The weather kept us

from going out. We wanted to go to "Stacks" but they close at 3pm. We would need to get out of here by 11:30am. I don't like rushing. Managment policy here has a monthly inspection of all seuites. They are mainly looking for pet oders that sort of thing, It's usually an in out type thing. Mostly the inspections are in the mornings. If that's the case, then Anne says we should go after that. I agree.

I went outside to get some air for awhile and my mail. The infill housing across the street is coming together nicely. Looks like its a 3 plex. Infill houseing is quite popular around here lately. 

Other then the above not much else is going on. There's Smackdown tomorrow, Elks Home game Saturday. Life is good. Anyway, that's all for now.   

That was the end of my 4 days off

and it certainly wasn't without drama. Look at the trouble happening with the Toronto shooting Sunday. And there's the sabre rattling between Trump and Iran. What I'm happy about is that the Canadian Government owns a pipeline. That's a big deal. That'd be rich if a First Nations band buys it. Apparently someone has expressed interest in it.  

Last year about this time, I couldn't fit into a new pair of running shoes because of my swollen right foot. Thanks to the compression stockings, I bought this last April, the swelling has come down. Now they fit me. Also, the laces that they came with don't flop out of the shoe like the other ones did. I noticed that the laces remained intact, all the way down to the Doctors appointment. I couldn't see the Doctor because he was double booked and I wanted to go to pick up my copy of Reason 10 that just came in this morning. The laces still held together on the way home. Wow. Anne went down to pick up our Royal Pizza as I was having trouble authorizing and downloading my program, in between watching Wrestling. I got the demo version up. Right now its downloading new content.

All in all despite it being overcast, it was a good day. I don't want to return this program. I like reason 10 and the iap's they have are pretty cool. I want to get "Oumph Club drums" and "Captain Keys." So I'm out of here for my short work week. Life is good. Anyway that's all for now.

Despite the blowing snow

blizzard during my morning commute yesterday morning, I got to work on time. Actually despite just getting over my cold, all that talking (more so then usual) was playing havoc on my voice. The blizzard let up about my noon break. My 2 pm half hour was way too fast and even the Sun came out there for a bit. My 4pm break caused me to almost croak my voice was so dry. Even water didn't help or cough drops. Hot coffee helped a bit. I was relieved when super called for Time sheet. My commute home companion/co worker and I waited just as the blizzard showed up again. That's 2 weeks in a row we've had sown on a Saturday. I got home just before 7pm.

I've bee really trying to grasp this feud between Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger but my head spins just thinking

                          
about it. Two Republicans goin gat it. And I don't even watch Celebrity Apprentice. All this stuff makes my head hurt.

At the moment I'm enjoying a cold Sleeman's (helps me sleep)

                          

sleep) beer. That's me in the white shades behind Buddha.

Anyway, Coast this morning is lame. Tonight is a better show. Latter this afternoon, Anne is making our Sunday brunch and we're going to watch WWE Fast lane. That and the Oilers won last night. Life is good. Anyway, that's all for now.

Thanks to that

sleeping pill earlier this morning I was able to get close to 8 hours of sleep today. I'm ok for the day, just getting the coffee ready. 

Tuesday I have a Doctors appointment and while I'm there I'll be investigating more about my Guaranteed Seniors Income, or gsi that I'll (hopefully) will be able to apply for. There's a office on the main level directly under neath my Doctors office. I'll be checking into that as well. I think I made the appointment to late because I need to be at my 2nd job by 4pm. So that might be cutting it a bit close. I'm going to re-book for next week.

To the best of my knowledge I've never been in the Royal City Cafe in downtown New Westminster. I usually went to the Fraser or Pacific cafe 1974. I used to go by there all the time up the hill across the street to my studio apartment.

While browsing through photos members of the "I grew up in Coquitlam." I came across this photo. The post beside it said that the block all the way to the building with the structure on the roof burnt down. That whole block up to that building with the building on the roof burnt down. I checked Google maps and sure enough its a empty lot. The black and white photo is what the corner used to look like in the 1970's. Sad really. 

We've got a over cast sky out there and its -3. It was cold last night waiting for that #3 but I still got home in at my usual weekend time, shortly after 7pm. When my first job does that 2 month project they'll have a Sunday shift. Anyway, that's all for now.

When I got to the Baker

Centre yesterday first thing I did was to see if Jack's barber shop was opened. It wasn't Jack but a new guy. He said half an hour? Fine.

That info session yesterday answered some basic questions I had. It's called the "Links information and resource centre." They offered coffee in a Tim's kind of take out cup. They were pretty busy. Lots of tiny offices. Links is located in the old Xentel location Baker Centre 2nd floor. There was about 25 others with me in a large room. They retained some of the original fixtures the old Xentel office like the carpeting and lighted panels. I almost felt a bit of a home coming. People were asking questions. I listened waiting for mine to be asked. Links helps those find steady part time work, within 4 months. That's what I'm looking for in tandem with my current job so when one shuts down for the Summer or is in between stuff the other one is still active. Even management has their own part time work outside of the office during slow times. I didn't qualify for Links because I have a job even though I have (at the moment) no work Links still considers it a job. That would have come out anyway because they ask what my current situation is (AISH,ei etc.). I find that these types of job finding schemes are all fine and well but like the Alberta job corps in the late 1990's I ended up finding my own job and most likely even with Links, I'd find my own job regardless. I'm emailing my resume out this afternoon when Anne leaves for work. I know what's going to happen though. Just like when I was at this other company (X) last September my main job called me back but X said I had to work a minimum of 4 days/week to get paid for training. My other job had a big project with the Federal Government that paid a bit more. I should have stuck with X. Its not that they didn't pay well, its just they didn't have the hours. I didn't even stay long enough to get paid for my training as their policy was I had to be there for those 4 days as well and the Government project orientation/training session was to start on the 3rd day of that X training period. I had no choice but to leave X a vm message. I felt bad about that. They were nice people. Out of the Government job though before I knew I wanted to get into producing live techno/house jams on YouTube, I bought a ebook reader that I seldom use and that would have been about the price of a Korg Volca and I bought a 32Gb iPod touch 5th Gen to replace my iPod Touch 3rd Gen because I thought the iPod Touch was being discontinued. Just the 5th Gen for the new 6th Gen 8 months later. Then 2 months later I end up losing my job. It didn't take me long to get this job but now I'm back to where I started. This time though, this company I'm with now doesn't care if I work 2 shifts a week, which will be great if I make it too full pension. However I don't want to go back to X because they shut down before Christmas for 4 months but that's prime time season for my current job. I'll get 3 months with X if they take me back this fall. I might consider going back to X after the new year 2016 but this economy wasn't as good as last years. X might have a full house next Spring. So after the info session I took my coffee and went to get my haircut. I felt good about that. Then I went to get a 6/49 lottery ticket at the pharmacy still in the Baker Centre on my way out and worked my way back to Corona station enjoying the weather. 

I got my train home and I began to realize that 37 years ago this week my little brother met me at the Via rail train where it used to stop at the CN building downtown Edmonton. Mom was kind of hoping I'd move and settle here and I should have done so 5 years earlier. After spending a week here in Edmonton, I decided since I'm a young man I can start over. I began to like Edmonton. It would have been too costly to transfer what I had at my New Westminster residence and I was late on my rent there before the RM would release my stuff anyway. My parents had no place for my things in their 3 bedroom Westmount/Baycrest apartment at the time. I just left everything behind. I had a new colour tv and stereo, a lot of world war 2 books (probably would have been sold to a used book store anyway in the 80's.) a lot of wargames. I learned just a few years ago that my last residence in New Westminster where I had all mys stuff met with the wrecking ball and the building was demolished in 1980 to make way for the Douglas College location. The only memories I have out of that place was the large ei back pay I received during their waiting period. I look back too see myself then as a young man of 25 losing my youth. I had all my teeth, I was thin, and wearing glasses. 37 years does a lot to a person.  

Other wise, not a lot is going on today. As of tomorrow, I'll be 2 years away from pension. last night I won a free 6/49 ticket from the lottery. I'm not doing anything tomorrow for obvious reasons :) I'm waiting until after labour day weekend or that Friday to see if work is starting up again. I've got ei until the end of September. After this weekend I'm following up on the resume I'm sending out today. I've got some other irons in the fire but nothing work related and nothing I can talk about right now. Friday is the Esks/Hamilton cfl game and I'll be looking out for that Anyway, that's all for now. 

There wasn't much chance for me to go to the

library Markerplace yesterday because I got off work at 6pm and that's when they closed. Most likely I'll go after my X-ray next Thursday Morning before work. Just to check it out.

Since I got the note Thursday I've had this sickening feeling in my gut about all this that wont go away. The caretaker wants from me the damage deposit of $915 by June 4th. It's doable but just barely. I have my CPP and my cheque. I'm going to try and make arrangements half on the 29th and the rest on the 12th. We still need to eat and pay our rent. They also want 2 pay stubs and a bank statement showing 2 months. Then they want to do a credit check. All they want is the money because a lot of tfw's had to leave out of the country April 1st so they need to recover some of that lost money somehow. 

Its been a heck of a week for me last week and I have my only day off today. I'm going to watch a bit of hockey and  relax today and sleep in. Maybe do some reading. Anyway, that's all for now.

I have an unexpected day off

today because we're working the election Sunday and because of Alberta labour Laws we can't work 7 days. Also the office is closed Tuesday because of the election. I'm also off Thursday for lodge. I'm not letting Anne know I have 3 days off. Two days she can take but not 3. I'll be lucky if I have 50 hours on my next cheque. Less if I don't get a full day Saturday. Lucky for us, we're in the middle of the month.

If work slows down at the end of May, I can activate my ei and still cover the basics even if I get as little as 2-3 shifts/week. I can live with that. I'll have my ei and what little I can work for June/July and August will be a struggle but it depends how work goes. For all I know things could keep going this summer but even if its just for the short term its ok. If I have a month or two until work picks up I can also work from home. 

Long term that could take me until this time next year and next August I'll be applying for my pension. Summer of 2016-17 might be rough until the end of August. Anyway, that's all for now. 

Still I have today and Monday off before heading back to work

on Tuesday. I just hope (since its a new job and all) this cold virus is on its last legs by at least next Saturday.

Anne didn't feel like cooking tonight so she went and ordered our favorite Maximus pizza. I have a bit left over for latter.

Not much going on for today, it being a Sunday I'm just going to answer email, internet stuff and read.

With all this time off

I'm blogging more often, so 2-4 blog posts a day isn't out of the unlikely. 

"So why is he up so early," you may ask? This morning tech support from my isp is going to make a service call. They said from 11-1pm so expect them to call half an hour before they arrive, tech support said on the phone. May as well fire up the computer before they get here. Most likely they won't get here until about 1pm, but you never know. I've got nowhere to go so what the heck, although I'd rather be in bed and get up when Anne gets up.

Since I've got no immediate goals in the lodge and no real goals, the only thing I'm looking for is my ipm jewel and apron. I should get that when we go back in January. Other then that, nothing. My next step after that pardon the pun, is to explore Royal Arch. I'm looking at getting a petition for that in the Spring around May or June. The next degree is the "Mark Master" degree and I've been looking at this degree for awhile now. It expands on the original Masonic story.

After this, I'm checking my email, visit the Rogers Place arena sky cam and put a fd fantasy jockey team together for tomorrow nights games. Anne is working tonight so I have the place to myself. Anyway, that's all for now.

Yesterday on my day off

I was able to remove a lot of files off my C drive. Actually about 4 Gb worth:

Now all I need is funds for a internal drive but preferably a better desktop PC. This one is closing in on 10 years old already. It's had only 1 upgrade since 2005 but the external drive above was a good deal for less then $100.

One of my colleagues on Facebook was asking what am I doing for work these days but I don't discuss my job situation on FB. On my blog, I only talk in vague generalities. Except of course if the company folds and are no longer in operation like Xentel. That's where most of my colleagues are from and they hit me on FB hoping I can find jobs for them, yeesh. Go look on Kijiji that's what I do.

At Corona station Sunday night, I noticed a long panel strip of some kind hanging over head between track 1 & 2 in the early stages of being installed. On the Connect 2 Edmonton lrt thread one of the posters mentioned about it earlier today that it's supposed to be a signaling panel for the metro line extension. Since I wasn't there last night, I'll be able to see it's progress tonight.

I'm just about ready to finish "Galaxy in flames" and move onto "The Flight of the Eisenstein." Looking forward to this part in the series.

I'm out of here at 4pm for my afternoon commute. I've got for hours tonight and I won't know until I get into the office to see if I have hours for tomorrow or Friday night until I see any changes to the schedule. I want to catch the boss before he leaves. If I've got nothing, then I have to resort to plan B.

The only down side of things

yesterday was the Oiler's lost and just about in the 2nd period of the game, the snow began falling. The snow hasn't let up since about 8pm and is forecast to go all day today.

Health wise, my insulin doesn't seem to be working because my blood sugar level has been very high over the last few days. Like in the 15 -18 range. Not good.

Yesterday, I was able to update my blog topics on Freemasonry and "My Philosophy." I also went and updated my Facebook page as well. 

Two movies I'm looking forward to seeing next month are Captain America Winter Soldier and the new Tom Cruise movie, Edge of tomorrow. Saturday is a good day to go because I can go by myself after work. 

I'm out of here for my 4-9 in about 12 hours but the shift more or less is fast. Anyway, that's about 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.

Latter this morning I'm making some business related phone calls

trying out a couple of job leads. My wife only has 2 shifts this week. She still says that she wants to see the results from her Doctor first. She's wasting 2 days of the week and has only Thursday and Friday. I'm on thin ice as it is.The hours have to come from some where.

Our Lodge meeting was pretty good, even though we had 5 members and a guest. It was productive, to a point. Sure it was cold and -35 would be enough for anyone to stay home on a Sunday night. 

I'm up early tomorrow for a 9-5 shift and I don't think I can stay up and watch all 3 hours of wrestling until 1am. 

The good news even though it's -22/34 wind chill, we're warming up this week. By Friday we're going to be +1 or 2 and about the same into next week. Anyway, I'm up at around 11am later this morning. That's all for now.

I had a nice commute

into work this afternoon reading my Horus Heresy book. My next Goodreads update will be when I'm at the half way part.

My 4 hour shift went by well. Only one of the new people showed up this evening. One of the people from my other job. After work I walked right in the middle of a snowfall and about an inch of snow on the ground. It wasn't terribly cold. I rode the train to Belvedere with the new employee. My Northgate bus pulled right into Clareview as I came off the train. I read a bit on the bus until it pulled out of Clareview and let a few of us off at the set of lights just out here. I came home to an empty house but Anne was right behind me.

*Big update: It was announced at city hall an hour ago that the guaranteed maximum price (gmp) of the new downtown arena will be $605 million. Construction will begin next month. $7 million going towards the pedestrian corridor, LRT and community rink. ICON Venue Group is the project manager. PCL is the construction manager. PCL will assume any cost overruns should the project go over the GMP Construction begins next month and will open for the Edmonton Oiler's 2016-17 season. It's a great day for the City of Edmonton. The arena is the catalyst for the downtown revitalization project laid out in 2006. This is just the first phase. More can be found here at:

We we're in good spirits and we watched Monday night Raw  with surprised guest Betty White. It was a great show, especially the main event: John Cena and Randy Orton. Classic Cena win. Anyway, that's all for now.

The plan this evening after work was to check out

the box for my speakers to see if I can carry the box home or if I'll need a cab. I didn't get that far. The weather kind of discouraged me from checking it out. I might call in and ask them to drop the hold for me because buying the speakers is going to leave me short as it is.

I got my Warhammer 40K book order in at Audrey's to pick up after work. Space Marine battles: "Malodrax" and Horus Heresy "Mark of Calth." Now the Black Library decides to put the Horus Heresy out in Trade after I have all the rest in paperback."

Today, I'm in for a full day off at 5pm over to get my books and then a bus to City Centre Mall East food court Taco Tyme and then City Centre Mall West check out The Source, as I'm on the fence between the Kobo Glo and the Kindle Paper weight 2 just to look around and head home."Anyway, that's all for now."

I had a pretty good night on the job last night for my 4 hour

shift for my 2nd day of calling. 

I left out of here yesterday about 3:30pm as it was snowing and -24 wind chill. It wasn't very nice out there but I got into work at 4pm. Starting at 4:30pm. I had a productive shift. 

Coast2Coast has a fun show on tonight "Martian Ruins & Freemasons." I'll listen in for a bit. I love this stuff, not that there's much stock in it but its a fun show.

Today I'm in for another 4 hours and I'll be watching Friday night Smackdown. Next week, I'm going to try and work 10-2 on my 2nd job and then work 3-10 on my first job. It's only for that week as my 2nd job breaks for Christmas.

My weekend is going to be busy as I'm working Saturday on my first job and a full day on my 2nd job. I'm going to be busy. Anyway, that's all for now.

My wife called me on her break last night

as she usually does shortly before 8pm. She provided me over the phone the direct email contact of the person who hires and fires where she works. After she called I went to my email to email this person my resume` when I noticed a email response from another resume` I sent out earlier during the week. I was asked to come in Friday afternoon for a interview. I replied back in the affirmative. So, lets see what happens tomorrow, if I even need to send out a 3rd resume` I'll know tomorrow afternoon.

I didn't sleep very well about 7am. When I get a soar lower back that tells me I've overslept. I used to always sleep with a board under my mattress because of my back operation in 1967. When I had my back operation as a teenager, it was suggested I keep a slab of plywood under my mattress all the time. I'm suspecting not having this is what interrupts my sleep.

I'm home this evening watching the Oiler's lose in Nashville.  The big hockey news which happened earlier this week with that massive Rogers broadcast deal. It basically means that Canadian teams are once again subsidizing the NHL's American teams. Though it could open the door for more Canadian NHL teams within the 12 year deal going forward. I'd like to see Quebec get a team again and it's be great to have Hamilton get a franchise or even Regina.The puck is dropped in Nashville at 6pm tonight.

The weather looks like it's holding over the weekend  Temperatures are supposed to drop for next week. At the moment it's -7 but because of the wind chill it feels like -14. Last night waiting for my #183 bus at Clareview about 8:40pm there was frost in the air coming down almost like rain. It was weird. The weekend weather forecast looks good but its Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday that's supposed to be cold but I have keys to the Lodge building to get inside so even though when it's -18 out there, I'll be inside. For now and the weekend, the weather looks ok. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Here we are in October already

and it's one of my favorite months of the year, NHL hockey opens up a few days from now, the CFL is winding down. We can still get some good weather before it snows, often in late October.

Speaking of hockey, the NHL 2013-14 season begins tonight for the Edmonton Oiler's hosting the Winnipeg Jets. I'll be tracking the scores at work in between calls. I can watch Saturday nights game and it's in Vancouver and then the Oiler's have 2 home games and are out on the road for 6 games. Until I get some daytime hours I'm regulated to watching the TV games on weekends. Even the CFR will only take the Oiler's out for 4 games. This season, it's my prediction that the Oiler's will finish 10th and another American team will win the Stanley Cup. My guess is Phoenix. 

Rant alert! I was going to Service Canada this morning but dental pain kept me awake until about 5am this morning. I took a pill and some Orajel about 3am and about 5am I fell to sleep. I'm feeling Ok now though but tomorrow I'm going into Service Canada. The whole purpose is to get a 2nd job/preferably a better one. I miss the hours I was getting at my other job last year, and and the money it gave me as well. I'm getting half the hours and half the money, and out of half of that this cheque goes towards paying for my insulin because last year I made "too much money" according to CRA to get any kind of local help to pay for a subsidy for medical needs. Local agencies make you go through so many hoops I feel like I'm in a circus or a criminal. If I was First Nations, or a newcomer to Canada or in jail, no problem. I'd get all kinds of medical support. Nothing against those people. Most Canadians are in my situation. Maybe not health wise but financial wise. About 3% of Canada's population is First nations, about the same are union workers (trades everything else), and then there's the 250,000 or so that are newcomers to Canada every year. Many of these people end up being Canadians of convenience. Canada spends about $20B year on immigration alone. I'm thinking imagine what with that kind of money would do for LRT projects road work and other infrastructure projects. The majority of people (according to immigration watch Canada) immigrating to this country are from the Philippians and it's not like we have a labor shortage, it's employers get special breaks for hiring foreign workers. So in the meantime me a naturalized born Canadian citizen, that worked all his life I can't get a $45 month for subsidy to pay for my insulin because last year I made slightly under $25G. That was last year. This year, I'll be lucky if I clear $15G. unless I get a better job, which I'm in the early process of doing. So maybe next year we'll be in a better position. I'm tired of these supervisors saying, "You need a completion flow rate of such-and-such other wise your going to lose hours." That's called workplace bullying. I'm glad I just have 3 years and a bit left in the workplace. I'm not going to make anything out of the "bullying" tonight on the job, it's just smile and dial. Power through, I've get less then 3 years.

Native Instruments released Maschine Studio and a 2.0 update. Maschine Studio is like $1,000. I'd get it and open a account but not with these hours and the job I have. After 20% down, it's like $66/month. I checked YouTube and this Maschine Studio gives me another reason to get more hours. It's not even in stores until November 1st. My main concern for my music now is a better computer and this Acer 2009 laptop, doesn't cut it. 

As for today, I'm out of here at 5pm, for another 4 hour shift. I got my pay stub and I have enough insulin to keep me going for maybe another 10 days and that can come out of the stash when I need it. I've got to put $20 back into the stash so that leaves me with very little left over. I can buy the Warhammer 40K CD at Audrey's and have enough for a Wendy's Baconator, my Proline ticket and pocket money but that's about it. The majority needs to go towards half of our rent, sigh. Anyway, that's about all for now.

My hours for next week are a little

choppy. Not 1 day is the same but at least I'm getting the hours in. I'm off today as I can sleep in and watch football, hockey and wrestling. Sweet.

Speaking of football on my $2 Proline ticket, I had Edmonton/Winnipeg to tie. I was tracking the scores all night in between calls. A tie in Proline is a 3 point game. There was 2 minutes left in the last quarter. The score was 24-27 Bombers. I stuck around until the last minute but the supervisor wanted to leave. I got home and the score was 27-35 Eskimo's! That means the Esks got 11 points in 2 minutes. Unbelievable.

I had a pretty good night on the job last night and if the schedule holds up I'll have Wednesday off a more or less full cheque. It means I'll have some cash for myself for a change. Anyway, that's about all for now.