About Nico


I'm a senior business analyst, writer, blogger and tarot consultant based in Toronto, Canada.


If you'd like to contact me please leave a comment, send an e-mail or catch me on Twitter.

Birthday Celebrations 2009

By Nico on Tuesday the 7th of July, 2009 at 8:32 pm

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Bailey's Birthday Cheesecake, baked by Jo

Bailey's Birthday Cheesecake, by Jo

Birthdays as a kid were easy: summer birthday summer + grandparents pool = pool parties. Messes of other kids, swimming, playing Shark and Marco Polo, a barbeque, running around like lunatics, cake, and presents. So easy.

As an adult, things somehow got more complicated, and they turned out to be less fun. This year was certainly an exception.

Saturday, July 4th

Saturday and Sunday my neighbourhood held  held its annual do, the Corso Italia Festival on St Claire West.

The street was blocked off from Landsdowne to Dufferin, filled with music and entertainers of many varieties, though largely Italian, of course. There were inflatable things for children to jump on, slides, food, shoes, food, more shoes, and the usual variety of things you’d see at any street festival or faire. Friends of ours joined us for the day, and we browsed and checked things out. (Read more…)

Web design terminology

By Nico on Wednesday the 1st of July, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Chris Coyier over at CSS-Tricks.com has written a seriously needed breakdown of web design terminology from something as basic as “browser” (you know, the thing you’re viewing this website with), to seemingly made up ones like “borked” that no-one’s ever heard of before (apparently it’s a verb meaning wonky).

I love that half the comments are devoted to new opportunities (hey! DNS was missed!) while the other half is devoted to praise and correcting his markup.

All in all it’s a great resource for anyone who’s involved with web design or producing web content in any way shape or form. Bookmark it, send the link to your clients, your friends, your mom, your dog (your cat already knows).

It’d be so cool if everyone understood this stuff. Perhaps that’s just be the web nerd in me.

Read it at “Web Nerd Terminoloy (Explained)“.

Neil Cameron’s A-Z of Awesomeness

By Nico on Tuesday the 30th of June, 2009 at 11:28 pm

I is for... Indiana Jones Inching Away from an Inebriated Iron Man, by Neil CameronComic writer and artist Neil Cameron is creating alphabetically themed image as suggested by fans on Facebook and Twitter.

Pictured here is “I is for… Indiana Jones Inching Away from an Inebriated Iron Man“. (Kinda reminds me of Bender…)

Highlights include “D is for… Doctor Who Defeating Doctor Doom in a Deadly Disco Dance-off” , “J is for… Just Joss” for its kitch factor (and creep factor!) and “F is for…the Fantastic Four saving the Finnish Ambassador from Fred Flintstone, who’s Flinging Flaming Fajitas at his Ford Fiesta” for its awesomely out of hand title.

The project was announced June 11th, with the first image appearing on the 14th and is still going on.

As of this writing Cameron’s on Q, which is “Q is for… Q and Q reading Q” with a nifty infinite regression thing going on.

Check it out in its entireity on Neil’s blog. It is indeed pretty awesome.

Summer Solstice Feast 2009

By Nico on Friday the 26th of June, 2009 at 5:25 pm

Summer Solstice 2009

Summer Solstice 2009

My husband and I hold four Feasts each year for the solstices and equinoxes. We’ve been doing this for six or seven years now.

It started out as a quasi-religious thing, but has evolved into a great excuse to get together with a bunch of friends to drink, chat, drink, eat a nice formal meal and drink.

This year we had eleven people around the table, and I had said I would post the menu for those interested. If anyone wants any of the recipes, just let me know. (Read more…)

Seven reasons booksellers hate their customers

By Nico on Thursday the 25th of June, 2009 at 7:44 pm

Matt Blind has written a disturbingly accurate light and humourous piece on the different types of customers who visit bookstores.

Grazers

Grazers don’t need a book, or want a book, but they love coming in to the bookstore, and love lingering leisurely over all the tables, racks, endcaps, promotional displays, and front-of-store placements. If they can do this while a bookseller is attempting to replenish or reset the display, all the better.

The only redeeming feature of a grazer is that they can only accomplish their task with a cup of coffee in their hand — pardon, with a $4 half-soy-half-decaf-latte-with-a-shot-of-pretention — and while they clog the main aisle and generally pose a hazard to navigation, they are mostly harmless. They might try to casually engage you conversation, “How’s Business?”, but they don’t really care. Their primary goal is being in a bookstore for an hour each week so they can insert an off-hand, “oh I saw that the other day at Big Box Books” in later conversations, proving to their friends that they are topical and literate.

Bonus: They buy coffee. Margins on coffee are excellent.

From “Rethinking the Box: The Seven Types of Customer“

My store didn’t sell coffee (apparently we were missing out on a huge opportunity here)  but it certainly reads familiar. (Read more…)

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