Today is the day that

Today is the day that we get a new "carbon tax," er I mean levy here in Alberta. Its basically a Provincial sales tax dressed up as a "carbon tax," ooops, levy! It means that now everything is going to cost a bit more, then it already does. We haven't been outside yet to shop for anything so we don't know if the carbon tax will show up on the bill after checkout or is hidden. My guess is the latter then the former. Depending on one's income at tax time, will determine which household gets a carbon tax rebate. The cheques (apparently) are going out this week between $100 and $200 like the gst 4 times a year. What I know is that households more then $95,000/year wont get a carbon tax rebate. Those under will. Gasoline will go up as of today but how much of a tax is on that bag of chips we buy once in a while? What about lottery tickets and such? We won't know the specifics until March. A carbon tax is just like saying a Provincial sales tax because that's what it is. The "carbon tax" (levy) depending on who you ask is supposed to generate about $9.6B over 5 years and is supposed to go back into the economy, in theory. Apparently though there should be very little increase in our power bill according to this. Its better then a "carbon tax" being imposed on us by the Federal Government.

I don't watch much television these days but a heavy "aww shit," escaped my lips when I heard about William Christopher passing away yesterday. I watched MASH as it unfolded on a weekly basis in the 1970's and 80's. I thought once McLean Stevenson's "Henry Blake" was written out of the show, MASH was more or less done. Enter Henry Morgan, and over time he grew on me. William Christopher worked off Broadway, television and later in feature films as well. I always liked the character William Christopher played on MASH. He died at the age of 84 From Bill Ross's FB page.

                            
Tomorrow I need to make a few appointments for Thursday to see my Doctor (downtown) and my PCN Northgate. Tuesday and Wednesday this week, I'm at my market research job as the project is calling for a 3-8pm weekday shift. I've got a cheque on hold there to pick up as well. Thursday is the (I hope) Doctor then Audrey's and then the #16 bus across the street from Audrey's to Northgate for my PCN, then home for a bite to eat and then Lodge (that's "my day off"). I'm working Friday 3-8 and Saturday 10-6pm. On top of all that I'm following the Oilers and NHL games, reading my book and working on a Gadget track. After midnight, I like to go over all of my YouTube subscriptions and answer any email from Connect 2 Edmonton, etc. Anyway, that's all for now.   

Earlier I was playing around with Elastic

drums. This was one of my Black Friday apps. Elastic drums is a synth/sampler/drum app for our iPad. Its got a lot of control and is really useful. I want to have a demo but I don't want to use just modify some presets. 

I take it all back, that 2016 has been a pretty good year. Sure in January, we lost our cat Sporty. I also read my first Western novel and I was still working between both jobs up until the end January, and the other place in February. In March I began work at the other job and working the other place and got the new Nintendo 3ds Zelda addition, and began ahem, using the seniors bus pass. It saved us over $700 this year alone. April still working both jobs. In May work slowed down but I got the Lenova pc stick, while the Fort McMurray fire was making big news. I was unemployed in June and looking for work, with no income coming in and Anne fighting with me but we were able to get our free city rec pass. Still reading lots of Westerns. In July I found more family closure thanks to a heavy email exchange with my sister getting the odd interview here and there. August I turned 64 and still more episodes of Anne fighting with me but I secured my other job for September. I didn't need to apply for my pension in because its automatic. I worked a bit between both jobs but more at the Southside location then anything. in early October the Oilers began their inaugural season at Rogers Place arena opened. In November Trump was elected President and we lost Boots. I took advantage of Black Friday and we had great weather all November. I also made a friend but I'm glad she stopped communication with me. I think I dodged a bullet there. Lots of memory work for Lodge as I was appointed Chaplin for 2017. Very little work in November at the West end job but we discovered the Hopalong Cassidy series, which we're enjoying. December, both jobs concluded for the Christmas within a day of each other and I had 11 days off. Also, what's this? The Oilers are in 4th place in the West? Thus, here we are December 31st. So despite a few losses and some setbacks, 2016 was a good year. I also broke the 40,000 page views on my blog, and gained 2 subscribers on my music channel. I thank God for small blessings. I almost forgot about our latest acquisition our new member of the family Rusty earlier this month,this guy:

So now Sunday is January 2017. I'm back to work at the West end job. Looks like its more or less steady until mid February. I'll be setting up the Southside job. When I'm on pension, I'll still work 4 days a week. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone. That's all for now.

Over the past couple of days

I've been doing some family genealogy on my mothers side. My grandmother was Mina Hoy Johnston. Her and her husband Henry Hoy lived at 53 Elliott street in New Westminster. Henry Hoy was a contractor and Mayor of New Westminster in 1894. Mina Hoy married E.L. Johnston. They had 3 children, my Uncle Ed, Francis and my mother Elizabeth. Their residence was one of 3 historical homes the City of New Westminster moved in the summer of June 1990, to preserve the homes  from the wrecking ball. The moving of these 3 homes was a major undertaking. In our case to move the home to where it sits now at 202 3rd street Second Ave. in New Westminster BC. In order to move the home, the city put the home on a flatbed truck, removed power lines and trimmed trees to get it up to where it is today. My mom was invited to attend a city event when the home was settled. They named it Hoy house. I believe it's now a rooming house. Its the big blue house on the corner of Second & third street. The link to the above story is here type in moving houses.

http://www.nwheritage.org/database/heritage.php

Last night on Coast to coast, the topic was about The Egyptian Sphynx and the pyramids. The Sphynx and the Egyptian pyramids have long been a fascinating topic of mine. I've always had this notion that the Egyptian pyramids were built from the top down from a mountain of the same limestone material. One caller had the right idea but didn't mention the use of hot air balloons. My variation is on the hot air balloon theory, which advances the notion that crews had to carve the limestone blocks on location. The granite rock is another matter. Place stone block A on top of stone block B & C. Wrap rope between stones. The balloons could be controlled by rope or pulleys as crews on the ground and guided in place according to the design. The engineering would also account for the way there was no gaps between each stone because they could be just dropped into place. The ancient Egyptians didn't need to lift the blocks very high. The whole operation might need just a handful of people. Some rooms in the Gaza pyramid show hieroglyphs that suggest balloons. How they would heat the air I don't know. Its just a silly theory of mine that has a few holes. Here's a better way of explaining some of what I mean it somewhat supporting my theory.
      
                              

The Oilers just came off their long break hosting the LA Kings that played the night before. A fresh LA Kings team I'm sure would have walked all over us. Like Arizona the Kings have owned the Oilers but not yesterday. I purposefully missed the first period because usually nothing happens. I was right. The Oilers won 3-1 earning 2 points. The Oilers play Vancouver Canucks Saturday. Anyway, that's all for now.

It took me long enough but the book that

I began reading August 13th, was finished yesterday afternoon. It took me almost 20 weeks to read "Space Vulture." At the moment, I can't see myself reading a trilogy. So I opted instead for Greg Bear's Darwin's radio instead of Larry Niven/Brenda Copper's "Building Harlequin's moon." It logs in at 5380 pages. I hope to finish reading it around Family day weekend.
                          
One of the children's toys trending this year is Hatchables. There's a You Tube video where it appears the toy is saying something naughty: "F--- me." In local news a family was concerned about this and Tweeted the company about this strange anomaly. The parent company that makes the Hatchables toys says they are aware of the video but the local parents did not get a response. When our local news got in contact with the company they replied that the toy is not saying anything inappropriate. Like they are going to make a toy that says that right out of the box, yeah right. But it is funny.

Anne and I are having a couple of lazy days, at home lately, still processing yesterday. Its nice having this time off and when I go on pension in September, I can see working 4 days/week and a long weekend every week. I'm on YouTube a lot watching documentaries and reading. We go to bed about 4am these days. Anyway, that's about all for now.

Our household was stunned when we heard the news that

Star Wars Carrie Fisher had a heart attack but she was recovering. When I opened my email moments ago there was the "Famous lives led" thread. Now what? That's when I learned about Carrie Fisher dead at the age of 60. Oh my god. What a shocker. If losing Bowie and Prince this year wasn't enough, now this. Carrie Fisher was here in Edmonton at Our Edmonton Expo in September. I remember all the media hype leading up to the movie original Star wars movie in the Spring of 1977. Gord and I were keen on seeing it but the only place where it was shown was at a drive in located in Surrey lower mainland. There was so much going on in my life at that time. I was 25 when I saw the first Star Wars movie the week it opened and it was love at first sight. Hearing about Carrie Fisher, saddens me a great deal. Like Bowie, that was part of my youth. Now here I am at the age of 64 being diabetic, a heart attack could happen to me. Heart attacks are the #1 cause of death for people that are diabetic. Carrie Fisher, very sad news indeed. Losing our cat Sporty in January, hearing about David Bowie, Prince and losing Boots and now Carrie Fisher. Its been a rough year in this household. Anyway, that's all for now. 

I hope to finish this

Space Vulture novel this week. Up next I'm reading the Star Trek series "The Vulcan's soul." I think I might have read a few Trek books from the Alan Dean Foster series way back in the day. I've got the complete "Vulcan's soul" trilogy, so I may as well, most likely this will take me up to March. 

I had such a hard time trying to install Linux lUbuntu on my Windows Xp system last night. I got the iso but I'm not able to install it along Xp. I even tried to install it on my laptop, with no success. A colleague I'll be seeing next week at work knows Linux very well and I'll ask him if he can with "Team Viewer" go into my system and install from it from there, and Wine. One things is for certain when it comes to installing Linux: I don't know what I'm doing. 

Its been quite a year with losing so many pop stars. First (if that wasn't enough) we lost David Bowie. Then Prince, and then George Martin. The other day we lost George Michael. I was never a fan Michael's work. The real shocker for me was losing Bowie. With the Rolling stones up there in age, I got a feeling we're going to lose one of them soon. 

I also wanted to Home brew my new Nintendo 3ds and that looks very complicated. Since I've owned this device last March, I have yet to buy 1 game. I've got a demo of "Bravely Second," and the game cards that came with the system. It's not that the games are that expensive, I've just been buying music apps lately. I've seen some pre owned games at Best buy for like $15. Not much going on for the rest of the day, although I'd like to make a Gadget jam after wrestling, when Anne is done with face time. Anyway, that's all for now.

I'm on day 2 of my 11 days off

as this is a bit of a primer for when I'm on pension this time next year. I'm still going to work 3-5 days a week even then otherwise I'd be board. I like the Southside job because both projects amount to about 26 weeks, even though its harder to get to it gives me a nice balance. That and it pays better. At the other place I feel somewhat under paid and over worked. 

I don't know if my iPod Touch 5th gen is jail broken but yesterday it died on me. This was strange because there was still enough battery in the device. So I was checking on the Best buy website before the Oilers/Sharks game, for a AV lightning add on for my i0S device and what's this, they are open to 11pm? I'm not going to miss anything in the first period of the game anyway. So I made my way over to Best Buy across the street and bought a usb lightning charger and returned home opened the package and began charging the iPod and watch the rest of the game. There was no score in the 1st period so I was right, I didn't miss much. Intermission. How come my iPod isn't charging? Did I break the iPod somehow when I tried to jail break it? Did I buy a bad charger? I tried our iPad charger with the new cable, and tried that and went back to the hockey game. The Sharks scored in the 2nd they got another one and I thought, well, can't win them all. Then we scored 2 goals to tie the game in the 3rd at 2 each, wow. At this point I was resigned to assume the iPod was broken and I'd have to use the old iPod Touch 3rd gen. The Sharks scored in OT bringing us 1 point behind them in the standings and that's the last game until the 29th. The Oilers also advanced to 4th in the West. The Oilers hadn't been this far in the standings since the 80's. I tried to find a online solution to my dilemma. There were several. Turn Home button on/off rapid fire for 10 seconds, then hit power button on top, all kinds of different things. I tried once more holding down the power button. Then the white apple logo cam on. Success. That was scary there for a moment. 

Over the past several months I've been researching how these You Tube music producers get the results they do when recording a iPad screen. I know about Elgato screen capture. My results with my iPod Touch always come out looking poor. One of my favorite producers/channels Jakob Haq directed me to one of his play lists that demonstrate how he makes his video's. All he's using is his 2nd gen iPod Touch mini and his iPhone. Then he shows how he's using a "light box." A what? So he places the iPad on the fabric inside the home made light box, and his iPhone with Pinnacle studio (which I have) on top with the camera facing down in a cut out hole for the iPhone camera. He also uses "Cute cut pro as well." The light box diffuses light around the iPad screen, which in turn "manages" the contrast of the iPad in the iPhone. He uses some external lamps as well. Before he begins, he has the iPad using Audioshare, then I'm sure he uses a bluetooth switch to control the iPod's on and off video. Pinnacle Studio has more then one lane for audio. He probably has the same Audioshare account on his iPhone. He said he uses Airdrop for audio. I have Airdrop only for my iPod touch. For voice overs he uses a IK multimedia app and mic solution but what I'd like to use is a Lav mic and a audio interface/sound card which I have. Just a few things and a bit of trial and error probably next month or so I'll have more professional looking video's out there. I tried making a beat using Korg gadget but the battery went on both devices. Gadget really needs an undo button.

Anne went crazy buying a cat perch and running here and there for various things.

We're going to have a nice Christmas eve and Anne's going to midnight mass. We'll have a nice supper, here with Silky, Rusty and Skippy. We're opening gifts around midnight while we're watching "Hopalong Cassidy." We'll be in bed by about 4am with a sleeping pill and staying in as its snowing pretty heavily out there. Merry Christmas everyone, that's all for now.