Stupid bomb threat!

So… I spent all day getting myself psyched to go to Crossfit today the Workout Of the Day (WOD) today was:

• 50 Pullups
• 400m run
• 21 Thrusters 95lb men / 65lb women
• 800m run
• 21 Thrusters 95lb men / 65lb women
• 400m run
• 50 Pullups

But the gym was closed due to a bomb threat on King St. of all things… I guess I’ll have to do something else at home. If nothing else I have 28 Burpees to get through

The best chocolate!

Every once in a while, you come across an individual (or group of people) that take their craft, what ever it might be, to the next level. When you look at at their creations, you can tell without a doubt that not only are they good at what they do, but that they take pride in it and strive for perfection.

Two weeks ago, I came across an example of this and lucky for me, this person’s passion is… CHOCOLATE! yay I could probably write a very long post describing her chocolate and how good it is, but instead, I’ll let a couple of pictures do the talking and urge you go and visit her at the Kitchener Market and actually taste the product. Katharina is the chocolatier in question, uses all organic, fair trade chocolate. I can’t say enough good things about it.

The name of her company is Anna Tolazzi. They don’t have a web site just yet, but I’ll post it here once it’s up. In the mean time, if you need to order some chocolate before the next market day. You can reach them at:

1 (519) 342-8264 or Katharina [at] annatolazzi.com

Startup Drinks Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa – Sep 30th, 2009

Our friends in Toronto and Montreal are also holding Startup Drinks (the last Wed of every month). The info is up for this month, and here’s where you find it:

http://guestlistapp.com/events/3990

Update: Startup Drinks is on in Ottawa as well:

http://www.startupottawa.com/?p=1622

And don’t forget about Starup Drinks Waterloo taking place on Oct 6th. Info can be found below:

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138061698885

For those without a Facebook account: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/442739245

Startup Drinks Waterloo is on!

The first ever Starup Drinks Waterloo is now a go Come out and share a pint with other startup folks. A chance to meet new people, catchup with old friends and talk about what you’re up to, what you might need help with, or anything that crosses your mind…

Where: McMullan’s on King, 56 King St N. Waterloo, ON (map)

When: Oct 6th, 2008 (Tue) starting at 5:30pm to 10pm

Facebook event open to all can be found here. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can always reserve a ticket here. It’s all free!

Please spread the word to anyone that you think would enjoy this event.

Hope to see you there!

Rib and Beer fest – Kitchener

It’s starts today and goes all weekend long! I can’t wait till 5pm.  Come out and enjoy some spectacular ribs, or chicken and some really good beer!

Official site can be found here

Rib and Beer fest

Just got back from Rib and Beer Fest with Melle, Andrew, and other great company. All I can say is… nom nom nom

If you’re in town, make sure you go this weekend, you won’t regret it.

Startup Waterloo – 3 weekends?

The Startup Weekend phenomenon is spreading like the wind across the tech community all around the world. It seems only fitting that we should have a few here in Waterloo. After all, this is a haven for startup companies in Ontario. I was lucky enough to be one of the participants in the Startup Weekend Toronto and one of the organizers there (although, I didn’t do that much). That weekend was a great experience, I got to meet some great people and we managed to get out what is sure to be the beginning of a great product.

Here are my thoughts for Waterloo, I’m hoping to run a total of three weekends with the first being on Feb 2nd, 2008 and the others following a month apart later. I’m hoping to run the weekends by technology, let me explain. At the Boulder weekend as well as the Toronto weekend, we had developers from various backgrounds and with different skill sets (sometimes not very compatible), but only one product is picked and so there can be conflict or we just end up with really good hard-core developers that can’t really help. So… here are the three weekends I’m thinking of running:

1. asp.Net: I’m a .Net guy and I always feel left out of events like this. So, if you’re into .Net this is the weekend for you Of course we’ll still need CSS and UI guys/gals and they don’t have to know .Net
2. Ruby on Rails or PHP: I was introduced to Ruby on Rails during the Toronto weekend and I love the concept and layout of the language. I’m going to try to find time to pick it up and I think it would be great to see the RoR guys/gals at work
3. Mobile: We have both RIM and the mobile arm of Google right here in town… seems rather logical to me.

I had a great conversation with Tom Corr, CEO of the Accelerator Centre, here in Waterloo and it looks like he would be very happy to let us use the facility for the events. The AC is absolutly perfect for this kind of event, we have conference rooms with projectors, wireless throughout the facility, a big common room/cafeteria, and much more. A HUGE thank you to Tom and the AC well in advance of any of this being official. It’s great… absolutely great!

I also have two other potential sponsors already, more on that once things become more official.

So… feedback please. I want to know what you think. Let your friends and coworkers know. The more info I get from you, the local community, the better I can help organize this. BTW, if you want to take part in helping set this up, just drop me a line on this blog, there’s lots to be done.

Coffee – TechTown Cafe

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while now, but been busy with other geek related things. If you’re looking for REALLY good coffee in Waterloo, TechTown Cafe is for you. The serve organic fair-trade coffee and a lot more. Visit their site for more info.

I just picked up one pound of Guatemalan French Roast. I’m enjoying it as I’m typing… it’s pure heaven

The Ontario election

When did the election campaigns turn into: “Vote for us, because the other guys suck!”? I mean really, I’ve been listening to ads on the radio (I don’t have cable) and all of them seem to centre around the fact that the other party sucks. I’d love to have a campaign where the parties actually advertise their own platform. “Vote for us because we stand for x and we’ll do y” Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be voting for?

I hate voting by process of elimination, I’ll vote for you because you haven’t really pissed me off yet… Is that how the Green party got all of its votes in the last federal election?

Welcome Google! and more…

Our favourite search engine folks are moving in next door. So… Welcome to the Research and Technology park Google. Good to have you here

Other things are going up as well. Here’s an article courtesy of Melle.

Google is the latest tenant at UW’s expanding tech park – The Record