Ok yesterday, Anne had the day off. She was supposed to use that for a Doctors appointment but didn’t feel so well and rebooked. I wasn’t feeling that good either. My stomach and my head. I felt a bit lethargic, rundown but I went to work and my bus was fast approaching by the crosswalk/lights out there. I barely caught that and then boarded the train still not feeling well but I needed the hours. I couldn’t get into the book Pandora’s Star on the way in. I felt queasy and couldn’t wait to get out of the train for some air. But I needed coffee first. Weather was overcast and about +3C not bad. I got my Tim’s roll up and worked my way through the parkade behind First Edmonton Place. While approaching the elevator the security guard asked me if the boss didn’t call me? Seems that “All stream” the place that hosts Xl’s telephone lines went down and they were calling people to say not to come into work tonight. “Your kidding?” So I went upstairs and the East Indian Kids were hanging around confirming this. Bud said the computers had been down since 1:30pm. I was going to get a night off anyway and from what I gather for those that came in that couldn’t be reached would be getting at least a half an hour pay for making the effort to come in. We'll see. I waited until 5pm just in case they got everything up and running and Rob came in to make the announcement that there will be no work tonight. This sort of thing doesn’t happen very often. But I’m glad it did because I was feeling awful.

I walked out of there about 5:15pm and headed to Corona station and waited for my train. Then I realized that I ought to take the train to University and double back because I'd be standing up an the way home. I couldn’t in the condition I was in at the time take the Clairview train standing up all the way back. I didn’t win with my roll up coffee. When the train finally pulled into Health Sciences I was sweating about to puke. I put my book away and tried to breath taking in air usually helps but didn’t make any difference. I’d have to struggle to Grandin, Rexall, Belvedere and finally, surprised I held up for as long as I did-Clairview Station. Whew, I needed the air and after a long wait finally the bus pulled out of there about 5:50pm. Five minutes later I was at the set of lights and the cross walk and home, much to Anne’s surprise and the explanation. We watched the news and I still felt queasy. Cold water in the face episode didn’t help much. I watched the last of the Penguins/Sens game waiting for the Calgary at Sharks game at 8pm. And I had a night off I didn’t need to feel guilty about having off.

That Flames/Sharks game didn’t disappoint either. Anne went out to do some shopping and when she came back it was still on with 3 minutes to go, 3-1 Flames in SJ. Good stuff. Anne had her show to watch and by this time I needed a nap. I went in the bedroom for about an hour and put the fan on and had a good little nap. I woke up shortly before midnight. Anne made me a bowl of soup and cheddar cheese slices on toast. I had an appetite. Then after that I took an aspirin and I feel a lot better now.

Also Anne had brought me in the GST cheque. I received $118. I get that 4 times/year. She wanted to save it towards the HD cable box but my income tax return and vacation pay will cover that. This will be next month. She also bought me the econo size container of my Nescafe coffee as well. I suggested we split the GST cheque because I want to get Ram and my income tax return and my vacation pay will cover for the cable box. So she gave me $60 and I get my $40 bonus money towards the Ram. So that’ll be $100. Hopefully over the next few days I can pop the case open and identify exactly the pin size and Ram. By Saturday I hope to have $100 and the Ram reserved for me and my trip out there plotted and ready for after work Saturday. According to Memory Express the Ram I need is in the 512k category and is $32.95. I’ll need 2 strips. This will get me to 1 gig. And after that I’ll have $34 left over and I can get a couple of books. I’ll come home and install the Ram and hopefully enjoy the increased speed. But most likely I’ll go and get the books from Audrey’s and then go over to Memory Express. ME and maybe even get a bite to eat at the Wendy’s I heard they have nearby there.

So for today I’m going in for my regular time 5-9pm and I’ll go in Friday afternoon. Then a good sleep overnight and make way for my day on Saturday. If the Ram doesn’t work out for me and shows me no appreciable differences in speed then I’ll use the funds for a 1 touch external hard drive and back everything up until I can save up about $1200 for a decent 3Gb laptop.

It’s an exciting time for the City of Edmonton and to be a resident. The City is getting ready for the new Epcore tower. Plus there’s about half a dozen construction cranes in the downtown core Anne says and more on her way to work. Not to mention the construction cranes at the University. Plus there’s the South leg of the LRT expansion to Campus and down to Southgate. Plus there’s the strong possibility of the new downtown arena. Then if that isn’t enough there’s Century Park which is like a mini City unto itself under construction and cranes poping up all over the place there. Then the LRT expansion to the Grant MacEwan College campus and then to Kingsway Mall and Nait will begin in the fall. Even though the housing market is down and taking a breather there are a lot of other projects on the go like the 23rd street interchange, this in itself is half a billion dollars. Lots of stuff going on.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now.

e. Jim