Cycling in Toronto: 3 Things I Learned Today
1. A few years ago, I won a “Door Prize” and had no idea!!
This one time, in Dublin, I was cycling along minding my own business, when a car passenger carelessly opened her door into the bike lane.
She’d given me just enough time to slam on my brakes and think “oh noes–” (or localized cussing equivalent) before I received what I now know is called a door prize straight across my helmet-protected face.
It can be a lot less funny and significantly more tragic.
So I am relieved to move swiftly on to report –
2. Proposed Changes to Toronto Cycling Routes will reduce your odds of winning a Door Prize!
The Toronto waterfront along Queens Quay is under review for a major redevelopment that, among other benefits, would make it significantly more cycle- and pedestrian-friendly.
It would “mend” the waterfront cycling trail, which currently suffers from an unpleasant discontinuity downtown.
If only Toronto's Queens Quay looked like this...!
The shortlisted plans in this document (.pdf), found on the WATERFRONToronto site, would improve “active transportation” and go a long way toward revitalizing the waterfront. The sketch above is from the consultation report.
For more information, there is a summary report here (.pdf) which includes upcoming meetings at which the public can comment (including City of Toronto Executive Committee Meeting June 2nd, and Council Meeting July 6th). Head to WATERFRONToronto to learn more.
You may be interested in one thoughtful cyclist’s recent concerns regarding the current state of the plan.
The redevelopment, of course, is about much more than cycling. But for cyclists, it could offer a very welcome change.
(Also, in case you missed it, earlier this week Toronto City Council approved a bike lane on major north-south artery Jarvis as well! Woohoo!)
3. There is a vibrant biking community here in Toronto!
The 2009 Toronto Bike Summit was a packed house
I met some of that community today at the 2009 Bike Summit, which coincided with this week’s launch of Bike Month in Toronto. The image above is from Ralph Buehler’s session this morning about Freiburg, which is widely considered Germany’s most sustainable city. The ways in which Freiburg’s infrastructure and culture accommodates cyclists provided the case study for Buehler’s very interesting presentation.
Considering I’ve been cycling like crazy of late, I’ve created a “Toronto Cycling” topic on this site, and what better way to kick it off than with a link-list.
Toronto cycling resources, publications and bloggers:
The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT) co-hosted the summit today.
The City of Toronto’s cycling site includes a .pdf of the Toronto-area bike map.
The Toronto Bicycling Network, and BikeToronto, and BikeLane Diary, and IBikeTO.org sites all offer Toronto cycling community news and insight.
Roadrash chronicles the escapades of a Toronto cyclist who’s en route to cycling 1,200km this summer.
Dandyhorse is a new print publication – elegantly designed, clearly a labour of love, and filled with insightful and well-written articles about everything “Toronto on Two Wheels.” More love for Dandyhorse here at Eyeweekly.
I’d be very happy to hear of any other Toronto cycling resources you know of out there.
See you on the roads and trails!
Silverlight Samurai Skills Follow-up
Thanks to everyone who came out to my Silverlight Samurai Skills presentations this morning in Toronto, and to Microsoft Canada for inviting me to present at this event. When the Canadian team does events, they do them really big – and really well!
I hope you found the sessions useful and engaging. They certainly provided a lap around a whole lot of the core features in Silverlight 2. I promised to provide code and links so you can follow-up, get connected with the community, and find out more.
The Code
As promised, click here for all the source code from the presentation, including start, end-of-part-one, and completed versions. Import the .vssettings file into Visual Studio to get the code snippets.
I’ll post the slide decks soon – I’ve been asked to hold off a little bit on those.
The Links
Note – this list is far from exhaustive, it just points to some things I’ve found really helpful.
Silverlight.NET – Get Started section has all the bits you need
Additional Silverlight Controls and Themes
Silverlight Toolkit (Microsoft, MS-PL)
Silverlight Contrib (Third-party, MS-PL)
see also
Blacklight, which comes from the Patient Journey Demonstrator
Layout
Silverlight Layout Fundamentals (DevDave)
VisualStateManager, Parts and State Model
Parts and States Model with VSM (scorbs, 4-part series)
IsolatedStorage
IsolatedStorage quickstart (wildermuth)
Browser DOM Integration
Forward-Back Browser Integration (webjak)
More Links [update 12 Nov]
Qixing and Laurent have also put together a FAQ based on feedback from the Montreal version of Silverlight Samurai Skills.
The P.S.
My consultancy, Carrington Technologies, specializes in Silverlight and WPF consulting and training, and we’re based out of Toronto. If you’re interested in finding out more, please drop me a line via the contact page, or through rob at robburke dot not.
p.p.s. Silverlight Streaming has now been updated to Silverlight 2 RTW, so the Deep Zoom FractLOL should now work. [Updated November 2nd]
final p.s. [update] I am greatly indebted to Microsoft’s Mark Rideout, whose excellent TechEd 2008 session on Silverlight 2 formed the basis for the core demo I used in these sessions. I’ve updated his demo to highlight some of the features added to Silverlight 2 between Beta 2 and RTW (including additions to the IsolatedStorage API, and an allegedly more compliant browser history implementation).
Continue ReadingSilverlight Samurai Skills at Microsoft’s TechDays Canada 2008
I’m looking forward to taking part in the Toronto stop of Microsoft Canada’s upcoming TechDays Canada tour.
On the morning of October 30th, I’ll be delivering a two-part presentation in Toronto called Mastering your Silverlight Samurai Skills, and it looks like it’s going to be a fun session.
About the Content
The two sessions will see us spending the vast majority of our time in Visual Studio (with a bit of Expression Blend as well), building parts of an end-to-end app to highlight the capabilities and features of Silverlight 2, while showing as many tips and tricks as I can.
Who is these presentations For?
If you’re new to Silverlight 2 development, these sessions will offer you a real lap-around, and by the time they’re finished, you’ll know where to go to learn more about whatever facets of Silverlight are relevant to your development interests.
If you’ve been working with the Silverlight 2 betas, let me say that I hope everyone in the audience will pick up and share some tips and tricks.
As always, I want the sessions to be useful, so please comment on this post or send me mail if there’s something in particular you think I should cover.
For More About The Event
Check out the TechDays Canada site, and if you’re interested, register as soon as possible, as there is an early-bird deal if you register before the 29th. It looks like a well-planned conference with a good variety of in-depth sessions for both Developers and IT Professionals.
If you’re in the Toronto area, I hope to see you at the Toronto Congress Centre on the 30th!
Continue ReadingMike Holmes Makes it Right
Mike Holmes is well on his way to being my new idol.
If you’re reading this from Canada, you already know Mike: the contractor who arrives at the scene of botched renovation jobs and works his magic.
So why do I love this guy?
1. He seems to know everything there is to know about construction. We’re talking deep knowledge of every subdomain of home renovation. It’s knowledge (and wisdom) that only comes from years of experience.
2. His mantra is “Make it right [the first time].” Fellow software developers, you know this story, right?
3. The concept for his show is an entrepreneur’s dream:
Take an existing idea: shows about home renovation, which are a dime a dozen.
Make a clever addition: start on a site where the contractors screwed up.
Suddenly, look at this innovative format you’ve got:
a show with conflict (in the dramatic sense only – Mike has a policy of not naming and shaming)
episodic story arcs that are much more engaging
(most importantly) a useful tweak to the format that gives Mike and his crews ample opportunity to relay relevant information about a reno to the audience, without relying on awkward asides.
More information: Check out the Holmes on Homes Website.
Continue Reading