Catherine and I went to two parties in rapid succession yesterday evening.

First up was the BGHJ party, across the street in the old Taweel’s Grocery Store. B, G, H, and J are architects (indeed B and G are the former owners of the building where I type this). We had a good time talking to Terry Stevenson about her travels in Spain, and to Tom Cullen about organic milk, and saw many other people we know in passing and see once or twice a year (what else is Christmas for if not for that?).

Second it was over to the Atlantic Technology Centre foyer, in response to invite from my new best friend Sandy to attend the ITAP party. Catherine’s comment: “who are all these people?” Apparently most of them were choreo-animators.

Here’s what we learned:

• Architects have much better taste in food. The Atlantic Superstore deli platter at the ATC couldn’t hold a candle to the smoked salmon, fresh oysters, and imported cheeses on offer from the architects.
• Technocrats are very concerned with systems. To drink at the ITAP party involved tickets. There was a complex door prize system. That said, the woman managing the door prize system and the drink tickets was perhaps the nicest woman in Prince Edward Island.
• Architects and technocrats are both, as a group, shy. Although the architects do a very good job at covering up their shyness with copious amounts of liquor and imported cheese, you can tell, scratching slightly below the surface, that they’re as socially ill at ease as anyone else. The technocrats all looked like deer in the headlights: there seemed to be a vague perception that they should be having fun without the actual fun present.
• Technocrats: take off your suits! With the exception of Jevon Macdonald, who is a last minute entry into my pantheon of well-dress men and thus exempt, everyone else looked like they would have much more fun if they could put on some dungarees. Advice: dress like Will Pate and your life will improve.
• Sandy Peardon, formerly my arch nemesis, turns out to be a very personable chap. ITAP, perhaps, doesn’t know how lucky it is.
• As a rule, electronic pianos should be kept out of any social gathering.
• Pat Binns is much shorter in real life.
• The Cingular logo is very similar to the ATC logo.
• An image of a website I designed is forever enshrined in a 3D rendering of the palatial ATC board room. Note, as well, that the table in the board room is constructed of some sort of magical see-through wood.
• Cheap red wine all tastes the same. It still only takes two plastic glasses to get me drunk.
• Cedars, where Catherine and I went for the after-party party, has the best hamburger in town, and some of the best wait staff. Hint from our server: instead of ordering a caesar salad, order the regular salad with caesar dressing; it’s cheaper and tastes better.

Because I am in possession of the gasoline receipts for Ian’s Land Rover trip from New York to Cavendish, I can attest to the fact that Ian and Tessa’s purchase of a Toyota Prius will be responsible for at least 10% of Brooklyn’s Kyoto committments. That would be if Brooklyn actually had any Kyoto committments.

Congratulations!

A leftover sign from the factory days at MassMOCA:

The Seattle Children’s Museum has one of the nicest washrooms I’ve ever encountered:

Note the colourful decor, the changing mat, the sinks of various heights, and the sparkling cleanliness.

I’ve tried, but so far failed, to find the proper URL to use in my wireless phone to access the CBC’s wireless offering. Does anyone in the readership have this information?

Here’s a page at the CBC that lists all of their electronic mailing lists.

A lot of Hollywood movies open on Christmas Day. The interesting thing about this year’s lineup here in Charlottetown is that I would happily go and see any of the seven movies scheduled:

• Cheaper By The Dozen
• Mona Lisa Smile
• Paycheck
• Peter Pan
• Something’s Gotta Give
• The Last Samurai
• The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Okay, maybe I wouldn’t happily go and see The Lord of the Rings but that’s only because I consider the entire franchise weird and unnatural.

Apparently this afternoon I met Sandy Peardon without knowing it, thanks to a social engagement skills deficit on the part of Dan James (i.e. Dan either forgot to introduce me, or mumbled when he did so). It may be possible to chock this up to Dan’s fever-induced delerium.

I wonder if it would be possible to use XSLT to transform the local CBC website from HTML into an RSS feed?

François Nonnenmacher on iSight hacks.