Local Magazine

My Web Guys Rock!!!!

Sarah — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:18:58 +0000

Wow!!! How cool is it to work on something for months and then to see it in action!!!! I’ll tell you how cool – it’s VERY cool!!!! Relish Interactive, and more specifically Sacha Raposo and Steve Palmer have been working diligently on the second evolution of Local’s website since the Fall and boy have they ever outdone themselves. These were the brains responsible for the original local site but with this second phase, we’ve really brought the interactivity level up and have moved Local into the future, never mind 2012. It’s thrilling to see it all happening after so much discussion and so much of their hard work. In particulay, I’m excited to learn more about you in the data capture; happy to reward you for sharing your information with us by way of the great prizes put up by our advertisers; happy to be in the Twitterverse (well I’m actually not quite there yet but give me a week) for now we’re following our advertisers and friends of the magazine; check out our revised events section where we’ll be posting photos from local events – these will also spool on our slideshow on the home page. All entries are now facebook friendable and fully sharable so please feel free to like the stories you like on facebook – it all just helps to spread the word about all the words in Local. THANKS RELISH!! YOU ROCK!!

Foiled by Fall!!!

Sarah — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:29:50 +0000

Argh – it had all been going so smoothly. Too smoothly I guess. In publishing, particularly in the last week when the issue heads over to the printer there are many, many, many things that can go wrong; however, once we got to prepress, the issue sailed through the printer’s steps and I received it first thing this morning, in time for the first day of Fall and was thrilled at the thought that we had had such great timing – perfect I thought. I should have touched wood since about an hour after my smug thoughts as I sat here getting the website updated to include and reflect the new Fall content, down came the rain and still, down it comes. Now had I thought to print this issue on plastic, I might be out there right now but, as it stands, to take paper out into this very wet first afternoon of Fall would not go very well I’m afraid so instead, I’m sitting here watching the weather for signs of a break. None yet. Worst case scenario tomorrow morning is supposed to be clear so it can be my plan B but I’m sure I’ll get out for a bit today and at least get started. I’m reminded of years ago when I used to teach tennis and would sit and watch the rain to try to figure out if I’d be working that day or not – first at Kew Gardens when I taught the junior program there for many years, and then out in Vancouver where I lived for possibly the wettest summer they’ve ever had. I literally only made it on court twice in six weeks!!! In any case, back to the present, I will get out there as soon as possible but expressions such as “come hell or high water” and “weathering the storm” come to mind and are taking on new meaning as this afternoon rolls on – my smooth day foiled…by fall.

Still Working on Summer Site Content

Sarah — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:24:27 +0000

Hello readers who took the time to visit the site and thought to check the blog – I wonder how many of you there are??? Next issue we’ll know since we’re doing some cool upgrades to the site. Anyway, I was trying to post all the content this morning and last night but we were having a few server issues with the site content management – argh – so…I’ll be back at it tonight and for those of you who are here already – GOOD ON YOU!!!! but please do me a favour and come back again over or after the weekend. By then we should be full operational and surfing here will be more rewarding as a result. Sorry about the delay but we really wanted to get the issue on the street and since you wouldn’t even be here without it, we saw it as the priority and are heading out to spend the day distributing rather than typing away here. By Monday you’ll have stories and links, events, and more advertisers and distribution points. And by September hopefully I’ll have a web person on board to babysit this stuff for me so that you don’t need to read these delay notes on my blog. Have a great summer day – its a beauty out there. sarah

Spring Sports Issue Content asap

Sarah — Thu, 19 May 2011 14:04:23 +0000

Hello hello!! We are getting the Spring Sports issue out on the street today and tomorrow in advance of the long weekend. The web content however, is a tad delayed and will be coming throughout next week. We’ll have a few stories posted this week before the long weekend but the rest will follow so please be sure to check back for more details about your favourite stories including web links, photos and more context about how the story came to be. We’ll be educating you going forward about how to better use our site since it is built to receive all your comments on each story. Anyway, first things first, we need to load up the content for you to comment on and that will be done going into next week. Like the spring this year, the spring issue has been somewhat slow to sprout. We hope it was worth the wait. Have a great long weekend and talk or type with you soon.

Blue Heron Morning

Sarah — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:43:50 +0000

As per usual has been too long since I”ve been here. As per not usual, I saw a blue heron at the Beach this morning – flew right over me. Always so cool to see them in the City and who knows if this one is heading north – maybe to my cottage? or planning to live around these parts. Apparently there are a few blue heron colonies within flying distance of the City. I found that out from my good bird-brained friends at the TRCA. I’m going to be joining them for their Bird Festival May 14th at Tommy Thompson park. They do tours, bird banding, have presentations – it should be fun. Last week at the beach I go to, I saw two black crowned night herons up – a male and female sitting quietly in trees right beside me. Hopefully they’re thinking of living there since it was very cool to be so close and see them at rest and in a tree instead of along the lake’s edge where you might expect to see them. I learned about these birds in a past issue of Local – again thanks to the birders at TRCA. Hope you’ll join us and the birds for the Spring Migration Festival at the entrance to Tommy Thompson Park – should be fun for the entire family – might even turn you into a bird nerd as it did to me sarah

no movers & shakers this issue

Sarah — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:36:39 +0000

Hello there readers. Not sure how many of you will connect these dots but in the issue I’ll be putting out on the street tomorrow – Green for Saint Patrick’s Day – we don’t have our movers & shakers page. I meant to address this in my Editor Letter but didn’t have space. Basically although we spoke to several businesses about joining this page in this issue, NONE of them followed up and, given I was pressed for space, I decided to give their page to an advertiser since none of them was doing much shaking. I enjoy that page but it is a lot of work to put together once you gather all the writeups, photos and contact info – so, I figured if they wern’t moving and shaking, why bother??? We’ll try to have it back in there for the next issue though since it is a helpful section in terms of pointing people to the new kids on the block.

Arcade Fire and Inspiration

Sarah — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:53:46 +0000

Listening to Arcade Fire and so proud of what they pulled off at the Grammy’s the other night – and not because I’m surprised or feel that they are at all undeserving of the acclaim they found – but quite the opposite, it was just so wonderful to see a band with such REAL talent get recognized. I saw them at the Island this past summer and they truly did rock. And I think my favourite thing about Arcade Fire is that they are still genuinely so enjoying their ride and the recognition and their thrill is blatant and palatable and wonderful to behold. I just want to wish them so many congratulations. Oh, and by the by, did you hear they’re opening for U2 out East in U2′s only stop this summer???? This entry may seem a little random but I am inspired by watching this band achieve the recognition they deserve. I’m proud of them and thank them for all the enthusiasm they’ve built in me this year through their inspired and innovative music. They’ve lit more than a few fires at Local.

Happy Belated New Year!!!

Sarah — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:21:50 +0000

Well hello there. Happy 2011!!!!!!! We are finally about to hit the street with our New Year’s issue and are excited about this one – it has a lot of interesting content in it about people sharing ideas via publishing, music dates, and good old fashioned conversation. Our website is only half way built out as of me leaving to go out and distribute the magazine but we’ll get the rest up there over the weekend since our own New Year’s resolution for the business is to stay on top of the very robust website we’ve built so that you can be more connected to our stories, local events and our advertisers and distributors who help us get Local in your hands. Things are finally rolling for 2011 – it took awhile to get going and we’re a bit late hitting the street as a result but we appreciate your patience and look forward to bringing you more great content for 2011 – starting with Ideas – keep your eyes open for the new issue on the street and please share with a friend for Valentine’s Day.

Bits and Bites and Bites

Sarah — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:27:40 +0000

My poor computer!!! I’ve filled up its brain and today have to take it to boost its brain. I guess the 8500 photos I have in my iphoto finally proved too much. Or maybe its the photos from the ten issues we’ve pulled together for Local thus far. This latest holiday issue had SO many moving parts – ads, advertorials, photo shoots for both, many new writers, many stories, many images – it was lots of fun to pull together but more parts than it appears and more than most issues. Of course we hope you’ll enjoy it and shop Local to support our local businesses. This entry though is to let you know that we havn’t finished building out our website for this issue yet – its just that we’ve had to take a break while we build up our computer’s brain so…bear with us for a few days and we’ll have the entire content up and running. Blog too – this poor blog has been suffering from a lack of attention but we have big plans at Local for 2011 and a few more hands on deck so that we can do a better job of bringing you all our bits and bites.

Weather Phenomenon

Sarah — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:59:26 +0000

Well, we have made a commitment to more consistent web presence for Fall and from here on in; however, it is Friday September 24th and 30 degrees. So, while the plan for the day had been to upload the web content for this issue – unfortunately, the balmy temperatures are calling us down to the Beach instead. Apologies but we will get the content uploaded through the weekend for anyone who is checking in. Hope you too are able to enjoy this stunner of a day and we look forward to sharing stories about the creation of our Inspired issue over cooler days this coming weekend. We were too inspired by the day to sit still.