Category: It Happened to Me

It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Is Something Up with the TTC?

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 12, 2007
13 Comments on Is Something Up with the TTC?

TTC Logo Switching jobs from Tucows to TSOT means that for the first time in four and half years, it’s quicker to commute by subway than by bicycle. Hence for the past couple of weeks, I have been doing something I haven’t done in a long time: I’ve been riding the subway during rush hour on a regular basis. I’m concerned by what I’ve been seeing.

It’s been a while since I was a regular subway rider, so my memories may be wrong. Could someone tell me if there’s been a downhill slide in the Toronto Transit Commission’s service? I’ll admit that my commute is incredibly quick — it’s a quick walk to High Park station, 10 stops to Bay station, then a quick walk to the office — but even in that short trip, I’ve faced trains too full to board, trains running at half-speed and trains sitting idle at the station, sometimes for five minutes at a time.

I know that when it comes to its website and to promoting itself through merchandise, the TTC often tempts me to declare “Toronto Transit Commission, Thy Name is Half-Assery!”. The TTC’s apparent attempt to mimic San Francisco’s MUNI’s core incompetency at public transport worries me.

It Happened to Me

I Made “Reader of the Day!”

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 12, 2007
No Comments on I Made “Reader of the Day!”

Conservative columnist Mark Steyn declared me his reader of the day on his site:

The quote comes from my recent article on the Conrad Black case. Alas, thanks to some sloppy editing on my part, my quip is missing a couple of key words. It should read (and after editing, it does now):

While I have not been following the details of the Conrad Black case, the fact that such questionable characters such as Mark Steyn and Elton John defend him doesn’t help his case as I am concerned.

I don’t often agree with him, but I’ve got to hand it to him for taking it with good humour. Cheers, Mr. Steyn!

Accordion, Instrument of the Gods It Happened to Me Work

The Office Accordion

My original accordion, a Titano student model, has been through a lot, from the streets of Accordion City to Burning Man to saving my butt from a mugging in Prague (see this story for details). In spite of a few broken chord buttons, some missing key tops and a slight air leak, I can still get some sweet sounds out of it.

These days, I keep it at the TSOT offices in case of emergencies. You’d be surprised at the number of times having an accordion handy has paid off.

Click the picture to see the video on Facebook.

Last week, I did a quick little medley at the office, and my coworker Dan Williams shot some video of the event and posted it on Facebook. If you’ve got a Facebook account, you can see it here. I’ll see if I can get the video from Dan and post it someplace a little more easily accessed, like YouTube.

A friend of Dan’s saw the video, and she commented that if it were posted on a dating site like LavaLife, I’d get responses like crazy. The accordion has already served that purpose, but maybe it’s time for me to give lessons.

funny It Happened to Me

Christmas and Crablice

Christmas gifts under the tree

I’ve picked up a number of new readers in the past couple of months, so I thought I’d showcase this little seasonal blast from the past. It’s an entry from 2002 titled The Best Christmas Present Ever, a tale of Christmas, crablice, friendship and the true spirit of Christmas. Be advised that the story has swearing and — as you might expect — crablice.

It Happened to Me Work

The Office Desk

Ever since I got my first digital camera back in 1998, I’ve made it a point to snap pictures of my workspace on a regular basis. The nature of my work has meant that I’ve rearranged or changed desks about every six months since I joined the workforce full-time back in ’95, so I’m glad that I have some sort of record.

I’ve posted the most recent picture of my desk at TSOT’s temporary office below. Until we move to the permanent space in January, we’re all working on folding tables covered in the kind of tempoarary tablecloth you can get from a party supply store. We got decent chairs and great computers from the get-go, so it’s not too bad. The spartan arrangements give me a feeling of deja vu — it takes me back to that time at OpenCola’s first office in San Francisco, a large warehouse space near Potrero Hill, where all the desks were unfinished doors set on two sawhorses.

My desk at TSOT’s temporary office, taken November 29, 2007. Click the photo to see it at full size.

I should gather up the photos of my previous desks and put them into a post — I think it would be an interesting study.

It Happened to Me Music Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

This One Time, at Band Camp…

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 1, 2007
2 Comments on This One Time, at Band Camp…

Last night, I took part in Band Camp, “an evening of ridiculous noisemaking” put together by Kelly Seagram. She sent out a call to a couple of dozen musicians here in Accordion City to join her for a free-form musical jam at Guitar Girl studio. Since I love jamming with other musicians, I couldn’t refuse the invitation.

I’d never been to Guitar Girl studio before, so I expected the typical inexpensive music studio: a dank, dark industrial space with only the most basic of amenities. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in to find this:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

Yes, it was converted warehouse space as I expected, but it was nicely converted warehouse space. Bright, well-heated and with nice furniture and paintings on the walls, it was even nicer than a number of warehouse lofts that people call home.

The studio is divided into three large areas, two of which seem to be specifically for performing and recording. We spent most of our time in one of these areas, which is shown in the photo above.

The third area, shown below, seems to be for hanging out.

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

An important part of a music studio is the couch — I’ve never been in a studio that didn’t have one. I was expecting the standard issue ratty fifth-hand Goodwill sofa, but that’s not the case at Guitar Girl:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

The place had a nice little kitchenette:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

And there were even a couple of “floater” instruments: a decent electric guitar and bass, each hooked up to a pretty decent amp:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

People started arriving at about 8 p.m.. As one would expect, there was no shortage of guitars:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

Gavin brought the synthesizer rig. This being the 21st century, “synthesizer” these days means “keyboard hooked up to a laptop computer”:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

I brought the you-know-what:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

And people brought other, less typical instruments — there was even a Theremin, which has hooked to an amplifier via an assortment of guitar effects pedals.

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

What jam session is complete without a big inflatable mattress?

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

And then, the jamming began:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

Someone brought a projector and projected Baraka and other films on the wall, which made for some great pictures:

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

There’s always room for poi!

Click to see the photo on its Flickr page.

To see all the photos I took, click here to set the Flickr photoset page or click here to see all the photos as a slideshow.

We got a lot of great jamming done, I got to meet new people and everyone appeared to have a very good time. My thanks to Kelly for putting Band Camp together — I’m looking forward to the next one!

Geek It Happened to Me Work

Whoo-hoo! My Own News Release!

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date November 30, 2007
1 Comment on Whoo-hoo! My Own News Release!

Well, this is nice: it’s a news release announcing my joining TSOT. It’s not 100% technically correct (we’re a team of Ruby on Rails developers, not PHP developers), but hey! I got a news release all about me! Whoo-hoo!