Most of my daily dribble is over on my website. See "Resources" for a link to there from here.

Snow was in my face waiting for my 9am #11 bus to Clairview this morning. Even though I was a bit tired, I was still feeling pretty good. I got into Tim’s and got my sausage muffin 2 hash browns and I cashed in that coffee Anne won last night. The snow was coming down pretty good crossing the parkade but it wasn’t cold out there.

I got into the office had my breakfast feeling pretty good. Staff began filing in and it was after 10am. No Super. About 10:15am I called Super and he was just coming in. Even though we started late, I had a slow start but managed to pick it up and I got a $100 sale and went on a sales binge from there, by the break I was around $415 something. Super pulled guys not at line hour off taps and moved them over to the front 20. Will Mc made a rare appearance today. JT and I were kidding each other about the game, him being a Leaf’s fan. In the 2nd half I finally got a CC sale, woot! I ended up with line hour, $780 to be exact. We had a pretty good crew of tap shooters.

I was glad to get out of there and the weather cleared up as well. No cans or bottles with me today. I can’t take them all the time but if ever there was a time I should is Saturday because there is no cleaning staff Saturdays. I was glad to get the train to Clairview get my 6/49 ticket and home. I tried having a bit of a nap but couldn’t sleep.

I don’t often plug other Blogs but Sci-fi Chick has a book review on “The Domino men” by Jonathan Barnes. This is a sequel to the “Somnambulist.” Apparently the book is a light fantasy with a lot of conspiracies tossed in. I like the idea that its written in the first person. No doubt “The Domino men” is hardcover but the “Somnambulist” is still in MMP. The review is listed with others over there at Amazon.com

I played some more Oblivion before the Oiler/Leaf game at 5pm. Anne called a couple of times. Leaf’s scored first then the Oiler’s right after that. The score ended up being 4-1 Oiler’s. Hehehe, Sorry JT. Worst part about it for him was the disastrous loss the Oiler’s came off of Thursday night. Roly’s play was outstanding but the Oiler’s are relying on him to much. JT and I went double or nothing, so I get $4 bucks from him and $2 from DC.

Well, I didn’t win the “Big One” tonight but I got one number. Lotto Canada doesn’t post the official numbers until later. If nobody won it tonight, it goes up to $8M for Wednesday.
Anyway gang that’s about it for the weekend blogging wise. I might post tomorrow, briefly. I’ll see how it goes. This should give you enough to chew on. Now to go practice some piano…….Ok, I’m awake now. I think. Last night going in was easy. I got a couple pages of reading in and that’s always a good thing. I gave the guitar busker a few coins at Corona station on my way to the drugstore/office. I bought a bag of cheese pleasers and I met JT coming in and sat with him in the back 21, not in the overflow. I picked through the office trash bins and managed a whack of cans and bottles. I had a good start but no CC sales the first half. JT and I went double or nothing on his Leafs and my Oiler’s in Toronto, that game is on this afternoon at 5pm. I had brought with me a thermos of hot water but no coffee. Rats. The rest of the shift didn’t go so great only pulling in $325 on the night. I was able to pick up my pay cheque. It was really slow going for the rest of the shift We ended up doing AES and all we had was 2004-05 taps. It wa a lame Friday night.

I got a lot of cans and bottles to take home and on my way over to Audrey’s. They had a poetry reading in progress right by my Science Fiction/Fantasy section (SFF). All readings in the store are done in that location. Audrey’s has been having a lot of poetry readings lately and on a Friday night. They had the stairs to the basement roped off. “Ask staff for assistance.” I asked if I could leave my bag of cans behind the ordering counter. My special order guy had to escort me around the back way of the stairs through a winding corridor down to the basement where I emerged from a hidden entrance. I noticed last week the store had a small elevator for obvious reasons. I should have checked special order first and I almost picked up “The Dreaming Void”, Peter F. Hamilton. I wasn’t sure if this was Cyberpunk or Young adult. Two genre’s I usually stay away from. By this time the reading was over with when I had picked out my selection but I checked the special order selection with T’s help and there it was Part 2 of the “In Conquest born” series by C.S. Freidman. I’ve had Part 1 since 2006. Sorry Hamilton. I’ll get “The dreaming void” next time. I picked up “Wilding” and the way upstairs by this time was cleared.
Peter F. Hamilton and CS Friedman have some things in common: They both write Space opera. This is my favorite gene in Science Fiction. I would have ordered some more books but Audrey’s was closing down for the day. I’ll have a list of books next time. I usually like to order 4 at a time.

Having collected my cans and paying for my book I headed for the LRT below only to realize that ETS escorts were reminding LRT riders the end of the lie was at Corona because of the 2 new lines opening up next month. ETS is testing trains on the new tracks from Grandin to the 2 new LRT stations: McKernan/Belgravia and South Campus for the next couple of weeks. They open up April 1st I believe.

I barely got to my bank and to Central station below the bank and home. I barely got comfortable to settle in for Smackdown. Anne came in alright from her job. She had a slow night. The rest of Smackdown wasn’t bad but what an ending. Anne made me a late lunch and I went off to bed listening to Coast. Their special topic line was “Your Magic moment.” I listened in for about 5 minutes and that was enough of that. I had about 4.5 hours of sleep but I’m ok. I might just go straight home get my lottery numbers. Anne bought some cell phone minutes for me and put my feature on. I’m going to try and call Neil about the RCMP degree team thing and remind WM about the material he said he’d email me for the FC prove up in May. Hopefully I can doze off on the couch and watch the hockey game.

Yesterday afternoon I got some Oblivion in and I found the “Arena district” in the game. I like this section. You can “bet” on matches. I think matches favor the house. You can also train using their armor for matches and fight NPC’s with arena equipment. I got a 2 handed claymore and went up against one NPC but got killed. Thank the 9 for rejuvenation. I basically touched bases on the arena and I need to explore more of this area. I thought this would be a good place to look for a quest sword. I need the quest sword before another NPC in order to join the Thieves guild. Oblivion is classic D&D at it’s best.

Hey, tomorrow is daylight savings time. Well overnight that is. We gain an extra hour of daylight. Today the Sun sets at about 6:23pm. Sunday night, the Sun sets at 7:23pm. I love this time of year despite the cold snap we’re currently in. Today is going to be nice but we’re going to plunge down into the -20’s for a few days. Winter’s last reminder that it isn’t over for us yet here in Northern Alberta.

We’re supposed to get some snow this morning on my way in. Anne won a Tim’s coffee last night on their Roll up. All I ever get is their “please play again” message. But tonight’s 6/49 is supposed to be $4M. I’ll get a number fill in slip on my way in. Anne says get a quick pick but you never win on a quick pick. Most I’ve ever gotten playing this thing steady has been 3 numbers.

So tonight, it’s hockey, piano practice making my blog rounds and waiting for Anne to come home. I’ve got a TV dinner for supper. Uggh. She’ll make me a soup or sandwich for later tonight. At least the rent is paid. This week is her birthday and we’ve got to go down to the library to get out taxes done. I’m expecting a return this year. Sorry if this seems kind of choppy today but I’m kind of in a rush this morning.

Anyway gang, that‘s all for now

e. Jim.