My Old Home Town

   That's where I grew up. Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The shot was taken a few years back 400 kilometers up by an astronaut on the International Space station. Calgary was "home" from 1961 to 1985, when we moved to High River, just south of the city, when I restarted my career in radio.
   Needless to say, the city grew up quite a bit from when I lived there. In 1961, the population was just under 250 thousand. When we left in 1986, it was a hair under 679 thousand. Now, it's over 1.2 million.
   A lot of people like to say "hey! I can see my house", which of course they can't. But looking at this picture I can, with 100% certainty, say I know, and can see, the general location of ours. The black area top-left of centre is Nose Hill, where myself and my buddies would climb at least 3 of 4 times a year.
   If you look just a little lower and a tad left of the hill, you'll see a patch of grey looking lights. That's the general area I grew up in. If this had a zoom capacity, I'm sure I could find my house with no problem. But not at this resolution.
   And while it's nice to see Calgary from this vantage point, and it was nice to visit earlier this year, I don't think we could move back, even if circumstances permitted.

TTFN

This Was A Long Time Coming

   I've been suffering hearing loss for quite a few years now, but it finally got to the point where I needed to get a hearing aid. My wife has been urging me to get my hearing checked for years now, and I finally agreed after not being able to hear her talk to me when she was in our living room, and me in the kitchen of our home. Less than 10 feet apart. In an "open concept" house.
   Not surprisingly, the hearing test I took showed loss in my right ear, and profound loss in my left. And so a couple of weeks ago I got fitted, and picked it up last week. Is it perfect? No. Has it restored at least part of my hearing? Yes. But only part of it. I have to go back for a re-evaluation (apparently required by law) in a week, and will need a couple of issues addressed.
   How did my hearing get so bad? Several reasons. Firstly, the industry I work in deals with sound. That means I wear headphones a lot. Probably 66% of my work day. I also suffer tinnitus, which is incurable. And as a teen, I used to play rock music as loud as I could get it wearing headphones. None of which helped.
   But why is the left ear worse than the right? That's easy. I use my left ear more. When I'm reading news, I only have the left ear headphone on. I also used to use "leftie" to talk on the phone. So that one took the brunt of the punishment, so to speak.
   I will, in time, need to get the right ear fitted for a hearing aid as well. But that's going to have to wait until I can afford it.

TTFN

Another Month Over

   Hard as it is to believe, this is the last day of November, and it seems at times like the month flew by. Saturday, we start December, which can be a brutal month, and also officially start winter, with snow, bitter cold and strong wind.
   But it's not all gloom and doom. There are a few things to like about the cold weather. Things like frost. We've had pretty thick fog in the area today, and with the colder temperatures, and little wind, it has turned some trees a little festive, albeit somewhat early, as you can see from this shot out of our office window

   And with Christmas now less than 3 weeks away, I guess I'd better start gift shopping.

TTFN

Turkey Day

   Happy Thanksgiving to all my American viewers. I hope your turkey is moist, the dressing just perfect, the gravy lump-free and dessert delicious! And I wish you a good Black Friday tomorrow.
   Also, a sombre note this year. It was on this day, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in downtown Dallas. I remember it well, because the news broke over the noon hour in Calgary, where I grew up, and cut in to my favourite lunch-time show, Colonel Loonar.

TTFN

Goodbye, Old Friend

   After 2 years, I had to say "goodbye" to a trusted ally. Almost always by my side, I was never let down, until this past Wednesday. Then, death came calling

   My LG G-4 Android cell phone expired. It simply froze, and wouldn't come back to life. Thinking it might help, I pulled the battery and re-installed it, and hit the power on button. All I got was the start-up icon. Nothing else. So, I trooped to my local shop hoping beyond hope one of their technical guru's could re-activate it. But try as he might, nothing.
   He couldn't get it started and, more depressingly, could not retrieve any of my data. I'm still working on re-establishing my contact list, re-connecting with things like email, Facebook and Instagram, and re-installing apps I lost. I was not please that I now have to re-start all the games I had on my old phone. Although having plated them in the past, I now have a better idea of how to proceed on many of them.
   But the worst thing about it crapping out was losing several pictures I had on it. They're not replaceable.
   I did, however, get a shiny new LG G-6 out of the deal

   And the best part, it didn't cost me even one dollar, aside from the usual start-up fees.

TTFN

Back

   It was a nice 5 days off, but it was back to business this morning after an extended Remembrance Day long weekend. I had (as mentioned in the blog below) 2 days off from last year, and figured this was the best time to take them. Although looking back, I probably should've taken the Tuesday-Wednesday off, rather than Friday and Tuesday. It matters not, in the long run.
   I managed to accomplish a grand total of nothing the first 4 days, much to my wife's chagrin. There are some items on the "Honey-Do" list that should've been taken care of quite a while back. But I'm a procrastinator, and would rather put off to tomorrow what could successfully be done today.
   I did take a trip to Regina Tuesday to get fitted for a hearing-aid. I've lost a good 85 to 90% of the hearing in my left ear, the result of wearing a headphone over that one for the almost 40 years I've been in radio. The right one could also probably use a hearing-aid, but I can't afford more than one ear a year.
   All in all, a pleasant few days off, but now it's back at her.

TTFN

Away

   I will be burning off some extra time I'm owed from last year. I'll be taking an extra long break over the Remembrance Day weekend, from tomorrow through next Tuesday, returning Wednesday morning. Not much planned for this time off, other than a trip to Regina and a visit to a hearing centre to look at the possibility of a hearing aid.
   Please remember to pause for a minute or 2 11:00 a.m 11/11. It's the centenary of the end of World War I. If you can, take in a Remembrance Day service in your area.

TTFN