So over the last year and a half, I’ve gotten busy and kinda let gtablogers.com die a slow death. I dropped the ball and let things slide way way down. Well it’s not quite dead yet, and we are looking at rebuilding it in the next couple of months, bigger and even better than before. Aside, from being able to surf through an extensive blogroll of Toronto blogs, the GTABlogger community provided two things, which I’m officially bring back a) Regular Social Get Togethers and b) and Active Mailing List.

I know this is short notice for most, but quite a few of you have known about this for awhile now. We are having a Pub Night at the Duke of York TONIGHT.

GTABloggers Pub Night – March 2007
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

6:00pm – 11pm
Duke of York
39 Prince Arthur Ave.
Toronto, ON
Reservation is under GTAbloggers.

The second announcement is the opening of the GTABloggers google group.
http://groups.google.com/group/gtabloggers

The old list used to be a great resource to ask about various things about the city, ie recommendations for places to eat, buy things etc. I hope the Google group will grow to be something similiar to the old mailing list.

Yesterday, we were down at Queen’s Park for the annual Word on the Street. This year I was on the panel discussion, Blogging Toronto which was moderated by Spacing Magazine’s Matt Blackett. Also on the Panel were Alexa Clark representing Cheap Eats, Sarah Hood from Unknown Toronto and Tim Shore from BlogTO.

Alexa Clark and Matt Blackett

It’s amazing how quickly a hour goes by. There was a lot of discussion about community and how blogging has progressed. But I walked away from the panel feeling like I had more to say.

Sarah Hood

We talked about how Blogging has changed my life. And I guess what wasn’t hit home was the fact that for most bloggers, this is something that they do above and beyond their regular 9 to 5 job, which doesn’t make us any different from non bloggers. Blogging just happens to be a tool for us express ourselves through words and pictures to a broader audience.

As humans we all have stories to tell, whether fantastical or mundane, but what we don’t have are all the resources to publish a book to share them with the world. Blogging has enabled the general public to share their stories, their opinions, their work. The value of course isn’t in the single voice of one blogger, but in the collected work of many. This is what makes the Toronto blogging and photoblogging community special. As a collective, we create a picture of the city showing off a multidimensional view of what Toronto is all about.

Tim Shore

You can see other posts and photos from the panel over at these links.

PS: I also learned that in order to be a true blogger in Toronto, I need to write about Chocolate Eclairs.

Come down to the Tranzac tonight where Torontoist will be throwing a back to school partay! This will be like a farewell party for me, as I will be leaving the Torontoist family. I just haven’t had the time to give it the attention it deserves from me.

Earlier this year, Matchstick approached a number of bloggers about their opinions on buy and using technology, more specifically cellphones. Back in June, they started seeding Nokia 6682 cellphones to bloggers both in Toronto and Vancouver handing out approximately 60 phones to date.

There are still about 30 phones left up for grabs to Canadian bloggers. Their efforts have moved to the Montreal and Calgary markets, but they are also willing to look at Ottawa, Edmonton and Halifax if the right candidates present themselves.

Here is the criteria that Matchstick is looking for.

* Hosts a popular blog with 400+ visits a day
* Between the ages of 22-35
* Keeps his/ her blog updated on a regular basis with pictures and video
* Very socially active
* Must currently be on the ROGERS network with their current phone.
* Lives in one of the above mentioned cities

If you know anyone who fits this and is interested in a free phone upgrade drop me a line and I can put them in touch with the appropriate people.