last night after Anne gets in she goes down to collect our mail. She’s all smiles because she’s got 2 envelopes in her hands. Revenue Canada. My income tax return is in. $317. Wu who! She still has a balance owing on hers. Yikes. A couple of things: Firstly, we filed Monday March 31st and 2nd this is the fastest tax refund I ever received. I wasn’t expecting this until the end of this month. But we net filed our returns which significcantly cuts down the response time. Net filing was still a dream 15 years ago. So, I’m extremely happy. We decided to use my return towards our HDTV cable box. This week Anne is going to try and get $2,000 out from one of her pension accounts. Enough to cover for our 42” HD LCD TV and enough to pay her Revenue Canada balance. That way next year she can start getting her tax returns as well. As for the GST cheque, it’s only one/household. Either I can claim it or she can.

Then again there’s all my vacation pay I’m racking up. If I don’t touch it I should have about $500 by the end of the year. So, for Income tax returns, I get about $320/year. GST Cheque’s: $480/year and vacation pay: $500/year. That’s about $1,300/year of more or less “free money.” Mind you much of this goes back into the household and covers my website and Lodge dues. This year of course, if Anne can get at that account and gets the money for the TV the Revenue Canada cheque goes to the HD cable box. If she can’t get the money out for one snag or another then we’re simply going to split my Revenue Canada cheque and I’ll get another strip of Ram and the Back up hard drive at Memory Express (ME) I'd rather get the TV because we're gradually losing picture quality. I'd rather not buy the TV from Walmart that's where we got this one from.

I had a slow night last night on the job. I ended up with $256 and 1 credit card. We’ve been milking this WCS campaign for quite awhile now so it’s really watered down. I gave Moe $10 out of what I owed him. Good thing my income tax return came in when in it did. I asked Greg about my bank and we checked it over from September 15th/2000 to current. Some interesting stats. I wrote: (Money Mrs. Jones pledged to send in) $492,594.42. Right to the penny. Mrs. Jones actually sent in: $325,854.36. That’s a 66% bank. Over 380 weeks that’s an average of $858/week. I know what to do to make my bank stronger: Not to accept hesitant sales. If the customer says “Yes” right away there’s a good chance that’s a strong bank. I’m going to kick out hesitant sales from now on. Providing ETS doesn’t hire me on right away that is. In, which case if they do and I try the job out for a couple of afternoon shifts and if I like it,and we're a fit for each other: “Yes it’s Unionized.” “Full time” $14/hour. I’d go in on a Friday night and say to Rob something like: “Well Rob, I’m giving you my notice. (Remember I’m part time) I’ve been trying out at another job over the last 2 weeks and I like it, and I’m going to keep it. It pays better, it’s an inbound Call Center right on an LRT run and it’s a Unionized (?) position,” Shake hands. “I’m not burning my bridges here or anything and I’d like to keep the door open but I’ve also got to move on. It’s been great working here, and I’ll pick up my finale pay cheque next Friday.” etc.

If only it goes that way. But now that I have my letter of assessment and all I can go down to Alberta Health and Wellness and bring our tax forms in for Health Care Subsidy. Apparently this week in the upcoming budget the Province is going to be making an announcement to abolish all health care premiums. This could mean I won’t have to pay my AHC but I’d still need to file to qualify. It’s like a subsidy in a way. The Government is going to pay for basic health care, apparently. Basically I think the status quo will be the same. I’m still going to have to pay for my insulin and other costs. The Status Quo separates an employer medical plan from “the State” medical plan. In other Provinces health care is covered. I’m sure all Albertan’s would like to see Alberta in full compliance with the National Health Act. If it works out that Alberta is finally going the way of other provinces then this could mean I might get my dental work done and my diabetes covered. I’m not going to hold my breath over this though.

Management at work thinks I’m off for Thursday for my Lodge night. So, I’m going to try and come in for Thursday morning to make up for missing Thursday night. Work the 9-1pm shift. After work, I’ll use the phones Rob showed me that are not monitored. I’ll use those phones and call ETS directory assistance and talk to an operator. I should have done this on my cell last Saturday. How do I go about applying for an ETS Call Center job? Get it from the horses mouth so to speak. With this worker shortage climate here in Edmonton/Alberta, you’d think this would be relatively easy. In theory. But if I need a University education, then I’m sol. But after I make the initial by phone discretionary inquiry in the office I’ll take the #5 bus up to AHC and take a number. If the health care item is in the budget it might not come into play until next year anyway. I’ll bring Ps with me to read while I’m waiting. Hopefully we’ll qualify for the subsidy we apply every year. If so, then after that I’m going over to City Center Mall and have a bite to eat in the food court and home. When I’m at home, I’ll try and have a nap and get ready for the hockey game and call the Lodge saying not to expect me in for Thursday. I’ll be too wiped out anyway to go to Lodge and besides there’s game 5 of the Flames/Sharks game.

Anyway Bloggers, that’s all for now

e. Jim