If you have always dreamed of sending your son to Upper Canada College – the prestigious all-boys school in Forest Hill - but the $24,000 tuition fee for an elementary student made your dream unattainable, there may now be a possibility of entrance for your son. There is currently a student body of 1,130 students, with a mere 7% on some type of scholarship program. And these programs are not available until the 7^th grade. In an effort to open up UCC to a more diverse student body, they are embarking on a multi-million fundraising campaign in the hopes of being able to fund 25% its students.

UCC has always had the reputation of being an elite institution and trying to shed its elitist image will take some work. Working on the US standard where more than 20% of students receive financial aid, UCC will have its work cut out for it. Also in the plan is to phase out the boarding school in response to the continent-wide decline in boarding school enrolment. UCC hopes to appeal to a diverse group of students from all walks of life and different socioeconomic backgrounds. Would you know be interested in sending your son to UCC now that financial aid was going to be available? Or do you find it still too elitist?

Blood, gore, murder, and mayhem – what fun! The Toronto After Dark Film Festival is THE EVENT of the season for horror film aficionados. From October 19 – 25 horror, science fiction, fantasy, and animation feature films and short films will be premiered.

You must be 18 years of age or older to attend. Advance tickets are now on sale. The main screening venue is the Bloor Cinema located at 506 Bloor Street West and the venue for the horror shorts is the Innis Town Hall Theatre located at 2 Sussex Avenue. Tickets are going fast.

One of the highlights of the festival is the official Toronto Zombie Walk. Dress up like a zombie, walk the walk, have some food and drinks, and then you will have the absolute pleasure of attending the screening of 2 new zombie films. For all the Zombie Walk details follow the link below.

http://www.torontozombiewalk.ca/index.html

For all of the details on the films, parties, and the Zombie Walk follow the link below.

http://www.torontoafterdark.com/

First came the decision to close the community centres on Mondays until January 2008 to save money. Then the mayor changed his mind and decided to open the community centres on Mondays – but only to groups with permits that were paying for the use of the centres. Now the decision to close the community centres fully or partially has been totally reversed and the community centres will be opened on Mondays again starting on October 15^th. But, there will be a decreased amount of programming available. Please make sure that you check with your local community centre to confirm that your programs will be running.

The next time that someone tells you that you can’t fight city hall tell them that they are absolutely wrong. The only reason that the community centres are being reopened is due to the total outrage of the public and the pressure brought to bear on the mayor and city council. Bravo Toronto!

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Hunting for bargains at garage sales is a national pastime. Browsers on Hastings Avenue were in for quite an experience when they looked at the goodies that Randy Gulliver was selling – not out front as you would expect, but in the backyard.

Randy Gulliver is the director and co-producer of “Talk Sex With Sue Johanson” and his garage sale was strictly for adults only. The items for sale were all things that the show is sent every year. Apparently there was a great assortment of sex toys, body crayons, and Kama Sutra postcards. All of the proceeds are going to AIDS research, as they were last year when $400.00 was donated. If you hear of any interesting garage sales, please let us know and we’ll make sure to post the info.

Do you really care who picks up your garbage as long as it’s picked up? It is estimated that privatizing garbage collection in Toronto could save anywhere from 10 – 30 million dollars. In the 6 municipalities surrounding Toronto 100% of garbage collection is contracted out as compared with Toronto that only contracts out 20%. Using city workers for garbage pickup and disposal is costing us a lot more money than it needs to because our garbage collection and disposal workers are public sector, unionized employees. And the cost savings could be massive if the city was to sell off all or part of its fleet of garbage trucks and/or waste collection equipment. The reality is that private sector waste companies are able to deliver the same service for approximately 20% less than the public sector.

Why isn’t Toronto in step with other municipalities when it comes to garbage collection? Why are we constantly looking to cut services and raise taxes instead of cutting costs?  Would you be in favour of contracting out Toronto’s garbage collection and disposal services?

I’d like to tell you about a 7,500 square foot facility that includes a 4,000 square foot play area, athletic equipment, splash pools, non-skid athletic flooring, and soft beds for naps. This centre also has a spa onsite, training centre, boutique, and bakery. If I asked you to guess at what type of facility this is, what would you say? A spa/retreat of some sort? A daycare centre? A boarding school? What would you say if I told you that this is a fitness and spa centre for dogs?

I’m not making a joke. This is none other than the UrbanDog Fitness + Spa located at 37 Parliament Street. The UrbanDog opened in 2003 and their business has grown exponentially from just 2 clients to about 50 dogs every day. And you just can’t bring your pet to the UrbanDog. There is a screening process to access your dog’s suitability that involves a telephone interview and temperament screening. Approximately 20% of applicants are not admitted.

I just can’t get my head wrapped around doggie daycare used 5 days a week as one would use a child daycare facility. Places like the UrbanDog are great for the odd day here and there, but as a regular daycare, I just don’t get it. What do you think? Do you have a pet in 5 days/week daycare?

Follow the link below for all of the information that you and your pampered pooch will need.

http://www.urbandog.ca/index1.htm

Roots, ever the trendsetter, can now boast that it has Toronto’s first interactive window display at their 100 Bloor St. West location. iGotcha Media was the creator of this innovation in digital signage. This is a collaborative effort with Real World Communications managing the installation and maintenance of the Roots application.

In order to create this interactive window display, a 60-inch image is projected onto an interactive touch foil that is attached to the inside of the window. It is the foil that allows you to interface with the screen by touching the outside of the window. Touching the window gives you access to a menu of interactive options. When the interactive window display is not engaged, promotional videos are shown.

Interactivity is the key to engaging customers these days. Giving customers the ability to browse the merchandise and to make purchases from the store window 24/7 has the potential to capture the imagination of shoppers and to capture the impulse shopper. I’ll be interested to see the revenue generation figures of the interactive window display. Have you tried it yet? If so, did you buy anything?

They’re fed up and they won’t take it anymore! Tenants of Toronto’s social housing have launched a multimillion dollar class-action lawsuit against the city, the province, and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). The causes cited are rampant maintenance problems and necessary repair work not being carried out in their homes. In case you think that this is just a case of repairs not being carried out quickly, Josephine Mackie has been waiting for 17 YEARS for someone to fix her collapsing ceiling. Can you imagine the level of frustration that you’d reach after making hundreds of calls in 17 years and yet still you are ignored? With no other recourse left to her she became the first litigant in the class-action suit.

There are 165,000 tenants participating in the action and they are being represented by lawyer Sarah Shartal. She is seeking a payment of $1,000 for every tenant who’s had to wait more than two weeks for basic repairs, and an order for the TCHC to bring all of its buildings up to a state of good repair within six months. These repairs are not cosmetic. We’re talking about rodents, cockroaches, bed bugs, mould, doors that don’t lock, leaky roofs – all necessities to ensure a decent quality of life. Clearly these buildings are not up to code and yet they are getting away with it. How is this happening? How can we say that we live in a civilized society and then condemn our citizens to live in sub-human conditions? A society is judged by how it treats its citizens. What does this say about us?

The International Festival of Authors (IFOA) is taking place from October 17 – 27 at Harbourfront Centre, located at 235 Queens Quay West. None other than J.K. Rowling herself will be appearing at the Young IFOA on October 23^rd at 10:00 AM. In order to accommodate her legions of fans J.K. Rowling will appear at the Winter Garden Theatre with a seating capacity of 950. The Winter Garden Theatre is located at 189 Yonge Street. J.K. Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, take questions from the audience, and sign copies of the book for those in attendance.

There are NO tickets for sale. They can only be had by random draw at

http://www.raincoast.com/harrypotter/. Ten pairs of tickets will be drawn daily from September 17 – 28. Winners will be announced daily in the Harry Potter News on the Raincoast website. Every winner will receive two tickets to the event and a complimentary copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Although the J.K. Rowling appearance is putting the IFOA in the news, this festival has been around since 1980 and has a great reputation for bringing together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Those attending will have the opportunity to go to readings, interviews, lectures, round table discussions, public book signings, and special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize and Governor General’s Awards finalists, as well as the awarding of the prestigious Harbourfront Festival Prize. For more information call 416-973-4760,

e-mail readings@harbourfrontcentre.com or follow the link below

http://www.readings.org/?q=ifoa

Porter Airlines is enjoying a 20% month-over-month average growth since it began flying out of the Toronto City Centre Airport last October. In spite of the constant grumblings about noise, traffic, and pollution, the little airline that could seems to be making a success of it. And it is now in expansion mode. By the end of next year it expects to increase the size of its current fleet from 4 to 10 aircraft. As a result of the increase in passengers, it will add more arrival and departure gates.

The immediate plans are to triple the size of the passenger lounge which is already appointed with leather seats. Expected additions are a self-serve espresso maker, complimentary snacks, and complimentary beverages. In an effort to make the travel process as convenient as possible, particularly for Porter’s target market which is the business traveler, more computer work stations will be installed, equipped with free wireless Internet.  Porter will begin serving new destinations at the beginning of 2008, with 17 new cities in the works. New York will most likely be the first new US destination to be serviced by Porter Airlines.

I have not had the opportunity to fly Porter yet, but the reviews have been stellar. Have you flown Porter yet? If so, what is your opinion?