Kevin's Ramblings...

The weekend already…

Posted on October 4, 2019 by kdarcy21

It’s almost another weekend, this week zoomed on by. One reason would likely be my trip to Calgary, which made the beginning of the week go quickly. It has also been very busy at work so that helps for sure.

Last night I stopped by the Thursday Market. They’ve moved inside now, it’s a little cold for an outdoor market. I bought a great pair of knitted slippers to replace a pair that is falling apart. See, this is why I need a Grandma, to make me stuff like this. 🙂

I am on-call this weekend, hopefully it won’t be overly busy, but I plan on sticking around. Another weekend of nothingness and this weekend, there should be nothing going on. No trips to Lethbridge, Calgary or Okotoks. I think, anyway. I might go to Canadian Tire, I have something to return. That would be Fernie, so only 30 minutes, the dogs would like the car ride. OK, so I might do that.

I have arranged for a US address in Eureka, Montana. It’s a bit of a drive, about an hour and a half. They will accept packages and the charges are based on weight, anywhere from $3 to $20 (for a pallet) and they will hold the package for as long as you need. It will save me some shipping costs for sure, so, not a bad deal. I was going to get one in Kalispell, Montana since there is a Chick-fil-A there, but that is an hour further, so if I am just picking up a package and don’t have a hankering for chicken, I can save some time.

Most of the snow that fell last weekend and Monday is gone. The temperatures have rebounded nicely, it is reaching 10C and has been a bright and sunny week. So, the first storm of the season wasn’t all too bad. I am sure we will get more any time now, but some late-summer weather would be great.

Enjoy your weekend – baseball playoffs are here, football season is in full gear and hockey just started. A good time for sports fans.

Posted in Baseball, My Dogs, Personal, Work | Leave a comment

Getting up early, going to bed early…

Posted on October 3, 2019 by kdarcy21

I am in a cycle of getting up really early and then, because I am so tired at night, I can’t stay up past 9pm or so and some days, it’s a real struggle to stay up that late. Typically, it wouldn’t be a huge issue, but, being the baseball fan I am, I would like to watch games.

Tuesday night, for instance – I went to bed around 9pm and then for some unknown reason, I woke up at 1:30am. A lot of people don’t go to bed until that time, I used to be one of those people, not anymore. So, I got up and did stuff around the house. I worked my work-day and went to an eye doctor appointment and although I had a nap when I got home, again I was unable to stay awake past 9pm. Now, the game I was watching (Rays vs A’s) wasn’t overly exciting, I didn’t really care who won, even though the winner would face the Astros in the ALDS. So, it will be the Rays and Astros. I am pretty sure the Astros will handle them, but, anything can happen in playoffs. #TakeItBack

So, my eye doctor appointment was good. They used those damn dilating drops to make my pupils huge, that was annoying. I am going to need progressive lenses and they are a bit pricy, but that’s OK. I selected a nice set of Oakley frames. I will keep my current glasses and likely use them here and there, they are still good, I just have to take them off (often) when I am looking at my phone, it’s a bit of a pain. They will also be able to make new lenses for my sunglasses which are BADLY scratched, so bad in fact that I don’t really wear them anymore, ever.

This week is flying by. I suppose the trip to Calgary helped with that. Almost the weekend and I have no plans, other than to take it easy.

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Rant and Rave, Work | Leave a comment

Uneventful trip to Calgary…

Posted on October 2, 2019 by kdarcy21

I headed to Calgary on Monday afternoon. I was late leaving, I always seem to be late leaving.

I decided that I would not take Highway 22 to Calgary, even though it is a shorter route as that highway can be a little crazy with the weather. The area just had upwards of 2 feet of snow dumped on it and they can be a little slow in clearing 22. So I chose the longer route, took Highway 3 East to Highway 2 North. I was surprised that Highway 2 wasn’t completely clear, this is the main north-south highway in Alberta. Highway 3 heading East was completely clear and dry, but Highway 2 was a single lane most of the way to Nanton, after that, it was clear in both lanes.

I got to the hotel around 5:30pm or so. Check-in was a breeze. I had a King Suite, nice sitting area (that I did not use) and a bedroom with king-size bed – you might have guessed that since it was a king suite? I headed out just before 6 to go for dinner with friends, Red Lobster for Endless Shrimp. Great meal and company.

I then dropped by their place to pick up three wood cabinets that I plan on using in my bedroom. They look great and all three, surprisingly, fit into the back of the car. I still need to unload them actually, I think I will wait until sunrise. They’ll look great in the house and more importantly, they will also fit in a narrow space.

I crashed hard on Monday night but, per usual, was awake very early. I had a rather cool shower at around 3:30am, apparently, hot water was in short supply. I am not quite psychotic enough for a cold shower… Denny’s for breakfast, chicken skillet with a couple of eggs, it was great. I also had a sundae for breakfast dessert – why not?

I don’t have a security card for the Calgary office any longer so I had to wait until they opened to get in. New security protocols now, cards expire if they aren’t used at least monthly. Well, I don’t plan on visiting the office monthly. My new laptop (the purpose of the trip) was mostly set up already, I just had to do the finishing touches. At noon, my co-worker and I met a former co-worker for lunch at Earls. Great food, I had a peppercorn steak. I then zipped for a 2:30 doctors appointment. Although I no longer live in Calgary, I like my doctor so I’ve kept him.

The trip home was great and quick. No snow on the roads which was nice, I was able to cruise along and make-up some time. A few recent purchases from Amazon and Costco were waiting for me when I got home. I watched the NL Wild Card game last night but turned it off in the 7th as I couldn’t stay awake, one of the issues when you wake up in the middle of the night. Speaking of that, I woke even earlier today, 1:30am… I can see a nap in my future today for sure.

Today I have an eye doctor appointment and I bet they will recommend some sort of bi-focal lense, I am forever taking my glass off and putting them back on. I don’t need them for close up, just distance. It’s a pain. Tonight is the AL Wild Card game. I don’t really care who moves on. My attention will be the Astros, whom, I predict will win this years World Series.

Enjoy your day.

Posted in Personal, Vehicles, Work | Leave a comment

Quick trip to Calgary…

Posted on October 1, 2019 by kdarcy21

All in all, that wasn’t that bad of a snowstorm, although it was early in the season. It did prove that people, in general, cannot drive.

I headed to Calgary yesterday afternoon, was late leaving (when does that NOT happen?). I went straight down Highway 3 to Highway 2, it is a little bit of a longer route, but who knows what I may have experienced on Highway 22. I will take 22 back home today, I think, it should be good by now (I would hope).

Anyway, Highway 3 was clear and dry all the way to Highway 2. Highway 2 was partially covered in snow though all the way to Nanton, one lane was mostly clear, the other was bad so there was no passing. Past Nanton, everything was great.

Arrived at the hotel around 5:15PM, checked in. Decent room, as I expected. I am staying at the Sandman, across from Olympic Park. Went to dinner with friends, Red Lobster for Endless Shrimp. Meal was excellent and I left without feeling that I was going to explode.

Headed to their place after dinner to pick up three cabinets that I had purchased via Facebook Marketplace that they picked up for me. They will be perfect and the three of them fit nicely in the car, with little room to spare.

From there, I stopped at another friends place and picked up a Sonos soundbar. I certainly hope I will have more luck with this one than I did with the last one, I am sure I will. I already have a couple of Sonos speakers in the house, so I should have some great sound by the end of the day.

I will work in the Calgary office for the day, for the first time in over a year. I don’t actually remember the last time I was in the Calgary office, but will be good to see some familiar faces. I am getting my new laptop toda, this one (that I am writing this entry on) is three years old, so time to replace, even though I really don’t want to.

Four of us are going for lunch, downtown, to Earls on 8 Ave then I have an appointment and will head for home. I hope to be back by 5pm or so.

Should be a good day. The weather is supposed to be nice, so I expect the roads to be good. Have a good day. 🙂

Posted in Personal, Vehicles, Work | Leave a comment

Weak attempt, Mother Nature…

Posted on September 29, 2019 by kdarcy21

Nice try, Mother Nature, but your September snowstorm, was, for the most part, a miss.

Sure, there was some snow on the ground and in some parts, there was a foot of it, but the roads and sidewalks were still too warm and the snow melted. Driving was not bad at all, except of course for those of us who cannot drive.

The Fall Market was cancelled yesterday though, even though it had been moved inside. In the early morning hours, the roads were a bit slick, but I think cancelling was a bit of a stretch, but, I suppose for the safety of the vendors and public, it was the right call. Still disappointing.

I cleared the back patio of snow. The new shovel I purchased with a metal edge on the blade worked well, money well invested. The car-port kept a majority of snow off of the car, so that was good. I think backing into the car-port is my best bet, then, whatever snow gets in there will cover the back window instead of the front window.

I had a great nap yesterday morning/afternoon and slept for almost 3 hours. That is what Saturday naps are all about. I got up, did some stuff around the house and then, looking at the road reports and the weather forecast, I decided that I would load the dogs up in the car and head back to Lethbridge to return that awful soundbar that I bought from Costco.

Uneventful trip to Lethbridge. As I headed East on Highway 3, there was less and less snow and by the time I arrived in Lethbridge, they might have gotten a half-inch of the white crap. The roads were bare from home to Lethbridge and past Fort McLeod the roads were dry.

Costco pretty well takes anything back and they took my defective soundbar back, after they had one of their audio/video guys verify that all of the parts were there. Piece of crap is what that was. I will never buy Vizio again. I will be getting a soundbar though, after all. A friend has one that he no longer uses, it’s a Sonos so it matches the other speakers I use and they are all compatible with Alexa, so that’s great. I will pick it up when I am in Calgary on Monday and Tuesday.

The trip home was as easy as the trip to Lethbridge, no slow-downs, no bad roads. I had a relaxing evening of watching some baseball. Today, the regular season wraps up and the playoffs start, it should be exciting. On the football side of things, the Patriots visit the Bills in a battle of unbeaten teams. The Bills will be in tough, for sure, but, they do have home-field advantage, so I am hoping anything can happen. I am a fan of the Patriots as well, even though they are the Bills rivals in the East, but in this contest, I will be backing Buffalo, 100%.

No excursions planned for today. I sort of doubt that I will even leave the house. Of course, that’s what I thought yesterday as well. Enjoy your Sunday.

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Rant and Rave, Vehicles | Leave a comment

Has winter arrived already?

Posted on September 28, 2019 by kdarcy21

I spent some time yesterday playing with the soundbar. I set the TV audio settings to what was needed, still, no sound. No connection to my phone via network nor BlueTooth. The soundbar would also not connect via WiFi. So, it’s going back.

I am not driving anywhere today. We got between 6 and 10 inches of snow last night and more expected through Monday. I am heading to Calgary Monday afternoon as I am working in the office on Tuesday as I am picking up my new laptop. So, I guess I will return the soundbar in Okotoks on Tuesday. I won’t be buying a new one. The sound on this new TV is amazing. I am sure with a “working” soundbar, I would get better sound, but, this is good enough. I am not sure if this is a one-off, but I would be reluctant to purchase anything made by Vizio again.

A buddy says he has a Sonos soundbar. I do have two Sonos speakers, all wireless so that might be an option, I am unsure how expensive they are though, guess I will look into it.

As I’ve said, we got snow last night. I have another minor issue in my place, the furnace has stopped working. The thermostat says the heat is on, but the fan isn’t blowing. My landlord is on his way over to take a look at it, hopefully, he can figure it out, he’s pretty handy. I checked the breaker panel, none of the breakers are tripped. That’s about what I can do.

In the meantime, I have a portable heater on in the living room. It’s up to 65F in the living room and although some would find that cold, I am used to it from my experience in the last house that I lived in. I have a short-sleeve t-shirt on and I am good.

Hopefully, I will have full heat later today. I plan on going to the Fall Market this afternoon, it’s indoors, so that will be good. Other than that, baseball watching is the plan for the day and football is the plan for tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend.

Posted in Baseball, Personal, Rant and Rave | Leave a comment

That was aggravating…

Posted on September 27, 2019 by kdarcy21

So, last weekend in all of the insanity, I purchased a soundbar for use with my new TV. I have never had one before but they seemed pretty cool in the store and provided excellent sound. So, I picked one up and brought it home. I tried (tried, being the operative word there) to connect it last night.

I am an IT guy and typically have zero issues with technology. Now, if you want me to set up an Ikea table or cabinet, I am NOT your guy, but technology, I don’t have issues with. The instructions for setting this up were pretty clear and all of the cables and whatnot were clearly labeled. I had the system connected in no time and I downloaded the app for my phone to continue the setup.

This is where the train derailed.

The instruction here were not clear, not at all. Actually, that’s not completely true. It’s not that they weren’t clear, it’s that they were apparently written for a different version of the software than the one that I downloaded for my phone. I tried to improvise, it didn’t work. The soundbar was not detected by the app.

So, I looked in the manual for a tech support number, they were open for another 20 minutes so I decided to call them. The person was pretty helpful, but after 35 minutes or so (this would be 15 minutes after her quitting time), we had made no progress. She presumes that the system is dead, or dying out of the box. I was eventually able to get the soundbar added to my phone via BlueTooth, not WiFi, it would NOT connect to my WiFi network.

She suggested resetting my modem/router, I asked “even though I have numerous devices connected to it, without issue”, she said, “it can’t hurt”… OK, I’ve been in IT for over 25 years now and I can tell when a tech is out of ideas and is grasping at straws, I’ve been there myself. Together, we sort of decided that there is an issue with the soundbar. She suggested I call back today to get it replaced under warranty. I suggested, instead, that I simply take it back to Costco and get my money back.

I can accept that something might be defective out of the box, that happens, although really, it shouldn’t, but the instructions for it were not good, not at all and I still don’t know how the sound from my TV is supposed to play over this soundbar, it almost seems like it is streamed to it, although I have connected it with the provided HDMI cable.

Nope, I don’t like the design, I don’t like the software and I don’t like the soundbar. Good thing that Costco will pretty much take anything back. I won’t likely return it until next week since we are supposed to get a crap-load of snow starting sometime today. I will listen to the TV with the built-in speakers, like some Neanderthal.

Posted in Personal, Rant and Rave, Technology Amazes Us | Leave a comment

A relaxing weekend turns insane…

Posted on September 26, 2019 by kdarcy21

I wanted to have a relaxing weekend last weekend. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Originally, I was going to go camping in Montana last weekend, without the dogs but the pet resort they go to was closed, the owners were taking a rare vacation. So I decided to stick around. I could have camped with them, but didn’t want to.

So, although I had planned on doing nothing, on Saturday, I decided to make a trip into Lethbridge and go to Costco. So, I headed out around 8am which would get me to Lethbridge around 9:30am when Costco opened.

I picked up some stuff I needed, 3 bags of dog food for instance and some other stuff that I didn’t necessarily need, but I wanted. I bought myself a laptop for instance. I haven’t had a laptop in a number of years, not a personal one anyway. It is an HP, a lower-end model but it will meet my needs nicely. I bought some jeans, socks, underwear, a Keurig, some foodstuff, a soundbar (for the TV), paper towels, a small chest freezer (it’s a good size). All in all, the bill was just over $1300. Yikes. I also had to renew my membership. I decided to upgrade to the Executive membership. It was double the price, $120 for a year, but, you get 2% back on all purchases. I spent enough last year that I would have gotten about $60 back in total, so I figured it was worth it. I go monthly and buy at least dog food and gas and normally buy other stuff as well.

My next stop was Visions Electronics. I have wanted a new, larger TV for a while. I have a 50″ TV and the living room is pretty big and I am getting old so it just wanted cutting it. They had 65″ Sharp 4K LCD TVs on sale for $648, $350 off, so I decided to upgrade to a 65″. There was an issue fitting it into the car with a freezer in there so I paid for it and left it in the store, intending on getting it sometime this week. I then stopped in at Best Buy and bought some Sonos speakers for the house, they sound great.

I headed for home, great drive back. I intended on having my nice and relaxing day on Sunday.

Didn’t happen.

On Sunday, I saw an ad on Facebook Marketplace for a china cabinet. I wanted one to give me some extra storage space in the kitchen. It was for sale in Coaldale which is just past Lethbridge, so I arranged to go and look at it.

It was in great condition so I bought it. The bottom piece fit into the car, the top we put on the roof rack. I returned to Best Buy to pick up my TV and pay for the extended warranty. Now, normally, I wouldn’t touch extended warranties. But, with Visions Electronics, if you don’t use the warranty in the warranty period, you get the money back in store credit, so it’s a win-win. Anyway, a 5-year warranty was an extra $179. I still have a year on the extended warranty on my old TV (it was a 7-year warranty) and when it’s up (December of 2020), I will get that back as a credit.

The sales clerk who helped me was great. He helped me put the other piece of the china cabinet on the roof rack and secure it and load the TV into the back of the car.

It was an interesting trip home. I did stop at Canadian Tire and purchased some ratchet straps. With the load “secured”, I headed for home, an hour and a half drive. I had to stop a few times to re-secure the load and I took it easy, setting the cruise at 90kph. I got home with no real issues, but I will NOT travel on the highway again with something strapped to the roof rack again. Thanks anyway.

So, two very busy days and two return trips to Lethbridge. I got the cabinet unloaded and brought into the house thanks to a friend’s help. It looks great and the stain perfectly matches the rest of the kitchen. It fits in well and will be well used.

Now, this weekend, I plan on relaxing. I was going to go camping, but, the weather forecast is calling for up to 50cm of snow, so camping is sort of out. That’s OK. With that amount of snow, other than shoveling, I can stick around and not want to go anywhere.

Another purchase, and this was a need and not a want, was new tires for the car. I got some quotes and believe it or not, Integra Tire in Blairmore was by far cheaper than anywehere in Calgary. Got them installed yesterday and boy were the old ones getting bare. They would NOT have lasted another month, never mind the winter.

Well, here’s to a relaxing weekend. I know I need it. Do you?

Posted in Personal, Vehicles | Leave a comment

An interesting Sunday…

Posted on September 19, 2019 by kdarcy21

Sunday was an interesting day. I was watching football around noon or shortly after and I hear a sound outside, a loud clunk. I looked out and saw a kid pushing my trailer off of the support so the tongue of the trailer (is that what they are called?) hit the ground. I witnessed a group of three kids running down the street.

I went outside to ensure there was no damage to the trailer. There wasn’t, but it was too heavy for me to lift back onto the support. So, I decided to find the kids who did it, if I could.

I hopped into the car and went down the street in the direction they were running, no sign of them. I thought, maybe they ducked into the 7/11. Sure enough, they were there.

So, I proceeded to give them a good scare, yelling at them about my trailer and told them they would come back to my house and fix what they did.

They beat me back to my house and helped me put the trailer back on its support. We talked about it, I asked why they tried to vandalize my property, they didn’t have a good answer and agreed it was wrong. They apologized and they continued on their way and I continued watching football. I had put the incident behind me as kids will be kids and whatnot, not that this makes it right. I figured it was over.

Well, at about 8:45PM, I had a knock at the back door. The back door is an odd choice since there is a gate, not that it is hard to get through.

So I went to the door, flipped on the light and saw the kid, his father and three other people which I found was odd. I figured that they were there to apologize, didn’t know why the three other people were there though.

Anyway, I was wrong… The father wanted an apology from ME, if you can imagine that. There was no way in hell that I was apologizing to the kid for calling him out on his bullshit.

The father was a short little dude, short and fat. I’d guess 5’6″ tall and 5’6″ around. He had a scruffy beard and unkempt hair, I’d describe him as typical “trailer trash”. He became a bit aggressive, insisting that I apologize and I told him there was no way I was going to apologize and I told him to leave. He asked me how I was going to make him leave and I said if he didn’t, I’d let the three dogs who were inside outside and they’d probably be able to convince him and his inbred family (presuming they were family members, who knows?) to leave.

At this point, he slapped me across the face and left. He uttered death threats to both me and my dogs, several times. I think, just maybe, he escalated the situation beyond what he wanted to, or, he’s fucking nuts, no idea… Under normal one on one conditions, I would have done my best to drop him, but, with three other adults there, I wasn’t going to start anything I couldn’t be sure of finishing, I am not stupid after all. The other three left and I called 911.

Within 20 minutes or so, an officer was at my house to take a statement. He also happens to be the Community Liaison officer so he figures he’ll know the kids and from that, will be able to identify the father. He’ll try to get the video surveillance tapes from the 7/11 and will identify the kids and then arrest the father, as he deserves to me, the piece of shit he is.

Anyway, he asked me to give a few days at least. I haven’t heard back as yet, but I am sure I will. I was impressed with how quickly the RCMP responded. Kudos to the men in blue.

Another busy weekend, seems to be the norm…

Posted on September 17, 2019 by kdarcy21

That would be two busy weekends, back to back.

On Friday, the dogs had a vet appointment in Calgary. I decided when we moved to Crowsnest Pass that we would continue going to the vet clinic that I found in Calgary as I really liked the vet and the staff. I figured a return trip to Calgary once a year with the dogs would not hurt anyone and we’d continue having an excellent vet.

So we left a bit later than I wanted to, my aim was to be on the road by 11:10am or so which would give us plenty of time to get to Calgary and do some running around before the 3:15pm appointment.

I was stopping in Nanton to pick up a used laptop that was a good price. I have been without one for some time and wanted to get back into playing some old-school games on my Steam account. More on the laptop later…

I stopped in High River to go to the Canadian Tire, I had to return a thermostat that I purchased that was not compatible with my system. The store was pretty small and their selection of thermostats was not very good so I wasn’t able to get that done. We got into Calgary and I did some running around that I needed to get done.

The vet appointments were uneventful, all of the dogs are healthy and happy. They all got their shots and I was given a $420 bill.

The four of us then made our way over to a friends house, we were going on a walk with Lita and the dogs have not seen each other for ages (about 18 months). I was invited for dinner, thank you muchly and we headed to the park. A good time was had by the dogs and Hera doesn’t even seem to mind being on a leash in the parks – she’s not good with little dogs.

We started for home around 8pm or so, but I had one final stop to make. I had contacted someone via Facebook Marketplace, they had a cool shelf and a light built-in for the bedroom. It was getting late, 8:45pm and the woman I was getting it from messaged me and said she was going to bed and not to bother coming by. Well, at that time I had just pulled into the townhouse complex and I found the right house. I picked up my shelf/lamp and loaded it into the car. Blondie and Hera might not have been happy as I had to put the one seat down to fit the lamp into the car, they’d be cramped on the trip home.

Off we go and had an uneventful trip back, we got home shortly after 10:30pm or so, not a bad day at all, just a lot of driving. Bed was the only thing on my mind.

Saturday morning, I was volunteering with the Run the Rocks event in Frank. A number of runners (somewhere around 60 of them) were running across Frank Slide in a 5km event. I thought it was sort of insane, I am not a fan (anymore) of running and running across hundreds of tons of rocks is not my idea of a good time. I was helping with registration and met some pretty cool people. I left just before 1pm and, believe it or not, had to go back to Calgary.

This time, I left the dogs at home. I stopped at Canadian Tire, again, and was able to exchange my thermostat (which is now installed, so I can have heat in the next few weeks when it’s needed), went to Red Lobster for dinner and did some other galivanting about. The trip to and from Calgary was good and I was reserving Sunday as a day of rest.

I will relate Sunday’s story next time – some interesting happenings in Coleman, that’s for sure.

Posted in Blondie, Hera & Twix, My Dogs, Personal | Leave a comment

Kevin's Ramblings…