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  • 10Mar

    Shooting More With New Camera

    Downtown office space, Executive Office Space, Office Space No Comments

    Back in late January I purchased a new camera body, but have not had many chances to use it. I purchased a Nikon D90 to upgrade from my four year old D80 body. I am not retiring or selling my D80, but I am keeping it as a second body that I will keep one of my other lenses on. This will mean that I do not have to change lenses during a shoot. The new D90 camera is a big improvement over the D80, it has a larger and better sensor that allows me to shoot indoors without a flash.

    Since purchasing the new camera I have only had a few chances to use it. Not having a full time studio anymore restricts my model shoots to rented or borrowed studios and outdoor shoots. The other problem with not having a full time studio has been coordinating times and dates with models and the studios that I do have access to. I have however had a few event gigs, including the Toronto International Bicycle Show, where I got to shoot a fashion show of the latest bicycle clothing.

    When I walked into my downtown Toronto office space today, I got some good news. I was in the kitchen down the hall from my executive suites Toronto getting my morning coffee, when the office manager came to talk to me. She told me that the remodelling of the reception area was nearly complete and wondered if I would be interested in doing a profession photo shoot in the next week or so. I gladly agreed, as I had done the previous reception photos three years ago. I took it as a compliment that the owners and manager of the place where I have my office space for lease Toronto want me to take more photos for them.

    After leaving the kitchen, I bumped into another office space tenant who overheard that I would be taking more photographs of the reception area, they wondered if I would be interested in taking some product photos for them. We agreed to talk on Monday to see what types of photos they want.

    You would think because I am shooting less that I would have time to update my own website, but in the absence of the photography work, I have been doing a lot more web and IT work for clients. This week I had to book Toronto meeting rooms at my office for rent Toronto to meet with three potential clients. The web and IT work is my primary source of income, but photography is my true passion that keeps me going.

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  • 24Feb

    You Have To Try Stampede Bison Burgers

    Downtown office space, Downtown Toronto Office Space, Toronto meeting rooms No Comments

    I do not get a chance to go for lunch with clients as most of the correspondence is done by email and phone. But today a client wanted to take me out for lunch to discuss a new project they want to get going. Instead of a fancy eatery, they suggested burgers and I suggested Stampede Bison Grill. This place I have come to love that is  located just off Queen St. West at 5 Brock Avenue that specializes in, you guessed it, bison burgers. The burger menu offers a nice variety, aside from the bison and roast bison specialties. You can get beef, chicken, club and even veggie, all made the way you like with custom toppings. My favourite is the Bison Poutine with shaved roast bison over top of poutine with a mound of “real Quebecois” cheese curds and fresh hand cut fries.

    The place has a compact menu of six burgers and sandwiches, two salads and the usual cast of side dishes and accompaniments, the most prominent item on the menu is, as would be expected, the bison burger. Lower in calories, fat and cholesterol than most other meats including lean meats like chicken and pork as well being high in protein, iron and vitamin B-12, bison meat is the new darling of carnivores across the land. Stampede’s menu touts the use of all-natural, Peterborough-raised bison meat reared with no additives, antibiotics, stimulants or animal by-products.

    One thing this place is, it is not fast food. Once we submit our order, we probably wait a good 10-15 minutes for our meal – but it was completely worth it!!

    My client loved the place and asked me about any other food places that were hidden gems. I told him that I do not get out much for lunch and often have lunch downstairs from my downtown Toronto office space in the 4th floor Toronto Star Cafeteria. This is true of a number of the other office space Toronto clients I know. There are plenty of restaurants near the Toronto Star Building, this one is the most convenient and the food is really good, besides being priced well. A few times that I needed to have a catered lunch in one of the Toronto meeting rooms, I was able to arrange catering through the Toronto Star cafeteria.

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  • 23Jan

    Buying a New Camera and Dealing with Sales Staff

    Downtown office space, Office Space No Comments

    This past Friday I forced myself to buy the new camera body that I have needed for the past year. My current camera is almost 5 years old and the time to upgrade has long passed. I really needed a new camera body and to put my old camera body into work as a second or back up camera body mode.

    I went to the local (well not local anymore) camera store where I purchased my first Digital SLR camera and all of my accessories over the past 5 years. I was assisted by a lovely young woman who did not shoot Nikon, but was very knowledgeable about the product. She joked that she had considered switching from Canon to Nikon, but she had too much money invested in Canon lenses and accessories. My intent was to purchase either a Nikon D7000 or the camera it was designed to replace, the D90. All of the reviews I had read and advice I was given was that the D7000 was somewhat superior to the D90.

    The sales girl reviewed my needs and wants for a new camera and ended up suggesting that I purchase the lower priced D90.  Her reasons were that I was not looking to totally overhaul my camera kit and replace all the lenses and accessories that I had previously purchased. While down the road I am eventually looking to upgrade my lenses and the rest of my equipment, changing camera body styles and purchasing at least  one new lens to work optimized on that camera body would cost me about $2500. If the sales girl had insisted that I go that route and make a major investment on the new body and lens, I probably would have taken that advice.  Instead she told me that I was better off to make the minor camera body upgrade and wait until spring to buy a new lens that would work on this body as well as a much higher body class I could purchase in the future. She was forgoing a much higher commission getting me set up with a new camera body that would suite my needs and wants, rather than pushing me to buy a new camera body that would require me to also buy some new lenses. Why do my friends not understand why I purchase my camera equipment from a store rather than on the web?  I get great customer service.  This is a prime example.

    As I was doing the paperwork to make the purchase and register for the warranty, the girl asked me if I wanted (the out of stock item I also purchased) to be shipped to my home or my office. At that point I wanted to call the office manager of my downtown Toronto office space and recommend they hire this girl. When I first signed up for my office space Toronto a number of years ago, I dealt with the office manager. She walked me through the office and told me of the different plans they offered. After filling out their Toronto office business centre needs assessment form and talking further with me, she recommended that instead of renting a physical office space from them, that I get a virtual office Toronto. That is what I did. Two years later when my needs changed, they were able to move me to shared office plan without changing my business address or phone number. Another year later, I moved to a Toronto semi-private office space without needing to make changes to my contact information.

    Last winter when I felt the need to move to a private window office, the office manager suggested I wait a month and get an East facing office. This had me curious. She told me that I was not a morning client and that based on my typical arrival time, an East facing office that had direct sun before I arrived would be best for me. She could have rented me a larger south facing office, but chose to make me more happy for the long term.  This is again what good customer relations are about. Good customer relations is about selling a client what they need today and retaining them as a customer of tomorrow.

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  • 05Dec

    It’s not winter yet and we have snow

    Downtown office space, Downtown Toronto Office Space No Comments

    The first day of winter is not until December 21, 2010 and we already have our first taste of snow. It may not be the biggest dumping of snow we will get this winter season, but our first snow fall is enough to throw people into a panic.  Ever since the mainstream popularity of the  SUV, I have joked with my friends that it is not winter until the first SUV goes into the ditch. This is due to the fact that people buy SUVs expecting they will not have any problems with winter driving conditions, but because they do not understand that a heavier SUV makes them more likely for problems in the winter months. They expect the vehicle to help them, but forget the limitations of having a heavier vehicle.

    While the snow we got today was a little bit of a surprise to me, it came as no real surprise that I would witness a four wheel drive SUV run into problems on my local roads. I smartly decided to take a walk today to the local shopping mall because of the black ice in my driveway. I did not have to go as far as the next street to see a 2011 model SUV on the lawn of an apartment building. The driver had no winter driving experience, but felt the four wheel power of the vehicle and did not know how it would not stop on the slick conditions.

    Too many people are looking for a vehicle that will go in the snow, but forget that they also want to know how to stop in the snow. When I was doing my Toronto office Space search, I looked for a place where I could optimize how I handled my photo calls, but also somewhere that I could have control over my phone calls. My downtown Toronto office space receptionist can send my calls to my office space, to my cell phone, or directly to my voice mail.

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  • 15Oct

    National Boss Day – what if you are self employed

    Downtown office space, Office Space, office space for lease Toronto No Comments

    I read that today is National Boss Day. It is a good idea to have a boss appreciation day, but what if you are self employed? Do you pat yourself on the back?

    Some will say that your clients are the boss, but in their case every day is client appreciation day. Every day entrepreneurs work for their clients and give them all they can.

    When I look around my office space Toronto, I see two main types of people. Those who are entrepreneurs and those who are operating a branch office for a foreign based company. For the most part, most of these people are their own bosses.  Yes, even the people who work or represent foreign companies are essentially their own boss.  They are accountable to the head office, but they run the Toronto branch office like it is their own.

    Examples of client appreciation day can be seen every day at my downtown Toronto office space, these are demonstrated by the amazing support staff who answer the phones and make the complimentary coffee. Maybe there needs to be a support staff appreciation day. I think I will take it upon myself and bring in Tim Bits for the amazing support staff in my office space for lease Toronto.

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  • 30Aug

    A planned trip to FanExpo ended up being a day at BuskerFest

    Downtown office space, Office Space, office space for lease Toronto No Comments

    Trekkies and superhero fans took over the Metro Convention Centre this weekend. I took my girlfriend down to FanExp on Sunday to meet up with some friends of mine who had some spare passes to the extravaganza. I parked my car at my downtown Toronto office space and took the short walk to the Metro Convention Centre.

    When we arrived at the convention centre, there were hundreds of fans who had been lined up for hours around a city block trying to get into the convention centre without a prepaid pass. I was not about to join that line up because my friends already had passes for us, were already inside and in the line up to meet William Shatner. Unlike my friends who are diehard super fans of sci-fi and comic books, my interest was only casual and long line ups were not my thing. Also from what I understood, even once inside people were walking shoulder to shoulder trying to navigate the aisles of comic book stands and vendors selling science fiction memorabilia and Japanese Anime accessories and toys.

    For super fans like my friends, there was plenty of big name celebrities from TV’s original Batman and Robin, as well as the Star Trek series, including the man who starred as the original Captain Kirk. Yes, Adam West, Burt Ward and William Shatner. But none of these people drew the crowds that Stan Lee (The creator of Spiderman) had waiting for him. At 88 Years old, Lee still comes out to expos like this one and manages to steal the show without even trying.

    Other Celebrities included Julie Newmar who played Catwoman in the 1960′S Batman TV series, Dean Stockwell who played John Cavil on Battlestar Galactica  and Al on Quantum Leap, Michael Dorn who played Lieutenant Commander Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Academy Award winner Ernest Borgnine most know for his role on the 1960’s show McHale’s Navy. Those are just some of the over 140 guests from the world of Sci-Fi, Comics, Gaming and the world of Horror.

    Instead of Standing in line to get into FanExpo and then lining up to meet the various celebrities and stars, my girlfriend and I decided to walk along Front Street and check out BuskerFest instead. BuskerFest, now in its 11th year is one of the largest festivals of its kind in North America and is the last major festivals in Toronto’s summer entertainment season.

    BuskerFest is produced by Epilepsy Toronto with the support of their title sponsor Scotiabank. Over the last ten years, BuskerFest has raised almost one million dollars for Epilepsy Toronto, a non-profit organization that for the past 50 years has been enabling people with epilepsy to live with dignity and independence.

    After a long hot day in the sun, we decided to head home around 4 P.M. Before jumping in the car and driving home, I wanted to go upstairs and check my mail at my Toronto office space, as I had not been in the office for a number of days.

    As I was leaving my office and walking down the hall, I was surprised to run into a person who I met only a few weeks ago that was looking for office space for lease Toronto. It seems that shortly after I had told them about Telsec Business Centres, they contacted Josie Graziosi and rented a team space for 7 people. I felt good that they had taken my advice and really loved the office.

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  • 28Jul

    Cell phones and pools do not mix

    Downtown office space, Downtown Toronto Office Space, Office Space No Comments

    As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I have not been spending much time in my downtown office space this week and have instead been playing tour guide to a visitor from Australia. Some of my clients see this as me taking a vacation and they are contacting me by my cell when they need help, but potential new clients would not understand me taking a mini vacation when they are looking for my services right now.

    The only reason I am able to have this time away from my Toronto office space and take day trips to tourist attractions is that I have a professional receptionist who can screen and route my calls to my cell phone, without me having to be in my office space downtown Toronto.

    Today we had a very hot and humid day, so our plan was to maybe go to the Olympic Pools at Woodbine Beach. Thinking that it would be faster to change at home and drive down to the pool. We all changed at my place and proceeded to the pool. When we got to the pool, we found that not only was the pool at capacity, but there was a long line up waiting for people to get in. We did not know what the back up plan was, so we joined the line and hoped it would move quickly.

    The line did not go anywhere for almost 20 minutes, but that is when I got the call. A friend of mine wanted to know if I wanted go swimming at their place. I jumped on the opportunity and we left the line to head to my friends place.

    My friends pool was an unheated outdoor pool, but at this temperature, none of us thought it would matter. We all still had our swim suites on and proceeded to dip our feet in …. yikes it was cold.  The Australian visitor was the first to jump in, followed by our hostess. My girlfriend and I were still on the fence, deciding if the water  was too cold. The Aussi convinced her to take the plunge.  This left me as the last man standing outside the pool.

    I was still the only one outside of the water and was considering taking it slow and walking in from the shallow end slowly. the geers and taunts started. I stepped back out of the pool and walked to the deep end.  After more taunts, I decided to take the plunge.  #%* it was that cold. A few moments later I noticed that there was something still in the pockets of my swim shorts, it was my phone.  I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and put it on the deck… it was dead.

    Knowing that my office space Toronto receptionist was transferring my calls to my cell, I quickly called the receptionist using my friends phone and explained the situation. She was able to change the note on my profile and direct my calls to my voice mail with the excuse that I was in a “out of office” meeting.

    After blow drying my phone, we found it does still work, but I will need to replace it soon.   More importantly, my clients did not know anything was wrong and I was able to answer their voice mail when I got to a phone that I could collect their messages.

    My mistake with the cell phone and it not being able to swim, all worked out.

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  • 26Jul

    You can fight City Hall, but they make it hard to

    Downtown office space, Toronto Office Space No Comments

    Last Sunday I went down to my downtown office space to take some preliminary test shots of the boardroom and the seminar training room. On my way in I stopped at McDonalds on Front Street  for an Egg McMuffin. This McDonalds does not have a drive through or a parking lot, so I pulled down the side street and ran in. As I was coming out there was a parking enforcement officer writing me a ticket. When I read the ticket it said parking in a no stopping zone – $60. This was crazy, where was the sign. It seems the sign was hidden under an overhanging tree branch.  I knew I had to fight this one.

    I was not able to get to the parking enforcement court last week, but I finally got there today. I got into a line that said something like report here first (basically where you get the right forms to request trial), only to finally get to the counter and be told that I was in the wrong line. I had to go down the hall and to the left for that office.

    I was finally in the right line with the right paperwork, only to be stuck behind a very irate gentleman who could not understand why he got two tickets within hours of each other for parking in front of his home. When he got up to the counter he really gave the woman behind the glass a piece of his mind because she told him she could not reverse the tickets and he would have to go back out of line to fill out the forms to request a trial date. I knew I did not want to be served by her, as this man got her really angry with his shouting and accusations, so I let the lady behind me go first and I would wait for the other wicket.

    When I finally got to the wicket and presented my ticket, my trial request form and photo evidence to show that sign was not visible and hoping that I might be able to get off without going to trial.  The clerk entered my info and apologized that she was not able to reverse it. I was prepared to go to court and fight it, but if I could get it reversed that would have been a bonus.  Then after she stamped and handed me my receipt that said I had requested a trial date and said ” you will get a letter in about 8 months with your trial date”. What?  8 months just to get a date for the trial.

    When I got back here to my Toronto office space, I went into the kitchen to get an always complimentary coffee, I told another person standing there what had just happened at the courthouse. They told me that city hall lost their trial request paperwork and never sent them a trial date, then an unpaid parking ticket showed up on the bill when they went to renew their vehicle sticker.

    With a municipal election coming up in November, I think this should be an election issue. The candidate who says they will ensure a parking ticket trial within 3 months or the ticket is reversed, will get my vote.

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