My Salvation Army Story

Employers reimburse some of the employees' expenses, if they are legitimate. Education and safety gear are some of them. This story is about what I made up and sold to our so-called Safety Manager and my supervisor about the safety boots I had purchased and it shows how naive these people are. I did it mainly because as I've said this before most of the Canadians feel jealous when they see a foreigner, particularly someone like me from that specific part of the world, purchases valuable and quality merchandise.

I went to a branch of Red Wings and picked a pair of safety boots for a little over $300. My main goal was and still is to use the boots mainly for hiking, not for work! The guy in the store recommended another pair but because that was very heavy I picked the one I thought would be more comfortable although now I think I need to change this to a bigger size that it feels too tight! Why did I not do that in the first place? The answer is very easy: I become a lazy fool from time to time! 

With that said, I put the box in a tote with a big Salvation Army written at each side. This was given to me by my Mom and I did not ask her where she had obtained it from. I showed it to my so-called supervisor and as soon as he sees that he smiles and I think he believes that I had purchased it from a Salvation Army store! I decide to play along and rake that to the Safety Manager and tell him that I had purchased it from a Salvation Army store. He looks at the boots which obviously had never been worn and confirms that! I tell him that the guy who purchased it got into an incident, becomes injured and permanently disable as a result of them. He then sells the boots to the store to cover part of hi expense despite the fact that he is covered by insurance! The boots which are normally over $400 are sold for a little over $300! The idiot buys it, despite the fact that the receipt says Red Wings Shoes clearly on the top! He then approves it, I take it to our manager and he approves it as well. I then send the Expense Report and simply wait for reimbursement and will enjoy the boots in one of the upcoming hikes soon! 

I used another pair of Red Wings boots in a beautiful hike to the summit of Maze Mountain with my buddy Stout a few years ago but I'm not in the same state of mind and shape these days. I'm older and mentally shattered but I will try to do as many hikes as I can this summer and not only compensate for the losses but also bank more. 

(Photo: One of a few Red Wings boots which are made for hiking. I cannot tell whether this one is also a safety boot or not but when I asked the fella in the shop the other day he didn't know anything about it. The previous one was tried once, as far as I remember and was not too bad. I will have to see how this one will work after I change it with a bigger size)

A Jealous Asshole

One of the things that you face here in Canada a lot, is jealousy. The country has been the land of mostly poor people from around the world coming for a better life. People without education, running water, electricity, not enough to eat, barely covering themselves in anything, etc. Try The Philippines, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, you name it. The funny thing is the last 6 called themselves European! European my ass! They cannot even feed themselves as well as India! There are also many Latinos and of course some Africans. So basically it is a toilet, as I have mentioned earlier. In case you wonder why I came to this toilet, I ran away from fundamentalism which is a separate story. 

When the US started to mess with western Asia, and for the ignorant who might read this and don't know where the western Asia is(!),  the area is at the west side of the biggest continent in the word which starts from Turkey and extends to Japan. Another funny thing is some public toilets, in the past few years have considered themselves European!!! Lands of absolutely nothing, tried to be part of E. U.(!!!!) as well. We'll discuss that in another post but western Asia consists of countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Iran and a few more. The region is called the Middle East(!!!!) by some alcoholic, ignorant, careless, toilet-fast-food-eater animals, in the US and many other places. For the exact same reason that those motherfuckers call the Native inhabitants of North America, Indians! These people's skull is filled with cat piss and dog feces. They can't think enough. They eat, shit (in the mouth of their own nasty mothers) and fuck! That is all they can do! 

Nevertheless when the things start going down in Iran, many people started to think about immigration. At the beginning it was the US and some European countries, mostly as students, then came Canada. These people were mostly educated and could handle their own lives easily. Some of my former classmates and colleagues now have very good, well-paid and stable positions in the US and Canada. This, cannot be accepted by, most of the, Canadians! They become jealous and all sorts of reactions could be seen. I will tell my buddy's story, Ali G., from the time we worked for Cargill Meat Solutions later. The jealousy is also seen within other foreigners. One of the assholes whom I had to deal with these years and I lied to him a lot is The Mumbling Guy and this is what happened recently:

I don't drive my new car, usually. Did not in winter because didn't want to spend money in winter tires. Now the ice and snow season is over, I'll take it to work once a week! I have told everyone who has asked about it, because it's an unusual vehicle, that it is not mine and made up an story for the jealous assholes. The Mumbling Guy approached me a few days ago and asked me about it. That was the second time he was asking. I told him the same story that I had made up for other assholes. This ignorant fuck doesn't understand the concept of Hybrid-Electric! So I told him that the car has a small battery (which is true) and is good for only 70 Km, which also is true! The poor ugly bastard thinks it's an EV! Then he goes this might be a issue!! Imagine an ugly motherfucker who does not understand basic English grammar after more than 20 years of living in the toilet and has a Master's Degree! I told him that I had talked to the company people and they told me it would be okay to plug the vehicle in! He said okay and fucked off! I made up a more detailed story about the owner of the car which is not needed to be said here, just to shut him up but he was not happy! 

(Photo: I took this picture in Nagasaki during a walk. I wondered why they have parked like that. Perhaps they leave at the same time. The front car is amongst a few Japanese cars that I have seen here in Canada and Japan, both)

Mindless Retards at Work (2): That's been always like this!

I had a few engagements, if I could call them, with this dumb dike just last week, regarding safety-related issues at work. I hope they go well or I'll be in trouble.

This disgusting, ignorant, lazy dumb asses call themselves safety officers but barely leave their filthy office to observe what is going on in the area. This time the issue was about completing a form which is so stupid and ridiculous! The form does not even have a serial number! So if you, say, fill out three and give back one, there's really no way to check the status of the other ones! There're so many vague areas in the form and when I asked the donkey about them, she yelled: It's always been like this! For example in the Dimension section, I entered the length but then she said she wanted the I. D. to be added! When I added the Internal Dimension as, 780 mm, she said she didn't know what 780 mm means!

Here I'm dealing with an ignorant donkey who thinks because the things have always been the way they were, we're supposed to know them, automatically and them she doesn't know what mm means or how to convert it to inches! These are the people who we have to deal with, on daily basis and there're many of them around.

(Photo: There has recently been an incident in northern Alberta, which resulted in a poor worker's death and another one's injury. I'd very much like to know how it has been investigated by the so-called safety officers)

The first Canned of 2026

This post could be under the new set of post by the name Mindless Retards at Work(!) but decided to have it separately because this was the person being kicked out of the company in the new year, not even before the first working week finishes. I know a little bit about this guy. That's what makes it interesting. 

I met the fella one of the very first weeks at work and he seemed to be a nice guy but the more time passed, the more dislike was built in me. I think our first conversation was during the time that Iran and Israel were exchanging missiles and he asked me how my family was and questions regarding that. I didn't tell him that my family lived here at the time because very coincidentally they had traveled to the old country shortly before the conflict started and got stuck there! 

He then started on his favorite religion, the religion of PEACE(!) until I told him I was atheist! He didn't like it much and he showed the signs of disbelief but since he did not have any erratic reaction, I kind of liked him and we kept a casual sort of relationship even were going to have a lunch in a restaurant of his origin. That plan got cancelled by me and I told him that I would not jeopardize my job for a freaking meal at a freaking restaurant which makes food of the country that is notoriously unhygienic and unhealthy! The last two words, of course, were not mentioned when I told him that we would not be going to the restaurants and obviously he didn't want to go during the weekend because of his family.

I approached him a few times to ask technical questions. He told me once to check ChapGPT! so when I was told that he had lied on his resume and was laid off (not fired, apparently, because he could have been) because of lack of proficiency, I was not surprised. Not that I felt good or anything like that. 

(Photo: If you're looking for a funny story about someone who got canned, look for Seinfeld Season 08, Episode 20 but avoid canned food as much as you can! )

Reactions to the new Vehicle

I drove my newly purchased vehicles to work for the first time and of course parked it in the provided parking lot which half of the employees park there (There are have three separate parking lots) and received all sorts of reactions which I kind of had expected but perhaps not to that extent:

1) The first person was my supervisor. He stepped in the office and after Good morning he went: You brought the ..., naming the model of the car!

2) Then it was my manager who asked me if I had purchased a new vehicle. I said I had borrowed it citing the issue I currently have with it. The second part was right! 

3) Then there was this guy who has been working for the company for over 12 years or so and believes his job is the most important one. I have a plan to demolish him, partially, at least, later, and I will write about it! He came out of his nest! (he sits on his ass for at least 7 straight hours a day, coming out only for a lunch which he purchases from one of the local businesses or goes to the shop, rarely) and went to a couple of colleagues and said: Who drives that electric vehicle? My supervisor says: It's his, pointing at me and a colleague makes a face and says: The Troublemaker drivers an electric car?! 🤯. The Nestle guy(!), I think I'm going to call him that from now on(!) says he would like to ask the CEO to provide him with a gasoline pump now that I can simply charge my battery! Then he adds: If I disconnected your car, you wouldn't be able to get home tonight, would you? I told him that it was not my vehicle, firstly and secondly, I would easily get home, even if he disconnected the vehicle because the car has a gasoline operated engine! I add that it was a Hybrid Plug-in vehicle! He said nothing much after that! 

4) The next two people were two ladies who work together and I bumped to them when we were all leaving work. They said they had wondered who drove a vehicle with a licence plate from the State of ..., considering it was a very long trip! It's more than 2,300 Miles or 3,700 Km! I told them that the vehicle belonged to a relative and that was it. 

(Photo: Almost all of the major auto manufacturers have started electric, hybrid and plug-in vehicles. I saw this Fiat a few years ago in a parking lot in Las Vegas, Nevada. Not mine though!)

The Crafty Government of Alberta

I once suggested to one of my colleagues to talk to an MLA to have periodic, at least once in two years, maybe, and it would depend on the age and records of the driver, driving tests both in practical and theory format for all the drivers in the Province, considering we have lots of crazy and careless ones on the roads. My intention is to not only improve the driving knowledge and skills of the drivers but also to generate some revenue for the Provincial Government. His answer was logical: No MLA would take any steps for that because they knew they would lose their seat!   

I agree but I have decided to do this myself and I will write about this later after I go forward with the plan. Nevertheless, it was just yesterday that I realized the Government has easier plans to make more money and no one would lose their seats! They want to increase the maximum speed on the divided highways to 120 Km/h! As crazy and stupid as it sounds, I understand what they're looking for: More incidents, which, of course, will lead to more revenue for, not only the Government, but also many businesses which eventually have to pay taxes to the Government! 

Just a few weeks before this, the crazy, dictator woman of the Province introduced a new licence plate with a new stupid slogan: Strong and Free! While all the provinces, including Alberta, so far have non-political slogans, this woman becomes a hero all of a sudden and thinks Alberta has not been strong and free until she calls it on the plates! 

(Photo: This is a divided highway for which the Government of Alberta intends to increase the speed limit)

Single vs. Married

This is absurd but this Feb. it's be 9 years that I'm single! I know what everyone says: What a loser! That's true! This is not for lack of trying but I think I also have lost my confidence and that's not in relationship. It's in everything but work. I'm fine at work. It's in everything else in the society: Seeking relationship, shopping(!), going to public places such as shopping malls, movie theaters, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, you name it. I don't know if other single people feel the same or not but another reason for that is being a foreigner. The disgusting Government of Canada has let so many people in that you can see all sorts of losers scattered around the country but a foreigner still is a foreigner especially if they don't live in ghetto or don't go to the popular destinations of foreigners! 
I think I've mentioned this in another post that only 49% of people in Canada live in a family but that doesn't mean they're single all the time. Majority of the single people have someone who accompanies them or keep them company when they need. 
I have planned for this upcoming trip in May and now just 2 days to my flight, I'm in doubt! It was so bad that I wanted to cancel the trip but changed my mind this past Mon. I know the feeling I get when I go to the airport and everywhere else but I'm trying to overcome that and reach my goal.

(Photo: This will be me on the left soon but even when I was married, my wife didn't have much to say about the trip except the one that she insisted on going back to the old country with the goal of annulling our marriage which she perused it with annulling the Canadian marriage and then regretted it and told me that she wanted to come back but it was too late!) 

An Strange Request

There's this Canadian fella who was promoted to the head of a small group of people after the previous supervisor left the company, earlier this year. We didn't have a good start but then the things got smoother and we were working together, when there was a need, easily. This is something good that I like about some Canadians. You might have an argument or stand-off with them but it doesn't, always, lead to hostility. 

This fella is an old guy, older than me, I'd say at least 10 years older although it's difficult to say some people's age. He knew, somehow, that we were looking for people to hire and asked me if he could be part of my team! He didn't ask to join. He wondered if he could join. I, of course, gave him a positive answer. Why not? I want someone who attends the works regularly and does what I ask them to do. What do I care whether he is already an employee or not. The only problem would be telling what to do to someone who is older than me and has worked for the company longer than I have.

Now we have hired someone, I don't think there will be a talk about that but it was strange. This proves that I'm a good employee, at least in his eyes or he wouldn't consider joining in. 

(Photo: The company traditionally has hired from inside to fill this position but this time it was decided to hire someone with a little experience and training in the filed. We will see how this person turns out)

How Would You Know if you've Hurt Someone?

If you're in a Boxing bout or Judo match, you can easily say whether your opponent is hurt or not but in a mental fight, you shall be patient if you wanna do a real damage. This is what happened after three weeks of being patient: I gave Eclair's son ride a few times. I didn't mind. I know it would cost him a lot to go where he wanted to. Let alone the discomfort. But the fact that he is a spoiled, lazy and cheap kid, bothered me. Add to that now this boy has read a book or two and he think he knows it all! All this at one side, I realized that he is sick. I mean he is ill in a way that he needs daily medication. But is this my fault? Is he s sick that he cannot get a Driver's Licence and has to be dependent on other at the age of 22?! People manage a family at that age! 

So I started making up stories about how busy I was here and there! The first few times, it was not so hurtful, it seemed to me but this past week, go really bad. Eclair must beg(!) someone to give his retarded kid a ride to the bus depot, the kid has haul his stuff, suitcase, sacks, you name it, he has to wait there until he rots, pay the bus, get on it and go to his destination where his daddy is waiting for him to pick him up! 

The boy had an extra piece with him but because I said I would give him the usual ride, he had not put it in a bag or anything so I can imagine how silly he looked when he was going to that bus, although there're many nut-bags here who look sillier than him but I still like the discomfort that he felt. The usual bus charges between $40 and $50 depending on the service but because I have never had that ride, I don't know how they do that although it would not matter. Even $0.40 would be too much for a cheap guy! 

So I told him that I'd be busy and I could not give the sick and rude boy a ride. He apparently begged someone to drop him at the depot but then in the afternoon signs of disturbance started to appear: He started sending e-mail messages and called a few times to complain about the small mistake I had done in a document. The funny thing is that everyone else had either noticed the error and had ignored it or had not noticed it but he thought he was being a smart cookie! I tried to ignore him but he kept going and the last time I could easily detect the patterns of stress in his voice! He was really mad but I stayed calm and that made him even angrier! It means that I had really hurt him! And that is important: Being patient and then hitting at the right time. One blow would do really well!

(Photo: The boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Francis Botha was an unusual one. The commentators were talking how Tyson was not himself and how much better Botha was the entire time the both of them were in the ring. Nothing against Botha but he only received one real punch which threw him on the floor and he never recovered from that!) 

Stegosaurus Mountain

The weekend before the last one's failure in Abraham Mountain did not discourage me. It was very hot and I had started started late. This past weekend, I made some changes to my plan which although did not result in summiting a mountain I had planned but made significant improvements. My failure in reaching the summit had other reasons which I will explain but first what I did to help myself to have a better hike, although it was barely a hike. It was a scramble 90% of the route! This mountain is called Dolomite Peak, and is located in Icefield Parkway I would like to call it Stegosaurus Mountain:

1) I started earlier. It was not because I left home earlier! It was because it was closer! In fact I had a hard time getting out of the damn bed when the clock went off but I did it anyway and after a long drive, shorter than the previous one, I started the hike at almost 08:20.

2) Left almost every damn heavy and annoying thing at home: It was including the mobile charging device, this is very heavy, bottles of water, crampons, I knew I wouldn't need them,  the very useless Valard backpack with its stupid straps. I made sure I left it at one of these donation boxes at the side of the street! 

Stegosaurus fossil. 

3) Took enough water! One might ask how I managed to do that while I was not carrying any bottles! I used my Coleman backpack which worked great. Light. distributes the weight on your back evenly and has three adjustable straps. 

With that said, I started at about 08:20, as I indicated. The trailhead is located shortly after you enter Highway # 93 from High #1, going north and is located next to a bridge over Helen Creek. You won't miss it. The temperature, at the time of the start, to my surprise was only 8 ℃ (~ 46 ℉) which is great for this time of the year. I could have started earlier but made a mistake by stopping at Lake Louise for a coffee where I saw the only coffee shop in the so-called village packed! I simply turned around and kept going. That easily wasted 10 minutes, if not more. The hike starts from a very beautiful trail which is very steep and might discourage many but then becomes flat and goes down and reaches a stream or creek where you need to cross. I wasted a little time over there as well but eventually got into the water and passed! the tree trunk was not much helpful to me! I then continued basically toward north and northeast, parallel to the creek where my map said to either keep going to the north end of the mountain or try to go up from a drainage of the mountain on my right. The northern path looked easier but longer and I chose that. From the it was all up at an angle of nearly 40° but very beautiful, carpeted in wild colourful flowers. I didn't mind it and kept going up with no hiking poll and no helmet until Bow Lake, at the south side of Highway #93 N could be seen. It was almost 3 hours from the start and I knew that I had at least 1 more hour to go to reach one of the peaks but It was very exposed and I was worried that I might fall and break my life to pieces! So I turned back down from there.

Bow Lake and its beautiful blue

It was a good exercise but I still am tired after 2 days! It's considered a hard scramble/hike which cannot be done by everyone but I will give it another try hopefully before the hiking season ends because know I know what I will have to do. The question remains about the name of the mountain. Here is how this name was created! I took a coupe of panorama shots from the mountain using my mobile phone as I have decided not to take the phone any more and used one of them as my desktop background. A colleague saw that and called it a dinosaur mountain. It really looks like the back of this specific dinosaur called Stegosaurus if you look at the picture on the top! So I have this plan to change the official name when I can. 

(Photo, top: The sleeping Stegosaurus from the valley, next to the creek. My approach was from the left side of the photo)

The Fornicator

 Fornication is defined as sexual relationship between two unmarried individuals. This is the story of a colleague who has been working for the company for nearly 20 years and now his wife works there as well. No further explanation is required! This is usually the case, especially in small towns and private companies. A short while back I realized there's a young employee in another department with the same family name as his and it was obvious to me that he was his relative. Either his son, young brother or his brother's son. They are not look alike. So my perception was that he looks like his Mom. There was a question for me: Why do they not ever talk to each other. Or at least I have not seen it even once. Then I told myself that they have enough time together at home, if he is his son! Then something else hit me and that was the time that his wife started or I shall say restarted in the company: The boy did not look like his presumably Mom either! I didn't pay much attention until a few days later when I had to go to his work station and it was there when I saw an old picture of the guy with his Dad, probably from the time that he was only 3 or in that age range! That was when I realized that he was his son from another woman who longer is with him! It's not that I was surprised much or anything like that as I had come across something like that but it was interesting after every bit of puzzle is put together. When I work as a Bylaw Officer in a town of British Columbia, I had a fella colleague who had just been married. He had moved from northern Alberta and told me that he had an 18-year-old daughter from an early relationship! Perhaps that was why he had left the little town! Legally there is no problem with something like that in Canada as long as the guy pays for the child, I think and I believe that is until the mother gets married. This is how they have fixed the issue, if we can call it an issue in the old country: Men can have up to 4 wives and have to support them. So, this is for the people who can. Or perhaps I shall say it was like this. These days people can barely afford one wife. So fornication is more common but hidden. I remember I was involved with this horny girl who just had divorced and was looking for someone to cheer her up as well as fill her in! I was quite successful but not so much in the second part, as usual! 

(Photo: I think this picture just wants to point out that fornication is mechanical and emotionless)

The Pleasure of being the Mediator

I've finished my 7th months on the new job just recently. I most of the time enjoy my work but like any other position, there are issues: 1) Idiots that you need to tolerate 2) Idiots whom you need to train 3) Idiots who insist on their idiocy ... and other idiots! Many companies have now made a long lunch break as part of their schedule. So a whole hour is a waste, for me. Many go to local businesses or home and some have their lunches at work. I, most of the time, work. Without caring that it is unpaid. I think the company appreciates it but there are times that you do not work alone. There are many times that you do not work alone and you need to work with others. It cannot happen during that 1 specific hour. I also am too far from work and not only waste a lot of time on the road but also pay a lot for gasoline and it's particularly really bad now that the it has gone up to ¢158.9 for a litter.  
But there are parts of the job that I certainly enjoy. I certainly don't show that, most of the time, because that is base on other people's silly mistake and I, most of the time, rub it to their faces but that is part of my job: Find other people's fault and ask them to fix it. At times I become a mediator: A fault is found by a party and known to me, I do the paperwork part of the work and notify the person who has made the mistake. There are times that the guilty(!) party opposes to that and argument starts. I have to listen to the both sides, either when they both are present or individually. The latter is the most enjoyable! I take the person's side when I'm listening to him and criticize the one who has started the complain. When this is over and I am listening to the guilty fella, I show my sympathy and indicate how insignificance the problem is, emphatically! I am firm though and I try my best to get what I want and that is doing the right thing. 

The guy whom I report to is a careless and calm guy. At least this is what I've noticed about him so far. He in fact the cause of the majority of the issues. If you do not care and you're on the top, then what can you expect from the others, especially the young ones who form most of the company? 

I am going to stick around and watch my back until I either am called by the Government or find something better, both in terms of salary and working conditions and if I have to stay, then my goal is to leave in four or five years and preferably find a job south of the border. I don't think it's impossible. 

(Photo: I didn't have any photograph to put here to be considered related to the post do I decided to sue this picture that I took, I think, a couple of weeks ago, when I was leaving a Real Canadian Superasshole location. Mobil, an American petroleum company, has been active in that supermarket's parking lots for years and has, usually, the highest gasoline price in the province. I have never bought my fuel from this gas station and never will. Not that anyone cares)

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.) 

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!)

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 Week-long Course

Just came back home after a miserable week in a hotel, near a training center. The course was not bad and learnt plenty but the living condition was awful, except for a ting bit. Stayed in the same hotel and despite the fact that it's generally quite and clean, the damn mattress was killing me! The first first four days had difficulty sleeping which certainly affected my learning abilities. Adding to that is the garbage food all around. Fortunately for a few times I managed to find a nearby Safeway and get fruits and better food. Breakfast was mostly eliminated, completely. We had a couple of day going to the lab and that was were I learnt a lot and for it, I appreciate the institute. The instructor this time was a young East Asian fella who was very nice, polite, patient and helpful. Although he was not as knowledgeable as it is expected but I believe he did his best. BigHead felt less stressful and showed more confidence and I pulled my revenge on him but he didn't seem to be bothered a lot! He said that he had used his car service which is as convenient as I would have picked him up! On the way back he did the same thing and I went for a bit of shopping after telling him I was going to Edmonton! 
This class also had much brighter students. The majority of them had long overseas experience and education in the subject and they were there just to be re-certified. My employer does not want us to be certified nationally. This course was just learning purposes and being able to be certified internally so we can do the tests. However I do not know who would sign the reports because we would technically be allowed to do that.

We also tried to food businesses in the nearby neighbourhoods for the first time and the experiences were not so great: Edo Japan, which has been the worst fast-food joint that I've ever set foot on, at the same level of McDonald's and Fat Burger which is not as bad but still full of trans fats, sugar and all other harmful substances for your body. The funny thing is the second fast-food joint asks you to tip the staff simply because they walk 7 steps to put a small plate of food on your table! You can refer to the full review of my experiences with these two joints in Google Maps, near the training center. 

Another good part of the trip, in addition to what I learnt and I would like to stress that it was a good learning experience, was the ability to shop near YEG. There're lots of nice stores and it was very convenient for me to by what I wanted on my way back home. It's recommended to see the place called Premium Outlet Collection when you're in the region. 

(Photo: A Fat Burger meal. It's a Mushroom hamburger, I think and Sweet Potato Fries with an awful dip! I think I added a shake, which did not taste anything but sugar and the total cost was nearly $27 and some change, approximately! Adding tip! And taxes, of course!)

The Meth Test (Not Lab.)

We, I and the BigHead, had to pass this math test to be considered qualified to attend an NDT course. There was another course that we already had passed so we are a bit close but the problem with this one was that we had barely any idea what would be asked because it says math! It is a very general term! 

I was angry and frustrated because I imagined what everyone would think if I failed the math test! An engineer who claims years of experience in different industry cannot even pass a simple math test! The night before exam I drank two cups of coffee and told myself that I would stay up even to 02:00 AM, if it takes to cover every topic that would be a question from it in the damn test. I could not go past 12:30! I went to bed as I was dead tired but could not sleep for another hour and then it was the exam day. 

The exam was held by some local proctors but it was not a normal and usual exam. start! We were asked to leaver everything in a locker and take nothing to the test room! I never expected that! Apparently there have been cheaters who used any means to get by even these new silly wrist watches! We sat at out seats and we were asked to sign in to our accounts. Here was my screw up. I kept putting the wrong ID number twice until realized that and after blaming it on the website! In the meantime poor BigHead was sitting tight waiting for me, so we can start and finish together. That was when a woman went to him and told him to " Seat properly "! Even now I can stop smiling when I think of that! Then she asked him why he had not started the exam. He said he still had three minutes (the exam was supposed to be started at 13:00). I was stilling cleaning up my own mess, without them realizing it was my own fault(!) when she came to me and asked me to keep my voice down! I swear that I didn't even care. I was so busy to get to the website and start the test that I didn't even responded to her and she left! 

I finished the exam quickly and then went back and answered question 6, that I remember exactly I had left unanswered and reviewed all. The who process took some 40 minutes. The result were out right away but I didn't share with anyone. A very easy test that got me stressed out and angry for a few days. 

Back at work the next day we realized that the BigHead had gotten 90%! Impressive! Ha? Maybe. Merely because it was an easy exam. I got 100%. Now we're ready to hit the road again.

Note: I know it's math test not meth but I thought it would attract more people if I used methamfetamin instead of mathematics! 

(Photo: The meth labs are considered hazardous. That is how law enforcement agents deal with them once they are discovered)

A Widespread Lie

I'm not a liar but I lie to liars! I've said that to the face of people whom I suspected them of being liars. Some had strange reactions! At times I tell white lies. That doesn't hurt anyone but satisfies me.

With that said, my manager asked me where I lived, completely out of blue, last week. The good thing is the Retiring Fella has asked me how the road was a few days prior to that which it was snowing. So how the answers to these two questions will help me later!? This is how: My answer to the Retiring Fella was that the road was good until I reached Ponoka. He was surprised as he knows that I am not passing that town on my way to work. So I told him that I had stayed in Edmonton. That shut him up. I, in fact, was going to say Penhold but I don't know why I used the other town's! Obviously because both start with P! Then when the manager asked me where I lived I paused a little and went: Edmonton. Now my stories are lined up. It even helped me with another thing that the company wanted me to do early in the morning but I told them that I had to take care of something in Edmonton before leaving which prevent me from being able to get to work at the time they want me there!

The other thing is now that in a week or so when we're going for another training, I won't have to take BigHead! It's make a major inconvenience for him which is exactly what I want! I'm nobody's chauffeur. So now, you beaver-face, understand the meaning of discomfort when you have to get out of home and travel nearly 130 Km (80 miles) for your freaking course and came back the same way, on a Fri. evening! He doesn't know what I've prepared for him yet. He think he'd be picked up and dropped of, comfortably, like the last time.He wouldn't know until the last minute. In conclusion, you need to follow the following rules when you're lying, and I mean a white lie. Once again I'm not a liar:

1) Have a good and believable story. Start weeks, even months with related and detailed stories and feed the people gradually.

2) Tell the story and eventually the same lie to everyone and I mean everyone who might slightly be involved. 

3) You need to have the story kept in mind and develop it as it goes forward. That requires talent which I own it and proud of it!

4) Dr. Joseph Goebbels believed If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people eventually come to believe it. I, in no manner, condone what Dr. Goebbels and other party members did in the 1940's in Europe but I agree with him on this statement with this difference that the lie does not have to be necessarily big. You might get what you want with a small lie, in daily life, as well. We're not politicians! 

5) George Costanza, the fictitious character of Seinfeld once said: It's not a lie, if you believe it! 

I'm not going to say Good Luck, because luck has nothing to do with this! 

(Photo: This is a sad picture of Dr. Goebbels kids after they were all killed by their parent. I think they were given a sort of poison. Dr. Goebbels and his wife committed suicide after that. That shows how crazy this guy was. What did the innocent little kids have to do with your stupid ideology?!)

Revenge is a Dish best Served Cold

This piece of work, ugly creature who works with me, runs his mouth too much at times. An oriental from a place that I doubt he had enough food to eat at times before coming to Canada. Fair enough. Now you have, it means shut your mouth after eating! When we went for the course a couple of weeks ago, the asshole act weirdly. One two people from the same party go somewhere together, they stay together, eat together, study together and do most of the things together. He was sneaking to his room after the class, perhaps to sext, if you know what I mean, with his wife.
We're planned to go for for another course in a few weeks from now and I have a good plan for him! I'm all nice and friendly to him. When we're going back, I'm going to leave him at the side of the road with his stupid suitcase! I never brag about the things I do or I'm planning to do but I wanted to write this one because this piece of work does not even offer to drive to the course while I drove him the last time! I can't wait to see his stupid face with the giant suitcase next to him after I tell him that I have to go and he has to take a bus home! 
The other asshole that I have a plan for and I'm skeptical to see if I can execute that is a freaking asshole from the old country. I went to high school with this guy for three years and then we went to the same college, different programs. He had to drop out or was expelled, I'm not sure and it doesn't matter now because he was not able to pass Calculus 1 until semester 7 (the program consisted of 9 semesters, minimum at the time, a total of more than 152 credits, which I think has been reduced now!). He served military, I think, after that, because I was no longer in touch with him, or perhaps I shall say that he was not in touch with me and then he went to another school and finished a degree or masters in the field that he liked, successfully.
I was not in touch with him for years, even before leaving the old country until nearly 15 years ago that we exchanged a few e-mails and then again 2 years ago or so, I don't remember why(!) we got in touch. That was the time he told me that his daughter would starting studying a program in The University of Waterloo. Then about a month ago he said he was waiting for his visa to visit his daughter and would pay me a visit. I asked him if he could bring a few thing for me and I would pay him here once I see him. He agreed and told me not to be worry about the money. 
The last time we were in touch was about 10 days before the day which he had said that it would be his departure day. He said that he had not yet heard from the embassy about his visa. When I reminded him of the things that I had asked him to bring, this time, he sort of hesitated and said that he would check with his wife to see if they have room. I didn't like it.
The day that he was supposed to fly has passed. in fact it's been more than 10 days since he was supposed to be in Ontario and I don't know if he is there or not. He has not contacted me. Or perhaps he hasn't received his visa which I doubt because these days the Government of Canada issues visa to everyone who could set foot on Canadian soil. So now that he hasn't even told me what has happened to his visa, I have a good plan for him but before that I'm going to write a bit about the times that he would act like a total jerk when we used to hang out: We used to go to gym at times to work out together. I asked him to spot me a few times and he did a few times but once aggressively said: I'm not going to the gym just to lift your weights for you! This stupid sentence has been tattooed in my brain! Our relationship would turn to more  rivalry than friendship. He used to brag about the place that he had gone with his friends and so did I! There were time that he was ditched and it pissed him off. aside all the above, he criticized me a few times about the jokes that I had made about girls. There were not directed at anyone specific or too offensive and we were very young and ignorant but he took it personally, I think especially because she had a sister that he probably thought I had an eye on! She was a pretty girl and right for my age but who thought about getting in a relationship with his friend's sister on those years?!
My plan was that if he wanted to come to Alberta, to tell him that I would pick him up at YYC but when I talked to my Mom as she knows him, she didn't like it and said it was too harsh and even inhumane! There another thing that Mom said. She said that he has not contacted simply because I have asked him to do me a favour! That has scared him off, she added! I think she's right. And I don't think I execute my plan simply because Mom said that I shall not, although that would be a good lesson for him! We'll see.

(Photo: One of my favorite salads and I've made this one myself. So good. It, of course, is served cold but it tastes way better and is much healthier than my revenge!)

Japanese Food and Sake at Mikado

Now that I have been working this job for about 1 month and a half, I have worked with this (East) Indian fella who seems to be a reasonable person for quite a long time. I'm going to call him Éclair for the sake of easiness! He recommended to visit one of the suppliers so I can have a better understanding of their processes and consequently their products, a few weeks ago and it finally materialized this week. 

We left work in a way to be able to be in a restaurant, not too close to the supplier's facility, though, by lunch! Why a restaurant? I have no idea!  We could've simply gone to the company's facility and return to work but he wanted to have lunch. For that he had invited two other people from another branch! I don't know if he has some extra money from the company that he needs to spend within a specific time or what but we went there anyway: Mikado.

It's a nice restaurant with Japanese objects here and there for decoration. The waitresses are dressed in traditional Japanese costume although they might not be Japanese! Our waitress was a Filipino young lady who looked Japanese, a bit but I saw another waitress who had the beauty of a Japanese girl: Round face, fair completion, dark silky hair, beautiful eyes, everything that a pretty Japanese woman has. 

Since I was a guest I decided to try Sake for the first time, because I didn't have to pay! Sake is served both cold and warm but since it was not a very cold day, I decided to try a cold version. I think it was a 2 Oz. serve that I ordered. Not having any previous experience with Sake I can't tell how real it was but it had a completely different taste and affect from any other alcoholic beverages that I have had so far. It was good. I was expecting a little Rice taste but it was not there but the feeling came through shortly after the last sip and it was strong but I stopped there, despite the urge. The food was good and filling for the price, I'd say. I got a plate of different pieces and a small bowl of a sort of Soup, called Miso. The menu could not be entirely Japanese because there were many meals or parts of some of the meals that they had Avocado in them and I don't think Avocado is a native vegetable or fruit of Japan but I guess I will find out when I go there! The Soup tasted good and I would go for the second bowl but I didn't. I think I ate a little too fast because one of the guys told me, jokingly, that I was hungry! I told him that I had not have breakfast! 

The restaurant is decorated with items to resemble a Japanese atmosphere

It appeared that dessert has no place in Japanese eating culture because unlike most of restaurants, mostly Western I should probably say, there was no mentioning of dessert, not even tea which has a special place in Japanese cuisine ,I think. When the bill (check) came I think the total for the four of us was about $108, and some change, maybe, which is not bad considering we were all full, especially me! 

We said goodbye to the fellas and headed to the supplier's facility. This does not have anything to do with the title of this post but because it was the main reason for this trip and also it was a productive visit and an interesting one at the same time, I mention it here: We're there at the company and upon our arrival we're greeted by this very energetic and smiling fella who happened to be our host. We're sitting and talking about the aspects of our project and somehow the discussion was directed to hiking by him. Éclair, at this very moment, that he finished the word " Hiking " pointed at me! indicating that I was the hiker. We briefly exchange ideas about hiking until he said that he had done a hike in Costa Rica. I asked him if it was safe there. he said that Costa Rica was always safe (Bullshit! I checked the Government of Canada Travel Advisory, a very useful website and it say it totally is not safe, similar to most Latin/Central American shitty countries!) and he added that it was a very tall mountain, I think over 12,000' which is close to 4000 m. I asked him how long it took him to summit. He said he could not remember because he was in his 20's! He is now in his later 50's or so! Or at least that is how he looks! That was the lamest and stupidest bragging that I have ever heard from someone in my life, even worse than some of the bragging that mostly (East) Indians try!

(Photo, top: My bowl of Miso Soup. I have no idea how close it was to a real soup that one would serve in Japan but it was really good)