The scene at the big communal table at the May 29th Coffee and Code.
There’s a Toronto Coffee and Code this Friday! For details, see the Coffee and Code blog.
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Living in the “Hooray!” Zone
Yes, the demands and schedule of my job as Sith Lord at Microsoft have kept me quite busy, but it doesn’t matter because I live in the “Hooray!” zone, as shown in the Venn diagram below:
For more information, see the LifeHacker article titled The Road to Happiness in Your Work Lies in the Hooray! Zone.
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Study Backs Up My “Netbooks Suck” Thesis
My article from a couple of weeks ago, Fast Food Apple Pies and Why Netbooks Suck, got a lot of reactions from both the “You’re right!” and “You’re dead wrong!” camps (the article on Global Nerdy got a fair number of comments, but the same article on the Accordion Guy blog got a hundred comments).
There’s some evidence to back my theory that netbooks are like Burger King apple pies – that is, they look like laptops, but don’t offer the same capabilities, leading to disappointment, and it’s covered in my article in Global Nerdy titled Like I Said, Netbooks Suck.
This article also appears in Global Nerdy.
Here’s an interesting bit of information for those of you who are reviewing prospective hires: people are more honest on their LinkedIn profiles than they are on their resumes. That’s what LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman said at the Social Recruiting Summit held last week at Google.
It’s understood that people “pad” their resumes. A sizeable portion of the interview process seems to be devoted to determining if the candidate is as good as his or her resume says he or she is. I’ve been in interviews where a prospective employer had a member of the development team to sit in and act as a “bullshit detector”; I’ve also done the same duty when working at companies that were interviewing prospective developers.
I think that Kris “The HR Capitalist” Dunn’s theory about why LinkedIn profiles are more honest is spot-on:
…if you’re truly looking for "what’s up" with a candidate, you need to rely on the LinkedIn profile. Why is that true? Because there’s a community of co-workers, friends and past colleagues that always have access to the LinkedIn profile, and there’s no such community with constant visibility to a random resume the candidate sends in, and you have no means to circulate the resume to that type of community to fact check.
Simply put: it’s harder to lie when you’re in front of a group of colleagues who might call you on it.
Kris also talks about how many candidates don’t include the “5 – 6 bullet points that you;re usually used to seeing on the resume” on their LinkedIn profiles. This isn’t the case with me: when I got laid off from my last job back in September, I rewrote my resume completely, starting with my LinkedIn profile, after which I simply pasted the LinkedIn information into a Word document and gave it a little formatting. This approach killed two birds with one stone, affording me more time to concentrate on my (thankfully short – 17 days from my last official day at b5media to my first official day at Microsoft) job search.
I don’t know if it applies in other fields, but in the tech sector, I think that LinkedIn profiles are resumes and that you should based your resume off your LinkedIn profile rather than the other way around. Yes, the social networking aspect of LinkedIn means that you can’t pad your resume as much, but it also means that prospective employers can trust that your credentials are genuine.
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Vegans and Carnivores
This photo from Passive-Aggressive Notes made me laugh out loud:
When it comes to vegans and vegetarians, while I get along with them just fine, I’ve got to side with chef Anthony Bourdain:
Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food.
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Guelph Coffee and Code: Tuesday, June 23rd
If it’s Tuesday, it must be time for Guelph Coffee and Code! See the Coffee and Code blog for details.
Update (Monday, June 22, 12:21 p.m.): If you’re planning on taking your trash to the transfer stations, please note that picketers have been blocking the entrances to the trash transfer depots. I would recommend checking the news before you head out to a transfer station.
It’s on: Locals 79 and 416 of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) has called for a strike after the city and the union were unable to come to an agreement on their collective agreements.
What the Press Says
- Posted Toronto (National Post blog): Toronto City Workers on Strike
- Posted Toronto: The Iconic Nature of 18 Sick Days
- Globe and Mail: Toronto City Workers on Strike
- Globe and Mail: Unions Living in Dreamland
- Toronto Star: City Workers Walk; Talks Go On
- Toronto Star: Bad Timing Has Caused Strike
Services Affected by the Strike
Here’s what services are affected:
- Garbage/Recycling/Green Bin Collection
Cancelled, except in Etobicoke and apartment/condo buildings (including my place!), where it’s contracted out. People are being asked to store their garbage for as long as they can, or drop it off at the city’s garbage drop-off points (see the map below). - Ambulances/Paramedics
Still operating, but 25% of paramedics are expected not to work on any given day during the strike. Best not to get injured right now. - Daycare Centres
All 57 daycare centres are closed. - Island Ferries
All ferries – except the one to the Island Airport – are cancelled. - Parks and Recreation
Parks will be open, but there’s no ground maintenance. “Programming”, such as summer camps, classes, drop-ins and lessons are cancelled. City-run golf courses, wading and swimming pools, fitness and community centres are closed. Automated timers aren’t in the union, so splash pads on automated timers are still running. - Public Libraries
Branches are still open, except for 5 that use city facilities: Armour Heights, Flemingdon Park, St. James Town, Todmorden Room and Port Union. Branches at City Hall and Metro Hall are open, with adjusted hours. - Weddings
Wedding ceremonies at Toronto City Hall will continue during regular business hours. Permits for wedding photos in city parks are cancelled. Wedding facilities in East York, Scarborough and York are cancelled. Only previously scheduled ceremonies at North York Civic Centre will continue. - Parking
Parking enforcement continues! Deadlines to pay tickets will not be extended. No new permits will be issued. - Taxes
Property taxes still have to be paid on the due dates, but drop boxes in civic centres will no be available. Best to pay them via mail, your bank or drop box in public library (if it’s not one of the affected ones).
Garbage Drop-Off Points
If you need to get rid of garbage, the following locations will take it:
- Ingram Transfer Station
50 Ingram Drive (Keele/Eglinton area)
Open 24 hours - Bermondsey Transfer Station
188 Bermondsey Road (Victoria Park/Eglinton area)
Open 24 hours
(I wrote about this place in a 2004 article titled Midnight Trash Run.) - Commissioners Street Transfer Station
400 Commissioners Street (Lakeshore/Logan area)
Open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. - Disco Transfer Station
120 Disco Road (Carlingview/Disco area)
Open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. - Dufferin Transfer Station
35 Vanley Crescent (Chesswood/Sheppard area)
Open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. - Victoria Park Transfer Station
3550 Victoria Park Avenue (Victoria Park/Finch area)
Open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. - Scarborough Transfer Station
1 Transfer Place (Markham Road/Sheppard area)
Open 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.