It's time for a new blog entry in the continung quest to reach 50 and earn that fine emblem. I'd also like to get to 15 reviews, but that seems be coming painfully slowly. I have, however, made it to six.

Now, the problem is that I can't think of anything to write about, so I'm going to try to put a few things together that have either caught my eye or been on my mind lately.
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I think most of you already have because we have mostly the same friends, but in case you haven't, please stop by IndianaMom's site and wish her a happy 50th birthday! It's that perfect age when you've been around long enough to have learned some things and still have enough energy to put them into practice.

And if you'd like to take a little 1970's quiz, click here.
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The top baby names of 2007 (in the USA) were released recently by the Social Security Administration and the top 10 goes as follows:

Boys: Jacob, Michael, Ethan, Joshua, Daniel, Christopher, Anthony, William, Matthew, Andrew
Girls: Emily, Isabella, Emma, Ava, Madison, Sophia, Olivia, Abigail, Hannah, Elizabeth.
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I've completed two TV.com projects in the last couple of days.

1. Martimer00 and I have been working on bringing The Beachcombers guide up to snuff. For those of you outside of Canada, The Beachcombers holds the record for being the longest running drama series in Canadian television history at 19 years. When Maritimer brought the guide to my attention and showed me where I could get information on it, I decided to help out. I was shocked that there were only 10 or so episodes in the guide. We now have all 370 epsiodes in there and details are slowly coming along.

2. I have ended up marking a lot of person guides as duplicates over the past few months, but gave up submitting them for deletion because it seemed nothing was ever actually deleted. When my friendly moderator reminded that it was part of the process to submit them, and that staff was just behind, I decided to do that. I've now submitted over 110 duplicate person guides for deletion. We'll see if they get deleted. I've kept a list so that I can follow up.
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The National League lost another All-Star game, this time in 15 innings. I've always been an NL guy. Primarily, they don't have the DH and I enjoy that brand of baseball more. When I was growing up, the NL used to win these games regularly. I really thought that when it got to 3-2 in the 8th, that they would pull this one out. Oh well.

On the subject of baseball, I think the sporting highlight of the decade so far is the Red Sox World Championship in 2004. It was just so wonderful to see that whole 86 year curse thing put to rest and it brought so much joy to so many long-suffering fans. I think everyone should be able to enjoy their favorite team win at least one championship in their lifetimes.

Then the White Sox ended their winless drought and maybe this year the Cubs can put the ghosts of goats and Bartmans and such to rest. I'm not a Cubs fan, but I don't think any true baseball fan can begrudge them one World Championship.

And here's a picture of a lovely garden for your 5-minute 'take a break from the computer' vacation. We live on such a lovely planet.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Karl

About a month ago, I was passed along a free Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test and took it. I came out an I (67%) S (1%) F (12%) J (78%). The last paragraph is stunningly accurate. I also took a free Personality Test, which labelled me an HI, otherwise known as a Harmony-seeking Idealist. Here is what the results indicate, ISFJ is purple and HI in green. Both have been edited so as to not put anyone to sleep!

ISFJs are truly warm and kind-hearted, and want to believe the best of people. They value harmony and cooperation, and are likely to be very sensitive to other people's feelings. People value the ISFJ for their consideration and awareness, and their ability to bring out the best in others by their firm desire to believe the best. ISFJs learn best by doing, rather than by reading about something in a book, or applying theory. The ISFJ learns a task best by being shown its practical application. Once the task is learned, and its practical importance is understood, the ISFJ will faithfully and tirelessly carry through the task to completion. The ISFJ is extremely dependable.

More so than other types, ISFJs are extremely aware of their own internal feelings. The ISFJ feels a strong sense of responsibility and duty. They take their responsibilities very seriously, and can be counted on to follow through. For this reason, people naturally tend to rely on them. The ISFJ is warm, generous, and dependable. They have many special gifts to offer, in their sensitivity to others, and their strong ability to keep things running smoothly. They need to remember to not be overly critical of themselves, and to give themselves some of the warmth and love which they freely dispense to others.

HI's are characterized by a complex personality and an abundance of thoughts and feelings. They are warm-hearted persons by nature and are sympathetic and understanding. They are often very creative. In everyday life, they often prove to be excellent problem solvers. They like to get to the root of things and have a natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge. At the same time, they are practically oriented, well organized and in a position to tackle complex situations in a structured and carefully considered manner. When they concentrate on something, they do so one hundred percent - they often become so immersed in a task that they forget everything else around them. That is the secret of their often very large professional success. As partners, they are loyal and reliable; a permanent relationship is very important to them. As they do not like conflicts, they hesitate for some time before raising unsatisfactory issues and, when they do, they make every effort not to hurt anyone as a result.

This is amazingly accurate actually. I've been reading on the site recently about people who present themselves as something that they are not. I just can't imagine ever doing that. I am who God made me and am learing to be rather content with it. Other than my neat teenage baseball story, I'm really a very ordinary guy.

So, anyone else interested in trying the tests?

Lastly, a huge thanks to my friend vampiredawn, who found these sites and encouraged me to share the results. See, it only took a month to get to it!

Do have a great weekend everyone!

Well, after a brief detour to whine about rising gas and tuna sub prices, I am back on the baseball theme. A couple of weeks ago, with the help of a friend who is one of the moderators here, I landed the MLB World Series guide. I'm absolutely thrilled!

The guide was in horrible shape and had stopped in 1967. Since then, I've added the missing 40 seasons as well as worked out a format for the boxscores that accommodates TV.com's HTML limitations, which was not an easy thing. If anyone would like, have a look at a completed Recap . I've managed to automate the boxscore part in Excel to the point that all I have to do is enter the URL and the program produces a boxscore. It's always nice when you can use your professional skills to do smoething fun you love. The play-by-play requires manual work. I think I can do a game, complete with recap, lineups and quotes in about 15-20 minutes. So far, I have completed the 2006 World Series in its entirety and the 2007 Series to about 90%. I've also standardized the Synopsis for each game and corrected a few errors. It's really neat, because information on World Series is readily available from many sources.

Since there are 351 games to do, this is going to take awhile. It will go faster though, now that I have the program working to accommodate different layouts.

I had kept this to myself until I could get the guide up to date and figure out what I wanted to do with the Recaps that would make then look decent and also work within the TV.com framework. I like all the shows that I edit, but this one is special given my love of the game.

Finally, I just want to say that I deeply appreciate all of your friendships. I look forward to coming here every day and it is a very important part of my life. As an only child who tends to be a loner, being a part of this community has been a truly wonderful experience.

Consider all of yourselves hugged.

I don't normally pay that much attention to the price of things. It's not that I'm not aware of the price of things, or how much they keep going up these days, it's just that I have learned that whenever I make a decision in my life based solely on money, it always turns out to be a bad one. I tend to do what I need to do to be comfortable and, since I've never been extravagant, it works out well.

Having said that, I went to Subway last night with a good appetite after a day of yard work. So, instead of my usual 6" sub, I ordered a foot long tuna sub with double meat. Just the sub mind you, not soup, chips or drinks.

It cost $9.75.

Are you kidding? This is Subway for the love of heaven. Anyway, I just wanted to share that.

Since we're on the subject of rising prices and, since the price of gas is such a hot topic these days, I'd be interested in conducting a little survey. Here in Calgary, the price of gas is currently $1.33.4/litre. Now litres, or liters, are the metric unit of gas used here in the Great White North. Using current exchange rates, we take the $1.33.4 and multiply it by 3.785 (number of litres in a gallon) and again by 1.02 ($US/Cdn exchange rate) and we get $US 5.15/gallon. How does that compare to where you are? I'm very interested in hearing from my overseas friends - both of you!!

To conclude on a cheerful note, I am grateful that God gives us what we need. It's just that I like to grouse every now and then.

Have a lovely week everyone.

Karl

From my friend vampiredawn: Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done. See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." Ask your friends do this in their journals to see what unique things they've done.

In response, I listed three things on her site, which are:
1. I got top level security clearance to work at a Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Vancouver in 1987.
2. I've been to two Major League Baseball All-Star Games (1979 in Seattle & 1980 in Los Angeles).
3. I've met multiple Baseball Hall of Famers (Don Drysdale, Lefty Gomez and Bob Feller come to mind).

I left the best one off, which is what led to #2 and #3.

I have always loved stats, details and numbers, so my spreadsheet programming job is perfect for me. Back in 1978, when I was in Grade 10, my homeroom teacher, who was also the Varsity basketball coach, suggested I go visit the new Triple A franchise in town and see if they might need help with stats. He even wrote me a letter of reference.

Now, I led a very sheltered life. I am an only child, didn't have many friends, none in the neighborhood my age, and generally stayed home, did my homework and watched TV. I pretty much never missed a hockey, football (NFL, CFL, NCAA) or baseball game on TV. Needless to say, I had never had a job.

So, with the Stadium being only nine blocks from my house, I got on my bike, and went to the ballpark on Opening Night. I boldly walked into the Office and presented myself, along with my letter of reference. It was hectic, what with the launching of a new franchise and all, and the PR Director asked me to go to the Press Box (which is on the roof of the stadium) and talk to the home broadcaster. So, for the first five innings, I sat quietly next to Ed Randall. As you can see, Ed has done very well for himself over the years. He's even worked for the New York Yankees.

After the game and after Ed had told me that he keeps his own stats, I went down to the office and the PR man literally begged me to be the Official Scorer. I was 16 at the time, which didn't seem to bother him. He told me that he would help me and would I please take the job, because he was basically desperate. So, starting with Game 2, I became the Official Scorer for the Vancouver Canadians of the Pacific Cost League. I held the job for six years, until 1983, when I graduated from college and had to choose between the Scorer's job and the one that would pay the bills. I think the cycle had run its course by then.

So, here I was, shy as you wouldn't believe, terrified, and thrown into this job. Part of the job was filling in a legal size sheet with all the statistics of the game. I still remember showing up for Game 3 and being told that the catcher (a fellow named Bruce Robinson) wished to see me to discuss a call from the night before. I had ruled a pitch a Passed Ball and he didn't agree. So, I asked a colleague which player he was, and the response was "he's the guy down there swinging the three bats." Oh great So, I went down to see him and we talked about it. We became friends in a way after that. And, no, I didn't change the call.

I learned so much from this job, beginning with social skills (of which I had none) and ending with the most important, to stand up for what I believed in and not be intimidated. You can just picture a 6' 1" kid who weighed about 140 pounds next to a professional catcher! At least, I was as tall as most of them!

To really appreciate this, imagine being a teenager and being paid to watch a baseball game from the best seat in the house, be fed dinner nightly, and, when I was older, get to have free beer in the Press Room and spend time with all the major media members in the city. Just being out of the house and in a professional environment was a huge deal. And, although I don't drink anymore, free beer at 19 was a pretty big deal too.

In 1978, I got my name in The Sporting News as the youngest Official Scorer in organized baseball. In 1980, I made the News again because my 200+ consecutive game streak was broken so that I could attend my high school graduation. Neat, huh? I was also interviewed on numerous local radio stations (an even one in Tacoma) as well as on the local cable TV station. I have definitely had my 15 minutes of fame, in spades.

And, that's how I got to meet a few Hall of Famers and get to two All-Star Games. I've also met the original San Diego Chicken.

Well, this has turned out to be much longer than I though it would, but here it is. I don't talk about this much anymore, mostly because it's been 25 years (yikes - I'm getting old). I mentioned it in passing to a friend and she said she would like to hear the story and seeing vampiredawn's post today made me decide to dig it out of the mothballs. Anyway, all of you are so nice to me here and I thought you might enjoy it. I always enjoy a good story from friends and I hope all of you like this one.

Here is a picture of Nat Bailey Staium, which even has it own Wikipeida page.

In the middle of the shot, on the roof, is the Press Box. In the middle of it (the narrow window) is where I sat for six summers. And yes, it is a gorgeous setting. The 2010 Winter Oympic Curling venue is being built pretty much across the street from it.