Monday - another day off

I am sitting in a cafe, near my house. Someone ordered Cabbage Soup. Nothing else in it, just cabbage. Ewwww

I walked in and a guy I don't recall ever seeing before goes, Hi Greg. I used my detective skills and figured out he worked for the local paper. I have been in the paper before, comes with the Fire Department job. Still kind of a shock.

Worked overtime yesterday, had a weird case. I can't give too many details, but a woman was immigrating to be with her spouse. How did she meet her spouse? I think she introduced him to her mother. Mother has since died and now the daughter is marrying him. It could happen!!! But this is not an abnormal thing for the country she comes from.

I did not watch the Oscars. Twitter and Facebook were a fire with the red Carpet stories. As I only know Levi's and Wranglers as designers, I cannot comment on the fashion parade. I really don't care. Well when they are wearing something really bad, it is not that I care. I just feel sorry for the celebrity that feels they need to bring that much attention on themselves.

The drive home from the city was great - there was a little bit of blowing snow. The roads weren't icy though. I got home and the blizzard seems to avoided the town. I shoveled for 10 minutes and my sidewalk was clear.

Having Green Tea. The Sun is beating down on my back.

The Sons of Anarchy is having a motorcycle rally in Los Angeles near the end of August. That appeals to me more than Sturgis. I could ride down, via Las Vegas and Palm Springs; do the ride and then return up the Pacific Coast Highway - probably all the way to Seattle and then head East. I really don't need to visit Vancouver again.

The picture attached was a big thing. A Marine greeted his boyfriend at the airport with a big kiss. The boyfriend is taller than him. What I like about the picture is everyone else in it, is oblivious. I sent an email of support to the Marine, I guess some people are slow to embrace change.

I worked overtime yesterday and there was an email that gave me a heart attack. Something about a reclassification. Turns out my supervisor was officially changed.

A fire call today - just a motor vehicle collision (MVC). I was extra so stayed at the hall, in case. While there I was speaking with a fellow fire fighter that likes to fix cars. He asked if I got idler bearing fixed yet. I said I was doing it this week. He asked how much. Anyway, he said he will do it Wednesday night, a lot cheaper than the shop. I am paying him a lot more than he would normally ask. But it is 2/3 of the shops' price. I was prepared to pay all of it.

The weather is cold after the snow. Hopefully this is the last of the cold. I want to ride my motorbike.

Winter Came Back!

I finally took some time off, Friday and Monday. I am working overtime on Sunday though (the money is too good!).

So Murphy's Law kicked in, I have the weekend basically off, so I come into the city. That's where the Winter part comes in. The picture is of Jasper Avenue, one of the major streets in Edmonton. Downtown it is the major street.

So I came into town Friday night. I wanted to see Act of Valour. I did. Before and after the movie I was at Woody's bar. I met up with a friend before the movie. It was good to hang out. After the movie, I went back to Woody's. It was crowded, a different crowd than in the afternoon. The bar appears to be a magnet for the grifter types, I guess you could call them Gay for Pay. They will do stuff with a guy, but they are mainly there to drink and or to consume drugs. So a guy has to be leery with the nighttime crowd.

Oh, before I got in the bar, I had an fall on Jasper Ave. I came around a corner, the sidewalk (on the landlord's property) was not cleared and I went for a fall. I have a scrape on my forehead and bruises on my knees and a bum on my head. I could have sued, I guess but I am not that kid of guy.

So I was at Woody's then Buddy's (which is downstairs). The night was going really good. But due to my scrape I guess I looked like a scrapper.
I am not a scrapper, the last fight I was in was when I was 12. Last night a couple of lesbians and a straight guy with weird hair, all seemed to want a piece of me. I have learned somethings since I was 12. I am friends with a couple of the bouncers, I didn't want to put them in a tough spot. So I just walked away.

When I left the bar it was snowing like mad. So I stayed at a bed and breakfast.

Driving today is fun, that not knowing if you are going to stop. Impromptu right turns when a guy decides to turn left in front of you. I also planned ahead. I came from the Southside down the hill into the River Valley. Now I would normally go up 105 St hill. But Edmonton drivers have funny ideas when it comes to gravity, momentum etc. They normally slow down before a hill, like they were taught in driving school. But they slow down to almost a stop and then go really slow up the hill. After about 2000 yards, the car stops moving forward. They give it some gas and it starts going sideways. Then the car is sliding back down the hill. I was about to go to this mess, but I went down River Road instead and came up a saner hill.

The town I live in is like no other, well of course, but this is really like no other place on Earth. Normally people go out to eat, to the bar etc to see other people. Well in Vegreville, you'd be lucky if there were other people in the bar. It is very closed and you'd think keep to yourself. But that is not the case, they are some of the nosiest people on the planet. They drive slow down the streets and look in people's windows. At the A&W, which is near the Emergency Services building, they all run to see where the ambulance or fire truck is headed. If there is a fire or police incident, they come up and try to find out exactly what the issue is. The newspaper in this town is redundant.
So anyway, that's why I head to the city.

Which leads to the really good news. I paid off the car loan this week. I also finished paying off an advance at work. It is a complicated arrangement when you can take time off, 5 weeks and pay for the leave throughout the year. This results in a significant bump in extra money. So I am making plans for travel. I was going to go to a conference in Orlando Florida, at Disney World. But I don't have that much extra cash. Next years is in Toronto, I will go there.

All in all a pretty good week. I am going to finish up some stuff at Starbucks and head home. 60 miles in a blizzard. Should be fun.

Family Day?

It is Family Day in Alberta, well it is if you work for a Province based employer. If you work for a Federal Employer it is a regular work day. I wanted to take it off and spend time with my son. But.....

I try to be original on Twitter on certain days, this morning's tweet was 'Monday, I told you not to come back after the ruckus you caused the last time you were in my life.'

We are getting a new system at work and they chose today to train me (tomorrow as well). So I couldn't take it off. :( I am thinking of taking Friday and Monday off. I have to work overtime on Sunday, but I need the rest. I will be working overtime on the Sunday the next week too.

At work there is a process where you can take a long time off, you pay for it for a year. I took 5 weeks off last year and paid for it until last week. My pay cheque went up. On Friday the bank called and said if I paid $15 dollars my car loan will be paid off. The overtime is gravy, but I am lapping it up. Getting the urge to travel - bike (too far away until i could go), car - well at least I would have a car wherever i went or plane. It has to be a place I don't need a car, Las Vegas would be ok but most of California is out. Mexico.....es possible.

It is Mardi Gras tomorrow.....next year:)

I watched 'Weekend' on Netflix on the weekend...ironic. What is really weird is this film isn't even on DVD yet and Netflix Canada has it. It is a story about two guys that meet at a bar on Friday night and spend the weekend together. The acting is good. They are around thirty, I remember when I was 28 meeting a guy in a bar on Friday and we hung out all weekend. The thing that is common between the movie and I - the guy was taking off some place far away on Monday. I still smile when I think of Neil.

So with all the working and courses I have managed to build up a lot of stress. Stress causes me to be tired and not want to do anything. So I haven't gone to the gym since last Wednesday. This just makes the stress worse, it is like a hamster on a treadmill, except with out the running part.

Rick Santorum is taking the US to a place where I am not sure they want to go. He is questioning President Obama's theology. Obama's theology appears to follow Jesus's - I guess he is too liberal for Rick. Then Rick questions why Obama would put the Earth (no the World ) before man. Earth, the planet we all live on, the one that supplies us our food and water. I tweeted 'The Earth in the Big Scheme of things is more important than Man. Adam Smith kind of screwed that concept up #Santorum'


Well I went to the gym today, got 3.5 miles in before it closed. Family Day grrrr.

The course is shit, I think I could do it in 3/4 of one day. I have a full day tomorrow. Then gym, then Fire Practice. Act of Valour starts Friday!

The 15th

Sitting at the Bullpen - it's Wings Night, every Wednesday. I have been coming here for the last 4 years. Hot wings and beers. It's a small town, need a break in the middle of the week.

Today was a good day. Last week I was on a Canada Labour Code Part II. I am the employee co-chair on the Workplace Health and Safety Committee. During the training we learned of some things 'we' are required to do. What the employer is required to do and what the staff / or anyone working have to do. Today was the first meeting after the course.

It was noted by me and some others that the committee is not being informed as they are supposed to be. There was an incident last Thursday, We may not be involved in correcting the issue, but it if affects workplace health and safety we have to be aware of it. There was some banter yesterday between a member of the committee and the management co-chair about it, with the result being it was a security issue. At the meeting today, the incident was not brought up until I brought it up. Then someone said they were going to bring it up when their turn came on the Roundtable. I said this isn't right, the committee should have been aware last Thursday or Friday, not today. The Senior Manager there agreed.

I really think they thought I was going to cause a tidal wave in the committee. I didn't, I stuck to the Code and it's direction. A productive meeting! Success!

I underwent a telephone evaluation test for French today. She I was better than half. We identified where I need training and they say I can be up to proficient in speaking in 20 hours (of classroom) They didn't mention the home work. I have to do this by the end of fiscal 31 March). So with the overtime on the weekends, the Fire Department and now the French lessons. I officially have no life.

It was warm again today, the bike looked mighty nice in the sunshine....vroom vroom.

Priced out the idler bearing and belt for the car - $312 - you know that squeal your car has, in cold weather ? It is the idler bearing. You don't want it to die on you, the belt goes, that's a given, then the water pump and the air conditioning. A bit more than $312. ergo the overtime.

Reading a really good book about mercenaries in Afghanistan. They even touched on the deep dark secret of the Afghanis and Pakistanis. Islam forbids single males and females to be together in a place. Sex could occur. Muslim teenagers are just as horny as the rest of the Worlds teenage boys. They need someplace to get rid of their angst - guess where, younger teenage boys and 12 year olds. This was not discussed openly in Pakistan when I was there, we heard about it, but it was just a given. In this book they identify the issue and then they go a step further, some Muslim men of power are actually homos. Despite all the hate for gay people in Iran and Saudi Arabia., they are not safe from gay people.

On Jon Stewart the other night there was a former FBI agent who worked on Al Qaida, pre and post 911. He has a book, I bought it on Kindle, it was cheaper than iBooks.

He explained Iran and it's issues. The country is 60% Persian; the rest aren't. They are surrounded by Turks and Pakistanis. They pretend they are the protectors of the Shia, but they sided with Armenia (Catholic) in a war with Azerbaijan (Shia). The US would be wrong to go into Iran, they should just let nature take it's course.

There - two days in a row.

V Day

Have a good Valentine's Day.

On to other news. I got invited to a secret facebook group. This could be the ever so evil 'Gay Agenda'. Stay tuned, I'll let you know when their Gay Manual is sent to the printer. Maybe the cops cold Occupy The place.

A productive day at work. My co-worker, who tends to be a bully in meetings. She concedes on somethings and them proceeds to find fault with every little bit of your data. So at the end of the meeting, I spoke up and said this is what I am supposed to do. As I want no confusion. I think co-worker was a little taken a back as she wanted all the little errors fixed before I did my part. That would have delayed everything by three months. So I got my way. The Supervisor was happy and so was the person that did report.

Fire practice was fun rolling around in snow with our hoses practicing ice rescue. I know this doesn't sound like Fire Department stuff, but who else is going to do it?

Gym, I did 3 miles and then weights on Sunday and today. 5 miles yesterday..

I got two important pieces of mail. Sit down. My registration for motorcycle, yes it is due. You know what that means.....Spring is nigh. The other piece was for insurance for bike. To quote Neil Patrick Harris "Boner".

Union course on Saturday and then more overtime.

If I were in NOLA I would be going to the Quarter for all the Crewes - Mardi Gras week end coming up.

Next year. With my son.

11 February

Geez, everytime I write a blog I plan to be more regular. It just doesn't happen. Oh well

This last week was busy in a couple of senses. I had a good time with a friend in Edmonton on Saturday. We went to a couple of bars. He was headed off to Toronto by car to pick up a ward of his and take her back to Edmonton. She is around 90 and I guess there are issues at the place she is staying. Robert is retired, so he has lots of free time. Anyway, my mind heard: car, Toronto and US. He knows me well enough to say 'Do you have a passport?' We joked around about a road trip. It wasn't a good time for me to go. Maybe in a couple of weeks......but I was still thinking I would go when he passed through town.

I had a course this week, Workplace Health and Safety, I am a co-chair and the course is required to sit on the committee. I hate courses, normally they put me to sleep. That being said, I learned a lot this time. I hate when people don't respect me or lie to me. I was given the Code, but no one pointed out the important sections. There are basically 4 - they have to do with rights and responsibilities. I will make sure my replacement knows them before he goes to a meeting. I was getting rail roaded into decisions that were limiting rights under the Code. Guess what, we can't override them. It will be an interesting meeting on the 15th.

I have basically given up on ever meeting anyone. I am gay in the middle of straightsville and I live near a city that is just weird. The gay community in Edmonton is almost like the Republican party in the USA. I don't know if it because we have achieved too many rights, but I know it is fucked. Young people have no respect for older guys. 56 is basically dead to them. They assume everyone is a troll at my age. There is a whole section of guys from 40 - 60 who are missing. These guys have either packed up and moved to Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto. Some of the others never made it out of 80's & 90's RIP. This is a very valuable section, these guys would pass the baton to the younger generation and also be a support group to others. They are gone. So here I am tail end baby boomer, basically alone. Sure there are guys in my age group around. They are still married to their high school sweet heart and realized they had the wrong plumbing, so they sneak around. Or even better, a lot of them are only into guys up to the age 35. So guess where the young guys get the idea any one over 40 is a troll? I myself may be attracted to a 20 something, visually, then as Richard Pryor brilliantly said, they speak. So I aim for the guys that have life experience - over 35. I can meet them like crazy in the US. It seems they are still around, even in smaller cities than Edmonton.

Today I am kicking around before overtime. The mountain moved so to speak and we have extra shifts till the end of March. Car needs some work and I need $$$ for the motorcycle insurance policy, they don't let you pay monthly....High Risk Activity :).

I am happy Washington state has woken up. Not happy that Santorum is going to try and fuck it up. The big news was the San Francisco Police Department making an 'It Get's Better Video' man, there are some hot cops there.

http://youtu.be/6RMunYfzlGs

Friday the 4th

Hurray for me, not too many specifics but there is one less bad guy. This one was innocently hidden, I just happened to ask if he was known to another one. Yup. His life changed today.

I like working a four day week, Friday comes a hell of a lot faster when you take Monday off. I used to have a schedule that gave me every Friday off; the weeks felt long. I work shorter days now, never seem to have enough time to get everything done, I leave late sometimes, but I can run out. If I work longer days....well - my job becomes like a JOB.

Writing this at a coffee shop, the other way out of the house.

The Komen fiasco is calming down, so many jokes. But at least poor women still have a place to go for breast exams. I think there is still a tempest in the teapot. But it looks like social media did its job, yet again.

A story today about a region of Minnesota (Anoka - Hennepin) this is a school district which forbids the schools from teaching that there are such a thing as gay people. They secretly adopted this awhile ago. The schools knew about it, the parents didn't. So because of this policy. Seven teens have committed suicide. OK the policy didn't cause this, but in a way it did. These troubled teens had nowhere to go. They felt that they weren't normal, as was taught in the schools. They couldn't talk to teachers as the teachers were required to deny.

It reminds me of a Harry Chapin song Flowers are Red. Basically a little boy liked to paint flowers and leaves all different colours in his art class. A really strict teacher trained him that:
'Flowers are Red young man and Green leaves are Green, there is no reason to see flowers any other way than the way they have always have been seen.'

People don't know the power that teachers wield. Parents these days are too busy to know what is being taught. That is a cop-out, I know. Sometimes I let my son slide on the questions. Try interrogating a 7-9-11-13-16 year old on what they learned. It feels like interrogation, let me tell you!

The world problems are solved, except for the retired Marine homophobe who happened to find a place to air his 'essay'. The issues are resolved, DADT is dead and You Sir are Retired.

I have a date again tonight. No a girl :( she wants to buy me beer. I am going to restrain myself, don't want another day like last Saturday. Besides I have to be in the city tomorrow.

I also have to stop fucking around and start on the book again. The media stuff, especially the stuff on bullying is helping me with a plan for the book.

The gym and I have really started going steady. Running 5 miles one day and then 2 the next day. Weights on the days I do two miles. This guy is not getting younger, but I don't feel like I am getting older.

The Fire Department has been really quiet. The weather hasn't been that bad. Well basically the weather has been in the -10 to +5 range with no precipitation. It is just there. The Farmer's Almanac is officially wrong, Environment Canada says we are having a soft Winter. A friend of mine was driving her Mini with the top open. I wish I could be riding motorbike. Soon though.

Later - I have to eat, one thing I didn't do last Friday. I really am drawing the line at two beers......really.

February 1st. Another good day =, weather wise, -2 C and Sunny. Boy was the Farmer's Almanac ever wrong.

Today one of the lady's at work brought me a birthday cake, totally impromptu! It was good. Had coffee with a pile of co-workers. Most of them were the ones I came out to in December. I guess they breaking in period is over and they see I am not this evil sex maniac. They haven't seen my......

I guess I was the subject of a colossal cosmic fuckup after I came out. Other than co-workers nothing. My whole family disappeared. Some may say I was being sensitive, but when you drop a bomb like that and suddenly no one calls you; well.

Anyway, as I described it to a lot of people, the elephant in the room is gone. I have a lot more brain power to devote to real things.

Unfortunately the real things are what is going on in the USA. I mean What is going on in USA? Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, Newt, Mitt & the santorum guy.

Yesterday two things, the first is an organization that helps women with cancer decided to divorce itself from an organization that helps women plan their lives. I volunteered for Alberta Cancer, i have raised $115,000 for them. They have similar fundraisers to the Komen group. If Alberta Cancer decided to drop Planned Parenthood. A lot of people would drop it.

The second issue yesterday caught me by surprise. Has there ever been a time when the President of the United States has been so disrespected? A former SEAL wrote a piece which made it to the Wall Street Journal (Murdoch owned). This guy questioned whether the President was putting SEALS in needless danger. Now think about this , this guy is questioning the President's rationale in taking out Osama Bin Laden, the author of 9/11 This is a former officer in a military unit. The incident I think he was writing about, he wasn't specific, is the Somalia affair. Remember Somalia, that's where Mogadishu is and where Black Hawk Down took place. But Black Hawk was real. So was a kidnapped American aid worker and a Danish one too. Now this goof thinks that the US was too forward in offending the peace loving Somalis by having a trained military group go in and do their job. I am a fire fighter. If this poor excuse for an officer was to stand up and tell us that, oh well those two people trapped on the second floor should have bought better sprinklers, I guess it is too dangerous for us to run into a building to save em. This guy would be crushed by the guys in bunker gear running into the building to save them. Case closed. SEALS train to do exactly what the president asked them to do. They probably had the best sex of their lives, or in a couple of months, when they came back. A gay man like me could have bad thoughts, well good thoughts. Anyway - thats what they do. They are bored doing endless training and not doing.

Would this guy and his GOP people prefer to have the President invent some excuse to suspect there are WMD's there? The only WMD in Somalia, is khat. It wipes them out, then they get up and scratch their balls and look for some more. The guards of the captives were khatted out when the SEALS came: guaranteed. It's a good thing they were in the dreamy part, rather than the manic part.

Anyway, for Canada's sake and the World's sake...oh and you too Americans. I hope Barrack Obama is elected to be President for a second term.