February blahs

Anne called just before I left out the door for work. It was bitter cold out there. I wore my balaclava it was that cold. I read a bit on the way in and got my dialer. No can collecting today. Super asked me to work AES and that was slow going. It was kind of a slow night for a Wednesday. I got 4 CC sales for a $5 bonus and I ended up with $540. I was glad to get out and over to my train. One of the guys from the front 20 I befriend a few years ago got my attention. I was trying to avoid him actually but he went the other direction. Three cars on the train and I caught the front one and read on the way home.

I looked for Boots but found no sign of him. He’s been gone for 4 days and 3 hours out in that cold. Anne puts dry food out there for him. When I got home Anne called as we gave each other updates. I ended up playing Oblivion. For an hour and watched the news as Anne cooked up a pair of some burrito’s, mexi fries for me. She’s going to make one more pass to find Boots. She thinks the caretakers on the ground floor next to the entrance found him and took him in to the SPCA. Maybe they even took him in but I doubt it. They are cat lovers themselves.

Nasa’s orbiting carbon observatory crashed the other day. This was a great project and it’s kind of a shame this happened. Hopefully they have plans to build another one. In a related article from the National Geographic magazine had a 20 page article recent of the Alberta tar sands and it’s environmental impact. The magazine did not paint a favorable picture of Alberta tar sands. But the article also said that the tar sands are accountable for about less then 1% of the planets Greenhouse gases (GHG‘s) which is pretty good. The tar sands provides jobs for thousands of people (now thanks to the economic downturn) in the hundreds. In related news oil is climbing up to $42 barrel yesterday.

The science fiction community lost another great one. I seldom ever report the loss of SFF authors that pass away but Phillip Jose Farmer, held a special place in my heart. In the 1970’s I read SF but not that much and I almost gave up on SF for a few years there until Star Wars 1977. I began reading SFF again and Farmer brought to my reading palate a sense of wonder lost on my reading in the mid to late 1970’s. Farmer is most famous for his River world series. I loved that series. He died at the age of 91.………………..1:50pm> I got up a bit early to do some research on some charities I like to contribute to. When my income goes up a bit more next month I’ll disclose these organizations as I have 6 I donate to now. One of my favorite charity organizations is The Edmonton Oiler Community foundation.

Anne left out of here for some KFC. Right now it’s -19C/-34C wind chill. Anne asked me if I wanted to take tonight off and I’m thinking about doing this and go in for the 1:30pm shift, but the thing is, I have Lodge next week so it’s hard to justify taking the day off. All markets except the Nasdaq are up. Oil is at $44/barrel this hour. If they can get to $50 in the next week, then I know were climbing out of the recession.

I’d be just getting in now. Anne talked me into staying home for the night. I called in talked to the secretary to let DC or Super know I wouldn’t be coming. I covered my base. My wife went to cash a couple of bas of bottles in and I spent a couple of hours playing Oblivion. I aborted a couple of quests that were no match for me and played half an hour until the Oiler’s/Columbus game then read for half an hour out of “Logos run.”

Anne came back saying she got $25 worth of bottles and had a nap while I watched the hockey game. At least one Oiler showed up: Roli. CBJ had 31 shots on goal and scored 1-0. Watching the Oiler’s tonight was like watching The Oil Kings. The juniors could have played better. Give credit to CBJ because they played a flawless game. They got 19 shots on goal. If the Oiler’s ever deserved the chant “Oiler’s suck” it would be tonight’s game. I’d have joined in as well because this evening, the Oiler‘s sucked. But I didn’t have the night off for that alone. I just needed some time to myself for awhile.

Not much else going on. I’ll have Logos run finished reading by Friday. Still no sign of Boots. We keep looking for him but he doesn’t answer.

Anyway, gang that’s all for now.

e. Jim