Burning Down The House (but not for real)

Ottawa December 26th 2009: Yesterday night (Christmas), my mom's neighbor's fire alarm was going off. The house was filled with smoke and 911 was called. Luckily it was just a ton of smoke from a smoldering fire in the fireplace. Nobody was home and there was no real damage. Lots of firetrucks though, so that was pretty cool. Another Festivus Miracle! Perhaps later we can do the "The Feats of Strength" or "The Airing Of Grievances".

JOIN LEAD TO WIN AND DRIVE MASSIVE INNOVATION IN CANADA’S CAPITAL REGION

Here is a message on behalf of the Lead To Win program:

JOIN LEAD TO WIN AND DRIVE MASSIVE INNOVATION IN CANADA’S CAPITAL REGION


If you are serious about starting a profitable business in Canada’s
Capital region, we invite you to apply to the November session of the Lead
to Win program.

If accepted to the program, you must attend six-days of training scheduled
for November 3, 4 and 5 and November 23, 24 and 25 of 2009. Your company
will be expected to create at least six knowledge jobs within the next
three years.

The Lead to Win program is free to qualified applicants - no strings
attached, no small print, no surprises. Individuals from 50 organizations
are investing to make Lead to Win participants successful for the benefit
of the individual and our community. The objective is to create knowledge
jobs, retain technology talent, and attract direct investment.

To apply to Lead to Win, please complete and submit the application
available at www.leadtowin.ca

We are seeking talented individuals who are able and willing to create
technology-based businesses in Canada’s Capital Region. Each new business
must be designed to grow so it can employ at least six knowledge workers
in Canada’s Capital Region over the next three years.
Lead to Win has three phases. In the first phase, you apply online.
Qualified applicants will then be invited to meet with Lead to Win
leadership. Participants will be selected based on their experience,
commitment, and opportunity profile. In the second phase, you participate
in an intense six day training program where you will learn how to lever
business ecosystems, profitably serve attractive vertical markets, and the
key factors that contribute to the ultimate success of a fledgling
technology company. Upon completion of this second phase, you will be well
equipped, and encouraged, to launch your new technology businesses in the
National Capital Region. In the third phase, Lead to Win connects you to
strategic customers, revenue opportunities, and individuals, companies and
organizations that can provide requisite resources, including capital.

If you know of serious individuals who may benefit from Lead to Win,
please forward this email to them. Note that we are only looking for
serious applicants.

We look forward to meeting the next wave of the region’s technology
entrepreneurs on November 3!

If you need additional information over what is at www.leadtowin.ca,
please contact:

Ludovico Prattico, prattico-at-sympatico.ca
Michelle Iseman, michelle.iseman-at-vitesse.ca
Serge Lafontaine, slafontaine-at-arrow.com
Ian Graham, ian-at-thecodefactory.ca
Rowland Few, rfew-at-sce.carleton.ca
Tony Bailetti, Bailetti-at-sce.carleton.ca
Yannick Bouchard, bouchard.yannick-at-gatineau.ca

The Green Ones have landed in Capital City

I guess it's about time, but it's pretty cool to see them here. Just as I was pulling into the old driveway this morning they arrived: "The Green Ones are here!" That's right, if you are a resident in Ottawa you have probably received (or are about to receive) a Green Bin. The city is handing out some 220,000 of them. This means that once the program begins (Jan 2010) if you live in Ottawa you will be able to recycle almost all of your garbage. Between blue, black and green bins and the Take It Back program, Ottawa does pretty well when it comes to residential waste. Although with news that Plasco will only be able to turn an estimated 18% of waste into energy and not until 2011, our garbage problems are far from over. But separation of the various types of waste is it is a natural step towards a solution. "Divide and concur" or "divide and rule", are tried and true strategies to solutions ranging from politics to economics to algorithms. So dividing up waste will be the first step to making optimal use of it.

Anywho... getting back to the bins; you can put all sorts of crazy crap in there!: Food waste (including meats and bones: which makes the whole program worthwhile in my opinion cause otherwise it would just cannibalize everyones composting efforts.) yard waste and other items (including such feces as kitty litter, fireplase ash, paper plates, wax paper, sawdust and so-on and dryer lint and so-forth) I mean, it says so right on the sticker!

So I guess if we can all try to forget about the plastic bag scandal from the days of recycling past, Ottawa seems to be on the right track. Let's see how this all unfolds. Plus check out green bins trusty side kick beige bin, which is designed to hang from the inside of your cabinet door where garbages usually go. I predict a Batman-Robin or Hercules-Newton type of relationship will blossom in each of our homes between these two unlikeliest of heroes.

Tribute to San Jose!

Today I pay tribute to Ottawa's brother from another mother: San Jose.
Ottawa and San Jose have a lot in common. We are both high-tech towns, we both have NHL teams that were born within a year of each other and there is a general consensus in both populations that opposes municipal funding of jukebox terrorism (i.e.: Queing up the same ridiculous song over and over on a jukebox.)
Recently the San Jose Sharks acquired Ottawa Senators star trigger man Dany Heatley. Dany had asked to leave at the end of 2008-2009 season stating that his game didn't fit with the new coach's system, but there has been speculation that there are other reasons which I will not get into because I propagate facts only! as you may have noticed with my Jukebox declaration. Dany; you will be missed but you really need to start prospecting for a new exit strategist.

One other honorable mention regarding Ottawa's Twin-Town is that this site has been getting lots of hits and tomfoolery from San Jose. This is good! I encourage city level incest. Actually I would encourage all readers from Jose-town to leave a comment after this post as a sign of brotherly-sisterly love. Also I would like to welcome Jonathan Cheechoo and Michalek, so long as they score lots of goals and are key player in the Sens lifelong ambition of publicly destroying and humiliating the Sharks at every possible opportunity. Peace and Love.

Lead To Win

Well, it's been an interesting journey. But it's only about to begin. I participated in the Lead To Win program. Here is their pitch:

If you are serious about starting a profitable tech-based business in Canada's Capital Region during the current economic situation, we invite you to apply to Lead to Win (LTW). Ontario’s Talent First Network is pleased to announce the launch of the Lead To Win program for laid-off or under-employed tech workers. The program is based upon a program of the same name that was delivered during the last economic downturn in 2002. Over half of the participants in the 2002 Lead to Win program created a new business in Canada’s Capital Region. These new businesses collectively created over 300 jobs and attracted over $90M in investment.

The program is no cakewalk! As a matter of fact, despite all the FREE great food and cake that they fed us during the program, not once were any of us invited to walk or even take a quick stroll across cake of any shape or form (no African dancing either... do your research).

After at least 3 Phases of filtering and improvements, I am proud to announce that my idea has come out on top. Of God-knows how many application 50 some opportunities made it into phase 1, 40 some make it to phase 2 and 30 some made it to phase 3. Of phase 3 participants 19 are rated Green (ready to go) and of them 7 opportunities have been rated Green by all it's assessors. My opportunity is one of those 7, which is cool I guess. I mean if your into that whole "being the cream of the crop" scene.

Anyway thought I'd just put that out there. That's one of the things I've been up to now that I'm back in the hemisphere. I did some other stuff but I can't remember it right now.

To learn more about the program, or to apply for it, visit their website: www.leadtowin.ca
Tell them I sent you. Unless your idea sucks, in which case I never heard of you and you never heard of me. No, like seriously who are you?

But in all honesty, this program is not made to filter people. The idea is to make better entrepreneurs out of us all and to make jobs. You will improve yourself or your idea drastically during the process guaranteed! I highly recommend the program and especially those who voluntarily put it together in true entrepreneurial style. I owe a lot to them and will be even further indebted as Phase III progresses. Actually I will take this moment to thank them and thank them in advance.

Here are some shots of the graduation: I am receiving my diplomat here from David Hudson:


Here I am celebrating with Tony Bailetti:


For those of you who know me best and know how I like to celebrate graduations: Yes, I did pull a Timon (from the Lion King) style celebration just before getting the diploma.

I'll probably write more about this soon but feel free to ask questions... My press secretary will be happy to address them.