Toronto, Ontario
Perfect Chinese Restaurant: New Year’s dinner to hear about father’s 40-day trip to Asia. One son absent in the U.S., but not the usual one. Normalcy from holiday season should return next week. (Perfect Chinese Restaurant, Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough, Ontario) 20180101Lifelabs: A series of waiting rooms for medical labs and clinics all in on morning is better than making multiple trips. Following through on previously-scheduled appointments was manageable with Uber rides, crutches and a found wheelchair at the hospital. (Lifelabs, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20180102Bissell Building: UToronto iSchool students self-organizing into teams who will lead presentation-facilitation in the Systems Thinking, Systems Design Information Workshop running for 6 weeks. Started lecture with student reading the syllabus on their phones and computers, due to AV issues with equipment in the room. (Bissell Building, St. George Street, University of Toronto) 20180110St. Michael’s Hospital: Switched to air cast from plaster splint after 19 days. Doctor said the Achilles tendon seems to be healing well, but can’t give strong diagnosis until next appointment, 31 days away. Changing from totally non-weight-bearing to being able to balance on toe. Can removed air cast for showers at night, but will be sleeping with two wedge inserts as treatment. The air chambers aren’t to be pumped up until wedges are removed. (St. Michael’s Hospital, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario) 20180115UToronto iSchool: Object Process Methodology presentation-facilitation led by UToronto iSchool students who described themselves as far from engineering types. Stepped through slides, then showed prepared example in Opcat software downloaded from Technion. They then further engaged the class by leading collaborative live modelling of a making a snowman. Showing the methods side in the Systems Thinking, Systems Design course. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20170117OCADU: Strong turnout for @sophiesanniti on Behaviour Change for Climate Change, Systems Thinking Ontario 53rd monthly meeting, first of the year. Early research into Terror Management Theory, derived from Ernest Becker (1973) Denial of Death. (Lambert Lounge, OCADU, McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario) 20170117UToronto iSchool: Idealized Design presentation-facilitation by UToronto iSchool students, with detailed review of Interactive Planning. Classic Ackoff story of “the telephone system of the United States was destroyed last night”. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180124UToronto iSchool: Soft Systems Methodology presentation-facilitation by UToronto iSchool students, teasing with Bitcoin story. Breakout groups tried developing rich pictures, trying out methods is different from learning about theory. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180124SystemsThinkingTO: History of systems @sregoczei #SystemsThinkingTO @DerailleurAgile moderating. Chart includes Ludwig von Bertalanffy as father of general systems theory, ISSS past presidents Kenneth Boulding, Anatol Rapoport, Ilya Prigogine. Meetup group hadn’t appreciated Toronto is a hub of systems research in the world, extended welcome to visit at Systems Thinking Ontario. (LoyaltyOne, King Street East, Toronto) 20170126Hogtown Vegan: Dinner was meatless, but western comfort food may only be slightly healthier. Unchicken soy had texture of meat, cheese on nachos had a convincing feel. Gluten-free menu available as an extra step. Indulged on desserts that we normally can’t enjoy. (Hogtown Vegan, Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20180127Bad Dog Comedy Theatre: Theatresports final competition, Odin’s Song won Globehead trophy in fourth year of trying, celebrated by being impaled to return to Asgard. Family event, small venue, improvised performances a test of quick wits. (Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario) 20170127UToronto iSchool: Viable System Model presentation-facilitation by UToronto iSchool students. Exercise mapping Systems 1 to 5 with a city government example, puzzling through some distinctions made in the original case study. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180131UToronto iSchool: Resilience in Social Ecological Systems presentation-facilitation by UToronto iSchool students. Scripted participatory theatre with students around a riverbank set playing Nepalese residents, cows, dogs and doctors from Martin Bunch’s 2016 SRBS article on zoonotic disease. (UToronto iSchool, Bissell Building) 20180131
