Kevin's Ramblings…

I was terminated without cause by IBM on June 1. I didn’t have a client so I had no billable hours, so it makes sense.

There wasn’t anyone from HR in my termination meeting which I found odd, but hey, it’s IBM.

I didn’t hear anything about severance pay.

A few weeks went by and I finally got access to the retirees portal and I submitted an HR request. A few days later I received a reply indicating that after speaking with my management team, I wouldn’t be getting severance.

I replied saying this was against Alberta law, the ticket had already been closed so those comments were probably never read.

I reached out to my management team and they enquired with HR. A mere six weeks later it was determined that yes, I would be getting severance pay and it was finally deposited last evening.

So, my IBM saga has ended. It wasn’t a great place to work, it wasn’t the worst place though, at least I didn’t need to sue them to get some money. They paid me far more than the law requires, so I guess I have no concrete complaints.

See ya, IBM, it was a slice.

July has sort of zoomed by, it’s just about done. It was a busy month.

My friends from Idaho visited at the beginning of the month, we had a whirlwind trip around various sites within a few hour drive of Calgary.

The rest of the month was nondescript really, but it’s a blur.

We’ve had some great summer weather. The temps for the most part have been in the upper twenties with a few days hitting the low 30s and we’ve had very little rain this month.

I’ve gotten on the ebike a few times, not as often as I hoped though.

Twix passed away last week at nearly 13.5 years old. Apollo and I miss her, she was an awesome dog.

As we move into August, I’m looking forward to a buddy month. I’ll get my 2026 Ford Bronco Sport, I should take delivery around August 12. I’m heading on my first ever cruise, I fly out of Calgary to Florida on August 15. I’m looking forward to my trip, it’ll be a new experience for sure.

I turn 55 in just over a week. Nothing planned at all although I’m remotely thinking of getting away for a day or two to a cabin somewhere with Apollo, I’ll see if I can find anything that won’t break the bank.

Fall weather should make an appearance sometime soon, it typically cools down in August, but Fall is my favourite season.

Hoping you’ve enjoyed the summer, have a great August.

After considering it for a few years, I finally got a tattoo as a tribute to the great dogs in my life.

I had previously scheduled it a few years ago, paid a deposit and then for whatever reason, cancelled at the last minute.

Yesterday, I went through with it and I’m very happy with the results.

Five great dogs, Zeus, Blondie, Hera, Twix (all.passes now), Apollo and a blank 6th tag.

I like it.

I’ve been wanting to get a tattoo for ages, to honour the dogs I’ve had in my life. Well, today is the day.

I’m getting it on my forearm. It’ll be a set of dog tags, all connected via a chain and each dogs name on a different tag. It’ll be black and silver. Should be pretty cool I think, the artist has some great ideas.

So, my appointment is for 10am and it’ll take about two hours I’m told. I’m looking forward to it and I’ll post some pictures of it later today or tomorrow.

This’ll likely be the only tattoo I’ll ever get. My dogs have been a huge part of my life these last 20 years, I got Zeus almost 20 years ago now and I’ve had Apollo for over 6 months. It’ll be a great tribute to 5 great dogs (Zeus, Blondie, Hera, Twix and Apollo).

I’ve been sleeping better of late. I’m getting almost 6 hours at night which is nice, waking at around 430am instead of the normal 3am. I’m also napping though the day a few times.

I tried a week of not napping, thinking it might get me to sleep better at night. Nope, didn’t make a difference. I was just really tired during the day.

So, I’m back to napping a few times during the day when I’m tired and the overnight stuff seems to be working out for me.

The other night I was woken by a building wide fire alarm, not the way you want to get up, but at least the building wasn’t actually on fire. The alarm went off for about 45 minutes until the first department finally silenced it.

Today I slept in until 435am. I’ll have a shower shortly and then will get the day started. I’ll take Apollo to the dog park, feed him, feed myself. I think it’s a Kevin McMuffin morning, far better than McDonald’s egg McMuffins and far cheaper to make as well.

No plans for the day, maybe go to an offleash park with Apollo, maybe Sue Higgins Park in the SE part of the city, there will be a ton of dogs for him to play with.

Other than that, I might catch a ball game and a nap or two. BBQ for dinner I’m thinking. Enjoy your Sunday.

Twix passed peacefully last night just after 10pm at the emergency vet.

She was in declining health the last few months, since about April or so. She had been to our regular vet and an emergency vet in the last few months.

She had very laboured breathing of late. Last night, when they tested her breathing, typically a dog would score between 95-100, Twix was at 82.

In the last few days, Twix declined faster. She was losing her balance regularly, she hadn’t eaten in a few days and I knew that she was suffering.

I’m sure that she would have lived a few months, but the quality of hey life wasn’t the greatest, that’s for sure.

I made the difficult decision to put her down yesterday. The emergency vet agreed that it was the correct decision based on what she saw and what I described. It’s never an easy choice. Twix lived to nearly 13.5 years, she was with me for 9.5 of those years, I got her just before she turned 4.

I’ll miss my little one, as I often called her. Her little brother Apollo will miss her as well. She was the sweetest dog that anyone could ever hope to have. She was my Princess.

If there is a rainbow bridge, I hope she’s playing with Blondie and Hera and her brother (that she never met) Zeus.

Run free my girl, I’ll always remember you. Love you, Twix.

I leave for my cruise on Saturday August 15. I fly out at 6am and head to Denver Colorado. From there I take a second flight, this time headed to Houston Texas. My final leg is Houston to Orlando Florida and then to a hotel overnight.

I head out in the morning to the cruise itself, Port Canaveral Florida. I’ll probably take an Uber I’m guessing, unless the hotel has a shuttle which they might.

I’ll board the ship and we sail out early evening. We have a full day at sea before we arrive at our first of three islands. We are out for a total of 7 days, returning to Port Canaveral on August 23 in the morning. I fly out in the afternoon on United bound for Chicago Illinois and then Calgary Alberta for a 1030pm arrival.

I’m sure it’ll be an excellent trip. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s now 24 days away. Should be a blast.

I’ll be blogging and posting pictures and what not on Facebook. Follow my journey.

I had originally planned on driving down to High River, picking up my sister in law and zooming about with her for a bit. Well, when I arrived at the dealership, my plans changed.

I was going to take a newbie salesman with me to break him in. Ok, that’s fine. I didn’t figure they’d have me go with someone.

So we headed to Stoney Trail, Calgary’s ring road and headed East along Stoney. We took the curve South and continued all the way to Deerfoot Trail and headed North.

We stopped for lunch at Thai Express and I treated. We then returned to the dealership.

In total, I drove about 110km. It was a good test ride for sure. The car keeps itself in the lane and the adaptive cruise control is quite something.

I’m glad I picked this vehicle out of the 20+ that I test drove a few months ago. It’ll be less than 3 weeks before I take delivery. I’m excited.

Tomorrow, Tuesday at noon, I’m taking my 2026 Ford Bronco Sport for an extended test drive. I have driven other Broncos when I was originally looking for the vehicle I wanted, but I have not driven the one that will be mine in a few weeks.

I mean I drove it in the parking lot of the dealership to move it, but that was about 200m or so.

I plan on doing some running around with it tomorrow and take it down to High River Alberta and back (about 200 km round trip). That’ll give me an idea of how it is.

I didn’t really need to, I mean I’ve already committed to the vehicle, but there’s no harm. It’ll be on the dealers insurance with a dealer plate.

I actually get possession of it sometime around August 12 and then I leave for my cruise on August 15. I’m sure I’m going to love it, I already love the colour for sure. I received an order from Amazon today for it, a light for the hitch receiver that lights up when you break. It was inexpensive.

So, that’ll be tomorrow’s activity.

So, I’ve gone ahead and booked a 7-day Caribbean cruise for mid August.

We visit 3 islands, unsure which three at the moment. We leave out of Orlando Florida and return to Orlando Florida.

I fly Calgary to Orlando (not direct) and return 7 days later.

Dates are August 16-23. I think I’m looking forward to it, but I’ve never cruised, so, who knows. I’m sure it’ll be a good time.