Categories
It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Rock4theKids: “Rock Band” for a Good Cause, Tuesday April 7th

Rock4theKidsIf you like playing Rock Band and supporting good causes, you’re going to love Rock4theKids, the Rock Band competition taking place on Tuesday night whose proceeds are going to “Sick Kids”, a.k.a. the Hospital for Sick Children.

At Rock4theKids, 15 teams – or more accurately, bands – of all skill levels will compete by playing Rock Band or Rock Band 2. They’ll be judged not only by the machine on their score and playing skills, but also by human judges on their onstage presence, costume and attitude. The judges announced so far are:

Rock4theKids takes place on Tuesday, April 7th at 7:30 p.m. at the Revival Club (783 College Street, at Shaw). This is a 19+ venue; it’s a licensed establishment, so you’ve got to be of legal drinking age to get in. If you’ve always wanted to rock out in front of an audience but don’t play any instruments, this is your chance! I want to see the club packed so that the event is a spectacular rockstravangaza and so that lots of money goes to the Foundation for the Hospital for Sick Children. It’s a great idea for a great cause that promises to be a great night out.

If you want to register your band to compete in Rock4theKids, here’s the signup form. Hurry – the event’s this Tuesday!

Categories
It Happened to Me

I’ve Been Insanely Busy…

Woman at desk buried under a large pile of paperwork

…what with some 15-hour days during Microsoft’s EnergizeIT cross-Canada tour, which is why the posting has been light lately. Regular posts will resume soon!

Categories
It Happened to Me Work

The Main Reason I’m Re-Learning How to Develop on Microsoft Tech…

…is that I’m hoping to master this:

Inspirational poster parody featuring one squirrel killing another with Force lightning: "And now young Jedi, you will die."

Categories
It Happened to Me Work

The Temptation to Loaf

This article originally appeared in Global Nerdy.

There’s a small TV set in my home office that I sometime turn on – usually to one of the cable news channels — as “background noise”, which I sometimes find helpful when I’m trying to get work done.

Today, I’m on the road in London, Ontario with Microsoft’s EnergizeIT tour. I’m hanging out in the hotel room with my coworker Rodney with the TV on as background noise and here’s what’s on right now:

Photo of "lower third" of the Maury Povich show: "I had a threesome...who's my baby's father?"

When I tell people that I often work from my home office, they ask if I ever get the temptation to plunk myself in front of the TV instead of getting work done. The answer is no, and part of the reason is that there’s nothing but this junk on during the day.

Categories
It Happened to Me

Where I’m Working Today

Here (click the photo for the full story):

Entrance to the Cantata Lounge at the Delta Armouries London Hotel

Categories
Geek It Happened to Me

Yesterday’s “Coffee and Code” at Le Gourmand

feb_24_coffee_and_code

Yesterday’s Coffee and Code – the weekly gathering where I leave the home and Microsoft offices and work in a cafe where I’m very accessible – was held at Le Gourmand in the Queen/Spadina neighbourhood. We were 13 people all told, not including the passers-by who wondered about a large gathering of people with laptops and with whom we started a conversation.

For more details, see this entry in the Coffee and Code blog.

Categories
Geek It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

The First “Coffee and Code” Day

Montage of photos from "Coffee and Code"

My first Coffee and Code day – a day when I work at a wifi-equipped cafe rather than my home office or the Microsoft offices in order to be very accessible – was a success. For more, check out my article on the Coffee and Code blog.