As my partner and I target retirement soon I frequently get advice on making sure I have stuff to do. This won’t be an issue I think as I’m always frustrated by all the things I want to do but don’t have time to because I have a job!
Remote
Paul Turnbull 🇨🇦
@Chigaze@cosocial.ca
mastodon 4.6.4Degree in Political Science, career in tech.
Inhabitant of YEG for most of 57 years and the neighbourhood of Westmount for over 24. Had a new house built during the pandemic on the site of our old one.
30+ years in virtual communities from late 80’s BBS’s to current social media with stops in Usenet, MMO groups, Discord…
Gamer of all types from boardgames to computer games to console games.
Edmonton, Alberta
Born 8 BBY
957 Followers
434 Following
50 Posts
Joined March 22, 2026
Quote:
“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” ― Terry Pratchett"
Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna' be fooled again!" - Nac Mac Feegle
Pronouns:
He/him
Career:
Regular Human Database Administrator
Replying to
@anyGould@kind.social @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca She teared up over the Jasper wildfire however she followed that up by putting so many demands into their offer to help rebuild the town Parks couldn't accept it.
My kids (and a boyfriend) rocking the cosplay.
It always makes me happy driving through Hinton and seeing the former mega church that is now a trampoline park.
Replying to
@TrueNorthSpice@mastodon.world In a professors case there's simply the problem of being so far removed from the students it's hard to teach them. My partner has had to tell him that today's youth won't understand references from the 90s let alone the 80s. :)
Replying to
@TrueNorthSpice@mastodon.world Many of them are and either ran into the issue of realizing they didn't remember how to fill a day without their job or know people who also ran into the issue. It is good advice, just for me I think I already have this one down. :)
Notably you'll see people like a coworker of my partner who is over 80 and still working because he has no idea what he would do outside of being a professor.
Ok. The VIP pass at Edmonton Expo is worth just for being able to jump the photo ops line. What I expected to be at least a half hour took five minutes.
August 1st, the day I have to explain with scissors to the tomato plants that no more buds are allowed.
Replying to
@mykl@infosec.exchange The source is the Hudson Valley Weather account on Facebook three days ago.
https://www.facebook.com/100064694946589/posts/1656724173160732/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Replying to
@Phosphenes@mastodon.social @Sanderde@mstdn.ca @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca Combination of distances (Canada is vast) and terrain mean many lines are just single track with sidings for passing.
Why does anyone try to get any work done the day before vacation? It's like the last day of the school year.
House cleaning before my partner gets back from playing with bears.
Replying to
@Cassandra@ottawa.place @EdwinG@mstdn.moimeme.ca Side effect of having my cancerous prostate removed puts me firmly in the [sob] category. :)
Replying to
@crispius@mstdn.fname.ca @slashdottir@mastodon.online @JonChevreau@mstdn.ca @pluralistic@mamot.fr
The best managers are ones who used to do the job, and maybe still do a bit. My boss is like this. The only real downside is he has his own side projects that can frustrate our ops team a bit, mostly because he drops working stuff on them to manage and they have figure out what he did.
So wedding trip to southern Alberta is cancelled for us. Partner picked up cold earlier this week and then gave it to me. We’re going to try and kick it before heading to Jasper next week.
Replying to
@reallyflygreg@mstdn.ca That’s a later use of the word however it is Latin for “higher”
https://www.etymonline.com/word/excelsior
Burning the chicken inside rather than on the BBQ as it’s too smoky outside.
The west sidewalk and northwest car entrance to the High Level Bridge will be closed for the next three days for emergency repairs. The east sidewalk is open but only to the southeast staircase, still no access to Saskatchewan Drive on the east side.
#YEG #Edmonton
https://www.edmonton.ca/projects_plans/roads/high-level-bridge-rehabilitation
Replying to
@bureaux@mastodon.social @dbattistella@mstdn.ca They weren't moving at that time as they were waiting on a siding for an oncoming train to pass.
Cutting the corner off your passport does not feel right.
My partner has denied my request to divert retirement savings to getting a Dungeon Crawler Carl pinball machine.
TV whiplash: Watching Only Connect immediately after watching American Ninja Warrior.
Replying to
@masek@infosec.exchange Test data leaking out. We use all kinds of fictional characters and places in ours.
Edmonton Riverwatch is having a sale on Sunday family floats down the North Saskatchewan. My daughter is one of the guides and they’ll take good care of you.
#YEG #Edmontonhttps://www.riverwatch.ca/public-ecofloats/
Replying to
@TrueNorthSpice@mastodon.world Passing by now but was just out in the street with some neighbours clearing the drains as our street was shin deep.
Replying to
@TrueNorthSpice@mastodon.world Definitely a big one. Several power outages around the city. Branches down in my neighbourhood so I expect there will be some trees down in some places. While there was a lot of lightning most of it seemed to be up high. Just a constant rumble rather than loud cracks.
Replying to
@megmac@social.treehouse.systems I’ll check with my partner as we got a nice little place in old Montreal right by transit but also had a kitchen so we saved on breakfast. She does all the booking and I can’t remember the name. :)
Replying to
@Greg@socialbc.ca Sounds like their union is getting involved now. Hopefully it packs some punch.
@Sanderde@mstdn.ca @sbourne@mastodon.social @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca
Replying to
@sbourne@mastodon.social Northern Ontario is vast and empty. The trains likely were on their way before the fires became a threat and once they’re on that route there aren’t many, if any, places to stop given there will be multiple trains going each direction.
@Greg@socialbc.ca @Sanderde@mstdn.ca @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca
Replying to
@lorimolson@mstdn.ca @WTL@mastodon.social Despite the headline it sounds like it's a web form with fixed questions.
So apparently Temuera Morrison just runs his own session by just stream of consciousness speaking.
Replying to
@Greg@socialbc.ca Oh I’m fully aware of how reluctant the rail companies in Canada are to do anything that cuts into their revenue. They were gambling the fires wouldn’t be this bad and also that their crews would abide by the no phones rule. They missed on both and fortunately everyone is all right and if they try and punish the crew that will be a PR disaster for them.
@sbourne@mastodon.social @Sanderde@mstdn.ca @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca
Replying to
@Sanderde@mstdn.ca The big thing with negotiation with Trump is you have to give him some kind of way to claim a win regardless of whether the deal is good for him or not. Given the economic power of the US, particularly with regard to Canada, there's no way for us to avoid bending. The trick is to make him think he got more than he did.
Replying to
@britt@mstdn.games @senanthic@mstdn.ca I would love it if online stores would drop them. I do my best to avoid shitty companies but it’s hard when good companies go through a shitty one.
It can be a bit difficult to find thoughtful pieces about AI/LLM's in the battlefield of pro and con but this piece covers a number of things I've been pondering but lack the ability to coherently say. I particularly like the reference to Peter Watts' novel "Blindsight" and the idea intelligence may not require consciousness and consciousness may be something particular to evolved biology.
https://blog.lmorchard.com/2026/09/27/pragmatic-anthropomorphism/
Working from home.
Replying to
@WTL@mastodon.social Apparently it's structured like a push poll to only take complaints from drivers about bike lanes. :/
Replying to
@jeffsamsonow@mstdn.ca My watch alerted me to one .2km away and added there 61 in a 10km radius.
Replying to
@Greg@socialbc.ca They were reportedly close to Armstrong, Ontario so maybe if they had Telus/Bell. However the string of towns that Armstrong is in the middle of where the rail line runs all seem to have no service.
@Sanderde@mstdn.ca @sbourne@mastodon.social @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca
Replying to
@sbourne@mastodon.social There was another train coming the other direction. They had to wait until it passed or they would have hit it.
@Greg@socialbc.ca @Sanderde@mstdn.ca @Phosphenes@mastodon.social @flyhigh@universeodon.com @dbattistella@mstdn.ca
RE: https://zpravobot.news/@TerribleMaps/116952019657832024
The Triangle has been maintained.
Alt text: “All the countries that have won the World Cup fall into this triangle” above a a map of the world with the World Cup winning countries in red. The bottom of the triangle is south west of South America with the point in the Arctic north of Russia. The Triangle encompasses South America and Europe.
#worldcup
Sunday at Edmonton Expo appears to be the day of teen groups with parent chaperones. I must have been a bad parent because I let my teens roam free here.