The big wheels are turning but slowly.

My wife was successful in getting the forms from CRHC and apparently if we’re accepted they pay for half the rent. We were turned down last year because our assets exceeded over $7,000. So now I’ve got to bring my form in and get Gerry to input in things like my hourly wage, annual income that type of thing. But Anne will get her employer to do hers tomorrow as well. With any luck at all we’ll have the forms ready and processed and she can go back into the office Monday afternoon. Hopefully if we get subsidy we’ll be a little better off.

Neil was working last night according to his wife so he wouldn’t be at lodge. I took the bus down to Clairview station and the train heading out was not in service, the train coming in was not in service. Finally, the train out was. I had a brief wait at the bus stop at Rexall for the #8 and I almost missed my stop. But it’s easy to get to Lodge by bus. I signed in and had a chat with a circle of the guys I took my EA degree with. We were talking about positions of officers etc. I mentioned I’d like to be JD. This means I will be in “the big chair” (if all goes well) in 5 years before I turn 65. Dale agreed and has no problem me being JD for his term because he’s going to be WM in December for next year. We had no music, but it was a great night. I was put back into the Tyler chair because Andrew took over the festive board last night and as a result was our MC. I had a great time. I don’t know what the details are for me attending fort Edmonton park but I think it’s next weekend. At the festive board, I had 2 Stella. I left one in the fridge for Anne for later. Apparently our BBQ looks good for August 28th.

Yesterday, right on the mark, my Paypal (PP) funds were in my account. Excellent. So then it works. I wanted to obtain a service and I needed $40 and $20 is going in today but it takes 8 days here in Canada pending funds to arrive as a balance. But over the last few days the service I wanted to order through PP increased to $100. Yikes. couldn’t they wait for at least the end of the month?

Ok, finale and only plug here: If your new to this blog or have been reading for awhile, you may have noticed over the last few days a link in my Welcome block near the bottom of my photo image. I’ve stumbled upon a great marketing concept that looks really good. No it’s not an MLM, been there done that. I’m not sure if the link is active yet. I’m waiting for a response from a tech support ticket. The link is for a free Ebook talking about this concept that is so simple it will blow your mind. I’m not answering any questions about this. The link is up and the subject closed. Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say about this so check it out if you want.

Tonight I’m out of here at about 4pm for my afternoon commute. Yesterday my wife asked if I would ask if she could work at my place of employment as they are hiring like crazy. Part time is 16 hours/week and full time is 35 hours/week. Thing is Anne can only put in 3 days week: Monday, Tuesday’s, Thursdays, or something like that. She worked with me before. That’s how we met 10 years ago this coming up October. We have people here that come in whenever they want to so why not my wife?

I’m still trying to read “Odd girl out” but I’ve been so busy lately, it’s been hard. On my way into the office I’m depositing $10 into my account for PP and I’m taking about $12 or so for a book at Audrey’s. Anyway, that’s about all for now.

It's benn one of those "oh boy" kind of a days.

This morning Anne arranges for Pledges body to be picked up for cremation. it's going to be done on Monday. They're going to put him in a Urn with his name on it and we're going to get this photo of him and make a kind of a shrine to his honor.

The idea was Anne was to meet me after work at Audrey's, I'd buy my book then we'd head over to the Saw Mill. It's happy hour and they have great cheese burgers and I'll have a beer to go along with that. So, I meet her coming off the train after I've been to my bank, at Clairview station. On the bus home she tells me plans have been changed because I'll be so tired I wont be into it and I'll pass out watching my hockey game when I come home so we're going Sunday instead. Now I'll miss my Grey Cup game. That doesn't matter too much because Edmonton isn't in it. I mean I'd watch it if I was at home and all but this week is our 9th anniversary next Sunday. We should really save it until then but we have rent to worry about. So we'll celebrate it this Sunday.

I had a great evening on the job pulling in 5 cards and a total of $215 for a combined total of $475. For that I get a $20 bonus on my paycheck next week.

Also I discovered that the payroll is done Thursday and sent down to head off ice for Friday. So I have all this week to get the form and have bm sign for it to get my vacation pay on my paycheck. I'm losing money.

It's a nice looking Friday out there

Looks like a decent enough day out there.

I’m going in at my usual time and I’m going to bring my pay stubs with me and bring everything together for bm this afternoon. He’s got a lot to go over there so I don’t expect I’ll get my VP next Friday or anything. But I’m going to put the VP request in for the full amount, YTD. Not a friggin $34 crap either. I’ll write on the release pay I should be getting back the full amount as well from this cheque. There was no overpayment. I never had anything like what the amount that last Dec 19 email said, on any of my pay stubs. But I’ll bring this all in for bm this afternoon. I’m not expecting any bonus money this cheque. I’m only expecting my full 23.5 hours. But I’ll go in see what I can do and get my cheque and the empties. Anne says I don’t need to go to the bank because she got paid today. If I get my $20 I’ll have enough for a book. If my vacation pay comes back in full next week then I’ll be able to get all my special order books there.

I’m going to try the new Lotto max soon. If there’s still time to get the Friday draw or get the draw for Saturday’s 6/49. Since nobody won it Wednesday it’s an estimated $8. Wednesdays draw was $3,441,246.00. Not quite $4M but I’ll take even 2nd place.

Anne’s out spending our rent money. Good thing we have a bit of savings but those savings are dwindling fast and we haven’t yet heard from CRHC. No doubt our application is still in a slush pile in somebody’s intake tray. And most likely since Anne had changed her jobs a couple of times we had the employment details filled in, once intake does receive it then its going to have to come back for revision. Hopefully we won’t have to go through another 2-6 months of waiting.

Ok lets get onto some Science Fiction. Robert J Sawyer’s FlashForward pilot debuted the other day on I think ABC. Unfortunately I missed it. I’m working nights so I miss all the good stuff. Entertainment tonight the other night was talking about it. Even though I haven’t seen the show yet, it’s based on the Robert J Sawyer novel of the same name and I’ve been following the threads in his email group. It’s nice too see fresh original Science Fiction for a change. I think its airing on this Sunday night at 8:30pm. I’ll look around the listings for it tonight.

Last night we were able to watch the Oiler/Tampa Bay Lightning game broadcast out of Winnipeg. And this was by accident. TB was the Home team. The game was in the MTS center and there were a lot of Winnipeg Jet jersey’s in the crowd. Also a few “Bring back the Jets” banners hoisted here and there in the arena. The game was tied at 3 until our own D decides to take a foolish penalty during the closing minute. TB scored 4-3.

Excellent! I got my $20 and $3 for a 6/49 ticket and I don’t need to go up to my bank. Good stuff. I can go get my ticket bring that VP stuff into bm and hopefully get that in motion, get my cheque and then hunt for the empties put my 3.5 hours in and head over to Audrey’s and get one of the Star Wars books and head home.

Anyway gang, that’s about all for now

Jim

I can't believe how fast this summer is going

we're already into June now. I'm still reading ICB by CF Friedman. The POV at first was a bit jumpy but its settled down now.

Coast looks like a good show this morning all about conspiracies, like JFK etc. I like shows like this, they help fuel my imagination.

On the way home from the BBQ we were discussing video games and the game I was looking to get next is "Mass affect" and Nathan said he has a copy he can lend me. He said he'd bring it by on Thursday. Can't argue that.

Earlier after the hockey game I was doing a bit of research on alchemy. My knowledge of alchemy is about a thimble size full but I know it's more then just turning metals into gold type thing. I think the definitive website on alchemy would have to be Adam McLean's site. You wont get a taste of alchemy by reading Harry Potter that's for sure and let me tell you this is heavy reading. But it all fits into a special project of mine.

I'm quite excited about the new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out with Robert Downey Jr. Should be a good one. Though my favorite Sherlock Holmes character of course was Jeremy Brent. I think Brent played the best ever Holmes. Downey is a good actor even though I haven't seen him in Iron Man yet. You can get some of Brent's acting as Holmes on YouTube.

Anyway gang, that's all for now

e. Jim

Monday wasn't a bad day

after all. I got up around noon and watched the markets. Wow, the Dow was up by almost 500 points. Pretty amazing. Oil is just over $53.

At work we did semies all night, I didn't mind too much. I ended up with a $7.50 bonus and I got line hour and had a pretty good shift pulling in $330 and a $50 CC sale. I got a bunch of bottles and cans to take home on the train and I read a bit more of "The third lynx."

I got home, 10 minutes before Monday night Raw. It was a great show. on a scale from 1-10, I'd rate it a 9. Good stuff. The main event was very interesting.

I still haven't found time to do much memory work on my Lodge stuff but I hope to get that taken care of this week but I have no printer to print out a hard copy and I really need this. I hope I haven't taken on more then I can handle.

After Raw, I ended up playing some "Oblivion." I'm still at level 5 but wondering how many Save games I have left. I'm at 455 save games. I hope it just resets itself. It's a fun game with a lot of character.

Anyway gang, that's about all for now

e. Jim

Ahh, a break in the weather.

I missed my coffee container and rushed out in the January rain. That’s right rain this afternoon. The streets were already slick enough. I got my bus but had a bit of a wait for the train. That’s why I bring my book. I went the other way up Jasper Ave a block because the weather felt almost like late March. I met Gary outside saying no cheques today and the Regional manager is in. I scooped up some coffee from Bud. Once a year our “General manager” would do the pay roll calling everyone in only this time it’s the Regional manager.

Also, Super was running the phone room like a real boiler room. An employee was only as good as his/her last hour. L/h was $200, which by break I was able to meet and 3 CC sales. I was at $405 by break actually and the boss and his boss left for the night. Good! I ended up wit a record 8 CC sales for a total of $370 or a $37 bonus to me on my cheque next week. I ended up with $980. This week so far, I have $65 in bonuses and there’s still today and Saturday yet. This campaign has been very good to me.

But I was glad to get out of the office and I took a wrong turn and found myself along a sheet of watery potted pavement of ice for about 20 yards. Amazingly, I didn’t slip and fall. I had a chance to read while waiting for the train. Of course no Oiler’s or football meant only 2 cars on the train and Mike rode with me with my bag of cans and bottles and my backpack. At Rexall the Edmonton Rush were piled out on the platform and it was standing room only. Worse then an Oiler game some nights and the City only has 2 cars? WTF?

I caught my bus home and it was very icy out by the lights crossing. I hate weather like this. I’d rather have it -20C with some snow to walk on then warm wet icy and rainy then what we’ve had last night and will have more of the same today.

Ok, 2 years ago our Edmonton “Tent City” was making National news. Mainly because of the then (and up until this time last year) due to our hot economy. But as good as our economy was then at the time and given the fact our vacancy rate was so high, that didn’t prevent thousands of people coming here looking for work from other Provinces. Apartment conversions and condo s were being built faster then people today are leaving. The tent city had about 200-300 people in tents on an empty lot. The City has about 2000-3000 homeless people, today-still. Some people have been homeless for years. Now because of the ugly tent city scandal our Mayor has a plan to eradicate homeless within in 10 years. This plan has been hinted at over the last 8 months or so along the decline of our economy. Now the Mayor has a 10 year pan to eliminate homelessness in 10 years and it’s going to cost a billion dollars to do it. What, for 2-3000 people? Pst: I got news for you Mr. mayor, there will be another 2-3,000 homeless people here in Edmonton even 10 years. At 1 Billion dollars those are going to be really nice homes/condo’s. but what about low income earners now? My wife and I can’t really work extra hours more then what were doing now and we’re barely making it as it is.

The other thing on the news they had an item about assisted animals/dogs and their owners are allowed to go anywhere into any building/restaurant etc. The announcer was talking about how dogs are better indicators for diabetic when finding out if blood sugar level is low. In this fashion because I can’t afford all my test strips, a dog would be the next best thing. Actually I’d love a little mini American Eskimos dog like the one J Rock had about 4 months ago. They can be trained to use the litter. I might get one when Pledges goes………….12:55pm> My wife and I are real night owls due to our jobs. This gives us time off as we both have health issues. We were in bed by 4am listening to a bit of Coast. The topic was on regression therapy.

Mainly dealing with “alien abductions,” the topic on Coast was compelling. The abduction cases I’d be interested in would be the repeat cases. How many times Mrs. X had claimed she was abducted and if there is a pattern here. If so it’d be interesting if the regression therapist had the ability to plant suggestions in the form of questions that would be activated when such an encounter occurred again. If the abductees got the chance to ask questions o the behalf of the therapist. Some questions I’d be asking would be, “Who are you?” “Why abduct me?” “What star system do you come from?” There could be other factors preventing abductees from speaking. I’d also like to know how many of these are similar. How many people claim to have been abducted by tall green aliens with one eye? That sort of thing. What’s amazing about these alien abductions is why would a race travel light years to get to here only to abduct our people “play doctor” and deposit them? Unless of course the aliens run into Earth by accident. It’s interesting stuff.

Big topic locally here today is the weather. Right now it’s +5C but icy and breezy. Anne left out of here about 1o minutes ago for work. She’s going to get a Tim’s before heading to her job. I have picture ID here to get my cheque because I’ve got to go through some hassle to get it. I’m curious as to what if any bonuses I’ll be getting, if any.

Still working on the last 100 pages of “Runner.” After this I’m going to read “Logos run,” the sequel to “Runner.” I know the characters of the book now and it should be easier for me to get into the story.

Anyhow I get my cheque tonight and then it’s off to Audrey’s and then over to my bank and then home. I might even go up the street to get a Wendy’s or something after my bank because Anne wont come home until after 1pm. Take that home with me and maybe get back in time for wrestling and catch the PPV results of the Oiler’s game. If I get those bonuses and from what I have from Anne’s money, I’ll have enough for my website, this weekend.

According to Supie (not Super) this new budget will put about $300/year into my pocket. How all this is supposed to be implemented and doled out, I’m not sure. But it won’t be for this year it’ll be for the next year. This might mean a new computer for me around Christmas. We’ll see.

And finally, on the local news there might be a case going to BC courts over the “Queen of the North” ferry accident that happened a few years ago. The ferry sunk near Hartley Bay March 12th 2006. But this segment is about BC court fees and not the QON as tragic as the accident was I was shocked to see that court fees in BC are astronomically high. I saw $40k and $25k for legal fees and even jury fees were something like $10K. These fees were exposed due to the frustration the plaintiffs from the QON accident face when trying to bring this case to the courts. These fees apparently are typical in BC. So who pays for them? Are they being written off or what? Jury fees in Alberta are something like $800 and even less in Ontario. There needs to be a set standard fee structure for everything across Canada and the Supreme court needs to re examine this. I recall a few years back my wife was selected for jury duty. She had to decline because she didn’t feel comfortable going ahead with It. I could feel how much anxiety she had but she was able to call whoever selected her if she could get out of it. And she would have been paid $50/day. I wonder how much money jury duty pay is for BC residence? So in light of all this, what about the QON and when will there be a trail. If ever?

Anyway bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Last night

I got my cheque including my stat pay and my cheques was bang on. Rob was running the crew and said to me that if I get high total he would get me a $15 bonus. Ok. I had a slow start as we were doing Magic all night. Then we switched to CPA. Greg had the cable installed for the Oiler’s at Denver. I had a great view. It was like watching the game at the bar. It’s tough for any team to play back to back games and expect to win after a loss the night before. They should have put Geron in goal Wednesday night and Rolly in last night. I got the top total pulling in over another $1,000 night and I got the $15 bonus for next week. That should make it $45 in bonuses this week and the week isn’t even over yet. When I left the Av’s were up 3-1 and I knew the Oiler’s were going to lose this one. I barely got to the bus on the corner of 107th and up to my bank. We have all our rent for November, we don’t need any groceries. Things are looking good. I did my banking and cracked my book open to read on the train home. I’m currently in the early stages of Icewind Dale Trilogy, book 2. I’m enjoying this. I got home and sure enough I missed the 3rd period. The finale score was 4-1 Av’s. Anne and I erupted into a bit of a brouhaha over the cable at work which left her pent up heading to Superstore. Everything was under control when she returned. I should have keot my mouth shut.

While looking over some YouTube piano vids I came across some acoustic guitar lessons. I don’t know if I’d like to play guitar but it doesn’t look that hard. The examples I looked at said most beginners have trouble with the B and F chord because the finger has to cover over all the strings. Most beginners the vid said give up guitar because they can’t play this chord. I was thinking what I’d like to try and do is visit a pawn shop and try out a guitar. How it feels in the hands and see if I can play the B and F chord. If I can I might buy something used, get it tuned and learn how to play the guitar as well as piano. Half an hour a day at each an hour reading and a couple hours writing. I watch very little TV as it is.

We went to bed at our usual time 4am although Anne was half an hour behind me. I got up around 8:30am to use the bathroom and came back to find out I couldn’t sleep. I must have got 4 hours but I’ll sleep better over night for sure.

So at 4pm I’m out of here for my 5-8:30pm shift. Anne just left out of here for her job. She starts at 2-10pm so she’s going to have a long night and our cell phones aren’t topped up, so we’re without cell phones this weekend. After work tonight I’m going to Audrey’s and pick up that Everquest book and the last of my Karen Travis books for tonight then home to watch Smackdown. Tomorrow if I don’t decide to go to the pawn shop to test a guitar it’s just straight home for my nap. Saturday night it’s another Oiler game.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

It's been a couple of busy

days around here lately. I got my pay cheque last night. Anne wanted me to deposit the cheque into her account but the bank wouldn't take her pin number. So one of the customers let me use his cell phone to call her at home. She came down to intercept me at Clairview and we rode the bus home for me and to the bank for her. At first I thought I'd have to miss a day off work because I'd have to go to the cable company to deposit a $100 cheque. But she's got an alternative idea.

I finished reading JU the other day. There's a "review" of the book on my website which is getting a lot of spam comments lately but we're monitoring this ISP 200. Watch out for this thing. It's not hazardous or anything. Were dealing with it.

Also the other day I started reading the "Icewind Dale." trilogy (omnibus) It looks like a good book. But this one is even larger then the other one by about 42 pages. I anticipate another 12 weeks of reading.

What else? I'm a bit behind on my book covers/"currently reading' project. "Library thing" doesn't seem to interface very well with Blogger. I need a better idea to place 3 images together. I'm open to suggestions if anyone had any.

Weather wise here were suposed to be having some changes and that means down to +10C, that sort of thing.

Anyway Bloggers, that's all for now.

e. Jim

Anyway last night

I went into work. Anne’s been off all week but she gets another cheque and that will cover September’s rent. I found my end dialer I got my first couple of sales right away and even a CC. After that I couldn’t get anything going but at the break I asked Moe to keep me on the taps. I’ll do a lot better in the 2nd half. I did and managed a slow recovery to $365. $20 less then Wednesday nights total. About 8:45pm they brought the cheques around. Nobody in the office especially the old timers said happy birthday to me. Of course most of the old timers are gone.

I was glad to get out of the ofice and I walked down to my bus stop with John Mc D and caught a bus to my bank on a colder then usual dark August night. Surprisingly it wasn’t raining. I did my banking and tried calling Anne from our cell phone as she had wanted me to take some money ou of the account. I called twice and she didn’t answer. Friggin vacuum cleaner. I was about ready to leave for the LRT and taking the stairs half underground she called. A few more steps and I would have lost her but I answered and back up the steps to the bank again and took out the cash and I missed my train coming down.

Two LRT trains headed the other direction while I waited for mine sipping back on the diet Coke I hadn’t finished from earlier and reading my book. Finally the train. I got a seat with some guy lifting his leg up on the short seat high railing with his bag on the floor. There was no one else sitting with him. I endured this until just before we pulled into Stadium and took the other window seat. The Stadium LRT ramp must have had a thousand football fans taking the train to Clairview. By this time I wasn’t in a very good mood. Most of the fans were happy so that meant the Esks won. I realize there was no reason to be in a bad mood. I mean it was my birthday. There was no bus at Clairview and the Abbotsfield was going the other way. Then I realized I was up against the Fringe and the football game. At 10pm another Northgate bus for the short distance home, would be another 20-30 minutes away yet. I walked home with $200 in my pocket. What in the world did my wife need $200 that made me miss my train and force me to walk the rest of the way home in the dark on my birthday no less? I was mad. And I showed it when I got home. We got into a bit of a brouhaha, but it lacked the teeth I’d normally would have and my reason for it quickly evaporated. I put that behind me.

I watched the news and Anne made me a nice upper of tacos and mexi fires while I felt better about the world and watched the news. Markets were up on all fronts. Speaking of which Lucian had a piece of paper titled “9 reasons why stocks for Apple will rise in 2009.” It seems that Apple stocks are trading on the NASDAQ for about $175/share. Don’t they have to be bought into groups of 10? He Didn’t seem to think so.

Anne typed up her résumé for work as I finished my dinner and watched the news and sports. Yes, the Esks won. Their record is what 6-2 now? That’s not bad. They had something like 48,000 fans there last night.

I had a great experience with Shaw technical support earlier this morning. A tech person Kerry was very helpful in retrieving my Outlook Express and with my permission took over my desktop from their call center and set up 2 identities, one for my wife and one for me. She was very nice and professional. At one point I accidentally lost my cell phone connection and because of our Shaw phone she was able to call back on our home phone to conclude the email set up process. The whole thing took less then half an hour.

This all came about due to my wife trying to send her résumé over to Pizza via email. Something we haven’t done before but Pizza must be using Outlook as well and I had thought that Microsoft has Outlook only with Office and they give you a 30 day free trial with PC‘s. Apparently that was irrelevant. Find Run, type in the command they gave me and another set up wizard popped up. This is when the fun began. I filled out their complement questionnaire and marked all 3 positive.

I copied & Paste her résumé into Pizza’s email box and sent it off. I hope they received it. There’s nothing on Anne’s cell phone indicating a missed call or anything. They’re training is on the weekends so she could still get a call today or this weekend. We know people that have worked in their office and they have nothing but good things to say about them and their operation.

On a colder then usual Friday I’ll be out of here about 4pm on a bus to Clairview and into work. After work though I’m taking $25 into work and I’m picking up 3 more books from my book order and home to watch 3 hours of wrestling. I want to see the Smackdown aftermath of Summerslam. I don’t know if I’m going to watch all of Smackdown though.

All of the above, well most of it is what happened on my 56th birthday.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

I had a

nice relaxing ride into work as I read more from Judas Unchained. JU. Sure enough I barely sat down and here comes Rob asking me how many CC’s I got last night. Yeesh. I said how I got 5 and he remarked in a better maturated towards me that he wants me to get more bonus money. He wasn’t being snide or miserable towards me. I noticed him carrying his Iphone and I asked him about is Apple Iphone hoe much Gb it had and he answered me nicely. The first half was pretty good doing BB as I had 3 CC’s and I have 13 on the week. I need another 8 more to get 20+1 so they all kick in. So I hope I get 4 more for tomorrow and another 4 for Saturday.

In the 2nd half it was slow and I got one more CC and a low total of $271. I got a few cans and bottles and headed for Corona for the train home. 3 cars on the train because of Capital X. Anne called me on the train as I was reading JU. I read a bit more on the bus as well waiting to pull out of Clairview station.

I opened everything up at home and did my admin stuff feeling a bit better about this evening. Anne came in about an hour ago saying she wants to go oover to Safeway and then order us a Pizza Hut. I get $10 for my allowance as well. Anne called me about half an hour ago or so saying Pizza is ordered be prepared for the five minute set up tray etc warning. She said it looks like we’re in for some kind of a system moving through here. It’s 10:55pm as of this writing and the wind is picking up out there. I worry about here when she’s out late like this getting a pizza.

It's shortly after 1am as I write this. nne buzzed up and I hit the door button in the intercom only to notice the front door open about 6 inches. I thought, oh know. Someone went off with the cats. In a panic I accounted for everyone. Whew. As always Pizza hut was great. We watched the news and a bit of ET, which leads me to this:

Hard to believe it was 1973 35 years ago. That was the year I met Charles. I was 20 years old about to break away from the nest as it were. I think when I met Charles I was at the Beach house there just off of Indian Arm in BC. At that time I was working with the Vancouver Golf club. I think I barely lasted a week. I worked at Western Technical supplies that year with Dave Winfield and later at the VGC. I recall staying with Charles and Bev in their home in Burnaby. Otherwise I would have been on the street. I didn’t stay long there as I got the place in the Bench & Gavel Building and the job at A&N.

My paycheque was right. No bonuses though. Anne gave me $10 bucks os I have enough to get 2 of those X-wing Star Wars books later today. Tme to read some JU.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

I got up on

the grumpy side of bed about 11:35am this morning. I wanted to sleep in but I kept on getting up to pee like every hour. Prostrate cancer? Who knows, I’m sure I’ve got something else going on.

I’m reading Peter F. Hamilton’s “Pandora’s Star” and with about 100 pages left in this huge read a surprise: One of the characters is taking something like a train circuit and the prose lists Edmonton as one of the stops. My city. I had to smile at that one. Usually on the international scene Edmonton is always missed because of Calgary. This time Calgary gets the snub. About time. I’m surprised a non Canadian international best selling author would even take the time to mention Edmonton. We’re usually off the radar screen here. Kudos to Peter F. Hamilton.

I assume Anne is going off to the bank this afternoon before she heads out to work. I’d like to go over to Audrey’s tonight to get my books if she gives me the $35 and I can get my 2 6/49 tickets and a bag of Cheese Pleasers would make the weekend complete. Even more so if I take Saturday off. Thing is Brandon is going to be there and it’s like a weekday shift.

Tonight it’s 3 hours of wrestling goodness. 2 hours of Smackdown followed by an hour of ECW. I’m in my glory.

I’m surprised what with the big fire going on in New Westminster the other day Dennis in his blog doesn’t even mention it this week. Since smoke drifted out of the old Woodlands school Wednesday right past his balcony. Woodlands was New West’s biggest fire to date and the building was one of it’s Heritage building sites. Yet Dennis doesn’t even mention it.

This summer has been a big year for the Superhero movie genre. First up was Iron man and then the Hulk and now another Batman movie. Add Hancock to the list and that’s 4 Superhero movies out this year. Yeesh. Superhero is a kind of like a sub genre of Science Fiction but I think there’s way to many of them. It seems Hollywood is running out of ideas. The big blockbuster this year of course was the recent Indiana Jones movie. I don’t go to a lot of movies anymore, what with ticket prices being $8-12 ticket. If I decide to go see anything it will be at the dollar theater. I never really was a big “Going to the movies” type of guy.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

It was a lot

more relaxing going into work this afternoon. I was able to crack open my book and read on the way in. Extra cars on the train because of the Esks game. The first half of the shift was really tough because it was so noisy. I could barely hear the customer. Apparently somebody complained to the Labor board about the paper balls. Good. At 7pm the afternoon shift left. It was quieter in there thank God. I got my paycheque for exactly the ammount I was expecting and got a few CC’s and $500 on the night. I was glad to get out of there and on the train home.

Anne had set some instructions to put the casserole into the oven for supper when she left for her job. I got dinner in the oven when I got home and she came in shortly later. I got in to listen to the radio for the football game and the Esks were ahead by about 3 points. Anne accidently had the game on Sports net. The only Home game the CFL allows us to watch on TV. So I caught the last half of the game and the Esks just blew the Argos out of the picture. Good stuff. I think the score was 28-49 something like that.

An hour later we were eating dinner and watching ET. The way ET displays Hollywood, it’s like half of these Hollywood stars are either recovering from rehab, or having babies for photo ops, or going through high end prenup divorces. Yessh! Don’t they make movies any more? Oh right with writers and actors strikes it’s almost all these celebs have to do. I’m just sayin.

Coast has a lame weekend worth of shows coming up. Saturday, about stuntmen and Sunday athletes and the paranormal.

Seems our housing market here in boom city Edmonton has relaxed a bit. It’s getting easier for people to find homes. At least according to some of the new people I’ve been talking to recently. This is the place to be though because of the jobs.

Today Anne’s going to cash my cheque and I get $35 plus I have a COH of $14.90>$15 So I almost have $50. It’s also possible that Audrey’s might have some more of my book orders in. I hope. If not I’ll pick up two of the Star Trek books.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

Mostly from last night

Yesterday was a bit of a washout for me. I wasn’t having a very good go of things as Friday’s go. I took my $20 with me and got a diet Pepsi and a 6/49 ticket. The draw this time around is for a “measly” $9 Million. What happened to the $20’s and $30 Millions? I read a bit more on Pandora’s Star on the train going in. The weather was humid crossing the parkade. I got to my dialer and met Fran getting the day bottles and cans and I got a few she couldn’t carry. Full parking lots at Rexall place. What was going on? Extra cars on the trains tonight.

We had 10 tap shooters, most of Team India. I got a paper ball almost in the eye and that put me in a bad mood. I got a CC my first sale for $50 and I got 3 more by break. Anne called and said she was going to go to Superstore to get me those nice chicken fingers I like. And the real macaroni for my lunch tonight. She wasn‘t doing to well at her job. I’d hate to work for her company. I wasn‘t in a very good mood all night and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Low and behold I ended up with 6 CC’s and I made my qualifying bonus "CC quota."

After work Shank )one of the East Indian kids walked with me to where I needed to cross at Audrey’s in the light rainfall we were receiving. Trevor said how he ordered the next 3 Stardoc books and the first 3 in the “Star Wars X-wing books.” Good stuff. Nothing had come in for me yet. I had a brief look around and I ended up getting the L. Ron Hubbard “Black Genesis” book. “Mission Earth” is still on back order. I don’t know what’s going on with those. They also have the Star Wars “Legacy” books in and I’m eyeing those among others. I paid for my book and caught the train home. What 2 cars only? The parking lot at Rexall was empty. I wonder what was going on? To early for a concert. I had a wait in my bus. While reading I overheard a guy and his date were talking about possibly Warcraft or a game like that. She was really into the game as well. Lucky guy.

I got home and opened all windows and fired up the AC did my admin stuff and settled into watch “Smackdown.” That was fun. Anne came in at 11pm and made me my lunch. That was much better. I enjoyed Smackdown and then on the heels of that, ECW. Good times. I went to bed after that and listened to a bit of Coast. Sleep came really hard as it was really warm in our apartment overnight. I rested and managed to get a bit of sleep. Otherwise I feel alright.

Not much going on today. It’s into work for my Tim’s breakfast and I’ll bring my insulin in. If all goes well and I get all my hours and my stat pay for this coming up Friday I should have an extra $50. I’m looking at this JFK book “The radical right and the murder of JFK.” Trevor said they’d need a deposit because it’s another POD book. $5 down and $55 when it’s in. Usually these POD books are pretty good deliver time wise.

Just 2 days 14 hours until CERN brings their LHC online. I don’t know if that’s when they’ll be conducting their first experiment or anything. We’ll see. I’m not expecting anything soon.

As for me, I’ve got to get ready, post this and get the heck out of here.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim