Dicey

Well things were good, Spring finally showed up and I have been riding the bike more. I have also been writing, fiction. Things are good, eh?

Well my life is like a teeter-toter, when the non-work life is good, wok goes to shit. I really don't like superficial people, ones that try to be your friends and then use anything they learn, against you. She is my boss and manages to bounce it back to being my fault, every time I am denied something or worse, when something goes wrong. I am thinking enough. I mean really enough, and people I speak to manage to get it to be my fault.

As I told my boss, no one can be 100% wrong all the time. Especially when none of this stuff shows up on an evaluation of any kind. The union said to start bringing a shop steward with me all the time. To tell the truth I am not that kind of person, but maybe I have been too nice.

Without too much detail, after fighting through a learning plan, one I didn't want to do, as it is an exercise in wasting time. The employer asks you to list courses to help with your career and advancement and then proceeds to find reasons why they can't do it, for a year. Then do it again. So she talks me into putting an assignment on there. Telling me if it is not there, I won't get to go. So after the meeting I send an email to a person I work with. I get a response which basically says they will ask to have me there.

The boss just about flips a lid. I am not holding any hope of going. But I want an answer in writing, I have not been very diligent on that. In this paperless society, make sure you GET IT IN WRITING.

In the service club I belong to we managed to start a project, an outdoor rink. This will be around $200k but it is a big project and valuable for the community. I seconded, it. LOL My name will go down in Minutes history.

Dating life is status quo, I basically am not. No prospects and an prospect of that ever changing. Family life, well, same as dating. People like to have a goal.....I have none.

At least I can create. These are pictures from today, I rode bike into city for a camera club meeting.

The storm that wasn't

So since Wednesday everyone has been talking about the weather for the weekend. We are supposed to get 20cms of snow. This was why I went to get bike on Thursday.

Anyway, I drove into town for Nick's art show. He is graduating from College and the class had to put on a show. With the snowfall warning I decided to get a room. I went on Expedia and it looked like a lot of people had the same idea. I found a room at a hotel downtown: SCORE! I can park car and get blitzed.

I went to the room and had a shower, after I got a haircut. After shower I made my way out to the school. I looked around the school and saw some art. It was laid out kind of funny. The signage made no sense. Who knew there were classes on a Saturday....well now I know! They wanted me to ballroom dance. The cowboy boots'd scuff the floor.

I found Nick on the lower level with his Mom, his brother(s?) and a pile of cousins. A guy would know they were related, it was like a Nick convention. they all took off pretty fast after I showed up :).

We walked around and he showed me some of his art. I didn't see any rules on pictures, so I took some. At 4 o'clock there was some performance art. A friend of Nick had a bed set up and she was inviting people into it to have martini's and talk. The skit was hilarious, Nick was supposed to go up but the performer broke her glass and it cut her ankle. There was blood everywhere, I told one of her friends to elevate the foot, to slow down the bleeding. The school nurse was looking after her, said it was non-arterial. My job was done :).

After the performance which was cut short, Nick and I went down to where his bigger pieces were hanging. A guy had actually asked about buying the big picture. That's the one of him in black underwear on the bed. It is based on a David Beckham ad.

Nick and his gang of sisters were going to a bash afterwards. I took off and went to Woodys. I played with the camera and Batman.

Attached are pictures of the art and Nick. Batman too.

Oh, the guy bought the picture!

Spring can start now

First off get the bitching out of the way, two things. 1) BMO screwed up and 2) This weather really sucks.

BMO first, this is the cool name for Bank of Montreal. I have a credit card with them, it expired 31MAR2013. Around the 14th of February a company asked me for the new credit card number expiry date. I contacted BMO, they told me they send it out 6 weeks before expiry, the lady, from India was kind of cold about it, but she assured me I would have it soon. About the Ides of March (15th) I called as I did not get the card. I learned lady from India was full of shit.

They said they would send out a car on the 18th (they always send them out on Mondays). It takes 7-10 business days. About the 21st I got a letter which told me all about the conditions on my card. There was no card, I bent the envelope and all the stuff, no card. I called BMO, a lady who was probably holding it together with Midol told me to take a pill, it takes 7 - 10 business days!

So on the 3rd of April I called after the mail had come, this was the 10th business day. I was told by Natalie to be patient.She was doing the listening but not hearing thing. I heard no clicks on her computer. Anyway, her ambivalence made me made, maybe its her Employee of the Month Asset. When she did her math she could only get to 8. She was counting only March, not the first 2 days of April.

Two days later I decided I'd go to the branch and fill out another application. I was going to fill out an application a day until I got a card. This would cause unnecessary work in the Centre of the Known Universe (COTKU). The Concierge at the Bank convinced me not to. One thing, a person would think that a bank called the Bank of Montreal would be based in ....Montreal. You'd be wrong, it is based in COTKU. Just like the Bank of Nova Scotia or Scotiabank. Anyway Concierge called one of her contacts, she was assured it was sent. She told me to check in and let her know when it arrived. So from April 4 to April 10 I checked in. Nothing. She called back on the 10th and had them cancel the card they previously sent and had one sent by courier to the branch. It came today, the 12th.

I got it, it was in the same envelope that I received on the 21st, with the same documents, the one I bent back and forth to see if there was a card in it. I guess the iGate people forgot to put glue on the card to stick to the 'Here is your new card' letter. Now I really want to call Natalie back and call her a c###. I have a credit card now :), my iDevices are all up to date.

2) It is the 12th of April and the weather really sucks. Snow tomorrow, Edmonton has a snowfall warning!

So I got all of the shite out of the way. The money was there, the weather was there, I decided the 11th was the day to get the bike from the shop. God's Great Banana Skin wasn't going to let me off easy. The guy who offered to go into the city with me and drive my car back got 'The Cold From Hell'. When I called him at around 9 on Thursday he said he couldn't do it. I looked around the office, no one was there to get me to my bike.

Greyhound! I looked online and a bus went into town at 11:45. I took the rest of the day off, went home got dressed in bike clothes. Got on bus (which was almost an hour late) and headed to the city. On the bus I called Edmonton Transit to find out the bus to take to Alberta Cycle.

Got the bike after standing around for an hour, sweating. My ex knowns I am not a happy camper when I am sweating hot. People try to get me to go to Texas in 110F time....I laugh and say NO FUCKING WAY! So I got on the bike.

The first ride of the season is not entirely pleasant. Your body sort of remembers things, but you are rusty. To add to this, the car drivers aren't looking for small objects, they have been in control since November and they do not want to give it up. Poor mountain bikers learn that the cagers (car people) don't like the share the road idea.

The other problem is all the sand and gravel on the road. Turning corners with any speed gives you a little butt clenching 'viiiiit' - That's the sound, like a high pressure fart. You say it to another bike and they are there, they know exactly what you mean. The clench, heart rate soars, adrenaline kicks in to lessen the pain and then you get passed the skid with no damage. Whew!

I had a few of those on the way to Whyte Avenue. But for the most part the cars were good; they didn't try to run me off the road.

I made it back to Vegreville on the highway, sometimes I'd go fast, but I was happy to be riding. The wind was blowing from the West, so it was at my back. I didn't freeze and when I got home I actually had a heat rash, from standing around in the bike store.

Today I rode the bike to work, then rode around after work. I went to Toby's for a beer. Tomorrow I have to be in town for Nick's Art Show.