The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

I never understand the twisted logic of many retail stores’ “no cameras” policies. They don’t make sense within the context of a place that is open to the public, even if it’s not publicly owned.

A couple of years back, I caught heat from IKEA for taking a snapshot of some of their toys, Urban Outfitters has given me heat for seeing what I look like in a hat with a self-portrait and someone at a Home Depot once thought I was dictating prices into a portable tape recorder (I was actually talking to Cory using the then-new walkie-talkie feature of my cellphone).

The last such incident of this sort took place last summer at the Runnymede and Bloor branch of the retail book chain Chapters, where I saw my friend Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series of books on prominent display. I often carry my camera with me and decided to take a photo to send to her.

“Excuse me, sir,” said a young woman in a golf shirt with a Chapters logo, “but you’re not allowed to…hey, don’t I know you? You’re the guy from the party with the accordion!”

After some brief re-introductions, I told her that I knew Diane Duane and have actually met gone out drinking with both her and her husband, Peter Morwood, she decided that it would be all right — “just this once” — to take the photo. The photo’s since been sitting in my “to be blogged” folder for some time, so here it is at long last.

This is yet another preamble for yet another story that Boing Boing caught first. I thought it was still worthy of blogging since Diane is a friend and I thought it would be nice to promote her work.

Cory wrote:

The first two volumes of the Feline Wizards trilogy drew a sizable

audience, but not enough to convince Diane’s publisher to pay her to write book three. Over the years, an anxious audience has demanded a conclusion to the series, so back in December, Diane posted an open question to her blog: would her readers support her if she finished the trilogy without a publisher?

 

The answer’s been a resounding yes — one reader’s even gone so far as to offer a $1,000 matching grant to Diane toward the completion of the book.

For more details, see Diane’s entry about the subject in her blog, Out of Ambit.

While undergoing dialysis at the hospital yesterday, Dad slipped and fell backwards landing on his head, knocking him out and fracturing his skull. He’s currently in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph’s Health Centre and is conscious but confused due to some internal bleeding in his brain. The last diagnosis of which I was aware is that he has a subarachnoid hemmorhage, which to this layperson sounds like pretty bad news. Today’s CAT scan should provide more information.

Wendy and I visited last night, and as soon as I finished whatever work I can’t take with me, I’m headed back to the hospital. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked for your best wishes, prayers or moving the coffee table for better feng shui, but if you can spare some, they’d be appreciated.

As one might expect, non-work-related blogging may be a bit light for the next couple of days. Be well, everyone.

If you want to see my photos and video from last night’s DemoCamp — that’s the monthly gathering in which developers from the Toronto area demonstrate their current projects in action in front of an audience of developers, product managers, venture capitalists and other people interested in what our local techies are creating — you should go take a look at this article in Tucows Developer.

Click the photo to go to the Tucows Developer article on DemoCamp.