Kevin's Ramblings…

I was organizing closet space and what not. I have 15 winter jackets that I don’t wear and haven’t worn in a number of years.

Why have I been keeping these so long? Am I a pack rat? Unsure.

However, I’ve discovered that winter jackets can be donated to the fire department and they’ll ensure that they’ll go to someone who can use them.

I’ve packed them up into two large plastic bags and will be popping over to the local fire hall this morning. It’s cleared a ton of front hall closet space which is great.

Someone, or several someone’s will be able to stay warm this coming winter with a warm winter jacket. There is also a poncho style hoodie that I’m donating. I’m unsure why I never purchased it and I don’t think I ever wore it.

Oh well, it’s all going today. I feel good about that.

My friend JB is visiting next week. He arrives Wednesday evening after dinner and is here until Sunday.

We’ve got a bunch of activities planned as JB has not been to Alberta before. There’s not enough time to show him everything, so I’m going to take him to some popular destinations for a first time visitor.

Wednesday after he arrives we’ll just have a relaxing evening, dinner at my place, it’s undecided what I’ll make, or, since it’s Wednesday, maybe we’ll go for wing night somewhere. I’m thinking we might stop by one of the casinos as we are both Texas Hold ’em players.

On Thursday, JB, the dogs and I are heading to Waterton National Park for the afternoon. I’ve never been actually, so that’ll be new for me. It’s very close to Crowsnest Pass where I used to live, but I just never made it in the 5 years I lived down there. We might zip through Crowsnest Pass as well. For dinner, we are going to the tiny town of Twin Butte Alberta which has one of the best Mexican restaurants I’ve been to.

Friday has us heading to Banff Alberta. It’s probably the number one destination for tourists. If it’s a clear day, we’ll take the gondola to the summit, the views are amazing but I was shocked to see the gondola is over $100 per person. So, if it’s an overcast day, we’ll skip that. The town of Banff is great, lots of shops downtown to explore, cafes and restaurants at every turn.

On Saturday, we are heading to the mountains and are white water rafting. I’ve wanted to go for years, just never made it out. The last time I went white water rafting was 20 years ago in Ottawa Ontario. That’ll be a fun afternoon. Hopefully the weather will be warm, I know the water will be cold, but wet suits are included.

Unsure what’s happening Saturday night, we’ll play it by ear.

We’ll go for a Sunday brunch before I drop him off at the airport for his return to California.

It’ll be great to see him again, we last saw one another in 2020 right before the COVID bullshit hit the fan.

Regardless, it’ll be great to visit and I’m looking forward to it.

Next Friday, May 29 will be my last day at IBM. It’s been an interesting run.

IBM isn’t a bad place to work, but it’s not a great place to work either.

The benefits are good, the pay is mediocre. You get three weeks of vacation but it takes 9 years to jump to 4 weeks of vacation.

IBM is extremely top heavy in management. There are so many levels of management that the workers are nothing more than a number. I suppose it’s probably like that in all big companies.

Anyway, next Friday is my last day. I’m looking forward to some down time, although I’ve had downtime lately anyway.

I don’t know what the next step is but I’m thinking of becoming one of those courtesy drivers for a car dealership. I definitely do not want to do anything in IT, that’s for sure.

Wish me well, if you will, I can use some luck.

I probably can’t legally call them egg McMuffins since that’s what McDonald’s calls them. Mine are way better anyway.

I guarantee I use real eggs, I’m unsure what McDonald’s uses sometimes, they don’t taste very egg like. I also properly toast the English muffins, not just warm them up. I also add a slice of cheese, just a Kraft Single but they are decent.

I’ve been eating a lot of eggs lately, I guess if I continue I’ll buy the large pack at Costco instead of a dozen at a time at No Frills.

It’s a good breakfast and takes the hunger away. I meant to take a picture this morning, but they were gone before I remembered.

I figure they cost well under $1 each and they are $3 something each at McDonald’s, so a good deal for me.

Anyway, enjoy your oatmeal.

Yesterday was a stat holiday in Canada, Victoria Day. In honour of Queen Victoria from way back. No idea when she passed and I’m too lazy to look it up. Luckily, I have Alexa, and she died in 1901. So,we still celebrate her birthday over 125 years since her passing.

None of us will complain, I’m sure. It’s a paid day off of work.

Yesterday was a relaxing sort of day. The weather wasn’t bad, a bit cool.but typical for this time of year, to be sure. It’s supposed to warm over the next two weeks so that daytime highs are in the upper teens. I can handle that.

My friend of 35 years visits next week, JB from California is coming for 5 days. We have a packed week planned. We are going to Waterton National Park on Thursday, with the dogs, and having Mexican food for dinner. I’ve actually never been to Waterton National Park so that’ll be a new thing for me. Should be a good day, it’s about 3 hours south of here.

We are heading to Banff on Friday and will take the gondola to the top of the mountain for some amazing views. The town of Banff is quite nice with little shops and cafes everywhere. I think we are going for Indian food Friday night.

On Saturday morning, first thing, we are hitting up the Calgary Farmers Market and then going white water rafting for the afternoon. We might go to the Calgary Tower in the evening for dinner, I’ve never been to the restaurant there.

He leaves Sunday, so we’ll go somewhere for brunch before I drop him off at the airport.

The week will zoom by, I am sure and it will be a good visit. We haven’t seen each other since 2020 so that’s 6 years now. We met back in 1990 at Camp Wahanowin in Orillia Ontario and have even friends since. I visited him when he was a student at UCSD when I was 21, we didn’t see each other again until 2006 but we’ve all kept in touch.

I’m looking forward to his visit.

The May 24 weekend, the official start of summer weekend is almost over.

Like most May 24s in Alberta, we received snow on Saturday..we got about 4″ in total. It was, thankfully, gone by Saturday evening when the sun came out and melted it.

Sunday was cool, but dry. It got up to 10C or so. Today was slightly warmer, 14C but we had off and on rain.

It was a very relaxing weekend. Today, I picked up a nice bistro set for the patio. It is in good shape although the table could use a layer of wood stain.

Eventually, I’m sure the weather will be nice enough to sit outside on the patio having a coffee in the morning.

At least day time highs are in the teens now, quite comfortable.

Wherever you are, I hope it was a good weekend.

I’m going to look at a house tomorrow, well, the main and upper floors of a house anyway.

It’s in the south east of Calgary in an area I’ve never been to.

Am I moving? I highly doubt it. But I want to look, anyway.

It’s a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom and looks quite luxurious.

It’s way more expensive here, $2275 plus utilities. That alone will stop me from moving. But, I still want to look at it.

This place is good. It’s the perfect size and includes everything that I need. I only pay for electricity and nothing else. After a year, my Internet won’t be free any more. The property management people are a bit insane as well with unwritten rules. But, in general, I love where I am.

I might be able to negotiate a bit on the price of the house I’m looking at, who knows. I think it also has carpeting upstairs which I am NOT a fan of, but I’m not totally sure. It also doesn’t have a fenced in yard so that’s not ideal for Apollo. He definitely needs to be contained.

So, the appointment is for tomorrow. I’ll take a look as that should be that.

I’m staying put. Aren’t I?

Yesterday started out quite cool with rain. The dogs and I got wet going to the dog park in the apartment complex, but they were pretty quick about taking care of business.

It was a stay inside sort of day. The temperature dropped and we ended up getting a few inches of snow, but by the end of the day, it warned and the sun came out melting everything.

We always seem to have shitty weather over the long weekend. It is Alberta after all. The 2 week forecast shows temps in the upper teens, I can handle that for sure.

Next week, my friend of 30+ years, JB, visits from sunny California. We’ve got a busy few days planned including a trip to Banff and white water rafting. We’ve only got 3 full days to explore, so I can show him everything that Alberta has to offer, but Banff is beautiful and shouldn’t be missed. It’ll be great seeing him, it’s been 6 years since I was in California and we went to Six Flags, that was a great day.

Today will be a slightly warmer day than yesterday. I’m planning on dropping by the ball park for a bit, presuming games are on and heckling my friend who’s working the plate. I’ll bring the dogs as well, they love going for car rides and also love people.

Tonight is a meatloaf night with mashed potatoes. I was going to make it yesterday, but I made egg salad sandwiches from a recipe from the Fairmont hotel and OMG was it ever good. The key ingredient was Dijon mustard, I mean aside from the eggs and it was amazing. I wish peeling eggs was easier. That was my first attempt at making egg salad, amazing and a bit sad that it took me almost 55 years to make it. Now I’m going to make it regularly.

Enjoy your Sunday.

It’s the May 24 weekend and it’s going to be cold and rainy. That’s a typical May 24 weekend pretty much.

No outdoor plans for the weekend. Today’s high is supposed to be 5C and it’s supposed to rain most of the day. It’s only supposed to be slightly better tomorrow.

It’s not snowing, so that’s a positive, I suppose.

I guess it’ll be an inside weekend, I’ll watch some baseball and movies I suppose and maybe make some comfort food, like meatloaf and mashed potatoes or a chicken stuffing vegetable bake. Both sound good, to me.

My friend from California arrives a week Wednesday.  We’ve got a bunch planned including a trip to Banff and a white water rafting excursion as well. It should be awesome, we haven’t seen each other since 2020 when we went to an amusement park just outside of Los Angeles. That was a great time.

Otherwise, it’s pretty much same old. Hopefully the weather is better where you are than here. Enjoy your weekend.