Kevin's Ramblings…

I live in basement of a bungalow in Calgary. It is one of the many illegal suites in Calgary. There are many things that make it illegal such as not having a range hood over the stove, no fireproofing between floors and possibly most importantly, I don’t have control over the heat.

There are two women who live above me. In general, they are good neighbours. They are normally quiet, with the odd exception. The biggest issue is the heat.

Right now, my place is 78F. A tad warm. That is in the bathroom as well which doesn’t have a heat vent in it. I am sure it is much warmer in the living room. I knocked on the door, it seems that they are now out. Nice.

So, as opposed to melting, I am not sure how hot it will get down here, I’ve turned the furnace off. A little drastic perhaps, but I am not sure what else I can do.

I think what happens is that they come home and are cold. As opposed to putting on a sweater, or turning the thermostat up 1-2 degrees, they crank it just about as hot as it will go. I’ve asked them before, “have you turned the heat up?” – no, we didn’t. Ok, well, something is going on, it is almost 80 downstairs.

Anyway, since no one is there, the heat is now off. I will likely turn it back in later tonight, hopefully they will have gotten home by then and turned it down perhaps.

The whole thing is a little insane really. How hot is too hot?

I haven’t had Swiss Chalet in about two years now. I decided to go to the nearest one to my house tonight for take-out. Now, I know that I was “brave” and ate by myself when I was in Red Deer, but this is Calgary, I’m not that brave…

I ordered it online and drove to pick it up, brought the dogs along for company.

The take out entrance is a little odd to get to. It is around the side of the building, right where the drive thru is but the odd thing is that there isn’t a sidewalk to get to the door. You basically have to walk along the roadway to get to the door, not entirely safe. Well, I’m a big boy and can avoid traffic…

I get inside, there was a lady in front of me and a guy waiting and one of their drivers arguing about a bill with the counter person. This went on for no less than five minutes, then the person in front of me was served. Another driver came in a and sat, waiting for his order I’d guess.

Since I was standing beside him, I noticed a rather ripe order coming off of him. I was thinking if I ordered delivery and he was the driver and came to my door smelling like that, I think I’d refuse the order. Gross…

Anyway, I paid for my order and drove home. I got the chicken stir fry, not bad all in all. I guess next time perhaps I will order outside of the dinner hour, might be better service. Oh, that and I’ll skip on the delivery…

After yesterday’s computer issues, today was a much better day.

I left Calgary this morning at 630 headed for Red Deer. I still had some cleanup to do with regards to the recent hardware refresh. It was a good drive, roads were clear and dry – something that can be rare in January in Alberta.

The day in Red Deer went well. I got everything done and left around 3pm. The drive back was excellent, locked in the cruise at 120 and made it home in an hour and a half.

Since I am back to working at home tomorrow, I had to figure out what was wrong with my computer. I connected to my home wireless network and hen connected to work via VPN, the connection dropped a few times in 10 minutes. I connected to my router via a network cable, luckily I had a 25′ cable hanging around. My connection was stable. Ok, that narrows it down. It is either my wireless network or wireless on the laptop. My other wireless devices are ok so I downloaded the most up to date drivers for wireless, my VPN connection now seems fine.

The real test will be tomorrow, gotta make sure I can actually work a full day without my connection dropping out on me. I think all will be well.

It is sort of an unwritten rule that IT people aren’t supposed to have IT issues, not sure what was going on with this one. Oh well, a wrench thrown into the mix occasionally keeps me on my toes…

Today was one of those days and I hope it doesn’t repeat anytime soon.

I was in the office on Friday to prepare myself a new computer since the one that I’ve been using for nearly three years lease is up.

All seemed to go well with the image, I brought it home and did some final tweaks over the weekend.

This morning, I connect via VPN and immediately started having issues. My connection would be solid for a few minutes and then would die on me. I couldn’t use Outlook, our phone system or our chat system. Fun. Those three programs are a large part of my job or rather they allow me to do my job.

Around 930, after not having much luck in fixing anything, I decided I needed go head into the office to try my luck. I decided reimaging the laptop was my best bet.

I have been using Office 2010 for a couple of years now, so I reinstalled it this time around as well. I also use another program which has a component from Office 2007. For some reason, the two aren’t getting along on this new computer.

I can work around those issues, not the end of the world. I returned home with the intention of actually handling some tickets for the afternoon. Monday’s are typically very busy, today it wasn’t too bad, I wasn’t missed all that much.

I ran into the same issues at home again. My internet connection is fine, I can browse around, get email, whatever I want with no issues. I connect to VPN, it works for a few minutes and then drops. No word from the network team so I have no idea what’s going on.

I am returning, for what seems like the 100th time to Red Deer tomorrow. I am hoping my issues will be resolved by Wednesday, guess we will see.

If that isn’t the case, I think I’ll change professions. Maybe I’ll become a short order cook…

The baseball season is under way, well, sort of. We had our first coaches meeting anyway. Went pretty well as expected, I guess.

We have a few players who aren’t returning, which is too bad. One player also had a coach attached so he’s not coming back either, that sucks.

We do have a slight shortage of coaches at the moment, I’m sure it’ll work itself out. One of last year’s players who’s aged out has volunteered to coach, so that’s great. I’m hoping my assistant from last year won’t be traveling as much for work as he was last year.

A few more pieces of the puzzle to put together and we will be good.

It felt like baseball weather today, 16C, nice and sunny too. Felt like spring for sure. Most of the snow is gone now. I know we still have almost three more months of winter, it isn’t close to being done.

We start evaluations in two weeks time. By then, we’ll know exactly what we need to fill the holes. Looking forward to a great season.

Tomorrow is the first coaches meeting of the year so it is sort of like the beginning of the baseball season. With the recent weather, it almost seems like spring. I am sure we will have quite a bit of crappy weather in the next couple of months but baseball is right around the corner.

We start indoor valuations in the next few weeks and then comes the draft. I am looking forward to getting back on the field.

Today was a relaxing day. I didn’t even wake up until after 730, which is sort of late for me. I am glad that I don’t have to work this weekend, it is nice to have a couple of days off. I have to figure out when to use some of my lieu time, I have 4 or 5 days available.

It is supposed to be a high of 16C tomorrow, that is going to make the ball season seem all that much closer. Go Rockies !!!

I think I may have mentioned that we have been having unusually warm weather, pretty much for almost two weeks now. Day time highs in the upper single digits, not bad for nearly the end of January in Calgary.

We’ve had chinooks before of course, but they typically last for a few days at most, not 10+. I won’t complain, it is nice being able to walk the dogs just wearing a hoodie. No gloves or hat, almost spring like.

Odd thing on today’s walk though. Lots of melting snow of course, all over the sidewalks but although the temperature is about 8C, the water on the sidewalks is frozen, making for a rather dangerous walk. How exactly is that possible? I am guessing that the ground is still cold enough for the water to freeze, it just seems odd to me. Blondie is not a dog that doesn’t like to pull, pretty much all the time when we walk. I know, my fault, I never really trained her well. She will walk nicely, if I am after her all the time, I just don’t bother. I just thought it was strange with ice all over and the air being so warn.

I am actually going into the office today, first time in about 5 weeks. It is hardware replace time and I need to finish prepping my new laptop. There are around 20 staff that I haven’t met, likely won’t make any huge effort today since I am rarely there – we will talk when you are having issues. It will be nice to see some of my coworkers face to face again, some, hmmm… 🙂

It is the weekend after another long work week, try to enjoy it.

I don’t think there will be any more slow days at work. This is a good thing and a bad thing. I like be busy but it is insane busy most days. It is nice having a little down time every once in a while. That doesn’t seem to happen any more.

I was supposed to go back to Lacombe and Rimbey at the end of the month since I am busy this coming weekend. That has now been cancelled, my co-worker in Edmonton will be going instead. I don’t mind, I am sort of tired of traveling and working weekends anyway.

I will actually be in the Calgary office on Friday, for the first time in over s month. I may be helping my co-worker there on Saturday since I am free in the morning, if he needs my help.

Nothing much else going on. Baseball is in a holding pattern for now. We are waiting on a list of who’s returning and who isn’t, that should be available this weekend at our coaches meeting. I am hoping most players return. I am looking forward to getting going.

Enjoy the rest of your week, today was hump day so the weekend is getting close. 🙂

Another rather busy day on a Monday. I can sys for sure, I am not bored on Mondays at work.

Today, one person was off sick and another had a day off, that left only 3 or 4 to cover what is the busiest day of the week.

Oh well, I am gainfully employed anyway.

I still have to return to Lacombe and Rimbey to finish, well, actually start the hardware replacements there. I don’t think it will be this weekend, I need two days off…

We have our first coaches meeting on Sunday. Hopefully I will find out who’s returning and who’s not so we can start to plan on how many people we need to draft and also what positions we need. Lots to do before indoor workouts start.

I am doing nothing tonight, just going to take it easy. Try to do the same on your end. 🙂

As I’ve blogged, I was in Red Deer this past weekend. The hotel that I was staying in (Sandman) has a Moxie’s attached to it. I dropped down there to get some food (to go) but it was too busy so I decided to leave. I figured I would go and get a pizza or something.

Right beside the hotel there was also a Denny’s. I have always had some sort of a problem eating by myself in a restaurant, other than say Wendy’s or a food court in a mall. I guess sitting by yourself sort of says, “I’m a loser with no friends”. My sister always says if you are travelling on business, what does it mater, you don’t know anyone anyway…

So, I walk over to Denny’s and say, “for one”. Naturally, everyone was staring at me wondering, why is that gorgeous man eating all by himself… Yeah, sure, that’s what they were wondering, it’s my blog. 🙂

Anyway, it wasn’t that bad of an experience. The food was good and I didn’t have to eat in my room. I suppose I broke a previously unbroken barrier, unbroken over 40 some odd years. In a small way, it does make me brave I guess. Thanks for the advice to my sister.