And, we’re back. It’s been a rough couple of days with me.

I think it was last week, it could have even been on a Monday night I don’t remember but first some background. We have this individual at work. I’ll call him “Indi.” Now Indi (short for individual) is a nice fellow and about the same age as me with a bit of a “mental problem.” This fellow is also on AISH. AISH stands for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped. Basically it’s a pension for life. It’s paid out by the Alberta Government to the recipient every month. I think there are something like 35,000 AISH recipients here in Alberta. Adult Albertans with a permanent disability that severely impairs their ability to earn a living. AISH is a good deal for those that qualify. It means they never have to work again. When the economy goes bust and it will soon (thanks to Oil prices dropping) they don’t have to worry about being on the street or struggle to get the rent paid, unlike the rest of us. There’s an article about AISH in Wiki but it needs to be updated.

Before I get talking about Indi, let me rant a bit about AISH. AISH is extremely difficult to get on. It was set up by Alberta under the Peter Loughheed Government in the late 1960’s. AISH is in just about every Province in the country. Originally AISH was meant for people with severe physical or mental disabilities that couldn’t work or hold down permanent employment. AISH used to be part of Social Services (SS/Welfare) My brother is on AISH and getting about $900/month. He’s got the same medical situation I have (scoliosis). Yet I tried to get on AISH after I lost my job at A&N in 1989. Back then the process was to go through your case worker at SS and get the form. Fill it out and then apply for CPP. Canada Pension Plan. You had to go get X-rays and see a specialist etc. I got X-rays etc but I didn’t see a specialist. Also, your Doctor has to note on the form Permanent and Severe, which at the time, he wouldn’t do for me. Of course this guy was my family doctor with limited English skills. From China or something. Doctor Lee. I last saw him about my diabetes 4 years ago. I first began seeing him in 1988. So back in 1989 when I applied I had to sit in front of a review panel of 4 people. I had no Specialist with me nobody acting on my behalf. I mean what was I thinking? Obviously I didn’t stand a chance. I tried again some years later in 1996 but I didn’t have much information.

Now here’s the thing, people on AISH can work over and above their monthly income. People can collect AISH and work part time, it used to be up to $200/month. Prior to when new changes were introduced AISH recipients were getting $800/month, then recently it jumped up to $1,200/month. Keep in mind my bachelor apartment rent in 1988 was $250/month. Plus AISH recipients have all their medication paid for plus bus passes and other perks. AISH has been in the news lately. I heard on CHED the other day that AISH recipients will now be getting $1,500/month. Nice deal huh?

So I had mentioned to Indy this the other day about the $1,500 etc and something like “The elite, rich people.” Of course by this time I hadn’t confirmed if he was on AISH. I mentioned about the item I heard on the radio and he really slammed me about what I incorrectly heard that an AISH recipient can earn $1,500 before being taxed from AISH instead of the $200 previously. So I asked him if he’s on AISH and he said yes. Ok, I thought that was the end of it.

Now here’s what’s been going on. Latter that night, Greg the asst. night manager wanted to talk with me. He pulled me aside and mentioned how Indy was upset I had mentioned he’s on AISH. I never asked Indy what his disability was. That’s improper and none of my business. So Greg and I basically agreed me not to mention about it further. Fine. Then the next day, my night room manager Moe takes me aside and has a talk with me. Holy shit. This was getting silly now and I thought about taking this with Alberta employment standards AEPS. Then, the other night Greg calls me over again about the same thing. WTF? I said to Greg, I had not one word with Indy as of Monday night. I’m getting a little stressed out here. Then Rob calls me into his office while the Regional manager is there and I explained everything above. Now if I hear this one more time, then I will go to AEPS and lodge a complaint on harassment in the work place.

Fortunately, Indy won’t be in tonight so I have a break. Last night I had $400 at break and a few CC’s. Moe put me on CBF and I did $1,000 in 2 hours! There were 5 of us doing this. I ended up with 5 CC’s on the night for 8 so far during the week. The guy next to me Subvere had about 12 CC’s for the shift. Dispite my woes at the job, I had a good night. I even collected a bunch bottles and pop cans to take home.

The other thing about AISH is there are lots of abuses of the program and people that shouldn't be on it that are. There are people that should be on the program that aren't but these days mental dissabilities are more sexy then anyone having a physical dissabillity. IMO if an AISH recipiant can work more then 20 hours/week, he shouldn't be on the program. Indi put's in 19.5 hours/week.

The other thing on the job was from Monday night. It seems that as of the end of September my job will be changing. Rob mentioned that there will be no more afternoon shift but instead there will be a 3-10pm shift. We have 78 work stations at our office. Because of our economy and a shortage of workers here in Alberta we have about 15 work stations in use during the evening shift. The morning and afternoon shift are well represented. So this means that all the morning/afternoon people and afternoon evening people will be working on this 3-10pm shift. In other words, I’ll be shut out of a tap dialer unless I want to work 3-10. But nobody knows for certain what’s really going on.

But the good news is I’m getting my vacation pay tomorrow. I’m also thinking about not only getting WS but also taking my hard drive out of my W98 machine and installing it on my current PC and once I get all the that installed get the external hard drive. I’ve got a lot of good files on the other computer.

I know, a lot of this has nothing to do with Science fiction except I have a copy of MS Word on my other computer and of course getting WS I hope will help me in my writing. I want to get CH out by Labor day to a market I've had my eye on. And if Indy continues to bother me, I may have to drag City Police into this and or maybe even change my job. I could even get charged with discrimination over this, which is why I’d like to get of my current place of employment asap. but we'll see what Thursday night brings. 

Also, I was looking around at some keyboards and came across the Yamaha PSR-e405 but I couldn’t find a store here in Edmonton online that carries it.

The closest thing to it would be the PSR-S500. Mother’s music has them and prices on the net vary them to be about $700-800 each. A lot better then the S900 at $1,800. Admittedly the S900 has a few more bells and whistles but the S500 is just a good machine and can do about the same thing.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim