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.

CIBC’s Run for the Cure 2009

By Nico on Thursday the 8th of October, 2009 at 9:13 am

CIBC's Run for the Cure in Toronto, 2009

CIBC's Run for the Cure in Toronto, 2009

Each year I participate in CIBC’s Run for the Cure to raise money for breast cancer research and prevention. It’s an important charity to me, my Grandmother died if cancer in 2001. She was the most amazing woman and it was heartbreaking to watch.

For the uninitiated, the runners in pink shirts are breast cancer survivors, those in red are lead sponsor CIBC’s employees, and average Janes and Joes run in white. Most sport various accoutrements in pink – hats, wigs, scarves, tutus, leg warmers, temporary tattoos – anything and everything you can think of is somewhere represented. It’s the only day of the year I wear any real pink.

Runners passing the ROM

Runners passing the ROM

The run took place on Sunday, October 4th across Canada, and I of course ran in my home city of Toronto. I took a few shots as I was running, most of which are up on Facebook.

If you haven’t donated yet, but are able to spare even a few bucks, it would mean a lot to me. You can still donate as late as Hallowe’en, October 31st. All donations of at least twenty dollars are eligible for a tax receipt.

Knowing that even the paltry sum I’m able to raise helps fund research that can raise awareness for prevention and find a cure is important to me.

Please click here to donate to a great cause.

Thanks, and it would be great to see you running with me next year!

Save the Words: Vampirarchy

By Nico on Saturday the 5th of September, 2009 at 2:20 pm

My adopted word

My adopted word

Mes amis, I have adopted a lovely word in attempts to save it from extinction.

The word I adopted is vampirarchy, which refers to a set of ruling persons comparable to vampires.

It is now my solemn duty to “use this word as frequently as possible from this day forth in conversation and correspondence”.

Given the state of the world, this should not be a terrible challenge, though I staunchly refuse to employ it in reference to ancient sparkling stalkers of young women. That would be quite inappropriate. (Italy’s right out.)

Adopt your own ailing word at savethewords.org. As you hover over various artfully depicted words, they cry out to be rescued from obscurity. It’s lovely.

Plus, you get a nifty certificate!

Book Club: Wuthering Heights

By Nico on Saturday the 5th of September, 2009 at 10:59 am

My friend Jo and I both love to read. So do many of my other friends. We talk about books all the time, and thought it might be fun to (semi-)formalize this into a book club. Jo and I both feel left behind in the classics – there’s just too many of them, and only so much time to read, and we haven’t read all the same things. So, we decided on Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights for our first book club pick.

The meeting was held in August, and as September’s meeting will be tomorrow, I’m rushing to capture my notes on the book here before they’re lost.

Neither of us had read Wuthering Heights before nor seen any of the various film adaptations, and we were looking forward to it. I found myself disappointed. (Read more…)

Bruce Springstzine No. 1

By Nico on Thursday the 13th of August, 2009 at 7:46 pm

Bruce Springstzine

Bruce Springstzine

I couldn’t even tell you how many things I’ve bought off the Internet because someone I don’t know, but think is cool, told me to. But I know that it’s not a small number.

So, when Emily Horne, the photographer behind one of my favourite online comics A Softer World, told the Internet to buy Mike Saturday Lekcy’s BruceSpringstzine, of course, I did. And I’m so glad, because it’s awesome.

Lecky is the man behind the Vancouver-based Loose Teeth Press, and Bruce Springstzine No. 1 Weekend in the Void chronicles his experience at Toronto’s 2008 Canzine festival with Joey Comeau and Ms Horne. The whole thing has a sort of Thompsonesque feel, with delightfully drunken self-depreciating prose.

I’m out on the street with vague directions to head left until I see a subway station. If I hurry I can still make the last train to the end of the line, catch the bus from there to the airport. I do the sort of half-walk-half-jog Terry Fox Shuffle of the too drunk and do little pirouettes to avoid telephone poles and buildings…

The ‘zine is tiny, unpaginated, poorly photocopied and awkwardly held together by a single staple  – in short, it’s absolutely perfect.

I may not be as cool as Ms Horne, but I heartily encourage you to purchase it. It’s 4.95$US, postage included. You can’t go wrong.

Wedding Anniversary 2009

By Nico on Thursday the 6th of August, 2009 at 8:50 pm

Drew & Nico

Drew & Nico

August 4th, 2009 was our eighth wedding anniversary.

This year we decided our gift to each other would be to finally frame the picture we bought while in Montreal for our fifth anniversary. It certainly seemed reasonable.

So, on Tuesday we went out for dinner at a local place we both enjoy.

It’s ten years ago this summer (July 8th, to be exact) that Drew and I met properly for the first time and eight years ago since we were married. It’s a long time, but it doesn’t feel like a long time ago.

A few years ago I asked Drew why he thought our relationship worked. His response: “Because I’m cool”. I told him that was funny, as I was going to say it was because I was awesome. He nodded and cheerily replied something to the effect of “That’s right, we’re both awesome”.

There’s a lesson in here: successful relationships work because each partner is individually awesome and cool. If one of the pair isn’t supremely nifty, it’s probably not going to last. (Love can only carry you so far.)

Cheers to all the awesome people out there.

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