The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

The first Toronto Coffee and Code of 2011 takes place this Wednesday, January 26th! The folks at the Cloud Free Agent Espresso Bar (968 Queen Street West, at Givins Street, a block west of Shaw, a couple of blocks west of Trinity Bellwoods Park) have invited me to hold a Coffee and Code at their location. I’ll be there from noon to 6 p.m., working away – if you want to talk about Windows Phone 7, Microsoft, the tech industry in general or anything else that comes to mind, that’s where I’ll be, and I’d be more than happy to chat!

Some quick notes:

• What is Coffee and Code? It’s me taking advantage of my status as a mobile worker and working in a cafe, where it’s easy to find me and chat, ask questions and let me know what you think. It’s also a lot more fun than having a conversation or meeting in an airless, windowless boardroom.
• What is Cloud Free Agent Espresso Bar? I’m glad that these guys exist – they “get” the spirit of what Coffee and Code is all about. They’re a cafe designed for they call the “untethered class” – those of us whose philosophy is “have laptop, will work anywhere”. Rochelle Latinsky and Tamara Kremer of Cloud AdAgents, the people behind Cloud Free Agent Espresso Bar, were kind enough to invite me, and I’m looking forward to visiting and working at a new cafe!
• What’s going to happen? I’ll be “setting up shop” at Cloud Free Agent Espresso bar, and you should feel to drop by, whether for five minutes or the whole afternoon. I’ll be there to get some work done, but more importantly, to be available to you for conversation, questions and input as well as to buy your cofffee. C’mon down and visit!

Once again, it’s Wednesday afternoon, from noon to 6 p.m.. I hope to see you there!

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

The Resurrection of Lazarus, by Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet.

After two weeks of being out of action – a week in the hospital, followed by a week under “medical house arrest” – I am back among the living! I’m looking forward to being out and about again, having spent two-thirds of the new year so far in some kind of confinement.

I’m feeling at 100% again. My voice isn’t quite back up to what it was just yet, but I expect it’ll fix itself in a couple of days. What I lack in sound, I make up for in appearance – I no longer look like death warmed over, and a combination of working out often in November and December and being ill (which includes being on an IV/liquid diet for the better part of a week) has left me about fifteen pounds lighter and well ahead of my fitness plan. Even stays in the ICU have their silver linings.

It’s going to be a busy week. I’ll see you out there!

I’ve got to admit that I’m curious about Ron de Jeremy Rum, (“The Adult Rum”) and yes, it’s named for that Ron Jeremy. According to the blog Uncrate, it’s been “hand crafted by master distiller Francisco ‘Don Pancho’ Fernandez” and “a high-end dark rum that’s oak aged for seven years, resulting in a rich, smooth flavor with hints of vanilla, sugarcane, fruit, and spices.”

My question: is it pronounced “Ron de Heremy”?

Found via TheAaronDouglas.

I had my computer and a hard drive full of music for half my hospital stay last week, and one of the things that made my stay a little better was Trombone Shorty’s 2010 album, Backatown. His music’s a mix of jazz, rock, funk and hip-hop; if you’re a fan of Maceo Parker’s “2 percent jazz, 98 percent fonkay stuff”, Trombone Shorty should be right up your alley.

The video above is Verve records’ “Trombone Shorty” reel, which should give you a taste of what he’s all about.

Anger is Illogical, a film created by “OneMinuteGalactica”, takes audio from one of those “behavioural” films they used to show in schools in the 1950s and 60s and video from the original Star Trek TV series (run through a filter to make them look like they’re on 16mm film) and combines them for hilarious results.

Here’s another amusing little film from OneMinuteGalactica: Luke Skywalker has OCD…

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

It has been determined – though not conclusively, it’s hard to tell from the cultures they grew from my nose, throat and butt swabs (ugh) – that I had a particularly nasty variant of the flu. I’m now part of the Venn diagram encompassing the extra 1,500 flu cases that have popped up in Ontario alone over the past couple of weeks.

Doctors are recommending that you get a flu shot if you haven’t already.