[Gazoo] [Gazoo]
Andrew Gurudata
[Rapid link to Google] [Rapid link to Mapquest] [Rapid link to Alta Vista] [Rapid link to imdb] [Rapid link to realiiity.com]


"He's old enough to know what's right, but young enough not to choose it."
                                                    -  Rush ("New World Man")

[Goldorak aka Grandizer]
Have you seen this robot?
Hiho and welcome!
For whatever bizarre reason, you have come across the home page of Andrew Gurudata. Like many other home pages, this one has been designed to give you an overview of some of what I consider to be the more interesting components of my life. There will be a quiz at the end...


Please note: This website is extremely out of date, and no longer really reflects my current status. To be honest, websites like this are a bit of a throwback to earlier days of the internet when putting biographical home pages online was a lot more common - now, most people just hang out on Facebook. Some info on this page is about a decade out of date! But I'm leaving this online as a bit of a "trailmarker", so that if anybody from my past is looking for me, they'll know they found the right person.

[Opera Logo]
Netscape or IE
slowing you down?
Try using Opera!
Where I've lived...
I've lived my entire life in the Country of Canada. I was born in Ottawa, (on May 6, 1969) and I now live in the "Greater" Toronto Area (technically in the city of Mississauga). But despite my time in Ontario, I grew up in Laval, a suburb of Montreal and I still consider myself to be a "displaced Montrealer".

What I've learned...
I wuz educated very goodly while I growing up in Montreal. I started out at the Prince Charles Elementary School (now closed), and moved on to the original Western Laval High School (which is now a french school called "Marie Curie"). In 1983, WLHS was changed into a Junior-High only, and so I was forced to switch to Chomedey Polyvalent High School (which, strangely, is now called "Western Laval High School") where I graduated in 1985.

[Animated Astrosmash]
Don't you miss those classic video games?
After high school, I continued my education at CEGEP Vanier, where I graduated in 1987 with a DEC in Pure & Applied Sciences, and then at Concordia University, where I graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Computer Science degree.

Places I've worked...
I've worked in some interesting places in my career. While going to university, I worked in the costing department for CN Rail each summer. After graduation, I worked for just over 5 years at the Naval Engineering Test Establishment. In 1995, when I left Quebec and came to Ontario, it was to work for the the IS department of DuPont Canada. On June 1, 1997, all of DuPont's IS personnel were transferred to Computing Sciences Corporation, who became my employer for the next three years. Most recently, in July of 2001, I joined the Telus Mobility team, where I'm now working as an IT Quality Assurance Process Analyst.

[Gazoo]
Why there are so
many Great Gazoos
on my home page?
On the side, I've also been acting as VP-IS for "The Canadian Value Investor", a small company which produces an investment newsletter.

People I've known...
People come, people go, but the person I've known the longest in my life is my wife, Kim Nakano, whose intereststing people that I know.

[TI99/4]
Did you ever use a TI 99/4
home computer?
Cars I've driven
My first car was a really fun little 1990 "fouth generation" Honda Civic Hatchback. This car gave me hours of pleasure and great performance right up to the August 1995 when it was stolen from a hotel parking lot. I miss that little car. Today I'm driving a much less fun but infinitely more practical 1995 Toyota Corolla sedan.

My third car was very different from those two. For the longest time, I've been interested in the Chevrolet Corvair, in particular the 1965-1969 model. And for two years, from the summer of 1998 to the summer of 2000, I owned a 1966 Corvair of my own!


And all the ways I spend my time...
Some people collect coins, some people collect stamps. Me? I sometimes think I collect hobbies! Here's a list of some of the things that take up my time, and some of the collections that take up space in my apartment:

* I am a fan and collector of "cult" and obscure TV shows. Science fiction, cartoons, sitcoms, dramas, reality... You name it, and I may still have an episode somewhere on Beta or VHS!

[My Corvair]
Have you driven a Corvair lately?

* Tied to my TV interest is my biggest and most time-consuming hobby: Science fiction fandom. I've been involved in the running of several clubs and conventions in Montreal and Toronto for over ten years now. My current projects include being editor for HyperSpace magazine, head of media relations for Toronto Trek, listadmin for the SouthOntario-Babylon 5 mailing list, and being involved in the Save Farscape Canada efforts. I'm also a member of two clubs: SF Vortex, and the Doctor Who Information Network.

* I'm currently building a historical record of Toronto's Constellation Hotel, a landmark Toronto hotel that recently closed its doors...

* Would you believe I collect Monopoly sets? I own various sets from around the world as well as some special "collector's edition" sets.

* Thanks for the most part to my interest in the TI 99/4 home computer, I have somehow ended up collecting obsolete computers and video game systems. If you have ever loved old Ataris, Colecos, Astrocade and other systems, you might be interested in my list of systems and software.

[Something is wrong with this counter]
Don't you hate web pages
with counters on them?

* My most recent hobby is referred to as "roadgeeking". This is the hobby of studying the history of highways, freeways, roadsigns, etc. I hope to start some web pages on my roadgeeky interests soon!

* And finally, when I'm not spending time on any of the above, I'm probably listening to music! My musical tastes are extremely diverse. I like everything from rock to jazz to pop to heavy metal to classical to... let's just say no opera and no country and beyond that anything goes! However, if asked to pick my three overall favourite musical acts, I would definitely have to go with The Beatles, Duran Duran, and Kiss... but I do have many other favourites... In particular, I also have been building up my collection of Beatles records. To help me keep track of it, I have put together a special Beatles Discography page covering the Beatles Canadian, American, and "international" albums.

[TV Test Pattern]
Can you ever watch
too much TV?
So... why are you here?
I enjoy meeting new people with shared interests, so now that you've read a little bit about me, why not drop me a line and let me know: What brought you to my site? What interests do we share? What did you expect to find here? Did you find it?

And now for the quiz:
If you had never encountered my home page, what would your favourite colour be?

Thank you for reading. You may leave now.


[TT: http://tcon.icomm.ca]

Web pages I have built
[Beatles Discography] [Constellation Hotel Memorial Page] [Corvairs] [Friends of Mine]
[Goldorak/Grandizer/Grendizer] [The Great Gazoo] [I Miss Montreal] [Monopoly] [My Corvair] [My Music]
[Obsolete Computers & Video Games] [Pharos Project] [TI99/4 Home Computer] [Value Investor] [What's On TV?]

[Gazoo] [Gazoo]
Written: Mar 01, 1996
This is version 16.11 updated: September 2nd, 2009
Maintained by: Andrew Gurudata
Comments to author: guru@io.org guru@vex.net (blog)
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (blog)
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (blog)
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (