Kevin's Ramblings...

Becoming an Albertan

Posted on May 17, 2012 by kdarcy21

Becoming an Albertan is sort of expensive.

Since I am bringing a vehicle from out of province, I have to pay for an out of province vehicle inspection – essentially a “safety check”. I suppose I see the logic in it. The province doesn’t want unsafe vehicles on the roads. OK, fine. But, charging $150 for it seems a little excessive. Oh well.

I also have to change my plates over to Alberta plates. Actually, make that an Alberta “plate” since you only get one. Cheaper than Ontario though. One surprising thing I have discovered is that I will get a pro-rated refund on the validation sticker from Ontario. Nice.

Switching my drivers license will cost me just under $85. Again though, I will get a pro-rated refund from Ontario.

I also have to switch my health card – no fee for this…

I am actually REALLY surprised about Ontario issuing any sort of refund. Typically, one would think that they would say, “you are shit outa luck”.

Anyway, that’s what is on the agenda for tomorrow as well as taking the dogs to their first vet appointment.

Should be a good day.

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Posted on May 16, 2012 by kdarcy21

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Calgary Stampede and other stuff

Posted on May 15, 2012 by kdarcy21

I spoke with BP this afternoon on my way back to work. He has decided to come out to Calgary for the Stampede week so that’s great. I have requested the time off of work. His flight isn’t going to be cheap, that’s for sure. Good thing that BP always “has enough”.

I am booking the Friday off and then the entire next week. It seems weird getting vacation time in my first year with a new company. I will have been here for about 3 months when I take the week off – in fact, I think that my probation will end as soon as I return.

I have no been to Stampede since 1986. I would imagine that it, along with everything else in Calgary has grown. Should be a blast.

I umpire again tonight. I have verified the park location so there shouldn’t be any issues with getting to the correct location this time around. It is a 9 inning game, I am glad that there is no humidity in Calgary. Not sure what level it is that I am covering, I think it is Midget AA but I could be wrong.

I am off on Friday – they are calling for rain… Figures… I am getting the out of province rip-off vehicle inspection done and I think that I will get plates for it but I will hold off for now on switching my drivers license. Too many expenses all at once.

I have also switched schedules at work. The Calgary office keeps slightly different hours in the summer so I am now working 8AM-4:45PM (with a 1:15 lunch). Works well for me. I am up early in the morning anyway.

That’s it for now – getting back to it.

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Work | Leave a comment

Who names these diamonds?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by kdarcy21

OK, I mentioned yesterday that I showed up at “Deerfoot Park” to umpire a double header and that there were no teams present. Well, I discovered that the diamond is called “Deerfoot” BUT, it’s not at Deerfoot Park, it’s at another park a few kilometres away. How dumb is that?

Anyway, a mistake by a new guy to the city – oh well. I lost out on some bucks but we had a good drive to the mountains and a nice hike.

I have been directed to a web site that lists the park names and locations so now I should be able to find what I am looking for.

I umpire tomorrow night and then again on Saturday. After the Saturday game I am playing some Texas Hold’em poker so that will be fun.

Short week this week and next at work – I am off on Friday and Monday is Victoria Day. Should be a good long weekend.

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Hiking in the Rockies

Posted on May 13, 2012 by kdarcy21

I was supposed to umpire a double header this morning. I left the house shortly after 8am for a 9am start. The ball diamond was pretty close and I got there by 8:15. There were a number of diamonds in close proximity, no games. Interesting. So, I call the scheduler who is also supposed to be umpiring and he isn’t home or at least he doesn’t answer. I leave a message. I also called the guy that I umpired with yesterday to see if he has a cell phone, didn’t get him but he was also supposed to be umpiring today.

So, as of 3:43pm today, I have no idea where the mixup is/was. Oh well.

Anyway, I decided to take Zeus and Blondie for a walk in a Provincial Park near Banff. It was a 1:10 drive but 40 minutes of that was getting out of Calgary – what a massive city…

I took a few photos which I will upload somewhere at sometime. The mountains were awesome. We walked along a trail for about 2 kilometres and then turned around to head back. I was getting hot and tired and the dogs were panting like crazy. I gave them plenty of water once we returned to the Jeep and we drove home – not a bad afternoon at all.

Took us over 20 minutes to get to the peak, dogs slowed me down…

They are now sleeping on the couch as I type this entry. I am thinking about a nap myself – lots of fresh air will do that do ya. So will getting up at 3:45 in the morning, but that’s another story.

Update – I did have a nap, with the dogs. We slept for over 3 hours. 🙂

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Zeus, Blondie, Hera and Twix | Leave a comment

Back to the field of dreams

Posted on May 12, 2012 by kdarcy21

I start umpiring today. Was supposed to be tomorrow but I got a call from another scheduler and am heading to Strathmore today. It is somewhere east of Calgary, 1/2 hour drive by the looks of it.

I enjoy umpiring, haven’t done it as much as I would like simply because I spend too much time on the other side of the diamond with coaching. Since I was too late arriving to coach, umpiring is a good alternative and a nice second source of income.

I have to replace my equipment. It is going to cost too much to get my stuff from Ontario which is a shame. Mind you, I will get brand new stuff and since I get paid to umpire, it will be cash flow neutral – well, once I do a few games anyway. For now, I have borrowed equipment.

So, it is Midget rep today, not sure what level it is tomorrow but it shows as AAA which should be good quality ball.

I don’t have a goalie style mask so I will need to get one of those ASAP – I don’t like the flat style mask any more – ever since I got knocked out wearing one. I imagine that’ll do it to a guy.

Wish me luck. I hope I don’t have to make any ejections. 🙂

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Umpiring

Posted on May 11, 2012 by kdarcy21

I return to the world of umpiring this weekend. I didn’t figure that I would umpire at all, not sure why, so, I left my equipment back in St. Catharines.

JB has looked into pricing for shipping stuff out here. Not cheap. Shipping costs depend on the size of the box and the weight of the box. I have some sort of heavy stuff that I would like to have shipped. Oh well – guess I should have spent a little more time packing than I did.

Anyway, I have been lent equipment that I can use until I get mine or purchase new. I am thinking that I may just scrap having anything shipped and when I am in Ontario in September, I will see what I can bring back with me.

Anyway, I am looking forward to getting back on the field – should be a good time.

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Loving the prices in Alberta

Posted on May 11, 2012 by kdarcy21

I had to switch my auto insurance yesterday. I was using TD Insurance. They provide insurance in Ontario and they provide insurance in Alberta. The two don’t necessarily inter-mingle.

So, my policy in Alberta in around $100 per month for full coverage, not too bad really. They electronically sent me my insurance slips until the regular ones arrive.

I am saving quite a bit from what I was paying last year in Ontario. You know, when I think about it, I think that everything that I have purchased in Alberta is cheaper than anything in Ontario. I’m trying to think of an example that doesn’t fall under that rule and I can’t. I am sure that there is something – maybe I will discover it some day.

My sister (JB) says that she would never live here – too cold. Well, Southern Ontario is too hot and humid – I hate humidity. Try spending time outside in the middle of July when it is 34 degrees Celsius and feels like 45 when you factor in the humidity – no thanks. If I never experience that again, I am ok with it. I don’t think that I would ever want to live in Ontario again – honestly.

Yes, I left friends in Ontario and haven’t really met anyone out here as yet, but in time I will – not worried about it.

It is Friday, the weekend is here. I start umpiring on Sunday, looking forward to it. Have a good weekend.

Posted in Baseball, Personal | Leave a comment

My Jeep – registration and fees

Posted on May 9, 2012 by kdarcy21

Well, I decided to find out how much it will cost me to transfer my Jeep, license, etc., from Ontario to Alberta.

The license fee is reasonable: for 5 years it is $84.45.

The vehicle sticker is also $84.45 per year and I will renew at the end of April because my last name starts with “D”. Mind you, my license renews in August. Odd.

I need to get an out of province inspection, essentially a safety check – this sounds like a pure money grab since the fee is about $175. They don’t do emission testing here so I will be able to skip that (it would have been due in Ontario this August) and the inspection is a one time thing. OK, I suppose I can handle that. I guess they don’t want unsafe vehicles on the roads.

The plate sticker fee will be pro-rated – that’s good. I have 90 days to do all of this so that would put it sometime in July.

Custom plates are much cheaper here than in Ontario – $200 for the plates. Sometimes they are called vanity plates – I can stand being called vain I guess. I will likely get a set. Only issue there is that I believe that they are limited to 7 characters in Alberta so KEVSJEEP is out. Dang. I have an idea but I am not going to publish it because EVERYONE will go out and register it to screw me up.

So, I suppose that I will wait until July or so to do all of this, no rush anyway. At least I have the information now.

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Ubuntu

Posted on May 9, 2012 by kdarcy21

I installed Ubuntu on my 2nd PC at home. You might ask, “what is Ubuntu?”. Well, it is a Linux based operating system, open source and therefore, free.

I needed some assistance. Not with the install itself but with creating the install disc.

I downloaded the install files, no issue there – took a while mind you. I then had an ISO image file. Hmmm… Did I bring any blank CDs with me? No… Dang… Do I have a USB memory stick? No, dang.

So, I scour the web for a program that will allow me to create a bootable USB device with Ubuntu on it. I found a few programs, they didn’t work. Figures.

I don’t really need Ubuntu to work right away so it’s not like an emergency or anything. I am an IT guy though (or I play one on TV) and I like computer related shit to work – plain and simple.

Luckily for me, I have AM. He’s another IT guy that I left back in St. Catharines and he’s amazing – quite simply amazing. He suggested a download that had not come up in my search and voilà, I have a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu on it and 20 minutes later, I have a working OS. I install Google Chrome and remove Firefox from the quick launch bar and then I do this blog entry.

Simple as that. Thanks for your assistance AM – as always, it is appreciated.