. We experienced a mini recession. Oil prices per barrel rose in late 2009 is when we finally got out of that recession. What this budget is supposed to do is to set a 10 year plan to get our economy off the reliance of oil royalties. This budget will hit some people hard but for this household it wont affect us. Some of the highlights: A return to health care premiums for Albertan's making over $50,000 (not us) annually. Its called a health care levy. A sin tax on tobacco and alcohol. I have about 1 beer a month, if that and I'm not a smoker. No Alberta sales tax. The Alberta Government under all Albertan's is also expecting to spend almost $30 Billion over the next 5 years on infrastructure projects etc. its a pretty good budget. More about Alberta's 2015 budget here.

Over the last few months the thought of not using a computer to make/process my music has held a lot of appeal for me. Not that there isn't anything wrong with using the computer to make music. Most EDM/techno is made this way. Its just that my laptop memory where most of my vst's and programs live is at 80% full to capacity, and has a lot of adware on it rendering the laptop all but useless for accessing the Internet. When I get back to work and once we're caught up with our bills,  I'm looking at getting an affordable synth. I'm looking at either the Yamaha MX49, or the Roland Juno Di. I like the guitar sounds on the Di. I haven't heard many of the guitar sounds on the Yamaha MX yet. The MX is cheaper and newer. I can use the iPad and for $18 I can buy Yamaha's Mobile studio sequencer. That's all I need.

So tonight I'm watching the Oiler's entertain Dallas and this weekend trying to fend off the wolves and attempting to keep our marriage from falling apart. Anyway, that's all for now.

Our favorite home delivery pizza

is Horseshoe. It's a little place just behind the KFC up here just West of the Manning Shopping Centre on 137th ave. Anne suggested we order instead of her cooking supper. For sit down pizza we like Royal over there on the South Side just near the Keg or Capital Pizza where we were before 2 weeks ago. I've still got half of it left in the fridge for later.

Nothing much going on today. I'm home, reading, some computer stuff that sort of thing. Just before dinner I put up a .38 second song on JimTube. It's an instrumental composed in stand alone Maschine. I'm working on another guitar, bass and drums song before my laptop over heated. 

I checked on the free Lotto 6/49 free ticket and nobody won the $20M so it carries over for Wednesday and now it's $25M. I got another free ticket! So that's 2 free tickets from the original ticket. I can't pick my own numbers from a free ticket. It's always a quick pick. 

At 5pm there's Florida Panthers/Oiler game at Rexall at 5pm. I'll probably get up around noon, let Anne sleep. She's going to go to the truck and order a few things, start our late brunch. The hockey game will take to about 7:30-8pm. I'm in the office Monday from 4-9pm and same throughout the week except Saturday, I'm scheduling myself in for the full day. Anyway, that's about all for now. 

I had a great evening

although my wife came home with bad news. Apparently they are cutting back her hours and to 2 shifts next week. They are hiring at the same time. We don't know what's going on. For all we know her shifts might be restored next week or maybe next month.

I'm off tonight for lodge. Traditionally (as far as I know) every immediate past master (ipm) usually at the time of installation receives a jewel and a ipm apron. I've seen this happen since 2002. The apron looks similar to a MM apron but with a ipm symbol and the jewel looks like a military medal hung from the suit jacket. Both signify I am an installed master. I did the work by running the lodge for one full year. I didn't get either at the time of our installation before Christmas but apparently they were ordered for me according to the last lodge master as he pretty well said as much in June but I didn't get them last meeting. I'm also thinking maybe I its because they only present the apron/medal (aj) There's also a certificate that gets presented at the end of ones ipm year and a case. Mike said in June "they're in the back." He wasn't at the last meeting. So all kinds of things are going on through my mind now. Are they doing this to put pressure on me to ask for a demitt? So I'm hoping tonight lodge presents the aj to me in traditional format. If not then I'll have some decisions to make. Do I continue on pay my lodge dues as if nothing has happened and then ask for a demitt around November and a letter of good standing and join another lodge? It's not like I don't have any options. I don't want to ask for my aj. I shouldn't have to ask for them. No ipm should ever have to ask for their aj. This is why I think somethings up. I have a few allies in the lodge by by and large, I'm not well liked because I'm not a union guy or a professional or in the trades and my disability stains the lodge in a way. Or so this is my perception. There are guys that do like me there, Neil, Nathan, John, Dan and and the new guys, and I pick up on that. If I don't get my aj, I'll quietly leave this lodge and join another. I kind of like the Saturday lodge anyway. It's not a York right lodge. But I don't want to give anything away either.

I'm really looking at ELektron's Octatrack. It's a multi sample, glitch effects machine, that can do some amazing things. its a little on the pricy side but a piece of gear I've got my eye on. Anyway that's all for now. 

It was a simple 4 hour shift

last night from 5-9. Heading into the office was ok. I found my schedule post and its (for this pay period) Yesterday (4 hours) and today 10-6pm for a full 8 hour day for just 11.5 hours. Next week I have tomorrow (Sunday) from 12-8 for a full day and Monday for 4 hours, I'm off Tuesday (I can catch the Oiler game) Wednesday I'm in for 4, Thursday same, off Friday for lodge, but in next Saturday for a full day. That's 27 hours for the 1st week in the pay period. I'm pretty sure I'm back full time after that.

Yesterday Oilers traded LW David Perron. He scored 28 goals last year but like all the othre forwards on this team, their goal production is languishing. Perron is going to a better team and into the playoffs. Oilers get 2015 first-round draft pick and centre Rob Klinkhammer. Many Oiler fans were saying the team appeared down in last nights game in Denver due to the trade. I liked Perron. I hope he gets 30 goals this season.

I've been doing lots of research into a company called Elektron. They make synths, like their Analogue Keys (AK) etc. Speaking of, which I'd love to get ak. It comes with over 500 presets and can do some amazing things. It has a on board step sequencer. If I had about $3k I'd get that and their machine drum. Cool stuff.

Speaking of music the singer Bono from U2 might have to give up playing guitar. He's got plates in his elbow and his hand has playing hand been broken. He's not known as a guitar player anyway. I'm not a fan or anything of the group but they've kept the same lineup since they started in 1976. They have 13 studio albums and 7 #1 US hits.

The street out here last night was very icy and treacherous. Time to break open the cleats once more. It's mostly for on the way home. Anne came home with some disturbing news when she went to pay on the rent yesterday. We got a warning. Apparently the people below us were complaining that we're very loud. Anne and I have been fighting a bit and she's been raising her voice at all hours. What with me being home a lot could have edged her on as well. I have a full day today, and I'm going to get some Tim's breakfast before I start. I get my half hour break and a couple of tens in there as well today so it should go fast. I have a cold beer in the fridge for tonight. Anyway, that's all for now.

I got a lot of sweaters and garments

and diabetic chocolates and an Oiler cup. I bought Anne our traditional Shriner calendar, a perfume set and a large double box of chocolates and a photo frame, which she's going to get during Boxing day week. Also, I took her out to a Swiss Chalet, and a breaky and Sunday a Sawmill as part of her Christmass as well over the last 2 weeks.

In my email yesterday Audrey's books reminded me that I received the recent "Space marine Battles" (Warhammer 40K) book. That's another Christmas present I'm picking up Boxing day as I can go in with Anne as she heads into work. They only published 1 Space marine Battles book for 2014 but I think they published a some short stories and special editions.

For a few days over the holidays Superstore hours were around the clock. Anne got some last minute goodies for us and was in the lineup when somebody in front of her was in a hurry and gave his Superstore points left over to Anne. That bought her about $30 worth of groceries because some shopper wanted to "pay it forward." That was a nice gesture. 

I discovered a company called Drumdrops and wow, they have some nice sample libraries. I'm interested in a couple Kontakt 5 sample libraries they have like the Ludwig Super classic Kit that has almost 5,000 samples plus a ton of mixing and mastering instruments to go wit it. There's another sample library in the Kontakt 5 format (which I have) They also have a Gretsch kit with something like 18,000 samples. I'm not a drummer but these will go great in my productions. They are reasonably priced as well and don't take up a lot of room on my hard drive. 

Anne and I are in bed all morning sleeping. I have 8 more days off. Sunday we're going out to the Saw Mill for a Sunday dinner. Sounds good. Merry Christmas everyone, that's all for now.

I haven't been out of the house now since

Sunday night! I've got no plans to go anywhere today either but I'm going to try for that lodge gathering at our WM residence Sunday. Its a bit of a planning session for the upcoming year. It's way out West of the city in a private home. Maybe I can get a ride out there from one of the guys at Southgate. Its a (early for me) 11am Sunday morning gathering. It's not our regular business meeting.

I'm not much of a gambler. I don't play vlt's or go to Casino's or to the race track or play online poker. I even gave up plying the lottery. However I like to play Proline CFL and I've won small amounts here and there over the years to buy a hard cover book, that type a thing. When I tried Fan Duel (fd) a month ago, I played some NFL and I won about $8. My 2nd time playing NFL I lost what I won but it was my own fault for not studying my picks. I've been thinking about playing fd this week, only again this time nhl. This afternoon I picked 1 game: Dallas/Calgary and I added a player from another game just to meet the players from 3 team rule requirement. That same rule is in football as well. So I picked 3 $2 contests and 1 $1 contest and thought no way am I going to win just into game time. Half hour in I was in the $ game! My $2 bets were winning me $3.60! Even my $1 game was winning me $1.80. By the end of the night, I won $12.60. A net return of $5.60. It's not going to pay my rent or anything but I had fun. Once fd adjusts my new balance, I might play that way again, see what happens. The $2 entry's were in 40 player "leagues." I ended up in 5th, 4th and 3rd place respectively in the prize pool and 9th in the $1 contest. Lots of fun.

So now it was North Korean hackers that hacked into Sony pictures. President Obama was saying Sony made a mistake by not releasing the movie. Imagine some dictator telling Hollywood what to do. At the time though and in hindsight I think Sony over reacted. Now the decision not to release "The Interview" movie is going to cost Sony hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue because of a dictator.   

Today I'm working on my track as I want to use a Reactor ensemble called "Rollodeck Pro." I bought this little plug in for about $70 a year ago and haven't used it that much but its a cool glitch type vst perfect for Maschine. There's videos on this plug in on YouTube. I might not be able to afford a Octatrack yet but this will do in the meantime. Anyway, that's all for now.

Obesity has never been in our family

and even though I've put on a "few "pounds over the years, I'm not fat. Chubby maybe but not fat as in this photo taken of me at work at my station earlier today. 

I might be losing hair above but I'm not obese by any stretch of the imagination. 

I've had slow days on the job before but Monday, the first project is winding down and so is the other project. I think on both projects I got nothing but no answers. During the 2nd half I took my lunch break I might have spoken with 3 people from 6-9 all night. We had tech trouble several times and I'm not the only one that had a poor show of things last night as well. Plus we have more of the same today. I just hope I'm working for most of next week. I'm going to try and take the 16th off. If I can work 6 days including 4 of which are Saturday and Sunday's over the holidays and have stat pay I should be ok early in the new year. The only major bill I'll have is lodge dues in January.

in my email Monday I got a offer from native Instruments, I'd be a fool to turn down. 9 Mashcine expansion packs about $60 each for $100. I'm going to buy them Thursday night when I get home. I don't have any of the Maschine expansion packs. This is a offer too good to pass up. It's called Cloud 9. Order countdown is Friday. 

Also in my email was a Warhammer 40K. All Horus Heresy novels in ebook format in one bundle. Its 45 novels and stories including all 31 of the novels. I have 28/31 of the novels. The most recent Horus Heresy in the mass market format I have is Scars. The bundle is $450! If I had the money. 

Today it's another slow 6.5 hours. I don't mean to complain. At least I'm making money. Anyhow that's all for now.