From the category archives:

Life/It Happened to Me

Slice of Life: Official Photos from Techdays

September 20, 2009
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For the TechDays conference’s stops in Vancouver and Toronto, Microsoft hired Vancouver-based photog extraordinaire Kris Krug to take photos of the Developer and Platform Evangelism team, which includes Yours Truly. The photos were taken during the conference, which meant that most of us were wearing the official TechDays shirts, which were colour-coded to match the [...]

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Slice of Life: Teppanyaki Onion Volcano

September 17, 2009
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The scene: one of the tables at the teppanyaki restaurant Kobe in downtown Vancouver. We’d just wrapped up running the TechDays Vancouver conference and were having a celebratory dinner.
Here’s a classic bit of teppanyaki stagecraft, the onion volcano, getting put together:

Here’s chef Eric filling it with cooking oil as my co-worker Rick Claus looks [...]

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Slice of Life: I See That Steamworks Carries My Favourite Magazine

September 16, 2009
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Steamworks’ Gastown pub, located right by Vancouver’s waterfront, is falling distance from the Fairmont Waterfront hotel, which is where I usually stay when I’m flying in for business. They brew some tasty beer and serve great pub fare and in my experience the service goes above and beyond what you’d normally expect.
A couple of [...]

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Slice of Life: Happy New Underwear Day!

September 15, 2009
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Seen outside Smart Mouth Cafe in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood:

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Slice of Life: Working Away at the Smart Mouth Cafe

September 13, 2009
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My co-worker Rick Claus (that’s him in the photo above) and I have spent the morning working on the final preparations for Microsoft Canada’s TechDays Vancouver conference at the Smart Mouth Cafe in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood. It’s a rather nice place the work, the staff are friendly, the coffee’s pretty good, and the bar [...]

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Slice of Life: Bacon Covered with Chocolate

September 4, 2009
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There was one unhealthy food item at the CNE that I didn’t order:

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Your First Warning: Vancouver, September 11 – 18

September 3, 2009
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I’m going to be in Vancouver from the afternoon of Friday, September 11th until the morning of Friday, September 18th. I’m there first and foremost to manage the “Developing for the Microsoft-Based Platform” track of the TechDays conference, then to meet up with the local tech community, but also to enjoy the city I [...]

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Slice of Life: Taco in a Bag!

September 2, 2009
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The Ginger Ninja and I went back to the Canadian National Exhibition yesterday to catch the Superdogs, see the sights and sample some more so-bad-it’s-good food. One item on our list was Taco in a Bag, which many people speak of only in hushed tones.

Taco in a Bag is made by taking a bag of [...]

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TechDays Toronto and Vancouver: 2 Days Left for the Early Bird Rate

August 30, 2009
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The early bird registration price for TechDays Vancouver (September 14th – 15th) and TechDays Toronto (September 29th – 30th) will disappear after Monday, August 31st. If you want to catch TechDays at the ultra-cheap rate, you should register now!
For more about TechDays, see my articles in Canadian Developer Connection and Global Nerdy.

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Slice of Life: “Big Balls” at the Mesh Conference

August 29, 2009
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At the Mesh Conference held earlier this year, I was asked at the last minute to play an opening number for the big panel discussion on using social media for marketing. I decided to get cheeky and played AC/DC’s Big Balls, since having them is a quality that you need to really use social media [...]

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Slice of Life: Conference Call

August 28, 2009
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Here’s the view from a conference call I participated in on a recent sunny day:

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Slice of Life: Deep-Fried Oreos at the CNE

August 26, 2009
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Photo of the Canadian National Exhibition courtesy of Wikipedia.
Yesterday, the Ginger Ninja and I went to the Canadian National Exhibition (a.k.a. “The CNE” and “The Ex”, Accordion City’s annual fair featuring shows, rides, shopping and amusements. According to Wikipedia, it’s the largest fair in Canada and the fourth largest in North America.
Part of the fun [...]

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The TechDays $299 Deal

August 25, 2009
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A quick announcement for Canadian techies who read this blog:

The early bird price period for Microsoft’s TechDays conferences in Vancouver (September 14-15) and Toronto (September 29-30) ends soon! For more details, see Canadian Developer Connection or Global Nerdy.

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Slice of Life: Garde Manger’s Snow Crab Bloody Caesar

August 25, 2009
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Now this is what I call a Caesar:

For you non-Canadian drinkers, a Caesar (a.k.a. Bloody Caesar) is a variant of the Bloody Mary in which Clamato — a mix of tomato juice and clam broth – is used instead of plain ol’ tomato juice. It’s a great way to start a hearty dinner. This was [...]

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Slice of Life: Whuffie-oke with Tara Hunt

August 24, 2009
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Last week, I caught up with an old karaoke buddy: Tara Hunt, honest-to-goodness social media marketer (unlike the gazillions on Twitter who merely claim to be one), popularizer of BarCamp unconferences and coworking spaces and author of The Whuffie Factor. She just completed a move from San Francisco to Montreal by van, a move [...]

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