TEACH

I have officially gotten the internship position at TEACH Magazine. It is my first-ever internship. Hopefully not the last. I'm pretty excited and a little dubious.
We'll see how it goes.

Damn Heels

The best invention for any fashion-loving woman: fold-up flats for sore feet after a night of clubbing, partying or just plain standing around in killer heels.
Hailey Coleman, a student at Ted Rogers School of Management was given a prize for her product Damn Heels, black roll-up flats that come in their own pouch and are small enough to fit in a purse.

I knew that this type of product was available in the U.S. but it was not until today that I knew these wonderful shoes were available in Canada.
I actually first heard the U.S. version through College Candy- there was a blurb about City Slips.
But, after seeing this Canadian option Damn Heels, I generally like them better.
They have a different type of sole and they actually look more comfortable. Even though there aren't different colour options, the Canadian ones look like they're made of a nicer material.
There's also a price difference of five dollars (City Slips are $24.99 USD and Damn Heels are $20 CAN) which can really make a difference after shipping, handling and duty costs (if ordering from the states).
And, of course, they're Canadian.

Public art as a public service

Jason Shelowitz, a graphic designer and artist from New York, has started a public art campaign that draws attention to people's bad manners and horrible etiquette on the New York subway system.
He has created a series of posters that look like official transit posters and he has posted them around the New York subway lines.
The posters' messages are about anything from people clipping their nails or eating messy food to playing loud music or simply littering while riding public transit.
"The messages are barbed and to the point," writes Debra Black in today's Toronto Star article about Shelowitz's art campaign.
Check out an image gallery of Shelowitz's posters here.


I wish a public art campaign of that nature could happen here.
It's really terrifying the amount of gross and ill-mannered things I see people do- smoking on the subway train, clipping fingernails on the streetcar and leaving piles of garbage under seats.

I don't treat the system like crap because I don't want it to look like crap. Yes, people are employed to clean up the streetcars, trains and buses. But that doesn't mean I want it to look and feel like a garbage dump before they get a chance to do their job.

It's really disgusting how people will treat their surroundings when they think that someone else will clean up after them.


Photo Credit: Toronto Star Article

By Definition

Actually, by definition an accord is an agreement.

Photo of the billboard on the Southeast corner of O'Connor and Donlands.

Quicker

Alright, TTC. I really didn't want to take a shot at you since every other media-related person is lately, but I feel I sort of have to.

There are signs on the Southbound platform at Yonge and Bloor that encourage customers to move down the platform. There are some reasons why you should move down listed in bullet point.
The first point is "You will board quicker."

But you can not board quicker.
You can board more quickly or you can board faster.
But you can't board quicker.

Such a simple grammatical mistake makes them look really stupid.

I actually lodged a formal complaint about four months ago. I also spoke with an employee on the platform about this issue. But it hasn't been fixed and it's really getting on my nerves.
It's such an easy thing to correct. They don't even need new signs, they can just cover up that one word and laminate on a new, corrected version of the sentence.

Wanda's: a work place the size of a closet (Re-posted from school blog)

Sam Nadal, 19, works in the back of the tiny Wanda's Belgian Waffles store building fancy waffles as fast as he possible can. "Everyone is always moving," Nadal says about the tightly-packed kitchen. "It's just a fast-paced environment. Everyone has a station in the back and they stick to it."

Usually, the six-by-eight feet restaurant (if it can be called that) has two or three people working and a line of eight customers spilling onto Yonge Street, waiting for their Liège-style vanilla waffle or their concoction of chocolate sauce, ice cream, bananas and whipped-cream.

People strolling along Yonge are usually drawn to the store because of the delicious, sweet smell wafting from its open window. "Open-window stores like this are really popular in Belgium. They're everywhere," Nadal says. "If one or two people line up, other people will come see too."

On the weekends Nadal, a George Brown culinary student, makes up to 800 waffles. Each waffle is anywhere from three to six dollars. Although the repetitive nature of the job doesn't seem to bother him. "I love it," he says about working in the hole-in-the-wall store. "I love to cook."

While the online community gives Wanda's mixed reviews, mostly agreeing that the plain waffles are delicious while the fancier ones need some work, the line-up out front suggests otherwise.

Photo Credit: Foodhogger