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  • 29Apr

    The Royal Wedding and Funny Hats at my Toronto Office Space

    Downtown Toronto Office Space, Executive Suites Toronto, Office Space Toronto No Comments

    It was not just any Friday morning at my downtown Toronto office space, it was Royal Wedding day. People got to the office early to watch the royal wedding live on TV and over the Internet. Some people took it to a different level by dressing up and wearing funny hats.

    When I arrived at the Toronto Star Building early this morning, I decided to first go to the cafeteria to see what breakfast special they were offering for the Royal Wedding. I was sadly disappointed that they were not offering bangers and mash until lunch time. I grabbed an English muffin from Tim Horton’s and went up to my office space Toronto for a complimentary coffee. Before leaving the cafeteria, I noticed that there were a group of women watching the Royal Wedding on TV wearing funny hats like so many of the women who were actually attending the wedding at Westminster Abbey.

    Once upstairs in the Telsec executive suites Toronto, I headed for the kitchen to get a cup of my favourite and free coffee (hazelnut). The door to the boardroom just outside of the kitchen was open and there was 5 or 6 people sitting around a laptop watching the Royal Wedding and drinking their complimentary Tea along with enjoying some crumpets and jam purchased from the Kitchen Table across the road.

    Throughout the morning, people were sending me links to photos of their own tea parties in honour of the Royal Wedding. One friend in Edmonton convinced a bunch of her friends to have a tea party with formal dresses and white gloves starting before midnight last night. The hilarious photos came from friends and family members who put tiaras on their pets and sent out the photos.

    When lunchtime arrived, I figured I would go down to the cafeteria on the fourth floor and grab some lunch to bring back up to my office. Today’s menu consisted of items inspired by the Royal Wedding. First on the menu was the Royal Fish and Chips (which I could not figure out what made them Royal, did the Queen make them). There was Kate’s Bubble and Squeek with a whole egg baked into the top. I choose the Royal fish and chips and took them back up to my Toronto office space.

    Evan as I drove home, they were talking on the radio about the all night after party going on at Buckingham Palace and that the Queen had opted out of the party in favour of a quiet night at Windsor Castle.

     

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  • 28Apr

    Quiting Smoking while being Sick, I become the Devil

    Downtown Toronto Office Space, Executive Suites Toronto No Comments

    I am currently fighting a throat and ear infection that has made smoking painful… So I am taking this time to go Cold Turkey and quit smoking. It is not the easiest thing to do, but there is no better time to do it. Going through nicotine withdrawal while sick is a bit harder, yet easier at the same time.  I can take the medications the doctor has given me and spend most of my time sleeping instead of thinking of having a cigarette. The downfall is that I have become a real devil of a person to deal with.

    I have been fighting this bug for almost a week now, I finally realized how bad it was on Tuesday.  I had a meeting with a major client on Tuesday at my downtown Toronto office space, during the meeting the client pulled out a bottle of hand cleaner to wipe off his pen. I knew then I was really sick and others noticed it. I am not one to easily accept when I am sick, but when I am sick, I am really sick.

    During this time my girlfriend was able to get me to agree to move to the Beach neighborhood. She knew I was weak and would agree to almost anything to get her to give me more care.  The logic behind the move is that I will be closer to my office space Toronto and she will have an easier commute to her work at the Toronto Star Building cafeteria. Luckily we are not moving this week, but we can start moving stuff in over the next month. Once we have some of the stuff moved, I can stay here and fight my illness while she starts getting the new place ready. This also makes it easier for her not to have to deal with the devil I have become during my withdrawal.

    Speaking of work again, I called the receptionist at my executive suites Toronto and told her that I would be out of the office for a few days and that my calls should be sent to voice mail, unless they were emergency calls and they could be transfered to my cell phone. Having this ability to change my call handling instructions on short notice is one of the main reasons for choosing Telsec as my office for rent Toronto. Being able to flex my time between my office and working from home is key for someone like me who operates a one man office.

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  • 20Feb

    O.Noir-Blacked Out Dining-and Trying New Things

    Downtown Toronto Office Space, Office Space, Toronto Virtual Office No Comments

    O.NOIR – Canada’s first-ever “Dine in the Dark” has two location Montreal and Toronto. O.Noir dining is a great idea. Sighted people are taken into a blacked out dining room and served by people who are blind. The idea is that when you eat food in the dark, your remaining senses are heightened to savour the smell and taste of food. The idea is to heighten the senses of taste, smell and touch by denying diners of their sight. It’s also to give guests an appreciation for what it’s like to be blind. It’s O. Noir. The idea was built on a concept started by a blind Swiss pastor, who blindfolded his guests at home so they could understand his eating experience. The idea of a dine-in-the-dark restaurant was one to teach people about blindness, but also to create jobs for the blind.

    The menu is a fixed price menu with a choice of starter, main dish and desert. Diner’s are asked to select their choices before entering the blacked out room or can chose to be surprised. Often people will choose their main dish and be surprised by the starter or desert that is chosen for them.

    We all like to say we are willing to try new things. This weekend a group of friends suggested we try O.Noir restaurant in Toronto, my girlfriend was all up for it and raring to go. When it came time to go, I knew that I would panic in the dark and potentially ruin everyone’s fun, so I backed out and allowed them to enjoy their dinner. By all accounts, they had a great time and really loved the experience. I later found out when I picked her up, they did have a lit dining room for those who could not handle the darkness to finish their meal, so I should have at least tried. The group is planning another blacked out event, so next time I will go and experience it.

    As a business person, I am always looking to avoid risk. When I chose my downtown Toronto office space, I chose an office business centre that did not require me to sign a long term lease, in case it was not the office space Toronto for me. Even when I signed up for my Toronto virtual office package at Telsec, I did not want a long term agreement, just in case I wanted to move or to upgrade to Toronto executive office space at the same location.

    When it comes to dining at work, I love the natural light that comes into the 4th floor cafeteria of the Toronto Star Building. Having a cafeteria on the fourth floor and not some artificially lit basement food court was not one of my original deciding factors in choosing my Toronto office space for rent. In fact it was not until I had been renting Toronto office space for a few months did I even find out that The Toronto Star Cafeteria was also open to other building tenants to use.

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  • 07Jan

    Homeless Man With Announcers Voice – Real or Hoax

    Downtown Toronto Office Space No Comments

    A seemingly homeless man who has been flooded with job offers after an online video went viral. The video featured his smooth announcing voice. A number of radio personalities including Howard Stern, had their doubts as to whether this video was real or a hoax. Some feel that it was a publicity stunt for the radio station that he called out the letters of during the interview.

    Ted Williams claims to be an out of work and homeless person after years of drug and alcohol abuse. Williams stated that he has been clean for over 2 years, but did not have the resources to get back into the voice business.

    Williams became an overnight celebrity after The Columbus Dispatch posted a web video of him showing off his amazing announcer voice skills. He even appeared on CBS with his mother, who said their reunion in New York on Thursday was the first time she’d seen her son in person in 10 years. New York City resident Julia Williams calls him a prodigal son come back home.

    Mr. Williams story also had me sceptical, because when I used to take the Bay bus to and from my Downtown Toronto office space, there was a scam artist there every day. I am speaking of “The Shakey Lady” who would pan handle on Bloor Street. She would wear a shabby red jacket. Her hair was grey and scraggly under a faded purple kerchief. A garbage bag covered her legs. People throw money on it. She had a sign that claimed she was sick. People would put $10 and $20 bills in her lap. Through some investigation, one reporter was able to follow her getting into a car and heading up to a nice home in Thronhill. It was estimated that should bring in about $2500 a week tax free.

    What a contrast today, now that I drive to my office space Toronto at One Yonge Street, I do not encounter the likes of the shakey lady or many other pan handlers, they do not seem to come south of the Gardener Expressway.  I guess another reason for not seeing any persons pan handling is that my parking spot is in the underground of  the Toronto Star Building. I simply drive in and take the elevator to the 18th floor.

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  • 12Nov

    The Guild Inn and the injured coyote in ET Seton Park

    Toronto Office Space No Comments
    The Guild Inn

    The Guild Inn

    I had a meeting today with clients at my Toronto office space to discuss taking their wedding photos in the spring of 2011. They told me that they had already applied to the city for a permit to have their wedding and photos taken at the Guild Inn in Scarborough. They showed me some examples of photos they wanted to have done and looked at my wedding portfolio.

    After our meeting, I decided to pick up my girlfriend (who was waiting for me at my place) and to take a field trip to really scout the place out. I had been there before and wanted to remember why so many like to have wedding photos done there.

    The Guild Inn was an historic hotel in the “Guildwood” area of Scarborough. It was originally a 33 room, Arts and Crafts-style manor house built in 1914 for Colonel Harold Bickford. Bickford sold the manor and property in 1921 to the Catholic Church’s Foreign Mission Society. In1932 it was purchased by Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson heiress to the Hewetson Shoe Company, her second husband Herbert Spencer Clark and her resided in the mansion and fostered the arts, it then became The Guild of All Arts.

    Greek Theatre at the Guild Innn

    Greek Theatre at the Guild Inn

    As more people were attracted to the artistic community on the bluffs, the Clarks made additions to the Guild in 1941 and 1942. During WWII they leased the property to the Canadian Government to be a base for the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

    The house was returned to the Clarks after the war, The Clarks then restored it to its pre-war functions. They were forced to sell off 400 acres of the estate to developers, due to rising property taxes. Spencer Clark oversaw the planning of the area that would become Guildwood Village. With the remaining 90 acres, the Clarks continued collecting and adding to their array of architectural remnants.

    Some of the remnants are remains of several banks, the very private Granite Club, the old art-deco Toronto Star Tower that once stood at King and Bay (not to be confused with the current Toronto Star Building), the belfry of a 19th century school, a mantelpiece from the home of Sir Frederick Banting and even the remnants of the former Temple Building, Toronto’s first skyscraper.

    Then there is my favourite piece at the Guild, the Greek Theatre. This is the largest single peice on display and was created from the remains of the Bank of Toronto building that was torn down in 1968 to make space for the TD centre.

    Bank of Toronto Plaque

    Bank of Toronto Plaque

    In the late 1970’s the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority purchased the Guild Inn and continued its operation as a hotel. In 1993, the property was handed over to the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto (now under the City of Toronto) due to the fact that the buildings were in poor condition and the conservation authority could no longer maintain the property.

    Coyote in ET Seton Park

    Coyote in ET Seton Park

    After wandering the grounds and taking a number of photos of the structures, various remnant pieces and my girlfriend, we decided to go to ET Seton Park in East York and take some more photos. As we were walking along the bicycle path, we noticed a few cyclists were stopped and staring at something near the rear parking lot of the Ontario Science Centre. It was an injured coyote. We kept an eye on it and followed it into the parking lot of the Science Centre, while we called animal control, who in turn told us that they could not help the poor animal as they were too hard to catch. As we were leaving the park and warning others of the coyote, one woman on a bike told us she had just seen a deer up near Sunnybrook Park. It is amazing how common wildlife sightings are becoming within city parks.

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  • 08Nov

    Remembrance Day is November 11th – do you have your poppy yet

    Office Space Toronto 1 Comment
    lest We Forget

    lest We Forget

    Today as I entered the lobby of my Toronto office space in the Toronto Star Building, I was greeted by a Veteran with a box of Poppies.  As I rode the elevator to the 18th floor, another Telsec office client (who recently relocated from France) asked me what the poppies were all about.

    I explained to him that every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month (November 11), we acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of those who served their country. For the past week Veterans, Legion members, Cadets, and other volunteers have taken to the streets to distribute poppies.

    I explained that the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance comes from a poem written by John McCrae, a Canadian doctor serving in the military. The poem is called “In Flanders Fields” and describes the poppies growing in the Flemish graveyards where soldiers were buried.

    As I got out of the elevator, he pushed the lobby button to go back down to get his poppy.

    Have you  picked up your poppy yet?

    The Poppy Campaign is the major source of funding for the Royal Canadian Legion that enables the Legion to ensure that our veterans and their dependants are cared for and treated with the respect that they deserve.

    In most provinces Remembrance Day is a Statutory Holiday and thus giving everyone a chance to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies. Ontario is one of the few provinces or territories that does not mark the day as a statutory holiday, November 11th is currently only a government holiday in Ontario. Member of Provincial Parliament Lisa MacLeod, wants to see Remembrance day a statutory holiday like it is in Nova Scotia where Remembrance Day is governed by the Remembrance Day Act.

    Here is a list of the official City of Toronto remembrance services:

    East York Civic Centre
    Memorial Gardens
    850 Coxwell Avenue
    10:45 a.m.

    Etobicoke Civic Centre
    Cenotaph
    399 The West Mall
    10:15 a.m.

    North York Civic Centre
    George Weston Recital Hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts
    5040 Yonge Street
    10:45 a.m.

    Toronto Old City Hall
    Cenotaph
    60 Queen Street West
    Bay & Queen Streets
    10:30 a.m.

    York Civic Centre
    York Memorial Collegiate
    Auditorium
    2690 Eglinton Avenue West
    10:45 a.m.

    Fort York National Historic Site/Strachan Avenue Military Cemetery
    100 Garrison Road (Garrison Common)
    (Strachan Ave. west of Fort York)
    10:45 a.m.

    Other Remembrance Day services  not run by the City of Toronto

    Kew Gardens Cenotaph
    10:30 a.m.
    Kew Gardens
    (Queen Street East and Waverley)

    Prospect Cemetery – Sunrise Service
    8 a.m.
    1450 St Clair Avenue West
    Prospect Cemetery and Mausoleum

    Royal Canadian Legion – Scarborough Zone
    11 a.m.
    Scarborough Cenotaph
    (Kingston Road and Danforth Avenue)

    Remembrance Day Parade
    10:30 a.m.
    Bridlewood Mall
    (Finch Avenue East and Warden Avenue)

    Swansea Town Hall
    10:45 a.m.
    95 Lavinia Avenue

    Toronto Zoo
    10:55 a.m.
    Meadowvale north of Sheppard

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  • 13Oct

    Travel to you office by green transportation

    Downtown Toronto Office Space, Office Space, Toronto Office Space No Comments

    Do you travel to you office by green transportation? Have you ever truly wanted to travel to your downtown Toronto office by the ultimate green transportation? While taking public transit is green, bicycling to the office is the truly green way to get to your office.

    Some downtown office spaces can offer you, but only Telsec Toronto office space can offer a major bicycle route like the Martin Goodman Trail just outside the front door-a bicycle route like no other, an asphalt mostly off-road trail.  The Martin Goodman Trail is part of the 730 kilometre Waterfront Trail that connects 41 communities from Niagara to Quebec along the Canadian Shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It was named in memory of the former President and Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto Star who passed away in 1981. How fitting that Telsec is located in the Toronto Star Building at 1 Yonge Street.

    Fall Bicycle Blowout Sale

    Fall Bicycle Blowout Sale

    What? You don’t have a bicycle? Oh, you need a new bicycle.  Saturday, October 17, 2009 – 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.  is the once-a-year, seven-hour sales blitz known as the Bicycle Fall Blowout Sale, presented by the Toronto International Bicycle Show http://www.bicycleshowToronto.com. The Blowout Sale takes place at the Direct Energy Centre, East Annex, Hall F, Door 33. That is the North entrance next to new Ricoh Coliseum (New Hockey Arena) at Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Admission is only $5.00 and the savings are huge. Don’t miss this one day only  year-end clearout  by some of Toronto top bike shops.

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