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Room with a View: The Rooftop Lounge @ The Park Hyatt

Photo courtesy of Flickr user wickenden.

Perhaps it's just me, but for all its myriad benefits, Toronto can occasionally feel as if it lacks a kind of shared, official history. It's that it's not there, of course; it's that the city's past often disappears from view, erased behind a sea of big-box stores, condos and skyscrapers. For better or worse, Toronto is a city relentlessly focused on the new and, as we wander around its streets, it can be hard to remember that it has existed in one form or another for a couple of hundred years.

Of course, lest you think I've become a history buff of some sort, I'm only bemoaning this fact because I wish there were more classic, historical bars in Toronto. By that, I suppose I mean the stuff of movie or Mad Men cliche: a place that's been around for a century, with a 'steakhouse vibe' of wood, leather and a fireplace, waitstaff in uniform and a sign on the door that says "no unaccompanied ladies or coloured people". Okay, so not that last bit. But the nostalgia of sitting in a place that has actually existed for more than a few years only adds to the ambiance so central to a good bar. It connects you to something, and more than simple nostalgia, it puts you into the trajectory of history. And 9 out 10 scientists agree - picturing yourself in a historical trajectory makes martinis taste better.

It was this feeling of the past and permanence that first struck me about the Rooftop Lounge at the Park Hyatt Toronto. Located at the corner of Bloor and Avenue, the bar is (at least by T.O. standards) steeped in a kind of anecdotal history. It has what you might loosely call a classic feel: a dark green carpet, dark wooden tables, low light and a fireplace circled by three sofas. For lack of a more descriptive term, it feels luxurious.

Settling into our table, the (uniformed) server - who was incredibly friendly and polite - gave us menus and, shortly thereafter, provided a complementary tray of spiced olives, vegetable crisps and warm roasted almonds (I know, right?). Given such swanky settings, the only appropriate drink seemed to be a martini, so we ordered up two of the gin variety, specifically requesting Hendricks. The drinks were excellent - just as cool and clear and refreshing as a gin martini should be.

But really, despite the fact that this is an exceptionally good bar, for me, the best thing about the entire experience was what lay outside: a small south-facing patio that looks out over the city's skyline. I have never been as impressed with Toronto as at that moment at the Lounge, and I'm kicking myself for not taking a camera. You really get a sense of both how large and how impressive Toronto is, and with the skyline about to expand with, quite literally, 15 or 20 major buildings going up in the next few years, the view will only continue to get better. As an added bonus, there are both heaters and tartan blankets (!) on the patio. I can only imagine how much better it would be in the summer.

Of course, all of this delightfulness comes with a cost - and how. The 'special request' martinis we had? Twenty. Five. Dollars. Yeah, I know. A cheap, regular beer like Heineken? Nine bucks a bottle. It's insane. Two drinks for two people can easily set you back a hundred dollars. Unless you're rolling in money - or someone else is picking up the tab - this is a place for one or two celebratory drinks on a special occasion, not a regular watering hole.

But if you do have something to celebrate, you could do a heck of a lot worse than this bar. It has a great atmosphere, excellent service and quality drinks. And though it is expensive - almost ludicrously so - now and again, it's worth stepping into history.

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Twitter Tutorial: Expanded/List Friend View

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Twitter Tutorial: View All List Pages

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Twitter Tutorial: View All Lists

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Koutsouras mountain view

     

Click here to download:

koutsouras-mountain-view-CmDfzyJEqqoxEygzopnp.zip (1784 KB)

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Gratitude

Today I'm grateful for the snow-topped foothills view from my living room.

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Want a view like this? Live at the Getty!

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

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11/14/09 STROLLING THRU DISNEYLAND, NICE MUSIC, WATER, VIEW, ATMOSPHERE

Click here to download:

video-2009-11-14-09-19-49.3gp (1012 KB)

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News Feed Driving You Crazy? Restore Facebook Status Updates to the Default (with Pictures)

Personally, I think this Live Feed - News Feed funny business is all about monetizing eyeballs. Maybe if you know most users won't bother to figure out how to customize their feeds and will receive exactly what you tell them is news...well, that surely sweetens the pot. Status Updates must be missing something though. Hmm... photos? apps?

Summary: Quick instructions and pictures how to to remove Facebook Live Feed and Restore Facebook Status Updates.   How to get your old Facebook back.   Here are a few easy steps to change your Facebook back to something similar to the old Facebook format.

Don’t like the new Facebook format that shows Live Feed and View News Feed?

Me either.

Facebook’s “News Feed” is now Facebook’s determination of what stories Facebook thinks you’ll most enjoy and based on your past history interacting with the site. Facebook makes this choice based on  how much activity and attention an item has seen (from friends commenting and liking it) and how likely Facebook thinks you might interact with that post. Here’s how to fix it…

Facebook’s new “Live Feed,” is theoretically the same real-time feed from your friends that you’re used to. If you scroll to the very bottom of the Live Feed Page, You can click “Edit Options” to set the frequency of feeds and adjust which friends you hear more and less from.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to click on “Status Update” at the top of the screen, but at least, theoretically, with the edit options set, you can restore your full flow of feeds.

Step 1: Click “Live Feed” at the top of the Facebook page to activate it.  Live feed is most like the original Facebook page.

Step 2: Use the right scroll bar to scroll to the bottom of the facebook home page.

Step 3: Click the “edit options” link to change the options for the Facebook Live Feed

Step 4: Change the “number of friends” setting to a high number to get all the new feeds.  Use the text boxes if you want to receive more messages from some friends and less from others.

More steps below for setting your default Facebook Home page.

.

FACEBOOK HOME (DEFAULT) APPLICATION

The application at the top of your Facebook list is the default screen when you visit Facebook or when you click the Facebook HOME link.  Use the steps below to choose which Facebook screen is at the top of your Facebook list.

1. Locate the LIST of Facebook options that are in the top left corner of your Facebook home screen
   
2. Click the “more” link at the bottom of the list
   
3. Click, then Drag to the top of the list, the application you want as  your starting, or “home” application
   
4. Click the “Home” link to activate your new default Facebook home page.

PICTURES:

By Chuck Eglinton

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And from Mashable...

The New, New, New Facebook: Hundres of Thousands Organize in Protest

Although the latest Facebook homepage changes seem relatively minor compared to some of the more drastic moves the company has made in the past, there are once again hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of users voicing their frustration.

The most visible group to emerge so far: “PLEASE GIVE US OUR OLD NEWS FEED BACK!” (caps and exclamation point included). The group will likely cross 500,000 members this morning, as more users catch wind of their friends joining it via the News Feed.

While much of the frustration seems like the usual anger and resistance to change you always see when any major website pushes a redesign, I have heard a few valid complaints about the new Facebook ():

1. The “Live Feed” isn’t all that live. Seemingly, you need to refresh to see new stuff, as there are no alerts when new content is available. That’s not completely true: if you’re viewing the “News Feed,” you’ll get alerts when new content is available, but that’s not immediately clear.

2. The “News Feed” isn’t very good. The goal of the feature is to be a digest of what’s important in your network, much like “Highlights” in the previous iteration. My own opinion: I’d give it a B- … most of the stories seem interesting, though nearly 24 hours old at this point. Given the “Live Feed” now includes more information and is hence more cluttered, it would seem the “News Feed” should be more up-to-date to emphasize important happenings.

3. Facebook didn’t give much warning about the changes. Unlike previous iterations where announcements were prominently placed on member homepages, Facebook seemingly just flipped the switch on this change without doing much to prepare users.

Facebook did address a number of issues that members had with the previous iteration by re-adding information like new friends of friends and changes in relationship status into the feed, and by moving events and birthdays back above the fold. However, those issues seem like they were light years ago and mostly forgotten.

The problem here seems to be that Facebook didn’t add much in the way of new and exciting, but rather just made a few incremental changes that make sense from a UI perspective, but once again frustrate and confuse those that are resistant to change (and don’t read Facebook’s blog … or Mashable ()).

Will it blow over? You have to think so given Facebook’s history of surviving far more significant revolts. Further, the issues with this latest change seem fairly easy for the social network to address with small tweaks to the product.

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Congratulations on your new company, new boss, self-employment, whatever.

Welcome and thank you for choosing our company to work with.

Being new here you have one unique awesome ability

that can get you to win over the old hands,

hands down. They cannot compete in this, ever.

Did you know?

You ...

right now...

...have a fresh view, unencumbered by habit, by customs,

by organizational inertia, and by shared history, however recent.

You may ask "why are we doing it this way?"

and expect an answer that works for you.

Or if you get no answer, you may have

gotten an old hand to think about new ways.

Use that gift of yours.

It tends to vanish over the months

as you accept the way things are done around here.

----

This is, roughly, what I tell every first workday of a month to a small group of new hires in the company.

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