I woke up about 5:45am. My wife had got up and disturbed me and my bladder was signaling me to use the bathroom anyway. So I got up, did the cbi thing. I wanted to read for a bit but I was exhausted. I read from “The New Space Opera” about 2am earlier as I was having issues with my computer. So I did my morning reading and a bit of practicing last night anyway. After the cbi thing I went back to bed. I slept fairly well other then the cats jumping on me but for the most part, I slept ok and got the hours I needed.

Heading into work was a lot more pleasant yesterday afternoon then it was last week that’s for sure. Currently it’s about -8C/-11C wind chill. Watch out for this afternoon though, as the they’ve been saying we’re in for a snow advisory warning for central Alberta. We’re going to be on the edge of that and expecting 10 centimeters of the stuff (4 inches). On top of what we already have.

The big tech story yesterday was the trouble with Blackberry’s email shutting down for 1 hour 45 minutes due to a failed router. This hard on the heals of a court ruling Research in Motion’s (RIM) won to keep it’s email client in the US last week, RIM’s Blackberry has almost 4 million users in the US, The brief shut down took place everything west of the Mississippi river. I’m sure this is fixed now. But I’d be worried about any security problems with these things. I wouldn’t mind getting a Blackberry not that I get a lot of email but the BB’s can also access the Internet. Nothing I’d like better then to have Bloglines alert me of a new blog post. I know I’m a bit behind the tech times here and mobile Internet has been around for some time now. But If I can gain access to Google etc on a BB I’d be a happy camper. Two obstacles in my way: A monthly plan and the initial cost of the Blackberry’s themselves. I think Telus wants anywhere from $600-$800 for these things. I’d rather get a laptop. The thing about a Blackberry for me at least is not only do I get email updates from my news groups and blog posts updates but I also get sports scores. I think I also read somewhere that there are some Blackberry’s that come with XM radio. Something to think about.

The other thing I was thing about and I should have done this a long time ago: Tonight the Wild are here at Rexall. The game starts at 7pm. By the time we’re out off work it’s 9pm and the 2nd period is all but winding down. The Ambassador hotel/bar is right next door and so is their large screen TV’s in the bar. Since Anne doesn’t get off work anyway I can watch the 3rd period while I’m nursing my diet Coke. I don’t have to drink beer there. However at the moment I have only a few bucks to last me until Friday. The team is on a 4 game road trip after tonight. SJ Thursday and Vancouver Saturday night. The trouble the Oiler’s are facing with right now is depth. With Horcoff out for the year, they don’t have a lot of guys that can score. With Horcoff gone, the Oiler’s will not make the playoffs this year. Penner only has 17 goals. With 25 games left in the season as of tonight Penner might end up close to what he did for Anaheim last year: 29 Goals. He’s 12 goals away from that. Granted he’s playing with a new team. He might be a bit under but wait till next year. So this week might be a washout but (since I bought my 4 books for the month) next week Nashville Tuesday and Dallas on Friday.

Alright getting back to yesterday afternoon. I took the front of the train and took the stairs up and into Audrey’s to the order desk. I was hoping there would be a few more books for me but nothing new yet. I usually get a call from Audrey’s Thursdays or Friday’s. I want to get the other Forgotten Realms Moonshae trilogies. There’s more then just one. So I got my “Seeds of Time” book 2 and the new “Writers of the Future.” I like WOTF because it has a nice mix of SF and Fantasy short stories.

I get into the office and there’s Rob leaving out saying he corrected my hours and it was 8 not 9 and he said something about how I’ve got to “quit taking unscheduled days off like this.” To his credit he’s right. I’ll be working every day this week anyway. He wasn’t too happy with me. This week thanks to the messing hours, I’ll have 24 hours on my cheque. This week I’ll try and put a couple of afternoons in and see about getting onto the insulin pill. I remember Pat taking it. He watches his diet and I should be watching mine anyway. The insulin pill doesn’t need to be kept cold and with that in mind I will free ups some more time. So, this week I’m going to make an appointment with my Doctor (I haven’t seen in almost 3 years) and see exactly what steps I need to take the insulin pill. Last time I checked he wanted a lab report done on my Cholesterol levels. I’m just worried that he’s going to have me on pabulum and string beans.

Anyway, that’s all for now

e. Jim