Doug Tidwell works for IBM's Software Group Strategy organization, where he's responsible for evangelizing technologies such as Service Component Architecture (SCA), Service Data Objects (SDO) and XForms. Despite his useful appearance, he has been with IBM since 1989. A speaker at the first XML conference in 1997, he is the author of O'Reilly's XSLT, the second edition of which is now flying off the shelves at a bookstore near you. (Procrastinators who begin their holiday shopping on the late side are encouraged to order a few copies now, the better to avoid the last-minute rush.) He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with his wife, cooking teacher Sheri Castle, their thirteen-year old daughter Lily and their dog, Domino the Wonder Hound.

Peeps and picks before the tournaments start

Before I begin, a big thanks to dW reader Eddie Welker's kind words for the book. Thank you, your comment made my day.

PeepsFest 2008

This past weekend was PeepsFest 2008 at Market Street Books. I didn't participate in the poetry contest this year, although I'll post a pointer to the poems once they're online. Sheri was a judge of the food and I made the award buttons. We did have a couple entries each in the Peeps Album Cover Art contest:

Sheri's entries:
Abbey Road with Paul as a Peep:		Rumours with Mick Fleetwood (or is it John McVie?) holding a Peep instead of a crystal ball:
My entries:
Nevermind with a Peep instead of a dollar bill:		And my personal favorite, They Might Be Peeps:

Tournament Picks

Mostly I'm posting at the end of a long day just to get my NCAA picks online before the tournaments start. Here they are:

Men's Tournament

Round of 32
East: UNC, Indiana, James Mason, Washington St., St. Joe's, Louisville, Butler, Tennessee
Midwest: Kansas, UNLV, Clemson, Vanderbilt, USC, Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Georgetown
South: Memphis, Miss. St., Michigan St., Pitt, Kentucky, Stanford, The U, Texas
West: UCLA, Aggies, Drake, UConn, Baylor, Georgia (woof!), Arizona and Dook

Sweet Sixteen
East: UNC, Washington St., Louisville, Tennessee
Midwest: Kansas, Clemson, Wisconsin, Georgetown
South: Memphis, Pitt, Stanford, Texas
West: UCLA, Drake, Baylor, Dook

Elite Eight
East: UNC, Louisville
Midwest: Kansas, Wisconsin
South: Pitt, Texas
West: UCLA, Dook

Final Four
UNC, Kansas, Texas, UCLA

Championship
UNC 92, Texas 85

Women's Tournament

Round of 32
Greensboro: UConn, Texas, ODU, Virginia, Auburn, Cal, Georgia Tech, Rutgers
Spokane: Maryland, Xavier, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Pitt, Baylor, Western Kentucky, Stanford
New Orleans: UNC, Georgia, Kansas St., Louisville, Ohio St., Oklahoma St., Marist, LSU
Oklahoma City: Tennessee, Purdue, Notre Dame, Illinois St., Arizona St., Dook, Syracuse, Aggies

Sweet Sixteen
Greensboro: UConn, UVA, Auburn, Rutgers
Spokane: The Turtle, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Stanford
New Orleans: UNC, K State, Ohio St., LSU
Oklahoma City: Tennessee, Notre Dame, Dook, Aggies

Elite Eight
Greensboro: UConn, Rutgers
Spokane: The Turtle, Stanford
New Orleans: UNC, LSU
Oklahoma City: Tennessee, Dook

Final Four
UConn, The Turtle, UNC, Tennessee

Championship
UNC 97, UConn 88

OK, so I'm a homer. UNC wins it all in both tournaments, joining UConn as the only schools to win both championships in the same year. Be sure to thank me if you use these picks and win your office pool. This is the best three weeks in sports, especially if the Heels do well. Enjoy....