Last chance to pre-register: Field Trip to Innovation Camp, Wednesday, June 2

LATEST UPDATE: No changes to meeting time and place. See you at the Innovation Camp at North York Civic Centre before 9:30 a.m. As it might rain in the afternoon, you might wish to bring along an umbrella.

How do you start and succeed with a small business? How best to win and keep your customers and clients? What do Idris Mootee, CEO of Idea Couture; Susan Ho, Founder and President of Tea Aura; and Catherine Douglas, Manager of Intellectual Property Assets for Rogers Communications, have in common? Would you like to hear from Toronto's top innovators and entrepreneurs?

Come find out at Enterprise Toronto's Innovation Camp, Wednesday, June 2nd, from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m., at North York Civic Centre. (LINC participants can stay from 9:30 - 2:30.)

According to the website, the Innovation Camp features:

Practical, every-day innovations differentiate winning companies!

Organized by Enterprise Toronto, Innovation Camp 2010 offers entrepreneurs and small business owners an opportunity to immerse themselves in practical new ideas.

Recognized innovators and business owners will share their stories in panel discussions, breakout seminars, facilitated networking and an informative trade show. This is your opportunity to discover new ways to increase sales, attract investment or serve new customers at lower cost to your business.

But you need to register online, both for a free account at Enterprise Toronto and for your place at the free event.

Register Now!

Full Program

Brochure

Knowing a thing or two about million-dollar art pieces

Does the above painting ring a bell? "Lawren Harris"? "Canada's Group of Seven"? Well, it should, after our field trip to the AGO.

The Toronto Star reports that "Harris’s Bylot Island I, an oil-on-canvas Arctic landscape painted in the early 1930s, attracted a high bid of $2.4 million and sold for $2,808,000 after the 17 per cent buyer premium."

According to the report:

Harris wasn’t the only Group of Seven painter who fared well.
An oil on canvas by Arthur Lismer titled The Sheep’s Nose, Bon Echo sold for $1,111,500. The 1922 work depicts a cliff in eastern Ontario’s Bon Echo Provincial Park. Another Lismer artwork that had a presale estimate of $25,000 sold for $117,000.
Three of Alexander Young Jackson’s works went for more than $200,000, and James Edward Hervey’s Rock and Maple 2 sold for $245,700 despite the fact its presale estimate had a maximum of $90,000.
Two works by Tom Thomson, who was friends with the Group of Seven members but died before the organization was founded, were up for sale but neither one was bought. Landscape with Snow/Northern Mist had a presale estimate starting at $400,000 and Early Morning, Georgian Bay had an estimate that began at $200,000.
Emily Carr, who also wasn’t in the group but knew its members well, had a number of items up for grabs.
Her painting Stumps, which depicts a B.C. forest, sold for $555,750. A painting of Carr and her sister, titled Emily and Lizzie, went for $468,000, as did her Young Arbutus.

So, is your understanding of Canadian culture worth a million bucks?

Enjoy the Heffel's auction below:

How do I get a volunteer position?

That's a real challenge, isn't it? You need the Canadian work experience. You wish you could have a taste of the work culture. You're hoping to get your foot in the door. There's something you can contribute back to this country of Canada, and you want to do something for it. So you want to volunteer, but who will take you?

Fortunately, we have several resources:

1. Volunteer Toronto
2. Charity Village
3. About.com's list of even more volunteer-related sites

Check them all out and report your findings and success on your blog!

Doors Open Again This Weekend!

The annual Doors Open Toronto weekend is upon us again, thanks to a tip from Sophie from Level 6 - 7! According to the website,

 

150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and/or social significance open their doors to the public. Admission is FREE.
Check out the 2010 building roster on the Buildings to visit page.
Get your Doors Open Toronto program guide in the Thursday, May 27 issue of the Toronto Star.

Would you like to see the TTC repair or storage facilities for free?

What about the insides of various University buildings?

Or the Trillium steamer on Lake Ontario?
 

Would you rather enter several Toronto museums (e.g. Black Creek Pioneer Village, Inuit Museum, Gardiner Museum) for free than use your Museum & Arts Pass (MAP) from the library?

How interested would you be in walking on a "green roof" of a building?

Not to mention a host of religious buildings--mosques, synagogues, churches, temples!





All these and more, all told 150 places, open their doors to you and your family and friends this Saturday and Sunday. Make sure you check out the complete list of destinations!

Watch this Introduction to Our Class of LINC Level 4 - 5

j.mp/9dwShK

or Click Here.



To create your own free "PowerPoint" presentation online, go here: http://sliderocket.com/

A Beautiful Day Downtown, Indoors and Out!

The books were like magnets. Beginning at 10 a.m., the whole bunch of us MicroSkills Language Centre participants swarmed the entrance of the Reference Library, all raring to go. It all went crazy at the foreign languages section, and everybody clustered around books in their first language: Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, etc.!

Happy campers!

Where's Donald? (HINT: find a white cap coming 'round the round pillar?)

Our first group photo--sorry, the order's messed, thanks to Google's Blogger!

But look who came from our class: Artur, Liji, Vivi, Vivian, Nellie and son, Zumurod, and George Jia. Did I miss anyone?

How fun, a firehouse with a firetruck!

Lovely corner at No. 100 Sidestreet where the Hollywood stars are supposed to sip coffee on their days off

Ah, a five-minute break in the middle of Yorkville (that's two syllables)!

I'd rather be up on the rock, where the air's cooler and the view panoramic.

It's great watching folk sneak over to the hotdog stand!

Ah, yes, the best food in the world! Yummy! Appropriately, this street meat is featured in today's Toronto Star!

Donald takes us to the hallowed halls of, um, brain sweat!

Thanks to Blogger's out-of-order (blame the tools!) sequencing, here's a flashback to the music score section of the Library.

Welcome, Tanya! It's not always possible for the Coordinator to join our field trips; so today was special!

Fun on the fifth floor

Leaving the French section for the music scores

A great view of Don Valley

It says 1852, in roman numerals, was when that old building was built.

Thanks, Mister Bishop Unpronounceable Name! Thanks for the fun, Fundator!

Checking out Chinatown on the way home ...

Meh, maybe next time!

Friday's Field Trip: Reference Library, Yorkville, and the U of T

It's been a year since our last field trip to the Toronto Reference Library and the University of Toronto. Next Friday, May 21st, Donald will again be leading us through those historic sites downtown. It should be a great indoor and outdoor educational experience before our Victoria Day long weekend!

Let's all meet at 10 a.m. at the entrance of the Toronto Reference Library. If you prefer, you can make your own arrangements and leave together with your classmates from a subway station. Bring your walking shoes, cameras, snacks, and possibly an umbrella!


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Some Favourite Animated GIFs - Which tense would you use for your Comments?

Why is Meena kicking Veerasamy in the shin? He is collapsing in a pile.