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  • 26Mar

    The Missing Programmer

    Office Space, Virtual Office No Comments

    As many of my friends and family know, I develop websites and help plan companies online success. Most also know that I do not do all the back end programming myself. My skill set is planning and developing a team the fits each individual project, because different projects require different sets of skills and expertise.

    This week I met a client about a project that required a programmer that was skilled in Oracle SQL data bases that would be used both online and offline by the clients staff. I had one programmer in mind that I had worked with in the past. I tried to call him on a phone number that I had for him, my call was answered by a voice mail system, as it was after hours. The next day when I tried to call his number again, it was answered by someone with a thick southern accent, they said he was out of the office and again transferred me to his voice mail. When I did not hear from him until two days later, I put out the call to other Oracle programmers.

    I was getting myself a complimentary cup of coffee at my downtown Toronto office space, when another office space client came into the kitchen. I recognized him from previous conversations about technology, so I struck up a conversation about needing an Oracle data base specialist. He told me about a guy who he had work done by, I recognized the name as the same guy I had worked with, but the number was different. The number the other office client gave me was his direct cell number.

    When I returned to my executive suites Toronto, I gave him a call. I told him about the project and asked him to come into my office for a meeting the next day. The next day we had out meeting in one of the Toronto meeting rooms at my office space Toronto. Near the end of the meeting, I brought up how difficult it was to get a hold of him through the number he lists on his website and that it was another office client who knew him that had given me his cell number. He explained to me that he was using a virtual office service that handled his calls and that he picked up his mail from a locked room in a downtown office building. It turns out that the virtual office provider he was using was not even located in Toronto, they were just piggybacking on another companies service.

    Continue reading »

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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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  • 06Oct

    Why all the buzz about some Facebook Event

    Office Space, office space for lease Toronto, Toronto meeting rooms No Comments

    For the past few hours I have been noticing Google and Twitter trends and the one that seems to be picking up a lot of steam is #Facebook Event.  I have no clue what this is, but it sounds like something big is about to happen with Facebook.  I guess I will just have to tune in and find out.

    I am happy that the Internet speed at my Toronto office space is fast.

    UPDATE

    What a bust of a news conference, it was just a whole bunch of buzz so Facebook could announce some new features. The problem was that with so many people logged into the live event, the video and audio was choppy and at time not understandable.

    The first things they were talking about were the launch of a service that would allow you to download all of your information stored on Facebook and keep a copy of it on your computer. I guess this is for people who want to keep it after they delete their account. The press conference really did not give any really good answers why people would want this, but I guess some do.

    The second part of the announcement was the introduction of Facebook Groups. This would allow you to create and invite friends to join groups of up to 250 people to talk and share thoughts, without having to share that info from the rest of the people on your friends list, unless they were invited to join the group. The idea behind this feature had some merit. According to their research only 5% of the over 500,000,000 Facebook users separated the relationship types they have with each of their friends or family (IE casual friends, high school friends, college buddies, co-workers, business aquaintances and so on). So these new groups will help people filter the information they want to share with certain people who have been invited by them or by another member of the group.

    All in all, these two announcements were nothing earth shattering in the world of social networking.

    Although, I can see it being useful for sharing social interests with my business acquaintances who are on Facebook. It could also help me to plan gatherings and networking events in the Toronto meeting rooms at my office space for lease Toronto.

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  • 02Oct

    Nuit Blanche-An All Night Art Exposition

    Meeting Rooms, Office Space Toronto, Toronto Mail Service, Toronto meeting rooms No Comments

    Nuit Blanche is Toronto’s annual sunset to sunrise celebration of contemporary art. This year will be the fifth year or Nuit Blanche and it keeps getting bigger with over 130 installations.

    Nuit Blanche was originally conceived in Paris, France. The name is translated universally as  ’Sleepless Night’. The idea was to bring contemporary art to the masses in public spaces.

    Last night I went to Nuit Blanche pre-party for a Nuit Blanche installation that is not on the official guide. It was held at a friends photo studio with over 60 people in attendance. With that many people, many chose to hang out in the large common area of the studio complex. The common area of the studio complex has couches and chairs, but also a great view as the big garage door was open. A part of that view was another group from the next studio down, they were outside in the parking area putting the final touches on their mobile Nuit Blanche exhibit. They had built a platform that held a small band and was pulled by a bicycle.

    As myself and others watched them working away, I struck up a conversation with a woman who turned out to be an art dealer from New York City. She was in Town for Nuit Blanche looking for new artists to represent and was invited to come to this pre-party for Morpheous’ installation. As we talked, I learned that she came to Toronto on business 6 or 7 times a year.

    She told me most of her business is conducted in her hotel room and at the studios of the artists she was looking at. When she needed to meet with corporate art buyers, she found her hotel room to be too impersonal, so she would rent out a small parlour in the hotel. She had considered renting a Toronto office space with Toronto meeting rooms, it was not worth it for the few times she was in the city each year.  She did not need a virtual office or a Toronto mail service, as all her contracts and business dealings were done through her New York office space.

    So I told her about the Toronto meeting rooms at my office space Toronto and the fact they had several conference room rental options. I told her they had reasonable rates for full or half day rentals, even good rates for non virtual office Toronto or Toronto mail service clients.

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  • 01Oct

    Who will be the next mayor of Toronto?

    Office Space No Comments

    I wanted to talk about the Toronto Mayoral race and the fact that Sarah
    Thomson had her office in my other Toronto office space on Church Street. I had not seen any signs to show where her headquarters was until this past Tuesday. This was the day that she decided to drop out of the race and give her support to George Smitherman.

    I arrived at the office Tuesday morning and saw many news trucks parked outside. In the lobby there was a sign stating her campaign office was on the third floor. This was the first time I saw this sign.

    A few hours later I learned that she was holding a press conference to anounce she was dropping out of the race for mayor and was giving her support to George. In a nicely orchestrated move she was going to meet George at the intersection of Church and the Esplanade. I took a few pictures of this meeting with my Blackberry, but I am still trying to figure out how to get the photos off the Blackberry.

    While I am still figuring out how to use my new Blackberry, I have been able to figure out how to set up a meeting on my new hand held device. I am booking a Toronto Meeting Room at my Telsec office space Toronto.

    So who to vote for mayor… well I personally have chosen to vote for Rob Ford. This in no way reflects or implies I am doing this on behalf of my Toronto office space…. this is just my personal opinion.

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  • 18Aug

    Living and Working Downtown Toronto

    Meeting Rooms, Office Space, Toronto meeting rooms No Comments

    Downtown Toronto is really becoming home for so many people. Today I had a meeting not far from the St. Lawrence Market, so I parked my car at the “Green P” parking lot just down the street from the market instead of my regular place behind my downtown office space Toronto.

    After my meeting, I decided to leave my car at this downtown parking lot and walk to my downtown office. While I was walking this short distance from the St Lawrence Market, I noticed how many condos that were near by, as well as all the ones that were under construction. It used to be they wanted to tear down the Gardner Expressway to open up the view of the waterfront, now that is a mute point due to the condos that are even taller than this elevated roadway.

    As I was looking at all these downtown Toronto condominiums, I started to wonder how many of those condo owners or residence are self employed and how many would rather have a Toronto office space downtown, rather than running their businesses out of their home. For many people who want to live and work downtown, having a part-time office or a Toronto shared office would be ideal. They would have an office space to work in outside of their home, as well as access to Toronto meeting rooms, modern office equipment, and a professional receptionist to handle their calls as to their instructions.

    The more I thought of living close to my downtown office space Toronto, the more I realized that my need to own a car would greatly decrease. If I could walk to my Toronto office space everyday, I would only need to rent a car when I wanted to go out of town. I blogged a while back about Zip cars and now they are starting to look more and more as an alternative to automobile ownership, especially for those who work and live downtown Toronto.

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  • 15Jan

    Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien And The Rest of the Late Night Fiasco

    Meeting Rooms, Toronto Office Space No Comments

    As I watch the goings on with Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and the rest of this late night fiasco, I am reminded of a show back in the 90′s called “Battle of the Network Stars”. The big difference today is that the “Network Stars” who are battling it out, are all on one network NBC.

    NBC having realized the mistake they may have made by putting Jay Leno into prime time has decided to try to shuffle time slots and push the prime time Jay Leno show back one hour and then push subsequent shows like “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” back an hour as well… then all of the other late night talk shows on NBC back as well.  This will make the Jimmy Fallen’s show starting around 3 am.  This move has just put the line up back to the way that it was before Conan O’Brien took over “The Tonight Show”.

    The more I read about the spin that NBC is trying to put on it and that the stars themselves are now making jokes and comedy bits about this decision, I can only think that NBC has hired some writers from the world of professional wrestling. Poor Vince McMahon over at the WWE (World Wresting Entertainment) can only be wishing that he could have come up with a story line like this to get the free publicity like NBC is getting from this battle.

    As I am thinking of this story, I can only think of what would happen at Telsec if a client with many years at the location gave up a board room booking.  The staff at Telsec would not try to push a newer client out of a board room or meeting room booking, just because the older client decided they wanted the time they originally booked (and then canceled) back. At Telsec the booking of boardrooms and meeting rooms is on a first come first served basis and there is no favoritism given to certain clients based on how long they have rented Toronto office space.

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  • 14Dec

    Starbucks offers meeting room, but do they give you a professional look?

    Meeting Rooms, Office Space Toronto, Virtual Office Toronto 1 Comment

    It was recently mentioned to me that Starbucks coffee shops has some locations with private meeting rooms and wireless internet access. While it sounds great to be able to go to a local Starbucks and reserve a private meeting space, but how professional does that come across to your clients?

    I know when I want to have a business meeting and I do not want to bring people into my home office, I can reserve a meeting room at my downtown Toronto office space. As a office space Toronto client, I am able to have free Toronto meeting space. When I was a Virtual office Toronto client, I only had to pay a few dollars to book a meeting room when I needed it.

    Now Telsec business centre is offering low priced meeting room rentals to non clients. You do not need to have an office or a virtual office at 1 Yonge Street, to be able to rent a meeting room by the hour or by the half day (for several meetings). Being able to rent a meeting room in a professional office space in Toronto at a prestigious downtown address, gives your company a professional look and lets your clients believe you have an office in this great facility.

    To find out more about renting a Toronto meeting room in a professional office business centre, call Lindsay at (416) 363-9035 or email Lindsay@telsec.net.

    why use a Starbucks meeting room and have to pay $4 or $5 for a coffee?

    Because remember, at Telsec the coffee and tea are always complimentary.

    Sometimes when you need

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