When people go to find a photo of me for an article or blog post they seem to gravitate to this one where I think I look sweaty and a little like a slimeball. Though I guess it is better than them using this one
Anyway, I tried to get at least one that might work better.

Not sure this does the trick but I do like that the wine is in focus.

The Aardvark is a handmade wood and canvas kayak. (Not made by me). Unfortunately canvas splits when it's too dry and too tight. Canvas rots when it's too wet too long. And we think snow got into her when she was stored right side up in the boathouse.

So, I decided to try to fix it with ... you guessed it... duct tape!  I'd see the guys on MythBuster do it.  So it must work. Right? (see what I mean)  Hell, they not only fixed a boat, they constructed one from duct tape, including a sail.

Well, mostly water proof.

I wasn't able to remove the wood stripping on the bottom of the boat without introducing way more problems, so I duct taped over them.  Which meant I didn't make a perfect seal along the rib where the canvas had cracked and split. 

However, I was able to take the kayak out for a 10 minute paddle in calm weather and it only leaked a little.

Next step, since the canvas has to come off anyway - cover the whole frame with duct tape!!! These patches took 2 full rolls to complete so I figure I need 2-4 cases to do the whole kayak properly.

Now to find a sponsor.

It is very, very, rare to have a photo of my father and me. Perhaps because he avoids the camera and I'm usually behind it.
After dressing sarcastically for dinner at Sandy & Mary Jo's, Sandy grabbed the camera and snapped a number of shots of us together. Most are silly... okay, all are silly, but it's nice.

The folks at Camaraderie, Toronto's newest co-working space, invited me to hang a collection on their walls. I have selected the brightest, most vibrant of my photos in a collection called Potential @ Camaraderie to reflect the vibrant folks who work in the space.

We're holding a reception, which is sponsored by the kind folks at Heineken on August 3rd from 7-9pm and you are invited.

RSVP via Facebook:

or just let me know you're coming

Chris (@gypsybandito) brought the #N97MiniTour crew along and we got to see and play with the new Nokia n97 mini

I have to say, it's a pretty sexy smart phone.

I was especially intrigued by the ability to link the phones together to get a stronger signal... very useful in non-urban situations (or perhaps even crappy urban conference centers.)

As we all know I'm a big phone-geek (well, maybe not as big as the #n97minitour crew...) and I just wanted to take one into a corner and play with it until my fingers ached. But I did my best to play host and be social, so I guess I'll have to find another opportunity to muck about with one. In private.

Oh, and the dim sum was pretty good too.

I have no idea what these people do, how they do it, why they are called "Lexa"...
But how could I resist this?
I posed in front of the sign for Gerry, and one of the guys inside poped his head out and said "are you named Lexa?"

It was a shock how many things you take for granted when you are “covered” – dental cleanings every 4 months, free glasses every 2 years, drugs!  And even more of a shock when you realize how much these things cost when you aren’t.  (Yes, even here in Canada.)

When the benefits stopped, we sat down and reviewed our expenses and compared the cost of a new benefits package, including the extra we’d pay over the max coverages, to the cost of covering it ourselves.  We realized that it was very very close.  We were being offered a lot of coverage we never used, and the coverage we did use was often only 60-80% of the total cost.  A quick little calculation and we decided to spend the year benefits-free and see where we came out at the other end.

Then last year happened.  The year I spent at least a week per month in bed sick.

We realized that free glasses be-damned, we needed to check out short and long term disability benefits.  That’s insurance that really matters to the self-employed.

As part of my research into options, I reached out to a friend and colleague who works with Investors Group, Joey Soltis.  Joey has has pulled together a handful of options that might work for small businesses and the unique needs we have working with employees, freelancers and sometimes atypical employment relationships.  Including the possibility of some sort of group/association coverage for a group of business working together... say in a space like LaunchPad, Camaraderie, CSI or perhaps the full co-working community in Toronto.

So tomorrow, we’re hosting at session in our boardroom:

Benefit Options for Indie and Small Businesses
w/ Joey Soltis from Investors Group

Thursday July 22 @ 10:30am or Tuesday July 27 @ 1:30pm

If you are interested in joining in the discussion and what I hope to be an informal and informative session, please register for one of the two sessions here: http://guestlistapp.com/events/25662

Paying for benefits: better than an apple a day for keeping you from getting sick.

Last year's version of the Pongo 140 and the slick new hatch coverings caused dad to abandon his plan to use the red kayak until it wore out. Still, 5 years of regular use and it was still in great shape when he switched.

When I was home, Di & Deb picked me up early Saturday morning for a visit to the Kingston Farmers Market. What great fun we had visiting old friends like Clark & Sue and checking out the cool foods. As with most Farmers Markets this is evolving quickly into a place to go and eat as well as shop.

For the last couple of weeks we've had an intern, Gwanghyung aka David, working in the office with us. It's been great having him here, and he has been a great help in setting up some processes that were long overdue for review. Since he has been working so hard, I thought he should get a little blog love, and we did a quick Q&A interview for the CheapEats blogs which you can read here: Our New Intern From Korea

Our Autoshare membership has made us very very happy!

If you didn't believe chickens are carnivores this collage should prove it to you.

We couldn't leave anything on the table outside untended if we wanted to get to eat it ourselves. Even steak.

It was a little breezy and choppy when I got home and because nothing says "I'm home" like hauling out my camera in a kayak, I snapped a couple of shots while I should have been paddling.
Of course you're not seeing the real chop... because then I was concentrating on paddling and keeping the water OUT of the kayak..

It was my mother's birthday on Monday, and unfortunately we weren't able to be in the same place at the same time.
Though I did get to drop in and see her a couple of days earlier, thanks to my friend Leona and our roadtrip to PAB.
I thought it might be fun to do a little collage of the photos I pulled together for mom's retirement party.

Alexa Clark: independent, thoughtful & creative | MediaStyle

Alexa Clark, now living in Toronto, she is the creator of Cheap Eats Ottawa; listen below as she describes her Podcasters Across Borders (PAB 2010) Listen here

This interview with Ian Capstick was part of his series of portraits & interviews at #PAB2010. I was honoured to be included.

Some of the other great interviews and interviewees in this series:

• Bob Goyetche: co-founder, co-host and collaborator
• Susan Murphy: storyteller, connector & legend-maker
• Bob LeDrew: resourceful, musical & generous

[photo credits: Alexa by Ian, Ian by Alexa]