Playback: November ’14

It’s December 17th. Oops. Better late than never.

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Dear friends, don't get food poisoning. #lifetips

— Sacha Gudmundsson (@sachagud) November 11, 2014

What started out as a fun weekend with my mom ended with me completely exhausted, unable to stand for more than a minute. It felt like everything inside my body decided it was time to aggressively search for freedom. Food poisoning my friends, not a good time. In two words, it was: the worst. It sure did take a while to get back to normal. Seriously, don’t get food poisoning.

Maybe it was naive of me but I didn’t realize I could get food poisoning as a vegan. I now know that, yes, yes it is possible. In the future, if a veggie burger doesn’t taste cooked, it probably isn’t and I shouldn’t eat it.

If there’s a plus side to this experience it’s that I now have Bob (sometimes referred to as Pukey Bob) thanks to my wonderful Frenchie.

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Icelandic Naturally hosted another round of Taste of Iceland bringing films, food and music to Toronto. I made my way to the Icelandic showcase with music from Uni Stefson, Young Karin, Hermigervill, and Retro Stefson at the Horseshoe Tavern which reached capacity at 9:30. What? I saw Hermigervill perform last year but wasn’t super into it, this year I could have danced all night to his music.

A couple members of Retro Stefson performed as well. Good times, give glow a listen.

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I continued crafting away during the month. Oh la la! Look at these pretty things!

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There were plenty of events happening with work this month. For fun, and to learn a little more about the fabulous women who work at TELUS, I attended the CHLOE awards. (Psst. CHLOE stands for Connections Honours Leaders of Excellence) Connections is a national initiative supporting the professional development of women at TELUS. That’s pretty fantastic isn’t it?

As a new team member @TELUS, I'm incredibly inspired by the women being honoured @ #CHLOEAwards. Excited to be surrounded by these women.

— Sacha Gudmundsson (@sachagud) November 12, 2014

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I worked the media sign-in desk for a TELUS Health Talks event, an educational series of lectures designed to bring an international healthcare perspective to the Canadian healthcare community. Dr. Farzad Mostashari delivered a fascinating lecture discussing health information technology infrastructure reform. Dr. Mostashari served as President Obama’s National Coordinator for Health Information Technology from 2011-2013 where he coordinated US efforts to build a healthcare reform and consumer empowerment with regards to health information technology infrastructure.

It’s fascinating to think about how health information technology could really change the game when it comes to health care, making things easier for the system through the use of technology, specifically when looking at electronic health records.

While this TEDMED talk is a little old, it’s still quite on point with what was discussed at the event.

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I’d been working on blogger outreach for Canadian We Days and was lucky to attend  We Day Waterloo… in Waterloo. It was my first time working behind the scences or attending an event like this. Throughout the day, I couldn’t help but have major flashbacks to grade 12 and the school club I was a part of working to raise money to build a school through Free the Children. I would have loved this event when I was in school, not that I didn’t love it now. It was fantastic. It’s also pretty wonderful to think that students are so dedicated to making local and international change. The only way to get a ticket to the event is through involvement.

TELUS, working with Free the Children developed an app called We365. It’s a one-stop-shop for youth to take action, providing a central hub to collect and track volunteer hours, encourage social activism and connect likeminded young people together. Plus, for every download, TELUS will give $5 in support of We Day and educational programs!

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I also attended a We Are Wearables event this month. We Are Wearables is an organization that brings together the tech community to discuss wearable technology. The event I attended was all about smartwatches, the challenge they face in adoption and the opportunities they present. It was a panel discussion with speakers from Motorola, Minuum, Onyx Motion and TELUS.

You should check out this blog post about the smartwatch trends to look for in 2015.

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Well… with December already over halfway done, I really should start working on it’s recap. I really need to work on getting these out in a more timely manner! I guess I’ll add this to my New Year’s resolutions.