(Spotted from the corner of Yonge & Dundas on my way to the studio this morning)

After just having come back from a week of surfing in Nosara, Costa Rica (see photos on flickr here) @ Surf Simply, I've been inspired to take up regular yoga practice.  Its amazing how the rigour of an activity like surfing can remind you how important it is to ensure that your body is not only fit, but ahem, stretchy :)

I've heard of all the places BlogTO suggests in their 'best of' list but am wondering if anyone else has recommendations - please do comment below!  I'm looking for regular hatha (not hot/bikram madness) ideally near my house by the St Lawrence Mkt or by my studio over in Chinatown...

Thanks :)

A bunch of footage in this flick was shot @ the Centre for Social Innovation, where my office for Design Guru and Indian Electronica are; makes you proud to live here in the tdot I tell ya. :)

Its always tough to suddenly be forced indoors for day and night by cooling temperatures as we approach winter here in Canada.

Before fear of the frozen outside becomes a reality, I thought to brave the 0 degree temperatures this past Thanksgiving Saturday and take to High Park with my SLR to force-acclimatization and immerse myself in nature for a couple of hours of calm.

The full photoset is on flickr.

This year's Nuit Blanche was great; rather than exploring the city by a researched plan moving from one Zone to the next avec a bag full of snacky treats, booze, a video and still camera I winged it and joined friends - which made for a different (and less spooky) experience than last year.

Moving from my friend Rosemarie's studio in Yorkville (which entailed witnessing an impromptu strip'n'try-on clothes shopping bonanza [no, I was not the person stripping! ha!]), we headed down to Queen st, met up with my cousin Mikail, caught a wonderful musical show @ Magpie and then jumped back up to the Royal Conservatory - finishing up with an obligatory [chicken] hotdog before taxiing home to bury myself under my duvet until far too late on Sunday.

See the full flickr set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/qasimvirjee/sets/72157622515819892/

I just got back from the Koolhaus where Lee from Say Yeah and I saw Underworld rock the crowd live for just over an hour and a half, which felt like 5! Check photos I took with my celly on flickr:

A couple of weeks back I heard rumor in Toronto that a strike was about to start - supposedly city trash (and other) workers were disgruntled at their [measly? what what] 18 paid sick days per year and were threatening the City with not turning up for work until they got more etc...

I took off to Kenya just as this turned to a reality and have caught some mention via twitter and the web of the shocking news that trash has been uncollected downtown for 1 week!  Yikes!!!!

To help people get their garbage off the street/out of their houses (surely this all spells major health hazard!!), friends of mine @ the Fair Trade Jewellery store in Cabbagetown have banded together with War Child Canada; they pick up your refuse for a fee which is donated to the Non Profit Org - pretty smart stuff.

Read more / Follow tweets / Get your garbage picked up

*re-post from designguru.org

I just recently flipped the switch on a new online shop for my friends at JUMA - one of the premier Canadian fashion houses.

JUMA now sells pieces from their current and past collections for men and women through a storefront completely integrated with their Joomla-powered website (which web firm, Design Guru, designed and developed for them back in 2007).

See it in action (and go buy some great clothes) at:

http://www.juma.ca

ChangeCamp '09 from Mark McKay on Vimeo.

Photos from last night are up on flickr!  It was a fun time; I whipped up a costume that employed battery-powered LEDs;

- on my feet they provided uplighting along my legs

- on my head I wired a toque with 2 sets of 10 green LEDs on independant wires, powered by battery packs clipped to my waist - these lights could flicker at 2 speeds or be on/off.. I also clipped 3 directional bright white LEDs to the hat to shine onto my face,

- On my chest was the piece de resistance; a superbright 24 LED circle hung around my neck behind a plexiglass sleeve with a scary photo I sourced on flickr...
You can see a slideshow on the photo page here or jump into the flickr set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28963297@N08/sets/72157608565609374/