About Me

I am Jack's shameless addiction to blogs. At any time I am subscribed to 500-1000. If you have come to my profile after finding me subscribed to your blogs, now you know why! Here's a "key" into my blogs (many will be unavailable until we're friends):
Art and Photography
Automotive
Blogging
Dreams and the Supernatural
Fashion, Style, Shopping
Food and Restaurants
Friends
Games
Goals, Plans, Hopes
Jobs, Work, Careers
Life
Movies, TV, Celebrities
Music MySpace
News and Politics
Parties and Nightlife
Pets and Animals
Podcast
Quiz/Survey
Religion and Philosophy
Romance and Relationships
School, College, Greek
Sports
Travel and Places
Web, HTML, Tech
Writing and Poetry
I am Jack's brain. I have been addicted to computers and programming for several years now, currently writing software in C# for Web and Windows. I love Excel and whip up spreadsheets, macros and charts constantly. I am always looking for excuses to build new systems, so run your ideas past me before forgetting them. Here are some projects which you might find useful:

Jack's Four-in-a-row game, an electronic version of the classic Connect Four . Jack's sleepTracker.xls . Jack's booklistGenerator.xls , used to create the lists of books below. Jack's Sudoku solver . Recently I have created spreadsheets to track things like mass:
Sleep
the odometer liability on my lease (yellow line) and D day/day (red/green columns) against the daily allowance
my vehicle's fuel economy (better at 140km/h, explain that?!)
I am Jack's personality. I have a reasonably quick wit and I'm HUGE on double-entendre, spending most of my day cracking bad jokes and generally trying to keep a smile on everybody's face. Sometimes I get grumpy, but don't we all?
I am Jack's compulsive behaviours

I eat candies in sets of four. If they are coloured (Smarties, Skittles &tc.) I eat them in colour-order from least-red (green) to red. I spell-check everything, which annoys those who grew up speaking English and pleases my ESL friends. As a child, Mom would return my letters with any error of spelling, grammar or punctuation corrected in red ink. I spent three years as a proof-reader and have been returning the favour ever since. I enjoy keeping plants, but generally only if I've purchased them as shoots or cuttings. I keep lots of alcohol although I almost never drink.
I am Jack's cardiovascular system. When I have time to myself I love to play Ultimate Frisbee a few times per week, ride my rollerblades or bike.
I am not Jack's father, though I am a father. My daughter moves between our house and her mother's, spending one week at each. We spend our time reading, playing outside, cycling, painting, drawing, watching videos and every once in a while, homework. I work very hard at making sure she doesn't learn a fear of things like spiders -- today we played with a centipede. Three years ago she chased and captured a snake all by herself:
I am Jack's inexplicable need to complicate matters, such as carrying a small pylon with a ten-foot tree instead of just grabbing the pylon with my hand. The matter is exacerbated because I'm afraid my leather shoes will slip on the rocks. The net result is that I look like some arthritic version of Peter Pan, without the tights...
I am Jack's robust collection of " vigorous yet gentle " parts.

My reading lists

Reading

Abandoned

Awaken The Giant Within , Anthony Robbins
Getting Things Done , David Allen
Introduction to Database Systems , C. J. Date
Six Sigma For Managers , Greg Brue

Read since 2006

2006, Call To Treason , Tom Clancy
2006, Dark Justice , Jack Higgins
2006, Delivered From Distraction , Hallowell & Ratey
2006, Getting The Love You Want , Harville Hendrix
2006, Keeping the Love You Find , Harville Hendrix
2006, Myth of Laziness , Mel Levine
2006, Programming C≠ , Jesse Liberty
2006, Road Less Traveled , M. Scott Peck
2006, She Comes First , Ian Kerner
2006, Triple Your Reading Speed , Wade E. Cutler
2007, Breathing Underwater , Alex Flinn
2007, Code Complete, 2nd Edition , Steve McConnell
2007, Take the Bully by the Horns , Sam Horn
2008, Emotional Intelligence Quick Book , Travis Bradberry

Queued

48 Laws of Power, The , Robert Greene
7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The , Stephen R. Covey
Accelerated Learning , Colin Rose
Anthem , Ayn Rand
Art of War, The , Sun Tzu
Blink , Malcolm Gladwell
Brain Building , Savant, Fleischer
Design Patterns in C≠ , Steven Metsker
Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty , Harvey MacKay
Essentials of Artificial Intelligence , Matt Ginsberg
Experiencing The Trinity , Darrell W. Johnson
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway , Susan Jeffers
Five Love Languages, The , Gary Chapman
Four Agreements, The , Don Miguel Ruiz
How to Shine at Work , Linda R. Dominguez
If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules , Cherie Carter-Scott
Inside C≠ , Archer et al
MDA Explained , Kleppe et al
New Male Sexuality, The , Bernie Zilbergeld
Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me , Michele Borba
Parent's Problem Solver , Cathryn Tobin
Philosophy: Who Needs It , Ayn Rand
Purpose Driven Life, The , Rick Warren
Reaching your Goals , Jeff Davidson
Rich Kid Smart Kid , Robert T. Kiyosaki
Seduction , Robert Greene
Selling for Dummies , Tom Hopkins
Struggling To Surrender , Jeffrey Lang
Think And Grow Rich , Napoleon Hill
What Women Want Men To Know , Barbara De Angelis

Wanted

Agile Principles Patterns And Practices In C≠ , Robert C. Martin
Discourses of Epictetus, The , Ed: Christopher Gill
Expert C≠ Business Objects, 2nd Ed. , Rockford Lhotka
Object Primer, The , Scott W. Ambler
Power of Now, The , Eckhart Tolle
Refactoring to Patterns , Joshua Kerievsky
Test Driven Development , Kent Beck
What is Mathematics? , Richard Courant

Lists generated with the booklistGenerator.xls

My Interests

abstraction, art, asp, asp.net, business process reengineering, C#, c sharp, chivalry, conversation, creativity, cycling, databases, Excel, females, fish, freelance software, haiku, hiking, honesty, iis, learning, loyalty, movies, nerdy girls, painting, parenting, people, photography, pictures, plants, poetry, programming, reading, rollerblading, skating, software engineering, spreadsheets, sql server, tickling, ugly ducklings, uml, vba, visual basic, visual studio, walking, writing,

I'd like to meet:

Those who
- are balanced, bright and happy,
- like to share their curiosity, experiences, insights and wisdom freely,
- are more interested in finding an answer than in convincing others they already have the answer.

Music:

Careless Whisper, Fur Elise, Moments in Love, Wicked Game,

Movies:

A Clockwork Orange, Adaptation, Altered States, American Beauty, American Me, American X, And Now For Something Completely Different, Apocalypse Now (original), Being John Malkovich, Blade, Blade Runner, Braveheart, Breakfast Club, Butterfly Effect (The), Citizen Kane, Dead Poets Society, Delirious, Donnie Darko, English Patient (The), Fantasia, Fantasia 2000, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fight Club, Full Metal Jacket, Game (The), Good Will Hunting, Green Mile (The), Heat, Heathers, Hero, Highlander, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Ice Age, It's A Wonderful Life, Jacob's Ladder, La Femme Nikita, Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Logan's Run, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Monsters Inc., Princess Bride (The), Princess Mononoke, Professional (The), Pulp Fiction, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Repo Man, Reservoir Dogs, Run Lola Run, Saving Private Ryan, Scrat's Adventure, Seven, Shawshank Redemption, Sixteen Candles, Soldier, Stargate, Starship Troopers, Swingers, Terminator, Thing (The), Trainspotting, Underworld, Unforgiven, Usual Suspects, Vanilla Sky, Wedding Crashers, Willow,

Television:

Battlestar Galactica II, CSI (Las Vegas), Star Trek (original series), Twin Peaks,

Heroes:

Aragorn, Clint Eastwood, Dagny Taggart, Fransisco D'Anconia, Henry Rearden,

My Blog

I really want a cigarettte.

Just one... but badly.
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:26:00 PST

TECHIE: command-line searchAndReplace, C-Sharp 2008

A command-line tool which takes the name (location) of a text file, what you're looking for, what you want instead, and optionally what to call the output (if you don't specify, filename.txt becomes f...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:57:00 PST

MySpace picnic in GTA

Any interest in a repeat performance of the MySpace picnic we pulled off two years ago? We can stick to the waterfront as in years past, or perhaps find a park in a more suburban area to reduce ...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:00:00 PST

dumped

So I went on three dates with CD, and I had determined that it wasn't going to work, so I terminated it. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to break it off, but eventually got tired of all...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:16:00 PST

vehicle search nearly over?

Okay, it has been forever since I have posted a blog. Truthfully, I have been wasting a lot of time lately on Facebook, playing Reversi. I've become reasonably skilled at the game, but hav...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:53:00 PST

our government, selling us out. again.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/16/condemned-lakes.ht ml?ref=rss...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:49:00 PST

regroup

I have been spending much time on facebook lately, merely for the applications. It's a stupid waste of my life (top 100 IN THE WORLD status notwithstanding). In my own defense, y'all don't...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:16:00 PST

reading

So I'm reading two things right now: "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Implementation and Maintenance" and Ekhart Tolle's latest, in audio. Hard to say which is more enjoyable. The MS book ...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Tue, 27 May 2008 08:05:00 PST

fave clip from Fantasia 2000

Igor Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. I can't sleep, so I'm... sharing. Enjoy!
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Mon, 12 May 2008 11:40:00 PST

tech: helpful tool for MS Outlook/Express

Dear Xobni Beta User, Today is an exciting day for Xobni. After seven months of invite-only beta, we're proud to announce that Xobni is now publicly available for anyone to download. Your feedback ha...
Posted by That Guy Duncan on Mon, 05 May 2008 09:49:00 PST

That Guy Duncan

irony makes, of each of us, a student or a study.