All kinds of stuff

lets see, I think I got up around 7am and I did the cbi thing. Sleep came to me fast and easy. Other then getting up to pee I slept from 7am until 12:30pm, 5 hours. Plus the 3 solid hours I had before. So I’m going in with my sales sheet and file and try to fill the file up this evening before Greg leaves. I wanted to get at it this morning but I overslept but I needed the hours.

I love YouTube. What a great resource. I was looking at how to install Ram because, well I’ve never installed Ram before. The video was useful and talked about a website that scans your system for the type of Ram you have. I have DDR PC2700 RAM. I went to Memory express and they have some pretty decent pricing for Ram. Right now my system (speed wise) is operating at about 25%. I’m amazed it can still process web pages as fast as it does. So, I think what I would like to do get some more Ram if it’s cheap enough.

Also The City is putting the word out about LRT expansion to Nait from Churchill Square. I think the link would be right behind and SE of the old Army & Navy building. It would be an above ground system. They want the publics input to find out about impact studies, how the train would affect going through old established neighborhoods, that sort of thing. But this would be great because not only would Nait students take advantage of it but so would Grant MaCewan students as well. To get to Kingsway Mall from Churchill would be a couple of escalators up and a ten minute ride. I think it’d take about 3-5 years to complete. So I took the online survey. The only thing that bothers me is the acquisition of residential property and the trees. Possibly some construction noise as ell so close to the Royal Alex Hospital. Personally I think it should all go underground from Churchill but that would cost something like 3 billion instead of the $300 million. But the project could come from all three levels of Government. The thing is according to information I found it costs $300 million just for 1 mile of underground track. It’s about 3-5 miles from Churchill Square park. To take the train underground would cost almost 1 Billion. More like closer to 2 billion dollars. But split 3 ways would costs something like $600M. Still it’d even take longer to get the North leg extended. I’d say 5 years. It’s an interesting project. I heard something like when they get it going it will probably begin October 2008.

Another interesting item for us cell phone users here in Canada is the Feds are going to open up more bandwidth. More space. Right now cell phone use here in Canada is regulated to 3 main service provider, Telus, Rogers and Bell. Right now my $30 month plan in the US costs about $20. In Europe it would cost about $10 because there are more providers in the US and more in Europe. I’d love to see Shaw offer a pay as you go service as well.

As for me, tonight I’m going into the job leaving out of here at 4pm. Anne was saying how these hours are taking their toll on her. But she gets the weekends off. Rob was saying that if you work more then 40 hours your entitled to have every other Saturday off. Greg takes the weekends off so does BB but these guys work long hours. If I get the guards license, then I can see myself out of Xl. I’d just work Cw a few hours every night before work and then off to the site and bring my little laptop PC (when I get one) and I’m ready for the night. But tonight I’m going to do a few Cw calls and try and fill up the sheet by the end of the night. I’m going to make calls on my break. If I can hand the sheet in for tonight before Greg leaves then I can get that credit card bonus. Other then that no Oiler hockey game on tonight but I will be getting my pay cheque tonight and stealing a few minutes away to make the odd Cw call. Kind of moonlighting here.

Weather wise we’re not doing to badly out there at -13C but we’ve got that dreaded wind chill of -22. We’re into the grip of winter now folks. Surprisingly though it’s still autumn out there until December 21st. It’s cold out there but I’m not really in it for any length of time. I have a brief 5 minute wait for the bus and then crossing the parking lot behind first Edmonton Place. The wind chill can get a bit interesting crossing that lot as well as keeping an eye out for vehicles that could run me over if I’m not careful. The thing I notice more often in adverse weather is that the bus stop shelter is always full and has somebody inside that would not ordinarily be there if the weather is decent. Probably because they don’t drive their cars in the winter.

The price of Oil is still holding at around $91/barrel. It took a huge hit of $3 and change yesterday but seems to for every step it takes back takes a step forward. I think Oil will hold to around $80-90/barrel throughout the winter. If anything it will stabilize like this for a couple of years.

Coast last night was kind of lame, talking about American politics with Pat Buchanan. I don’t have anything against American politics but it holds very little interest for me anymore then our politics should for Americans. Hey, I even find Canadian politics boring. Except of course when there are issues I care about. Tonight on Coast is about Author and researcher Steve Quale will discuss his work on climate change and weather manipulation and how recent droughts, famine and plague resemble the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Oh brother. First Hour: (When we go to bed) Linda Moulton Howe of “Earth files” reports on a glowing disc encounter with the military in New Mexico. That’s a little more like it. Also, from Coast: NASA has outlined preliminary details for a manned voyage to Mars, BBC News is reporting. Assembled in low-Earth orbit, the "Mars ship," with a cryogenic fuel propulsion system, would begin its journey in February 2031. Staffed with a "minimal crew," it would take six to seven months to get to the Red Planet. That’s 23 years from now! I’ll be 78 years old and probably wouldn’t give a rats ass. Nasa won’t even venture a trip back to the moon and the last moon mission was 1972. To be fair the whole cost of the Apollo moon mission was something like $135B in 1969 US dollars. Today we’d be looking at several trillion dollars.

Oh the car photo I took from yesterday is of Silky. The shot is a little grainy and I don’t know why. The shot itself for some reason went and wiped out my last 10 blog stories. A quick email to Markus fixed the problem. Thank Markus. Also, I'm fast on the heals of my 500th post. Wow

pardon me for any typos, it's getting near the hour and I'm running late.

Anyway, that’s all for now

e. Jim