
Last Wednesday, HOK’s Toronto studio celebrated the summer months with a Great Gatsby themed staff event at the Island Yacht Club. There was plenty to do; croquet, badminton, bocce ball, and tennis…

… and even more to eat!

The day finished with a live performance by Sweet Thing; a five-piece Toronto band that plays music ‘to dance like a dork to’, fist pump and all!
Check out their debut video for ‘Dance Mother’


Congratulations to our …

It has been almost 36 days since the last time garbage has been picked up in the city of Toronto (Compare that to my hometown of Windsor, which has had a city strike going for over 15 weeks.). But nevertheless, it looks like the city and the union have stopped their bickering and are working toward amends.
For the people to the south, not only have we had to go through a city workers strike, but also a VIA (Amtrak equivalent) strike and a liquor strike (We only have Liquor Stores, and Beer Stores. Not gas stations, or drive through windows where you can get your beverage …
With the first long weekend of the summer past us and the warm weather ahead, I thought I would take the moment to discuss with all of you an argument I am sure to have this summer, because it happens every summer: women’s clothing.
For some reason, men’s summer business attire is pretty drab. In the winter months, it’s dark dress pants, light shirt; while in the summer, light pants, any colour shirt. I’m surprised Hallmark hasn’t created a greeting card to mark the occasion of changing of the different colour pants. It’s almost as if someone somewhere decided, that all men participating in the act of business need to dress the same to look ‘professional’. It’s a wonder why men …
As I was writing about appropriate internet usage at work, I thought of the best interview I’ve ever done as part of my job with HOK Advance Strategies.

We were working on a program of requirements for a federal bureau out in Denver, Colorado. Spending a few weeks in Denver over the summer with some of my favorite colleagues from the San Francisco office was pretty good in and of itself, but this interview simply made the trip.
A typical programming interview discusses things like headcount growth, need for special spaces, etc. We were heading in to our …