A productive Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2016 by kdarcy21

Today has been a productive day thus far.  I sort of slept in, which is nice.  I did wake up at 1:10am and said no, this is not even the middle of the night.  I went back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until 3:40 or so – not too bad at all.

I watched Elf at 6.  I think I have only seen bits and pieces of it previously.  In general, I do not like Will Ferrell, he’s an ass, but in this movie, being as ass helps him.  I do like James Caan and he’s awesome in this movie.

I had to visit a friends house to pick up a loaner security card for the office, I had to stop in today.  I have mine but was told it had been deactivated.  Well, when I got to the office, it was fine.  Got in the front door, got to the 5th floor and got in the server room, no issues.  So, I don’t know what the office admin was talking about.  Oh well.

Blondie, Hera and I stopped at the dog park on the way home.  Not the normal park that we go to daily, Edworthy Park this time.  It is a huge park with all kinds of pathways.  Today, there was also a foot of snow on the ground so we all got a good workout.  We also lost our ChuckIt! ball.  I will have to get another one.  Someone will find it sometime this coming spring, I guess.

I stopped at the Bownesian Grocer, for Christmas Eve, it was pretty slow.  I didn’t wait at the deli, I didn’t wait at the checkout.  Nice.  I am sure had I made the treck to the Superstore, it would have been a different story.

Now, I am watching the Bills.  Watching then lose, currently anyway.  They need to win out and get some help for a chance at making play-offs.  I am not going to hold my breath.

The rest of the day will be relaxing.  I will take the dogs to the regular dog park shortly, even though they are tired.  We won’t be able to play ChuckIt! this afternoon though…  I may have a tennis ball around somewhere though…

Tonight, I see that A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart is on at 6 – I have not seen this version of it before.  I am actually looking forward to it.  If I forget, I have it set to record.

To all, have a good Christmas.  Ours will be white – it is still snowing.  Will yours?

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Another year just about done…

Posted on December 22, 2016 by kdarcy21

Another year is just about done.  This year has zoomed by for me.  I see a lot of posts on Facebook about how crappy 2016 was.  Well, I don’t know about you, but I thought 2016 was pretty good, all in all.

There are some improvements we could make.  Alberta is being run into the ground by the NDP.  We can’t be rid of them soon enough.  I honestly don’t understand how anyone can support an NDP government.  I would guess you are either

Alberta is being run into the ground by the NDP.  We can’t be rid of them soon enough.  I honestly don’t understand how anyone can support an NDP government.  I would guess you are either blind or, just plain stupid.  I am looking forward to the incoming carbon tax.  Thanks, NDP.  Yes, it is going to help and make a world of difference.  Not.  It is another tax.  Not sure what we will get out of it, likely nothing.  You are not going to help the environment, that’s for sure.  I ran one of those carbon tax calculators.  It looks like I will pay around $1200 a year and because of what I make, I won’t get any sort of rebate.  So, that’s an extra $100 out of my pocket.  I have one thing to say.  Fuck off Notley and fuck off to all of your fellow NDPers.

On a Federal front, we elected an idiot as the Prime Minister of Canada.  Trudeau gets dumber, it seems, by the day.  He has been in power for a year and a half, or so, and has given who knows how many billions of Canadian dollars to various causes outside of Canada.  What has he done for Canada?  Not sure – not much by the looks of it.

It is a tough call to say which government is worse.  I am honestly starting to think that the “left” have some serious mental issues.

It appears that the Americans have gotten tired of the same old and have elected a non-politician as President.  I hope he does a great job.  I like that he says what he thinks and doesn’t use any sort of PC filter.  There are a lot of people who don’t like him, but a lot of people have hope that he will make America great again.  Time will tell.  The left in the US are going absolutely insane over this.  I am not sure if they are still rioting down there – I don’t watch the news.  I have recently re-subscribed to the Calgary Herald.  I am on a 14-day free trial.  I will decide at that end of the month if $10 per month is worth it.  I get it delivered on my iPad.

Two more work days this week.  It continues to be a very busy month of December.  Unusually busy.  Last week was the busiest week we’ve had since the beginning of July when I started running weekly stats.  Can’t say I am bored, that’s for sure.  I will have four days off over Christmas.  I plan on taking it easy.  The weather is going to turn cold again and we are supposed to get some snow on Saturday.  Looks like it will be a white Christmas, not that I really care about that.

Well, I have a few hours until I start work.  Hopefully, it will be a bit slower today.  Enjoy your day.

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Hump Day already…

Posted on December 21, 2016 by kdarcy21

Monday was a long day.  I worked until 10pm and the evening shift was pretty slow.  I am happy that I have a TV in the office and the Shawshank Redemption was on so that took up the time between 7pm and 10pm when I finished.  I let the dogs out at 10 and was in bed by 10:10, asleep shortly after that.  I guess the one good thing about waking up in the middle of the night is that I have no issues at all with falling asleep.  Lie down and done.  That’s the way it should be.

Yesterday I was back on my regular day shift.  It was unusually busy for a few days before the Christmas break.  A steady stream of work came in keeping those of us in IT that are around rather busy.

I am hoping it will continue to slow down as the week progresses, but I am not optimistic of that happening.  We will see.  We have fewer staff than ever today to work on tickets so hopefully it won’t be another shit-storm of tickets coming in.

Today is the first day of winter, although Calgary has been having winter weather for a few weeks now.  We have left the deep freeze which is nice and temps are now around zero – it will get cold this weekend again and we are expecting snow.

Have a happy Wednesday.

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Not a bad Monday, as Mondays go…

Posted on December 19, 2016 by kdarcy21

I am working an evening shift today which is rather odd for me.  The regular evening people are off on vacation and the person who is covering this week needed tonight off, so they asked me to cover.  It is a change of pace for sure.  Although the day was very busy, tonight has not been.  Hell, I have time to write a blog entry.

I am also watching Shawshank Redemption.  It is a fantastic movie and one of the rare movies that may be better than the book it is based on.  Morgan Freeman is in it and I don’t think he’s ever been in a bad movie, has he?

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation was also on, but it is on CBC and they add so many commercials and take out so much content that the movies end up sucking.  So, unless it is sports, I pretty well don’t watch CBC.  There is also the fact that the CBC is a Liberal mouthpiece which I can’t stand.  Report the news, don’t add your Liberal slang to everything – twatwaffles that they are…  I saw that word today on Facebook, describing our glorious leader, Justin Trudeau, I thought it appropriate and figured I’d use it.

So, back to work tomorrow at 6:30am, that’s after working until 10 tonight.  I imagine I will be able to go to sleep right away, I hope anyway.  It will be tough actually staying up that late.  Just over two hours to go.

Went shopping this morning for Christmas dinner stuff.  I am trying a recipe with a turkey breast.  Hopefully it will turn out.  I am sure it will, I’ve sort of turned into a good cook.

Also took the dogs to the park.  Being a week day, it was dead.  They were able to play with the Chuckit! uninterupted.  All in all, a good day.

Enjoy your week.  Only four more days to go.

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Out of the freezer, finally…

Posted on December 18, 2016 by kdarcy21

We’ve finally left the deep freeze that has held a tight grip on the area for the last two weeks.  It was still -15C or so last night when I went to bed, it is now just -4C with an expected high around -1C today.  Compared to what we’ve had, this is near tropical.

We will be able to spend a longer time at the dog park, mostly because I won’t be freezing my ass off.  The dogs have been fine – I think they enjoyed the cold spell.  It is supposed to be in the -3C to -10C range for the next couple of weeks, I can handle that, easily.  -25, that is tough to deal with.

When I moved to Alberta, I brought winter jackets with me, of course.  Well, I discovered that S. Ontario winter jackets do not quite cut it in S. Alberta.  I’ve purchased a few more jackets here and can now dress properly for the seasons.  My winter jackets that I brought with me serve perfectly in spring and fall, sometimes in Summer.  Not complaining though, I will take the cold winter over the hot, humid summer days of Ontario, any time.  Throw -25C at me, it might be cold, but it is far more tolerable than 45C with the humidity.  In the nearly 5 years that I have been here, we’ve had about 3 days that I would consider hot/humid and I’ve only had a couple of nights where it was uncomfortable for sleeping.

Baseball meeting today, hopefully, it will be a quick one.  I don’t have anything to report as yet.  I am handling uniforms this season and the gent who’s handled them for the last few years hasn’t really gotten in touch with me as yet.  Nothing to really happen until after we start registrations in January.  As I have noted, I am not coaching this summer and I am OK with the decision.  I’ve coached for a long time and I need a break.  I will get back to it, I am sure, I just want some time off.  Being on the board will allow me to stay connected.  I am also considering a return to umpiring.  That will allow me to set my own schedule and earn some cash while still participating in the game I love.  The umpire association needs members as well, they were often short-handed last season.

My plan for this coming summer is to buy a small trailer so that I can do some camping, something that I enjoy.  Nothing fancy, nothing like what I had back in Ontario.  I need a bed for me and the dogs, a fridge, bbq and that’s about it.  I don’t want water, don’t want a bathroom – that’s extra work come the end of the season to winterize.  Campgrounds always have bathrooms and shower facilities.  I am OK with that.  I am planning on going to the RV show in January and I will see what’s available.  I can then judge new prices versus the used market.

Well, heading to the dog park at first light – 7:45 is my aim time.  I need to be at my baseball meeting for 10am and it is a 25 minute drive there, so we will get an hour and a half of Chuckit! in.  The dogs will be happy, and tried out.  I need to stop for groceries on the way home – hopefully, and this is only a hope, the store won’t be overly busy.

Tomorrow, I am working a rare evening shift.  We have a number of staff members on vacation and lieu time.  I am happy to help out – it should be interesting.  I am hoping it isn’t as busy as it has been.

Enjoy your Sunday.

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It’s the weekend…

Posted on December 17, 2016 by kdarcy21

I run weekly reports for my job covering the number of tickets that were handled the previous week.  Last week was the busiest week we’ve had since I started running these reports back at the beginning of July.  Last December, it was slow, very slow.  This December has been anything but slow.  We handled a record number of tickets with more than half of the staff off.  Good job to all involved.

So, it is the weekend, thankfully.  I am still up earlier than should be allowed, I “slept in” until nearly 3am today.  That was after having a 2.5 hour nap last evening – I guess I need to do some catching up.

Nothing really planned this weekend.  I will take Blondie and Hera to the dog park at first light.  That is still some4 hours off at this point.  We also need to drive to Cochrane to pick up a Charlie Brown Christmas tree that I ordered online.  Surprisingly enough, there are no Home Hardware stores in Calgary.  I guess it must be a smaller town thing.  Dog food purchase is also in order.  Tomorrow, I have a baseball meeting that I am guessing will be lightly attended – it is a week before Christmas.  Oh well.

I had my follow-up appointment with my doctor yesterday.  All is well, which is excellent news.  My blood sugar levels are excellent, he was concerned because they were a bit elevated the last time and my family does have a history of diabetes.  Cholesterol was also in the normal range, it was high previously as well.  He (my doctor) did suggest making some dietary changes and eat healthier, which I have done.  I’ve lost some weight, not enough (only 12 lbs) but that is a start.  Blood pressure was also good, I have never had an issue with blood pressure.  He’s now sending me to a urologist, I am sure that’ll be fun.

Very cold weather continues in Calgary, this is now the end of the second week of -20C stuff.  It is supposed to get all the way to -1C tomorrow, I will believe it when I see it.  Enjoy your weekend, once you wake up since I am sure just about everyone is still sleeping.

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What a week…

Posted on December 16, 2016 by kdarcy21

I have my first cold in a couple of years.  I would credit this to not working in an office with other diseased people and generally not being around a lot of people too often.  I am not sure where I got this cold but it sucks.  Yesterday, I was losing my voice.  For those of you who actually know me likely can’t picture me not talking…

Today, my nose is quite blocked and my head feels “full”, that is compared to the normal empty feeling.  Oh well, it will pass.  I bought a box of mandarin oranges so the vitamin C will help, right?  Oh wait, there was probably a study that oranges cause some disease  – colds likely.

This has been one of the busiest weeks ever at work.  It is the middle of December and one week from Christmas and everyone and all of their family members are submitted tickets like there is no tomorrow.  On top of that, a lot of our IT staff are off, lieu time needs to be used, vacation time needs to be used, flex days need to be used.  Hopefully, next year vacations and time off will be handled a little better so we aren’t left so short for a few weeks.  Last year at this time, it was dead.  I don’t know why there are so many issues.  Well, it is keeping us employed, that is for sure.

Next week should, and I stress should, be slower.  I hope it is.  We have less IT staff around and if the volume of tickets stays high, it will be a bad week.  I am covering an evening shift on Monday.  Will be interesting, I have not worked an evening for a number of years.  Perhaps I will have a bit of a chance to catch up.

My insomnia continues.  It does allow me to try to catch up on work though.  Mind you, at 2:25 in the morning, there aren’t a lot of people working, so contacting someone is out.

Follow-up appointment today with the doctor.  Had my tests last week and an ultrasound Monday.  I go right after work.  Then, the weekend.  No plans really – baseball meeting on Sunday and that’s about it.

Well, enjoy your Friday – only a few hours until we are all done with this week.  Enjoy your weekend.

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Food and phones…

Posted on December 14, 2016 by kdarcy21

I went to Boston Pizza last evening with a friend that I “work” with, and by that, I mean we work for the same company.  I haven’t seen him in about 2 years, we have planned on going out a couple of times, the plans have always fallen through.

So, Tuesday is Pasta Tuesday at Boston Pizza.  I had a desire for lasagna so that, along with garlic toast, a side Caesar salad and apple crisp for dessert, I was quite full.  I also stayed up later than I have in a while, 10pm.  That meant I slept in this morning, 3:10.  Yeah, five hours of sleep…

I decided that I would post my Nexus 6 on Kijiji to sell.  I had been using it as my work phone, the work-issued iPhone 5s is on my desk, no sim, unloved.  Someone messaged me yesterday morning, didn’t quibble about the asking price ($250) and arranged to come to my house at 5pm.  So, 5 comes and goes and I get another message at 5:30 that she can’t make it until 6:30.  I tell her that won’t work, I will be out.  She wants to know if she can meet me somewhere, she really wants the phone.  OK, sure – I will be at Boston Pizza downtown on 17 Avenue.  She says that’s great, it is way closer to where she lives.

I arrived at Boston Pizza at 6:40, was there until 9:30, no one showed to buy my phone…  I wasn’t holding my breath though.  A LOT of people on Kijiji seem to like playing games.  They message you, get the address and never show.  No message that they’ve changed their mind, nothing.  Games is all I can figure…  If you are getting my address and want to break in while I am not here, good luck with that.  I have two large dogs, a Yellow Lab and a German Shepherd.  People might think the Shepherd is the one they’d need to be afraid of, and that may be the case but the Lab is outwardly the one I’d be afraid of – she protects “her” property like a mad dog.  I am 100% sure that Hera would back her up and anyone trying to get into the house, or, in Blondie’s case, “look” at the house the wrong way, she won’t have any of it.

So, when this person told me they were coming over and sounded legit, I wiped the phone.  The process takes about 10 minutes so I didn’t want them to have to wait.  When I got home, I had to restore the phone.  Google does a great job with restoring.  It reinstalled all of my apps and even aligned the icons the way I had them before.  Very cool and thanks Google.

The iPhone 5 will stay in its box for now and my Nexus 5 will be my work phone.  I love my iPad and iPod, I think Apple missed the boat on its iPhone’s, when compared to Android, really, there is no comparison.

So, that was Tuesday.  Might as well start Wednesday.

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Telecom

Posted on December 12, 2016 by kdarcy21

I decided it was time for a phone upgrade.  Not sure why, I guess it comes down to the fact that I like to try to be up to date with technology.  I moved to Android quite a few years ago and have stuck with it since.  I started out with the Motorola Milestone after using a Blackberry for years.  I chose the Milestone because it had a real keyboard.  I was used to a Blackberry keyboard and didn’t want to lose the “real” keyboard and move to a virtual keyboard.  Well, the keyboard on the Milestone was awful.  It was a pull out keyboard, essentially doubling the size of the phone.  After having the phone for a few weeks (days, perhaps), I switched to the virtual keyboard.

I moved, every year or year and a half to a new Android device.  I had the Note at one point and other various Samsung devices.  I then discovered the Nexus from Google, pure Android, none of the crap that is installed by the manufacturer included.  A co-worker had the Nexus 4 and loved it, I tried it out and it seemed like a pretty cool phone.  The Nexus 5 had just come out, so I upgraded.

Loved the Nexus 5 and had it for about a year and a half, until the Nexus 6 came out.  That was an awesome phone as well.  Two other Nexus devices were released after the Nexus 6 and then it was announced that the Nexus line of phones was being discontinued.  That wasn’t good news to a guy who had owned 2 of them.

Google then came out with the Pixel and the Pixel XL.  I was interested.  I looked at pricing – wow…  The Pixel XL was $1050.  A tad steep.  Telus was offering it at $350, with a 2 year contract.  I previously had not paid anywhere near that for a smartphone so I wasn’t about to start now.

I ran into some minor issues with the Nexus 6 in the last few weeks and the only change that I can identify is that the OS had been upgraded to Nougat, Googles latest operating system.  Not sure if the two were related, I just assumed they were.  So, I decided to call Telus and see if there was a better deal to be had, afterall, I was a long time customer (11 years).

I was able to get the phone for $200 and the remaining device balance on the Nexus 6, $129 or so, was eliminated.  Thanks, Telus, great deal.  I changed my phone plan and now have 2GB of data, way more than I will ever need and unlimited nation-wide calling.  No more unlimited calling to 10 numbers, not that I use a lot of phone time anyway.

I was still unable to get a good deal or unlimited calling to the US.  I don’t make a lot of calls there, but I do have a cousin I like to talk to and when we do talk, it is for over an hour.  My last bill of over $30 for long distance convinced me of the need for a US long distance package.  Skype used to have unlimited North American plans pretty cheap, $3 per month or so, they got rid of those by the looks of it.  Telus doesn’t have any good plans for US calling and I didn’t want to switch carriers (this was prior to upgrading to the Pixel XL).  I had an Ooma device that I purchased two years ago and I figured I’d reactivate it.  For $10 per month, you get unlimited North America calling plus you get a second number in a different area code, and those people can call you for free.  So, I added a Niagara based number.  I can also use that line for work calls, routing our work system through my Ooma system, if I need to.  Lots of options.

So, I now have the Pixel XL.  I did a comparison betweem the Pixel XL and the iPhone 6s Plus – really, there was no comparison.  The only feature that the iPhone exceeded the Pixel XL was video.  I don’t take a lot, if any video, so it wasn’t a concern.  The scree was larger (although, to my surprise, the Pixel XL was noticably smaller than the Nexus 6), more internal memory, all in all, better features.  I’m happy anyway, waiting for the protective case to arrive – should be sometime this week.  I ordered it from Best Buy but it was available online only for home delivery, not available in store.

I decided to list my Nexus 6 on Kijiji.  It is unlocked, as all Google phones are with all carriers so anyone can purchase it, put their SIM in the phone and start using it. I listed it for $250 which was reasonable considering the other Nexus 6 phones being listed.  I’ve had a couple of very low-ball offers which I refused.  I don’t need to sell it.  I have actually swapped the SIM from my work iPhone into the Nexus so I am no longer using an iPhone at all.  I am happy to keep doing that if I don’t get a decent offer on Kijiji.  We will see.

Today is the start of a new work week.  Two weeks until the Christmas break.  I am working during the holidays, but it will be slow.  A bit of downtime will be nice.  Enjoy your week.

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Sleep?

Posted on December 10, 2016 by kdarcy21

Sleep?  Who needs it?  Well, I guess we all do.  I have a SmartWatch, generic brand, bought it on Wish.com and it isn’t particularly smart.  Anyway, I discovered that it does have a sleep monitoring app on it, so I decided to turn that on last night and wear it while I slept.

I went to bed at 9pm and quickly fell asleep. When I woke up around 2am, it said I slept 4:53 and only 17 minutes of deep sleep.  That doesn’t sound good.

When I wake up, in the middle of the night, I don’t feel tired.  I am able to make my way through the day without any issues, really don’t feel tired until the evening.  I try to stay awake until 9pm or so, otherwise, I will typically wake up 5 hours after going to sleep.  The other night I went to bed just after 7:30, slept until just before 1am.  That makes for a long day.  When I do wake up, it is one of those feelings that I am done with sleeping so there is no sense in trying to go back to sleep.  So, I get up.  I let the dogs out and I feed them, really early.  They now eat every 12 hours, I think they like it – they both eat all their food when it is put out.  Good dogs.

I’ve been going through these cycles for years.  Typically, it happens during the summer and will normally last for 3-4 months, then I am able to sleep again, 8-9 hours.  Sometimes, I need to drag myself out of bed in the morning.  Don’t know why, it has never really bothered me so I just accept it.  Not sure why it adjusted this year, when I slept this past summer, I thought it was going to skip over me this year – no such luck.

It is the weekend.  I have a few things planned, but it will still be pretty relaxing.  Late breakfast today and a trip to the dump to get rid of some stuff from the old place that I don’t want/need and can’t sell.  I have someone coming over to buy a portable air conditioner that I am selling.  It is Calgary, I have never found a need for AC here, there might be a few nights in the middle of July that it is slightly uncomfortable, but that’s it.  So, $60 in my pocket will be good – it will pay for that breakfast, and then some.

I am also selling my Nexus 6 smartphone.  I purchase the new Pixel XL so I need to sell the old phone.  I have it listed on Kijiji for $250 and am not willing to negotiate too much on price.  Someone offered $120, I didn’t even reply.  Come on.  Someone else offered $210 which isn’t too bad, but they wanted me to deliver it.  Well, I have had too many people on Kijiji back out and what not so I don’t tend to trust people.  He/she was only 15 minutes away, but I didn’t want to drive 15 minutes and then have them change their mind or offer less money.  Nope, you want the phone, you come to me then if you change your mind, it didn’t cost me any time.

The Pixel XL is a pretty good phone.  It is slightly smaller than the Nexus 6, not as wide, perhaps a little thinner.  I ordered a case for it from BestBuy, but it has not yet arrived.  I would have picked it up in the store, but it was available online only, so I wait.  It should arrive next week.

Anyway, nothing planned on Sunday, not yet anyway.  I will take it as it comes.  I do need and purchase a few groceries, doesn’t that sound exciting?

Enjoy your weekend.

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