The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

The Back Story

When Heather Payne wanted to learn how to make websites and web applications, she didn’t know where to turn. She didn’t know any developers to help her get started or even point the way, and the “boy’s club” image of the programming world can be quite off-putting to women. Fortunately, she found a PyLadies Python programming workshop while visiting Los Angeles in 2011, and the experience inspired her to create a similar environment back home in Toronto. With a single tweet, her idea grew into what we now know as Ladies Learning Code.

Ladies Learning Code now has a permanent atelier at the Annex branch of the Centre for Social Innovation large enough to hold workshops for dozens of eager learners who want to get a better idea of how the technology they use every day works, how to program it, and how to be creative with it. This sort of thing costs money, so they’re holding a fundraiser in the space next Wednesday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m..

The Details

• When: Wednesday, September 19th at 7:00 p.m.
• Where: Centre for Social Innovation’s Annex Branch at 720 Bathurst Street
• Admission: $25 — purchase your ticket online here (choose the $25 “Party Time” perk or the $50 “Party Time Dlus Donation” perk)
• What’ll be there:
  • Bottle Service for the high-rollers: $125 gets you a bottle and your own private area
  • A free drink with your ticket
  • Inexpensive drinks – they’re $3 each, including the Caesars sponsored by Mott’s Clamato
  • DJs and a dance floor
  • Old-school videogames: a Nintendo NES and a rare Vectrex (a hard-to-find vector graphics console)
  • 3D printers and 3D-printed goods for sale
  • iPad caricatures
  • …and more!

It’s a good party for a good cause, and hey — I’ll be there. What more incentive do you need?

The article also appears in Global Nerdy.

And now, some more photos of me and Quebecois accordionist extraordinaire Bob Fournier, jamming on our accordions on Quebec City’s rue du Petit Champlain last Thursday. My thanks to Bob for letting me jam with him and to Anitra for capturing the whole thing on her camera!

(In case you’re wondering what this is all about, the previous blog entry will explain everything.)

The passing of Labour Day means back to school for the kids, and back to work for me; my new job as CTO of Comprehensive Technology Services starts today.

Before the serious work of diving back into producing software, I decided to take my first proper vacation with the lovely lady pictured above. She came up to Toronto  to catch the Fan Expo sci-fi/horror/gaming/all-round-geek conference…

…after which we spent a week in Montreal with a side trip to Quebec City.

While in Quebec City, we stayed at Chateau Frontenac…

…and had dinner at Le Lapin Sauté (“The Jumping Rabbit”), a restaurant located right on Le Petit Champlain that specializes in rabbit dishes:

Le Lapin Sauté is right beside a courtyard where buskers play. When we started dinner, a guitarist was providing the music:

…but partway through our meal, he left and accordionist Bob Fournier took over:

He played a combination of classical accordion numbers as well as some less-expected ones including Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, all very well.

After dinner, I had to approach him and ask if he’d play a couple of numbers with me. He looked so delighted when he realized that I had an accordion with me, and so the jam session began:

He then sat me down and took me through a quick lesson on how to play La Vie en Rose:

He then asked me what sort of music I usually played, to which I replied “Le rock et le pop!”. Then I played a medley of Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time and Mitsou’s Bye Bye Mon Cowboy (a Quebec pop hit from the eighties):

We had a grand old time. I’ll post more photos from the jam session a little later today.

(And for old time’s sake, here’s the video for Bye Bye Mon Cowboy…)

It’s the day after Labour Day, which means it’s back to school for the younger set. Welcome back to school, kids, and here’s hoping they don’t assign too much homework on day one.

It’s Labour Day, and I’ve already gotten a few messages from friends, asking if they’d like to catch up and wondering what’s open today. Here’s what’s happening in Toronto today, Labour Day 2012.

Open

• The TTC and GO Trains are operating on holiday schedules.
• Eaton Centre: 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Vaughan Mills: 10 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Square One: 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Pacific Mall: 11 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Shops in designated tourist areas, including Yorkville and Queen’s Quay
• The CNE: The gates open at 10:00 a.m. and close until 5:00 p.m.. Buildings are open until 7:00 p.m., the casino is open until 8:00 p.m. and rides are open until 9:00 p.m.. The Canadian International Air Show is best viewed from the CNE as well.
• The Brazilian Day Canada Festival takes place today at Yonge Dundas Square.
• The Hispanic Fiesta takes place today at Mel Lastman Square.
• The Toronto Zoo.
• The Royal Ontario Museum.
• The Ontario Science Centre.
• Canada’s Wonderland.

Closed

• Sherway Gardens
• Yorkdale
• Scarborough Town Centre
• LCBO and Beer stores
• Government offices, banks and libraries
• Most grocery stores and supermarkets
• Mail delivery

There’s a chance that it might be an ironic t-shirt…