I got up this morning about 5:45am to do the cbi thing. I was exhausted. I had no problem climbing back to bed and sleeping the rest of the morning.

I had fun posting this Rant to RJS’s blog about the mainstream and people in general dissing science fiction. So far my Rant out of 11 postings is getting modest reaction. I posted a response to that reaction moments ago. That’s ok. I’m surprised RJS posted it in the first place. My premise for the Rant was admonishing the mainstream because their view of science fiction is about “The Future” and making predications. Even though my last novel project was in the future, science fiction as a whole doesn’t need to be about "The Future." In the Rant I said:

“Science fiction can even get away with exotic and new concepts in today’s world not 20 years from now. Does having a "flux-capacitator" lend it more credibility because it’s set 20 years from now? I think the opposite. Juxtapose a ray gun or a spaceship right now, in today’s reality and imo that’s real science fiction.”

And I still stand by that. The mainstream can diss science fiction all it wants too and that’s mostly out of ignorance. My night room manager and a nice guy doesn;t like science fiction. "Have you read any science fiction before?" "No." I got to respect his honesty about it though. In the end science fiction isn’t just about the technology it’s about the fiction. Does it matter that the technology is set in today’s world or a 100 years from now? Ok, I’ll stop now. You can read the rest of my Rant here if you like.

Seems we're barely getting out of the deep freeze today. It’s still -26C out there and cold in here even. At least we don’t have the wind chill today. And the Sun sets at 5:10pm this afternoon. Groundhog day is February 2nd and that’s, what Saturday? What I’m looking for is the return back to Daylight Savings Time which begins on Sunday March 9th this year. And that’s only 5 weeks away. The return to Daylight Savings Time to me is the first real day of Spring. There may be snow on the ground but that’s on it’s way out. Not only that but February goes by really fast.

I’m going to go out there at my usual time this afternoon and bring my camera to see if the City has dug us out of the snow buildup the graders pushed along the side of the road Monday. It’s tough going out there especially at night as the corner is covered in ice. I’m worried about falling and some nut speeding out of there hitting me while I’m struggling to get up. Same with my wife. She has to cross that side of the street as well.

Not much going on for tonight. It’s just going in and working the phones. I hope I do OTH again and get us some more points on the board. I got 3 credit cards last night and $440 for the top OTH total on the night. Of course I was fresh and everyone else had been working since 1pm or so.

Anne has the night off tonight. We have our rent covered for February and even March if we want to. Not only that but we still have our pay cheque as well. We’re doing ok. I’m thinking about calling our MLA here one of these days or find someone in the office aware of these things and find out if rents can be raised once/year or once every 12 months. If it’s once/year they can raise rents in December and again in January. If it’s every 12 months, then at least we get a bit of breathing room.

I’ve been following this debate going on at City Hall about a development project that Glenora residents have been trying to fight. The condo development calls for X4-20 story condo towers on the corner of 142nd st and Stony Plain Road. This is a nice area but residents fear the high density of the development will increase traffic in the area and bring down property values. It’s going to take 3 years to complete anyway. Still we need more development. Most important we need groups like the Capital Regional Housing Corporation (CRHC) to get involved and make these condo’s available to first time home owners. The City said that 5% of these suites should be affordable housing. Just 5%? That’s what 20 suites?

I didn’t know if I was going to Blog today but I’m not in the mood for doing any writing this afternoon. The cup of coffee I had sucked so it’s time for a warm up. I might get 500 words this afternoon anyway. We’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

e. Jim