I hate this hallway.

Hi, everyone! I realize it's been ungodly long since I wrote, and I do apologize for that, but my life has been inside a shake-and-bake bag for the past six months. Becoming a part of the team bringing Stargate Worlds to life has been a huge dream come true for me. I realized I hadn't written in a while, so I thought I'd drop in and illustrate something that has been bothering me of late -- miniscule as it is.

My point still stands, though. I hate this hallway. Cheyenne's HR lady, Susan, has called it a corridor out of "The Shining." At its midpoint, to the left, is my office. Now, please don't misunderstand -- I love the Baseline Center. It's pretty, it's air conditioned, and the bathrooms are always very clean. But this hallway is just so irritating.

Why? Well ... it's so long! And that's the thing. It's simply an awkward space. Because when you're walking down one end of it and someone else comes down the other end, I feel the urge to make eye contact, but the 15 seconds that it takes to cross it can make that uncomfortable, so you feel the urge to look down, or look away.

And it's worse if it's someone you know, because it's inappropriate to shout out a "Hey there!" to them, as there are many shirts behind these doors. So even if you know them, you have to "find a place to stow your eyes" for that time period. You have to look to the floor, or glimpse through windows you can briefly see inside as you pass by. Then, when you're about five meters from them, you can say something.

This all came about the other night when I was watching the TNG episode "Starship Mine." Great show. Picard gets stuck on the Enterprise during a baryon sweep. In the turbolift, Data attempts to pass a silent moment with smalltalk -- rather effectively, if you take into account copying other human qualities like humor.

But it got me thinking. And now every time I walk down that bloody hallway and someone else approaches from the opposite direction, it trips me.

Oh well.

The finale of SG-1 airs tomorrow night, and I'm going to be attending a local party. It should be fun!

Well, the blog is almost a year old now, and it's my hope that it has been entertaining and enjoyable to those who have been kind enough to pop in now and again. 2007 is shaping up very quickly for me -- and for Stargate -- and I hope to be able to write far more often than I have this past year.

It has become an annual family tradition to spend the last week of the year in Destin, Florida. My parents own a place down there, and because GateWorld sucks up all of my travel time from the radio station it is the one time in the year that I get what I refer to as a "genuine vacation." Conventions, though a gas, don't count. I'm kept busy and keyed up, and I prefer it that way. My home along the beach is my fortress of solitude.

Destin in December is warm yet pleasant, and cosmopolitan yet peaceful. It is a 12-hour drive from St. Louis, but this is good because I often get a great deal of GateWorld work done both ways. This trip home, not so much. As I type we are passing through Tennessee. I just finished my first viewing of the new "Superman Returns," and then wrote a quick email to the Stargate production office. I only have the upstairs hide-a-bed to blame for sleeping away half the trip this morning (needless to say I'm looking forward to my own bed tonight), and I felt compelled to help with some of the driving this afternoon.

One of the comments I make to Darren almost every year is the fact that I cannot believe how much GateWorld has prospered when I look back over the past 12 months. Then I always add, "Imagine what we'll be doing a year from now." GateWorld has been blessed in 2006. I cannot deny it. We have been privileged, honored, granted more than we can ever repay. The best we can do is to continue to do our jobs well, to hold our news writing to the most honest standard, and to keep delivering what our readers demand: more features, more exclusives, and more of the news you need to know.

In 2006 I released some of my all-time favorite interviews. Ronny Cox, though interviewed in 2005, was released this past year. The man was a phenomenal delight. One of the most insightful and rewarding face-to-face discussions I have ever had. The man is amazing.

Don S. Davis, an up-front and gracious human being, was another milestone for me. Don and I have been trying to have a dialogue for a couple of years now, but when I was in Los Angeles he would be in Vancouver, and vise versa.

Garwin Sanford was never what I expected. I haven't laughed so hard in an interview in a long time. He has done so much, yet the interviews concerning him are few and far between. I hope you had a chance to watch this one.

Andee Frizzell was one of the most fascinating actresses I have ever had the privilege of talking with. She was so lovely and so kind. When I learned that she'll be attending 2007's Creation Vancouver Convention I almost leaped out of my seat.

And Beau Bridges. The man is a giant. He has been so gracious to us with his time. Twice this past year he found a few moments for us, and I cannot wait to talk with him again one of these days. I could go on, needless to say. David Hewlett, my most recent catch, was fantastic, and I cannot express my gratitude for the amount of time he and others like him have given us.

I hope your Holidays were as blessed as mine. So often at this time of the year we reflect and find ourselves thinking about what we've missed. What we could have done differently. What we wish we chanced, or risked. Instead, I suggest you look to the future. A brand new year is about to dawn, and with it will come opportunities fresh and new, and blessings that you may not foresee.

My best to you in 2007. See you then.

This is something I wrote and produced for a class project a few weeks ago. The perspective of the story is entirely within a tape recorder. That's all I'm going to say.

Download 9:03 in MP3 Format

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