More on Palm Springs

I did not have much time to spend in Palm Springs despite the fact that I missed my main planned hike because of the storm but looked around a bit and was really impressed by its beauty. Big beautiful houses surrounded by flowers and tropical threes so dense that you could not even see the building! I always thought that southern California is very dry and in fact it is but I was there in the wet season! 

However, similar to other rich cities, it cannot survive without the poor. There are rows of rundown townhouse close to the airport where, of course, the low-income earners live. It doesn't necessarily look horribly ugly but you can tell, easily by a glimpse. Obviously where the poor shops is different from the healthy and rich does! Dollarama and Wal-Mart, both, apparently, linger at a corner of the town and other businesses are available for people who don't look at their receipt once it's handed to them. Some even refuse to get it! I have written about the a few of the supermarkets in the town as food and dwelling are the most basic. 

The front of the hotel 

I sometimes get tired of the cold here and I would like to add, emphatically, that I even think of moving somewhere to the south of the border. It's the 20th day of April and it's freaking cold and when I say cold, I mean uncomfortable cold! The freaking QE II was frozen at parts and I not only saw a few wrecked trucks and other vehicles, but also was about to have a nice roll over near my destination, the day before! I was not able to the photos of the road but what happened was that the right lane had two frozen straight lines parallel to each other, where your vehicles tires stand and you drive on those ice sheets(!), for a few short kilometers, near Penhold, I think l was, I lost the control for a second and was thrown to left lane forcefully! My heartbeat went up so fast but I was able to control the vehicle in the last minute! I only was lucky that there was no vehicle trying to pass me or I would have had hit them and perhaps was in a hospital now, if not dead! 

So with that said, you see why I would like to move so deep to rid of this 7-month long winter, after 20 years I have been living here! It mostly got into me now that I drive on QE II regularly now. I think if I move somewhere close to work, that desire diminishes, automatically! 

You can find something acceptable in Palm Springs for nearly US $300,000. If someone lives in that town and installs solar panels for his Tesla (That's the EV I would buy!), they could get a job anywhere in the state and they will be alright. I think if I plan for the hike of Mt. San Jacinto again, I will go to Palm Springs and will stay there but not in Renaissance Hotel, it's just so expensive for me! It cost me more than CAN $800 for two nights and I don't even know if breakfast was included but I don't thinks it was. I was comfortable there. No noise and no crooks but the bed and the pillow were awful and uncomfortable for me, at least. I like a hard pillow and mattress not the one that you sink into it! The hotel is beautiful but failed to impress me. One of my plans was to see one of the date farms but I cancel that before going. I bought a small box of date though for a reasonable price of US $4.99 and it says it's organic. Southern California has a lot to offer but also has horrible stories about homelessness but I will stay away from those places for sure. 

(Photo, top: I don't think Gucci's owner lives in Palm Springs but I don't have an explanation why it's name and logo is seen on the wall of this house! Maybe a vacation home?)

Weird Routes

I decided to have a hike in Utah, after getting caught in a California storm, a couple of weeks ago. I did a nice hike in southern Utah back in 2014. This time I wanted to do a mountain. The only problem is May still is not a good time for hiking in high elevation. Lots of snow.

I wish it was the only problem! 

I didn't find a good flight to Salt Lake City in any of the available airliners. It seems that the state is not a popular destination to Albertans! Or perhaps I shall say southern Albertans. Both the major airlines take weird routes to get to the destination. In other words, they drop you where they want to go and leave you in the hands of another airline and you will have to wait a long time, at time! 

Same thing happened when I was trying to go to Albuquerque back in 2021 and I ended up in Houston by changing my entire trip plan!

(Photo: WestJet goes to Los Angles and then delivers to an American Airliner who will took you back to Salt Lake City in Utah!)

Indian Canyon and some Businesses in Palm Springs

 My third goal in my short southern California trip was a native land which has been partially turned to a park: Indian Canyon. I was one of the first vehicles entering the park, considering it was Sun. and everyone was still asleep! This place has several trails is is surrounded by mountains by unfortunately I didn't have enough time to spend there. Rain was another issue which started after almost 1 hour to an easy hike. I decided to go back as I don't like this sort of nerve racking situation, especially because my flight had been scheduled for the afternoon and had to be there in the airport 2 hours ahead of the flight which is most of the time unnecessary!  
The other problem was the vehicle. My rental, despite being a good brand and good model had a problem and I don't want to name the renting company because that was not certainly their fault. It seemed to be a problem with either the battery or the starter, although it could've been anything else as the new vehicle have computer and electronic systems. The pick up truck refused to turn on and it happened at least 4 or 5 time when I went here and there, especially when I left the park to get something to eat. 

I checked 4 businesses during my short stay: Ralph's, Jensen's Finest Food, Stater Bros Market, Koofi and one convenience Store which I don't recall its name. It was interesting to me that a small town has three different brand of supermarket and that is in addition to Wal-Mart that these days you can see in any North American city, if not everywhere in the world! 
The quality and price of the said stores are sorted from the top to bottom, in case you end up in Palm Spring and would like to buy something:

 
1) Jensen's Finest Food: It truly is the finest. If you drive something less than a VW SUV, you'd better not go to this store! Most of the vehicles I saw there, were either high-end models of top brands or today's EV that not everyone is able to afford. Everything is top quality and priced accordingly. I just bought bar for some $4 and that was good. I think it was on sale or something.

2) Ralph's: It's part of Kruger family. It was jammed pack the first time I was there and prices were reasonable. However I only bought to small pieces bread for $1!

3) Stater Bros Market: It looks like a place that mostly Hispanic, Black and lower income people would go there. I didn't buy anything, not because it looked cheap. I simply didn't find anything appealing. 
Now going to Koofi which seems to a major coffee brand in Palm Spring, was a disappointing experience for me. It seems that the franchise has at least 3 locations in the town but whether they have other ones in California or elsewhere, I don't know. 

How hungry should you be to eat this so-called wrap? The price is in US Dollars and it is presented in one of the Koofi location in Palm Spring, California. There are people who make only a few dollars more after working 1 full hour and there are people who spend way more than this on a lunch or breakfast without wondering. I'm neither of them and despite the fact that I totally understand today's inflation and cost of running a business, I can't eat something like this, no matter how hungry I am.

I checked out the one close to my hotel as it was only 5 minutes walk. It's a small place with tables outside as well. The first thing is they close at 17:30 or something, assuming people don't drink coffee at that time of the day but they could have extended their menu to have longer hours. The other thing is despite the quality of the coffee which is good but not superb, they have a limited menu with skyrocketing prices! One thing must be added here is that apparently taxes are high in this town because I also saw that a medium glass of Orange Juice in McDonald's cost nearly $4! So, it shall be consider that California and specifically Palm Spring are expensive places. 
Palm Spring is such a beautiful place and had I done my hike, I would have enjoyed my trip much more. Not to mention that the continuous rain was really nerve racking when it was coming down. Will I go there again? If I plan for San Jacinto, I thing PSP is the closest unless Alphonse says he would join and agrees to drive from LAX.

(Photo, top: Palm trees in Indian Canyon in southern part of Palm Spring on an Indian Reserve)

One Failed and one Passed

This damn CWB Level I Inspector closed book examination, the one out of three that one shall write to be come such an inspector has become a major problem for me. It's not that the reading material is very hard. It's just too much and I have neither time nor the mode to focus and finish the damn things. I did once and that was when I was laid off last summer but just week before the exam. I was offered this job and I cancelled the exam!
The postponement lead to another delay and I finally wrote it before my trip to California and the result came after I came back from the trip: I had failed 2 out of 3! The closed book, I can understand because it's a long 75-question examination which requires to cover 5 booklets but the damn practical examination is not hard. Nevertheless I have no choice rather than writing and doing the exams again.
The other exam., though, was successfully defeated. The XRF Level I Certificate gives one the permission to operate the Fluorescent Positive Materiel Identification handset under the certification issued by Natural Resources Canada, a subsidiary of the Government of Canada, of course. This was not such a hard exam. either but one shall still study and my trick for that was to ask my manager to give us time to perform a Group Study session. It work particularly because the long weekend before exam., which was unintentionally selected was spent in California! Mon. is usually a busy day because you come back after two day and this time the return was after three days! So the only time I had for preparation, after nearly 10 days of barely looking at the material was Tue. morning, before the exam. but because the hours spent in the Group Study was positive and effective, I was able to pass by 76.6% while I needed at least 70%. It's not a good score but it is a pass. So now I will have to worry about the Level II exam., only! The satisfactory part was the success of a fella worker. He had failed once and when we came out of the exam. room together, knowing that we both have passed, he shock my hand and thanked me. That was rewarding.

(Photo: A newer model of fluorescent analyzer. This small piece of machinery is used to analyze soil, alloys and mineral, in case you did not know)

Caught in a California Storm

 

I tried to go to sleep early and set the clock at. I think 05:30 or something but sleeping was not so easy. These hotels, all of the, no matter how much you pay, the majority of them have no comfortable bed. I paid over US $250 for each night at Renaissance Hotel and despite its cleanness and being nice, both the mattress and the pillow where uncomfortable. The blanket was no better. You would expect a hotel in that price range to be different from Travelodge or Motel 8! Signs of storm was seen at night but I didn't mind it and got out early in the morning. I don't even remember whether or not I got coffee or where I got it but I headed north and that was where I saw so many flashing lights! I went" What the hell is all these. It was raining and it got heavier when I hit I-10 East. It didn't take long to realize that I had make a mistake in two senses! 

1) A rainstorm on the road means a snow storm in the mountain! 

2) I-10 East is not a good road for a driver like me who barely gets close to 20 miles hour bellow the posted speed limit and is heavily dependent on the highway signs and an old GPS! 

I decided to stop for a coffee at a McDonald's and then turned back! By the time I got back to the town it was 07:30 or something or perhaps I shall say that I don't remember. Then I decided to try going to Joshua Tree National Park and the first time I ended up Desert Hot Springs(!) and came back realizing that the GPS is not updated. It was nothing but waste of gasoline, time and money, of course. I eventually got myself into I-10 West and hoped to get to the said park. Not a chance! There were problems!

The hotel's parking lot. Such a beautiful place. Not jam packed at this time of the day

1) There was construction alongside the road and lanes were limited. 
2) You would think you're in desert and all you have to drive in is flat road. Wrong! Big trucks had difficulty going up the hills and there was a backup!
3) The rain was pouring down and was driving me nuts! Nothing bothers me more than driving in heavy rain where I have to have the wipers on, constantly and listen to the annoying noise!
4) Further up the hill, I realized why there was a backup! A Highway Patrol had pulled over an speeding asshole and the entire left lane was blocked! 
I eventually reached the park but then decided to back(!) because it meant nothing to get out in heavy rain! 
So entire days passed by driving around Palm Spring area, eating snacks and taking a few pictures! What would have I done, had I stayed home?!(Photo, top: Rainbow over Road 86. You think the storm is done but I went back to I-10 East again and it was the same!)

Palm Springs Air Museum: A True Gem

The year 2023 was finished with only one hike and that was a failed attempt! So, I decided to make 2024 a productive year and for that I planned for my first hike in southern California, Mt. San Jacinto near the town of Palm Spring. I contacted Alphonse who lives a little over 2 hours from the town and his answer was that he couldn't join because it was Easter! He added that he had invited his relatives over! What an asshole! I don't know why I still hang out with this rat filth! Every time we have a hiking plan he either chickens out or screws it up on the trail! I know why I still hang out with him! First of all he's a good company, although not a good hiker. Secondly I feel bad that I haven't paid my dues. I owe his a fare amount of money.

With that said, I flew to Palm Spring International Airport in a cold and snowy Alberta morning but when I reached there it was nice and sunny. I got my rental, a Toyota Tacoma and the first thing I did, as I had planned was checking into Palm Spring Air Museum. Now here is the thing you need to know: Not many people visit museums these days, especially if they're going to a sunny and nice town in southern California and not many people would like to work in museums. So, a place like that is heavily dependent on volunteers and the elderly. 

I walked in and there were two old men at the counter, at least 70 years old! One of them had tubes coming out of his nose, meaning he was probably using an Oxygen tank! I have nothing against the gentlemen and I'm not teasing them or anything but why a nation cannot be able to preserve their history by maintaining a museum? The admission is $23 which was completely fine by me but when I handed the money to him, he missed one of the Dollar bills! So I had to gave it grab it from the counter and handed it to him! 

The one who greeted me, handed me a brochure and told me how to navigate through the museum was an old lady and she could not be less than 70 as well!

This F-117 is known as Black Devil is on display in Palm Spring Air Museum. I was afraid to touch it but when I did I realized that it has a foamy coat on the top of the actual metal structure, perhaps to help it to avoid radars. It was difficult to get a good shot due to both the length of the airplane and crowd but I had a few good ones, including this. I had a short discussion with the gentleman attendant there, possibly a volunteer, in the hanger and at the end he told me to get a panorama! And I did and it turned out great! It would not have happened, had he not told me. The shot is not seen here, of course but thank you sir for your help!

The museum has different section which is divided based on different timeframes that there was a conflict such a Vietnam War and then there's a large open space that a number of airplanes and helicopters are displayed and that's how you make a museum! You gather all of old and out-of-service airplanes in one location and there you go! You have a museum! The only thing left is to gather a few small things and you're complete! But the museum has more than that and it will be an experience of life-time. For me seeing MiG 21, A6, F-14 and other fighter planes and alike and reading about them was a great experience.

But the highlight of the day was seeing an F-117 on display, one of the only 64 that has ever built! The story of F-117 is a long one but there're a few interesting segments here:

1) The F-117 design and test program started as early as 1980's. Many tests took place in town of Tonopa where I visited in late 2022 and had another failed attempt! I will go back there to hit the summit. Nevertheless the plane was mainly known during the Operation Iraqi Freedom or Desert Storm, the one that the bastard Saddam called Westerns in Arabian Desert! 

2) Despite being considered Stealth, one F-117 was shot down during the Yugoslav War. The story of that is very interesting and too long to be said here. 

3) The plane is retired now and is only used for training purposes!

(Photo, top: A MiG 21, one of the earlier developments of Mikuyan-Gurovish Soviet/Russian aircraft manufacturer on display in the open space of Palm Spring Air Museum. This most likely has brought back to the US from Vietnam)

Cutting Corners

I was driving home from work today and the gasoline price caught my eyes at a Shell station: More than ¢158 for a liter! The funny thing is that the Provincial tax will kick in soon, meaning that there will be some ¢15 added to every liter of gasoline price. In the meantime the bastards of the Provincial Government implemented a $200 annual tax on EVs! 

It is obvious that only a small portion of people can purchase EV and those don't care about that annual tax but for me who has been trying to buy a vehicle for a long time now and hasn't been able to yet, there're no solution but cutting some corners. 

What is that I can remove from my list? It's very easy for me but let's start from an upcoming trip! I'm heading south soon and I have a big bag which I thought I shall check it in. I haven't check a bag in the past 9 years or so and now I need to do that! Not such a good idea! WestJet is asking $30 for a freaking bag! What am I going to do? Easy! Take as much as I can out! I don't care! Do you think I will pay $30 to these guys?! I eat for a week with $30! 

Now going back to the normal life:

1) Internet: I'm not going to renew my contract with the pirates of Rogers/Shaw when it ends in a few months! I will save $52.50 every  month, a total of $630 a year! I don't care about anything on the net. I have internet at work, at my siblings and at a local McDonald's! I $630 is a one-way ticket to a destination to the US! 

2) Milk for coffee! It's been a long time since I tried to avoid the outside coffee of any brand and have been mostly successful. I either use instant coffee or get my coffee from work but I need milk or cream for that as I don't add sugar. I usually buy Organic Milk or Cream but at times regular too. A 2 liters Organic Milk cartoon lasts me a week. It is about $8. The same amount of regular milk is half of that price. That will reduce a total of $20 every month from my bills.  

Why not?!

(Photo: Don't panic yet! This was taken in June 2022 in Downtown Calgary!)

Glory

I have a good number of old movies that I watch one from time to time and I have to admit that I enjoy a lot. I do have access or am able to watch the new ones but being a loser(!), I don't want to go to a movie theater all by myself! There was a time that I used to do that. Now I don't! Perhaps I should give up the idea that if someone sees a movie by themselves is a loser and go but I haven't been able to do that yet. For example when all these blockbuster were being shown, Top Gun: Maverick, Barbie, Killing of Flower Moon, and Oppenheim, I tried to convince myself to see them or perhaps to go with a date or my brother. None of them ever occurred and I ended up having a few of them in digital format but I only have watched and enjoyed the first one!

With that said, I watched Glory, last week. Such a fabulous movie. I intended watching the Civil War era movie once a couple of years ago but was discouraged by the hospital scene with all the blood, screaming and suffer they showed. This time, I skipped that and went all the way. Such a glorious movie, I'd like to say. 

Without spoiling the movie, I'd like to add that Hollywood rarely makes good movies like this, unfortunately: Interesting story, which is based on facts, great acting, good cinematography and great scenario. That's all I need to say about this 1989 film. Find and enjoy. 

(Photo: Both Matthew Broadrick, left and Denzel Washington provide excellent acting this movie. The latter received a well-deserved ACADEMY AWARD for male actor in supporting role)

One for the Guinness

I was all good last weekend. Regular life: Cooking, cleaning, visiting friends and family, jogging. Everything that I do and no one else does! The problem started Sun. afternoon! By Mon. I was in so much pain that I decided to go to Urgent Care! bad idea! I should have gone to a clinic, or more specifically the clinic that I usually go to see my own physician.

I was in the clinic at almost 18:30 MST and there was already a line of 5 or 6 people ahead of me, let alone all the ones waiting here and there! I immediately though I shall get the hell out of there but then remembered all the pain that I had the during the day and the night before and stayed! 

I tried to keep calm the entire time I was waiting. The line no was getting longer and I think it was almost 11:20 that I was called! Now that everyone knows that it doesn't mean I am not examined by a physician! It's just the beginning of the second period of waiting! It took more than 45 or maybe 50 minutes! I was running out of patience and started swearing everyone in the clinic in my head but got myself under control and then the doctor showed! He was a very nice person and helped me as much as I expected from him. The last person who wanted to irritate me was a cute little girl who had been assigned to the task of giving me a few pills before I am discharged. She purposely or unintentionally kept me waiting for 10 minutes and by the time I was leaving the clinic it was almost 00:35! A 6-hour treatment shall have a new record for Guinness. Shall it? 

Workplace Stories (24): Nice but Stupid

The most important factor in being successful at work, after having enough knowledge, is being able to build relationship with everyone. Was I able to do that part of the job? I can't say that I always have been. It's mainly because there're assholes that you can't level with them in any possible way, no matter how hard you try. 

Now I'm five months to this job, things haven't been so great: I still have the long commute, long hours, endless undertakings and like any other job, dealing with assholes! The latter, though, only takes a small part of my time. However I come across an issue of different nature: How to deal with people who make detrimental mistakes but they're nice?! Here's what happened a few weeks ago and I was quite shocked to see this:

The groove weld that bonds the 4" pipe, vertically, almost, to the 24" main pipe, from inside the big pipe. That is basically the only weld which you need, if you are planning to put a plate around the 4" weld, later.

One of the welders asked me to do a a Visual Inspection on one circumferential semi-horizontal(!) weld on a part. I normally don't do that. This is not common. I usually wait for a number of welds to be deposited and then the supervisors called me to go. This was an exemption because the weld would have to be covered by a plate. However, that was the problem. The plate would have to be flushed with the horizontal pipe that the welded pipe, the vertical pipe had been welded to! So, technically, the only weld you would need to deposit, for the small 4" pipe attached to the gigantic 24" horizontal pipe, is a groove weld. In order to do that, you would bevel the 24" to the point that you can deposit a good amount of material to provide sufficient strength and that would be it. The plate lands on the 24" horizontal pipe and a weld-all-around fillet weld would finish this part. The guy, instead, has deposited a big fillet weld right after the groove weld and now he had to grind it off to be able to put the plate on and weld it!!

This picture shows the plate before being pushed down to flush with the big pipe and welded. Notice the pig filler weld all around the 4" pipe? That needs to be grinded off before the this plate can be installed!

It was not entirely his fault because that how it was shown in the stupid drawing but as an experienced welder he should've either held the operation and ask or simply ignored the fillet weld but he didn't and that was where I was very surprised by the stupidity! I discussed the issue with both the drafter and the engineer and they accepted my point but I told them that I had left the guy on his own, mainly because bringing such a problem up would not do anything but damaging the relationship which I certainly need for a long-term career, to my retirement, a good position somewhere else or to the Government job!

(Photo, top; The 4" pipe after the plate is also put around it.) 

When a Thunder Strikes

There's nothing more pleasing to me while I'm on the road, rather than seeing people are pulled over by the authorities. I think there have been days that I saw at least once a day! In winter when it's dark, it's very easy to get caught. You're driving and you don't even see the car in pitch dark and all of a sudden you see the beacons. 
Now that it's bright, especially in the afternoon, starting this Mon. that he Daylight Saving was started, it's become easy see the police but there's idiots who are blind as well as being stupid. I was heading down the road this afternoon and at a merge of another road saw a truck sitting there. I always drive between 100 Km and 105 Km per hour and am never worried. So, when I was passing him I was able to see his camera installed on the dash. I didn't care much because I was within the speed limit as always. Just a few kilometers down the road I saw the beacon flashing! That was him! It happened so fast that I didn't get what had happened first! Just so a few cars passed me and then there were the lights! He truck on a drive like thunder on an early spring day! I'm sure he even didn't have to react. Enjoy the ticket, moron! 

(Photo: The moment of truth! I don't know how much this violation costs because the last ticket that I have received was in 2012 but I assume it cannot be less than $150 CAN. The funny thing is a drunkard stupid donkey asked once on the net whether he has to pay his ticket!! I honestly think, at times, that these people have concrete, dog poop and cat piss mixed up and placed in their skulls for brain!)

On the Road to Recovery

I don't know if you believe in this or not but I have a saying for myself which goes: Once a Loser, Always a Loser! And in that I'm talking about myself! After my separation from my wife, 8 years ago, I never was able to get myself into a meaningful relationship, despite the opportunities and trying. There has been always a problem or an excuse. And will be like that probably until the day I die, unless there's an extraordinary situation! 

With that in mind, I talked to The Chef last Saturday and we ended up getting a couple of nice Fishes and going to my place. Of course I paid for that and I picked him up at his place. He's broke as a homeless but considering all the times that I went to his place and he provided food and booze, this was nothing. 

The fish this time came out very nicely, especially because I was very hungry, I think. We finished two medium sized Salmon but not the top rated ones but not too cheap either. 

The difference this time was the Wine. This was given to me as a Christmas gift by the company. It obviously was not an expensive one, probably $15 or so for a 750 ml bottle but because of its low percentage of alcohol, only 10%, it tasted really fine. A white Zinfandel from California which was a little bit sweet and went down smoothly. 

I do not call The Chef by this name. It's because he's always awesome when it comes to cooking. The nickname, of course, is not known to him. I never use it to call him. Here he has used a mixture of herbs and spices to coat the pieces before they are fried in another mixture! 

My only worry was The Chef getting drunk and get me in trouble but it didn't happened due to the low amount of beverage and being low alcohol. I think he hasn't learnt his lesson yet even after this last time that he almost lost an eye and hasn't been recovered completely but who am I kidding?! Once you're addicted to alcohol or any substance, there's barely any return!

(Photo, top: The glasses contain the nice pink wine)

My first Apple Pie

Winter is the proper time for backing. At least for me. I turn the oven on to make something delicious and make the house warm as well! Sounds cheap? It's not! Home baking isn't cheap, if you use the proper or perhaps I shall say good ingredients. This time I decided to make Apple Pie and the result was spot on! As always I used Whole Wheat Flour which is way healthier than the cheap item they use in massive-backing factories. I used Granny Smith Apples and a little, probably only three tablespoons, of Brow Sugar. My way of preparing the Crust was just following the same method as preparing dough for the Flat Bread, which worked fine. I must add that I do not peel the Apples because that way, if you chew completely and properly(!) it is way better for your stomach and generally the digestion system. When it came out of the oven hot, it was amazing! I think not using much sugar it gave it a little bit taste sourness but that was still okay.

A closeup of the pie shows the texture and the pieces of apple with the skin on

Next time I might use one extra tablespoon or simply use another type of Apple. I was going to offer a slice to The Old Gal to reopen the negotiations(!) since she dodged me the last time I was approaching home, and I think it was because I have not contacted her since last Nov. but then I said F*ck it! I don't need her! I've lived my life alone for the mist of my life. I'm not going to beg a women because I feel I need someone physically or emotionally!

SALT

 

This post is about three different types of salt: Salt, the mineral, which is used for cooking. SALT, the movie and S. A. L. T. a treaty between the US and former Soviet Union and I'm sure this is the most understood one, amongst the three. Not that it is important.

I wrote an e-mail to Health Canada with the hope to make them understand that when they use the term Sodium to address Salt, they're wrong! Sodium is an element in Periodic Table with Atomic Number 11 and Na as its symbol and is considered a metal! Salt, on the other hand is a mineral and its formula is Na Cl, meaning it is composed of two elements Sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl)! The only thing that Sodium as an element and Salt as a mineral share is Sodium (Na) but they neither look alike nor taste the same! In fact you cannot taste Sodium because it's a soft, silvery and highly reactive metal! 

Why a Government organization makes such a silly mistake, remains a mystery to me!

Richard Nixon left and Leonid Brezhnev during SALT I meeting. The one next to Nixon is the long-time serving Foreign Minister of the USSR, Andrei Gromyko. 

SALT, in all capital letters, or S. A. L. T. was a treaty between the US and former Soviet Union to limit the development and usage, later, of the strategic weapons. In fact S. A. L. T., stands for strategic arms limitation talks. This meetings originally took place between Nixon and Brezhnev (or as I would write it in English as Brezhnef, because v at the end in Slavic languages or Cyrillic script pronounces as f but in English doesn't!) and was continued to the time that Ronald Reagan was the president. Did it do any good to the international peace? Probably! But that is not what we're going to discuss here. It was just a brief reference.

Sodium is a silvery and soft, highly reactive metal. Only stupid and ignorant people use this term to address salt that we add to our food

SALT, which in fact shall be written Salt but might confuse people with the mineral, is a movie after a person's surname: Evelyn Salt, with Angelina Julie as the main character. This was an enjoyable and very entertaining movie with great cinematography, acting and story. Many people praise Julie for her performance in different movies. This was my second one from her after Girl Interrupted and she's phenomenal in both, particularly the first. I'm not going to spoil the movie for someone who hasn't seen it yet but have to say that it was unique in story. Probably one of the movies that I easily would give 3.75 out of 5. 

(Photo, top: Evelyn Salt as a CIA agent is interviewing a defector who later blow her cover!)

Is Restaurant Industry about to Die?

Éclair called me to go for lunch with him a few weeks ago, at work, again and on the way he said he wanted to have Egg. We went to a local restaurant and he ordered a couple of Eggs, Toast and Hash Brown. I ordered the similar dish. Nothing more. Not even a beverage. Since he had paid all the time we had lunch together, I decided to pay this time, despite the fact that he had told me that he would have put it on the company's tab. 

You would not imagine to have a big bill for a couple of Toasts, two couples of Eggs, a handful of scorched(!) Potato cubes and some garnish. Would you? You should! It cost me exactly $51.89!! It is very easy to calculate how much such meal cost the restaurant and then add the other cost:

1) Two Eggs. I think you can buy a dozens of Eggs for as low as $4.5 these days and I'm sure that restaurants have access to bulk food and wholesale. So, the cost of the eggs would not be more than $1, at the most!

2) Toast. Cheap sliced Bread of different kind is available in the country which is amongst the 10 biggest producers of Wheat. I do not buy anything baked, at all, because of all the disgusting shit that the bakeries of the major supermarket add to the ingredients to increase the shelf-life, not to mention the fact that most of the bread out there is made of White Flour and is bad for the digestion system and generally, health. So I don't know how much a bag of sliced bread is these days but I think they can buy a cheap one as low as $3. Considering a bag of sliced bread could contain as many as 10 sliced, the cost of this part of the dish would not be more than $1, maximum, again. 

3) Hash Brown. I think restaurants buy frozen bulk Hash Brown and dip fry them in 1-week old oil or something like that. No one in any restaurant sits to peel and cut potatoes! Everything is done by machines. It is not easy to calculate the cost of this item but looking at the pile of Potatoes in the above picture, I'd say it's a large potato, probably a quarter pound and shall cost something around ¢50 and now because it was partially ready, before it entered the restaurant, I would give the same value to it and will say the Hash Brown cost $1, as well! 

4) There's nothing more in that plate rather than some garnish. The whole meal must not have taken more than 15 minutes to make, including plating. Do you want me to calculate the remaining of the cost, now?!

I know no one thinks about these details but I know that eating out has become difficult for people, particularly Canadians because they barely cook at home. Perhaps this has changed now after two years that inflation has been killing everyone! I wonder what the reaction of the restaurant would be, If I send this to them! Charging $25 for a $5 meal! I will never, ever go to that place and similar ones!

(Photo: My expensive meal at a local Alberta restaurant which cost me $25!)

Who was Targeted in Top Gun: Maverick?

When Top Gun: Maverick was about to be realized, two years ago, I think, there was all trailers, teasers and such to market the American propaganda enough, so it will not become a failure after spending millions of dollars on it. Hollywood was in such a deep shit that Spielberg later said that Cruise has saved it by this movie!

I never was excited by the movie because I knew what it would be and that is why I didn't watch it until just recently, last week! I have to say that I saw the original Top Gun shortly after it came out on VHS in the old country and didn't understand much! As a young man, my English was not to the level to understand what they were saying. So, the story was not clear to me but as a young fella I wanted to show to the others that I, too, have seen this blockbuster and enjoyed that! I didn't even bother watching the movie here now that I've been living for over 20 years. This is despite the fact that I bought many DVDs when they were popular or rented them to re-watch the movies that I had seen them but they were either in low quality VHS or Betamax or I had not understood the plot, completely or entirely. To name, Basic Instinct was the first movie that I purchased and that was in Sunridge Mall back in, probably 2002! There were many more but we're going too far away from the subject. I never watched Top Gun, the original film| because it's not appealing to me and I know it would only be a propaganda that the young beer-drinking, weed-smoking, foreigner-hating, casual-sex-loving, Westerners would like. With that said, I decided to watch the new Top Gun and immerse myself to the world of a backward Baseball cap wearing, McDonald's-lover, weed-seeking Canadian/American teenager or average Joe! 

The result was not too bad, I have to admit. But here's the thing about sequels in Hollywood: The majority of time the sequels turn into shit! Why? Because the stupid writers do not use much creativity or maybe they're all out of ideas! The other possibility is that the producer simply wants to show the new generation what this movie was 25 years or so, ago! But that is not always the case. There has been sequels just a few years apart. Otherwise why the hell would you repeat the same stupid shit?! Let's look at a few examples together: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. An identical copy(!) of the previous one. In fact it was version 1 turned to version 1.00001! Alien Covenant and Pretentious: For years they were advertising on the sequels to the amazing Alien franchise then it was finally here: Despite millions of dollars spent and some good performances, Ridley Scott's new hit was nothing but a disappointment! He even brought the great Charlize Throne to make it more attractive for the movie fans and all she did was a few minutes of appearance and bursting out a few pieces of dialogue such as saying " Shit "! I think she wanted to indicated what the the movie would be eventually! Now going back to Top Gun: Maverick, the story is the exact same stupid shit! They even used most of the characters that they had in the original movie: Maverick, the son of the mustache guy, who was killed in the first movie and looks quite similar to his Dad and is probably even better than him at what he does and few other coloured and non-Caucasian actors, including a cute little girl to say that they are inclusive, probably! The acting are mediocre, mechanical and emotionless! 

This is the moment that Maverick's old F-14 loses the right engine while trying to land on the career

These are all good actors and actress whom I have always enjoyed their performance, though: Cruise was amazing in American Made, Valkyrie, Collateral and a few more. Jennifer Connelly's performance in The House of Sand and Fog and Dark Water is superb but they both was just acting like average performers. The other guys are just extras! The idiot writers even used the scenes of the previous movie here: The football scene, the piano playing scene and the bar beer drinking scene! The character of Kelly McGillis has been completely removed and now Maverick has a new love! 

Then they have a mission which is the start of the controversy and no one, as far as I know has mentioned that: Destroying an uranium enrichment plant! What country has uranium enrichment in process? Iran! I don't know how someone from, for example, China, would feel, if a movie was made to show that they were going to attack Shanghai! What would be the Chinese government reaction be? To confirm that later, when the attack takes place, Maverick and Goose's sun, who are both shut down and magically survived and miraculously find each other, despite being miles far away, in such a short time, they go to the destroyed runway and find an F-14 Tomcat in one of the not-destroyed bunkers! Another miracle which only happens top Americans! But here's another question: What other country, in the history of military, ever had F-14s rather than the US? The answer is Iran! 

I'm no supporter of the Government of Iran but certainly do not like to see the country being attacked by any foreign forces. There was a war once and the country was destroyed so badly but Americans think that every other nation in the region can have nuclear power but Iran, although I doubt that their aim is the bomb. 

The opening scene of the movie is good two. the interior design of the plane and the whole test is great. Also the parts that Maverick teaches them how to fight is filmed very nicely. I would rate the movie a 3.5 out of 5 and that is for the good cinematography and scenes. It's got nothing else.   

(Photo, top: An IRIAF [Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force] F-14 Tomcat, in an unidentified Iranian airport. It is not known what model of Tomcat it is. An F-4 Phantom, a passenger airplane and a Russian-made jet are all seen as well. No doubt that all the F-14 were bought by the Shah of Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and given to IIAF [Imperial Iranian Air Force] the department which was renamed to IRIAF, later)

The Machinist

I'm aiming at two topics in this post a movie called The Machinist which I watched a few months ago and a machinist who works for the same company as I do. I was working on a part late one afternoon when everyone leaves and this guy approaches me and starts a conversation. Lonely people always try to find a time to have a conversation with others. That's how they feel their void. I do that to but I've always have been a chatty person and at times it had gotten me into trouble!

So here he is and somehow the conversation is directed to where we live. He says that he lives alone in a 2-bedroom bungalow or something and pays $1600 a months! He adds that he would like soon to get a dog and if he did, he would go check on it everyday at lunch break! That distance is nearly 50 KM (31 miles), both ways! Listening to that, I realized why some have difficulty managing their finances. That big bucks for rent and the amount of money you have to pay for your pay is not just a joke. Then he goes and adds that he does not like to wake up next to someone that would cause problem for him now and then, indicating that he has no wife or girlfriend but he does add that he likes, simply (I quote!), to find someone out of Leolist! I told him about the actual (documentary) sting operations that I had seen a couple of weeks earlier. It was these guys who make an appointment with prostitutes, in the US, I think, and when they go to the place, the door is opened and they see law enforcement officers waiting to interrogate them! I also added that the concept of prostitution is why many go to Thailand and Vietnam, every year.  He goes: You don't know what you're getting there! And my response is: It doesn't matter to the person who goes there! I was a bit surprised that someone admits that they would rather hang out with prostitutes rather than having a healthy relationship, particularly a Caucasian because I believe it's much easier for the people of here to find a mate in comparison to someone like me who is a complete loser in that department! I I didn't have a abrupt reaction to that, though! I showed that I was busy with work and he realized that it was the time for him to leave, and he did! 

We're now moving to the story of the movie, a strange one, called The Machinist. This is a weird movie staring Christian Bale, as the main character, a few other good actors and actresses and Michael Ironside. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but it's not a very pleasant one to watch, with some disturbing scenes and kind of complicated to understand what the story is telling you! The guy, the main character is as weird as the machinist whom I referred to above, a bit, not much: Single, likes to spend his money on prostitutes, lives in a rental, have the same job and eventually gets himself into a horrific trouble, which I hope will not happen to this fella at work!

(Photo: Bale's character, on left, is trying to help Ironside's, center, during a work accident, in a scene from the film)

The Government of Canada is the biggest Money Waster

I went to Texas in the pick of Covid-19 Pandemic: Nov. of 2021. It was a fairly good trip. On the way back, at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, in Houston I was asked if I had installed ArriveCan App on my phone. It was an additional requirement to having negative Covid-19 test result. I received the latter as a text message shortly after my arrival at the airport. For the App, a WestJet employee, who happened to be a very nice young lady, helped me with everything! She installed the App and entered all the necessary data in! I boarded the plane with no difficulty and flew home. That was the first and the last time I used ArriveCan. It was considered not mandatory after that. 

Now it has been revealed that the App has cost nearly $59.5 million! It is unbelievable! If it was another courtly, everyone in charge would have been taken to the court and tried. Here it is in the news for a few days and people forge about that! But for me who has unsuccessfully attended two Federal Government training programs, seeing how much is wasted is nothing new. Tons of foods, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of salaries equipment, water, supplies, you name it. $59.5 million is no joke! I'm sure, as I said, this will be buried. No one ever goes after the big thieves! It's just the small ones who always get caught and then would let go with a slap on the wrist!  

(Photo: A group of kids from Puerto Rico were waiting for their flight out of Houston was the only thing that I thought would worth taking photo of at the time! Hygiene, being clean and nice and acting normal in public place was their number one consideration. That is why you see they're laying on on the airports floor. The future belongs to you guys!)

There's not such a Thing as a Bad Habit

The Chef has this bad habit of drinking for years. He told me once that he developed it in India, where he spent his life more than 10 years or more. He drinks everything: From Beer to different chip Wine, to Vodka but his favorite, recently, is Red Wine because he believes good for him! Drinking has caused him so many problems that he had lost his job, his home and his vehicle but still has not learned! I called him last week to see how he was doing. No response. Then he called a couple of days after that and he said he had had an incident. I assumed he fell off the bicycle or had been hit, considering that he rides his bike to work. 

He said that he had been hospitalized in a this medical center. I went there to see him yesterday. He was laying on a bed with an eye patch! That was when the truth became known: He was drunk and he was beaten up! It was so bad that he was not able to remember if he was riding the bike when he got into, if I may say, altercation, or not! I'm not even able to say if it was an altercation or not because he didn't say anything about beating them! It seams that he was so drunk that they just beat him up to the limit! My assumption is he was drinking with them but since he gets drunk fast and becomes totally unaware of what is going around him, he probably swore at or shoved them and they gave thought him a good lesson! 

He will be 65 at the end of this Feb. but he looks nothing like a man at that age. He still is strong as an ox but not as strong as 5 years ago or before his multiple hospitalization and I'm not talking about this one! 

He have had two major hospitalizations:

1) He got drunk and fell into a hole in the yard of his workplace, a few years ago! I never heard the true story behind this incident but there's no doubt that he did not see the barricades or he could've filed a lawsuit against the employer! He knew it was his fault. So he sucked it up! He was lucky that he didn't go head-first or it could've been something else because no ones knows what happened. He shattered one of his kneecaps!

2) The second time he had been told that he had a heart attack and needed a surgery! That was because of years of eating meat and so much god damn meat! He survived this one too!   

At this point I don't know if he will lose that eye or not but he said that they were working on it for a while and he had sever pain. He seemed calm, though! 

(Photo: The medical clinic that The Chef is currently hospitalized in it)

Thanks Sweet (Home) Alabama

One of the things that bothers me about Canada, and someone might say you don't like it, go back to your country(!), is the Justice System. This is how it basically works: You can be accused, charged, prosecuted and convicted of something as insignificant of blowing a candle(!) and your punishment would not be very harsh either but it will stay with you for a long time. 

On the other hand you could commit a heinous crime and at times be free until the court day and they when the trail is finished, you're punished with a slap on the wrist! The Criminal Code of Canada in 1351 pages has good recipes to take you down and make money for different organizations! It's simple. Let's say someone kills their wife over a domestic dispute, divorce, child custody, whatever. 

1) The police comes and does the investigation. If they can catch the guy, they arrest him and will take him to custody.

2) Coroner appears at the scene to perform investigation.

3-1) A court day is set for the accused and they're free to go.

3-2) At times the accused is held in custody until the court day and I think that has something to do with the records of the individual or what they have done.

4) A lawyer is assigned to the case either by the accused or by the system. The latter is called Public Defender.

5) The trail starts and it might take months.

6) In most cases the accused is sentenced to a few month jail and then let go!

Sure the record stays with him for a long time and I don't even know if it could be removed on not but he's out and who benefited from that? Count the number of the people who are involved in this case from the beginning to the end and add the ones who might get involved when this guy has another offence! 

Now compare the number to the system when the guy is sentence to death! Are you not convinced that the system is built to keep people employed and make revenue?! 

Governor Ivey in 2020

The US system is a little bit better. At least they haven't abolish capital punishment. The problem over there is that the system is so pathetic that people fight the court's verdicts for years! 

There was disgusting murderer in the State of Alabama who had been sitting in death row since the 90's! This piece of work, who finally got what he deserved two days ago had been hired by a deadbeat to kill his wife so the guy, who happened to be a man of God(!) could use the life insurance to pay his debt! This filthy rat fought the system for years and now that he suffered for a few minutes and died, people feel humanitarian!!!!!!! Do you have dog shit and cat poop in your skull for brain?! This guy was a criminal who received $1000 to kill an innocent woman! Now you're crying that his execution was not inhumane?! You are worst that a piece of shit in toilet before flushing! Perhaps soon you should experience the same feeling that the poor lady had and see if this cockroach's execution was right or not! Thanks the State of Alabama. Thank you Governor Ivey. I'm thinking of sending a personal thank you letter to the lady.

(Photo, top: The correctional facility that the murdered was being held. The crime was committed in 1988. It took justice nearly 35 to do its tasks correctly and completely!)

 

Online Orders

I'm not a fan of online shopping. I like to go to a store and see the item I'm buying and compare it to the similar merchandises. Besides waiting has always been painful for me, especially for something that I can buy in five minutes! 
With that said, there was one thing that I was not able to buy from the stores and had to order it, recently: A mobile phone. One might say that phones can be purchased easily from different stores. Not this one. I was looking for another Blackberry! I ordered it in the afternoon of 01.Jan. with the hope that I can get it by the end of the week. Not that I needed it. Just don't like the wait. Beside the website, Best Buy's says " It usually takes 1 to 2 business day ". When did I receive it? 18.Jan.! 
That is why I'm not a fan of online shopping: Waiting. And now if there's a problem with it, or anything else, I have to send it back and the same story. But why did I buy that phone, one might ask. My old phone, the current one, also a Blackberry was purchased in the 4th quarter of 2019. New phones are all expensive. So, I told myself that I shall get something that I have tried and reasonably priced: I think I paid a little over $500 for it. Besides, I'm hoping to get a SIM Card for that when I have an out-of-country trip this year, wherever it might be. 

(Photo: A picture of my new Blackberry by my old Blackberry! There has been changes)

Baked Goods in Canada

Canada is amongst the top 10 producers of wheat and most likely other grains and oil seeds in the world but unfortunately I've had some of the worst breads, in terms of both taste and health-risks in the country. First of all, if you buy bread here, you contribute to world pollution and garbage accumulation because bread here is always kept in plastic bags. Imagine how many millions bags have so far been produced and added to the landfills across the country. Second, the amount of chemicals and preservatives added to each loaf of bread is baffling. They not only add those to increase the shelf life but also to preserve the shape and alter the taste! In addition to what has already been indicated, most of the bread produced here, as well as the baked good is made out of White Flour which is generally considered harmful to the body: Pasta, Biscuits, Pizza crust, you name it. I remember Pizza Hut in 17th Ave., SW, Calgary had Whole Wheat Crust a few years ago but due to the stupidity and ignorance of the majority of the customers, they discontinued that! 

Other baked good, including energy bars, Granola bars, Muffins, etc. are all as disgusting as the above: Either loaded with sugar and preservatives or dip-fried in on oil basin which is used over and over in day. For all the above reasons I barely buy any baked good from any stores, anywhere. I started baking my flat bread last summer and in order to make it a little bit easier, I recently have bought a mixer. I know can make everything easier including my granola bar.  It certainly might not seem easy and affordable to many but no good thing is. Just consider McDonald's: When I was in Nisku for a course in the first week of Dec., I went to a local McDonald's for a breakfast and tried their $4 deal: A Sausage McMuffin, a medium Coffee. Apart from the fact that the sandwich is very harmful, it looked so shrunk that I doubt anyone would feel full after eating this breakfast! So here you're paying $4 for a breakfast which is neither healthy nor filling. Why don't you make something at home, before leaving for work? Wake up a bit earlier, have your breakfast before leaving and save money by not buying junk food and save time but not staying in line. Also by skipping these fast food joints you save the country to be exposed to thousands of foreign workers whom their existence here is just for making the multi-million dollar companies richer and your life harder. One aspect of that is more demand for housing which has driven the rent and mortgage high. Think about it.

(Photo, top: The granola bar came out really good with its golden surface, left: My new Cuisinart mixer)

Update: There is a recall for Granola Bars in Canada. 

Sensing the Real Alberta Winter

The real Alberta winter arrived this week, after months of mild or perhaps I shall say bad weather. Why? While everyone was happy because it was not cold or there was no precipitation, they don't understand this simple fact that no precipitation means a horrible summer of drought and higher prices of food! Even the so-called Engineering Manager of us was surprised when I said that and he, rather than his position, has been graduated from University of Calgary which is considered a top school in Canada! 

So what do you expect from the average Joe when their educated person is dumb as a f*ck! And despite all these warnings given and two weeks passing Christmas people still have lots of lights on at night! Even last night most of the house across from where I live, had their outside lights on!!! 

I haven't had any problem with the car so far, fortunately. Neither with the battery nor with the tire but I booked for tire change. For those who are reading this, trying to find something to get back at me, because they don't like what I write or who I am(!), I have to say that I won't say where I got a very reasonable price for tire change and how much it would cost! So, you can swear as much as you want and vent yourself here. Your writing would be easily removed!  

(Photo: The vehicle's odometer showing yesterday morning's temperature and it normally shows 2 degrees warmer! This is in Celsius which equals to roughly -38 degrees Fahrenheit) 

Finally Ordered a Vehicle

I went to a dealer yesterday and I ordered a vehicle after nearly 4 years! It was an interesting experience but I feel that I was deceived. My intention was to get either of these cars but in Hybrid model:

1) Camry

2) Prius

3) Land Cruiser

You know how these salespersons play. This guys, whom I had met before and didn't know, takes me to a very nice vehicle which a Sold sign on it and then later tells me it was available for almost $61,000! I wouldn't pay that much for a vehicle or I'd gone for a Tesla Model 3. Then he indicates that Hybrid Land Cruiser would not be delivered until 2026 and there has been so many orders for that now! I do not believe that. He barely says anything about Camry and I don't insists because I know that is one of the other tricks of them. 

Here is the mistake I made: We agree to order a Prius for a total of nearly $47,000 and I don't know why I signed the paper! I then go to their financing guy and pay $500 down payment! While I know I can cancel the order any time without any reason, I am hoping(!) here are my mistakes:

1) I didn't get a copy of the paper I signed!

2) I didn't check the Toyota Canada website for the actual price of the car!

Toyota Land Cruiser played a major role in Iran-Iraq War in the 80's. Here an American Tow missile is installed on an IRGC Land Cruiser. All the industrialized countries benefited from this war which is considered the longest one in the 20th century. Selling everything to the both sides of the war and selling the things that the two countries were not able to sell because they had to focus on war. Even the neighbouring poor and desperate countries benefited a lot: Pakistan, Jordan, Turkey, tiny shitty small countries at the south side of Persian Gulf, you name it. Everyone benefited and was a winner but the two country. 

If you go to Toyota Canada, you'll see that you can get a 2024 Prius for $41,000! And of course you would add tax and other applicable fees which would not go to $47,000! So I need to talk to the guy about it.

Their financing fella told me that he would contact me in a month or two. That means that they either have the car somewhere in their lot or it's being shipped to them! I can't really say what they have their mind and what trick they're trying to pull but there must be something! I'm going to wait but will contact the guy this week to ask him about the big amount difference.

(Photo, top: A Prius Prime in a Toyota dealer in Alberta. Looks really good)