Take one part vintage clothing store, add some cool DJs and throw in a dance party.
What do you get?
The S.W.A.P. Team
North America’s biggest clothing swap charity.
And we’re throwing a party tonight!
Our Montréal launch party is raise awareness and funds for
the best clothing swap this side of the ocean.
And you’re invited!
Make sure to R.S.V.P. to
aleece@xmedia.tv
or on Facebook.
The S.W.A.P. Team
Launch Party and Fundraiser
Tuesday, 22 June 2009
18:00 – 23:00 EDT
28, rue Notre-Dame Est. Suite #400
Serving drinks
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Jen and Clint
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Watching the slideshow
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
This is what happens when you mix:
- four stuffed toys,
- three little kids,
- two sister startups,
- and a swiss ball in a big room.
Since I’m rarely in Toronto and rarely in Toronto for more than a couple of days, I often miss my good and wonderful Torontonian friends.
However, in December, I get to stay a few more days, which I hope to be jam-packed with adventure. Or barring that, hugs and smiles.
I propose that we sally forth on Boxing Day and take over some establishment. An establishment, that perhaps serves food and drink?
Loons
416 Roncesvalles Ave.
26 December 2008 at 19h
Every year, the Kokoromi Collective throws a wild party.
A wild party involving video games!
GAMMA 3D was a wild ride of stereoscopic fun.
There were tons of people in 3D glasses.
It was like going to an old 3D drive-through.
An interactive 3D drive-through.
Without cars.
And if you own a pair, you can play too!
Download the games!
Red and cyan
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Double vision
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
3D spectacles
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Fireflies
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Excitement
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Last week, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
girl_tm and I were in Toronto.
To everyone we saw, it was so nice to see you again!
To everyone we missed, alas, we will have to arrange something next time.
It was the first time I threw a party with Flora.
It was amazing to have her friends and our friends meeting each other.
Plus, I got to meet Flora’s new beau.
I’d like to add that Vecchio Frak was very, very nice and very, very accommodating.
And the cocktails were pretty good too!
We shall return.
Rob, Aleece, and Flora
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
The Ubuntu crew in Montréal can sure throw a party. We packed a room at Bar St-Sulpice with geeks, nerds, and other awesome characters who shared their love of beer and free software.
I caught up with Etienne and Fabian who were leading the celebrations. Good job, guys!
Every year, the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal holds a dance party to raise some funds.
This year, it was a masquerade. I couldn’t help but snap a few photos before we left for the party.
Pianist
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
By the piano
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
gamma 256 is happening tonight!
Come to the Société des arts technologiques at 21:00. See a few bands, play a few video games, and have a good time.
I'll be there with my camera!
The people at Newmindspace really have public parties down pat.
Last week, I was in Toronto on vacation, when I got invited to the lightsaber battle. How could I refuse to go?
We arrived at the ROM after everyone else had their florescent cardboard tubes handed out to them, so I only got to take photographs. But what fun it was!
Sunglasses
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
The rest of the summer flew by quickly. I had less and less time to take photographs as more and more of it was consumed by, you know… I don't remember. But in any event, I was so busy I barely had time to sit down and edit photographs.
Plus, I started to feel more and more guilty about not writing. You know that feeling, where you haven't done something for so long that you put it off because you're too embarrassed to just pick it up again? Yeah, I knew you'd understand.
Facepainting
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
I stayed in Ottawa for the Canada Day long weekend. After lounging around the city, trying to avoid the crazed tourist mobs, I ended up on Parliament Hill with ostraya and her friends. We blew bubbles and painted people's faces, as we waited for the fireworks.
Spotlights
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Through the grapevine, we heard that the organizers might cancel due to the weather, but in the end they launched them. Jas, who had tagged along, eloquently described the spectacle as “fucking awesome”.
Cappuccino
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
When I returned to Montréal, I discovered that the office had acquired one of those fancy Italian coffee machines. I tried my hand at grinding, tamping, and pulling a shot.
Not bad for an amateur, eh?
The bosses had been talking about the July offsite meeting for some time and I was beginning to dread it. For some inexplicable reason, I thought of suffering in a lousy hotel at the corner of Nowhere and Nothing.
Instead, we drove to a lovely cottage retreat, had a local restaurant provide us with gorgeous meals, and lounged around in a hot-tub every evening. I love working here!
I soon discovered that my favourite abadoned store, Gillman's, was closing.
Binky Holleran, a local restaurateur, bought it. With the excess unsold inventory in hand, she asked various artists to make something out of it. Their exhibit was a fabulous tribute!
Counterclock
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
In my quest to make computer conferences more interesting, I did a cool tutorial at DemoCamp Montréal 3.
Instead of the overdone topic of “How to build a flashy, interactive ‘Web 2.0’ site that only geeks will use”, I opted for teaching people how to build a counterclock.
A counterclock, of course, runs counterclockwise. I ripped apart a clock I bought merely hours before, flipped its motion around, and got it working before the end of the conference. It went over pretty well.
Natasha Duchene
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
tashamonster and rubythirtythree held a little concert at Buddhi Lounge. That's a pretty nifty place that looks like a converted basement apartment. That's too depressing to actually live in, but makes a fun space for a club.
Whoever did their interior decoration is a genius! Colanders for lampshades and a bathtub-mounted television playing Disney movies complete the quirky atmosphere.
Peter Zion
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Because Peter threw a party for his triumphant return to Montréal, we met our really cool neighbour Jen. Apparently, madamewoo and I made such a good impression on her that she invited us to a picnic in the park.
Or perhaps it's just because we live so gosh-darned close? In any event, whipping up a little spaghetti puttanesca never hurts for a picnic that's right outside my front door. And neither does a little bit of photography.
Christine and baby
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Oooh, my friend Christine is having a baby. Doesn't she look beautiful? I got invited to their baby shower where I got to see kids running around like mad, a really happy dog, and three sane men stomping on a wasps' nest.
Tonight, I'm going to be attending an open panel discussion at Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2007. It's completely open to the public and will be a discussion on freedom on the Internet.
There are going to be a number of famous people there, including Whit Diffie, Peter Neumann, Anita Allen, Bruce Schneier, and Ed Viltz. I'm not sure exactly what they're going to be talking about, but I bet it'll be thought-provoking.
At around 20:30, I'll be down at the CFP Welcome Party, which is basically a big fundraiser for Creative Commons and EPIC. You've probably heard me mention Creative Commons a few times, because they're a big proponent of having a healthy body of creative work that artists can draw from. Almost all of the art I produce is available under a Creative Commons license, which I've chosen so that you can share, copy, and modify it. So I'm more than happy to socialize with interesting people and to support a good cause.
Sounds interesting? You bet!
How do you get there?
Well, the panel is at Hotel Bonaventure, and starts at 18:30. Details here.
Then the welcome party is at 20:30, at Austin's place. Details here. For directions to Austin's house, send me an e-mail. Austin's address is on this flyer. If you're leaving from the Hilton, try these directions.
Hope to see you there!
I'm a tad slow to write about things these days, I think I'm suffering from writer's block. But I'm finally able to sit down and write about my trip to Norway.
On 20 January, I hailed a cab and asked the driver to take me to Dorval. Instead of the normal ridiculously early flight, I had managed to book one for the evening. This was a welcome change and I was positively cheering going through airport security. I arrived early, so I sat about in the lounge, surfing the Internet, until the sun went down and we boarded the aircraft. I fell asleep immediately. When I woke up, we were just landing in London and I groggily collected my possessions.
I tried to get my bearings and stumbled into a queue. I went through airport security again, because the English don't believe that other countries do proper checks. Then I was spit out into some concourse shopping area. Heathrow is a very busy place, with people scurrying around and looking harried.
I pulled out my cellphone and tried to call Kyle. That's when I felt someone bump into me and I sped up my pace. Then another bump and I turned around to face my assailant. Oh, hi Kyle. We found a spot and waited for video screen to announce our gate to Oslo.
I dropped off again once we boarded the aeroplane and woke up for a snowy landing in Oslo. But it was 10°C warmer when compared to Montreal. I watched the luggage handlers unload our bags as people grabbed things from the overhead compartments. When we got out, I immediately noticed that the airport looked like a giant IKEA. We walked down a hallway with modular units, I ducked into a modular toilet, after passing a modular firehose, modular storage closet, and modular ventilation shaft. It was so modern that even the graffiti emphasized good design.
We found our way to the Flytoget, the airport expresss train, and bought some tickets using the automated teller. Then I tried to go through the turnstile but was defeated by my own stupidity. The security guard, who looked like a Valkyrie, took pity on me and waved me through. We got on the train and had just stowed our luggage when Daniel boarded our car. Hurray for chance meetings! We chatted as the train sped through the countryside and past snowy stations. I stared out the window as the bullet train made streaks out of tunnel lights.
An Ubuntu distribution sprint happens midway through the development cycle of each release. This one, for Oslo, concentrating on some last minute issues. Developers worked together on various features that required co-ordination, showed each other the bits they were working on, and had conversations about things that needed to get done. This was all done in the Scandic KNA, which is in the National Theatre district of Oslo. This was a short walk from the train station and we checked in with a minimum of fuss.
The next day, we got up bright and early. I spoke with Henrik about his idea for getting more people involved in testing the CD images we use to distribute Ubuntu. For the past couple of releases, we stop all development for a week before we release the distribution. Everyone stops and tries to install Ubuntu on all of their machines. The big problems with this method are that we stall developers for an entire week and we don't test the installer on enough diverse machines. His plan involves working with the Ubuntu Forums. Instructions for how to help out are there in a sticky thread.
The area around the hotel is pretty and relatively new. I think there's some kind of school or university across the street, students were always going in and out at around lunchtime. They had wrapped an entire building in plastic wrap and were doing some form of renovations. Tollef informs me that this area used to be the docks, but those got shut down and now it's full of condos. That's why everything is so convenient and hip and trendy. It reminded me of Canada, specifically Montréal, and alleviated some of the homesickness.
I also talked with Robert about bug triage and how to get more volunteers. Although the BugSquad and Ubuntu QA are growing at a steady pace, we still don't have the critical mass that keeps #ubuntu-bugs busy all the time. One of the suggestions is to create an announcement-only mailing list that tells people how to participate in new QA endeavours. People on the BugSquad should expect to be signed up soon.
On Thursday, to our surprise, the Monte Carlo Car Rally started just outside the hotel's front door. Car enthusiasts invaded, classic cars were parked in the garage, and we saw them queue up to start racing. Lovely, lovely machines.
We're definitely going to do things that make triaging easier and more exciting. For instance, bughelper is something that Henrik and Daniel have been hacking on. Bughelper is designed to help sift through bugs in the Ubuntu distribution and find what you're looking for. Be they duplicates, crashes, or a particular type of bug, it can help you in your searches. It's almost like a bug-grepper actually. And it's very, very helpful.
That evening, we went to Henrik's house for dinner. Phillip, who's working on his genetics Ph.D. made us all a very lovely meal. It was my first exposure to fishpudding, which appears to be something that Norwegians like serving to foreigners. A practical joke, perhaps? After dinner, we discovered that the neighbourhood football pitch had frozen over. After locating a tennis ball, a group of us went outside and played a variant of hockey. Until we lost the puck in the snow.
By now, people were starting to show signs of fatigue. Both Robert and Scott attended linux.conf.au right before they showed up. This meant they were disease vectors, which is what happens when you bring a whole bunch of people from all over the world into one big petri-dish of conference hall. Their particular plague seemed to be brutal, but not very contagious, as only some of us got violently ill. As usual, I happened to catch it.
On Friday night, we walked down to the fjords and stared out at the sea. They really are lovely, but there were a lot of people down by the docks so it was difficult to examine them properly. Tollef had made some reservations for us at a local Indian restaurant and we were treated to a lovely meal. Everything was cooked perfectly and left us happy and satiated.
Then came the bowling. Ben wanted to see just how many of us would lace up in smelly, rented shoes and embarass ourselves. I thought this was a marvellous idea. The first frame I ever threw was sort of a strange disaster. That's because I had never bowled before. So I tossed the bowling ball, which was far too heavy, backwards into my team. I managed to do reasonably well, for a beginner, by the end of the night. We stumbled back to hotel, tired but happy.
Early the next morning, Kyle and I woke up and headed to the airport. We caught the same flight to Heathrow, met Ben at the terminal, and then parted ways. I landed in Montréal feeling very tired and grumpy, but brightened up when I got out. Instead of my usual routine of catching the bus, I was swarmed by a group of friends. They had come, on my birthday, to whisk me away to a surprise party. I love you guys!
I had a very long bath and slept for a very long time.
I was hoping for a small reprieve in December, but I should have known better. Through 2006, things had been progressively getting busier and busier until I felt I was about to burst.
It is now 2007 and I can look back happily at the previous year. Whew. So what was last month like?
Cute pottery
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
First I had to see rubythirtythree at the Salon des métiers d'art. I did a bit of shopping there, which turned out to be a good idea.
Angie Johnson
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Then a vernissage at Headquarters Galerie et Boutique. I met Angie and Tyson, who run the store, and they are awfully nice. They run an exhibition every month or so which I'm going try to see.
Followed by seeing a drag show with ispyagirl and Mike, an old classmate from Earl Haig. We went to Cabaret Mado, which had lots of people that looked like they were having fun! It was just too outrageous for anything less.
Two chairs
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
I took some photos at jbailey's new place. The entire house was bare, so I got to roam around and take pictures of uncluttered rooms.
Lunch with baprime at Café Santropol. It was the first time she'd ever been there, which is quite a treat. We ate sandwiches and drank milkshakes—they were delicious.
Neat dweeb
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
More shopping at the Souk@SAT. This time, I went with angorian and Damian. I showed them fun things and delicious things and they managed to get a ton of their gift shopping done.
Lesbian haircuts
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Then we made the wonderful discovery of cheap Lesbian haircuts on Amherst. I am tempted to go there and check out their bikes.
I had a lazy Sunday brunch with le_maistre_e. We ate at John's, which is a little diner that serves a great meal at 1980s prices. I'm definitely going back! I also discovered that the Lachine canal is a gem, if you look hard enough.
Marble cheesecake
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Dinner with vierge_en_trop, completed by puddings at Café l'Etranger.
Crème brulée
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Followed by dinner at mricon's. He made an excellent borscht.
Leading into the Canonical holiday dinner at Los Tios.
Ironically placed next to the Goodbye NITI Montreal dinner.
Samba Elegua
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
I needed some exercise after all this eating, so I saw jedward play with Samba Elegua. He stayed with me, while his band did their gig for Noël dans le parc.
Gladstone & Ste-Catherine
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
Then it was more dinner at superfink's, with a nightcap of The muppet Christmas carol.
Followed by another dinner at tygrbabe's.
Dinner on the train
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
After that, I got on the train to Toronto, where I spent a lot of time not behind the camera. Although digital cameras are now prevalent, I seemed to avoid getting myself not in front of them.
I'm throwing a party.
A tea party on Sunday. That's today at 16:00.
I know this isn't much notice. But I haven't had any time. In fact, I'll probably still be cleaning the apartment when you walk in the door.
But it's important to have parties! So you should come. Bring tea or cake or coffee or biscuits. We will sit around and chat and knit and play games.
It will be a fun diversion from the cold outside. I promise!
Flying out to another city is sometimes a bit stressful, especially if you've been travelling a lot. Here's what happened on the 11th, when I was set to fly to San Francisco.
21:00: Laundry laundry laundry. Blacks, whites, blue-greens, red-browns. No clean clothes and not enough time. I pulled the last load from the washer, hung it up, and ran out.
01:00: I hailed a cab to the W, in the hopes of meeting dzuunmod. They had already left but I was treated to a strange scene of beating music, girls dancing on dividers in precarious heels, and expensive drinks. Everyone else was too clean and sharp to be geeky, though I managed to fit in. Until I pulled out my notebook and started writing.
02:30: Rode the bus up to St. Viateur to buy bagels for my expat friends. The bus is full of drunkards, as the bars had just let out. Some girls got off the same bus and they were weaving around trying to find the bakery. I led the way. Got a dozen sesame seed ones and consumed one greedily while it was still soft and hot. There are hundreds of newspaper clippings lining the walls, you know, and even signed photographs.
03:00: Rode the bus back home. Ironed a few shirts and packed the suitcase. Tried fitfully to stay awake.
04:30: Cleaned the kitchen.
05:30: Bagged up the bagels.
08:50: Got to Dorval airport bleary-eyed and confused. Tipped the cab driver well for driving like a madman. Then I stood in line forever at security, got through the TSA, and arrived at the gate. There I discovered that I had no seat.
11:00: Kurt von Finck and Jeff Bailey showed up to keep me company. They boarded the plane before me while two other passengers waited to see if they could free up seats. One was really upset, since he had to make it for his daughter's birthday. I was remarkably calm about the whole thing, finding it even amusing. The ladies at the gate shook their heads when they realized my suitcase was on the flight.
11:20: The handlers rearranged some cargo so that we could fly. Seats were made available and we boarded. I sat in one that had been vacated three times. We got briefed about emergency procedures, where I claimed to know how to open the emergency exit. There's a lot of legroom in those spots. Kurt sat in front of me chatting with a guy the whole flight. I passed out happily.
14:45: Awoke in San Francisco. It was bright, sunny, and warm. I was still tired, even though I gained three hours of sleep. We met Jim Morrison, got our bags, and headed out the door. With our local guide, we got on the BART, then the CalTrain and were off to Sunnyvale.
15:30: On the train, we shared the car with some kids from USC. They were all in football uniforms, swapping beers, and being rowdy. Their coach told me they were going to play Stanford at 16:00. The conductor, grumpy man he was, shouted at them to get out of the hallways. Kurt and I went to the second level where he chatted with some guy from Vancouver. I watched the guys below do the college football thing: talk about girls, make out with girls, and crack open cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
15:40: They got off at the Stanford Stadium stop, which was basically a hole in the fence. It's a stop solely used for football games. Isn't it odd how football is so important that the train would make a special stop? Calm returned to the train.
16:10: We got off at Lawrence and tried to walk to the hotel. We commandeered a shopping cart, one of those huge Costco numbers. That didn't work out so well with all our baggage, so we found a petrol station and got the attendant to call a taxi for us. She had trouble understanding us at first. While we waited, I bought a map. Then I juggled.
17:00: The cab brought us to the hotel. We dropped off our stuff and I took a bath. Then it was dinner at a local Japanese restaurant, which looked pretty empty. They shouted irasshaimase at us as we entered, so it couldn't have been that bad. I asked for a tatami room, we sat down, and I pigged out on otoro. Mmm, it was good to be back in California.
19:00: I was supposed to go to SuperHappyDevHouse, but I thought it was on the other side of the city, instead of a half-hour away. Whoops. Instead, I attended a party with Jim. We walked from Sunnyvale to Palo Alto. It was a good walk, except for the fact that I was in constant pain from my bruised foot.
19:45: We arrived to a group of people playing some form of game. I no longer recall what it was. It eventually devolved into people just sitting around talking. I met Mike, who was the host of the party. And I forgot-her-name, who was the cute girl that all the guys wanted to talk to. And Will Chan, who would show up in my later adventures. Everyone else got introduced to me, and I forgot all of their names too. But I do remember that they all worked for Google.
22:30: There was a lot of partying, which involved excessive drinking on most people's part. I'm glad that Jim has brought alcoholism to his co-workers, although slightly disturbed at their tastes. They bayed at the moon on the balcony, which ended up in the cops arriving. Nicest cops I'd ever seen. They thought the party was cool, since we were quiet by then, but had to show up because of a neighbour's call.
00:15: The Token Hot Guy at the party had hooked up with the Cute Girl, so I made people promise not to let them drive off drunk. This failed because everyone else was having a "good time" and didn't notice them putting on their shoes. This meant that I had to trail them to a parking lot, in a dark neighbourhood, and I am bad with directions. She wanted to drive herself home in her car, but the guy seemed reasonably sober, so I let him drive. I hope they didn't get into trouble.
00:25: I walked back in the warm Californian night, slightly lost, until I found Jim getting into Will's car. Will drove us to the hotel, where I collapsed instantly of exhaustion.
Winter wonderland
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
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| |_) | '__/ _ \ __| __| | | |
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____ _ _ |___/_
| _ \ ___ | |_| |_ _ ___| | __
| |_) / _ \| __| | | | |/ __| |/ /
| __/ (_) | |_| | |_| | (__| <
|_| \___/ \__|_|\__,_|\___|_|\_\
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| _ \ __ _ _ __| |_ _ _
| |_) / _` | '__| __| | | |
| __/ (_| | | | |_| |_| |
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|___/
oran American Thanksgiving
I've returned to Montréal from sunny California. And although it's sunnier here than it was done there, it's not quite as warm.
We're going to have a whole lot of cold this year, so we'd better find ways to stay warm. And what better way than to get together to eat, drink, and laugh?
Which is why I'm chipping in with mricon and baprime's potluck party this Saturday. Bring food, bring drink, bring games. And bring friends.
Details:
- Why?
- To steel ourselves against the cold nights ahead.
- When?
- Saturday, 25 November 2006 at 18:00.
- Where?
- Barbara, Eric, and Konstantin's place: 4570, rue Clark.
RSVP by leaving a comment below.
There's an Ubuntu release party happening right now!
Yes, I'm running late. So you shouldn't be ashamed if you are too.
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