I'm enjoying the weekend

I got up early having the usual 2 hours sleep overnight for a Friday night. Although I was feeling good heading into the office. I was actually feeling happy, knowing I had just the 4 hour shift ahead of me. It was partially overcast out there under somewhat sunny skies. I bought some Tim's on my way into the office.

Work went well. We had a light shift. Maybe 12 tap shooters and about 8 in the back. We covered 3 campaigns and I got 5 cards for $145 on card. Jerry brought in a couple of bags of empties for me. I was glad to get out of there with about the lowest total I had for the week.

I went to my bank got my $20 for my book for latter and the train home. It was mild going home. Not warm but mild. I got home as Anne was getting ready trying to clean up before she left for her job.

The only casualty for the day was not being able to go see RJS as Anne needed the bus pass to get to work. Anyway, that's about all for now.

I love weekends

I had a tough time getting out of here this morning but I got downtown and hooked up with Dwain, a fellow I work with a few years younger then me. We met little James as well, on our into Tim’s. Yes they had hash browns. I got my breakfast and walked over with the guys to the office. Sure enough we were locked out but one of the team India came along with a key. I ate my breakfast but I forgot my coffee so I decided to move near the other end. It was slow getting started and I didn’t get my first sale until almost 45 minutes into the shift. My first sale was a credit card sale. I did alright the first half but it was after break that I got bogged down with too many dropped calls and F3’s. In the late second half things got better. Actually in the 2nd shift I did really well getting 2 credit card sales and I ended up with a total of $810 but no bonus money.

I had a great evening as I needed a few hours by myself. I could have had a nap as well and I don’t think I’d need a nap this evening.

Tomorrow Day 10 of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics is Team Canada/USA men’s hockey and I’m going to be watching that. Should be a good one.

Nobody won the $42M Lotto Max last night so it goes to $50 and I’m going to get myself a ticket. I got one number. Somebody won the $7.6M 6/49. I was going to get a ticket but the Redimart at Clairview was closed when I was going through the lower concourse.

I didn’t get a book at Audrey’s this weekend but I’ll get my 4th book next Friday. I’m looking at dipping my hand into Ebay/Pay Pal in the books category as I’ve got my eye on the old Piers Anthony “Cluster” series. Piers Anthony has always been one of my favorite authors.

I’m not a big paranormal fan but I do have the first 2 Jill Kismet novels by Lilith Saintcrow. There is a 3rd and 4th installment in this series out. I like the cover art of this series. The reason why I mention Lilith Saintcrow is because over there at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, they reviewed one of the Kitty Norville’s series: “Kitty Raises Hell.” I’m considering ordering the an Omnibus of this series. The Kitty series and the Kismet series in some ways cover about the same ground. After I read Karen Traviss’s Wes’ Har series, I’m going to read the Jill Kismet series. Or at least try to.

The first hour of Coast this evening is like this: UFO expert Nick Pope will comment on the newly-released UFO files from the British Ministry of Defense. The 2nd hour is another soft topic. Tomorrow George Knapp has a UFO Stargate kind of show. Good stuff.

I’m really enjoying following and watching the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics. I’ve never been a fan before. The one in Calgary in 1988 kind of turned me off but this one if Vancouver I like.

Later I might play a bit of Runequest. I’m trying to develop my level 2 cooking skills. As one of my main objective. Now I got a free bronze sword but no armor or anything.

As I was on the bus at Clairview yesterday afternoon I was considering going over to Century Casino and checking out the black jack tables but I was really tired going through the doors. I’ve never been in there yet. I pass by there every day. Maybe when I have some more cash to work with. What I have on hand is going right to the bank on Monday.

Lately I’ve been using the Real player SP media player which lets me download YouTube videos. I’ve got something like 2,500 files. I’ve been noticing though lately a large red X on many of my downloaded files. The original files are still there and the file size is the same, so I can’t figure out why the files disappear on me. Anyways that’s about all for now.

That was a nice weekend

as I'm getting ready for my Thursday night. I got a call the other day from our WM that there's a slight chance our regular JD won't be at our regular business meeting and asked if I wouldn't mind filling in for him. That's 2 chairs away from where I am now. There's a lot to say but it will give me the chance to see what's ahead of me. I might be able to pass the SS chair altogether. I don't like the Senior Stewards chair. Also on Thursday I get to pay my Lodge dues.

Yesterday Anne went downtown to catch the Airport bus to the International Airport to meet her sister Donna. Donna works for a major pharmaceutical company and work takes her all across the country. The other place she worked at took her all across North America. Donna gives lectures and talks to Doctors and Nurses on how to use various forms of new medication. She comes here to Edmonton at least four to six times/year. She racks up huge air miles points and often gives them to family members. She wants to take my wife on a cruise as Donna is going to Panama this month on a 14 day cruise. So Donna called me from the airport asking when Anne had left and I said she should be there soon, I heard Anne's voice in the background and they said they'd be an hour away to pick me up. We wanted to go over to the new Swiss Chalet over here between Manning and 50th street. From the back end while on the LRT cruising by, we watched the thing being built over the past couple of months so last night we finally got to go inside. The place was packed. There were people waiting for a table. We were lucky to get a booth. I ordered the bacon double cheese burger/fries. Excellent. The ladies ordered the quarter chicken/baked potato. My burger was very good. I could have ordered a beer and I could sure have used one but thought better of it.

Donna drove me back to our place and went back with Anne to her hotel. That was a pleasant dinner. They have of course chicken, what they specialize in, burgers, ribs, chicken ribs, sandwiches soups, a very nice menu. The waitress said they're busy every night for the past two weeks that they've been open. I thought the apple crumble looked a little lame. Boston Pizza makes a way better one. Or at least they used to the last time I had one about 10 years ago when Anne and I first got married.

Over the past couple of days I've been copying music video files etc from my old PC to my laptop. I've got some 1,200 files of music documentaries, piano tutorials etc and I'm about at the half way point. The thing is I'm using a 2Gb SD media card to transfer the files and it's a slow process. I could do the whole thing and transfer all my data to my laptop with an Easy transfer cable. I cleared just over 11Gb of music files (video etc) over to my new laptop. I could get the transfer cable at Future Shop but they only have a 6 foot cable. Way to long for me. The cable I'm speaking about at Future shop is $60. Too long of a cable for too much money. They might have other shorter cables at the store, this one was what they had online.

Tonight I'm in for my Monday afternoon commute and put my four hours in. Then I come home for Monday night Raw. I'm just thinking that if this was timed properly, we could have had dinner at say the Elephant castle next door to the Empire Theater holding the Royal Rumble. Then the sisters could go back to Donna's hotel room while I'm watching the Royal Rumble Then Anne could come pick me up and we catch the LRT for home. That would have been ideal but Donna's flight came in at 5pm and after acquiring the rental car (her company pays for that.) and getting me and a fifteen minute wait for a table there was no time. Anyway, that's all for now.

That was a good Sunday

Anne made some of her homemade lasagne and it was surprisingly good. We watched “The Honeymooners,” the one about the hypnotist and an episode of “The three Stooges.” Lots of fun.

About 9pm last night (Sunday night) I composed a post in HTML using font tags in Blogger and the post loaded perfectly. Blogger works good in HTML because the paste button isn’t even available in “Compose” mode.

George Knapp has a great show on Coast overnight: Replicating alien technology. It’s under way right now

I checked my blood sugar level about 10:15pm and it was 6.8. Not bad. That was after I had taken out the trash. Now it reads 10.8. Not good but it will come down over the next few hours before bed.

I’m writing this post before bed because I might not get a chance later today what with it being Monday and all. Monday is “Monday night Raw.”
Anne and I will be going to bed about 3am and listen to Coast for half an hour. I’m working from 5-9 tonight.

Anne said she’s going to give me the funds for my Lodge dues because my vacation money came through for my website. This week and next week are going to be full weeks but the week after that, Lodge week I’m going to the Wednesday night Lodge and my own Lodge. I want to save up enough money for the Archos 5. Anyway that’s about all for now.

Weekends books and Oiler games

I went to bed immediately after ECW and listened to a bit of Coast. Art Bell wastakining over for George. I listned for about 5 minutes having got a drift of the topic: Intention. I slept until about 3am and got up to pee and Anne not able to see me in the dark and on the toilet collided with me. I wasn’t able to get back to sleep after that so I got up about half an hour ago and in back pain and went back to sleep but couldn’t and rested my back. I got up about 6:35am feeling a little better but not so taking a look outside to a blanket of snow out there.

We had Boots in overnight with my office window openand it looks like he jumped off the balcony or is under the lawn reclainer.

Anne’s working from 4:30-10pm and I’m in from 10-4:30pm. That will get me 25.5 hours in. Most hours I’ve had in a week since over 2 years ago.

I’m not one for abandoning books but what made me feel bad about abandoning “The Family tree” by Sheri S. Tepper, was I actually liked one of the characters in the book. The other book I casted adrift into the couldn’t read pool was Julie E. Czerneda’s, “In the company of others.” Hopefully I won’t get any more books like that this year.

Last night after work I went over to Audrey’s. The pill I just took for my back was kicking in.
When I went through the doors I noticed they had an author signing. I felt my blood sugar level dropping and asked the clerk there if they had anything left over but there was nothing soft. I’d get a donut from Tim’s across the street on my way home. I didn’t want to get “The New Space Opera 2” just yet as even though I had enough to cover for it, I didn’t want to break the bank and I would have and nothing in case I needed breakfast Saturday morning. Instead I picked up Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth. Book 1 in the trilogy as book 2 is already on Audrey’s shelf. I took that to the counter and after paying for it I asked Trevor to order me the first 3 books in LE Modessit Jr.s “Recluse” series. I was almost going to pick up book one of John Ringo’s “Looking Glass” but I’m still working on his Posleen war series.

After Audrey’s I went to Tim’s and got my donut and coffee and relaxed in no particular hurry to get home. But I waited for the LRT with my empties and got home with no Anne there. So I did my admin stuff. So far this week alone I banked $850 in cards. Wow. I bank for the company 4 times more then what they pay me and probably at least 8 times more that’s not banked on cards, in total. And so far this week, I’ve got 18 cards in and it’s not even Saturday.

The big game on tap tonight is Chicago/Edmonton. I’m looking forward to this. The Oiler’s have played 22 games so far and enjoy a 9-10-3 record. Next year we get Jason Erbele in the line up and that Sweedish defence player. Chicago has just come off that win with Calgary the other night. Also, Sunday is the CFL playoff finale: Calgary/Rider’s. Should be a good one.

The only Lodge thing I‘ve got to do is the FC WT for Dec. 3rd. It’s a short piece I’ve done before. As for today, I’m glad I got my book last night what with all this snow out there and my bad back might make things very icey out there. I might stay for the extra 2 hours after all depends on how I feel. If my back is holding up ok, then I will.

I’ll snag a photo of the first snow fall out there when I go to work late and post it in this entry.

This weekend could be a good one after all

headed into work a little early and got the empties on the evening side of the business section. Super wanted me to sit in the back. I was a little apprehensive. A few of the others from the front 20 joined us. Some of them were doing strictly sponsorships, others were doing ASB the right way. The first half went by and I got 0 sales. A real first for me. About 6:30pm Super pulled me off “Taps” and over to the CWF/magic show. I had no sales up to break. I got more empties and in the 2nd half I finally got my first sale. Then I sold a family price. I was at $65 around break. Then I got some more sales and a CC sale for a total of $165. I did better then even the back “tap” section. I felt a lot better about doing my job. They sent a lot of people home because they weren’t trying. They weren’t sending people home that were putting in an effort and trying. Even though the first half sucked I rallied in the 2nd half and did a lot better. Imagine if I did the CWF in the first half. I would have been a lot further ahead.

I called Anne walking across the street and through the parkade to Corona and had a 10 minute wait for my train while I read and read some more on the way home. I read a good 10 pages from ICB. I’m really enjoying this.

I fired up the computer when I got in and saw an email from one of my Lodge officers. Dan was asking me about an old phone number and if I was coming out to the Lodge BBQ. Anne said she’d like to come along. It’s $5 for a steak or chicken breast and I replied saying that we’d each like a steak. The rest is pot luck. It starts Sunday at about 2pm. Anne has too work Sunday night from 8-midnight, and I have game #1 of the Detroit/Pens game on at 6pm Saturday night then again on Sunday night. So hopefully we’ll be all but done by 5-7pm. I don’t mind if I miss a little of it.

Basically it’s work tomorrow night, get my paycheque rush up to my bank and do my banking and home to watch Smackdown. Then Saturday I’m at work 10-2pm and over for my Saturday book buying thing at Audrey’s. After work I’m going to try and make it over to Happy Harbor comics to check out a game of “Magic the Gathering” in progress if they have one in progress that is and check out the store. If I get that far, it’s have a nap and watch game #1. Then Sunday it’s off to the lodge annual BBQ and have fun with that and maybe watch what’s left of game #2.

Of course I’ll be blogging Saturday morning etc reading more out of ICB. This weekend promises to be a busy weekend. I’m going to try and get a ride from George Sunday to the Lodge BBQ.

Anyway gang, that’s all for now

e. Jim

It's been an interesting week, sort of

Alright I decided to cut a lot out of the Blog post some of you might have seen me rant earlier. I’m grateful for the delete key. Some people liked the post.


I had a pretty good night on the job yesterday.

Anyway getting back to last night on the way home I was able to finish reading “The blood red harp,” by Elaine Cunningham. Here’s my “review” as it were:

Synopsis: A necromancer wants to know why a dark elf vampire is looking for a blood red harp. The necromancer has the harp but he needs a bard to uncover its secrets. Our elf heroine tends to exaggerate the telling of tales and the necromancer puts a curse on our heroine so she can learn to play the harp/tales properly.

Pros: The authors use of language against a backdrop of fantasy lends credibility and realism to this superb story. The scenes are rich with characterization sprinkled in with a generous amount of world building still leave me with an aftertaste wanting for more.
Cons: None that I can think of.

Bottom line: I enjoyed this book and Elaine Cunninghams use of language made a game franchise novel worth reading. The author clearly put a lot of effort into this ambitious novel. I highly recommend any reader of fantasy turn to the works of Elaine Cunningham. The future of this genre is in excellent hands. I just wish there was a sequel. I wrote to the authors LJ Blog and she responded back with this. Elaine Cunningham’s “The Blood red harp,” made this reader an instant fan of her writing.

My Rating: I give “The Blood ed harp” 9.5 e. Jim’s out of 10.
Now it’s off to read James P Hogan’s “The legend that was earth.”

I had a good shift earlier today and I got 4 CC sales. Not that they do me any good. I’m glad I’m home

Anyway gang, that’s all for now

e. Jim

I had a nice weekend

despite hearing bad news about an incident that happened to a Co worker and his wife.

It unfolded unknown to me at the time as I usually see B leaving out the office or on his way to the train. I didn't see him Friday night. Saturday morning after I had left Tim's with my breakfast, there was no B to meet me out by the front entrance of the office. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

I sat at my dialer and had my breakfast and took my insulin. The phone was ringing off the hook and no B around. Then one of the guys came by and told me that B came home Friday night and found his wife dead on the floor. Cause of death unknown. We'll find out more details over the next few days but it put me in a downer and my performance on the job showed. I think it affected the whole office.

When I left out of the office at 2pm Saturday I just about passed out on the train I was so tired. The redi mart was closed so I couldn't get my 6/49 ticket for Saturday's draw. I played a bit of Oblivion for while and had a nap for a few hours. I played Oblivion while Anne called a couple of times to keep me company.

I took my sleeping pill about 3:30am Sunday morning and getting up here and there to use the bathroom but I woke up about 1:30pm in the afternoon. I feel a bit better about the weekend.

The the Oiler's had to lose of course. Even if the Oiler's don't make the playoffs and there's a good chance they wont get there, then I'll be rooting for Vancouver. After Vancouver then the Flames. After that any Canadian team still in the playoffs. This year I think it's going to be Washington and Calgary. Calgary deserves to win it all but if by some small miracle the Oiler's do get into the playoffs, then it'll be Washington and Edmonton in the finale. If they can get in but I doubt that's going to happen.

Some other disturbing local economic news here. It seems that Atco I-tek their customer care call center here is going to out source their part time call center work. Yes I'm all in favor of the market place but out sourcing our jobs to Mexico, China and or the Philippines, well just annoys me to no end. It's our politicians letting us down again. I once heard that no credit card information can leave the country. I don't know if this is true or not or impacts these offshore jobs at all, it should. And to think, I was almost close to getting a job there last October.

Friday I picked up Steven Erikson's Book 2 in his Malazan series. It looks like a really good series and I'm going to order the rest. I ordered the first 3 in the series.

Sunday afternoon Anne and I talked about me working at her place of employment 3 days a week but I like working security. It's 3 days more money and I can read and do work on my writing and bring a along a lap top. So I think what I'm going to do is to apply when I get my income tax because I'm going to need $50 to get a security clearance. If I don't get that then Pizza is my next source.

I'm still reading Timothy Zahn's "The third Lynx" and its way better then the first one. I'm about 60% into the book. This is really good.

I'm kind of looking froward to the new Star Trek movie "Academy." In a way its kind of silly to see the Enterprise looking more sophisticated in this movie then in the original series. I'm not going to go and spend $12 to see it though. I'll wait until it comes to the dollar theater.

If I do get the security guard job I'm going to apply at WH and see if I can get the site at Pacific Rim Mall. It's a small site and the only thing open after 7pm on a Saturday is the resturaunt upstairs but that was 1994 and they might not even have that site anymore. As long as I don't have to do apartments. The only reason why I didn't keep up with that job back in 1994 was because all WH could offer me was the shifts but I didn;t think about getting on with GWE at the time again.

The other thing is with WH I can get into playing ASL again and I'd insist Rob let me have Thursday's off and I wont work Sundays. I'd have WH Sunday night.

Anyway gang, that's all for now.

e. Jim

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway gang, that‘s all for now

e. Jim.

Work, weekends and stuff

My wife left out of here at about 1:30pm yesterday and for a few hours I had the place to myself until I shut things down and locked up. I was able to play a bit of Oblivion, gaining a level and having some fun with that. Weather wise it was nice going in and I read a bit of “Logos run” on my way into the office. Brad Paisley at Rexall place last night. Inside, Rob was there (the boss) with other employees and Rob looked at me, “You know, if it wasn’t for the lack of you not getting CC sales, you’d be the perfect employee.” That was a very nice compliment. Made my night. I sat with JT and some new people at the back and JT and I had a nice talk as it was a slow evening. DC and I bet double or nothing on the Oiler/Flames game happening latter tonight. I’m looking forward to this. I was mulling over the possibility of getting a bite to eat at Burger King across the street on the way home. About the Oiler game tonight, it’s on home ice. Should be a good one. I ended up being 2nd from the top total with the new kid beating me by $25 but I’d been there all week and beating this CFK campaign up for along time. I got a $100 CC sale which was a nice bone they tossed me. I discovered that I lost my reading glasses as well which kind of upset me. The only casualty on the day.

I also collected a huge amount of bottles and cans when I left out of the office. It was off over to Audrey’s with my empties. When I got to Audrey’s they had a crowd of people milling about. A couple of poets had a book signing. Trevor said none of my orders came in. There were a lot of new SFF books to choose from. Most of them were in Trade paperback. I settled on “Space Vulture,” Gary K. Wolf and Archbishop John J Myers. Looks like it’s going to be a fun read. It’s even got a nice kudos from Stan Lee on the cover. I paid and left with my purchase and my train came by with a few minutes wait. I read a bit on the way to Clairview and decided to walk over to Burger King but they were closed. At 9pm on a Friday night? But one car was in the drive through and the counter clerk when the car left let me order a chicken sandwich and fries. That was my lunch for the night. Next time and I’m not in a hurry I’m going to take the #2 bus home and get off on 50th street and get a Wendy’s something.

After I was inside our place I stashed the cans away and hung up my coat, cleaned up, had my snack and watched some of Smackdown. I enjoyed my snack and Smackdown wasn’t too bad. On a scale from 1-10, I’d rate it maybe a 6 surfing back between the local news and wrestling. My lunch was good. I watched some news and Anne was just coming in at 11:30pm. No need to make me any dinner. I watched the last of the news and then went to bed.

I had a good hour or so sleep and maybe 2-3 hours of rest but by 5:30am I needed to get up and play some Oblivion for an hour and then go back for a nap. I was able to join the “Fighters Guild” and get a contract to wipe out some rats in a house. After dispatching the rats in the basement I went back to the guild and got rewarded to “Apprentice.”

I don’t know if I want to go out to the West end this afternoon with Chris. I’m going to be feeling too wiped out and I want a good nap and some more Oblivion game time in before my Oiler game. The other NHL game I’m “watching” is Toronto/Vancouver. All I can say is “Lets go Leafs!” Anne said she has a plate of something in the fridge for me to nuke up. Just as well since my cash flow is dwindling. I’ve got to pick up another pair of reading glasses anyway from the dollar store across the street.

Anyway, gang that’s all for now.

e. Jim

Thank God January 2009 is in the bank and I'm typing way to fast. What kind of a word is Gid? *laughs*

I was very tired going into work this morning. I brought funds with me for my February bus pass (more on this latter) and for my website money. I didn’t bother to go into Tim’s. I just wanted to get myself a coffee and settle in. Rob was there at one of the dialer’s taking Buds space answering the phone. I think we had 10 tap shooters and possibly equal amount of the front 20 (semies and cold) Rob wanted $180 l/h and I had a couple of $50 CC sales and a slow start but things picked up after that and I ended with way over l/h and 3 CC sales. Steve was there and didn’t bother anyone. I ended up with $880 and 4 Cc’s for a total of a $22 bonus and 32 CC’s for the week. If none decline I’ll have another good pay cheque. Super was moving house and said he still has a lot of wine bottles in the trunk of his car. I’ll be hauling them home Monday and Tuesday. He agreed with that. Could be about 10 bucks worth of bottles.

Also now I’m not taking his word for it but according to D this evaluation thing looks like it’s only an annual thing. I feel a bit better about it.

When I left out of the office under somewhat clear skies it was really gusty out there. Some of that wind was about 80k as I took the long way around to go to Money Mart so I could get my website paid off but there was a line up and that meant who knows how long of a wait. I can always go tomorrow up the street. I went up to Audrey’s and got the last of the American pricing Star Wars “New Jedi order” books, “Dark journey” by Elaine Cunningham. So far now I have 9 in the series. I was lucky to get the first one “Vector Prime” by RA Salvatore (1999) It should have been out of print. I caught my train home and was glad I was in. I did a bit of research over how many of the “New Jedi order” books, I have left to order. There are 12 left remaining and most of them should be in print.

I was able to have a nap for a couple of hours and Anne called about 6:15pm. I was looking over some “Garagebnad” like software for making “music” and I discovered “Auto tune.” I don’t know if it’s a free download or not but it looks really good. You can even import your own vocals onto home made tracks. I might download it a bit latter and play around with it depends on the learning curve.

Anne called again after I had that dinner thing she made up for me. I was just about to get into playing Oblivion at the time and I got really far in the game. Still level one but I thought I was trapped in the catacombs underneath the palace or whatever. I refuse to find any cheats for this game.

After about half an hour in Oblivion I went in and did some reading in “Runner.” Officially I have an hour to go. This is so far a great book.

Anne should be home in about half an hour. She really wants a pizza from “Pizza Hut” this evening. After getting off my train hurried off to the Redi mart to get my February bus pass. I was shocked to learn that they went up $8! That’s from $66.50 to $74.50. The reason why I think the City did this was because they know Ottawa is giving tax breaks for low income workers who need to take public transport. So much for getting a tax break. The City just took it. And the City isn’t through yet. There’s another transit increase planned to bring a monthly transit pass up to $90! Holy crap. I can recall in 1978 a monthly bus pass was $25 bucks. The City isn’t raising transit buss pass rates to piss consumers off. They’re just keeping in line with other major Cities here in Canada. Also the City recently bought new LRT cars and wants to within 5 years expand the LRT to Nait.

My wife came home with Pizza alright but it was a frozen thing from Superstore. It was ok and we watched AMC’s Super bowl tailgate movie, one of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies, “The Good, the bad and the ugly.” A classic .Hard to believe I was 14 when that movie came out in 1966.

So, I’m up at noon later today to watch the Oiler’s host Nashville and then it’s over to Money mart to pay for my website. If they have the Euros. Some MM’s Don’t have the amount I need.

Anyway bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

A nice day off

The Saturday shift went well. I ended up with $37 worth of bonuses, when it was all over. If they pay me everything I should get $83 in bonuses and a full week on my next cheque. I even got 6 CC’s which helped me get the bonuses. I was very tired heading home on the train in the biting cold weather. I couldn’t resist another lottery ticket (I didn’t win of course) at Clairview.

When I got home I had a bit of a nap. Anne made me a plate of something. I did a lot of reading on “Runner” and almost at the halfway part of the book. I’m starting to really enjoy this novel. I’m not sure what I want to read next out of the 3 books listed but I haven’t read any James P. Hogan for awhile.

I had a relaxing night off and Anne made a little something to eat for, latter. The whole idea was to come in for today’s optional Sunday shift. Friday afternoon with Rob there, I said I’d try and make the effort to come in. Anne talked me out of it as we need to go to my bank Monday and get a new bank card she lost the other day. But I’ll need to go in for next Sunday because Lodge is next week and I want to make up for missing that Thursday. All in all, it was a good week but we had a few setbacks, even though they were minor ones.

For awhile now I’ve been following along Jerry Cornelius’s Blog in the links section and for the longest time, he has no blog entry for a Saturday. Most likely this is due to a Gnostic mass or something at a Lodge he attends in the Bay area. I enjoyed the Gnostic Mass when we had it here in the 1980’s. The last one I attended was I think was January 1996. I really miss the Mass and I’d go again if I knew there was one being conducted here on a Saturday night. Jerry’s Blog is one of the few daily Thelemic Blogs out there.

Sunday is going to be a reading and piano day. A day for just me. I put a full week in and I need to unwind. I might get up at noon with no where to go. On Coast from Saturday night they were talking about myths and folklore but later tonight they are going to be touching on UFO’s and ET. Should be a great show.

Anne gave us our sleeping pill for the night and I'm about ready to pack it in……….2:20pm Sunday. I’ve been out of bed for about an hour now with a bit of the runs for some reason. Anne couldn’t find Boots in our apartment earlier this morning but at the last moment from the corner of her eye she watched him squeeze out and went through a crack in our balcony sliding door. It gets really warm on our floor even without the thermostat on. Anne tried to go out after him, what with it being really cold out there but couldn’t get to Boots in time as she watched the cat leap off the balcony into the snow some 12 feet below. Boots tried to chase after Carl a rabbit we’ve named that likes the park area out here at night but Carl bolted off into the darkness somewhere the moment Boots landed in the snow nearby. About 4 this morning Anne went out to check for Boots as sometimes he likes to wander around but she couldn’t find him. That’s our boy.

Dennis Hurd (See friends links) wrote a good post about traveling on his blog today. I’m not much of a traveler myself. I suppose if I won the “Big one,” sure but I’m not much for leaving home. Some years ago before my wife and I met (when my sister-in-law “D” worked for a major pharmaceutical company) D had wanted Anne to meet her in Florida for a weekend as she racked up huge air mile points. D still racks up the points due to her job with another company. She racks up huge points every year. It was a bit of a hassle for my wife to find someone to look after her 4 cats 2 budgie birds, a plethora of hamsters and other assorted critters she had at the time. Anne was a bit reluctant to go but the allure of Florida in February was hard to resist. D had Anne’s tickets a place to stay and everything was all set up for my wife to spend a nice weekend in Florida and soon Anne found herself on a plane to the Sunshine state. Flying over the Rockies my wife felt the turbulence hit the plane too often for her liking and got scared. Filled with anxiety and freight when the plane landed at Denver she called the rest of the trip off and headed back to Edmonton. D said never again. Which is sad really because since then D has racked up more air mile points, she cashes them in every year or so. She’s sent family and even extended family to places like Paris France and Caribbean cruises etc. D herself goes on several cruises/year. Up until October of last year Anne and I kept our marriage secret from her family because she didn’t want her ailing parents to learn about our marriage thinking knowledge of this would be too much of a shock and could affect their health. But Anne's mother is no longer here as of 2004. When I got to meet D when she was here last October Anne had let the secret of our 8 year marriage out of the bag and it didn’t seem to phase D at all, much to the relief of my wife.

So is there a chance for me to travel? Maybe and I won’t turn it down if D instead of asking friends asks me instead if I’d like to go along so she doesn’t travel alone. I wont turn the opportunity down. D and I are the same age. But there’s nothing keeping me here for going to some place nice. I’d like to visit the Azores but the job and lack of money kind of keeps me away, plus there’s the hassle of it all as well.

It’s a pretty cold day out there. -15/24C with the wind chill. The wind chill is the number right of the/ of course. My wife’s up across the street to do some shopping and I’m enjoying my afternoon off and about to Blog this on my website and on Blogger and then it’s “Runner” time. Oh and I found the story about the Goat. You can read it here.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now.

e. Jim

A good day today

We turned in about 3am last night. Anne had given me a sleeping pill to help me sleep. It did the trick. Other then getting up to use the bathroom I slept pretty good and woke up about 1:30pm with a slight headache. Anne mentioned she was going out and I thought it was to Superstore across the street. Ok. About an hour later the buzzer rang. I was dressed only in my shorts. Usual state of affairs for a stay at home all day. About an hour after Anne had left I heard the intercom buzzer go off. Anne forgetting her house keys, again. I buzzed her up and as I opened the door, it was Donna, Anne’s sister. WTF?

I said in the opened door, I’ was “slightly in disposed. Hold on a minute.” I put something on to receive her inside. I explained what happened to Anne as I thought she went across the street to get a few things so I “entertained” Donna as best as I could as we waited for Anne. Donna asked not to say anything that she was here She wanted to surprise her. About an hour later Anne comes in wondering what these shoes were doing by the door. Why am I dressed up, “WTF is going on?” She was totally surprised. Donna took us out over to Applebee’s here on 50th st and I had a burger. I think they had chicken cacciatore or something. They weren’t impressed, We had a nice cheesecake cup desert had a chat for awhile and off to Tim’s drive through. Donna always pays for dinner while she’s here because it’s on her company’s expense card for family.

Donna drove me home with my medium Tim’s coffee taking Anne back with her to Donna’s downtown Hotel room where the girls get together. Anne takes the train back. Most likely she’s still at the hotel room. The Oiler’s/St. Louis game was just getting under way. I said hello to Boots all locked up in there during intermissions. I still have a slight headache. The Oiler’s finally won a game at home. Good stuff.

So I’m having the rest of the night off to myself. Good stuff.

I couldn’t get into Mary Rosenblum’s “Horizons.” Its Cyberpunk and I hate Cyberpunk. It’s too over the top, too exaggerated. Real people don’t talk like that. One thing I’ll say for the sub genre is that the style is consistent. So right now I’m reading William C. Dietz “Runner.” So far it’s turning out good. I don’t read a lot of military fiction but I enjoyed Joe Haldeman’s “Camouflage” a few years ago. That was good. All in all I had a pretty good weekend. There was the Lodge on Friday night, then into work Saturday morning. I had a great night last night to myself. I worked a little on my short story. Donna came in from Winnipeg and took us out to dinner. I watched the Oiler’s win. This was a nice weekend.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now.

e. Jim

A rough couple of days

I met up with M on the way in the elevator and he wasn’t much interested in talking with me. “Grab a dialer if your working. I’ll talk with you later,” is all he would muster. Ok. At kick-off he asked me to wait for him in the back. I got that signal mixed up. He meant computer room. He left me hanging there for awhile and came back and towered over me giving me a lecture about disrespecting him etc. I came close to getting fired. I wont go into the details suffice to say M and I are not on any terms these days and for the foreseeable future. I hope to be in that new job within the “foreseeable future.” I got my dialer and went back to work doing CRF in the tap section. We had a few taps. I had a decent total by break with about $195, then we all got moved over to the front 20 and I had a $100 sale but no CC’s. Only 4 this week. At one point M shut my system down wanting me to listen to one of my recordings for a technical issue for “not doing my job properly.” Put it this way, the job isn’t fun anymore since we began to do CRF. I suspect we’ll be doing much the same today as we did last night.

I was glad to get out of the office at 8:30pm and out onto the street. It was mild heading over to Audrey’s and I made my regards with Trevor. I picked up one of the last special order desk Warhammer 40K Omnibus novels at American pricing. I’ve got FF #2 there for me, the last of my US pricing books. I got a bus up to my bank did my banking and a brief wait for my train. Feeling better about what went down earlier. I suppose M talked about this with Rob because he would need to explain why he shut me down yesterday at 6:30pm. M most likely said to Rob that he would handle it.

Weather wise it was even raining lightly last night. I got home and breathed a sigh of relief I wasn’t fired. That was a close one.

The other thing is Thursday when I called Ms they said my testing score on my simulation was low but the good news is they don’t want to give up on me. F wants to send me another simulation that I can do on my own time and work towards getting a better score. I can work on my own time and get ready for the training course that starts in January. I’m under some stress at my current job and I’d like to get out of it asap. On my terms.

Not much going on today. Except the job thing. All I want to do is to get that over and done with and home. I watched my Smackdown and ECW but acquired a bit of a toothache while watching my show. Anne came in late. She had a busy night at Pizza. We had a late supper and I was in bed by about 1:15am or so with my toothache and all. Anne gave me something but it wasn’t as good as Advil. Tylenol 3 is better but that’s a 2 hour wait in the midi center and a Doctors prescription. I got about 3 hours sleep overnight. I could have slept in until 11am. My toothache is still lingering about but it’s not as bad as it was last night.

This afternoon it’s the Oiler’s playing in St. Louis. Starts at noon. Then there’s another game Sunday in Dallas at 4pm. Anne didn’t know this but she suggested if I didn’t want to go out with them for dinner I didn’t have to go. With the game on TV it’s tempting to stay home. Hopefully her flight will be here around 1pm. We’ll have dinner and I could be home around 4pm not missing much of the game. If it wasn’t for my bonehead mistake Thursday night with M I would have taken today off. We’ll be able to watch the first part of the Oiler game at noon, maybe. I might get home in time to get the last of the 3rd period.

FF #1 is turning out to be, interestinghad a feeling of much anxiety leaving out of here at 4pm for work. All kinds of things were playing out in my head. I couldn’t even read FF on the train. I met Shank out front and he said Rob wasn’t there. Really? Ok. I mentioned about the incident with Greg and nothing much was said beyond that. I get Greg to give me my pay cheque. He did. I went downstairs to get some “cheese pleasers.” Two bags for Smackdown.

This evening, I’m going to learn how to play the rest of “When the Saints go marching in.” Maybe do some writing and play out a quiet evening.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now.

e. Jim

I went into work

yesterday morning feeling pretty good. The air was pleasant. I got my dialer and had my coffee as staff began to file in. We had the football game on for the last 3 hours. First half I did ok but things broke down in the 2nd half. I was enjoying the game and because Anne was working I stayed a few minutes later to watch the end of the game. The Esks were one play ahead all afternoon and with seconds on the clock it could have been anyone’s game. Eskimos won and get to play another day-next Saturday in Montreal. Because of their last regulation game they won to cross over, so now it’s Edmonton in the East. If the Eskimo’s go all the way, then it could very well be Edmonton East/Calgary West for the Gray Cup. I don’t know the formula for this format or even how it comes into effect but apparently the league adapted this back in 1996.

The weather was gray out there after work with a bit of sunshine through the clouds. The wind was still and I wasn’t feeling tired at all. I got the train just as it pulled in and I was on the stairs going down and barely boarded the train for home.

Once home and inside I wasn’t too tied. I watched a bit of TV and about 4pm I decided I better get a nap. I woke up about 6:30pm missing Anne’s call I was that wiped out. M’s manpower referral card sat there for me so I went to the website and had a look at that. From about 6:30-7:30pm there wasn’t a lot to do except website stuff, YouTube etc. Anne had a frozen TV dinner thing for me and I began to prepare that and at 8pm she called as I was eating. She wanted me to go down and feed Boots. She was having a good and busy evening at her job. I told her about the referral card and the website.

Sports net had an English soccer game on Arsenal against Manchester United. I’m not a soccer fan but the game held some interest for me. I was actually enjoying it but I had other things to do, like feed Boots waiting downstairs and piano practicing, as well as backing up my hard drive.

The evening was relaxing and enjoyable. Icewind dale is coming along just nicely thank you. Book 2 of the Trilogy is almost read. I hope to be onto Book 3 by Monday afternoon heading into work.

Apparently management at work wants us to work Remembrance day so we can have Boxing day off with pay as long as we work the day before and the day after-yeesh. However thanks to this DNC list purging our data base of numbers to call (at the rate of almost 500 numbers/day we‘re losing) our data base is shrinking as we speak. I’m surprised we have anything left to call even now. We’ve been working on the same campaign for the last 4 months with some variations adding something else in the 2nd half type thing. I get the impression that my company wants to use us to get as much money out of our donor’s as possible. Squeeze them right down. Get as much work out of us as they possibly can. I got a feeling there won’t be a job for me to go back to after Christmas or even at the end of this month the way things are going. So because of that I submitted my résumé into manpower earlier this afternoon. When they open their office Monday morning they’ll see my résumé and hopefully they’ll call me for an interview. I said I would be available on the 12th. They might call me tomorrow and if they do I’ll ask for an interview on the 12th and if all goes well, I can start the 3 week training course next Monday. I’ll work afternoons inbound, and evenings at my regular job (while I have one.) However I’m taking this Tuesday off. If it’s just a regular work day and not a stat holiday why not?

My wife came home about 11:30pm last night and made us a bite to eat and I did some more piano stuff and took my sleeping pill and my insulin. We were in bed around 3:30am listening to a bit of Coast. The topic was about the Titanic. Good topic.

We’re going to have our brunch in about half an hour and at 5pm it’s the Oiler’s in NJ against the Devil’s so I’ll be watching the hockey game from 5pm-7pm.

What I’d like to see happening from the job thing is if I get hired on at the new job and work it as planed and work there Monday-Friday afternoons and my current job evenings and wait for the bottom to fall out. Rob gathers the night shift together: “As you all know, we’ve been struggling with this DNC list for sometime. We’re losing our donor base at the rate of around 500 names/day. I bring news some of you aren’t going to like: As of December 1st the Edmonton office will be closing its doors. You have over the next several weeks to locate other employment etc.” I can see such a thing happening. My wife’s job last January went through something similar last February except with her job they couldn’t staff their operation. We have the same problem. Even more so because Service and Immigration Canada does not recognize my company as proper employment for foreign workers thanks due to the lawsuit against my Company. I see such a speech being made within the next few weeks.

This evening, I’m going to be watching that Oiler game, reading Icewind dale piano work etc.

Anyway Bloggers that’s all for now

e. Jim

Convention Saturday today

Friday afternoon at 4pm I was out there waiting for my bus. Temperature wise it was +16C. Pretty good for mid October. I had a nice ride into Corona station and went right up to Audrey’s books and to the special order desk. I picked up the 2 Karen Travis books and into work. I took my end dialer and no surprises. Surprisingly I had a good start to the shift and a $100 CC. I was at about $465 by break and thankfully Chris wasn’t barking beside me in my ear. These totals of course is money I raise for charity. It’s not for me or anything. I also had 2 CC’s on by break when Anne called. We had a nice chat. The 2nd half was just as good and I got 1 CC. I just wanted out of there to go home and catch the last part of the Oiler’s/Calgary game. Someone on the phone had told me that the Oiler’s were ahead 3-2 in the 2nd. Great. There were a lot of Eskimo fans on the platform at Stadium when Anne called on the last of her breaks.

When I got into our apartment to fire up the TV the Oiler’s were ahead 4-2 with about 12 minutes left in the 3rd period. Then. Calgary scored. Mac T decided to have rookie goal tender Drouin-Deslauriers in goal and for his first game he looked like he did all right for himself. Not just that but the Oiler’s have an unusual 3-0 win loss record and 2 of those wins were on the road. The Oiler’s and Flames play here tonight.

After the game I watched Smackdown. It wasn’t bad. Anne came in about 11pm and made me some perogies and a smoky. Good stuff. By the time ECW was just about done, I was exhausted. I kissed my wife goodnight and went straight to bed. When she came in sometime around 2:30am it woke me up and all I could do was to just lie there and toss and turn. I know after work I’m going to be exhausted and I want to go over to Pure Speculation. Maybe take some photographs. I’m sure "Darth Vader" and some "Wookies" and maybe even some "Storm Troopers" will be there and maybe even some Super Heroes and D&D types as well. I know what bus to take and if my camera cooperates mybe I can get some good pictures. Then it’s home to have a nap and a snack and watch the Flames at Oiler’s rematch game on at 8pm.

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

About noon

our buzzer kept ringing and ringing. Anne said “Don’t answer it,” thinking it was dial-a-dopers or something mistaking our apartment number for #303. It’s happened before. So after about the 10th ring she went to the intercom panel to listen in and discovered a knock on our door. It was her sister Donna from Winnipeg. I finally met her but she hadn't checked into her hotel room yet downtown and wanted to take Anne out to do some shopping at Value Village. It’d be 2 hours for me but I was invited to go out to the “Olive Garden” when they returned. A couple hours later they came back and we got underway out of here about 4pm. Donna is a health science advisor with a pharmaceutical company, She used to work with Roche but now with another firm. So we went out to the Olive Garden south side in her rented car with a dashboard mounted GPS system. I sat up front,


I should have brought my camera along but the friggin batteries aren’t working properly. Dinner was nice even though a little on the late side. I had their stuffed ravioli, which was really good and some potato soup as well and endless diet pop. Thanks Donna. After dinner we went for a drive as Donna wanted to show Anne the south side of the city of Edmonton and how much that section of the city has grown. We were losing daylight fast but we ended up being taken to the Edmonton International Airport. The place is huge. We drove back home and Donna said she’d be coming back to visit us more often. It was nice to get out even if it was for just 3-4 hours.

Anne wants me to have Monday off and I’m thinking about taking the day off. Well, sort of. I’m going to use it to go down to City Hall job board and see if they have any job openings for ETS transit information. I’d love to get onto that. So I’ll most likely get up around 9am and grab a coffee and get out the door and go to City Hall in the morning. The other thing I’d like to do is to go to Northgate and check on the job bank. I want to get out of Xl by the end of this month-in theory.


Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

Finally it’s Saturday

Last night I went to work and read a bit of JU on the train going in. I’ve got about another 150 pages left before I move onto my next read. I got into the office found my dialer and all 6 of us began work. I had a slow start. Moe wasn’t pushing l/h as much as other days. I did get a couple of CC’s and I need another 3 more to get my 20. I hope to get 4 today because of the slow start I had yesterday.

I was glad to get out of there at 8:30pm and over to Audrey’s. Trevor had made a list of the books I have on order. I think he said I had 5 books coming. I picked up 1 book from the special order desk. I ordered 6 more books as well last night before the official American pricing is removed and Audrey’s reverts back to uggh, Canadian pricing. Anything ordered before the change October 15th, will be honored. I have on order: Warhammer 40,000: “Ultramarines” by Graham McNeill. The omnibus. “Space Wolf.” The first omnibus. Warhammer 40,000: “Gaunt's Ghosts”: “The Saint” by Dan Abnett and a whole bunch more. I think about 12 Warhammer 40K are being ordered and or are coming in. My pick for the night was “Night Shift” by Lilith Saintcrow. I love the last name.

Happy with my purchase I headed out to the LRT and found a seat on the train and read on the way home. I got in about 9:30pm did my admin stuff and settled into watch wrestling. I was expecting my wife home by midnight. Sure enough after a great show, she comes in saying “Hello pizza goodbye the other job.”She said she’s starting to pick up on it and felt a little more confident on the phones. Good for her but you’ve got to be fast. She’s not quite fast enough and most of the people there are so fast they put calls through in less then a minute. During ECW, she made me a bowl of Raman’s and a grill cheese and I was in bed by 1:20am and I had a good 5 hours sleep. I’m good to go for the day.

This morning, I’m out there catching my train into the office for my four hours. After that it’s home for a couple hours nap and I’m watching the CFL Saskatchewan at Edmonton game on Sports net. My entertainment for this afternoon. Anne’s working from 3pm-8pm. I like these hours she’s keeping because it gives me some privacy at home. I can focus on doing my writing, which I’m going to get to this evening.

Thursday while realizing I forgot my Cola at home and waiting for Anne, she got off the train nearest me and took this photo. I'm naturally crooked and having the bag on my shoulder doesn't help. it's kind of dark in the background but Bay Station is a bit on the "Dark side."

One of my online friends, (a successful small press SF novelist out of Denver) in one of his recent blog posts was saying how he always seems to fall short of the words he’d like to have for an 80K novel. I don’t have that problem. Partly because I seem to be one of the few writers (working to get published of course) that works from a scene by scene outline. I know what’s going to happen in every scene. The only thing I have no control over is the subplots and action. I know who’s in the scene and where it takes place and in many cases even the outcome of the scene. Working from that aspect, I feel I don’t have a problem with word length. Matter of fact my last novel currently in rough draft hibernating needs to be expanded. I have enough material to do this to expand it to 140K while I‘m working on the scene structure of my current project. I’m a firm believer in working from a storyboard approach rather then flying off by the seat of ones pants and to see what happens.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim

I'm having a nice weekend

Last night we went to see the midnight showing of the recent Indiana Jones movie “Crystal Skull.” The movie’s budget was something like $187 million but it grossed almost $781 million. We enjoyed the movie in a stadium seat like theater, which I really like. When the film first came out in May it was $12. We paid $3.50 each and smuggled our own snacks in. I enjoyed the 4th installment of the franchise. Is it just me or did the movie seem a little smoky looking? I don’t think there will be another Indy movie after this. On a scale from 1-10, I’d rate it a 7. We walked home under very pleasant mild conditions and even stopped in at the drive through window at Wendy’s for a burger and fries for me. We got in about 3am and at 4am I took my insulin and went to bed.

I got up about 1:15pm and I wanted to catch the Carolina/San Diego NFL football game. Anne made us our usual late meal/brunch. What a game, 24-23 Carolina. I have Carolina in my pool at work.

A couple of things I’m watching for this week is to see how Anne is able to handle her new job and of course this week is when the LHC’s first beam experiment come online.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim