I left the apartment just after 4pm under beautiful clear skies, slightly warm about +29 and caught the bus to Clairview station feeling pretty good about myself. Slightly apprehensive for Anne but figured if it was bad news her sister (the bearer of such ) would have called her more then once Sunday night. Anne failed to call me anyway at around 3:30pm as she was going to call her father. So, I gets into the office and I get the low down on the new changes from Bud. With barely time to digest them the shift starts and I’ve got nobody to ride shotgun with beside me. So apparently in our tap spiel we’re supposed to make no mention of mail. We’re not even supposed to ask for the credit card or even read off their address. We’re supposed to have all calls including the taps verified. That means JT or J or someone has to read pick up the phone and verify the address the amount and then ask the customer for a credit card. This puts the customer at ease in a comfort zone that with a “supervisor” that has to ask for the credit card. No more filling out credit card slips. No paper trail. At first I didn’t like this at all, then after a couple of calls I got the hang of it. I actually kind of like this as it made the night go faster. Less work for us actually. The first half was a charity campaign. I closed off with just under $300. Then I got a call from Anne. Everything’s all right at home. It was just her sister touching base-whew! I heard bits of dialogue here and there something about how dark it was outside. Then a customer saying something about heavy rain and lightning. I got another call from Anne giving me a weather update. She got out early and called me just as she was coming to our apartment building. Thunder and lightning and heavy rain. She said “it looks like we’re in the middle of a Tornado.” This was about 8:30 and I hadn’t been out of the office since arriving about 4:45pm.

I ended up with a pretty good total for the night, $465 but no credit cards. I got down to the main entrance and it was incredibly dark outside. Lots of thunder and lightning above me but the rain was just coming down. Mostly windy crossing the parking lot behind First Edmonton Place to Carona Station. The little teenager Katie joined me. Like me her dad is a huge Clash fan. Very little waiting for the train. As soon as it cleared the underground approaching stadium is when the rain really picked up. I called Anne at Stadium. It beaded strong and heavy on the windows. So much for the crowds at Capital X. Most of them were all under cover of the Rexall LRT station. The train was almost standing room only all the way up to Clairview. I caught the bus and called Anne there and she had her phone off. At the cross walk home the storm looked like it was breaking up. No rain, mostly wind. I got inside and Anne was playing with the cats watching her “Canadian Idol” TV show. I had another half hour until wrestling. Raw wasn’t bad. On a scale from 1-10 I’d rate it a 6. Triple H back by Summer slam?

After wrestling I got into fooling around with some p2p sites. Mo at work recommended Ares. I installed that but it didn’t work for me. I installed Bit comet a bit Torrent p2p, I had limited success with this before but I uninstalled Ares and I’m going to uninstall this one as well. I’m better off with lomoio.com.

I’ve some running around to do today on my day off. I’m leaving out of here at 11:30 for my 12:45 eye yag laser doctor’s appointment follow up. There really isn’t a lot too it but the appointment isn’t in the Baker Center where I work anymore. I’ll catch a bus out of here at 11:15am and go as far as Carona station. Then above ground to catch the #1 WEM bus. It goes right down Jasper Ave to where I need to be 124th St and Stony Plain Road. The Professional building. I’ve got to go locate Dr. M’s new office and book intake and get ready for the appointment. Most likely he’ll see me about 1:15pm and I’ll be there until 1:45pm. I won’t be there long. Then I got to catch the bus back the other way along Jasper Ave to Shoppers drug mart and get some diabetic supplies. That might take half an hour. Then the bus to Carona station and catch the LRT back. I want to get off at Telus mobility at Central Station and ask some questions about my phone and see if it has SMS. If so, then I can pay for my music directly from my cell phone. I also want to find out how much it would cost me for a contract and Internet on my phone. The web service on this phone is little more then an Intranet. It’s not designed to access the web. I can get web mail from my phone and I need to know how to do that and how much it will cost. I might be there for about a half an hour. I might be back by 4pm.

Once home we have about 4.5 hours until we leave out of here for Capital X. I don’t mind going it’s just these things are terribly expensive. There’s lots to see lots too eat and lots of noise. It’s fun but I can’t take a full day of it. A day pass at Capital X costs $35 bucks. I don’t know what that consists of but we’re only there until the fireworks close us off at midnight. Then home. So, that’s a full day in itself.

When I woke up this morning it was +19 out there. Very comfortable and should be around +22 going to the X tonight. Very nice. I like going into the Agracom. Lots of things to see in there.

That’s all for now.

e. Jim