Pearson, the intern has landed!

So....blog... its been entirely too long since I've last added things to you. Its been another crazy time in which I've been completely and utterly drained creatively. Thankfully I have tons of news to report on. The biggest and more interesting is that ... WE HAVE AN INTERN! As of yesterday, our intrepid traveler has landed in Toronto, flying all the way from Paris, France! I'm truly honoured and excited to have her on board with Simplicity and for her to have chosen us out of all the Event Planning, Catering and Staffing firms in Toronto. These next few months do sound promising and I'll keep you all posted on whats been going on and also revisit the past. I've been totally swamped and have such a back log of updates!

Tossing the Intern into the thick of it: Melanie and I network it up at a new venue event for in-industry professionals at Ballet

Phew!

Toronto Taste 2013 is finally complete and I can safely give it a huge Mission Accomplished stamp of approval!

As i did in the previous two years I volunteered as their On-site Volunteer Co-Coordinator.  Yet I was not fooling myself into thinking this year would any be easier than TT2011 or TT2012.   Each year has had its own unique challenges and even thought I had two years already tucked under my belt I knew it would not be a piece of cake.

Three years of volunteering for SH has come and gone for me and to this day I cannot stress enough the importance of volunteering.  I have to say that this year our hard working volunteers really rose to the challenge this year, despite the fact that we had lower numbers than previously.   Even then , we made a big difference for others and had fun doing it.  Pictures to follow!

What the heck is Arbejdsglaede?

Arbejdsglaede - means "Happiness at Work". We need this word in North America! - http://ow.ly/jRJU0

 Special thanks to J for finding this beautiful post about this Scandinavian word. Its not surprising that in Japanese culture they have an opposite word for it that essentially means "death from overworking".


What strikes me the most about this word is the statement that we spend most of our lives at work more then our combined time with friends and family.  Doing the rough math of this, assuming you start work at 15-18 and end at 55-60, at 8 hours a day for 5 days a week (as if you only work that long) this is on average over 2,080 hours a year at work! (224 of which would be vacation, if you actually took it!)

 I think arbejdsglaede pretty much nails what its like to be an event planner and do what I love. Now that I have a word for what I've always sought to bring to others I work with and for, it feels like an epiphany or a favourite flavour you could not pin down and hangs at the very tip of your tongue. (In this case mind) For more information about this, check out the link below!

 http://whattheheckisarbejdsglaede.com

Destination: Plan B Organic Farm

Through my volunteering at Alpha II Alternative school, I finally had a wonderful opportunity to go with the students to their yearly visit to Plan B Organic Farm.

I was pretty hyped about this trip since it was something of a very important connection for me.  I needed to see for myself personally what a real working organic farm looks like.  Having one so close to the city really hits home the fact that we can have sustainable food sources locally and organic.

One of the first things that struck me is the way the farm is.  Its not your typical vast track of organized rows of plants and produce.  In fact it literally was quite an organic layout.  One of the owners of the farm Alvaro took us on a guided tour and showed us the benefits of all the key trees, plants and organisms that contribute to the richness of the soil.  What really struck me was the natural approach of letting nature balance itself in terms of soil conditions.  So much of the traditional farming is spent shaping land and chemically forcing it to be harvesting environment.  Here at Plan B Alvaro carefully balances all living things to contribute to the overall health of the soil and thereby producing organic food so close to Toronto!

One of the most stunning aspects of the tour was the organic shiitake grove.  Nestled in the heart of a patch of coniferous trees, they used felled logs with spore plugs.  It was truly a sight to behold as the forest gave off a quiet richness that one simply had to be there to experience it.  I had a chance find a fresh shiitake that missed the initial harvest and we all had a chance to try garlic, shiitake and other organic produce straight from the ground!

(left) - One of the few shiitakes that missed the last harvest. Om nom! You can literally eat them straight off the tree stump!




(right) - Our host, Farmer Alvaro shows us how the spores and cultured into natural and completely organic shiitake mushrooms

Organic Shiitake mushroom harvest in the making!

My trip buddy Evie gives a thumbs up to the organic garlic, shiitake and catnip we got to take home.  



A really big thank you goes out to Alvaro for giving us and especially myself an opportunity to see first hand organic farming at its finest.  Thank you too to the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment for funding the trip and Alpha II Alternative school for once again giving me the opportunity to volunteer and learn right along with the students.

(Google Map Link)

http://planborganicfarms.ca/

24 Meals in 24 Hours

It always amazes me when people suggest I go to the local big box mega store to pick up food to cater for an event.  It usually begins when we bring up the topic of catering and the price tag that comes with it.

The conversation sometimes goes like this:

"How much can you get me for $X dollars a head."

(At this time I usually do my best to give them what we can do, and still maintain quality.  X being somewhere in the single digits)

"Thats it? Why can't we just go to (insert big box bulkfood store here) and pick up some frozen appetizers?"

24 Meals in 24 Hours

It boggles me why they did not bother to instead shoot the documentary in Toronto and not new work since it is CBC and Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver would be more relevant to its viewers.  

New Beginnings

Its been nearly 4 months since I've been posting.  Its amazing how much time has flown by without even realizing it.

Spring is here and with it comes a great time of reflection for me.  Even more so that I've decided to long ago get back into the saddle of building Simplicity.  I've often said that creating and building Simplicity is one of my greatest joys, second only to holding my first child.  Well now, it looks like I will be able to have the best of both worlds!  No sleep here I come!

Being an entrepreneur is incredibly hard and many a time I would be lying if I never thought of packing it up and calling it a day, taking a 9 to 5'er.   Its funny how many times I have revisited that very same thought!  But as I've learned, being an innovator sometimes means you take it in the teeth, and nothing beats creating an organization built on blood sweat and tears that is making a difference in the world.    I realized too that the bottom line was I realized that I wanted my child to know that his/her parent never gave up building a dream and using that to help other people achieve theirs.   When they are old enough and are subjected to enough of the Star Wars reruns, perhaps they will finally get Yoda's words "Do or do not, there is no try."

So here is to new beginnings, a fresh look and getting back on the horse. 

Yikes! Happy New Year and all that jazz!

WOW, its been a while since I've touched this blog. Sorry dear readers if I kept you waiting.

Suffice to say, a lot has been happening and more often than not I barely had time to get to my computer to blog or I was in need of decompression and nowhere near the mental capacity needed to recreate and form a useful and readable post.

One other reason for the delay is being free of our former service provider! It took very little to realize that a) we'd have been paying through the nose for internet and phone, and b) we were being charged for a resource (ie. bandwidth, and up/download limits) that literally should have no limits. It puzzles me that something that was once free and unlimited 3-5 years ago suddenly becomes a rare commodity that the big providers need to put a cap on. Perhaps Netflicks introduction to Canada has something to do with this? Hmm...

So we're going with one of the smaller underdog companies. They are less likely to gouge you, firm prices and they're the underdog. I always root for the underdog and its something personal to me to support other local businesses.

The amusing thing is when we told them we were leaving them for Acanac, the rep replied "But you've been with us for 10 years! Can we match their offer?"

Me: "Can you beat $XX.XX a month unlimited."

Rep: "..."

"We can offer you the same rate for 24 gig for that rate, plus you can upgrade to X for $XX.XX. You hardly go over the rate we offer."

Me: "That's still not unlimited is it?"

Rep: "But you've been with us for ten years!"

Checking in with myself...

Sometimes its easy to forget how important the intimate connections we form with people we work with. Sometimes you just have look back at some of the nifty things people say as a poignant reminder. I found these two gems on my LinkedIn and until recently I forgot about them. Only until recently till my layoff did they become even more relevant to me personally and help me refocus on Simplicity as a means for social change.

Carly, Student, York University (colleague):

"It's been a while since I worked with Rolo but I saw someone else recommend him in my feed and I must say he is a very recommendable guy! I worked directly for Rolo as a bartender at one of his events when I was in school. He is an excellent leader with a true passion and dedication to his events business and it's overarching vision. He rolls up his sleeves and leads by example ensuring everything goes off without a hitch. I wish him all the success in the world. He truly deserves it." August 29, 2011

Melissa Dedic, Senior Foodraiser, Second Harvest:

“Rolando's good heart and community-centred principles are what distinguishes his business: Simplicity Event Planning & Catering from other similar companies. I first met him at our warehouse. Rather than letting excess food from an event he recently catered go to waste, Rolando delivered it to Second Harvest (my place of employment; a food rescue charity in Toronto). Because of his great environmental and social conscious, Rolando's excess food is delivered to social service programs across Toronto via Second Harvest. To date, he has donated enough excess food to feed nearly 400 hungry Torontonians! This is food that would have otherwise gone to waste if it wasn't for Rolando's efforts to rediistribute it to those in need. It has been and continues to be a true pleasure working with Rolando.” August 29, 2011

I guess only through your impact on people do you realize how important it is to keep striving. Thanks gals! It means so much to me to read this and inspires me to keep forging ahead.

Speaking of refreshing... 15 Steps

I just realized (in a good way) how relevant this songs lyrics are to me.

How come I end up where I started?
How come I end up where I went wrong?
Won't take my eyes off the ball again...

Oh indeed. Nothing is truer than sticking to what you love doing!

Being laid off is refreshing!

"One of these things is not like the others..."

So you might be curious where did rolly go for the last two months? The truthful answer is that I'm not quite sure myself!

The last two months have been a complete and utter blur for me and I've barely begun to realize the lessons learned and all the experiences. It has literally been a rollercoaster of emotion, learning, surprises, disappointments, successes and juicy failures. It all started with the opportunity to work for the Centre for Social Innovation as their newly created position of Events Coordinator.

I am never one to back down from a challenge so I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about Social Innovation and systems change on what believe would be a on a strategic organizational level. Certainly it proved a challenge, not only because of the role, but more so of the grief and joy that constantly bombarded me over the past two months. It felt like such a roller coaster!

Words like "system change" "framing" and "push back" filled my head over the past two months, as well as pure e-mail grinding and learning to manage 4 e-mail addresses with the accompanying work culture spam that comes with them. I still do truly hate mass mailing lists because expected inevitably someone gets on a soapbox or doesn't read the pleasant reminder to "e-mail this person off list if you have an answer or are interested". These things simply did not help the 50 hour work week grind.

I have come to realize several things. One of the most important things is that I cannot stop being an entrepreneur. Its a perspective shift that apparently and unfortunately does not seem to jive well with the organizational culture. No matter how ideal you may think it would be, even if it is in alignment with your dreams and goals.

I really do feel like I a hamster in a wheel. The catch was that this time the carrot was good enough for me to be enticed. Still I've got the refreshing experience of being laid off and the integrity to know that I simply did all that I could humanly do as a contributing worker. It looks like it just wasn't "the right fit".

Revisiting Inspiration: Professor Randy Pausch

It has been A CRAZY few months!  As you may well know, it all started with me losing one of my "kids".  My wonderful chubby fluff-accordion of a Cat - Ookie; passed away on September 2nd.  From there its been a wonderful two months of joy, nervousness and new opportunities.

But before I continue, mid way through this rollercoaster that I'm still on, I needed to revisit inspiration.  I'm sharing it with you here.



Enable peoples dreams.  That's what I realized I created Simplicity for.  It originally was "to make a difference, no matter how small in peoples lives." Now this refines things to be more precise, perhaps, even more simplified!

You were awesome Ookie

Well as some of you may have guessed, I've been taking time away.  In this case, taking care of my dying cat Ooks.

There is nothing tragic nor traumatic about this event.  This is another one of those personal posts, for those of you that may wonder what makes Rolo so driven in what he does?

Perhaps some may say "it's just a cat", but when you've literally raised something from birth and hold it when it finally dies in your arms after living a long and colourful life with you, something happens in you.  Perhaps its the fact I bore witness to a long and joyful life so random and beautiful coming to an end.  Its a rare moment far beyond other experiences, when I reflect on what I've accomplished and in a way, what Ookie has accomplished.  Whats more, no matter how fleeting life may seem, its so vital that I keep striving.

Holding a new life in your arms, no matter how it may not be genetically yours, made me realize how obligated I am to continue to make a difference in this world.   I'm not sure how, but it does.  Ooks was one of those 4 new and randomly fortunate reasons that I accepted responsibility for wholeheartedly.  Ooks hissing at bubblebath foam, and being an utter clutz showed me that there are exceptions to the rules, even for cats.  As well, it reinforced the lesson of "expect the unexpected".  New kittens will pee anywhere, including inside warm and dark CPU's.

How many cats got the chance to grace the Simplicity Holiday Thank you card in our first year?  ONE!

I will always remember the goofy things you did, a clumsy and nutty gemini cat to the last.  Ookie Elizabeth Tecson you were a true creature of comfort and in my bachelor years, the start of a crazy furry family!

Your calico reminders all over my business formal wear, cardboard box shredding will be missed.  I'll never forget your dedication to being my furry cat headrest, and your involuntary magnanimity at being turned into a warm and grumpy "cat accordion."  Chibi will go unchecked without you, and your chubby warmth will be missed as you purposely lay over my arms as I attempted to get work done at the computer.

Thank you Ooks.  I will miss you. 

75 Cat Naps - Grinding at CSI: Annex

SORRY!

Okay as you can all tell, its been a bit since my last post.  I've been lurking around in the background with a new client and cooking up several awesome new projects for Simplicity and our crew.

Since my last post on the blog I've been doing such a wide variety of things with and for Simplicity that I just caught myself scratching my head and saying "where did my summer go?!"  Thankfully it has been truly fun, interesting and always learning new things along the way.

As July is drawing to a close, I've definitely been exposed to new avenues of art, everything from the graphic art of my client rewfoe, to the stark and richly coloured works of Caravaggio.   I've finally had a chance to awaken my wanderlust for the "roadtrip", and it seems that even 120kmph is now considered slow!

I got a chance to be a human smoke alarm when I had a chance to help CSI:Annex by being the "Fire Watch Guy".  It was a pretty unique opportunity that gave me a unique opportunity to meet many of the awesome tenants of CSI:Annex and work from 6pm to 9am.  It was like a strange retreat or a sleep over for me, except at the office and nobody around!  I was slightly disappointed that I only completed 30 of the 75 Fire Watch walks that had to be done every hour.  Then again I love sleep and readjusting from being a night owl and waking up every hour was pretty tough.

I snapped some beautiful pictures of the new office space.  Being here is such a great inspiration!  Its such a great feeling to be here and these snapshots are taken at those odd hours when most of the city is just waking up.

 With so many ideas and awesome things on the hot plate, August is looking to be just as awesome for myself and the Simplicity team.  I'll fill you all in as fast as I can.    

If you can't beat 'em - Tweet 'em.

Perhaps I'm old fashioned or slow, but I always prefer face to face contact.

Which is likely why I've taken some time to really consider getting a Twitter account for Simplicity.  I guess I prefer to be highly effective and operate with surgical precision instead of blurting out into the Internet-verse my every day, random observations or superficial proselytizing.

I find that Twitter posts, in striving to be brief and to the point, are stripped away of a lot of meaning and human connection that I find important.  It's like reading a newspaper article in the Metro.  It's just the facts and nuances of complex issues are missing.  Either way, communication is beautiful and necessary and Twitter is now a tool we're going to add to our kit for connecting with our clients, friends, family, supporters and community.

Anyhoo, that being said, you can now follow Simplicity's exploits and information about our upcoming events through Twitter at @SimplicityEPC  (That's Event Planning & Catering)

Check out our new office space! CSI - Annex

As a result of Simplicity getting recognition as a runner-up in last year's Agents of Change competition run by the Centre for Social Innovation, we now have the office space at the Centre for Social Innovation - Annex starting in July!

Check it out!   This is a fabulous environment for social innovators and we are neck deep in connecting with so many other social entrepreneurs!

A SUPER BIG thank you to all of you folks who took the time to nominate Simplicity for our work.  We would not have gotten this fabulous opportunity to grow and be a part of a larger community without you!

The Day After Second Harvest's Toronto Taste 2011

I am tired, sore, and above all extremely happy.

I've made mention of some of this before in my previous blog posts about my involvement with Second Harvest as a volunteer.   Not just content to do a small bit I wanted to get right in to the nitty gritty and help where I could be of most help and do what I love, which is being a part of something greater and representing Simplicity as an agent of social change.

Nothing could give me greater joy in having the opportunity to be a part of Toronto Taste 2011!  In hindsight I would have loved to speak more  about it as a build up, but for fear of being noobish in my work with Second Harvest I was pretty reluctant to do so.   This mainly came from trying to comprehend my role in such a big event.   I also wish I wasn't so busy as to be able to take a few more pictures of the event.  It went by so fast that it almost feels like it was a blur, yet the end results are palpable.  These end results were most tangible as I sat there on the steps of the ROM, fifteen hours into my self enforced "shift".

As I sat there at midnight, completely and utterly exhausted I watched the huge tented area slowly be taken down and the last of the hardy volunteers and Chairman Mills staff strike down everything and anything resembling a rental.  There was a sense of completeness of something grand drawing to its natural conclusion and I was once again part of something bigger, fantastic and even connected to a whole lot of great people who believe in something greater than what we are as individuals.

It was certainly not sad or bitter sweet, just blissfully tired layered over a feeling of completeness that comes at the end of seeing an event to the very end.  Perhaps a wholeness, in which all you expected and more came true all at once.  It was fulfillment and justification of purpose for what we, I, and Simplicity do. I'm exhausted and happy.

More photos to come, and certainly more updates.

To tweet or not to tweet?

That is the question. So much so that I thought of writing this. Well Shakespeare wrote it. I just modified it to my own thoughts. Its quite apt.

To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the possible time suckage arrows of outrageous time spent tweeting,
Or to take arms against a sea of the social media band wagon,
And by opposing end them? To poke?, to tweet?,
No more; and by a sleep to say we (actually stop trolling on the net)
The eye-ache, and the thousands of irresistible posts
That refresh is inherent to: 'tis a time consummation
Devoutly to be wished to be followed. To post, to spam;
To spam, perchance to connect. Of something useful– aye, there's the rub:
For in that spam of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause – there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the flames and dislikes of the net,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy tweets,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare blogkin? World web spidering bears,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country of entrepreneurship from whose bourn
No entrepreneur returns, puzzles the will, challenges the spirit
And makes us rather bear those ills we have to try something new
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus popular trends does make bandwagoneers of us all,
And thus the native hue of screen resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thoughtful content,
And enterprises of great promotion and marketing,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. Soft you now,
The fair Muse! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my tweetful inspirations remembered.[1]

Originally by that awesome dude Shakespeare ( mod by Rolo)

The Bicycle Commons Event - Video 2!

Here is another really great video shot by another person at the Bike Clinic.  It shows a few more aspects and folks who've been involved from the very beginning.  Including me!  "Dapper". Yes.  That's me.


Spring Bicycle Clinic from lenaC on Vimeo.

The Bicycle Commons - Our first 2011 Bike Clinic

Okay so I'm not posting as regularly as I should be. Half of the reason is that I'm recovering from another fantastic event. This time it me reprising my role at Volunteer Coordinator with The Bicycle Commons and our first Spring 2011 Bike Clinic hosted by the Harmony B Co-op. Check it!



There was a TON of folks involved in this project and its all shaping up nicely for the big event in June.

Here is a short list, in no particular order or preference; of some of the organizations that made this event possible!

The Bicycle Commons
Bike Sauce
MEC
Its Chez Nous
Think First
My First Wheels
Chairman Mills - Thanks KIM!
Cobs Bread - Annex You rock Emily!
Us - Simplicity Event Planning & Catering

Special thanks to Carrie for helping make Simplicity's contribution possible!

I'm in the background somewhere (thank god because I was unusually camera shy that day) with the longshoreman coat and cap. I think I'm more comfortable being in the background and I think I'm actually elated that my interview wasn't (at least I think) spliced in!
Why was I wearing a big black coat? I was soooooo bloody cold, and that wool jacket is WARM in the shade, and quite airy in the sun. Thankfully it turned out to be a fantastic day and the weather held out until Sunday. At which point it dumped rain AFTER the event, which is always a good thing!

To be honest I kinda felt that I could always do more and when the event began so smoothly and continued to go smoothly I was kinda left to futz, and just make sure that everyone got what they needed. I think I even ended up getting a bit too much sun that day. More pics to follow once I clear out my camera.

Random Update Photo

Okay so I'm still alive and kicking. Had a bit of a setback lately. (BUT then again its all part of being an entrepreneur and I usually like to keep things chipper, and I'm not as inspired to write as when the chips are down)

Anyhow. Learned a lot about several people lately, that being vendors, clients and even family. More on this later, but before I get into it. I thought I'd post a random photo of me and the staff at the very last event Simplicity did in 2010. Going through the stock of photos, this one gave me a good chuckle.

Quick man!  To your action stations!