The South Bayview Bulldog

Our friend Eva Gordon, creator of the much loved Bunny Baby Plate, has opened a new shop at 185 Avenue road, just north of Davenport. Homefront is a popular source for the pink or blue polka dot divided plate. Pallet displays Eva’s stunning array of fruit and vegetable ceramic pieces. Her work is for sale at the Bellagio Gift Shop in Las Vegas. Pallet’s number is 416 484 1883.

NEWS RELEASE — (edited) — Next July will see a huge convention arriving in Toronto. Microsoft Corporation has announced that its Worldwide Partner Conference will meet in Toronto in 2012. Precise dates are Monday July 9 to Friday 13. 2012. More than 15,000 people are expected to attend the Toronto conference, representing technology companies in 130 countries. While the main hubs of the action will be the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and the Air Canada Centre, many other venues will be involved as 500+ events take place during the conference and at least 32 hotels across the Toronto region will host delegates. “Winning a prestigious meeting, for such a widely admired company, is not only a boost to the local economy but a testament to Toronto’s ability to host major events,” said David Whitaker, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto, which submitted the winning bid along with provincial and local partners. Microsoft Corporation’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference attracts more than 15,000 delegates,” said Eric Gales, General Manager, Microsoft Canada.

Flashback picture from April, 2011, will recall for readers the really heart-rending case of Cathy Anagnostopoulos, a Leaside mom who needed a stem cell donor to help her battle Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Where to find help? There were thousands in the search and the four young ladies above got out on South Bayview to assist their friend’s mom one Sunday. Now comes word that a matching donor has been found and treatments have begun to try to restore Cathy to good health. She has been interviewed by InsideToronto.com with some interesting thoughts on the news of a match and her ongoing challenge. Here.

Couche Tard (the Night Owl) is that enterprising corner store chain based in Quebec which seems to operate just about everywhere. Most notably for those in South Bayview-land, you patronize Couche Tard when you dash into the On the Run store in the Esso Self Serve at Mount Pleasant and Millwood. Yesterday Couche Tard released it results and predicted gloomily that Canadians are becoming penny-pinchers when they shop.

Our story of yesterday about the Nextbus.com GPS tracking of TTC vehicles will have been old news for some. And yet this newly adapted technology has caught many tech-savvy people both young and old by surprise. Even with 25-year-olds, it’s made the TTC cool. Nextbus doesn’t do a thing that’s really new but its functionality is so useful. Our friends quickly checked to see if there was a Nextbus app. There was — already on their iPhones. When activated it located the phone and automatically downloaded relevant stops and bus times. So, the lady above would be outside the Sunnybrook Plaza on Eglinton at Bayview. The picture on her phone tells her that the westbound Eglinton East bus is Due. It’s sitting there with doors open.