by Joey deVilla on February 28, 2006
Dad passed away peacefully at St. Joseph’s Health Centre on February
27, 2006. He was the devoted husband of Dr. Maria A. deVilla and the
loving father of me and my sister and Eileen and father-in-law to my
wife Wendy and Eileen’s husband Richard. He was also the beloved
grandfather of Aidan, Nicholas, and Ryan, who knew him as “Dodo” (their
mispronounciation of the Tagalog word for grandfather, lolo) and the adored brother to Thelma Leelin, Regina Morabe, Elizabeth de Villa and the late Scarlet Santos.
Born in San Juan, Batangas, Philippines, he studied at Ateneo de Manila and the
University of the Philippines. He trained in the U.S. then lived and
practiced in Toronto for over 30 years.
Dad was a friendly, outgoing, and generous man. He was devoted to
work and family and was a pillar of the community, playing key roles in
the Filipino Centre Toronto and the Filipino Canadian Medical
Association. He touched the lives of the many patients he cared for as
an obstetrician-gynecologist to the many friends and associates who
sought his wise counsel, and to his family who love him and will miss
him dearly.
[Thanks to Rannie "Photojunkie" Turingan for the photo.]
The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century will return to its regular blogging schedule on Monday, March 13th.
by Joey deVilla on February 24, 2006
by Joey deVilla on February 23, 2006
I recorded 4 in-between-show segments for the YTV show The Zone‘s “Musical Week” with my accordion this afternoon, and they went quite well. The hosts, Sugar and
Carlos, are just as warm and friendly as they are on TV, as were the
staff and crew. If you’ve got access to a TV set between 4:00 p.m. and
6 p.m. tomorrow, tune in to catch some accordion action.
by Joey deVilla on February 23, 2006
[via David Crow] First, a quote from Nat Torkington, an editor at O’Reilly and program chair for the O’Reilly Open Source Conference:
“Ruby on Rails is astounding. Using it is like watching a kung-fu movie,
where a dozen bad-ass frameworks prepare to beat up the little newcomer
only to be handed their asses in a variety of imaginative ways.”
Which in turn inspired this little bit of Photoshoppery:
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about Accordion City, Ruby on Rails and our lively tech scene. Ryan McMinn from Unspace posted to the Rails mailing list (which I really should join) about having a Toronto Ruby on Rails pub night on Monday March 13th at 7:00 p.m. at the popular local brew pub C’est What (located at 67 Front St. East). Here’s what the posting says:
Spread the word! The inaugural Toronto Rails pub nite will be an opportunity to meet the folks
working on Rails in your community. There will be plenty of opportunity to discuss projects you’re
involved with, recruit talent, and even find out what all of the fuss is about!
Unspace wants to support the growing Rails community here, but we felt that a user group was too
formal, stuffy, and intimidating to those that are new to Ruby and Rails. Instead, the best opportunity
for advocacy is something where people can make friends and have fun in an informal setting.
We also welcome people who are working with other, similar technologies. If you are open minded and like
to discuss how we can all create better sites, come share a pint.
In
case you can’t make this one, it looks as though it’s going to be
monthly happening — the next one’s already been scheduled for Monday,
April 17th.
by Joey deVilla on February 23, 2006
The local BarCamp phenomenon doesn’t stop with DemoCamp (see this entry about the last one). The next event takes place this Saturday: Design Slam, or SlamCamp!
If you’ve got friends in the black turtleneck crowd or move among their number, you’re probably familiar with the concept of a poetry slam: a live event in which poets read or perform their work, which is then rated by the audience.
A design slam is something along the same lines, except it’s about technology rather than poetry. Attendees will be randomly grouped into “agencies”, who will then be presented with a problem by a fictitious company. They’ll be given a set block of time to design and pitch their idea to the company, who will then choose the winning proposal.
As with DemoCamp, there a few rules and they are simple:
- Bring your brain. You’re going to need it.
- No computers! This is about design, not implementation. Real design, as the design slam web page astutely notes, is done with your brains and your peers.
Here are the details:
- Date: Saturday, February 25, 2006
- Time: 2:30 – 6:00. awards ceremony to follow. Drinks afterwards for those so inclined.
- Location: Navantis, Inc. 21 Randolph Avenue, Toronto, ON
- Expected Attendance: All are welcome! Please add yourself to the Attendees list below so we have some idea of the size of the crowd.
- Format: 30 minute Client Presentation, 2 hours of Slamming, 1 hour of Team Presentations
- Drinks, snacks and Lunch Provided:
- Sponsors: We need sponsors for things like the Slam
consumables – flipchart paper, markers, etc as well as prizes for the
top teams. Email mmilan at gmail.com if you think you can help out with any of these.
