I had a good day Saturday after all. I can't complain

Surprisingly my back pain eased off for my commute into work this morning. This was the coldest Saturday morning so far since getting back from my Sunday shift which was canceled about Labor Day. It wasn’t a winter jacket type of day or anything. At Corona the escalator wasn’t working again. I took the elevator up with one of the “20” guys and I went into Tim’s and got some breakfast, I was running late and into the office. The security guard was actually pleasant to me this morning. My breakfast was good and I was at my regular dialer. Warren sat across from me. Brian sat beside me (one of the new guys.) I had a good start to the shift and got a few cards. I also got a hold of some rude people. Comes with the job. Our dialer's were shut off for awhile there. The shift was fun with Warren running co pilot with me. We watched University football on Shaw.

After work I got the empties and had a talk with the guard. He’s a really nice guard and we have a lot in common. I had a great time chatting with the guard after work for about 40 minutes but wouldn’t you know it, this could be his last night on site because he wants his old site back.

I headed over to Audrey’s feeling pretty good and I got Book #3 of John Ringo’s “When the devil dances” and in keeping with my topic about audio books I had a chat with the guys at Audry’s about them. Audrey’s audio books start at $15, which is pretty pricey. At “Audible.com” (Amazon) his audio books are priced right at $7.49.

Now I wouldn’t want a steady diet of audio books but I can see their value. Especially when helping me to improve my reading speed. But I could possibly buy 2 audio books/month. Maybe. The problem with audio books is the price and selection. Of course audio books are at the library but chances are I’m not going to find “The Family tree” there. Yes they are available from Torrent sites but chances are there’s probably about 3 seeds for these things.

Jim

We had to take Pledges in yesterday morning to be put down. Toughest day of my life

This time yesterday Anne and I were having a Tim’s breakfast at Corona Station. It was her idea to take the South Campus train to the end of the line as our Clairview home train was pulling in. We would have been home a half hour earlier.

I’m almost over Pledges now. Anne kept me home so I could spend time with Pledges which is why I was never able to work extra shifts. Now that’s changed. Beginning this week, I’m Monday 5-9, Tuesday 1-9, Wednesday 1-9, Thursday 5-9, Friday 5-8:30 and Saturday, 10-4:30pm. That’ll get me 32.5 hours. Beginning this week. There are a few things I want:

Firstly, to get Boots looked after so he can become a member of the family. No one can replace Pledges. I’ve seen lots of family cats but nobody as affectionate as he was. He really loved me and I love him. Always will and each day I’ll think of him but it’s also time to move forward. Second: I want that Blackberry Storm 2. Also I want to pick up a re loaded bank of Montreal Visa gift card. I’ve got a special project I’m looking at starting. I also want a laptop so I can sit out there with my wife in the living room instead of being cooped up in here, which she doesn’t like. Plus, I’m seriously thinking about getting an American Husky cross puppy as a service dog for my diabetes. These are cute animal, very playful and are capable of being housebroken for apartments. They use cat litter boxes. Also, this one might not cost me anything. I can get her from one of the guys at work. I don’t know how Anne will feel about this. She’s considering adapting Boots that’d be tolerable but a puppy? This wont be until the new year if at all.
Anne gave me my allowance for the weekend. My usual $20. Of this I owe $4 from last nights miserable loss against Calgary 30-7 to Warren. If he shows today, I’ll give him that. Then I thought wait now, I haven’t bought a book at Audrey’s since about October 10th. But I already bought 7 books. The last of the 2 Jedi Order books, the 3 Brent Weeks books and the 2 Dave Duncan novels. I think I’m good for this month. I got a small bag of chips for this evenings Oiler’s/Flames game for later tonight.

Nobody won on the Max last night so it goes up to $40M. A winner was selected for the $323,062.00 prize. That’s 6 numbers including the bonus number. I got 2 numbers on 3 lines. I’m getting ready for the $50M. I might get a 6/49 $13M ticket at the Redi mart on the way home and a Max ticket. That’ll be $7 on tickets.

I‘m working until 2pm for today since I’m working off of yesterdays loss. Anne worked last night for 3 hours. She went out to the South Side for a Royal Pizza for us. I don’t like their Pizza’s. not enough crust. But lately I’ve been craving for a Wendy’s double bacon cheese burger combo and I might just walk over and treat myself before the game. Have a nap if I need one and when Anne leaves for work, head on over. This way she doesn’t need to make me anything for tonight.
Last night Art Bell was filling in for George Noory on the Lunar Hoax conspiracy. There‘s a lot of compelling evidence against the Apollo 11 moon landing by Neil Armstrong. One that sinks it for me is the Van Allen radiation belt. The Lunar module was coated with 3 inches of aluminum and apparently that was enough to prevent the occupants from being exposed?
Then there‘s the pristine condition of the film. There’s lots of other evidence as well out there. It was a pretty good show.

Anne was hinting at Bragging rights. It’s a new PPV WWE concept but we can’t really afford it. Besides, when I get home from work this afternoon I want to catch what’s left of the BC Lions/Riders game on at 3:30pm today and tonight there’s the Oiler’s/Calgary. Sunday night I’m watching the Oiler’s in Vancouver. Lots of sports this weekend.

The other day our WM emailed me asking about doing the EA charge. I’d like to but there’s not enough notice and what with Pledges going yesterday etc it’s been a busy month. First we had Pat and Berry here on the 7th. Then I had that memory work for the FC exam and now Pledges being put down plus the hour changes on the job.

Robert J. Sawyer is one of my favorite Canadian SF writer. I’ve met him on several occasions and had 2 of his novels signed. Last April 23rd there’s a photo of him and I at Audrey’s. RJS with ABC TV has recently released “FlashForward” based upon a popular novel of his. I’ve been trying to find out what channel and time this show is on but so far I haven’t been able to find it in the TV listings. Most likely it’s in the evening while I’m at work. I’m going to look for it this week and make sure I get a chance to see it. I think it’s in it’s 4th episode right now.

Also sometime this weekend I want to get back into reading “The Space Wolf.” I’ve spent way too much time on this book. I began it August 31st. To be fare it’s only been 8 weeks, so that’s not too bad. I’ve got possibly another week left as I’m aiming to finish at the end of this month. Then I can go on to read Sherri S. Tepper’s “The family tree.”

Also, I’ve been wanting to pick up on some of Rich Horton’s “Years Best” anthology’s. He has Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror genre’s. Also this month I’m going to pay a visit to the 82nd Ave Wee Book Inn. Apparently according to one of the guys at work WBI has a lot of the old Edgar Rice Burroughs’s and John Norman novels as well as a lot of Ace doubles. I think he’s reading “I am a barbarian.” He said he paid $2.50 for it. Sounds like I’ll be heading over there one of these Friday nights soon. Today’s been a long entry. I had lots of stuff to cover.

Anyway gang, that’s about all for now

Jim

Another sleepless Friday

After doing my banking last night I got home about 9:30pm and I wanted to find out how well the Oiler’s were doing with the Wild in town. I caught the finale minute as the Oiler’s won 5-2. Wow. Penner and Brule each got goals. Wow. At the rate Penner is going he’s going to become a 30 goal scorer he’s already got 5 so far and Brule at least 3. Anne came home immediately after and gave me shit because I took out $200. That was supposed to go towards the cable bill. So now I’ve got to go back to the bank on my way in and re deposit that so she can pay our cable/internet bill this afternoon. I screwed up. I’ll get off at Central and quickly run up and deposit the cash and then head down to Tim’s and get a bite to eat.

I went to bed about 12:45am and then listened to a bit of Coast. I got maybe an hour sleep but couldn’t sleep after that. I went back to sleep about 5am and the alarm woke me for 6am. I got 2 hours or so of sleep. I don’t feel too bad but Anne doesn’t want me to work a full afternoon. The extra 2 hours won’t make much of a difference.

Last night wow. I ended up getting my paycheck no bonus money (through out the office actually) I’ve seen this happen before when management pays out too much bonus money. Also some people are going to have their wages reduced. What? But I had a fairly good night anyway. Last night I got 6 cards for $375 on cards and $565 on total. And our office is last and we’re paying out too much bonus money? Already just me working part time this week I’ve pulled in $655 in credit cards.

Anyway, I’m going in for my 4 hours. Nothing more nothing less. Actually Steve from Vancouver was in today. I wonder if this had anything to do with the lack of bonus money and wage rollbacks?

The good news is the Esks won 22-19 (Argos came close) and the Oilers won here 5-2. Last year the Wild’s record against the Oiler’s was 4-2. It’s been a good short week what with it being Thanksgiving on Monday, Thursday off for the emergent meeting, it’s been a nice week.
This morning, I’m at my bank down to Tim’s and get some breakfast and then put my 4 hours in and then home get my Max ticket and have a bite to eat and a little nap then dig into “The Space Wolf.” This weekend is mostly going to be a reading weekend. I’ve had enough TV.
On Coast last night Richard Hoagland was talking about Nasa’s Moon mission. I didn’t listen to a lot of the details but it looked like a good show. And of course they talked about the balloon boy episode of a couple of days ago.

I’m looking at the markets and the DJIA is down from breaking over 10,000 points. Nice to see that going strong. But what bothers me is why are we in a recession here in Alberta when Oil is sitting at $75 in October? I have an answer. It’s based upon bad policy Stelmach received last year to increase oil revenues. What was he smoking? More on this later.
　
Anyway gang, that’s about all for now

Jim

Another Saturday morning but cold out there.

Another cell phone purchase that is a serious contender is the Blackberry Storm 2 not yet released. Vinny took a seat beside me showing his original Storm and his model doesn’t have wifi, unlike the new Storm 2 apparently has. At least according to the YouTube promo videos I’ve seen of it in comparison. He says I should see Jay as he works the Bell Canada booth over there in Bonnie dune Mall. That would mean a Saturday afternoon trip after work. Vinny said he pays $64/month for unlimited Internet and evenings and weekend calling. I think that plan comes with the Fun 20 bundle but I’d want Sirius satellite radio so I an listen to Hardcore Sports talk radio and that‘s an extra $8/month.
I left out of here at my usual time with Anne but she walked to feed the birds and then made her way to work. I caught my bus as I watched her. The bottleneck up here by Michael’s had me a bit worried she’d get to her train and on it before the bus got there. Then the bus has to stop at the two steps on the way but on the last stop behinds the theaters I could see her on the sidewalk working her way down. The bus pulled into Clairview terminal as I waited on the platform for her and we took the train in together. It was nice.

I got my cheque with pause times deducted but it was still around 19.5 hours due to my Lodge meeting last week. This wont happen during the next one because we’ll be doing mornings. Some days next week I’ll be on the train at 8:10am for the 3.5 hours. Yes I know I’ll lose the half hour but I plan on putting in a few split shifts and next week we’re apparently starting the 6 hour Saturday shift so that’s going to help.
However this weekend is thanksgiving weekend and that means I go in for today and I get Sunday and Monday off. Wuwho! Last night the Eskimos were ahead by 31-27 against BC with less then a minute remaining in play. BC’s receiver was covered by 2 guys that almost collided with each other.

With 12 seconds left in the game our kicker has a 60 yard field goal attempt to tie the game. No way. It fell short and wide anyway.

Last night on the job was dismal. The calls were slow and the customer was being obstinate. I was glad to get out of there with my $3 in debts owed my empties (lots of them) and over to Audrey’s. I asked to renege on the two Jim Butcher novels. Sorry Jim but I’m not ready to tackle Urban fantasy just yet. I got my last Star Wars book and a Dave Duncan fantasy duology. There. I’m done the 27 books I had acquired there in May.

Anne said if I just wanted to come strait home no problem. She was getting off at 9pm herself. We had the Esks game on TV at work. I looked for her to get on the train but I didn’t see her at The Bay station just after 9pm. I got in did some admin stuff and she walked in a few minutes later. Other then work dragging, it was a good day. In fact it was an even better week despite the Oiler’s loosing to Calgary Thursday and the Esks losing last night. There is hope the Oiler’s will pull off a win when they play the Habs here at Rexall place tonight. But tonight I’ve got nothing on before 8pm. Nothing on Sunday but the oil is on the road in Nashville Monday and I’ll be watching that game. More latter.

Anyway gang, that’s about all for now

Jim

Its been a busy couple of days

this week at work we got new management. Out goes, Moe, Brendin, DC and in comes Jerry from Vancouver. He's a pretty good guy so far.

This morning I went in for a rare Saturday morning shift and I'm glad I went in holding out on an hours sleep over night. I wasn't feeling all that badly and I got a Tim's breakfast sandwich with my coffee and my insulin. It was day 2 of CF for me and I did a lot better pulling in 5 CC's for $230 and $360 in sales. It wasn't top total but I got $15 in bonus money out of the deal and a modest collection of empties to take home. BM was there doing payroll for a bit also. Most likely checking in who was and wasn't there for their stat pay.

After work I headed over to Audrey's and bought another Star Wars New Jedi order book. I've got 5 left in the series with 7 books remaining in my special order.

I needed to be home about 3pm as Anne needed to get the bus pass for her job, I think she's working until midnight tonight. I hope so.

Other then that, not much going on. I get 2 days off and Monday with pay because of Labor Day. We had a pretty good crew at work today.

Hey, hey I won on the 6/49 lotto! That's $5 bucks! I got 2 numbers plus the bonus number. All right. I can roll that over and buy another ticket on Tuesday. I think this is the first time this year I won anything on the 6/49. Wuwho! Hehehe.

Anyway, that's about all for now

Jim

I've been having quite a week lately and I forgot to post in here......

....so I'm about to correct this tonight.

We went to bed about 4am this morning and woke up about 1pm. We felt great. Anne went out to do her shopping and I did a lot of reading out of "The Wilding." Anne's out there now getting potatoes.

Last night however I went to get my book over there at Audrey's. The New Jedi Order "Behind enemy lines 2." I also got a 6/49 ticket for the big $16M draw this evening. other then that not a lot going on. I'm still struggling with getting rid of this cold. I've got lots of pfhlem in my throat and sinuses.

Earlier when Anne came in I was watching WWE Vintage showing some of the older matches from Summerslam's from the mid 1990's. Anne made me a soup and sandwich for supper. I'm good with that. I thought Jerry Lawler and Vince McMahon made a great announce team. It was fun to watch. I recall those years especially the last match from 1996 with my first year at Villa Maria apartments. I didn't have pay per view back then or even cable.

Anyway gang, that's about all for now

Jim

Saturday was very, quiet very strange

My wife left out of here about 4:15pm yesterday. She called on her break saying that she got into work with 10 minutes to spare. I didn’t do much Saturday. I woke up about 1am watched what was left over of the Winnipeg/Toronto game. 13-12 Winnipeg. Toronto’s home loss record is now at 8 games!

I couldn’t feel it what with the fan on my back all afternoon but apparently we got up to +31C as a high yesterday. Anne made some very tender side ribs for my supper but they were really greasy. I don’t ordinarily like side ribs but these were pretty good. On a scale from 1-10 I’d rate them a 7,

The bird cages were outside and the clouds were growing dark and the wind was picking up. I decided to bring the birds inside. We got some rain but the real casualty in all this was at the annual Big Valley Jamboree (a popular annual country western music gig in Camrose about 2 hours South of Edmonton.) the strong winds tore the roof off of the main stage killing one person and injuring 15 others. We Didn’t get much rain here but this was a scary storm. Not as bad as the storm a few weeks ago though. Even Heritage days was called off around the supper hour.

My entertainment last night consisted of watching the Riders/Calgary CFL game. The game started off slow but built up to a whacky finish. It ended up 24-23 Saskatchewan but the last 30 seconds were a real nail biter. It’s always good to see a Calgary pro sports team lose hehehe.

Oh, Friday after work when I went to Audrey’s they had one more day of their 20% off Science fiction Fantasy book sale. I thought Friday was August 1st. I’m running a day late it seems. We’re back on track now, I picked up the RA Salvatore’s Dark elf trilogy rather then the Ben Bova Sam Gunn Omnibus. I can get that next weekend at regular pricing. My next special order will be The New Space Opera 2 and 5 Warhammer Omnibus books.

Anne called me at her 8:30pm break saying she was going to deposit our rent money into her account. We’ve got the August rent taken care of, rental subsidy process underway and the August bus pass. Except for her lack of hours things are more or less stabilized. We really need that rental subsidy under control. Friday afternoon bm encouraged me to come in from 1:30pm-9. I’d like to and I just might. As for me, I’m out of here later today for my 2-6 Sunday shift and I’m back at about 7pm.

Anyway gang, that‘s all for now

I left out of here about 3:45pm yesterday in very

windy conditions and like everyone else waiting for the autopsy news report on Michael Jackson. I picked up my 6/49 ticket at the pharmacy, as it was still very windy out there. I didn’t get anything new until I went into the office. I got a lot of empties and DC handed me my cheque. Everything right except the missing 1 hour but that’s alright. I sat at station #15 hoping Super wouldn’t move me. “James, in the back.” Disappointment. I got an end dialer and sat with one of the newer people. I had nothing for almost half an hour then I got a $100 and a $50 and I was at line hour by 6pm. Then almost nothing after that until about 6pm I had $265. I collected more empties during the break and within the finale 20 minutes Super moves me to station #15, Finally it was all over and I ended up with $320 and no cards but I got 10 on the week.

I was glad to get out of there even though the wind was still gusting. I waited for the bus just beside Tim’s feeling bad I didn’t have cash to get my Friday book. Joan one of our staff that’s in crutches met up with me saying she was in at 4pm. Once when I begin steady hours I’m going to ask bm if I can come in during the afternoon say around 1-2pm and get my cheque. This way I’ll be able to do my banking early and I can still go to Audrey’s for my Friday night.

I had kind of a scary incident at the bank. Thank God I have over draft protection. I deposit my cheque and in the envelope and the ATM spit out my balance. It’s the same banking ritual I do every Friday. The cheque didn’t show on the news balance slip and the money didn’t come out. I began to panic. I thought I lost my cheque! These are new ATM’s and this is the first time this has ever happened to me. So I put my card in again and punched a button in the amount and I heard the machine cycle through and it spit the cash out for me and generated a new balance slip. Every ATM is different but in most cases works the same. When I do a deposit a box pops up on the screen with a field to enter specific amounts for deposits and withdraws. I have to enter the amounts manually using the touch pad and decimal key. There are also buttons on the side with graphics showing option amounts that can be drawn when a withdraw request is made. I picked the last button and I got my cash out. The balance was the same. I don’t like that machine. The last thing I want to do is lose a 6/49 jackpot that way. Something went wrong when I entered the amount. The bank room where the ATM’s are held gets a steady flow of customers. I suggested this fellow not use the same ATM. He did his banking and I showed him my 3 slips. He thanked me for the heads up on that machine.

I left out of there feeling alright but I missed my train just leaving as I was halfway down the stairs. If I had left when I did I would have been home earlier. But I didn’t mind waiting at Central and read. I had a can of diet pop and a good book to read. I was feeling a bit more relaxed. I had a quiet ride to Clairview with my bag of empties and my book and I got home about 9:50pm. My usual time.

I wasn’t in the mood to watch Smackdown. I did some computer work instead and had my supper, which Anne made for me earlier. I enjoyed that and watched the news and then went to Smackdown’s main Event. After that I did some more computer work. Anne came home saying she got a tote bag and a hot cold thermos thing plus $5 off her next pizza order for putting through the most pizza “Mega meal” orders. She’s always winning things like that. I get bonus money on my cheques occasionally and she gets little performance gifts and things. She got me that Best Buy coupon which I Haven’t cashed in yet but I will next weekend. The nearest Best Buy to us is the one on the other side of 137th Ave. it’s several bus rides away and takes a whole afternoon to get out there. I’ll most likely go next Saturday and get a game and I can if I leave early enough get a few books on the way home. A video game, books a bite to eat. That’s a nice outing for me. Yawn

Speaking of video games, I Haven’t been playing Oblivion for some time. Mainly because the controller needs new batteries. Most likely I’ll get to playing it again possibly next weekend. I’m not a big video game player but I don’t mind spending a few hours a week on my little Xbox 360.

It’s a beautiful summer day out there and I’m glad I was able to sleep in and I’m not on the phones getting TD’d and F3 out the ying yang. I got up around noon as Anne went out the door with her shopping cart and I’m by myself doing my thing. She’s got a 4 hour shift today and a bank appointment for Monday or Tuesday so we can get part of our rent and she’s got her vacation pay coming in and her cheque. We’ll be a few days late but we can always give the office a post dated cheque for July 3rd. I also have enough here for July’s bus pass as well.

So far year to date, I’ve gotten $630 in bonus money over the last 28 weeks or so. Some of the guys during the afternoon shift are pulling in $100+/ week in bonus money over and above their pay cheques. Going in from 1-9 is worth it. I may as well get on that shift while I can before this DNC list wipes out the afternoon shift. I think this is going to go next. Pretty soon we’ll just have the evening shift. But they still have the business room and that seems to be going strong. They’ve got close to 32 stations running from 9-4pm but nobody likes the business room manager as she takes all the better taps for herself. Also, “team India” works business on the other side of the morning tap crew. I think if HO is going to do any more cutbacks, it’s going to be the morning shift. People from the morning crew are gradually moving to afternoons/evenings. The other option for them is business. When they cut the morning tap shooters then the room will be full coast to coast.

That’s enough business talk for right now. My friend Keith Graham is doing a John Brunner novel reading project lately. You can check out how he’s doing on his Blog. Cant say I’ve ever read Brunner but after some looking around he had quite a body of work. He published over 60 novels in his career. Sadly, most of these editions are long out of print but they can be picked up at Ebay as vintage books. The condition of these books aren’t pretty but they are readable. I wonder if any publisher has scanned these books and is going to republish them? I’d like to try a John Brunner book. One fatal flaw about science fiction is its ideas can become dated but the stories are timeless.

And finally in i09 today they have an interesting post on Science Fiction books that launched their own careers. For example, Military Science Fiction. The post talks about the origins of the sub genre and its believed that HG Wells first brought military SF to the light of day but Robert E. Heinlein with his book “Starship troopers” kind of brought this sub genre towards popularity. When I think of military Science Fiction I think David Webber.

Anne’s running a bit late here as she has to be at work by 4pm if she wants to make us a bite to eat she should be pulling up pretty soon. Speak of the devil.

This weekend is the NHL draft and sure enough NYI took their expected pick and same with Tampa bay. The Oiler’s took 10th overall and the kid has another year to go where he’s currently playing. The draft was a real let down for the Oiler’s. Lets hope something good will come out of the UFA offerings next week. There’s some big names out there. I’d like to see the Oiler’s get Jay Bouwmeester but at almost $5M/year is he worth it? The Oiler’s however haven’t the cap room to sign these big name players. They let Kyle Brodziak got to the Wild for a 99th round draft pick so that will clear some cap space. Brodziak was only getting half a mil but obviously the Oiler’s are trying to create cap space. They could get rid of Nilson for $2M> I wouldn’t miss him. The thing is a lot of teams don’t have cap space for these big names and even though cap space this year is at $56M, next year it could drop to $50M


Anyway gang, that’s about it for now…..

A day spent reading a book but i'm to much into this read to chuck it just yet.

This morning I headed out of here with lunch in tow and my stuff. I took a couple of pictures of the trees by our place and this tree for example should be loaded with light colored green leaves. I’ve never seen a Spring season like this before.

I got out at Belvedere because I wanted to scoop up to the higher level pedway that looks onto the construction going on and take a photo but the glare on the glass from the outside and inside kind of wrecks the photo but you can get a good idea of what’s going on here.
I had a wait for the train the rest of the way and read a bit on the way in. I got my original dialer and settled into the job. We had a full crew. I had a slow start but I ended up with $240 in the middle of the pack. I got some bottles and cans and Lucian (spelling?) mentioned how owners of the Kindle DX can buy my blog at $3/month and read it on their Kindle’s. I’m sure I have to sign up for this. But why would Kindle owners pay me/Amazon (their cut) about $3/month when they can sign up and subscribe for free? The kindle is a nice idea but the device is way to expensive. It’s not a must have item and I don’t think this is going to be the killer app that will spell the death of publishing as we know it. J Rock wasn‘t there and in a way I was relieved she was a no show because I wasn’t in t h e mood for going out of my way this afternoon.

I ended up with $330 and finally a $45 CC sale and a few more bottles and cans and headed for Corona and after a wait I got my ride home. I no sooner got through the door when Anne called for a few minutes.

I had my nap and relaxed and around 6pm I got into reading more of “TLE.” Anne called again while she was on her break. She’s getting an extra day next week which falls on Monday so she’ll be getting time and a half. I’m still going into the office Tuesday-Friday and on Saturday. I have books I want to get.

My 6/49 numbers didn’t pan out. I didn’t even get 1 number. I should have bought a quick pick. I didn’t even win on the extra. They’re not posting any winners yet. Maybe nobody won first place. We’ll see.

As bsl readings go mine a few minutes ago read 7.4. This isn’t bad considering I ate a can of stew half an hour ago with the idea I’d take my insulin only to discover my cartridge empty. Yikes. But I got distracted somehow and forgot to take my shot. The last time I took this was 13 hours ago. The shot should be taken about ever 12 hours or so. Anne had some yogurt so I consumed some of that and took my insulin.

Nobody last night won the $40M jackpot. Actually it broke down to $39,621,456.00 million. However 9 winners won 2nd place, which is 5 numbers including the bonus number for $115,069.30. Then there were 425 winners that won $2,012.90, On Saturday the draw gets increased to an estimated $49M. 16, 17, 23, 27, 30, 45 Bonus 39. So to get 2nd place you needed to have 5 of the above numbers and 39 in your mix of 6. It’s all tax free.

A bit of “good news” today for a change, Anne tells me that Alberta monitoring will cover needles. I didn’t know this before. A box of 100 costs $25 bucks. My total budget for my diabetes if I was to do this properly would be $1200/year, test strips. $131 lancets/year, $380/year in needles, $720/year for insulin. Total to me is $2,431. out of that, I’m grateful that Alberta monitoring gives me $550 towards monitoring. I have to take out of my pocket $1,881/year. This translates into $156.75/month. I get no help from Alberta health care. My place of work has a medical plan but as soon as they hear I have diabetes, forget it. I might be able to get some help from Alberta monitoring but because my wife has a little stashed away from an RRSP, we probably wont be able to qualify.

I’ve been reading for most of the night last night “The legend that was earth,” it’s not bad. Not one of JPH’s best works and I’ve read a few. But I’m not going to drop it. I‘m not a diehard James P. Hogan fan even though this story has aliens which are ancillary to the story. Today, I’m going to try and finish this story.

Anyway gang, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Yikes!

it took me about 4o minutes and 3 attempts after a cold boot to get to this point. The first effort as I was making coffee , I got as far as the back up icon on my desktop and no processing of my Ram. I had to shut my PC off manually. I rebooted my PC again and this time my Ram couldn’t get my task bar fully loaded. Shut down. I tried again and everything came on and Ram is still processing and I’ve got accesses to this my word processor, so far so good.

Yesterday afternoon I locked everything up and headed for my bus stop and then to Clairview station. I was able to read a bit on the train in. I asked Greg if he could get my pay cheque but he said sure give him a minute and conveniently for got but Super was hanging about the area. Unusually early. I got to work on a several things. I asked Super for my cheque several times but as always I get the run around. At break the run-a-round again. He was playing games with me because I wasn’t in Thursday after saying Wednesday I wouldn’t be in because of Lodge. I had a slow night on the job. No CC sales at all. All we’ve got to work with is WCS, ASB and CBF and we’re calling the same people over and over. Occasionally we’ll throw AES in there but even then. And then we get these people that say for CBF for example, “I already sent my pledge in.” But according to our pay history, they gave in August of last year. They gave to something else that sounds similar and they still insist it’s the organization were calling on behalf of. That pisses me off the most. I don’t know how many $50’s, $35’s I lost because of that. But I collected a bunch of bottles and cans and about 10 minutes before the end of shift, I got my cheque. Everything was correct of course, no problem there.

I got out of there feeling alright even though best I could come up with on a slow Friday night is $220 and no CC sales. I almost got one but the customerCouldn’t find her card. I hurried across the street and headed over to Audrey’s to get myself a book. EMS vehicles had flashing lights on the corner by Audrey’s. Inside apparently someone had passed out. A senior. But I had about $13 with me and I picked up “Eberron-Sea of Death”

I headed out to my bus stop across the street by Tim’s and after a long wait my #5 came by. I probably had a chance to read but my bus could have snuck up on me at anytime and I wanted to get to my bank to cash my cheque. At my bank, there was a homeless guy curdled up in the foyer tucked away in the corner. I just wanted to get out of there with my cash and to the LRT below. With cans and bottles in my bag in tow I hurried to Central station and my 9:20pm train came by right on time. I was home by 9:45pm and ready to watch Smackdown and catch up on the NHL playoff scores.

Anne came in and made me some burritos and mexi fries. I watched ECW and went to bed and about a half hour later I was passed out. The alarm woke me up at my 6:40am and here I am.

This morning in an hour I’m off for my 10-2pm. Anne’s working from 2-midnight. They cut back their 2 am shift so they don’t have to give their late night staff a ride home. She still won’t get in until about 1am. I worry about here when she’s out after midnight like that. As for me after work I’m going home and if the Redimart is open I’ll get a 6/49 ticket a bag of chips at Rogers and home for a nap until 6pm, have a bite to eat and then watch the Chicago at Vancouver game. I think it’s game #5/7.

Anyway gang, that’s all for now

e. Jim

I got up with my wife around noon Saturday. I decided I’d go later and I played Oblivion for awhile. Anne left me with

a bus ticket. I left out of here shortly before 2pm. It was a beautiful afternoon under clear skies. There was a nice breeze blowing while I was waiting for my bus. On the way to Clairview station, I didn’t know with 100% certainty that I had no kettle on the stove element at home. Usually I measure twice cut once kind of a thing. I got off the bus at Clairview station and onto an awaiting bus to go back the way I came and back into my apartment. The kettle was actually on an element but nothing was on. Whew. I left feeling good about that and on with my day. But I had a long wait until my next bus came by and the bus bench was all dirty to sit on so I was warming up in the bus shelter actually perspiring. Finally my bus came and I was on my way, for good this time.

I got my lottery ticket for Saturday night’s draw and a diet coke and broke open my book to read on the train to Audrey’s. When I got to Corona and upstairs then inside the staff had the basement roped off. Another reading? But this time it wasn’t poetry. One of the staff escorted me to the basement special order and there waiting for me was Book one in Steven Erikson’s massive “Malazan series.” All the SFF book cases were moved around but I was able to sort my way through long enough to see C.S. Friedman’s latest “Feast of Souls” from the “magister trilogy.” This works. I paid for my books and headed over to Tim’s.

I bought a coffee and a blueberry fritter. Good stuff. Of course I never won anything in Roll Up. I enjoyed my treat and relaxed but figured time was running out on my bus transfer as Anne had my bus pass for work. I bought for the first time a ticket from the 12 foot tall ticket machine and punched it to validate it. I took the South train and read my book back home and a bit under blue skies back at Clairview. It was really nice out there.

Once inside I was waiting for my wife to call me on her 5 pm break while I was researching books I’d like to buy. She didn’t call until about 7:30pm and she ended up raging on me because I hadn’t had anything substantial to eat all day. So I decided to go over to Burger King and get a double bacon cheese burger. They looked pretty busy and 4 customers had ordered and received their order while I was waiting for mine. “Are you still waiting?” Someone said behind the counter. I was getting a bit peeved off. Finally the guy brought my order. At one time I was so discouraged I asked for my money back but he ignored me and brought the order. I was ok with it.

Once back home and inside I took my insulin and wolfed my meal down. It was really good but pricey. $7.45 for a burger the width of a SF novel, including large fries and drink. I really enjoyed this and I called back BK saying something like, “You’ll get my business again.” All this before the Oiler/Flames game.

Again no goals in the first period. The Oiler’s scored a wrap-around by Tom Gilbert. Then right after that the Flames scored. It was all Calgary after that. I felt bad for Coach Craig MacTavish, Charlie Huddy, Billy Moores as the players left the bench leaving a stunned Oiler staff under the red lights watching the Flames fans, then they move on. But that was indicative of the whole Oiler season. They take one step forward and 2 back. So what does coach MacT do now? Will he resign? I hope not, MacTavish, Huddy, Moores make a great combination. They also have a $23M D to get signed up as well and look to resign Roloson and Kotalik this summer. Kotalik says he likes what he sees and likes playing with Hemsky. But with half of the Oiler’s salary cap on their D, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room unless they clear payroll. I see them getting rid of Penner, Horcoff and Brodziak in a trade for a big name goal scorer during the off season. But the Oiler’s are done for this year. The Oiler’s ended up with 85 points on the season. March 20th the Oiler’s held 7th place but lost 7 of those 9 games that was the difference maker for them missing the playoffs this year. Now it’s time to cheer on any Canadian team in the playoff’s. That leaves only Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver and the playoffs begin Wednesday. I know Calgary will face Chicago in the first round.

Some interesting stats here. Calgary scored 254 goals and Edmonton scored 234 goals but goals against were identical at 248 each. The Oiler‘s needed to have scored 20 more goals and a big part of them not scoring those goals are players like Dustin Penner. The good things this year were the Oiler‘s great road record and Roloson who basically carried the team. If the playoffs began today, it would be Montreal (93) points in 8th spot vs. Boston Bruins (114) in 1st in the East. In the West it’s St. Louis (90) vs. SJ (117) for 1st in the West. In the middle of that is Vancouver (100) and Calgary (98) It’s going to be an interesting playoff race.

The big 6/49 draw was won last night for a total of $15,267,589.50. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that 1 person won the jackpot. It sure wasn’t me but it could mean that a group of people shared the winnings. 2nd place was won by 2, for a total of $207,645.50. I’d settle for that. That would mean 5 numbers plus the bonus number. So Wednesday’s draw is an estimated $3.5M. Anne gets the quick pick for that. This time I didn’t get any of those numbers but the spread of those numbers is interesting: 5,6,7,11,17, 34, 48. The bonus number was 48. Now, I’ve picked spreads like that before. I usually do a random pick. Same as a quick pick but I like to have some control over the numbers.

By now most of you have heard the news about Dungeons & Dragons Co creator Dave Arneson passing away. I first played D&D in the early 1980’s. I’m playing it now in another incarnation called “Oblivion.” Oblivion isn’t the same as D&D of course. Strange how last year Gary Gygax passed away and now Dave Arneson.

Well, my Easter weekend is almost over. I think what I’m going to do is to see about working Monday 5-9 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 1-9pm and Friday morning for 29 hours and skip Saturdays. This kind of like gives me 3 days off. Providing there aren’t any more cuts to shifts. As for the security guard job, I decided to milk what I have right now and wait for the bottom fall out of this company. I think the next set of cuts (if there are any) will most likely be in the summer some time, around the end of June or there a-bouts and in which case I think head office will have just “Business” and the evening shift. I might still survive off of that until the economy is improved. A sure sign of this around here is when oil is about $60/barrel and it looks like this might happen before the summer. In 1997 oil was around $25 at the beginning of that year and the economy was just picking up. It’s predicted that Alberta will lose about 15,000 jobs during this recession.

In other local economic news in the Provincial budget last week, The province is going to increase a carton of cigarettes up to $3 a carton, which range in from $60-$80 depending on the brand is a lot of money for smokers. A case of beer will cost an extra $1.30 more. A case of beer in bottles is usually more then in cans but I’m not much of a beer drinker. But a case usually costs about $25 for a doz. My favorite beer is Stella Artois. A case of this will cost about $30! My wife wanted to go out and buy me a case of beer but it’s hard to get a beer down when I take my insulin so early.

And finally Sci-fi chick is actually talking about science fiction. Gasp, What no Urban Fantasy? Seriously though, the site is posting some new Stargate Universe trailers on the website. The show looks good. Links to Sci-fi chick are in my link section.

Anyway gang, that’s all for now

e. Jim

This Saturday morning felt good going into work for a change.

I was feeling pretty good going into work Saturday morning. These pictures were taken while waiting for my bus about 9am to Clairview station. Looks like a typical winter day doesn’t it? The first image is looking West towards the Manning bridge. My Saturday #11 bus shows over that bridge all the time at 9am towards me. I’ve shown this before but this is supposed to be Spring!

I was feeling pretty good for the trip in. I managed to read a bit and stretch myself out on the decorative pedestals at Corona and got the tightness out of my back and neck a bit. For the first time in a long time I wore my green bomber jacket into work. I had a good start to the shift as well for a Saturday morning. Team India is back. Nice to see them return. We had a shorter crew as well. I got a couple of CC sales and my last sale was a CC sale but at least now I know how to ask for the CC sale. JT wasn‘t in to pay me the $4 so I offered DC to go double or nothing for the game this afternoon since he didn’t have any change on him. I walked out of there empty handed but I got a $5 bonus for next week.

Next week I’m expecting $46 in bonuses on my cheque and a full week. I kind of dozed off on the train there for awhile on my way home and once inside my place I was hoping have a bit of a nap but best I could do was to doze off. The next image is the walkway right behind our apartment. In a couple of weeks all that snow will be gone. I love April out here because everything has that dead feeling of renewal before the leaves pop out. There are no bugs hanging around. By the end of April all the leaves on the trees are budding.

This is a view of our balcony. The white vertical board at right covers our BBQ. See the two (birch?) trees almost side by side? The evergreen between them is “The Boot’s tree.” The window beside the white board is my office and the next window is our bedroom. I love our balcony because it’s so long and enclosed to give us some privacy.
And just for fun the last image is of my job workbook. I keep my nightly records in here. The green strokes are $800-$1000+ nights. I’ve had 4 so far in March, Five in February and 12 in January.
All in all I had a nice day for Saturday. The only hic-up I had was Anne telling me this morning when I locked up I failed to close the lock properly leaving our apartment unlocked while she was at home sleeping for 3 hours. First time that’s ever happened. That and the blow up just now she had with me leaving out of here to Walmart over chips no less.

Since I’m still on Saturday time here, I spent about 3 hours playing Oblivion. I’m still at Level 5 and I’m not able to use any magic yet. I’m finding the Quest bosses really hard to eliminate. Journeying through the game this evening I discovered about 3 new forts a shrine and a couple caves as well. This game is going to take me awhile to complete.

Providing Rob pays me all my bonuses I should get an extra $46 on my next cheque. Since I only bought 2 books so far for march, I can get 2 more next week.

What would make my weekend complete is if the Oiler’s go into Minneapolis and win the game. We Didn’t get that 6/49 win Saturday night. There was 1 winner claiming (6) $4,448,017.00 and someone won (5 + bonus) $317,715.40. Also, 144 people won (5) $1,822.60 and finally 6,486 (4) people won $76.60. That’s 6, 5+, 5, 4 respectively. Of course even if I won the big one, I wouldn’t announce it.

And finally Sci-fi guy and Sci-fi chick are still reviewing Urban fantasy books. What science fiction and urban fantasy have in common, I Haven’t the foggiest idea.

I just did a rush edit on this post and we're done for the night.

Anyway, gang that’s all for now.


e. Jim

Saturday was a pretty good day.

I’m going into work feeling pretty good and all yesterday. The weather was nice and mild. I read a bit from my book as well on the way in. At the drugstore I bought my 6/49 ticket and got some change to pay JT and DC. I met JT upstairs as the shift was over and paid him that $4. Then I heard about the bomb. Apparently head office is making some cutbacks and the morning shift is no longer. They’re running 1:30pm-9pm now as of Monday. They might even go from 1:30pm-10pm and cut Sunday’s shift off. It’s still 8pm in BC. I might get 5 hours/shift if that’s the case. This actually threw me for a loop here and made me feeling down for the night. At least they didn’t lay me off-yet. I got a couple of calls from Anne while she was on her breaks 6:20pm break and 8pm. I collected a lot of cans and bottles and she said she was going to give me another $20 because of my missing bonuses. I ended up with $360 and 2 CC sales. Nothing stellar. I called Trevor saying I’d come by on Monday and pick up my copy of “Path’s of Darkness." It might be Friday.

After work I went to Tim’s to get a medium decafe and a blueberry fritter. I drank the coffee on the way home. It was very nice out there and still is. Super etc knows I’m not in for today because of Anne’s birthday. I mentioned to JT about how I’m not going to tell her about how the morning shift is being cut back as of Monday. I came in to watch Smackdown and Anne came home and made me a couple of hotdogs and fries for my lunch last night.

Then it occurred to me that they are going to cancel the morning shift, they can still use the dialers for the afternoon/evening shift. JT was saying how when he was on the trip to Vegas sitting beside some guys from our Calgary office that they were scaled back to about 15 people. But this was in the summer before the economy went bad. We had that many people in our office as well before the recession. Apparently Rob etc were pulling in a lot of the back 20 telling them they‘re let go. But Rob never pulled me aside. He was right there watching me pay off JT.
I heard on Ched this afternoon as I was packing my things up that Iphone and Itouch users can pick up Ched anywhere where there’s a wi-fi connection for free. Interesting. I’d love to be able to pick up the Oiler’s game in progress on my way home from work. Gives me a whole new reason to think about getting an Iphone.

If I’m laid off on Monday, the first thing I’m going to do the following morning is get on EI. Then look for work. I’ll be applying at Pizza and see if I can get hired on there. I’m not going to tell my wife what happened just yet. I want to see if I can get a job the next day. If I survive this round then great, I'll remain at my job. I’ve got 3 years until "early retirement." Economic recovery is apparently near the end of 2009. Just how long it will take for the economy to recover is another thing. If I can get another year out of where I’m working then fine. If my company Edmonton goes belly up, then I can go to Pizza. Rob might offer me a couple of suggestions and I know Anne wont like them but I have to keep my job.

I don’t know what’s happened with Anne. She left out of here about noon to mail my T4’s and pick up my insulin. Then we’re supposed to go out for our dinner. Unless she’s changed her mind. I don’t mind going. The weather isn’t bad out there at +1. All we do is board the bus out here, take the train to Coliseum station board a bus to Kingsway Mall and the connecting bus to the Ramada and we’re there. It’s about an hour trip there and back. But Anne might decide to buy herself a birthday present instead and get a Rose bowl pizza. The longer she stays out there the window closes because I want to be home by 8pm ish for the game. The whole dinner would run us about $50 and it seems like a waste of money for $50 just to go out and eat. I’m ok with it either way though. I’m just kind of worried about Monday. With them cutting back the morning shift and with the numbers/resources we have to work with, is my job in jeopardy? I asked Dave if he was concerned and he said something like he works from “1:30-9pm” so it doesn’t affect him. Yeah but a lot of those morning people the ones that haven’t been laid off yet will migrate over to the afternoon/evening shift. There might be no more 5-9 anymore. It might just be 1:30-10pm. 7.5 hours of work with a half hour break. But Rob could tell me that Monday. I might just ask if I could do business instead and work 8:00am-4am. I can get up at say 6:45am get out the door by 7:20am. Best part about business is I not only get my evenings off but I also get my weekends off. I can see my job cutting back Saturday’s and Sunday’s. That’s 35 hours for everyone. I can handle that..........I'm back:

Friggin Oiler’s, couldn’t win a game worth trying. They can go into OT but after that. Forget it. Tonight they went from 7th then 8th and 9th and back to 8th again. They share 8th place with the Wild. Yeesh.

Okay, I got up around 1pm this afternoon. Did my thing and Anne came in to haul me out for dinner. She was out getting my insulin and other things. She brought back chips, dip etc. We left out of here around 4pm under sunny skies at +3C. Very nice. We got out train at Clairview and I read my book with my wife down to Stadium. We caught the #127 after a 15 min wait and then over to Kingsway mall for the #12. We got some good connections. We got to the Ramada about 5:30pm. Their prime rib was awesome. Best beef I’ve ever had. Very nice. I went back for seconds. Even the desert was good. I think our bill was $50 and I gave a $5 tip to our waiter. We paid our bill and headed across the street and I took my insulin in the bus shelter. We made great connections getting back. It was nice seeing the Oiler faithful heading out to the game. We were waiting for a bus at Clairview home and the #183 came by and a brief wait and we were home by 8pm.

The Oiler’s could have easily knocked themselves out of the playoff race all together but they have a game in hand more then anyone else. But they’ve got to start winning some games. They didn’t play very well tonight. I give them a C+ 3-2 Av’s in OT.

I’m not to worried about losing my job. Pizza is always hiring. I can work a Friday night, Sunday and Monday. The only thing with pizza is that bonus money is hard to come by. But if I get hired I can get on right away.

Over the last several weeks I’ve been following the prose over there at Sci-fi guy .ca. The site promotes a lot of Urban fantasy. Nothing wrong with this, but where is the sci-fi at Sci-fi guy. ca? Am I missing something here?

So, for today, on a scale from 1-10 I’d rate today an 8.5. An Oiler win would have made it a 9 and winning anything on this evenings 6/49 would have made it a 10. I slept in on a Saturday, went out to dinner with my wife and watched the Oiler’s lose, but lost on the 6/49. All in all, today was a good day.

Anyway, gang that’s all for now.

e. Jim

I had a busy couple of days but at least 1 bill is paid off and the weather is nice as well.

Friday afternoon I locked up and got the bus and into the office. With fresh snow on the ground meant the parking lot behind First Edmonton Place would be easier to walk on. I got my usual seat at my dialer and paid JT the $2 I owed him and I decided to treat myself and I bought him and me a Tim’s coffee. I asked Greg for my pay cheque and I got the full amount, all my bonuses and regular hours. Good stuff. I had a good start to the first half but the 2nd half was a bit slow. I ended up with 1 CC sale for a total of 20 for the week and there’s always today as well. I need 1-2 more CC sales and as long as none of them decline, I should get the CC quantity bonus and 2 other bonuses on my cheque next week.

I took this shot of the Manning bridge in the background. My #11 swings over this bridge. I can see the blue grey of the bus and it’s orange sign. I can’t wait for Spring. I’m considering April 1st until after Labour day to work mornings. If the boss is hard on me, I can always with back to get out of his hair. I can work Thursday afternoons to get my cheque.

After work I headed over to Audrey’s books. Nothing yet came in for me. They had a poetry reading and finger food present. I went to the SFF section and found Peter. F. Hamilton’s book #3 of the “Night’s Dawn” trilogy in, I scooped it up and wondered if I had enough out of that $20 or would it break the bank. I was about $3 away so I took it back and bought “Radio Freefall” by Mathew Jarpe. It’s a Cyberpunk story but its in the first person which might make it a bit more accessible. It’s also a first novel as well. I’ll see about getting the Peter F. Hamilton book next weekend.

With my business at Audrey’s done I went downstairs to catch my train. I probably should have waited for the bus. If I take the bus I don’t need to climb those 3 flights of stairs up to my bank like I did before. And in decent weather I’d rather wait with a decaf coffee for the #5 bus even on a Thursday night. But I did my banking and caught the train with extra cars (Oil Kings game at Rexall)

I decided to get a bite to eat at Tim’s this morning. In my running shoes the sidewalks were still a little slippery, but I did ok. The first half of the shift was ok. I had a mediocre day but I did get a couple of CC sales for 23 for the week. I was so glad to have the work week over with I was glad to get out of there. The Oiler’s were losing badly again 5-0 in the 2nd. Yikes. I took off to MM with no waiting. The clerk helped me fill out the Western Union form. 50 Euros ended up costing me $94.98. That includes the transfer fee, everything. Not bad. Actually it was cheaper this time around then last year.

After my success at MM I went to Audrey’s at the end of the block and was determined to get that Peter. F. Hamilton’s book as mentioned above but I wanted something new. I bought book #1 of John Varley’s “The Gaen trilogy” last month and the other 2 volumes were there so I picked them up instead. I’ll get the other book latter next week.

Also Suvudu is covering “Comic Con 2009.” About the 6th photo down in today’s Suvudu entry some poor guy is being interrogated by Storm Troopers. Here’s a link at least to Saturday’s post.

Anne had another monthly admonishing by her Super to pick up the sales. They want $400/hour but that according to staff is almost impossible given that they go through sometimes 25-30 minutes without calls. Basically it’s trying to upsizing the customers order. Doable but when your having slow periods its very hard. I wish they’d leaver her alone. She’s there on time and she doesn’t make any mistakes. I wish they’d cut her some slack but other staff there say for her not to worry about it.

Speaking of Pizza my wife is going to use her credits and with an extra $12 I’m ordering pizza and the chicken pieces for my lunch latter tonight. Good stuff. She had a hungry man dinner in the icebox but because I’m having chicken tonight, I’m just going to eat the sandwiches instead. Try and save some money.

I’m kind of worried for Anne’s job more then mine but if she ends up losing her job for some silly reason like above we can get emergency help to keep our apartment going and EI will cover her for about a year. Also I can pick up the slack while she finds another job. If it comes to that.

Anyway bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Big post Saturdays

I‘m having a real struggle obtaining my vacation pay. This fiasco began because I have my vacation pay accrued. I take out 2 draws/year. 1 in the Spring and another this time of year. Makes for a nice Christmas. I called last week to have the reception hold a form for me on Gregg’s desk. It was in a large white envelope: “This for James;” I left it on the boss’s desk in the envelope over the last weekend because he was in Vegas. Thursday night imagine my surprise when I found no vacation pay on my cheque. Wtf? The boss said he never saw a form from me and I should get another form from Greg, re-submit it for him and try again for Friday morning (yesterday). It‘s still not to late. However Greg was away from the office last night. Shit. I thought I’d have to make a special trip in etc. I later saw Greg out the corner of my eye when he came in an hour before the shift was ready to close (Thursday night) He produced the envelope. I received $80 in bonuses based upon CC’s et. The boss thinking it was for me gave it to the management station on the same floor. I’ll provide a photo of this area for later. This was my mistake for not opening up the envelope for the boss’s attention.

Last night I’m feeling pretty good heading into the office. Partially overcast etc. Cold. No sooner do I get off the elevator Greg hands me this notice: It’s an email reply to the boss from head office saying there was an overpayment (of some kind) almost equaling the 2nd half of what my vacation pay was for. WTF? I was livid, crushed. The Grinch that stole Christmas you hear about had stabbed me in the back. I brought this letter to the boss’s attention while he was still in his office and he asked me if I’m coming to the Christmas party. What, after this? He wrote down a phone number I should call Monday, yeah right because head office (Calgary) conveniently left for the weekend. All kinds of things wee running through my head and I had a slow start to the shift based on that and felt terrible. I knew this would cause me some grief at home with Anne later as well. I was expecting this money to buy the 120 Gb Zune media player as a Christmas present for myself and to take Anne out for a nice Christmas dinner. So much for that. In early January Anne’s going to take out of her RRSP for my Lodge dues and my website. My vacation pay accrued allows me to buy one big ticket item/year. Now if I don’t get this thing fixed up, I’ll have to rethink this vacation pay strategy and maybe have it on my weekly pay cheque like most people do.
I wasn’t in a good mood, obviously, heading home. Even though the Oiler game was on I still felt let down. I didn’t even go buy a book at Audrey’s as I wanted to buy the “Night’s Dawn” trilogy, book #2. I came in shortly after 9pm last night, listened to the Oiler’s/Ducks game in progress. 2-1 Ducks but the Oiler’s scored their first in the game in the 3rd just as I was coming in the door. They tied the game up but lost in the shoot out. Good news for us Oiler fans is that the Flames lost, on their home ice yet.
After the game I watched a bit of Smackdown and Anne came in and I showed her the form and she was level headed to work it out with me what might have happened. Then the fighting dinner, some of Smackdown, more fighting. I went to bed then got up to do some computer stuff in the office. Anne came in with some chocolates for me (peace offering) We’re all right for now.

I’ve had a tough week, what with hearing all of this economic gloom and doom going around I had some potentially explosive stuff that could have occurred with another employee at work (shades of Lucian but with somebody else) The Oiler’s lost a game earlier this week, my vacation pay, plus some problems with my teeth. There hasn’t been a lot to get excited about. Anne gave me back $15 from the other day so I still had my original $80. In which case I’m going to go get the book and a bottle of Christmas wine for us for next week.

We’ve got a lot to be grateful about considering the trouble in the world and the economic meltdown. We’re not in a recession quite yet here in Edmonton but unless things change we could be in one by the Spring. Then again the economy could change on a dime. We had a recession in 2004 that completely escaped my radar. I never even knew we were in one at the time! That recession came and went and some are suggesting (here at least) its going to be like 2004.

The good news; the US has given the green light for another bail out package. This time it’s for the big 3 in the auto industry. We’re essentially doing the same thing here in Canada announced yesterday a multi billion dollar stimulus package that includes our own auto industry most of which is back East. Thing is, you can toss around Billions of dollars if the banks aren’t going to lend credit to customers no matter how good the car is, nobody will be able to get one. In Europe I’ve heard they have had (or have?) this 2 for 1 deal. Buy one vehicle get a 2nd one free. Good idea. The other thing is our auto industry is just a spin off of the US auto industry. We produce the overflow. Also, the auto industry needs to produce vehicles that people want to buy, Hybrid vehicles could become a lot cheaper for one thing. It’s not good news for the Alberta oil industry but there is the larger picture here. More about the economy here, the Feds are talking about reforming the UIC (Unemployment Insurance Commission) program again by bringing it back to the level of the early 1990’s. The Coalition is really squeezing the Tory minority here, which is good. Especially if Harper wants to keep his job. The recent EI (Employment Insurance) is no better then Union strike pay.

I’m really blessed in some ways because in my line of work, I am recession proof. Also because I’ve diversified some years ago I can always work in Security as a security guard, also recession proof. Plus my wife is working and we could qualify for a rental subsidy program in the new year and there are all kinds of things the Feds can do to strengthen and improve our economy, things look optimistic. Plus, I’m going to “fight for my vacation pay.” We think it’s a clerical error on their part. Plus the Oiler’s play on Monday, we get our cheques on Christmas eve, I get 2 days off and the Oiler’s play again on Boxing day.

As for me, today it’s into the office in about an hour. I’ll be out there in that -28C weather waiting for the #11 bus to creep over the Manning bridge. No Tim Horton’s for me this weekend and once I put my 4 hours in, it’s off to get my book and a bottle of wine and I’ll have a nap later. I feel pretty good about things around here after all.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

A laid back Saturday

I locked everything up here, and left at my usual 4pm time for the bus yesterday afternoon. Then to Clairview for the train down to Corona reading along the way to the end of the line and back to Corona. Crossing through the parkade, and between stalled heavy traffic of 106th I noticed M having a smoke outside the entrance to our office building, so I had a chat with him about why I missed yesterday. We went upstairs and I to my dialer. I got off to a good start the first hour, but bogged down the rest of the way before break. The 2nd half was no better, but I got my pay cheque such as it was. After work I hurried back through the parkade to wait for the #5 bus that would take me to my bank. I did my banking and waited for the train back home at Central station. If I had $20 I would have been over at Audrey’s getting a book.

Actually the weather was surprisingly mild going in and coming home; almost spring like in a way. This morning I’m out of here at 9 for another 4 hours. Saturday’s are usually pretty good and time moves fast. After work I’m going over to Audrey’s and get one of the “Star Wars” books. I’d like to get the “Warhammer” book, but that would leave me short of cash.

Not much going on after my nap when I get home this afternoon. There’s no Oiler hockey and in a way I’m Ok with that. I’ve got other things to do tonight. Firstly I want to get some reading done, piano practicing and some writing. I’m learning how to play “Simple gifts.” it’s not that hard of a piece to play. I’ve got the first (both hands) part down.

Yesterday after Anne left for work I had a bit of time to call our service provider about our home phone and the problems we’re having. The first guy said he’d reset the phone and try calling me back to confirm. Some of the lights on the modem we out. The tech guy walked me through the steps to reset the modem. That done he’d call me back. Ten minutes later no one had called. I called again and got another tech support (Ts) guy. Each time I do this I have to go and explain the problem again. Still no one called back. I gave up. Tonight Anne is supposed to call on her break so we’ll see if the phone is working. If not I’m going to arrange for a service call to get this resolved once and for all. The thing is we have 0 time on our cell phones and I can’t use my cell phone to call our home phone to see if it’s working. All this at a time I’m trying to get that Ms ICC job. Our phone has to go out at a crucial time.

About the ICC job I was able to get a hold of somebody Wednesday and even went down to Ms and did some testing. my interviewer even sent me a link to a simulation test, which I took early Friday morning. It was a fun and interesting simulation. I called the following Friday morning talking with F. The downtown for the ICC training wont begin until December first. The only way F can reach me until I resolve our Home phone issue is through email. Of course, I can call out but nobody can call in.

I had a chat with my Ms referral working at the location where I’d like to work and she said that Ms is paying her and it’s weekly. Every Friday just like where I am now. Cool. If I get hired on, then I’ll be getting 2 weekly cheques.

And this morning/today:

It wasn’t too bad out there going into work at 9am. Almost like an early spring like day out there:

This is unusual for November. Usually we should have about 6 inches of snow on the ground and -20C. Even out behind our building (right) in this photo the walkway would be cleared but shouldered in snow:

I got my Tim’s breakfast and brought my insulin along. I got in and realized someone had taken my headset. That kind of pissed me off. I had a slow start but after my first sale I eventually rebounded and by noon I had a pretty good total. I ended up with $485 and 2 CC sales in there as well. All our lists are pretty beat up. At 1pm all I wanted to do was to go in and get one of my books Audrey’s. At the special order desk a few more books came in added to my pile. I picked up one of my Everquest books ordered in at US pricing. Also Fast Forward #2 is there.

It was really breezy heading home. I think I must have got inside about 2:40pm and into bed shortly after. I had a good hour and a half nap and listened to some “Uriah Heap” on YouTube, good stuff.

Anyway Bloggers that’s all for now

e. Jim

Hey, it's the first Saturday of October

I shut the place down around 4pm and I had a brief wait under clear blue autumn skies. I think it was about +21C out there. Very nice.

I recall this time 1979 I wasn’t quite at the Meyer place yet but living out there with Larry & Hubert at the Riverside towers. If you go to Google earth you can see the twin towers by the stadium. I lived in the one facing North-East, 17th floor near the top. The 2 red brick Boardwalk buildings weren’t there yet. Anyway no delays on the train today. I read about 3 pages of Ice and had a good time then into work. Rob asked me about Thursday night, He was in a good mood I said, “This was an arrangement between me and my night room manager.” I didn’t like how that came out. “First Thursday of every month, you know Lodge meeting?” He Didn’t put up much of a struggle.

So we merged our “tap shooter” with the front 20 and Rob gave a kick off and I was doing and feeling comfortable with the disclaimer doing CRF. I got a $50 and a lot of $25. Rob doesn’t like the $25’s but there’re cold calls Rob. Moe showed up about 6pm. I was feeling good. I got my cheque early and all my hours. Not quite a full cheque. Anne called on her break and I talked with her. I was having a good time even though the person next to me was rather loud. Finally break and I was sitting at about $200. Other then Monday this whole week was cold calling. I don’t mind it. I’m comfortable in my pitch and my technique. I ended up with $365. Not bad for a slow Friday night. And we had a decent crew there as well. We were playing this guess a number from 1-75 on the white board. For each $25 guess we get $5. I had about a dozen chances but I didn’t get 1 number. I was a bit pissed off as well because the person next to me near the end (not using the disclaimer) got 1 number guess near the end. I shouldn’t complain because I did the same thing before the DNC list and year to date I received about $1,000 in bonus money. So I shouldn’t complain over $5 bucks. We ask for the CC’s but it’s almost impossible to get CC’s doing cold calling.

Everybody was getting a good job, well done etc but ignoring me. I felt pretty low. But I was glad to get out of there. “What do I care as long as the cheque don’t bounce.” It was nice and mild heading across the parking lot to get my bus and a brief wait. I should have called Audrey’s while I was waiting but I’ll be going in for this afternoon after work to pick something up. I’m looking at that “Everquest” book as I‘m really enjoying this “Icewind Dale“ trilogy.

I took the bus up there to my bank with Shashank, one of the 30 something East Indian kids that somewhat befriended me. I got to my bank did my banking and took out $100 my wife needs to pay bills with. Somethings got to give here because we need that subsidy. I think we’ll work on getting it out this weekend. Right now we’re waiting on the gst cheque and that’s going to help pay for my Pure Speculation weekend. I’m thinking about a weekend pass. I’m trying to get Charles to go with me but he might be working that night afternoon. But Pure Spec wont be held until Oct. 18th and 19th. So we’ve still got some time. So, I did my banking and down the stairs at Central Station and I heard my train pull in. Good stuff. I was home by 9:15pm.

Speaking about Pure Speculation, Robert J Sawyer will be there and I want a picture taken with him. I have one from before when he was here in late April of ’07 but it wasn’t a very good picture of me. Also, Minister Faust will be there as well. I’ll be bringing my camera this time.
That week of Pure speculation will be an action packed week. Firstly its right on the heals of the Thanksgiving Day long weekend. Then there’s the Federal election October 14th. Plus there’s the FC on that Thursday. So, I’ll be working that morning. Or at least trying to. And if Rob cuts me off because I’ve got $50 bucks at 11am, fine its just gravy money anyway. Then that weekend after Thanks Giving day is Pure spec. So this will be a busy week for me.

Last night I had a good time watching a special wrestling evening. It wasn’t a live show like Raw but they had all of Raw and Smackdown and ECW put into one show. It was pretty good. Anne came in about 11:30pm made me some Pizza pops and fries. I developed a bit of a toothache again on my lower right side. It wasn’t a deep pain more like a burning sensation. But I took a pill and it felt a bit better but getting some sleep sure was tough. I never sleep well over night Friday/Saturday if I got a lot of sleep overnight Thursday/Friday. I pay for it Friday/Saturday but I’m feeling alright now. I’ve got another pill for tonight if this thing doesn’t go away. Right now it’s just a dull minor annoyance. Other then that I don’t feel to bad.

Today, it’s going into work this morning and I’ll bring my cash and after work I need to go into Audrey’s pick up a book, then call Nathan to see how things went from Thursday night and the elections for my Tyler position. Then I want to call Charles and see if he would like to go to Pure Spec with me. He’s got the wheels to get out there and Pure Spec is enough of a head start he can make plans with.

What else? Oh about 3:30am this morning I couldn’t sleep because of the toothache pain so rather then disturb my wife I got up to watch some TV on the couch. She last had the TV on Space (Sci-fi for my American readers.)

They had a half hour spot on the making of Star Wars “The Clone Wars.” This was really a fascinating look into the effort that went into making this production. The Clone wars begins October 10th and I’ll be watching. It looks really good. I made a comment about this in SF Signal saying something like “It looks hokey to cartoon-ish.” for me. Wow was I ever wrong. Likes Like I’ll have to pay SF Signal a visit and eat Crow. I’m really excited about this series. I’m not a big fan of Anime but this one looks good. Sorry for any typos or edit’os. I’ll fix it up latter after I come home and have a nap.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

Almost the end of September

Thursday night Anne was applying some color dye to grey out her hair and suggested what’s left over would remove the grey in my hair as well. She’s been hinting at this for awhile now, So I let her work the color in my hair and half an hour later, it really looks good except the grey in my mustache gives my age away. Other then me getting a haircut it looks pretty good. If my camera was working properly I’d do a before and after type thing.

Last night after I shut the place down I was out there by just after 4pm catching my bus. It was a beautiful autumn day out there. I barely followed the train operator up the elevator as the Clairview escalator is broken again. Well the driver took the stairs I took the elevator. I know sooner sat down and the train was underway. Clairview station’s escalator is always either under maintenance or shut down for some reason. I got a seat on the train cracked open my book and began to read Icewind Dale “The Crystal shard.” I read all the way through to the end of the line and back again to Corona. I found my dialer and Rob was circulating around but in a pretty good mood even joking around with me. Three of the regional managers were there coveting around the floor managers monitors with Moe. I recognized the Vancouver guy Steve but I couldn’t tell who the bald guy was or the other guy. As far as I know they stayed until about 6pm. There was no announcement or anything regarding October 1st. Moe again stressed a $200 line hour. Yeah right, on this? I was doing really well surprisingly at $400 by break and 1 CC and at line hour. Apparently the managers are supposed to be in for today (Saturday). Anne called a couple of times but the first time I couldn’t talk to her. The 2nd time I could about 8pm. I was sitting with Lev in the back there at JT’s dialer. Which is why I did so well.

After work it was over to Audrey’s and picked up “The Soul Drinker’s” omnibus Warhammer 40K. There’s also an Everquest novel in there for me as well. I could have picked that up but it would have left me too short. I paid US pricing for the book and went to catch the train home and had a pretty good rest of the evening “watching” Smackdown. I say “watching” because I was tired and dozed off there for a bit on the couch.

Anne came home about 11:30pm and ordered Pizza for us, which was better then the last time. I watched ECW and went to bed. I slept odd hours in the night and my alarm didn’t go off this morning, which is why I’m late.

I wanted to go into the Casino on m way home to take a look around but I didn’t have any money with me. Weather wise it was really nice and is not to bad out there holding at +12C. I’m not doing to bad right now as tired as I am.Some 12 hours later I walked down to the other bus shelter this morning just West of me to avoid the dumb-ass at my regular Saturday stop. I had a nice wait and a reading time-train ride into the office. I got my end dialer and Bud was saying how there’s about 10 of the big bosses in there for their big meeting from other offices. I was onto my disclaimer all morning and surprisingly had another great start pulling in $440 by break and 2 CC’s. One of the big bosses shook hands with me when I introduced myself as he was coming around looking at totals. I think he said his name was Marty or something. Rob was in a good mood as well. There were so much Xl brass, I felt I was in the army at an officers meeting. Anne called me at home before she left and just before we got out of the office. I hope she has a good day as well. Again for the 2nd time I had top total. I hope the big guys there noticed. I also had 3 CC’s for the end of the day.

All in all I had a pretty good week what with taking Monday off and all.
I went to bed about 4:30pm for a nap. I didn’t fare to well, resting more then napping. I think I got an hours snooze so after a frozen entrée and desert thingy later I feel pretty good and enjoying my 2nd coffee of the day.

I like what liberal Dion is saying. Or rather not saying. He’s saying that Harper is doing absolutely nothing for the economy in light of what’s going down in the US with the $700 bail out. The thing is even though our economy isn’t affected that much if the US takes a nose dive and goes into a recession, we can more or less weather the storm. The last thing any of the 3 main political leaders want to see happen is a slow down in the economy. According to Harper our economy is looking really good, posting a $1.5B surplus for July. Also, in the works the Feds are making moves to supply bitumen to some countries not affected by GHG emissions. This could be worth billions. He’s talking about selling oil to China, which is good. Meanwhile, Dion wants a carbon tax which really will translate into a recession felt nowhere more so then here in Alberta. He says his Green shaft plan will generate Billions into the economy. Everyone except Alberta that is. Yet Dion needs a Majority Government in order to do this. A new poll out by the Toronto Star puts Harper at 40% Dion and Layton at 21%. So if an election were to be held tomorrow 40 % of all Canadians would vote Harper into a majority Government. However there are still 17 days left and anything can happen. Harper is right for Canada and thank God most Canadians feel the same way. At a PC convention here in Edmonton the other day, there was good ol Mike Hudema protesting outside with his “stop Alberta Tar sands.” What an idiot.

That’s about it for me for today. Anne called me at about 8pm. She’s off work at 11pm. That’s 9 hours for her. She says she’s feeling a bit tired. She was a bit disappointed from hr pay cheque the other day but read her pay stub statement to find they took $50 off for an elevator pass key to get into the building after hours but she’ll get that back when and if she leaves Pizza.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

Another Saturday

I had an uneventful ride into work yesterday afternoon. Work went slow for me. Greg brought me my cheque. All my hours were on it and my bonuses. Good stuff. By break I had just over $200 and 3 CC’s. Anne called me shortly before 8:30pm closing time but I was in a hurry to get to the bus and to the bank and home. She didn’t have the score for me for the CFL Calgary/Edmonton game. I got the bus to the bank and made the deposit and took out $20. That’s for the 2 books I’m going to buy at Audrey’s this afternoon. Since I didn’t get my Thursday night pay cheque there was no Audrey’s bookstore visit for last night.

I got the train home and read a bit and read a bit on the bus home. Anne was fixing dinner but had to go out. I still had no idea what the score was on the football game. Ched radio carrying the game said Calgary was leading 21-20. Close or what? Anne went out to do her thing and I ended up watching Smackdown. It was a pretty good show. I also watched ECW as well and enjoyed that then went right into bed. Before bed I learned that Calgary won 38-33. Still it wasn’t anything like the thrashing the Esks gave the Stamps last weekend: 27-16. Usually the Labour Day classic and the split the Friday following is rarely a double win.

I think I slept for about an hour and rested the rest but I’ll be all right for the day. I need another 10 CC’s to qualify for my 20 CC bonus. Yeah right. 10 CC’s for today? I don’t think so.

While having my dinner at 3pm before I leave for work, I like to watch Space and whatever they have for their 3pm time slot offering. Lately it’s been “Star Trek The Next Generation.” I love this show but it seems all they have are about 12 episodes before they repeat. “Encounter at Farpoint” and “All good things,” and the few episodes in between. This afternoon was “Encounter at Farpoint,” again. Yeesh. Space apparently is supposed to air all 5 series, although I don’t think that means the Animated Series (1973 – 1974). Phase 2 would have been great if it went into production. But if Space is going to do all 5 series then that’s 704 episodes. I haven’t heard if Space is going to do this or even if I heard this right. As much as I didn’t care for Star Trek “Deep space 9,” it’s worth watching. I thought it was a bit whiny and preachy and the characters lacked substance.

October could even be worse. We’re struggling with out rent and I don’t know what’s going to happen with my job what with this stupid DNC list. The NHL season is starting up-hey I like that. We’ll be having another stat holiday with Thanksgiving day and a long weekend and a strong possibility we’ll have a Federal election coming up, not good. Actually the Federal election (if its called) follows the day after the Thanksgiving weekend day long weekend. Dion was in Alberta today speaking to University kids about how great his “Green Shift” program will be for Alberta. Yeah, we can all feel good about the “clean air” we can breath while we’re living under a bridge because we wont have any jobs. The “Green shift” is another Liberal Boondoggle we can all do without. And according to an excerpt from today’s National Post about the “Green Shift”- “This seems more than a little dubious. If the plan were so great for consumers already, why did Mr. Dion feel the need this week to add almost $1-billion in annual subsidies for farmers, truckers and fishermen to offset their anticipated losses?” Yeah and guess who’s going to pay for that? Albertans. This smacks too much of social engineering. What the hell does poverty have to do with the environment? And whoopee we get back $100/year. Dion can shove his “Green shift” up his you know what.

As for me, not much going on this weekend. Some of the things I’m watching for this month of course is Anne starting Pizza. The LHC’s first beam experiment September 10th. I hope to follow Anne into pizza, try it out for a bit. September could be a pretty good month.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim