Kevin's Ramblings…

Well, my plan to help out my friend with her dog has hit a snag. I checked with the property management company and I’m not allowed any additional dogs.

I can’t say I’m surprised by this, who really wants more than three dogs in a house, 3 is a lot to begin with. I feel very bad for my friend though. She is likely going to need to re-home her dog and she’s quite stressed about it.

I guess, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have offered before I checked.

So, no guest dog for me and no new friend for Blondie, Hera and Twix. Hopefully the dogs can play together a bit over the next while.

It’s the weekend, yay to that. The weather does not feel like late summer, but rather late fall. Of course, I’m not in Calgary any longer. We had snow flurries the last few days, none stuck to the ground luckily but the mountain tops are now snow covered. I’ve turned on my heat, the earliest ever. Yesterday morning, the house was a rather chilly 12°C. So, I weakened and on goes the heat.

In other news, I’ve reluctantly decided that I have to cancel my trip to Ontario for October. I’ve spent way too much money lately and airline tickets for flights in Canada are ridiculous. I also looked at how much I’d likely spend while in Ontario and I don’t want to burry myself. I’m thinking I’ll plan for a spring trip. I had though about heading to California in the spring but my cousin will no longer live there as she’s retiring at the end of the year. She’ll be back in Toronto come spring anyway so I can see her there. I’m disappointed that I won’t see friends and family, it’s been a year and a half now. I can save over the winter now though and it’ll be much easier. So, planning now for the end of March or early April.

I called my internet provider yesterday, Xplornet and cancelled. It worked great in August when the weather was good. It’s been very cloudy this week and my internet is going up and down like a yoyo. Since I didn’t have that issue when the weather was good, I can only presume it’s cloud related. From what I hear, it’s far cloudier here than it was in Calgary. I need reliable internet, I use it for work, so, while I’m still in the free month, I decided to back out. They’ll refund the money I’ve paid out and a tech will come to remove the dish and reclaim the equipment. I’m keeping my Rogers Hub, it works great. No latency issues and actually seemed far faster than satellite. It’ll cost me a bit more, but it’s worth it to be reliable. Sorry, Xplornet, I had hoped it would work out.

I’m up far too early today, heading into Lethbridge for a Costco run, the dogs need food. Hopefully the weather will be good for the trip in, not supposed to snow, but it is still summer after all, isn’t it?

I cancelled my main internet provider today. I’m inside the first month, so they have a money back guarantee. I’m pretty remote and this is satellite internet. In the second half of August, it was fine. Now that it’s September and it’s been pretty cloudy, the connection is constantly dropping. The installer told me it would be fine except in really bad storms. Ummm, no. Not the case. It does not work in heavy clouds. I’m not talking snow or a thunderstorm, just heavy clouds. I use this for work and I need it to be reliable.

So, I’m back to Rogers and am using their Hub. It’s at LTE speed and the nearest tower is about a kilometer away. It works quite well for work purposes. It’ll cost me a bit more, but hey, it’s reliable.

The other issue with satellite internet is the latency. There is a 2 second delay on everything. That doesn’t sound like a lot, bit it makes working from home painful.

Anyway, I’m glad I discovered the issues before my first month was up. I have paid for 2 months of service and installation but it’ll be refunded.

I don’t have a back up now, but I don’t think Rogers will be down too often.

On another note, summer appears to be over. We’ve had snow flurries and cold temps. I’ve had to turn the heat on already, this is the earliest ever. Oh well, we didn’t get the snow that Edmonton did anyway.

The weekend is here. Costco run tomorrow in Lethbridge and not a lot else planned for the weekend. Enjoy yours.

I am on day three of my three day weekend. The weather has been awesome. From the looks of the forecast, this may be the last of summer.

On Friday, I took the dogs down to the lake. A dog that Twix met here was there, so she met Blondie and Hera this time, and the four of them had a ton of fun and my three were exhausted. Twix is quite the swimmer, loves it more than her sisters. Oddly, Blondie isn’t a swimmer, but she’s never really had the opportunity. Back in Ontario when she was a puppy, I didn’t take her to Lake Ontario and when we moved to Alberta, although she’s had plenty of opportunities to swim, it’s mostly been in the Bow River and it’s got quite the current. Anyway, she goes in up to her chest and that’s about it. Perhaps I’ll go in with her and see if I can get her swimming.

I ended Friday at The Pie Man in Blairmore. Excellent food, best fish and chips I’ve ever had. It was a good day.

Yesterday, I made a trip into Lethbridge to pick up some supplies for The Pie Man, took the dogs along for the ride. On the way back, I stopped and looked at a Jeep Wrangler, I know I will get back into one some day. It was a 2 door, like my original Jeep, all of the power options and a navigation system as well.

A nap was in order for the afternoon, ended up being three hours long. Took it easy Saturday night. Watched Kansas City attempt a perfect game, just caught the ninth inning, unfortunately for the pitcher, he gave up a walk in the 9th to end the perfect bid and then a single to end the no hitter. It’s a very rare event, indeed.

Today has started pretty early, although 5am seems to be the new norm for me waking up. The dogs are fed and have been out. I’m going organize the last few things in the house today. I think the dogs and I will also return to the lake later this afternoon. The high is supposed to be 21 and we might not see those temps again this year.

Back to work tomorrow and it’s a 5 day work week. I’ll find a way to survive. I hope you had a good weekend as well.

It’s Labour Day today, in Canada and the US anyway, I am unsure where else it is observed.  So, that means it is a day off for most of us.  In Alberta, stores are generally open, malls, grocery stores, restaurants and what not.  I hope that the people working getting a day in lieu at some point in the future.

My employer is closed of course.  There will be the odd person who will be working today, but it will be fairly rare.  It is, after all, the last long weekend of the summer and also, the unofficial end to summer.  We have a few weeks until summer officially ends but this is pretty much it.

I have no plans today really.  I do need to do dishes, by hand – now, that is labour.  I will replace my dishwasher in the near future, so that will be good.  For now, I’ve been lazy, so there are dishes that have piled up.  I also have to do a load or two of laundry.  So, I guess no plans isn’t really true, it’s domestic chores day.

The renovation guys are supposed to come in today at some point.  The garage needs to be swept out, I think they are done working in there and the new deadbolts need to be installed.  A new partial floor needs to go in the bathroom, I am interested to see what tiles have been purchased, I am sure they won’t match what’s in there since those tiles are likely from the 70’s.

The shed in the back is mostly done, it’s been cleared out, it does need a new door on both sides though.  Most of the garbage has been hauled away, likely only one small load to go.

It will be nice to have the renovations done, I am not banking on today necessarily, but hopefully tomorrow.  When they are done, I need some minor electrical work done and then a cleaning person will come in and clean top to bottom.

It will be nice having a house that’s done.  I will have everything setup at that point which will be good.

So, back to my domestic stuff, I hope that you have a great Labour Day.

My shower is done in the bathroom. Some tile work still needs to be completed and some minor electrical work as well. Combination deadlocks are also being installed. So, the house is coming together nicely.

It was a busy few days. Friday, I had to head to Calgary for an appointment and to drop the dogs off at their pet resort. I stopped by the office to drop off some stuff I borrowed and headed to my hotel. I was able to check in shortly after noon which was great.

Got ready for the wedding and headed to Canmore. The venue was excellent, Silvertip Resort, it’s a golf course in the mountains. The ceremony was held outside with a mountain in the background. It was a bit cool, 15C or so and a bit of a wind chill, I think we were all happy when the sun broke through the clouds, but hey, it didn’t rain, or snow.

There was a two hour window after the ceremony before the cocktail reception. I did some shopping. Being prepared as ever, I had to buy a card for the couple. Yes, that’s procrastination at its best. I also stopped in at Canadian Tire and bought some needed stuff for the house.

The cocktail reception was great, talked with some former coworkers and had some excellent cheese and other appetizers. Dinner was great. We started with salad and rolls, an 8oz filet, potatoes and broccoli, dessert and the bar was open all evening.

I headed back to Calgary to my hotel around midnight and the drive was smooth. If you’re ever in North west Calgary and need a hotel, the Sandman was great.

This morning, I went to Denny’s for breakfast, had a great chicken and eggs skillet, quite spicy. I met the new guy who’s volunteering to be the uniform coordinator for Babe Ruth and we inventoried the uniform jerseys we have on hand.

I picked up the dogs and headed home. Since I slept little last evening, I had a great nap this afternoon. I hit up a local pub, Jason the Pie Man and had the best fish and chips ever. I’ll be back for sure.

Just relaxing tonight, working tomorrow, covering for a coworker so he can watch his son play baseball, I’ll have Friday off instead.

Hopefully you’re enjoying the long weekend.

It’s been a fairly relaxing few days. Things at the house are progressing, although I still don’t have a completed shower in the bathroom. When the old one was ripped out, it was discovered that the floor under the shower needed to be replaced. That took awhile yesterday. The contractors aren’t working on Sunday, guess I can’t blame them, we all need a day off, so hopefully the shower is done Monday morning.

The dishwasher in my place is essentially dead. It’s old and doesn’t owe anyone anything. I’m guessing it’s from the late 70’s or early 80’s. Dishes put into it get wet and very hot, not clean so, as a dishwasher, it fails. It isn’t included in the lease, which I knew. I found an inexpensive one at The Brick and an waiting until Thursday (VIP sale) to pick it up. The contractor who’s doing the other work will install it.

No plans for today, it’ll be cool, temps in the mid teens only. I think I’m just going to take it easy. Hope you’re enjoying your weekend.

So, yesterday, I had Bell Expressvu setup in my house.  I tried to cut the cord, but although some of the services were decent and relatively inexpensive, they aren’t quite up to my standards as yet.  I want to be able to use the app on my phone and Chromecast it to my TV – period.  I don’t want to have to fool around with it, I don’t want to add 18 different apps on my phone.  If I was to use it with my Firestick, I don’t want to have to do the same.  I want it to be easy and work just like TV does.  Well, they haven’t invented that as yet.  The services are a pain in the ass.  So, I now have regular TV back.  Sure, I am paying more than a streaming service, but that’s OK.  I turn the TV on and I turn the receiver on and bingo, TV.  Thank you.

Today, Xplorenet came and installed the largest satellite dish I’ve ever seen on my roof.  It’s all connected and it’s pretty good.  There is a bit of lag if you are surfing from site to site, but once it loads, it’s plenty quick.  No, it’s not as quick as Shaw cable was back in Calgary, but hey, I am not in Calgary.  I am in the middle of nowhere and I knew things like TV and internet would not be the same.  I lose some conveniences but I gain so much more.

Xplorenet works perfectly with my work environment and that’s what I need.  I will use the Rogers connection as a backup in case something happens with Xplorenet.  I will downgrade my package and it won’t cost much at all.

The guys doing renovations at the house are making good progress.  Two doors are hung, the shed and garage have been cleaned out.  The old shower stall has been removed and the new one is ready to go in.  New deadbolts need to be installed on the house and the garage.  The propane tank is properly connected to the house (there were some issues) and all is well on that front.

As soon as the bathroom is done, a cleaner is going to come in and clean the stove, dishwasher and other areas that need it after the last guy moved out.  Some minor electrical work also needs to be done.  The finish line is close, I can see it now.