Friday, May 31, 2013

#Toronto Pro SuperShow 2013

Canada's largest fitness exposition @TOProSuperShow brings the buff back into town with an exciting lineup of fitness, physique, bikini and bodybuilder competitions. The tanning spray and body oils are at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre North Halls from Friday, May 31 till Sunday, June 2, 2013.


The exhibition floors have plenty of fitness, clothing and nutrition vendors along with boxing, wrestling, crossfit, power and weight lifting as well as other sporting demonstrations. On Friday I caught the IFBB Women's Fitness, Bikini, Physique Judging and the IFBB Men's Physique Judging.


Tomorrow has arm-wrestling, weightlifting, wrestling, MMA and Strongman competitions along with more of the IFBB Women's events - Bodybuilding and Figure prejudging along with Men's IFBB events and the model searches - Oxygen Fitness, REPS! Men's Fitness and the MuscleMag Bikini preliminary rounds on the Expo Stage. Many of the finals are on Sunday.

For coverage of the 2013 Expo Stage events see my posts:

IFBB Women's Bodybuilding Competition
IFBB Womens's Figure Competition
Oxygen Fitness Model Search
MuscleMag Bikini Model Search
IFBB Men's Bodybuilding 2012 Competition
Men's Fitness REPS! Model Search
IFBB Men's Physique Competition

See more after the jump.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Flowers in the rain

We had late spring frost, April showers that continued into late May - it's time for some summer in #Toronto!
drops of water hang from the petals of the large flowers

Cat on a hot tin roof

Looking for little birds! A pair of birds have made their nest in the rafters of a large metal clad shed. The babies have hatched and the parents are on continuous duty supplying food to the squawking youngsters (little guys are probably promising that they will clean their rooms any day now). One day a cute little cat appeared over the opening to the nest.
Once the cat left the baby birds got their food

The parents saw the cat and the young birds were strangely silent while the cat hovered over the nest. I don't think he really heard or saw the chicks. Finally the cat left, for now.
Waiting in the trees, with food in beak, for the cat to leave
A composite photo of the peaceful scene

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Om T.O. Summer Solstice Yoga Classes

Yogis unite for inaugural Om T.O. in Toronto’s Distillery District for a day of free outdoor yoga on Friday, June 21, 2013. The event for all yoga skill levels was inspired by the thousands who take part in the Mind Over Madness in Times Square, New York. Classes are 40 minutes and will be taught by top yoga instructors in the city from 10 am to 6 pm - bring your own mat and enjoy the longest day of the year in the fascinating and historic neighbourhood. You can check out the schedule and register at the event website.

The yoga celebration is in support of Colon Cancer Canada and minimum $10 donations are suggested. "For those who wish to make a larger pledge, corporate teams, families, groups and individuals can reserve a mat in advance: $300 for the morning (five classes from 10 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.), $400 for the afternoon (six classes from 1:35 p.m. to 6 p.m.) or $600 for the whole day (11 classes from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Teams who reserve their mat for the whole day are able to keep it; other mats will be raffled off to attendees. Mats are donated by Lululemon Stores in the GTA."

“It was a personal decision on my part to include Colon Cancer Canada as the charity partner for Om T.O,” said Jamie Bussin, founder and publisher of Tonic Magazine and co-creator of Om T.O. “Before becoming the publisher of Tonic, I worked alongside my father as a commercial litigation lawyer. After he suffered through many illnesses including colon cancer, my father told me to fix my poor health before it was too late. It was then that I decided to become fit; I lost over 50 pounds, changed my lifestyle and started the magazine, through which I support Colon Cancer Canada in memory and in honour of my father.”

Vendors, coupons, samples and free beverages will be available on site for participants: Studio 2 Yoga, Eve's Leaves, Rosedale Wellness Centre, Yogaga and MWL Jewelry. Participating studios include the following.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

X Marks the Spot in #Toronto

A little sign of the times. I dug all day and couldn't find any treasure!
It's a pirate party


America, America, America....

Lions at the library
MsRS

Future Frogs of #Toronto

Island ponds fill with untold numbers of little tadpoles, swimming in little circles, looking for a princess to kiss. If they all grow into frogs the city will be overrun with hopping little kermits.


I wonder if they are food for seagulls?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Discovery Ontario Centres of Excellence

#ocediscovery 2013 brings together brilliant minds during Canada's largest innovation showcase at the Metro #Toronto Convention Centre. The May 27-28 event continues their tradition as Canada's Best Trade Show (2010 and 2011) by combining industry, academia, investment and government to facilitate research, showcase new developments and technologies which will lead to more innovation and, in many cases, into full scale product manufacturing.
PaperTab

OCE Discovery has over 400 exhibitors within the South Building of the convention centre. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne opened the showcase during a tour of the 200,000 square foot show floor (photo at top). The provincial leader was focusing on the over 20 Northern Development companies attending, but was sorry she missed seeing the smile initiative and loved the chocolate 3D printer.
3D Chocolateering from the University of Waterloo

The trade show floor was divided into several unique areas of expertise: the Health Zone, Digital Zone, Manufacturing Zone, Clean Tech Zone, Academic Zone, Young Entrepreneurs Zone, Regional Partners and Government & Professional Services. Some of the highly anticipated displays included the chocolate 3D printer, PaperTab - the flexible paper-thin tablet computer and the MUSE brain sensing headband.
Dr. Tom Corr and Premier Wynne
Dr. Michael Nobrega
The Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario speaks at the conference

Dr. Tom Corr, President and CEO of OCE, Michael Nobrega, Chair of the OCE Board and President & CEO of OMERS and Premier Kathleen Wynne made introductory speeches on the Monday, May 27th opening, followed by keynote speaker Dr. Peter Diamandis. Peter is the chair of the X Prize who spoke of disruptive innovation and of our ability to influence a billion people as the world becomes more global while technology explodes exponentially.
Keynote speaker Dr. Peter Diamandis
"Dr. Peter Diamandis is the chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, which leads the world in designing and launching large incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. Diamandis is also an international leader in the commercial space arena, having co-founded and run many leading entrepreneurial companies, including Zero Gravity Corporation, the Rocket Racing League, and Space Adventures. As co-founder and chairman of Singularity University—a Silicon Valley-based institution partnered with NASA, Google, Autodesk, and Nokia—Diamandis counsels the world’s top enterprises on how to utilize exponential technologies and incentivized innovation to dramatically accelerate their business objectives."
MUSE
The non-profit Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) was created in 1987 and funded by the Province of Ontario to connect research and industry to fully utilize new data and developments, driving Ontario into a better position to compete globally with a highly skilled, knowledge based economy. Originally seven independent centres of excellence were merged into the OCE in 2004. They seek to know what is needed and what is new! These questions and the connections were designed to forge partnerships and improve communications between research and industry to allow for leading-edge products that have the greatest economic and positive social impacts in Ontario. High school and post-secondary students are also embraced as the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

A number of theatres were spread throughout the convention centre to allow for interactive panels, round-tables and programming during the annual conference and trade show. The showcase had a number of interesting features including the 'Brain Zone', 'Ask an Expert', 'Book a Meeting', 'Make your Pitch' contest for students and the career zone and mobile innovations. The Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) announced recipients of OCE-OBI entrepreneurship fellowships which help to support the discoveries of methods and technologies that diagnose, treat or cure brain disorders.

See more OCE photos after the jump.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Doors Open #Toronto

Exploring the unusual, beautiful or free as part of the 2013 @Doors_OpenTO event. Checked out only a few of the many attractions including the Elgin Theatre and Massey Tower live on Yonge.



Massey Tower

Anime North 2013

@Anime_North 2013 from Friday, May 24 to Sunday, May 26 at the #Toronto Congress Centre with thousands of anime fans in cosplay. Watching so many of the visitors wearing fantastic costumes is great fun. This is a big, MEGA big, picture post.

















See more pictures after the jump.

Doors Open

Scarborough Bluffs

Pride

Redball

Beaches

Graffiti

Lake Ontario

Nathan Phillips Square

Transportation