Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

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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!

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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.

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

Developer Lunch at Sky Dragon in Toronto Today!

Wooden steamers and plates full of dim sum dishes

Once again, it’s time for another Developer Lunch here in Accordion City! This is going to be the ninth in the series of lunches organized by Kristan "Krispy" Uccello, and it will be held at the usual location, Sky Dragon restaurant (on the 5th floor of Dragon City mall at the corner of Spadina and Dundas).

These lunches give Toronto-area developers and other techie types to get together for some delicious dim sum and conversation. I’ve been to several of these, and they’ve always been fun. The bill gets split on a per-table basis, and it’s typically worked out to about $12 a person, and everyone leaves full.

If you’re a developer – and that means anyone who practices or is interested in programming – you should come on over to Sky Dragon and join us for lunch! I’ll be there, and you’ can ask me about anything, whether it’s development, Microsoft, accordions, whatever!

The Developer Lunch takes place today (Tuesday, January 27th) at noon and runs until about 1:30 p.m.. Just look for the tables with the geeks!

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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Steve Martin Explores Accordion City

Here’s a gem that Torontoist found: an except from a 1974 travelogue featuring Steve Martin called The Funnier Side of Eastern Canada:

Younger readers may not be familiar with this incarnation of Steve Martin, who was then best known as a stand-up comedian specializing in absurdist routines. This is pre-Man with Two Brains, pre-The Jerk, pre-King Tut (“Buried with a donkey! / He’s my favourite honky!”), and even pre-“Crazy Czech brothers” Steve Martin improvising his way across the city – I’d love to see the rest of the film sometime.

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

Terminated, Part 3: Need Suggestions for Where to Have the Last Supper

[This article also appears in Global Nerdy.]

"The Last SUpper" painting, but with Disney characters

Because I was laid off and not fired from my former place of employment, they’re taking me out for a farewell dinner on Tuesday night. It’s a nice gesture on their part, and I appreciate it greatly.

I’m allowed to choose the restaurant, and I must let them know my choice by Monday, October 6th. The problem is that I’ve just got too much on the brain and need help picking a place. If you’ve got suggestions, I’d like to hear them!

Some parameters:

  • It should be within easy walking/transit travel of Queen and Spadina (that’s where the office is)
  • My guess is that there will be about 10 people total.
  • There will be drinking. A lot of it. At least 2 two rounds of “Irish Car Bombs”, too.
  • It can’t be terribly expensive (which means that Nota Bene is off the list).
  • The usual office after-work hangouts are Wayne Gretzky’s and Jack Astor’s. While perfectly serviceable, I’m looking for alternatives.
  • The Pickle Barrel is not eligible.
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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Seen at Kensington Market Today [Updated]

While making a quick run to Kensington Market to get some lunch fixings, I saw this dog — I thought it was an Australian Shepherd, but it’s actually a Bernese Mountain Dog (thanks to all the commenters who straightened me out on that one!) — and had to take a picture:

Bernese Mountain Dog in Kensington Market, Toronto

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

The Aftermath of Last Night’s Storm

Last night’s storm, in which the sky turned a greenish colour, was a pretty impressive if brief one. The wall of rain that came down reminded me monsoon/typhoon weather in southeast Asia. Although the storm lasted just over an hour, we got 52 millimetres (2 inches) of rain, 430 lightning strikes and a number of flooded-out roads. One of those lightning strikes killed a man who was taking shelter under a tree, which goes against every bit of thunderstorm safety advice I’ve ever heard.

While biking on the way to work this morning, I saw this felled tree at the corner of Dundas and Golden:

Police and city workers cordoning off Dundas and Golden Streets

Police cordoned off the street and people from Accordion City’s public works department were working out how to remove the tree without crushing the van pinned under it:

Felled tree at Dundas and Golden

Here’s a closeup of where the branch split from the trunk:

Close-up of felled tree at Dundas and Golden