What’s a blog for, if not to toot one’s own horn, or at least the horn of the company for whom he is a spokesmodel?
Tucows, where I’ve worked for four years and where I hold the title of Technical Evangelist, is on Canadian Business’ 2007 “Tech 100” List, their annual listing of Canada’s 100 largest publicly traded companies. We’re right by the median, ranked at number 49 on the “Performance” list.
I like to think that at least a little chunk of that was my doing.
Believe it or not, these buildings aren’t just in the same neighbourhood, they’re right beside each other. I took both photos on the same day, perhaps 15 seconds apart. Good landscaping and decent signage make a big difference.
(I really hate the sign on High Park Manor, from the all-wrong-for-the-building choice of typefaces, to the fluorescent-backlit sign that makes the place look like a convenience store rather than an apartment across the street from the city’s largest park.)
A couple of weeks back, the Ginger Ninja and I went to Cluck, Grunt and Low to see if Toronto finally got a barbecue place worth mentioning. I felt that the food could use a little work: the sauce — which comes courtesy of the highly-regarded Thuet — is quite good, but the pork ribs I had that night were a little thin and dry; I’ve had juicier and meatier at Montana’s Cookhouse (which is surprisingly good, considering that it’s a chain). Wendy, who’s used to some of the better barbecue place in the Boston area, said that it wasn’t authentic enough to bill itself as “barbecue”. I think the true test will be to bring my coworkers from Tucows’Starkville, Mississippi office there. We’ve had a couple of serious discussions of what real barbecue is, and I think it would be interesting to see what they think.
I think part of Cluck, Grunt and Low’s problem is that the food isn’t barbecued or smoked on the premises. The place isn’t large enough — I remember when it was Shakespeare’s Cafe, a student coffeehouse — and there just isn’t enough of the smell that a real barbecue pit and smokehouse has. The barbecuing and smoking apparently takes place offsite and the food is trucked in, where it’s warmed. Those of you who old enough to remember the CN Tower restaurant in the late 70’s and early 80’s may recall hearing that the kitchens were in the basement and the food had to be taken up in the elevator, which was one of the reasons why the Tower’s Revolving Restaurant was also known locally as the “Revolting Restaurant”.
I might give Cluck, Grunt and Low another shot if I start hearing better reviews from friends or the Chowhound crowd, but in the meantime, I think I’m going to get my barbecue during my trips to the States.
The voice is the same, but this is a skinnier Rove, sporting a look that might have been considered a little “square” among some of his college peers in 1972, but would give him indie rocker cred today:
Rove interviews quite well, and you can see the future Republican strategist in the young fella in the video, talking about how to reach a younger audience.
Here’s an interesting still from the piece: those are Karl Rove’s hands holding the “Generation Of Peace” bumper sticker, which highlights the first letters in each word. For those of you not familiar with American politics, “GOP” — short for “Grand Old Party” — is a nickname for the Republican Party, in the same way that word “Tory” is often used to refer to the Conservative Party in Canada and the UK.
It’s interesting, because only a few years prior to this newscast, the use of the word “peace” was considered to be controversial. I remember reading in The Pop Sixties: A Personal and Irreverent Guide that the “goodbye” segment of an episode of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was cut because Tommy Smothers said “Please talk peace”. I get the feeling that these bumper stickers must’ve raised a few eyebrows in the upper echelons of the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
As for Rove today, does he still know how to reach the kids through their culture? Watch this video of Washington’s latest hip-hop sensation: “MC Rove” at this year’s Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner:
What’s a blog for, if not to toot one’s own horn, or at least the horn of the company for whom he is a spokesmodel?
