The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

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

Developer Lunch at Sky Dragon in Toronto Today!

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 27, 2009
1 Comment on Developer Lunch at Sky Dragon in Toronto Today!

Wooden steamers and plates full of dim sum dishes

Once again, it’s time for another Developer Lunch here in Accordion City! This is going to be the ninth in the series of lunches organized by Kristan "Krispy" Uccello, and it will be held at the usual location, Sky Dragon restaurant (on the 5th floor of Dragon City mall at the corner of Spadina and Dundas).

These lunches give Toronto-area developers and other techie types to get together for some delicious dim sum and conversation. I’ve been to several of these, and they’ve always been fun. The bill gets split on a per-table basis, and it’s typically worked out to about $12 a person, and everyone leaves full.

If you’re a developer – and that means anyone who practices or is interested in programming – you should come on over to Sky Dragon and join us for lunch! I’ll be there, and you’ can ask me about anything, whether it’s development, Microsoft, accordions, whatever!

The Developer Lunch takes place today (Tuesday, January 27th) at noon and runs until about 1:30 p.m.. Just look for the tables with the geeks!

Tags developer lunch, dim sum

Uncategorized

Kung Hey Fat Choy! (Happy Chinese New Year!)

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
2 Comments on Kung Hey Fat Choy! (Happy Chinese New Year!)

Before I forget, let me wish you all a happy Chinese New Year! This year, it’s the Year of the Ox, so it’s only fitting that I post a picture of him:

Jon "The Ox" Entwistle, bassist for The Who.

For more on the Year of the Ox and Chinese astrology, this article at SFGate.com should help get you started.

It Happened to Me

The Gnu IS a Real Creature

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
7 Comments on The Gnu IS a Real Creature

This article originally appeared on Global Nerdy.

After winning the auction for the Free Software Foundation plush gnu, I hung out in the hotel lobby, checking my email. I talked with some passers-by, and occasionally Richard Stallman, who sat at the couch across from me, cracked the occasional (and very painful) pun.

In these conversations, I was approached by no less than three people who asked me if the gnu – the animal mascot of the Free Software Foundation — was a real creature or a mythical one.

Doesn’t anyone watch Animal Planet, nature shows or The Great Space Coaster (starring Gary Gnu) anymore?

A gnu running through the veldt

They’re real. Here’s the first line of their Wikipedia entry:

The wildebeest (plural wildebeest or wildebeests), also called the gnu (/gəˈnuː/ or /ˈnjuː/), is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved (ungulate) mammal.

Maybe it’s time to organize a bus trip of geeks so that we can all go to the zoo.

Tags animals, nature

funny

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (or: Bar Sign of the Day)

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
1 Comment on This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things (or: Bar Sign of the Day)

Perhaps if they’d given the night another name, it might have turned out differently:

Chalkboard sign outside a bar: "Due to physical violance, Shit Faced Mondays have been cancelled."

I have no idea what bar this sign is for. I just ran across this picture here and thought it was too good not to share.

(I hear every Monday is Shitfaced Monday over at David Crow’s house.)

Tags alcohol, booze, drunkeness, fighting, signs

Geek It Happened to Me

Talking About Blogging at Tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night in Toronto

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
No Comments on Talking About Blogging at Tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night in Toronto

A glass of beer and a book
Beer and science have always gone together!

This article was originally published in Global Nerdy.

I’m going to speaking at tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night here in Toronto on the topic of blogs, how they’ve helped me both do and find work, and how people in the sciences can make use of them.

The pub night is being held at Fionn MacCool’s at University and Adelaide (the full address is 181 University). People will start assembling there for dinner, drinks and conversation at 6:00 p.m. with the presentations starting at 7:00 p.m..

If you’re interested in getting to know your fellow science-types in town or want to catch up with me and talk about blogging, programming, science, accordion playing or anything else, please drop by tonight!

Tags blogging, Nature Network, presentations, pub night, Toronto

Geek It Happened to Me

Fun with Richard Stallman

Over at my tech blog Global Nerdy, there’s a story from the recent CUSEC convention that’ll only seem funny (or even make sense) if you’re a programmer who knows about the Free Software Foundation and how they view Microsoft. It’s called Winning the Gnu, and it’s about my winning bid at Richard Stallman’s auction for a plush gnu.