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karlmeszaros Blog

A Blog and a Top 50 List

Hi Everyone, :)
Gosh it's been a long time.
I hope that life is treating everyone well. I've been plodding along slowly but surely. My year has mostly been taken up with dealing with my mom's affairs. She is 85 now and has moved into a nursing home in Vancouver and I am looking after her affairs via a Power of Attorney. I had no idea how much work was involved and she only had one child so there is no one to share the load with. But that's OK, it's one of the cycles of life and while it has been challenging, things have worked out well. She's happy where she is and has lots of friends that visit her almost every day and it's a relief for me because I know she is getting the level of that she needs..

Winter has arrived in full force here as we have lots of snow and very cold temperatures.
As I write this, it is -16F/-26C with a wind chill of -36C/-33F. Thank God for central heating, huh? The CFL Western Conference Final was played yesterday under these conditions and Calgary lost 20-16 to Saskatchewan. I remember going to a couple of Western Finals back in the mid 1990's when it was like this and have a vivid memory of sitting on the kitchen counter with my feet in a sink full of hot water after one of them!

I though I'd share
my autumn TV watching list and I also noticed that no one had made a Top 100 list in a long time (or I missed it), so I put together a very basic Top 50 list last week. I was surprised that I have made the Top 10, but that nice because that doubles the Canadian content therein. :) So, on to the TV List.

Monday

Chase, Castle, Monday Night Football, Mike & Molly
, Men With Brooms, Little Mosque on the Prairie

Tuesday
No Ordinary Family, Detroit 1-8-7


Wednesday
The Middle


Thursday

The Mentalist, Bones, Outsourced, Thursday
Night Football

Friday

CSI:NY, Blue Bloods, Flashpoint


Saturday
Saturday Night College Football

Sunday

Sunday Night Football (notice a pattern?)

The italicized ones are my favorites. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.

Karl

The TOP 50 List

Level....Percent......Name
.100.....62.50%.....mb2000
...99.....93.27%.....dmarex
...97.....91.59%.....angelsxo
...96.....84.30%.....AprilFox
...91.....08.75%.....TheOldBill
...89.....49.54%.....danbambridge
...87.....24.30%.....dju010
...86.....59.85%.....gabfan31
...85.....36.82%.....Gislef
...84.....04.22%.....Karlmeszaros
...83.....59.67%.....jekyll
...82.....91.84%.....SrRui
...80.....04.57%.....Adam_Dicy
...79.....37.50%.....Mad_Buck
...78.....34.44%.....jaynashvil
...78.....15.48%.....mackymacaspac
...77.....04.75%.....char2renee
...76.....58.07%.....Formulakaz
...76.....25.51%.....stitch069917
...73.....66.91%.....Twisted-Alien
...71.....28.22%.....SPDShadowRanger
...70.....54.13%.....Angus_Mac
...70.....40.46%.....Tom_Southwell (Private)
...69.....88.47%.....Mafeu
...68.....82.58%.....layle1
...68.....82.33%.....maritimer00
...67.....98.50%.....lowriderz95s10
...67.....89.27%.....phf3947
...67.....61.77%.....TVTome_Shadow
...67.....33.35%.....boom-moo
...66.....96.96%.....charley28
...66.....68.43%.....angelandspike
...66.....63.32%.....Hoeech
...66.....03.04%.....agent_0042
...65.....27.87%.....Angelwomyn
...65.....22.34%.....LB80
...65.....14.40%.....bowling255
...65.....11.07%.....kcohan1
...65.....00.16%.....Inuyashadude101
...63.....95.09%.....NiteWatch
...63.....61.68%.....Brunete20 (Banned)
...63.....50.59%.....Parviainen
...63.....47.67%.....logi
...63.....43.63%.....robinepowell (Banned)
...63.....13.29%.....Joker00303
...62.....53.13%.....astorino
...62.....31.64%.....TVTome_Sudser
...62.....28.74%.....HelloStuart
...62.....24.78%.....brandi1leigh
...62.....02.61%.....qfred9
...61.....96.05%.....TomAlger
...61.....81.58%.....camatzotz
...61.....54.01%.....boromirbeauty
...61.....53.69%.....shengongwu3000 (Private)
...61.....31.42%.....fireballil
...61.....26.58%.....jtomlin1uk
...61.....23.46%.....jchamberlin
...60.....88.14%.....Jeff
...60.....56.20%.....maxpower144
...60.....40.05%.....xGowronx

It's Time for a Blog

Hi Everyone, :)

I'm looking at my last blog and realizing that autumn has come and gone. It doesn't take much in Calgary to miss it. We've had three snowfalls already, temperatures are currently hovering around freezing and the forecast is for 2-4 inches of snow overnight. It's not that bad because I love snow.

On the sports front, the NHL's Flames are off to a good start (tied for fifth overall), our CFL football team is in first place in the West and my favorite team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, is 5-2 and ranked #23 in America this week.

To be honest, I can't think of anything to blog about. It's been a pretty quiet summer with a lot of routine things going on. Caroline and I did get out to Vancouver in September for three days to visit my mom, which was nice. My health hasn't been the greatest the last 2+ months. I have this persistent cough which turned into a chest infection awhile back. Antibiotics took care of that, but the persistent cough is, well, persistent. I've been resting and taking good care of myself: drinking lots of water, having naps and so forth.

When in Doubt 1, Blog About TV
One of the things I've been doing lately is watching lots of TV, especially NCAA and NFL football and some hockey. I also have editor duties coming up as the World Series starts on Wednesday and that's one of my guides.

Here's a list of the shows I've been watching this fall: Bones, Castle, Cold Case, CSI:NY, The Forgotten, Hank, Law & Order, Little Mosque on the Prairie, The Mentalist, The Middle and Numb3rs.

CSI:NY has a story behind it. I had only seen one episode of the show a few years back and didn't like it and I've never been partial to the other two. This summer, a station called Spike began airing the first four seasons at a rate of two per weekday. Somehow I got hooked and have now seen all of Seasons 1-4 and most of Season 5, which is currently airing. So, I'm waiting to catch up on Season 6. I have seen the season opener and was shocked at everything that had transpired.Anyway, not bad for three months.

When in Doubt 2, Blog About TV.com
One of the most relaxing things that I have been able to do is work on my guides here. I edit nine shows and five people now. By far the most involved guide is the NCAA March Madness one, which is comprised of 1,902 games (episodes). It has every game played from 1978 (the first year the tournament was televised in its entirety) to the present, which entails a tremendous amount of detail. My friend Gabriella has been helping me out with the guide.

I also got my hands on the Stanley Cup Finals guide, which was in horrible shape. As a good Canadian, this simply had to be fixed! A lot is left to do, but at least I have every game in there from the television era (1953-present).

The World Series guide is done. Every game from 1947 (first telecast) to 2008 has complete information, including full play-by-play, box scores and starting lineups. There are also tidbits in there about MVP's, records and quotes where available. One of the neat things I've been doing is trying to track down the full 25 man rosters for each team for each year. All of the main sites only list the players that actually made it into a game, which can be as few as 13. I've been doing a lot of research reading through the Google News archives and emailing reporters in various cities that cover the teams. I even had a nice chat with the L.A. Dodgers historian! The guide only got done with of the help of Madison and Gabriella, whose help I am grateful for. :)

Now I know it takes a nerd to find all this relaxing, but I am one :D and it's been a ton of fun. It's really neat when you can say that one of your guides has information that's nowhere else on the Internet! All this has landed me at Level 72 and close to 33,000 submissions. I've even managed to write a few reviews!

Country Story
The only other thing that's new is that I have been playing a game called Country Story on Facebook. It's a fun game and Caroline and I both play. Sometimes, she steals my crops. :shock: When I tried to steal some back, her dog bit me! :cry: I don't have a dog, but I do have a brown cow. :D

The Beauty of God's Creation
These are Great Smoky Mountains, which sit astride the Tennessee and North Carolina borders in America.

Quote of the Blog
It's from CSI:NY
Danny: Why do we do what we do, huh?
Flack: What do you mean?
Danny: Why do we wake up in the morning at three o'clock, stand at a crime scene in the freezing cold, living paycheck to paycheck, for what? To protect and serve? Serve who, the public? Sometimes it seems like they hate us, and then here we got the brass ready to throw us to the lions.
Flack: (shrugs) We do it cause we're good at it. Maybe we'd be lousy at anything else. I don't know. Maybe we do it for the one or two times somebody actually thanks us for finding their son's murderer.

Wisdom From The East
If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.
Buddha

Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child – our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
Thich Nhat Hanh

I hope all of you are doing well. Thank you for reading and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Karl :oops:

A Summer Sabbatical and the Fall Schedule

:) Hi Everyone, :)

A Summer Sabbatical

Summer is finally arriving in Calgary and I mowed our lawns for the first time this year a couple of days ago. Along with the warmer weather comes a reminder that I need to get outside more and be more active in taking care of myself.

I have been reevaluating my various personal commitments and the things going on in my life these days and while I love my online life and especially our community here, I have decided that in order to look after myself in the way that I need to I will be taking a break from blogging and commenting on blogs for the summer. I will see in September how things are going.

I don't write very many blogs but I really enjoy reading all of yours and always try to leave a comment. I will miss that.

The Fall Schedule
I was looking at the fall TV schedule yesterday and I guess like most of you, I'm both happy and sad.

Happy (renewed)
The Mentalist
Bones (for two seasons :))
Numb3rs
Cold Case
Law & Order
Saturday Night College Football :D

Sad (cancelled)
Eleventh Hour
Without A Trace
Life

I have to say that Eleventh Hour really grew on me and I'm sorry to see it not given a fair chance. Without A Trace is sad, but we got seven season and 160 episodes and you can't really complain about that. My wife likes Life more than I do, but the season (and series as it turns out) finale was one of the best TV shows I have ever seen. I don't like NBC putting Jay Leno on for five nights. It takes away a lot of time for quality programming and I am sure it's the only reason Life got cancelled. Maybe the show will bomb and we'll get some mid-season replacements.

The Beauty of God's Creation

Grand Canyon

It's the Grand Canyon! :)

Quotes of the Blog
Here are a few quotes from my favorite new show of the 2008-09 season: The Mentalist.

Patrick: You don't like the way I drive, you despise it.
Teresa: You drive way too fast.
Patrick: I drive just fast enough. You hate not being the one in control and yet you're willing to overcome your irrational fears to cheer me up. That's a beautiful thing, Lisbon. Thank you, I'd love to drive.
Teresa: Never mind.

Patrick: Ah. Here we have two co-workers recognizing the boundaries of their professional relationship. See, you want to trust me, but there's something holding you back.
Teresa: Yes. You're untrustworthy. It's my job not to trust you.
Patrick: Lisbon, I want you to know that you can trust me. No matter what happens, I will be there for you. I will. I need you to know that

Agent Van Pelt: Why do people say "Eureka!" when they do something good?
Agent Cho: It's Greek for bingo.

Teresa: Minelli wants me to keep a watch on you.
Patrick: What are you going to do?
Teresa: I'm not going to follow you around. Let's compromise. When you get into trouble, call me first so I can try and minimize the damage.

Teresa: Just follow procedure. Have fun!
Patrick: Where is the fun in that?

Agent Cho: How is he?
Teresa: Guess what, he's a bad patient.
Agent Cho: Who would've thought!
Patrick: I'm not a bad patient. She's a bad visitor.

Wisdom From The East
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven
Kahlil Gibran

A parting shot to my fellow Vancouverite: there you go – two blogs in one month! :P

I wish all of you a spectacular summer. God Bless each of you and see you in the autumn.

Karl :oops:

FLAG

Nice Sayings

:) Hi everyone :)

I have received recenty these from a couple of friends and I thought you would enjoy them. I highlighted my three favorites.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS THAT MAY BRING YOU A BEAUTFUL LIFE!

Take a 10-30 minute walk every day and while you walk, smile!

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

When you wake up in the morning, complete the following statement: "My purpose is to ____________ today".

Live with the three E's: Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy and the three F's: Faith, Family and Friends.

Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of six.

Dream more while you are awake.

Try to make at least three people smile each day.

Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Pass all your tests. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra cla$$ but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.

Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Make peace with your past, so it won't mess up the present.

Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Burn the candles, use the nice sheets. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Forgive everyone for everything.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Your job won't take care of you when you are sick, your friends will. Stay in touch.

Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

The best is yet to come.

No matter how you feel, get, dress up and show up.

Do the right thing.

Call your family often.

Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: "I am thankful for _______________" and "Today I accomplished _______________".

Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. Make the most of it and enjoy the ride.

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them.

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.

The Beauty of God's Creation
I'm out of ones that I took, so we move on with other beautiful photos. This one is from the American midwest. I've always loved fountains and will have some more in future blogs.
Fountain

Quotes of the Blog

These are all from one of my favorite current shows, Bones.

Booth: Did you know that giraffes can weigh up to two tons?
Bones: Yes. Everyone knows that.
Booth: And they sleep less than two hours a day.
Bones: That I did not know.
Booth: Yes! Pinky stumps The Brain!

Angela: Booth's brilliant at pretending to be stupider than he actually is, most of the time.
Bones: Brilliant at stupidity?
Angela: Mhm. Especially around you.

Brennan: I don't wanna be a sexy scientist.
Booth: Well that's like me saying I don't wanna be a sexy FBI agent. We can't change who we are.

Wisdom From The East
Life just is. You have to flow with it.
It is for us to make the effort. The result is always in God's hands.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone has a great rest of the week! :)

A New Toy and A Quiz

:) Hi Everyone, :)

It's been a while. I hope all of you are doing well. Say, it's only eight months until Christmas. :lol: Thank you for the 124 comments to my last blog. :oops:

Well, I haven't got much to say, so most of this blog will be a quiz that my friend Rhonda over at Facebook tagged me with. But first, here is a neat new toy. :) Our cell phone contract expired and we switched carriers from Telus Mobility to Bell Mobility. I know that won't mean anything to non-Canadians, but I thought I would share. We both got new cell phones and here is mine.

Cell Phone

Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but I had never before sent a text message. :shock: Caroline sent me one and I replied to it using my fancy QWERTY keyboard. I was quite proud of myself. OK then, on with the quiz.

Karlology

1) What is your salad dressing of choice?
Thousand Islands

2) What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Spiros for Greek food, Chianti for Italian and Denny's for a nice 3-egg breakfast. :)

3) What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
Italian

4) What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Green Pepper, Pineapple and Onion (that's it – no variation allowed)

5) What do you like to put on your toast?
Nothing. I used to put butter on it, but that didin't agree with me. Plain works great. :)

6) What is your favorite hockey team?
Vancouver Canucks

7) What color cell phone do you have?
Look above. :D

8 ) Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Totally right handed. When I played street hockey as a kid, I was a left-handed shot, but that's it.

9) Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Yes, my tonsils.

10) What is the last heavy item you lifted?
My desk.

11) Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
No.

12) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
No way. I want to make an effort to do my best each day and let God look after the comings and goings of my soul.

13) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I already changed my name. :lol:

14) Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
No. I have GERD. That could seriously damage my insides.

15) How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
None. :shock:

16) What's your goal for the year?
The year?? How about getting through today? :? Seriously though, I don't really have a goal for the year. There are some areas in my life I would like to make progress on and I hope that those areas will be better come year end.

17) Last person you talked to?
My wife.

18 ) Last person you hugged?
My wife.

19) Favorite Season?
Autumn

20) Favorite Holiday?
I would have to say Christmas, although I really like a Provincial Holiday in February called Family Day. Caroline and I were married that weekend. :oops:

21) Favorite day of the week?
Saturday

22) Favorite Month?
September

23) First place you went this morning?
The kitchen to make coffee.

24) What's the last movie you saw?
In the theater? I think it was Star Wars III. I don't get out much. At home on DVD, I'm pretty sure it was Joshua (not the horror one).

25) Do you smile often?
I think so.

26) Do you always answer your phone?
No, I hardly ever do. We have call display and most calls are unsolicited sales calls. I'll only answer the phone if I know who's calling.

27) It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
As I said above, I've only ever gotten one text message and since my wife is asleep at that hour, I honestly haven't a clue.

28 ) If you could change your eye color what would it be?
I like my eye color (green) and wouldn't want to change it.

29) What flavor drink do you get at Sonic?
We don't have Sonic in Canada, so I'll substitute Wendy's. I would get a coffee since I don't drink pop.

30) Have you ever had a pet fish?
Yes. We had fish when I was growing up.

31) Favorite Christmas song?
Silent Night

32) What's on your wish list for your birthday?
I had a birthday fairly recently, so nothing.

33) Can you do push ups?
Yes, but I doubt I could do very many.

34) Can you do a chin up?
Yes. I haven't since high school though. :?

35) Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
At this point, nervous.

36) Do you have any saved text messages?
No.

37) Ever been in a car wreck?
Several.

38 ) Do you have an accent?
No.

39) What is the last song to make you cry?
Who I Am by Jessica Andrews. It the theme song to Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye.

40) Plans tonight?
This would be it. :) I did watch an NHL playoff game between San Jose and Anaheim.

41) Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Yes – which time?

42) Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
I didn't go out yesterday so I didn't buy anything. Today I bought organic carrots, fresh buns, a Tim Horton's coffee and a 6" tuna sub with double meat as Subway. Oh, and I always have the sandwich with no cheese, lettuce, onions, green pepper and cucumber. Like with pizza toppings, this does not vary.

43) Have you ever been given roses?
Not that I can recall.

44) Do you have any TV shows on DVD?
Hawaii Five-O, Monk, Ironsde, Perry Mason, McHale's Navy, Bones, Quincy, McCloud and McMillan and Wife come to mind.

45) Met someone who changed your life?
Yes, a few people.

46) How did you bring in the New Year?
At home with Caroline.

47) Which song most represents you?
Oh boy. You know, I have no idea. it would have to be a song of faith and hope. If I think of one, I'll post it in a blog comment. Any ideas anyone?

48 ) Name three people who might complete this.
Caroline, Ivy (I think she owes me seven or so!) and Gabriella.

49) What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Watching Numb3rs and then chatting with my wife.

50) What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
What day is it and is it time to get up yet?

The Beauty of God's Creation
Banff

This is the last of the Karl taken pictures. It's a beautiful mountain from Banff National Park. Since we had four inches of snow here this week, I thought I would go with one more snowy scene.

Quote of the Blog
These are from Boy Meets World. Indiana Mom introduced me to the show and I was really, really enjoying it, but it was taken off the air. I did manage to see about half of Season 1 and almost all of Seasons 2 and 3. :)


Shawn: You can't do that.
Mr. Feeny:
I can do whatever I want, I have the megaphone.

Mr. Feeny: Can anyone tell me what the acronym "scuba" is? Mr. Matthews?
Cory: Dooba?

Mr. Feeny:
Scuba Dooba? Mr. Matthews, I have obviously failed you on so many levels.

Cory: I stink.
Mr. Feeny:
I agree, have you seen your latest test score? And if Mr. Matthews stinks, you Mr. Hunter are as odoriferous as dead man in July.

Wisdom From The East
Let's do something a little different here today. These quotes are from Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra. There's also a link to an AFLAC commercial he did a few years ago. It's really funny and one of my favorites. I still get a laugh out of it when I see it.

This is like deja vu all over again.
You can observe a lot just by watching.
If I didn't wake up, I'd still be sleeping.
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours.
The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.
And, the AFLAC Commerical. :)

A Good Laugh
My friend April Fox got me into looking at John Pinette videos and I found this one. Since I don't like turnips, I found this really, really funny. :lol:

Thank you for reading. I hope everyone has a nice Sunday and a great week ahead! :)

I have a new computer!

:) Hi everyone! :)

I think that on the occasion of the one month anniversary of my last blog, it's time for another one.

As you can tell from the title, I have been upgraded. :D I wasn't expecting this, although the handwriting was definitely on the wall. Yesterday, without warning, my email/Internet stopped working. It was literally fine one minute and gone the next. I tested the connection and it wasn't the cable so I figures it was my network card. My Dell P4 is 4 years and 10 months old and has done a wonderful job over years. The computer industry tells you to upgrade your computer every two years. I figure every four is just fine. Anyway, given its age, I wasn't about to spend any more money on it.

After sleeping on it, I decided to call a local company called Memory Express and see what they might have. Both my wife and I have been faithful Dell users for many, many years. The trick this time was that Dell only sells the Vista operating system and I do NOT want Vista!! I make my livelihood on the computer and I love XP Professional. It's a stable and powerful operating system and I see no reason to switch away from something that I like and am comfortable using just because Microsoft says so.

After talking to the folks at Memory Express, I realized my best course of action was to go to the store and see what they had. They told me to bring my old computer in to see if anything was usable in it (it wasn't). So the salesman asked me what I wanted and then checked to see if they had any prebuilt units that might meet my needs. Believe it or not, they had one unit in the store. It was within $20 of what I wanted to spend, had exactly the memory I was looking for (4 GB), an Intel Duo-Core processor (perfect) and a 500 GB hard drive. Considering that my current machine has an 80 GB hard drive and is about 25% full, 500 GB was just fine. I just wish I could convert the virtual space into more office space, :lol: but they can't do that sort of thing yet.

The other great thing was that - drum roll - I got it with Windows XP Professional. :D It's like an angel was making sure that that computer would be available for me when I came in. Instead of having to wait 3-7 days and muddling through on my wife's laptop, I am all set and have transferred all my files (music and photos took a while) onto the new machine. This is her maiden blog.

Lastly, it was my turn to get a new toy. Caroline got a new desktop AND laptop last year! :)

TV.com News
I made it to Level 60!! In fact, I'm now at Level 61. It's because of the NCAA Basketball Guide. My friend Gabriella and I have been working hard to get it in good shape for the 2009 Tournament, which starts a week today. I think this is going to be interesting, because on Thursday and Friday, there are going to be 16 new 'episodes' each day, and another 16 over the weekend. :shock: We'll see how we do! Gabriella has boldly said that we can handle anything CBS can throw at us. Brave girl! :lol:

So far, we have all the games from 2000-2008 (63 per year) entered and should be able to have broadcasters, final scores and notes on the school competing (location, record, method of qualification, etc.) for all the games for these nine seasons. Eventually, we will add player and coach quotes, box scores and interesting tidbits to all the games. 2008 is complete and here is an example of what a game looks like. It's the Championship game from last year. Please click on the Recap and check out the box score. I wrote a program to generate that layout so that it is TV.com friendly and works within the site's HTML limitations.

You'll also see that staff has added photos to the site, which is great! I guess they're putting more effort into the guide because it's one of CBS' biggest programs and, of course, CBS owns TV.com. We aren't a sports site, but I think some good quality information is important to have in the guide, like it is for any guide on the site.

The Beauty of God's Creation
I'm going to stick with the snow covered mountain theme because where I am, it's definitely still winter. I thought this was a breath-taking photo from Banff National Park. This is also probably the last of the Karl taken photos. I want to thank all of you who have such nice things about the pictures I take. I still say God did the hard part and I just snapped the photo. :)

Banff

Quote of the Blog
I have really been enjoying the first four seasons of Hawaii Five-O. I think it has the best theme song of the shows of that generation and Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett is one of the more timeless TV characters out there. I rented the first three seasons and recently bought Season 4. Season 5 is already out and Season 6 is due out late next month. So, here are three quotes from various Hawaii Five-O episodes.

McGarrett: You can't appease violence and brutality. Either you take a stand against it and fight it or it'll kill you.
The Double Wall

McGarrett: You know, when people like you get involved, really involved, wake up the rats, the snakes, like Bombay, they're dead. I read somewhere, "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." I admire you Mr. Sloane. I thank you.
Just Lucky, I Guess

McGarrett is quoting a very famous work by English poet John Donne called "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions" (1624). This line is from Meditation XVII, which also includes the more famous line, "No man is an island."

Nicole: You know, I've been running so long. Long before this murder even. I don't know if I can stop.
McGarrett: That's up to you, Nicole. Try looking for yourself, the real you.
Nicole: Maybe that's what I've been running from.
McGarrett: Then stop the running and face it. It's what we've got to do, all of us, eventually. Stop and pay the dues honey.
The Singapore File

Wisdom from the East
I'm going to do two of them today.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom!
Thich Nhat Hanh


When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao-tzu

:oops: Have a great Friday and weekend everyone.
:oops:

Tagged and TV.com Accomplishments

:):) 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.

Banff

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

:oops: :oops: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! :oops: :oops:

Happy New Year, Christmas and all that Snow!

Hi everyone! :) Happy New Year! I hope that 2009 is a year filled with joy, prosperity and good health for all of you.

I though I would let you know what's been happening around here the last couple of weeks. It feels like about three months since I wrote my last blog. I was joking with Caroline that it feels like last week was last year - and it was! :lol:

Our original plans for Christmas were that my mom would fly out from Vancouver and spend Christmas with us. Unfortunately, with the snowstorm of the century (so far) hitting the Jewel of the Pacific, my mom decided not to come. She is elderly and quite frail these days, and she is also terrified of falling on the snow and ice so she just wanted to stay is the safety of her home, which is understandable. She was also scared that if she came, she wouldn't be able to get back home due to flight cancellations.

Midnight mass wasn't the same without her, but we did have a nice Christmas, just the two of us. It was only the second time we had spent Christmas alone in 13 years of marriage. The other time was in 2004 when my dad died. I just wanted to be alone with my wife that year.

One thing that simply cannot go unmentioned is that Notre Dame won their bowl game, 49-21 over Hawaii on Christmas Eve. :lol: Now besides the fact that ND is my favorite sports team, they hadn't won a bowl game since January 1, 1994 and were on a record nine game bowl losing streak. They ended up 7-6 this year, which is a lot better than the all-time worst 3-9 of 2007.

So on Christmas Day we opened gifts, called my mom, went out for a lovely Christmas dinner at the Calgary Downtown Marriott and drove around the city checking out homes with nice light displays and watching a heart-warming family movie called Joshua (not the horror movie).

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. :) That's one of our three Christmas elves in the foreground. They are responsible for guarding the presents. This one can't sit up straight, so we call him Droopy! My Christmas card to Caroline is in the middle of the tree.

Christmas Tree 2008

Anyway, back to mom: we had this unused plane ticket, which was purchased as non-refundable and non-changeable. I called WestJet to see if there was something I could do about this as I had promised my mom that if she couldn't come to us, I would fly out to the Coast to see her. They were incredibly gracious and switched the ticket to a return flight from Calgary to Vancouver for December 30/31 at no charge! I figured that they would be easier to do business with than Air Canada, but I didn't expect this. My Canadian friends can consider this a WestJet endorsement. :)

So, off I went to the Coast. Now, I figured there must be a lot of snow, but I had no idea that it would be what it was. :shock: I spent 28 years of my life in Vancouver and I have never seen anything like this. What was even more amazing is that people kept telling me there was almost twice as much before some melted. Anyway, here's a picture of my mom's house.

Mom's house

And here's one of the few I took driving around the city. The side streets were so bad that even with the melting, you could hear the snow scrape the bottom of the car as you drove.

Vancouver Snow

My mom and I had a very nice visit. I drove her around so that she could take care of some personal matters and get groceries and such and we had time to visit and play some cards, which she loves to do. We also exchanged Christmas gifts. :)

New Year's was quiet, just the two of us at home and so far, the year is off to a good start. I hope all of you had a nice New Year's too, however you celebrated.

The Beauty of God's Creation
Many of you said such nice things :oops: about the last photo, which I took, that I decided to use another Karl taken photo for this blog. Here is one from Vancouver, on a Chamber of Commerce day. Not a bad place to have grown up, huh?

Vancouver

Quote of the Blog
Please indulge me one more from It's A Wonderful Life. I may have even used this one before, but it's very true.

Clarence: Remember, George, no man is a failure who has friends.

Wisdom From the East
The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
Japanese proverb

New Year's resolutions anyone? ;)

I hope it's a great weekend for everyone, especially all my wonderful friends who are going back to school next Monday. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

:) Hi Everyone! :)

Well, I had all sorts of plans for an elaborate Christmas blog, but I will save all my neat ideas for the New Year. :) So I will wish each and every one of you a most wonderful and blessed Christmas and Holiday season, however you spend and celebrate it. I hope that it will be a time of joy and lasting memories.

This is my first year as an active member of this or any other online Community. I began submitting in 2007, but last Christmas I had one friend and had never sent a PM or written a blog. Now I have over 50 friends and 50 blogs.

I can honestly say that becoming an active part of this community has forever changed my life in wonderful ways I could have never imagined.

The Beauty of God's Creation
This from Banff National Park. I even took it myself! Isn't the sky breathtaking?

Baker Creek

I appreciate all of you. Thank you for allowing me to share some of my life with you and for sharing yours with me.

With Love,:oops:
Karl

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

:) Hi everyone, :)

Well, I have my 40 comments (thanks Caroline:)) so I guess it's time for another blog. The idea for this one popped into my mind on Saturday when we were wandering through Chapters (for Americans, think Barnes & Noble). I think it was when Caroline was looking through illustrated versions of The Night Before Christmas. There are some lovely ones out there.

Speaking of shopping, I was very surprised to see that Linens N Things Canada is going out of buisiness. :shock: We checked it out and sure enough, the local store has big signs and the merchandise has been picked over already. The lady said that they were closing for good around December 28. It was interesting walking around the store, because LNT's prices are on the high side. I think it's a combination of their prices, the economy and Wal-Mart's presence. It's sad because it's one less place to get good quality bedding. OK, on to the main event.

I think most of you know about the famous editorial that appeared in the New York Sun on September 20, 1897. Here's a bit of the story.

Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assitant on Manhattan's upper west side, was asked by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, whether Santa Claus really existed. Virginia had begun to doubt there was a Santa Claus, because her friends had told her that he did not exist. So Dad suggested she write to the New York Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time, assuring her that "If you see it in The Sun, it's so."

One of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time which saw great suffering and a lack of hope and faith in much of society. His response remains, more than a century later, the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language. Below is Virginia's letter and Mr. Church's response.

Dear Editor—
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The Beauty of God's Creation
These are the Northern Lights as seen from Churchill, Manitoba. I remember seeing them from Calgary
once, but we are quite a ways south (51 degress North) to see them much.

Northern Lights

Quotes of the Blog
Dinah Shore: [to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas] ... 20 pounds of fruitcake, 19 CD players, 18 bags of nachos, 17 body builders...
From her 1988 Christmas Special

And here are couple from A Charlie Brown Christmas, which received honorable mention as people's favorite Christmas show. The second one is one the most famous scenes of any Christmas show.

Linus: Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest.

Charlie Brown: Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
Linus: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. [moves toward the center of the stage] Lights, please. [a spotlight shines on Linus]

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"

[Linus picks up his blanket and walks back towards Charlie Brown] That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Have a wonderful week everyone.