Hi everyone!
Long time no blog. I hope all of you have been keeping well and the first month of 2009 was good to you. I couldn't think of anything to blog about until I got tagged. So, since it's been a long time between blogs, I though I would share 25 facts about me instead of the traditional 10 or 16. How did it get to 16 anyway?
1. I'm a Capricorn even though MySpace thinks I'm an Aquarius.
2. I drive a green 1995 Buick LeSabre.
3. I have a two-monitor setup in my home office.
4. I was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C.
5. I'm 6' 3".
6. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of British Columbia.
7. I have been to 15 of the 50 United States, which I think is pretty good for a Canadian.
8. I love football.
9. My favorite team is the University of Notre Dame.
10. I have been to Major League Baseball games in Seattle, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Denver, Boston and Chicago (Comiskey).
11. I have traveled overseas to England twice.
12. I grew up an only child.
13. I went to an all-boys high school.
14. I run my own business and have for 18 years.
15. My wife Caroline and I will be celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary later this month.
16. Some TV shows I really like are: Without A Trace, Numb3rs, Cold Case, The Mentalist and Law & Order.
17. I am currently watching Season 3 of Hawaii Five-O, Season 2 of Ironside and Season 2 of McHale's Navy.
18. I'm a serious night owl.
19. I love soup and eat a lot of it.
20. My father passed away in 2004 at the age of 90.
21. I have brown hair.
22. I'm shy and don't do well in group settings.
23. I can swim.
24. I moved to Calgary in 1990.
25. I can ice skate.
On the TV.com front, I have finished the S.W.A.T. and MLB World Series guides, have made it to Level 59 and have passed 13,000 submissions. I'm especially proud of the World Series guide, because it stopped at 1967 when I took it over last year. Even the games that were there (1947-67) had next to no information. Now, the guide is complete to 2008 and all 356 games of the television era have scores, notes, quotes where available, starting lineups and reserves, trivia, box scores and complete play-by-play. The play-by-play was especially challenging as I had to write two programs, one in Excel and one in Word, to help me with the layout and formatting. Even then it took some 5-7 minutes per game to manually finish them off. I also wrote a program to format box scores that I pulled into Excel via Web queries. It was a ton of work and a ton of fun. It's always neat to be able to use my professional skills for fun. I have to extend a big thank you to my friend Madison, who helped tons in entering the information. I even met my goal of finishing the guide before Spring Training opens!
The next project is the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament guide. I've written another program to compile box scores for the games and have finished 2008. I found information on the Web going back to 2000 and have entered the 63 games per year back that far. My good friend Gabriella is working with me on populating the guide with the relevant information for each game. It's not going to be done for the 2009 Tournament next month, but we'll be well along on the process.
I've also been paying some attention to the Ironside guide for which I am a TU (I haven't forgotten, April!). I've watched six episodes recently and have updated four with cast, crew, trivia, notes and quotes.
OK, on with the regular features.
The Beauty of God's Creation
The majesty of the mountains in Banff National Park. No wonder 4 million people visit each year. I took this picture myself.
Quote of the Blog
It's a bit long, but I get to do that! 
I would like to propose a toast to my partner, Seely Booth. I know who he is, but I forget sometimes because, because he never shines a light on himself, he shines it on other people.
Anthropology teaches us that the Alpha male is the man wearing the crown, displaying the most colorful plumage and the shiniest baubles. He stands out from the others. But now I think anthropology may have it wrong. In working with Booth, I've come to realize that the quiet man, the invisible man, the man who is always there for friends and family, that's the real Alpha male. And I promise that my eyes will never be caught by those shiny baubles again.
Happy Birthday, Booth.
Bones, The Con Man in the Meth Lab
Wisdom from the East
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else, you are the who gets burned.
Buddha
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Comments
I'm honored to help you (and Caroline) out with your guide(s). It's so much more fun submitting to friend's guide. WOW!
You took that pic yourself? Well, then, I guess it's safe to say that your blog is now officially GRANDOISE!!!
(the good definition, not the bad one.)
Happy Anniversary and be good to your Valentine! 
I’ve been well, thank you. Good to see you’ve been good yourself as well.
1. Gemini here
2. Black BMW 320 Touring but I prefer my Suzuki bike.
3. I have 2 laptops and a table pc at home and another one in the attic.
4. San Sebastian, Basque Country.
5. I'm 5’9’’, I think (180cms-ish).
6. I have a Bachelor of English Language by the Universities of Deusto and Cork.
7. I have only been to NY.
8. I don’t.
9. I don’t have one.
10. I have been to soccer matches when I was a kid cause my dad used to take me. 11. I have travelled overseas to the States once and to Ireland 6 times.
12. I have an older brother but never got close due to sex/age differences.
13. I went to an all-girsl school and high school until I flew away and joined a mixed high school for the last two years.
14. I don’t, I work as a secretary in a small company.
15. Congrats! I’m not married but I am taken.
16. CSI:NY and The Closer are between my favourites.
17. I am currently watching reruns of Everwood and North and South. 18. Same here.
19. I love pasta.
20. I’m sorry. Both my parents are with me.
21. Me too.
22. Same here.
23. I learned how to swim before learning how to walk.
24. I live where I was born.
25. Me too but I fall often.
Congratulations on your tv.com achievements! That’s a neat job for real. I have no doubt you’ll do fine with your next project.
Great picture, Canada is a fascinating country. There are a lot of people who never shine a light on themselves but on others, that was a really beautiful quote. Same with the wisdom from the East. Happy Valentine's Day to you too. Have a great weekend. Many, many hugs your way!
That's also a fantastic photo you took.
Interesting facts! 15 states is a pretty good accomplishment for us Canucks. Can you imagine if the Canadian provinces were as small as the states? It takes so long just to cover one province. I love the quote, I thought that speech was huge for her character and the two of them seem to be making some real progress. Thoughts on Bones lately?
Yes, it has been a long time since you've blogged. 
Hmmm.. you're so tall; it's a bit unfair. Wow, you've had your business for 18 years! How did it start? Mmm.. soup.. soup is good! It's not too filling though.. I only eat is when I'm sick. Clam chowder for the win! Congrats on your achievements! You sure are a dedicated TV.com member.
That's a really beautiful photo.
The first half looks it could be on the Kokanee can even though you don't drink alcohol. Enjoy your Valentines and happy anniversary to you and Caroline!!P.S. I remembered the line breaks just now.
Magnificent picture! My distain for winter stems from the fact that I rarely get out of the city anymore. If I could live closer to the mountains, I'm sure I'd be very comfortable.
Thank you! Yes, you did know some of them already as did a few of you. Congrats on comment #1, I'll have to come up with a suitable prize for you, especially since you commented within 10 minutes of me writing the blog!
And so you should be honored.
Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Yes, I took that picture myself. I think that's three blogs in a row of self-taken pictures. Quite the budding photographer, aren't I? Thank you for the kind words. Al beat you by all of 24 seconds!
Awww, thank you!
Yup, I'm old, my car's old... Excel spreadsheets are great, aren't they? Actually, it's not necessarily that easy here, but drive 90 minutes west into the mountains and it is pretty spectacular just about any way you care to look. Thank you for the congrats.
Thank you so much for joining in on the game.
A Gemini! I always thought that if couldn't have been a Capricorn, I would have loved to be a Gemini. I've only known a few Gemini's, but they've all been really great people. You're taken? Tell us more. Wow, we have quote a few things in common.I'm really glad you enjoyed the quotes. I did too. You have a great weekend too. *** Hugs ***
That World Series did take a while. I'm glad I didn't keep track of the time.
Thank you!
Welcome! It's always nice to see a new face. Thank you! Well, God made the scene, it just took a picture. That was the easy part.
,How nice to hear from you. I miss our conversations about this, that and everything else.
You know, every time I watch an episode of Bones, I think of PMing you and I haven't done so. I'm sorry. 
I'm going to have to do that. In short, I would have to say Bones has become my favorite current show on TV and Without a trace is a close second. We even cracked open on Bones - Season 1 DVD set and watch the pilot, which I thought was great.I hope everything's well with you and I promise I will send you a PM soon.
,Oh, get off my back with the blogging thing already.
I had to go to Vancouver, you know. And, I'm not THAT tall, I'm really not.How it started is a rather long story. The short version would be that I was in the right place at the right time with the right skills and got a three month consulting contract and I went from there.
I'll have to share that story on the Big Blog sometime. In case any of you notice this, one of my old blogs now has over 11,000 comments attached to it.
Can you believe it?And thank you for the kind words and the line breaks.
I'm glad we're friends.
Consider yourself tagged.
We'll be waiting for your revelations! You make a good point about that. Winter in the city and winter in the mountains are worlds apart. Banff is a very special place and getting away from being surrounded by 1.1 millions folks for a retreat is never a bad thing.
Well, there a few people who haven't commented yet without whom a blog is not complete. this makes 23 comments then.
And I am doing the game myself some time this weekend I guess
Happy Valentine's Day to you too! Thank you for stopping by, it's been a while.
Thank you! I don't know about fun, but I did get a good education which is, after all, what I was there for.
Thank you! All in good time. That's part of the fun - working along and seeing the progress you make. When you take over a guide that's 40 YEARS out of date, it's not hard to see progress!!
I don't know about 10 ranks, but a couple anyway. The basketball guide will help too. Banff is spectacular, but in Europe there are the Alps and other incredibly beautiful place also. Vancouver was nice, but it's a closed chapter in my life and I wouldn't want to go back. I can't think of a nicer place to have been raised though - I am grateful.
No worries. I've been really busy as of late, I just finish mid-terms two weeks ago (including two final exams.) Lately I've just been check my submissions and PMs to save time. I'm so glad you and Caroline have come to like Bones so much. Well I just got home from a celebrity/chairty hockey game that I played in, which was a lot of funa and raised money and food for a local food bank. Yes, PM soon and I will be sure to respond!
Oh well, baseball season will be here soon and then summer!
I'd love to see a March Madness bracket competition amongst tv.com friends! It could happen.
I can add that neither of us will scare anyone, shaven or not!! Thanks so much for stopping and for sharing those things about yourself. Have a great weekend! I don't personally gamble, but there was an NFL pool, so I'm sure that there be at least one March Madness pool around here somewhere.
It is a nice pic, isn't it?
'Only' 5'6"? You'd make most of my good friends on this site jealous, but quite a bit in some cases.
No names though. Thank you for the kind more on the sports pages and for stopping by. I hope you have a great rest of the week too.
Woolsey