It’s official! We took second place in The Ninjamatics’ 2011 Canadian Weblog Awards in the category of Arts & Culture Blog. Lots of East Coast bloggers made the shortlist and went on to win in their respective categories. Take a second to visit the site for a full list of the winners. Thanks again to my co-blogger Lauren Oostveen and to all of you readers for your support. We’ve got more bloggers on the site this year, focusing on the Coffee Q&A series but expect occasional posts about living on the East Coast still.

Remember that unconference that was held last year where a whole bunch of bookworms converged on St. Mary’s to talk about publishing? Well, it’s happening again AND on the same weekend as Word on the Street. That’s two full days of bookish delights.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, BookCamp Halifax is a free event where experts from the publishing world facilitate conversations that are directed by YOU the audience. Everyone has an equal opportunity to voice an opinion or experience. Registration is open. And everyone who attends the event is eligible to win an eReader, generously donated by Kobo!

I’ll also be co-hosting the CKDU 88.1 FM Book Club on Tuesday, September 20 with Stephen Patrick Clare from 1:30 to 2:30. We’ll be talking about BookCamp, Word on the Street, and all things publishing. Catch us live or streaming online and submit your questions which we’ll take via email or Twitter (@AliasGrace and @Top100Books).

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you’ll have probably already heard the big news: I gave my letter of notice to the CBC. For many of you this will come as a significant surprise since I’ve always considered this gig to be my dream job. Books, blogging, social media, and online community? I’ve been in literary heaven. You may even remember me lamenting the loss of my dream job in the summer of 2009 (as the result of budget cutbacks).

Hello, Goodbye

Well, the time has come to move on to another opportunity where I’ll learn new things and grow my career. At the end of the month you’ll be looking at the digital and online coordinator for Nimbus Publishing. It’s got everything I want in a job plus the added bonuses of learning about ePublishing AND working with an East Coast company to showcase East Coast talent. A big win in my books.

I don’t see this as closing a door though. The CBC provided me with almost five years of great experiences working with talented people, many of whom I consider very close friends (even though they all work far, far away in Toronto). If the chance came up to work there again at some future crossroads, I’d certainly consider it. But for now I’m opening up another door and seeing what’s on the other side. I hope you’ll join me there.

You can follow Nimbus Publishing on Facebook or on Twitter @NimbusPub.

As promised here’s some of the footage Lauren and I took at Podcamp Halifax 2011. Since we don’t have a video camera at East Coast By Choice, we relied on the kindness of my colleague Jonathan (a.k.a. @jderouchie) who let us borrow an iPod Touch. The results were kind of mixed depending on the room we were in so, for the most part these are just clips.

Although we were able to get about half an hour of Giles Crouch’s fantastic session on the State of Social Media in Atlantic Canada, it’s too large a file to share on Vimeo or YouTube. If there are any video gurus out there who know how I might be able to compress the file, please drop me a line and I’ll share the video. Here’s the online version of the report from Media Badger.

Here’s Lauren getting some social media oatmeal from Chris Campbell’s session.

And, finally, one of the best attended sessions was Maria McGowan’s ROI of social media. Here’s the SlideShare.

Lauren & I had an awesome time at Podcamp Halifax 2011 this weekend.

The sessions, as always, were all over the place. We talked about augmented reality (3D dressing room anyone?), oatmeal, the state of social media in Atlantic Canada, and more!

Lauren recaps her day here:

I talk about my biggest takeaway here:

Later this week, we’ll post some videos we captured from the sessions we attended along with related events.

In the meantime, we leave you with this:

Lauren as @KanyeWest

In case you missed last week’s show, Shelagh Duffet (@AliceinParis) and Gail Lethbridge (@giftedtypist) were interviewed by CBC Information Morning’s Lisa Roberts. Listen to what they have to say about Halifax Chicks and the technology that brings them together.

Tech-savvy women put the social in social media

BookCamp Toronto. The reason why BookCamp Halifax came to be. Yes, I’m writing yet another entry about this unconference. My blog, my rules.

Photo credit: LexnGer from Flickr

I promise I’ll keep it short though. The great thing about the unconference model is that you get to hear from a wide range of people interested in a certain topic, not just from the speaker. The first session I got to was midway through Michael Tamblyn’s from Kobo. It was legendary. Not just because of his speaking style but because he was serving a variety of wine. At 10:30 in the morning..!

The next session was by far my favourite, but I co-facilitated two sessions in the afternoon so missed out on other sessions. In any case, Ashleigh Gardner rocked the conversation about geolocation and books. Participants discussed QR Codes and augmented reality. If you’ve never heard of QR Codes, check out this cool video ad for a publisher that put together a “living book.”

Some other interesting projects using geolocation:
Phantom City — a public art project that uses digital devices to transform cities into a living museum. There’s an iPhone app that allows users to learn about never-realized designs.
The Miraculous Bench — a venue on Foursquare where writers can contribute to flash fiction.
The Clock Without A Face — in conjunction with a printed book, 12 emerald-studded numbers have been buried in 12 holes across the United States and readers are charged with finding them.

Of course, I have to give props to the bloggers who shared the panel discussion on Canada Reads:
Jen Knoch of The Keepin’ It Real Book Club and Civilians Read
Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This and Canada Reads 2010: Independently
Steven Beattie of Quill & Quire and That Shakespearean Rag (he also sat on the panels for Canada Also Reads and Canada Reads 2010: Independently)

And to co-facilitators of the online communities session:
Tan Light of Random House
Meg Mathur of Indigo

Funniest moment personally: the audible reaction when, after being introduced by my real name, I added my online handle of @AliasGrace. It made me feel internet famous. In a good way.

Don’t forget to register for BookCamp Halifax, taking place on June 5. Let’s bring the great discussion about books in a digital age to the East Coast! Register here and tell your friends! The event is 100% free.

Can you start a conversation about books, writing, reading, or related topics? BookCamp is coming to Halifax and we’re looking for people to lead unconference style sessions. Think of it like PodCamp only catering to bookworms. It’s not just for insiders though. We’re looking for bloggers, writers, readers, etc.

Drop me a line by e-mail at kimberly.aliasgrace [at] gmail [dot] com if you’re interested.

To register for the event, which takes place on Saturday June 5 at St. Mary’s University, please RSVP on EventBrite.

Or something like that.

If you travel over to the CBC Book Club today you’ll notice a pretty fabulous contest that’s inspired by the mash-up trend mixing public domain books with the likes of zombies, vampires, androids, etc. Here’s an example that I created for the Book Club with a hat tip to Costas Halavrezos, Ben Boudreau and Eric Rountree for their help.

Oh, and the dachshunds. Let’s not forget the dachshunds.

For years Cokebaby and his male friends have been lamenting the lack of a place to get southern BBQ. Recently, within months of each other, two new restaurants that fit the bill opened up in the city. For the most part, I don’t post negative reviews here. If I don’t like a restaurant, you simply won’t find it among my food reviews. Unfortunately, one of the two in this comparison didn’t make the grade so please bear with me.

First up is Boneheads BBQ located in the South End on Barrington Street. It’s a tiny little spot tucked away near Point Pleasant Park. Simple decor, friendly staff, with food that’s stick to your ribs yummy. Cokebaby and I were waiting for another couple for dinner when we ordered some onion rings to start. Just as advertised they’re big, crispy, golden & hand battered ($5.49). Deep fried perfection.

When they arrived, one of the friends ordered the shredded BBQ chicken sandwich: smoked chicken pulled off the bone, served on a soft roll ($5.99).

Two of us, including me, had the Pulled Pork BBQ Plates: served with cornbread, cole slaw & two more sides of our choice ($13.99). I had the potato salad and pit beans. The entire meal was delicious but I wound up packing half of it for lunch the next day. I know, I know. Eyes bigger than belly. Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the cole slaw because it was kind of sweet but everyone else seemed to enjoy theirs.

Cokebaby went with the rib combo plate: half slab of pork back ribs plus your choice of one BBQ meat ($20.99). He chose pulled chicken with mac & cheese and dirty rice as his sides. Again, no complaints.

Other side offerings include: garden salad, hand cut fries, sweet potato chips and chili. At the table is a variety of delicious bottled sauces which are also sold separately. Although there’s plenty of pop and juices to choose from, we decided to go with Propellor Beer to wash it all down.

To have with leftovers the next day we took out a peach cobbler that’s served with vanilla ice cream and caramelized pecans ($3.99). It was simple but spectacular at the same time.

Overall, the pulled meats at Boneheads are far superior to Q’s. I’d argue the potato salad is as well unless you like crunchy bits of pepper in yours.

Photo credit: theogeo from Flickr

Next up: Q Smokehouse and Southern Barbecue (@Q_BBQ).

So, have you ever had a food service experience so bad that you’re kind of embarrassed for the people working behind the counter? Well, that’s how I felt coming out of the dinner experience at this establishment.

Right from the start, the setup for ordering food seems like it’s lacking proper flow. There’s a metal cordon to divert the queue. I had a feeling we were on the wrong side of it but the line had already formed and there was no signage to steer us. As a result we wound up too close to the tables so that patrons kept having to squeeze and push behind us in order to get to the cutlery and free pop refills station.

Then when we got to the front of the line we were promptly informed that they were out of chicken except for pulled chicken. It was just past seven o’clock and we were dining with Cokebaby’s sister and brother-in-law.

Since there were no other chicken options, I went with the pulled chicken sandwich ($9). Like Boneheads you get your choice of sides with your meals and I chose potato salad which tasted great but the peppers were very crunchy which kind of ruined the overall texture for me. My sister-in-law ordered a similar item, a po-boy sandwhich: Louisiana style all dressed with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, pickles and onion served with sweet potato fries ($9). As I mentioned already, the pulled meats at Boneheads is definitely tastier.

The guys had three beef ribs which includes corn bread, one sauce & two choices of sides ($13). The sweet potato fries were tasty. I didn’t sample the baked beans or fries, so I can’t compare them to Boneheads but the others were pleased with those sides. Other side options include: mac ‘n’ cheese, coleslaw, gravy, corn bread, sweet potato fries, grilled corn on the cob, and grilled onions & red peppers.

There’s only one bottle of a vinegar style sauce at the table along with ketchup. So sauce wise, I’d say Boneheads wins over Q’s because you’re able to add as much or as little as you want at the table.

Mixed drinks at Q’s are delicious though. They don’t have a stocked bar, like Boneheads, but they do make a fantastic concoction called a Lynchburg lemonade: house made sweet lemonade with a shot of Jack Daniels ($5.50). Otherwise, Garrison is the beer of choice here and they’ve got a couple brews on tap (14 oz. for $4.50).

Here’s where the story really starts to go downhill though. There are maybe seven tables in total that are occupied by the time we sit down, with only about three couples ahead of us in line. The wait for our food was far too long. Cokebaby’s brother-in-law went back for three refills of pop before we saw any sign of our food coming up.

It was a good half hour before Cokebaby was informed that they were out of beef ribs and it would take an additional 15 minute wait or they could offer full rack pork ribs (an upgrade to a $16 meal). He went with the latter and they gave a free pint of beer for the trouble. A few minutes later, the other couple received their order.

Another 10 minutes pass. We inquire about our order. By all outward appearances it looks like they have no idea what happened to the order. Some time later the other couple has finished their meal, with still no sign of ours. So we tell the staff that we’d like it packed to go. After probably another ten minutes, there’s still no sign of our order. At this point they’ve fully refunded the price of the meal.

Over an hour and a half after we placed our order, we finally received our meal. They even threw in Cokebaby’s beef ribs for the trouble. By the time we get home the sweet potato fries were soggy and had to be reheated. The cornbread was forgotten.

I do give them credit for trying to make up for the huge mistake. If they had turned it around quickly I might not have major reservations about going back. Although the ribs turned out to be tastier than at Boneheads, everything else was similar enough that I can’t see returning any time soon.

[UPDATE: In 2011 we returned to Boneheads for dinner. Food was excellent as we originally thought and the service prompt and friendly. That said, there was only one other couple in the restaurant at the time.]