The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Click the photo to see it at full size.

Hello from Toronto! Anitra and I are here on a last-minute business trip of hers which also gave me the chance to catch up with my family (I’m originally from here) for Mother’s Day.

For the couple of days when Anitra will be attending the Discovery Conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, we’re staying at the Toronto Marriott City Centre hotel, conveniently located next door. It’s the hotel attached to the Rogers Centre (which I still refer to by its old name, “SkyDome”).

She’d booked a room at the conference rate, and when we arrived mid-afternoon yesterday, the front desk said that they’d just finished cleaning up a room that we could occupy immediately. It turns out that it was one of the rooms facing the stadium interior.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

You can even open the windows to hear the crowd or catch a lucky fly ball:

Click the photo to see it at full size.

It should make for a pretty nice office today.

This is a last-minute trip, and we’re around only until Thursday afternoon, after which we fly back to Tampa. Drop me a line if you’d like to catch up, and we’ll try to make it happen, what with work and family commitments.

Click the photo to see it at full size.

My 14-year old self is so happy to see all these comic book stories come together on the big screen, and even happier to see it with Anitra, my geek dream date.

Oh, wow. This movie pulled down the pants of my mind. It’s been an age since I’ve thought “I would like to see that again — right now.”

Thanks to Alistair Morton for the find!

If you’re going to do the “Florida Man” thing in a town that’s Italian in name only — Naples, Florida — you might as well do it in a restaurant that’s also Italian in name only: The Olive Garden. And remember: Any fool can eat a sausage or an oyster suggestively; it takes the creative genius of Florida Man to eat spaghetti belligerently.

Here the story from a local news channel, and here’s the Miami Herald’s coverage.

I didn’t want National Siblings Day to pass without posting this video of a TEDx talk by my sister, Dr. Eileen deVilla, who oversees Toronto Public Health, which is Canada’s largest public health agency and provides public health services to nearly 3 million people. It’s a big job, but Eileen’s more than up to the task.

In honor of National Siblings Day, and for those of you who haven’t met Eileen, check out her talk, in which she discusses the defining health crisis of our time: substance abuse and our archaic attitudes about it.

Happy Siblings Day, Sis!