Well gang

this is the last blog post for '08. Thanks for dropping by. It's off to watch hockey and then to meet my wife downtown for what little we can see of "First night." Hey hey, the train and ETS are free tonight.

Happy New Year

Anyway bloggers, that's all for now

e. Jim

1more sleep for '08

I went into work feeling alright reading Helix on the train. Weather wise it wasn’t bad. I bought my January bus pass at the “Readimart” before going up the escalator for my train. Coming through the doors of the office building where I work I met up with JT and he said how last night he wan the NFL playoff pool, so I owe him $20. This kind of through me for a loop but he said if I want I can pay him Friday. Yeesh all this money going out very little coming in.

I had a slow night in the beginning but it picked up. I ended up with $335 the first half and 2 CC’s. I called Anne at break and had a chat. TD bank had called her as she was out and I left her a hand written note. I ended up doing $735 and a CC sale the 2nd half and no “good job” for top total or anything like that. I walked out of there not feeling that good about my effort. Plus my teeth were acting up. A burning pain developing on my upper right side. The pain eased off there a bit.

I was glad to get out of the office. I had a brief wait for my train reading Helix on the way home. Two cars but plenty of seating because the University kids were on Christmas break.

I got home to watch. Raw. Good show last night. I‘d give it an 8/10. Anne made me a great cheeseburger and fries. My mouth felt a little better before I tucked into my dinner. I was done by about midnight. We watched a bit of ET and I checked over my finances there a bit and I can pay JT off what I owe him tomorrow. Anne said she can only cover me for my website or Lodge dues now but I’ll use the funds for my website and cover my Lodge dues in February. Their ok for it.

I’ve got tonight to work with and then I’m off for 2 more days. I’ll get my paycheque Friday. This cheque will have only 12 hours on it but the rent will be covered and I’ve got my January bus pass. Next week I’m putting 32 hours in for my Lodge dues.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Yesterday was a reading day

Sunday was mostly a reading day although I did do some more assassination research. I’m looking into the General Walker shooting.

The Nashville at Edmonton game was a darn good one. The Oiler’s don’t have to win every time for a game to be good but last nights game Oiler’s 5 Preds 2 was fun to watch. The fans needed a win at Rexall. I did that from 6-9

Also last night and Anne went out to Walmart and mentioned there was something under the tree. It was in a Christmas wrapping bag. OMG the Xbox 360! What she said she did basically was buy it out of our January rent money but she’s going to make an appointment to the bank and get the balance later this week for rent and my website/lodge dues. Wu-who now I can play Elder scrolls on our 42” LCD wide screen. We haven’t opened it yet because we want to get the funds out of our RRSP for 2009, in case there are some complications so we can get our money back from Walmart. Now I can play Elder scrolls. At least its in a box under the tree:

Finally, I completed reading “Fast Forward #1” Here is a “brief review:”

Brief synopsis: This is an annual anthology from a master anthologist. Lou Anders knows his stuff and brings to the table some good offerings.
Pros: 19 stories and 2 poems. 5 stories were Very good, 7 stories were good, 4 stories not bad.

Cons: 3 stories were poor. Plus 2 poems I had to add a wtf?

I liked most of the stories in this anthology except but there were a few that I found boring as hell. I’ll be reading FF#2 later on this winter On a scale from 1-10 I’d give this a good 6 e. Jim’s out of 10.

Now it’s onto Eric Brown’s “Helix.”

This week is going to be interesting. Firstly I go into work tonight and then I’ll be watching Monday night Raw. Tuesday same thing just into work but that’s my last shift of 2008. There’s a shift Wednesday but that’s in the morning only. Since I don’t work mornings that doesn’t apply to me. Hence: Day off. Also, Anne’s at work and there’s an Oiler game Wednesday December 31st here at Rexall with Ottawa Senators. Right after the game or just before midnight I’ll be scrambling for a train downtown to meet my wife. She gets off work at midnight. We’re going to try get to see some of the fireworks but chances are we might not. Thursday January first the Oiler’s are in Calgary giving the Flames some New years “cheer.” I’ll be watching that one. Anne’s at the bank January 2nd hopefully with good news and I’ll have my lodge dues and my website funds.

Here’s another photo of the stack of books I read this year. Icewind Dale the 2 Peter F. Hamilton books were all over 1,000 pages each. It’s my goal to read at least one book/month.

And at last what wouldn’t the season be without another cat photo? This one is of Silky. I’ve had him for well over 10 years now. He’s also my dinner guest sitting beside me hoping for a taste of my supper, which I always oblige. Silky is extremely shy. Except with me and Anne.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Not a bad day today at that

Lets see, I was up about 6:00am to post a blog entry on my website. Also writing for myself basically.

I went out there to catch my 9am bus. Weather wise, it wasn't that bad out there. There was a definite change in the air since having those -20C+'s/wind chills whilst waiting for my Saturday morning #11 to Clairview and then to Cororna. It felt lonely walking to through the parkade. inside the office I met u with Supie and we talked about the holidays stocks etc.

By 10am when Moe came in to run the floor we had 12 people for the whole floor. I moved to the back and had K sit with me. JT was there along with Bud. The lowest turn out of the shift. Rob's going to let the shit fly on Monday. I won a $5 Nevada and won a $1 on a bet Moe and I made.

I even did well on the job. Moe complimented me on Anne's haircut job. I got my cheque plus my $25 bonus. So I got anything over $200. So I took out $40 for me including the $25 I brought with me. I walked up to the City Center Mall looked through Coles book store. There are some nice Trade David Eddington editions and some Starcraft novels I want to get into. I got a $10 pre-paid pay-as-you go Telus receipt for my cell phone. TD bank is open on a Saturdays now? That's pretty convenient. I've been wanting to try one of those KFC chicken bowls. I got one to take home and after a 10 minute wait at Clairview in the -4C weather. You read that right. -4C!!! That's darn near--balmy. Right now it's -6C but there is a -11C wind chill, which still isn't all that bad. Sunday is supposed to be a bit colder -12C. Even that isn;t too bad. We're to get 2 days next week, Tuesday and Thursday, which are supposed to be around -21C--25C . Weekend weather looks warm.

I got home about 3:45pm watched a bit of TV, did some Internet stuff and then went for a 2 hour power snooze. I badly needed that.

Anne called me at 6pm for ten minutes and I started my KFC meal. These things aren't bad. on a scale from 1-10. I'd rate them an 8/10. I'll get them again. I hope to complete reading FF #2 this weekend. After this, I'm going to read Eric Brown's "Helix." looks interesting.

Anyway Bloggers, that's all for now.

e. Jim

Happy holidays one and all

I went into work for my Tuesday night. Anne suggested I take the whole day off yesterday. So I went into Audrey’s and got my FF#2 book. Apparently over the year I had accumulated enough out of my book club membership and it was free. Feeling good about that and having 3 days off I called Anne before the shift started about my good news. She was doing laundry upstairs and needed my apartment key for the laundry room.

Also Tuesday night Anne used her Pizza 73 coupon and went and got us a pizza meal including wedgies which she wanted to try. It was really good. I had some chicken pieces and 4 slices left over for my lunch yesterday.

Today was a relaxing kind of a day. I got up about 1:45pm and I’m still feeling a bit exhausted. I was doing some JFK assassination research stuff. Odd how 26 trained professionals at Parkland hospital that were direct witnesses handling the Presidents body in and out of the trauma room all said Kennedy had a large wound of exit in the occipital region of (back) of the head.

I also listened to a lot of stuff on YouTube and answering email. Also Anne made me a rum and Coke and I got a bit of a buzz off of that. Today Anne’s having Christmas turkey and I’m going to be enjoying so baby back ribs a baked potato and fixings.

It’s tradition around here to open Christmas gifts Christmas eve and I’m glad my wife and I are together. W didn’t have a lot of money for the holidays, mainly because my vacation pay fiasco as mentioned elsewhere. I got Anne some beauty products and she got me a pair of genes, a book (FF#2 which she wrapped up for me.) some new batteries for my camera and some socks. But we have our rent paid for January our bills paid. All we need is our bus passes. We’ve got our Christmas treats like chips, pastry’s, chocolates, chips and bits and bites, rum and beer. Plus we have Boots in for the night. Also, I have an Oiler game and Friday night Smackdown coming up. I go into work Saturday but that’s ok. The job is going well. With all that said, I’d like to wish all my readers to this blog, happy holidays.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim

Nice day Monday

Since it’s been a few days since I last posted a blog entry, I figure it’s better late then never. Anne wanted to get up a little early to make us our Sunday brunch for Monday. She got out pots and pans and went to work. So we had out nice Sunday breakfast about 2pm Monday afternoon. I got some Lodge mail and Anne got a $100 gift certificate from her sister for both of us. Very nice of her.

My wife had to leave for work early and I left at my usual time. I ended up catching my bus in the cold but because there was very little wind, it wasn’t that bad heading out Monday late afternoon.

I’m still reading FF #1 and I just read “A Smaller Government.” It wasn’t bad. Not great, but not bad. I’m on pace for completing this book by the end of the year and I’m picking up FF #2 Christmas eve,

Speaking of Christmas eve it is a work day but were only working until 1pm. Cheques are being sent the day before Christmas which is ok. It also means I’m up pulling in a rare early morning shift to get the cheque and to qualify for my stat pay. When your working part time here in Alberta you need to work the day before and the day after. Kind of silly really.

I had a pretty good night at work. Greg put the Oiler game on for us and the Oiler’s were winning 3-1 when I left out of there at 9pm. I got home and with 10 minutes left it was 3-2 Oiler’s with 10 minutes left in the game. Anne called with 2 minutes left and the Oiler’s scored on a power play. Good stuff. Nice Christmas present for us Oiler fans. Anne put out some canned ravioli for me and I watched Raw. It was an excellent show last night. On a scale from 1-10, I’d say it was a 10! Great stuff.

Anne’s not home yet as she’s out at Superstore across the street getting stuff for the holidays. Otherwise I had a nice couple of days since Saturday’s entry. I worked on my special writing project. For now I’ll just call it KOR. I’ve got the first 12 scenes done up a bunch of characters. That’s all I’m going to say about it now

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