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.
Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)
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!
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.
[This article also appears in Global Nerdy.]
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.
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:
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 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:
Here’s a closeup of where the branch split from the trunk:
The diving competition set up by Ontario Dock Dogs.
Woofstock is North America’s largest festival for dogs, and it’s taking place today and tomorrow right here in Accordion City. The place where the Ginger Ninja and I live doesn’t allow dogs, but we’re dog people and we wanted to check it out anyway (and we plan to get a dog when we buy our house).
There is no admission charge to attend Woofstock, and yes, you’re welcome to bring your dog. It’s a street festival on Front Street that runs from Yonge to Jarvis (see the map below).
For more information, go check out Woofstock’s site. It’s is a dog-lover’s heaven; if you love dogs, you’ll love Woofstock!