Blair's Blog

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – the traditional celebration by the Irish of the only Englishman who was ever nice to them…

Now to the update! As of yesterday, the last day of my 11th year of playing the CNPS game, I have seen 820 plates in order (that’s 000 to 819, because, as in software development, counting starts with zero). Once again, not the best progress with only 51 plates in the past year – that’s half of the rate of my best year with the average rate dropping to under 75 plates a year or just 6 a month. At one point it looked like I would be at the end of the game in a dozen years, but that doesn’t seem too likely now. Not unless I start trolling through parking garages on my lunch hour. Can’t imagine that causing any trouble in downtown Calgary…

I think that it’s down to sheer stubbornness that is keeping this game alive – as far as I know, of all the friends and family that started in on this back in 2003, only Scott and I are still grinding away. That probably says something about how special we are!

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Once again, St Paddy’s Day!   We had our friends the Harrison’s over for brunch – a delightful repast of  ham (with the choice of green-tinted applesauce or green-tinted mustard) and green poffertjes with green whipping cream – yum! Oh, and Shamrock shakes from McD’s!  Thanks for bringing those over, Stu and Jaquie!

Ok, enough of that – I know that what you (Brian) are really waiting for is the annual update on my progress in the license plate game. Well, wait no longer! Today is the 10th anniversary of the glorious day that I saw 000 – way back on 17 March 2003.  So what is the total?

769.  Again a slow year, only 48 plates this year.  It was, at least, a little better than last year.  More commuting has probably helped, but I definitely think that the 4-digit plates make it harder to pick out numbers at the same distances as before.  It’s certainly worse in poor light and when the plates are dirty (i.e. all winter in Calgary!).  So, that means the rate has continued to drop from an overall average of 85 plates/year two years ago to 80 last year and now 77 plates/year at the end of 10 years, or about 6.4 plates/month.  It looks like I’m still a good 3 years away from wrapping this up.  Ah well, at least I’m still ahead of Scott!

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Once again its time for the annual update on the license plate game! The anticipation you all must feel as you wait for this day must be a lot like Christmas – except you don’t get any presents. Or turkey. Or shortbread. Or a statutory holiday.

Well, enough rejoicing – here are the sad facts. The recession seems to have affected my progress quite a bit this year as I have only counted a mere 42 plates in the 9th year of playing the game. I saw plate 721 earlier this week. This has dropped the average rate from 85 plates/year (after 8 years) to 80 plates/year or 6.7 plates/month. The rate over the last year was only 3.6 plates/month. Scott will be catching up with me.

I think that the increasing numbers of the 4 digit plates, which are harder to read at a distance, and the fact that I don’t drive in rush hour nearly as much as I previously did are big factors in the slow down.

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Yep; I’m still at it – today is not merely St. Patrick’s Day but also the 8th anniversary of the day I started the license plate game. For those of you following my progress with breathless anticipation, you’ll be pleased to know that today I spotted plate 679. Sadly this has been a slower than average year with only 76 plates seen since last year at this time. My overall average is now 85 plates/year or 7.1 plates per month, a slight decrease from last year. I blame the job change mostly – including the fact that last summer I didn’t get out for lunchtime walks as had been my practice at my previous job.

One interesting (YES, interesting!) note is that I still haven’t counted one of the new format plates yet. They really are just that little bit harder to read and, in the winter when the plates are filthy and the light poor that makes a noticeable difference. Fortunately the vast majority of plates are still the old format.

p.s. We’re in the midst of the repainting project, prep today and paint tomorrow. So we had an easy St. Paddy’s Day supper: Lipton Noodle Soup dyed green. …the kid’s liked it!

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