Paul Alton MBA

The month is complete. I was working long hours near Edmonton, but eventually puttered away and got the page finalized. At the bottom of this page is a new Buddy Tale. More followed on the September Page.

The Complete Book of Ketones by Mary T. Newport, MD. Subtitled: A Practical Guide to Ketogenic Diets and Ketone Supplements. The author became involved with keto diets after treating her husband’s dementia with ketones. His condition improved with ketones but he then suffered a major setback from a drug trial gone wrong and went quickly down hill. She figures he gained several good years by taking ketones.

I read The Way of the Gardener - Lost in the Weeds Along the Camino De Santiago by Lyndon Penner. A charming read by a CBC gardening columnist.

Started reading Do Not Disturb – The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad by Michela Wrong. African government thugs murder wannabe government thugs. It’s a slow, disturbing read. I keep wandering away to other books with earlier library due dates.

The Premonition by Michael Lewis. The preparation over the last couple of decades to deal with a pandemic and how everybody still failed. You can't grab an exponential tiger by the tail if you hesitate. Government agencies are just not wired to act quickly or take the risk of acting quickly. Wrong tools for the job, basically.   As the blurb on the back of the book says about Michael Lewis, “I would read an 800 page history of the stapler if he wrote it.” I concur.

Gone Forever, another Jack Widow novel by Scott Blade. This was the first of a series in its teens now. Essentially a Jack Reacher plot with name changes. Enjoyable, quick read.

The Split by Kurt Schlichter. Hilarious unless it comes true.

Buddy arrived on his hard-tailed Harley during the confused period of a pulp mill start-up. His Electrical/Instrument skills were absent, but he was a cheerful and willing worker. He was willing to go into a man basket hanging off a crane and strip damaged teck cables off the legs of the log loading crane which was more than any of the electricians were willing to do.

He was willing to do other things as well.

One day the supervisor was complaining about the neighbour’s dog barking keeping him awake over many nights. The next day Buddy came in and announced “You won’t have to worry about that dog anymore, Boss.”

The supervisor was horrified, but what could he do? A contractor at the table queried, “You and I are okay, aren’t we, Steve?”

Buddy went to town on an errand with the shop van. The police detained him for something else he had been willing to do. We sent somebody to pick up the van and stopped wondering what we were going to do about Buddy. He did come back into our lives once more when he came across some blank company cheques while doing some cleaning as a contract labourer. He wrote one to himself for $129 and cashed it. Some sharp-eyed head office type noticed the signatures didn’t match the ones on file and Buddy had another close encounter with the police.