Hi everybody!

I’m Andy, the new software developer here at BookNet. I realize I'm not the only Andy in the office so you may hear me being referred to as “other Andy” or “the new Andy” in the coming weeks. I sincerely apologize for any confusion this may cause. I'm hoping to usurp the original Andy from his throne and relegate him to the title of “Andy T” or “UI Andy.”

I am originally from Drogheda, Ireland. Drogheda is a small-ish town of around 60,000 people. The town has the same relationship to the capital city, Dublin, as Scarborough has to Toronto, meaning the busiest parts of the town are usually the train stations and bus depots. I've been in Toronto for 1.5 years now and have loved my time here. The best thing about coming to this city has to be the variety of food from around the world. (The Chinese restaurants in Ireland don’t even have dumplings on their menus; here’s the menu for my old local so you can see for yourself.) I've also visited Quebec and Montreal and loved them both. I couldn’t wrap my head around how different they were to Toronto and the rest of Canada!

I usually gravitate towards non-fiction books. I'm currently reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, which goes into great detail about the importance of sleep. I was surprised at the weird and wonderful ways in which sleep (or lack thereof) can affect you in your day-to-day life. I now possess a strange motivation to be in bed by 10 p.m.

My favourite movies tend to be bad comedies or rom-coms. If a movie stars Vince Vaughn, I probably love it. My favourites include Dodgeball, The Internship, Fred Claus, and more. Fun Vince Vaughn fact: He starred as Norman Bates in a 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Psycho. Surprisingly, this movie did not perform well critically or commercially.

I've played and followed soccer (football) for as long as I can remember. I support Liverpool Football Club, but I also enjoy going to watch Toronto FC play. I've seen them crush the competition at BMO Field several times. I had no previous interest in basketball, but after getting on the Raptors bandwagon this year along with the rest of the city, I find myself quickly becoming a fan.

I also play a wide variety of video games when I can find the time. Some of my favourite titles over the years include the Batman Arkham games, Fire Emblem Awakening, Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and lots more!

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out and recommend any movies/books/video games that you enjoy. I look forward to getting to know you all and learning more about BookNet and the book industry as a whole!