Interested applicants should send their resumes to office@kitchenerminorbaseball.ca.

The Kitchener Minor Baseball Association is actively seeking dedicated leaders from our membership to serve on our volunteer Board of Directors for the upcoming term. This is a vital opportunity to contribute to the governance and operational success of youth baseball in Kitchener.

We are currently opening nominations for the role of Vice-President. While the current incumbent’s contract is up for renewal, we encourage all qualified and interested members to throw their hat into consideration!

The Vice-President provides essential oversight and strategic leadership, specifically focusing on the competitive Rep programs.

The Vice-President’s core responsibilities include:

• Policy & Operations: Oversee the implementation of policies decided upon by the Executive Committee and the Corporation.

• Program Leadership: Oversee the activities of paid staff and officers dedicated to the competitive program.

• Budget Management: Oversee the preparation and monitoring of the competitive program’s annual budget.

• Governance & Meetings: Represent the Competitive Committee at Board meetings and chair all competitive committee meetings.

• Reporting: Prepare and present a comprehensive report at the Annual Meeting of Members.

• Supervision: Supervise the activities of the Competitive Division Directors.

Meetings: Actively attend meetings, discuss agenda items, and engage in decision-making. Includes providing reports, reviewing materials in advance, and promptly declaring conflicts of interest.

Financial: Review regular financial reports, approve and monitor the organization’s budget, and be aware of authorized cheque signatories and their limits.

Policies and Bylaws: Know and understand all organizational contracts, policies (including insurance), and By-laws. Ensure compliance and initiate necessary changes when needed.

Training and Compliance: Ensure staff and volunteers have clear job descriptions and appropriate training. Confirm compliance requirements for all organization members.

If you have a strong background in governance, sports administration, or competitive baseball, and are interested in being considered for the role of Vice-President, we encourage you to submit your nomination.

Interested applicants should send their resumes to office@kitchenerminorbaseball.ca.

The post Call for Nominations: Join the KMBA Board of Directors appeared first on Kitchener Minor Baseball.

Hours: Part-time role with varying hours for week and up to 30 hours per week during busy times of the season
Rate: $24/hour

Interested applicants should send their resumes to office@kitchenerminorbaseball.ca.

The Program Coordinator serves as the KMBA’s sole paid administrator, working closely with our dedicated volunteer Board of Directors and dozens of community volunteers. This pivotal, community-focused role oversees the daily operational success of all KMBA’s programming, including pre-season planning, regular season play, tournaments, and Fall Ball. Key responsibilities include managing all communications (email, phone, web), maintaining the KMBA website and social media, and handling programming registrations. The role also involves booking and managing diamond reservations and coordinating tournaments. Collaboration with the President, Treasurer, directors, and volunteers is essential, as is maintaining organized records and documentation. The ideal candidate must demonstrate a strong commitment to the Kitchener community and possess the organizational skills and flexibility to manage multiple tasks in a volunteer-driven environment.

1. Program Delivery: Responsible for the day-to-day operations of all KMBA programming, including regular season play, tournaments, Fall Ball and other programming as defined. The role is the primary contact for the organisations and manages all email, phone and web inquiries for the organisation and maintains the KMBA website and social media. This role is also responsible for setting up all programming registrations and managing communication via email and website to ensure the KMBA membership stays informed.
2. Field Scheduling: Responsible for the booking and cancelling of all diamonds to ensure bookings meet the needs of all KMBA programming. Report any diamond concerns to the City and communicate with coaches to reschedule diamonds as well.
3. Tournament Coordination: Responsible for the coordination, communication and implementation of all tournaments hosted in Kitchener, with support from volunteer tournament convenors. This includes diamond bookings, ordering supplies, managing cancellations, coordination of umpires, etc.
4. Teamwork and Partnerships: Work closely with President, Treasurer, other directors, other support roles and volunteers to support the successful implementation of all KMBA programming. Develop and maintain strong relationships with the City of Waterloo, Umpire in Chiefs, House League Coordinators, Waterloo Minor Baseball and external vendors to implement successful programming and professionally represent KMBA.
5. Bookkeeping: This role may support maintaining the financial records through accurate daily data entry of all transactions, including income and expenses, into the accounting system (e.g., Xero). Key duties include processing vendor bills and client invoices (Accounts Payable/Receivable support). Will maintain file all financial documents, and report any discrepancies to the Treasurer and President. This position supports the Treasurer to be organized, up-to-date, and foundational financial information is available for review.
6. Information Management: Responsible for keeping all records and documentation organised and filed on the KMBA shared drive and that the website content is current at all times. Also responsible for all communication and accountabilities with the Ontario Baseball Association as it relates to registering players, coaches, and managing police checks.
7. Other tasks as assigned: This role will support other tasks as assigned, including scheduling of board meetings, providing back up support to the financial team

Qualifications

High school diploma or equivalent. Previous experience in an administrative role is a plus.

The following skills and experience are ideal to be successful in this position.

• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills with an ability to manage multiple requests at the same time and in a timely and efficient manner.
• Excellent and clear professional communication and customer service skills, to ensure all members and volunteers feel supported and appreciated.
• Ability to work independently and as a team to ensure tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Competence in Google Workspace (e.g, Gmail, Sheets, Docs).
• Proficiency with basic accounting software (e.g., Quickbooks, Xero).
• Experience managing website and social media navigation and content is an asset.
• Experience with TeamSnap and Sportzheads sports management systems, or equivalent, a strong asset.
• Ability to work flexible hours to accommodate the needs of the program.
• A passion for the Kitchener community is an asset.

• Interpersonal Skills: Communicates effectively with the internal team and membership; professionally represents KMBA in all communications and at events.
• Level of Responsibility: Responsible for ensuring the effective and efficient implementation of the program in alignment with the goals and objectives.
• Decision-Making Authority: There is no decision-making authority in this role. Decisions are made by the President and the Board of Directors.
• Physical and Sensory Demands: Minimal demands, typical of a position operating within an office-type environment; periods of extensive sitting at a desk and in meetings and concentrated use of visual senses; substantial repetitive keyboard/mouse movement; high sensory demands because of required concentration and attentiveness to detail and regular distractions and interruptions.
• Working Environment: This work is remote from home. The work is varied and assignments may change frequently. Work will involve regular interaction with members of the Board, the City of Kitchener, the membership, and external vendors as required. There are deadline pressures, while at the same time there is a demand for thoroughness and accuracy. Occasional travel within the Waterloo Region is required.

Kitchener Minor Baseball Association (KMBA) is a community-based organisation dedicated to promoting and developing youth baseball in the Kitchener, Ontario area. Offering a range of programs for children and teens from introductory levels to competitive play, KMBA aims to foster a love of the game while teaching essential skills, sportsmanship, and teamwork. With a strong focus on player development and community involvement, KMBA provides a supportive and inclusive environment for athletes of all abilities, helping them build confidence, discipline, and a passion for baseball. The association also emphasises family engagement, volunteerism, and community spirit, making it a cornerstone of local sports.

The post Job posting: Program Coordinator appeared first on Kitchener Minor Baseball.

I am currently referring to the alleged Integrity Commissioners.  Other examples could be our courts and judicial system although many of these review bodies allegedly are to speed up the process as well as to get a third party, independent and unbiased opinion on different parties behaviours. Many are simply a joke. The former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an example . It has been replaced by the Ontario Land tribunal (OLT) which is pretty much just as biased and bad as the OMB. Currently I am involved with the National NewsMedia Council which oversees complaints of bias and or inaccuracies in the print media. There is also the former Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) which was replaced by the Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT). Funny how many of these review bodies end up changing their names as if that will shake of clinging odours of deceit.

I read the 42 page report written by the Integrity Commissioner. concerning trustee Mike Ramsay.  I believe that the majority of the facts were not in dispute which was certainly interesting.  What I found most bizarre and weird was the Integrity Commissioners plain stating that they would not after an examination and writing of the facts make any recommendations. What the hell? So lets get this straight. A trustee who is part of the majority group of trustees for the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) filed a complaint to the Integrity Commissioner about another trustee's strong criticism of the decision of the majority of  trustees to stop a Delegation by a  long term teacher (Carolyn Burjowski) . Who do you think is paying the Integrity Commissioner? The WRDSB of course and they favour the majority decision of the trustees that stopping and disciplining a teacher who followed the WRDSB's own Delegation rules was just fine because she dared to politely and factually criticize a part of the WRDSB's  school library procedures.

The WRDSB just like some municipal councils etc. believe it's O.K. to use taxpayers money (earmarked for education)  to bolster and buttress  their favourite pet projects or favourite bizarre side interests via financing unnecessary legal actions against parents, teachers and stakeholders with legitimate educational concerns.  Some of these bodies have zero tolerance for even polite, respectful disagreement and will spend our money in court to the last nickel . They will also use and abuse tame review bodies to attempt to bolster, in the eyes of the public, their weak positions.  Shameful!

The Youth Impact Project (YIP) is a collaboration between the Children and Youth Planning Table of Waterloo Region (CYPT) and Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab (SWRIL). The Youth Impact Project looks to fund youth who are addressing local challenges which are identified through the 2023 Youth Impact Survey results. The funded projects include a focus on supporting youth mental and physical health, increasing feelings of belonging, and responding to climate change and food insecurity.

In 2024, over 100 youth from 15 local organisations pitched their ideas to a panel of nine youth. The Youth Decision-Making Panel (“The Dragons”) decided which projects would receive funding to make their idea a reality. In 2025, CYPT and SWRIL are accepting youth applications online, and a team of three youth are deciding which projects will receive funding.

Move4Health is an 8-week program for youth living with diabetes in Waterloo region, to access weekly fitness sessions – including walking, yoga, and strength training. A celebration (Move Day) at the end of the program will be held where participants get to celebrate progress and build community.  Move4Health is about giving youth with diabetes the tools, confidence, and support to live healthier lives.

Applications for the 2025 Youth Impact Project are now closed and 17 youth projects across Waterloo Region received funding. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we announce the other 12 projects!

Last but not least, we are grateful to our funders United Way Waterloo Region Communities and Region of Waterloo for making the Youth Impact Project possible.

The post 2025 Youth Impact Project Showcase: Move4Health appeared first on Children and Youth Planning Table.

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♦Leg Up! Winter Session Sign-up
Friday, December 5
9:00 AM

Get a sneak peek at the Leg Up! Winter Session Classes. There’s cooking, baking, crafting, painting, movies, games and more! Check out the Science with Marc to engage in fun science experiments and get a better understanding of the world around you. Get into Money Matters with Annita to gain important skills on managing your money giving you more financial independence. Join Winter Sweet Treats Baking with Michelle to perfect your baking skills while making delicious treats to enjoy. Whatever you decide to go with, you are sure to have a great time while you learn and grow at Leg Up!

Click here to register on December 5

Click here for more info

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♦Candyland
Saturday, December 13
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
FREE
Central Park – 126 Argyle Street North, Cambridge

Get ready for a whimsical day of fun and fantasy at Candyland – a delightful celebration for everyone.

Click here for more info

♦Community Needs Feedback Session
Thursday, December 11
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
FREE – Register by December 8
Waterloo Region Family Network – 500 Hallmark Drive, Waterloo

Waterloo Region Family Network and other community organizations have come together to form the KW Community-Led Needs Assessment. This assessment is a collaborative effort to collect feedback from our community to understand what is and isn’t working for people with disabilities and their support networks. They want to know what is serving you and where you think improvements still need to be made. Share your successes or challenges with the community supports available in schools, hospitals, employment, housing and more. Email info@wrfn.info to register today!

Click here for more info

♦Holiday Cookie Decorating Party
Wednesday December 17
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
FREE – Register by December 10
Shamrock Co-Op (Helen Hall) – 446 Kingscourt Drive, Waterloo

Join Independent Living Waterloo region for some sweet treats, creativity and holiday cheer! They will provide the supplies and you can bring in the holiday spirit. Email sherri.roberts@ilwr to register before December 10.

Click here for more info

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♦Turning the Page
Tuesday, December 9
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
FREE – Registration Required
Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region – 91 Moore Avenue, Waterloo

Extend-A-Family is hosting a Living Library, where you can engage with their Human Books – no actual reading required. These Human Books will be sharing their stories with us, and we in turn can come with the curiosity to learn more. All Human Books are people with lived experience of having a disability. Each of their stories will explore their journey to health and happiness through connecting with others.

Are you an open book? Do you defy stereotypes or misconceptions about disability? Do you have a story about how your relationships and connections to others bring health and happiness to your life? Consider becoming a Human Book! Fill out Extend-A-Family’s online form and you could become part of the Living Library.

Click here for more info

Click here to become a Human Book

The post December 3, 2025: What’s Happening in Your Neighbourhood? appeared first on KW Habilitation.

The post Food Drive appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

The post Food Drive appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

The post New Member December appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

On the first Tuesday of every month, we’ll announce a new Fearless Female, including a video interview of them sharing their business story. Want to be featured as a Fearless Female?

Contact Memberships for more details. The Fearless Female Program would not be possible without our Title Sponsor, Scotiabank.

To learn a little more about the Scotiabank Women Initiative, and why they’ve chosen to sponsor this program, see the video below.

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The Fearless Female we’re featuring for the month of December is Sandra Hepditch, Co-Owner and CMO of Fo’Cheezy Food Trucks.

Sandra Hepditch owns a fleet of five award- winning Fo’Cheezy food trucks along with her partner, Sandor. After nearly 25 years in corporate marketing and business development she made the transition to her dream job as an entrepreneur.  An education in English and experience in the service industry gave her the background to push the boundaries in this space over the past three years. 

Sandra is candid about the challenges and rewards of her life as she shares what it’s like to make big life changes while surviving breast cancer and living with mental health issues. Her resilience and integrity drive her to give back to her surrounding community with a genuine generosity. All of this with a large dose of gratitude make Sandra our ideal December Fearless Female.  

To learn more about Sandra’s journey as a Fearless Female, watch the interview below (or read the written format).

Tell us more about Fo’Cheezy

So, Fo’Cheezy has been around for around 13 years. I joined in 2023, and the work I do with Fo’Cheezy is really a jack of all trades, but what I love about it is that I get to do things that are interesting to me. So, I get to do all the HR, all the staffing, and the training. I look after some of the accounting, which I do not love.

I would rather spend money than track money, but I also get to do a lot of philanthropy. So, a big part of what we do is give money away to celebrate our success and to share with the community because it is important to us, and I get to choose where we put that money every year.

Can you tell us more about Fo’Cheezy’s background?

Sandor started Fo’Cheezy on his own. He bought the truck from a friend of his. He started working with this friend and then started Fo’Cheezy on his own. And he really is the success behind the menu, the company, and the way that it operates and its principles and values and all of those.

And then when I met Sandor in 2019, we started dating and we, of course, always talked about business. And I used to joke that he was stealing all my ideas. And since I met Sandor in 2019, we ended up increasing the number of trucks from one to five.

Yes, so in some ways we kind of have Fo’Cheezy part one and part two, which is the increase in the number of trucks and the staff and all that kind of stuff.

Tell us more about your career path

That is an interesting question. What inspired me to get into sales and marketing is that I have always been a storyteller. So, I took an English degree back in Halifax at St. Mary’s University, and I always loved stories and what motivates people. And I have always loved the heart of the matter of what goes into people’s happiness and things like that and been connected to people. So, from there, I got into insurance, and there is a lot of storytelling in marketing and in lifestyle insurance and telling people stories and protecting what you love and those kinds of things.

From there, I went into the technical side of things. So, website building and user experience, which I loved. And then I found out that I was a great writer. So I really, there’s lots of things I’m not good at, but I can write, which I like because it comes in handy when you’re doing all different kinds of things like social media, everything down to, from Instagram all the way through to writing blogs for LinkedIn.

How did all those experiences prepare you for leadership?

I learned about leadership at a young age because I always worked in service. So, I worked selling coffee, I worked delivering newspapers. I have always worked; I worked as a babysitter. Then I worked as a camp counselor and a staff director at a camp. And I learned a lot about leadership and leading through example by leading other people.

I was naturally drawn to leadership. From there, I have always just raised my hand when it became opportunities. I like to take risks, and I am a little bit bossy and a little bit opinionated. So, it made it easy to take leadership roles. I think that the biggest call for me to leadership is the inspiration and just the value I get out of seeing other people succeed. I really see other people’s success as my own success.

Tell us about some of the highlights in your career so far

This is a tough one because I don’t really collect awards per se. I am looking more at how my team does. So, I have worked with a number of teams where we have been nominated for CEO Awards of Excellence in the retirement space when I worked in insurance.

I worked with teams who delivered beautiful websites on time or advisors’ tools that we used in the financial industry. And I think from there, I took that out to Fo’Cheezy in a way that I wanted us to be recognized for what we were doing. So, when we were so honored to be nominated for awards with the Chamber, I really put my heart and soul into that into sharing our story and what sets us apart. And not because we wanted to win Employer of the Year or Small Business of the Year, but also because we wanted our staff to be recognized for what they do. We really put staff first because if we put our staff first then our customers come first.

How did you and Sandor feel about winning the Employer of the Year Award at the 2025 Chamber’s Small Business Awards

I think for Sandor, it was a very emotional reward for him. He has put his heart and soul into Fo’Cheezy. I was lucky to join it while the bus was already moving if you will. But for him, he has put his heart and soul into it. He has run cafes; he has worked at Fo’Cheezy 364 days a year. He is tried and failed and all those different things. And that is all part of it.

But he felt a certain pride when the community recognized that Fo’Cheezy is a leader in space. And I think for me, it felt like a good coming home, because it was very easy for me to write about why Fo’Cheezy was a great business, because I did not start the business. If I had to write about why Fo’Cheezy is a great business from my own perspective, it is easy, but not about myself per se.

What are some of the challenges that you have faced so far?

Some of the challenges I face as a business leader are that I do not always like to follow rules. I do not color inside the lines. All those cliches, the square peg in a round hole. Working for corporate was difficult for me. I did not always want to have a boss.

So, running my own company is perfectly ideal with Sandor as a partner, because we’re both really strong in our own sets of skills, and we can kind of stay in our own lane and do what works. And we got that as advice from other couples who run their own businesses together. Other challenges I face as a leader, aside from having a hard time following orders from other people, are just learning quickly enough. That makes it difficult sometimes, especially when you run your own business. You must learn about bylaws. You must learn about accounting. You must learn how do you deal with difficult staff members. How do you scale and grow? So, we are hoping to have a franchise soon. That is a whole different world for me that we are stepping into a new space. So, we have to learn all the legal aspects of that.

And while it is exciting and it’s easy to learn because you are consuming all of this information at a rapid pace. So that can be a challenge.

Can you tell us more about franchising?

We are such a franchise as of May this year, and we are expanding our territory with this franchise. I can tell you the person is someone who we know and absolutely adore, who has been working with Sandor for over 12 years. So, she knows Fo’Cheezy inside and out, and she is a good food trucker. So, it will be great to see her do her thing.

We will support her in the business side, but she has all the passion all looked after. So, we are really excited about where she’s going to take it.

If you could go back in time, is there anything you’d do differently?

If I was going to do things differently in my career, I would have stopped running at the corporate wall. I really tried to be a corporate person for years and years. And I think that trying to be a corporate person for somebody with my personality and character is difficult. I find that when I can manage my own hours and do my own things, it’s much easier.

So, I’m open about the fact that I have bipolar disorder, which means that I have good days and bad days. And working at a desk job nine to five, because working remotely was not an option necessarily when I was in corporate, can be very difficult. When you have a bad day and you have to go to the office, you have got a mask, you’ve got to push down what you’re feeling and that kind of stuff.

Now I can have a bad day, work from home, get things done. And as soon as I’m feeling better, I can jump back into things.

How is your mental health journey going now?

Things are great.

I mean, when you have bipolar disorder, you kind of have the choice to manage it in your own way with sleep and diet and those things. So, I do a combination of both. And for the most part, it’s good.

I definitely still have bad days. I think a lot of people, if they’re honest about their mental health, have bad days from time to time. I think we’re living in tough times and it’s hard to always be up and perfect and going.

It’s something that I am open about because I think people, it disarms them and it opens them up and it allows them to be human in their own experience and their lived experiences with me. So even when it comes to my staff, for example, when they have bad days or if someone’s suffering from depression or is wondering what they’re going to do with their life, because not everyone who works with us is working obviously on a food truck for the rest of their lives. So they’re coming up against some tough questions.

It makes me more compassionate. It makes me more empathetic, understanding, and approachable, I think.

What methods and strategies have you used to grow your business?

That’s a great question for me because I always look at what I’m doing as part of a greater community of expertise.

So, what I try to do is lean on the right people, lean on the experts and then get out of their way and let them do the thing at which they are best. So, we get help with our social media from somebody who loves food and does a beautiful job. We lean on organizations like the Chamber and mentors and even people like Lisa (Lisa McDonald, Sales Rep for the KW Chamber), who are there with all the next opportunities.

They see things that we do not necessarily see because we are heads down in work. So that has helped me both personally and professionally. I think that the Chamber has helped us professionally be seen more as an actual company, as an organization that is offering value as opposed to just a one-off food truck that nobody is really paying attention to.

But the truth is that food trucks are a real thing. They are huge and they are happening. And in other cities, they are everywhere. There are food truck parks. It’s kind of the golden age of food trucks and the food is fantastic. It is a lot of mom-and-pop shops.

So, you are really supporting locals when you’re supporting food trucks. So, it’s nice to see that we’ve gotten help from the Chamber and other groups.

How do you define success?

Personally, I define success by seeing how I’m impacting others. It’s really that simple for me. If I’m not leaving the world a better place than when I started, I’m not interested in that success. Sandor and I are on a good balance because he is a very balanced person in terms of growth and financial and those kinds of things.

He’s very driven to be successful and be sustainable. And for me, I like to be a little bit on the softer side and look at things like how we are impacting the community, the lives of our people who work for us and those kinds of things. And that’s why we’ve done things like introducing benefits to our staff who’ve never had access to benefits before a lot of them.

We support their mental health in many ways through counseling and professional development and other things like that. And we know we’re successful at the end of the day because we have a good team that’s like a family and they stick together even outside of work. And that makes us really happy.

What core values have you integrated into Fo’Cheezy?

The core values that guide me as a leader are really around honesty and integrity. I think it is important for us, especially in times like these and as business owners, to be honest with each other, with the customer, with the staff, with the team itself and that integrity. So, for example, we may get asked to do what we call a gig and something better may come along shortly after.

We will always stick with the first thing we were asked to do. And if we gave our word, we will be there. That is a huge thing for us. It’s not always the easiest thing. It’s not always the best thing in terms of our financials down the road, but our integrity ensures that if we say we are going to be somewhere and we are going to do something, we do it. And we ask the same of our staff.

Tell us about your breast cancer survival journey

One interesting thing about me that I’m also very open about is that I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed when I was in university at 29 years old, which was quite devastating at the time. I was a single woman living in Halifax and I was surprised to say the least, but it’s been in its own strange way, a gift because it has taught me resilience. And it’s also taught me that sometimes you do not need to learn some of the hard lessons. Life is hard enough. You don’t need to get cancer to learn those lessons, but it’s helped me understand other people and helps them see light through their own illness.

I think a lot of us are living with different things and carrying different weight. And it’s really, it’s been one of the gifts of my life in an odd way.

What strategies do you use to recruit talent and build teams?

For us, building a strong team means investing in people early and often. And we invest in them by getting them their first aid qualifications. We invest in them by training them extensively, cross-training them. We like to see them work with us over a period of years.

So, for example, we will invest in someone who’s a high school student and has never had a job and they’ll learn how to do different things on the truck. So, they’ll learn customer service. They’ll learn team management, team playing, and how to clean. They’ll learn all these different things and then they’ll learn first aid. They’ll eventually learn how to drive the truck if they want to, those kinds of things. We have helped people financially.

We’ve helped people on our team, got off to school and came back and supported them in their hours and that kind of stuff.

Does Fo’Cheezy set up shop anywhere?

Fo’Cheezy doesn’t set up shop anywhere. What we do is operate mobile 100%. So, we do a lot of corporate stuff for the winter. We do some Christmas markets at this time of year and maybe a couple of times we’ll go to a few of the food truck spots that are set aside specifically for us by the train station in Waterloo, for example, or there’s one just over here on Auto Street. So, that we may set up as a very ad hoc pop-up sort of situation.

But our drivers are amazing. Our staff are amazing in the way that they can drive the food truck and get through different weather situations. One of our favorite customers is in Listowel. And so sometimes we drive there in the snow with this giant food truck, which is like a wind tunnel, causes like a wind tunnel on the highway. It can be quite something. We drive to different areas with the food trucks, but mostly we stay within the region.

What are some of the advantages of setting up your business in Waterloo Region?

To me, the advantages of working and leading in Waterloo region are really about the amazing economy, the diversity of the population. We love being a part of all the festivals and the cultural events that go on. We love the student population.

That is fantastic for us. We are at college, at universities. It gives us access to an influx of clients where we would not necessarily have. So, we will be at the university in the winter where we would sort of be sitting at home quietly because the students are still coming out. Or does it give us access to staff during a time when we really need them, which is in the summertime, right? From mid-April to the end of September. So, for us, Waterloo Region is our home. It’s where we both grew up. We both went away and did other things, came back and just found our place again. And because the area is growing and it’s so interesting a place to be, we are excited to be here and raise our family here.

What inspires you?

I think I’m inspired by my family in so many ways because they are probably at the crux of everything that I do. Fo’Cheezy family is inspiring to me. My more intimate family and family that I’ve sort of created through friends and other things also inspire me.

I have three great kids. So, I have two boys, one eleven and one 13. And then I just had a baby this summer. So, she is three months old. And really, it is about seeing who they’re going to be and how positively they’re going to impact the world. Sandor is my second marriage. And I really believe getting married and having children is an act of hope. So, it is an easy time to be negative about the world and feel like things are not going to work out, but we choose to hope, and we sort of stay inspired by that. I must tell you; it is very easy to feel giddy about grilled cheese.

Like if you are serving grilled cheese, you’re serving people at a time when they’re with their families and those are our number one customers is family. So, we like to sort of stay focused on that.

What advice would you give to other women who are aspiring to get into a leadership role, or start a business?

I think for women, it’s hard because you’re told that you have to be a people pleaser. It is not popular to be terribly articulate or assertive. And I think, especially in the food space, it can still be that Chef Ramsay, old school kitchen mentality. So, my advice for people who want to do something like food trucking, for example, is to really stick with it and have confidence and lean on other people.

So, some of my favorite food truckers are strong women and they’re leading the way by running their own businesses on their own and really breaking the mold.

Other industries other than food trucking, my advice to women is really to stick together, to lean on each other, to use the resources on LinkedIn and in mentorship groups that are available to you, be in spaces where it’s safe to be a woman and to hear from other women what it’s like. I think to have your friend group is really important. That will, you know, your ride or die. I think you can have those in business as well. Someone who will tell you and hold you accountable if you need to check yourself or try taking another risk and it’s okay, they are there if you fail.

The queen fixing your crown, as it were. I think that is really important to find those people because positions of leadership can be very lonely. Positions of leadership can be a space, especially as a woman where if you are leading diverse teams, you can make unpopular decisions and you can go home at the end of the day depleted and second guessing yourself.

But if you have that crowd who will support you and say, you know, you’ve done the right thing and even when you haven’t done the right thing, I see where you were coming from, try again tomorrow, it’s okay. Those things are important to have women in your space.

What are your future goals and aspirations?

Our goals and aspirations for Fo’Cheeezy and for my career are really about seeing other people have the opportunity to work for themselves.

I think that giving people a leg up by working with them to franchise as opposed to other franchises where the price of admission is so high and so difficult. Because we are the type of people we are, we’re supportive. Sandor helps other food truckers all the time, whether it be somebody needs to borrow something or somebody’s having a technical problem, wants to know about a festival, should they go, how their square point of sale system could work, all of that kind of stuff.

We support our whole community. So, I’d like to see us do that franchise opportunity where we can help people who are small business owners really have the opportunity to get out there and not work for somebody else.

Another key area that we’re hoping to work on this year is to expand our geography and geographical impact. So right now, we really are in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, some Guelph, some Cambridge, a little bit in Woodstock, but we like to further out what we’re doing. And that is really for us, spreading out on a geographic front is really about sustainability. So, if it is slower sometimes in July and August, September/May and June are our busiest months.

So, in July and August, what we have been doing is driving out to Lake Huron, Port Elgin, Southampton, and some of those places and getting to know there at their festivals, which are great. And with everyone staying in Ontario more this summer than ever, we found that we had great success by just making a little bit of a further drive.

Where can viewers find out more about you and your business?

I am always available for a coffee or a glass of wine, and you can just reach me through Focheezy.ca. And I’m also on LinkedIn. I love to help people do things that take a step towards their dreams. I have also worked with people who make transitions in life, going from say corporate to a food truck was a huge step, right? So, I have a friend recently who just lost his job and what I have done is tried to help him and coach him on how to rethink his own personal brand so that he can get hired outside of his scope.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The post Fearless Female (December): Sandra Hepditch appeared first on Greater KW Chamber of Commerce.

♦

Since 1985, the Greenway-Chaplin Community Centre (GCCC) has been at the heart of its neighbourhood. A welcoming place where families, children, and seniors come together to learn, grow, and connect. Their mission, rooted in inclusion and community empowerment, guides every program they deliver, from youth activities to neighbourhood support services.

But like many small charities, GCCC faces the ongoing challenge of balancing their passion for community with the realities of nonprofit operations,  from fundraising and communications to long-term financial planning.

♦

The GCCC team first engaged Capacity Canada through the Board Governance BootCamp in 2024. The experience opened doors to new ways of thinking about board development and strategic leadership. The organization also engaged with Capacity Canada’s Scalable Ops Program in partnership with the Lyle S Hallman Foundation, focusing on communication, fundraising, and finance.

“I learned so much about communication, fundraising and finance. I really appreciated their custom approach and how patient they were as I was learning too. Working with Capacity Canada provided an opportunity to increase our agency’s message in the neighbourhood and I was grateful for their new ideas around fundraising.”

— Emily Jaarsma, Executive Director, Greenway-Chaplin Community Centre

With Capacity Canada’s guidance, they strengthened internal systems, allowing their small team to focus more energy on what truly matters.

♦Since working with Capacity Canada, GCCC’s board and staff have grown in confidence and capacity. Their leadership is now more strategic and cohesive, with stronger communication between staff, board, and community partners. The learnings around fundraising and finance have already started to shape future campaigns and donor engagement strategies.

This Giving Tuesday, please consider a gift to support the important community building led by Greenway-Chaplin Community Centre at greenwaychaplin.com/donate/ 

The post Empowering Communities, One Charity at a Time appeared first on Capacity Canada.

IN-PERSON ONLY!
Sale applies to first-time membership buyers only!

The post NEW MEMBER DECEMBER appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

 First and foremost the groundwater "cleanup" has NOT been achieved after 36 years.  That is worthy of a heartfelt thank you to all the dirty pigs and their followup deviousness and dishonesty. Therefore kudos to all the players involved including Uniroyal Chemical staff, CRA/GHD staff, Ont. Min. of Environment staff, and Woolwich and regional councillors who followed orders and did not step out of line. Particular thanks for their behaviour over the ensuing years to Ken Seiling, Hardy Wong, Barb Trebilcock, Jason Rice, Jeff Merriman, Dwighte Este, Steve Quigley, Allan Deal, Luis Almeida, Sandy Shantz, Bill Strauss, Mark Bauman, Susan Bryant, Sylvia Berg, Pat McLean, Nathan Cadeau, Tiffany Svensson and all the rest of them. Real kudos and admiration to Esther Thur, Susan Rupert, Richard Clausi, Ted Oldfield, Dr. Henry Regier, Vivienne Delaney, Dr. Dan, Sebastian, Ron C., Graham C., Sadi, Pat Potter, Dr. Richard Jackson,  etc. Apologies to both the good and the not so good left off of both lists. 

Secondly the "cleanup" of the Canagagigue Creek has not even been started. Sure lots of studies and reports, often fudged and often repeated. However no shovels or equipment in the ground removing grossly contaminated sediments and creekbank soils. Contaminated with PAHs, dioxins, DDT, DDE, DDD, mercury and PCBs and so much more. 

Thirdly just to be clear all three of these first three paragraphs are "positives" in that the Record article has clearly spelled out these failures . The third one is that Uniroyal Chemical's on-site and in ground chemical dumping has not been even close to cleaned up. Yes some of the buried pits and ponds have been cleaned out however most of that cleanout did not touch the soils and ground beneath. There wasn't even minimal clay barriers installed until twent-five years of dumping had already occurred. Those clay barriers then leaked (on the west side) at approximately 3,400 litres per day downwards into aquifers and aquitards below as per CH2 MHILL consultants to the Region.

Berezowski, T., & Wassen, M. (2023). Using water sources extent during inundation as a reliable predictor for vegetation zonation in a natural wetland floodplain. Ecological Indicators, 154, 110854. doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110854

“The fraction of river flooding, ground-water discharge, snowmelt, and rainfall water volume in each model node was calculated based on the IHM output using the HMC method (Partington et al., 2011), which can be included in the HydroGeoSphere IHM. ”

Figure 1. Lower Biebrza valley floodplain with the river network and vegetation in 2000 (Matuszkiewicz et al., 2000) (right panel). Location of the Biebrza catchment study area (black outline) and the floodplain (black patch) in Poland (left panel); the major rivers Wisla, Bug, Narew and Biebrza are indicated with blue lines. The legend concerns only the right panel. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

We’re pleased to highlight this publication, co-authored by Tomasz Berezowski and Martin Wassen, which investigates how the extent of water sources during inundation can be used as reliable predictors of vegetation zonation in wetland floodplains. This study leverages HydroGeoSphere (HGS) together with the Hydraulic Mixing-Cell (HMC) method to address long-standing challenges in modelling vegetation dynamics by explicitly accounting for the spatial distribution of different water sources during floods.

Traditional floodplain vegetation models typically rely on local hydrological predictors such as water depth, inundation length, or groundwater table depth. While useful, these indicators often fail to represent the spatial effects of hydrological processes, particularly the mixing of water from multiple sources— river water, groundwater discharge, rainfall, and snowmelt— that drive ecological patterns. By combining HGS simulations with HMC analysis, this research provides not only standard hydrological metrics but also the areal extent of each water source within the inundation zone, creating more realistic predictors for vegetation modelling.

The study applied these predictors to the lower Biebrza River floodplain in northeastern Poland using vegetation maps from 1960, 1980, and 2000. A random forest model was trained to test five predictor scenarios, ranging from standard groundwater–surface water variables to source-based inundation extents. Results demonstrated that models using water source extent achieved the highest accuracy (82–83%), significantly outperforming those relying only on conventional predictors. Among all predictors, the fraction of river water in the inundation zone was found to be the single most important driver of vegetation distribution, particularly for highly productive reed and sedge communities.

Key findings showed that incorporating water-source-based predictors was crucial for capturing both past vegetation dynamics and projected changes under future climate scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5). While simpler models struggled to reproduce observed trends or predict future shifts, those using water source extents successfully identified transformations in sedge-moss and tall sedge communities, as well as changes in the extent of reed vegetation. This underscores the importance of representing the spatial footprint of hydrological processes in ecological models.

Figure 12. Degree of mixing between river water and floodplain water (i.e. groundwater discharge, rainfall, and snowmelt) simulated with the IHM and HGS methods during a spring flood event on 27th of March 2005 in a southern section of the floodplain. High d values indicate similar proportions of river and floodplain water, i.e. presence of mixing, and low values indicate that one source dominates over another, i.e. no mixing (see Table 1). The color of the velocity vectors is proportional to the water velocity (the length of each vector is the same).

HydroGeoSphere proved essential in enabling this work due to its ability to simulate coupled surface and subsurface flows and generate spatially distributed hydrological outputs. By integrating HGS with the HMC method, the study provided a more physically consistent and ecologically relevant framework for modelling floodplain vegetation. This approach demonstrates that explicitly accounting for water source extents can significantly improve predictive skill, offering a valuable decision-support tool for wetland management and climate change adaptation.

This research provides critical insights for ecohydrology and wetland conservation, showing that advanced, physics-based modelling approaches like HGS can bridge the gap between hydrological complexity and ecological processes. By embracing water source extent as a key predictor, the study paves the way for more accurate and sustainable management strategies in floodplain ecosystems.

Abstract:

Distinctive zones of inundation water during floods were shown to originate from different sources in some major floodplains around the world. Recent research showed that the zonation of water in rivers and floodplains is related to vegetation patterns. In spite of this, water source zones were not used for vegetation modeling due to difficulties in their delineation. In this study, we used simulation results of a fully-coupled groundwater-surface water integrated hydrological model (IHM) HydroGeoSphere and the Hydraulic Mixing-Cell method to provide standard hydrological predictors (e.g. water depth, inundation length, groundwater depth, exchange flux) and the extent of inundation zones having a certain water source (discharged groundwater, river, rainfall, and snowmelt). These variables were used to train a vegetation model for the lower Biebrza floodplain (about 290 km2) using vegetation maps from 1960, 1980, and 2000. We used a one-at-a-time (OAT) approach, where each map was validated based on a model trained on the remaining two maps to obtain realistic error estimates. We also used a fractional approach in which a fraction of each map was used for training and validation. The single model from the fractional approach was used to assess the importance of predictors and to predict vegetation for the 20th century and for the 21st century using IHM simulation forced by the Twentieth Century Reanalysis data and EURO-CORDEX RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 model ensembles. The model which used both water sources extent and standard predictors performed the best overall and was sensitive to the future trends. The extent of river water within the inundation area was by far the most important vegetation predictor. The models that neither used the water sources extent predictors nor the exchange flux were not able to predict the trends of areas covered by certain vegetation types under future climate. The advantage of the water sources extent predictors was their ability to represent the spatial effect of local hydrological phenomena. This was not possible with the standard predictors, because they show only the source of the phenomena (e.g. groundwater discharge zone), but do not indicate the actual area affected by its physical and chemical properties, which is more relevant for vegetation development. Our results highlight the relevance of using water extent predictors due to their ability to explain spatiotemporal ecological processes, such as vegetation development. We suggest to use water extent predictors in modelling for developing more accurate decision support for wetland floodplains.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE.

We’re so excited to introduce you to our 2nd facility dog to join our team!

The post Meet Brady, Accredited Facility Dog first appeared on Child Witness Centre.

Hot Docs runs North America’s premiere documentary festival, conference, and market, as well as Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, our year-round home for documentary film.

Our organization is seeking four new members to join its Board of Directors. This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of documentary storytelling in Canada and around the world.

Hot Docs is a registered charitable organization that supports documentary filmmakers and connects audiences to outstanding non-fiction storytelling through:

• The annual Hot Docs Festival, screening over 100 documentaries from Canada and abroad.
• Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, a year-round venue focused on documentary film and an array of in-person events including Author Talks, panels and podcasts.
• Industry programs that fund, mentor, and promote documentary creators in Canada and around the world.
• Educational initiatives through Docs For Schools that bring thousands of students to our year-round cinema to enjoy documentary films.

Hot Docs is committed to diversity, inclusion, and innovation in both content and leadership.

Hot Docs’ Board members provide strategic direction, governance, and oversight to advance the organizations mission and ensure its long-term sustainability. They contribute expertise, act as ambassadors for the organization, and support fundraising and stakeholder engagement activities.

Board terms are three years, renewable once. Meetings occur approximately five times annually, along with a yearly AGM in November. Meetings are held online and are generally 90 minutes. In this exciting period of rebuilding the organization, additional committee participation will require bi-monthly 60-minute meetings.

Hot Docs welcomes applications from individuals from any region of Canada who are passionate about documentary film and share our commitment to equity, creativity, and community impact.

We are especially seeking candidates with experience in one or more of the following areas:

1. Financial management
2. Legal and risk oversight
3. Government Relations
4. Governance
5. Fundraising and advancement
6. Human resources and organizational development
7. Operations and business management (venue, cinema management ideal)
8. Marketing and audience development
9. Documentary filmmaking
10. Industry engagement

• Help shape the strategic direction of an internationally recognized cultural organization.
• Contribute to the growth of Canada’s documentary ecosystem.
• Collaborate with a dynamic, mission-driven board and leadership team.
• Support a platform that amplifies authentic voices and meaningful storytelling.

Board applications will be accepted until midnight on Friday, December 12, 2025.

Interested candidates are invited to submit a brief statement of interest and resume to board@hotdocs.ca.

Please include “Board Application – [Your Name]” in the subject line.

Hot Docs thanks all applicants for their interest. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hot Docs is a forum to share stories and perspectives on the people, issues and events that shape our world, and we encourage respectful discussion and debate to foster greater understanding and empathy.

An integral component of this is Hot Docs’ commitment to fostering an organizational culture that brings together people with different races, identities, abilities, experiences and skills. Hot Docs is committed to reflecting the diverse communities we serve in the stories we present and also in our workforce. We encourage applications from diverse communities and welcomes applicants who have demonstrated a commitment to upholding the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Hot Docs encourages applications from qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants’ needs throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process. Please advise the Hiring Manager to ensure your accessibility needs are accommodated throughout this process.  Information received relating to the accommodation will be addressed confidentially.

The post Hot Docs appeared first on Capacity Canada.

Well everybody are mostly being quite polite albeit pretty slow. To date I've seen one tiny correction that really wasn't even my direct complaint in the first place. That had to do with .009 millionths of a gram per litre of water. Also I've dropped two of my complaints including the one advising the reporter and the Record that 36 years of discussion around concentrations of contaminants have used the following units of measure namely parts per trillion (ppt), parts per billion (ppb), parts per million (ppm) as well as ng/l, ug/l and mg/l versus millionths of a gram per litre of water. The second complaint I've dropped is the one indicating that there are eleven on-site pumping wells. This complaint was based upon three on-site deep Municipal Aquifer pumping wells (PW3, PW4, PW5) in addition to eleven shallow (UA) pumping wells. Now in hindsight I recall that the polluter/company have been constantly changing the number of on-site pumping wells as in reducing the numbers such that both the shallow (UA) and the deeper (MU) wells may actually be down to eleven now in total.

Why is my formal complaint to both the Waterloo Region Record and the National NewsMedia Council important? Over the last 36 years the responsible polluting corporation instead of properly cleaning up Elmira, their own property and the Canagagigue Creek; the various owners of the site (Uniroyal/Crompton/Chemtura/Lanxess) have focused on changing the narrative. They have focused on solidifying support both within and without the community. They have lobbied three levels of governance and politicians into believing that the damage done by Uniroyal Chemical and still continuing really isn't that bad.  They have minimized and covered up the health and environmental damages that they have caused partially by buying allegedly scientific reports that suit their narrative not the truth. One local referred to this as "Adjusting the science according to your needs".

Our media have also fallen into this trap. Basically when the polluter is surrounded by fellow travellors and political friends at all levels it becomes difficult for the media not to slide into the narrative woven by the polluter. One of the most contemptible narratives is that one citizen (American no less) has singlehandedly fought a courageous battle against Uniroyal and successors. Nothing could be further from the truth. She has been "controlled opposition" almost from the beginning. She and her two sidekicks (Sylvia & Pat) have played the game along with Uniroyal and friends. She yells loudly about the Creek and then trades away major environmental concessions to the companies in order to advance her sole concern being the Creek.  These concessions are as relatively minor as lowered monitoring requirements and as major as falsely conceding the removal of DNAPLS (dense non aqueous phase liquids) from discussion and contention. The irony is that after 36 years nothing downstream all the way to the Grand River has been cleaned or remediated. If it ever happens and she has recently expressed doubt about that, it will be at most a token "hot spot" or two. 

I do praise the Record for the time, effort and space that they allocated for their November 15/25 article titled "The long cleanup of Elmira's water contamination crisis". That said after my 36 years of study, research, hard work and real opposition from all the players involved including backstabbing from Susan, do I not have the right to ask the media at least to get the story accurate?  

♦

In the height of summer, strawberry shortcake showcases majestic June and July berries, but late summer and autumn offer delicious fruits that are prime ingredients for their own class of baked treats.

The winter months, too, are perfect for warm treats from the oven. Here’s a run-down of a few of the possibilities — and some unique names.

While apple pie is perhaps a definitive dessert in fall – especially with that scoop of ice cream – there are lesser known dishes that warm both the body and the soul as cooler weather rolls in. They range from the pandowdy to the clafouti; from the betty to the buckle.

In mid-September, there are still a few stonefruits like peaches, plums and the odd apricot around as well as lots of pears and apples; perhaps so much so that you may not be able to eat them one piece at a time before they start to get too ripe.

A good strategy is to purchase and cook them in bulk. And it’s all the better when you start using heady and so-called “winter spices” like cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg.

There is a wide range of these dishes; some will be familiar and some not. What is clear is that their names are closely associated with and perhaps even mimic their physical characteristics: crisps, crumbles, cobblers, buckles, slumps and grunts. (I have no comment about betty.)

The crisp, for instance, is a basic baked fruit dish (apples and pears combine nicely) that is topped with a fine streusel layer of butter, sugar and flour that becomes crisp when cooked.

Juxtapose that with a crumble, which often has oats in a topping that is moister and will – you got it – “crumble” under its own weight when served.

When you move into cobbler territory, you are in the heartland of baked fruit desserts: it’s a very deep dish fruit pie (without a bottom crust) made with a quick bread or biscuit-like topping.

Many desserts are variations on the cobbler, which uses fairly large chunks of fruit; early recipes might even call for whole peaches and, interestingly, including the pit.

Of English and colonial American origin, the cobbler may take its name in light of ingredients missing for a traditional suet pudding: shards of biscuit or thick cracker were instead broken up and arranged – cobbled together, in other words – to form a topping that might also be said to look like a cobblestone road.

Though a much difference consistency than a cobbler, the clafouti, which hails from Limousin, France, also uses large chunks of fruit, traditionally whole cherries, submerged in its thick batter. Peaches, plums and pears are also used.

A concoction that has a name that implies a somewhat unfashionable appearance is the pandowdy.

Similar to the cobbler, the pandowdy carries with it a sense of something frumpy. The dish may look a bit dowdy due to a technique which sees its topping, a rolled-out dough, smashed down into the filling part way through the cooking time. The result is still tasty, however.

The venerable Joy of Cooking: The All-Purpose Cookbook, published in 1931, lists four fruity dessert comestibles called “betties:” brown, prune, apricot and pineapple.

These betties are usually multi-layered and baked desserts often with a dried bread or Graham cracker crumb base. They should have a bread pudding quality according to the book’s authors, though they have no answer for the origin of the name.

That leaves “slumps” and the onomatopoeic “grunts:” the former were said to collapse when served (imagine earth slumping down a slope); the latter were thought to make “grunting” sounds while they baked. You will find recipes for blueberry slumps from Canada’s east coast: they usually have more fruit filling than biscuit-style topping.

Finally, like the slump and the grunt, the buckle is a fruit and cake batter dessert with a streusel topping which “buckles” or shifts as it is served.

Given these various fragilities and structural collapses, it would seem a good thing that early bakers and pastry chefs stayed in the kitchen and avoided a career in engineering.

Check out my latest post Fun food words: cobblers, betties, slumps, grunts from AndrewCoppolino.com.

I recently appeared for the Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD) exam and cleared it! It was a great learning experience. I am sharing my journey in this blog to help anyone who’s planning to take the exam.

Kubernetes has become a common term in the IT industry that almost everyone has heard of. All my knowledge of Kubernetes is from reading articles and blogs, but I had never actually used it. Because of that, I always felt a little unsure whenever Kubernetes came up in discussions.

Recently, Kubernetes started becoming a part of my daily work, and I felt it was the right time to understand it properly. I wanted to go beyond just reading about it and actually get hands-on experience. That’s when I decided to prepare for the CKAD exam. I felt that preparing for this certification would not only help me learn Kubernetes the right way but also build my confidence in using it.

Before I started preparing, I spent some time going through the CKAD exam syllabus on the official CNCF website here. It may look scary at first for some, but it helped me understand what topics I had knowledge of and what I needed to focus on.

One thing to remember is that CKAD is not a multiple-choice exam. It’s a completely hands-on, practical test. You will be solving real Kubernetes tasks in a live environment in a limited time. This would mean that you actually need to know how to apply the concepts.

It was exciting because it had been a while since I took a hands-on exam, but also a bit intimidating. I knew that with the right preparation and practice, I could clear the exam and truly understand Kubernetes.

The preparation time really depends on your daily schedule and how much time you can spend studying. I took about a month to complete the CKAD course by Mumshad Mannambeth, KodeKloud (Udemy). The course covers all the topics needed for the exam and also has short hands-on labs after each topic, which help you apply the theory that you just learned.

By the end of the course, I felt much more confident with the key CKAD topics and had a good amount of practical experience. Around this time, I also spoke to a few people who had already taken the exam and then booked my own CKAD test based on my schedule and the available slots. If you take the Udemy course, you’ll get access to a coupon code that gives you a discount on the CKAD exam.

This is when things started to get more serious. I began working on the lightning labs and mock tests from the Udemy course. For the first time, I was solving questions that covered multiple topics together, not just the ones I had recently studied.

The lightning labs felt manageable, but the mock exams were tougher. You might not be able to finish the mock tests within the time limit, but try to treat them like a real exam. It’s always a good idea to use only the Kubernetes documentation during the mock tests, just like you would in the actual exam. After attempting the mock exams, I revisited a few topics in the Udemy course where I felt less confident.

Everyone taking the CKAD exam gets two attempts (with the same set of questions) at mock exams on killer.sh. I took just one of them. These mock tests are very close to the real exam (SSH into a machine and run commands to solve each question).

Once you start the mock test, the environment is available for 36 hours. It’s best to begin when you have enough time to make full use of it. I couldn’t finish the test within the 2-hour limit, but I took a short break and came back later to complete the remaining questions.

I also practiced using the CKAD exercises available online and the KillerKoda playground, which helped me get more hands-on experience with different types of problems.

• When doing mock tests, make sure to use only the official Kubernetes documentation for answering questions. You can refer to other sources or tools while learning a topic, but not during mock tests. Sticking to the documentation will help you get comfortable with it, which is very important for the actual exam.
• Practice, practice, and more practice, especially if you are new to Kubernetes.
• Familiarize yourself well with a text editor (vim or nano) and the shortcuts.

• Udemy course www.udemy.com/course/certified-kubernetes-application-developer/
• Killer.sh mock tests - links found from your exam booking
• Official Kubernetes documentation - kubernetes.io/docs/home/
• CKAD exercises - github.com/dgkanatsios/CKAD-exercises
• KillerKoda playground - ​​killercoda.com/
• Talking to people in your network who have taken the test

As is the case with any online exam that is proctored, the following are required on the exam day:

• Laptop meets the basic system requirements
• Stable internet connection
• PSI remote test UI
• Quiet and clean surroundings. You’ll need to show your entire surroundings to the proctor before the exam begins. I was asked to change my water bottle because it had something printed on it. Make sure there are no large screens like monitors or TVs near your exam setup.

• You will have access to the official Kubernetes and Helm documentation during the exam. For anything else (like Docker or Podman), use the built-in help commands to get the details you need.
• Copy and paste the names of namespaces, pods, deployments, or any other resources you need to create. This helps you avoid spelling mistakes and saves time during the exam.
• Don’t spend too much time on a single question. Flag it and revisit them.
• The CKAD exam has partial scoring, so make sure to apply and save whatever progress you’ve made on each task.
• Pay close attention to the instructions about whether you’re allowed to recreate pods. Some questions will clearly have it in the instructions that you should not restart the pods.
• In case you face issues like the PSI secure browser not working or network issues with the exam, do reach out to the Linux Foundation support giving all the details

Time management is the biggest challenge in the exam. I had 17 questions in total, and by the end of the first hour, I had completed only 7 of them and flagged the rest (most of them were partially done). It was truly a moment of panic, but the key is to stay calm and keep going one question at a time.

You will receive your exam results by email, 24 hours after starting the test. Seeing my score was such a relief! More than just passing, it felt rewarding to realize how much I had learned and how much more confident I had become in working with Kubernetes.

If you’re planning to take CKAD, focus on hands on, get comfortable with the official docs, manage your time, and stay calm during the exam. And the skills you gain are way more valuable than the score.

Good luck to everyone preparing for the exam!

CKAD Certification - A guide to clearing the exam was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The word talent can mean different things to different people at different points in time. Finding a clear definition of talent in any context is a challenging task. More so for organisations. But what does talent mean in the corporate space? Is there a fixed formula to measure talent in organisations?

When you google talent in the subtext of organisations, the vague definition you get is:

Talent in the workplace can refer to both innate abilities and mastered skills. While talent is a natural aptitude that emerges effortlessly, skills are acquired abilities developed through learning and practice. In HR, “talent” often describes high-performing and high-potential employees, varying based on context.

I recently came across an article based on PV Ramana Murthy’s book, Reimagining Talent. And it intrigued me enough to dig into the many meanings of talent when it comes to organisational cultures. For those who are a part of the ever-intriguing corporate world, needless to say that corporate talent is not high intelligence or fame. It is rather a unique blend of capabilities, skills, knowledge, and expertise required to multiply business value.

There is this odd phenomenon that plays out once you graduate and join the workforce. Often, you tend to notice that those who excelled in academics struggle to find meaning and alignment at work. I have seen it happening among my friends and peers.

And I have always wondered why that is so.

Is it just a mismatch between academic and professional environments, a lack of workplace skills like communication and teamwork, poor alignment with the organisation culture, or, most importantly, maybe a failure to adapt to workplace politics?

I think while all of these are factors in the mix of talent in corporate spaces, it is also essential to realise that no one is born with the skills required for corporate success. These elusive abilities and skills emerge through education and experience, over time.

So I found the definition from the book to be very suitable to the idea of corporate talent:

Talent in the corporate world is not a person or a select group of individuals adorned with prestigious academic credentials or higher intelligence. Nor is it tied to the fleeting notion of outperforming others. Talent in an organisation refers to the capabilities — encompassing skills, knowledge, expertise and behaviour — embodied in its employees essential for driving successful business outcomes.

It is also useful to note that performance is itself quite fluid. An individual’s potential can shift easily with a change in performance. So we might say at the onset that talent is itself a moving variable. The current meaning of talent is often specific to the organisation and shaped by the nature of work. But even so, in most organisations, there is a strong inclination towards those who classify into the two most sought-after clusters — High Performers and High Potentials.

High Performers are those who have the ability to achieve results that meet or exceed expectations consistently. To be considered a high-performer, employees must be able to meet and surpass the goals and objectives set with and for them. These employees are able to produce consistent results over time, regardless of changes in their environment or circumstances.

High Potentials on the other hand, combine abilities, knowledge, and motivation that allow them to excel in a given role or responsibility. This can be determined by previous experience, education, or a natural aptitude. To be considered as high potential, employees should have the potential to grow and develop into leadership roles within a company.

There is no right or wrong in which segment is a priority in a particular organisation. It depends on the organisational talent strategy. However, the talent recognition framework in use does make a substantial difference.

Talent recognisers within an organisation often value performance, resourcefulness, and can marginalise the brightest or the most creative, creating resentment among co-workers, ultimately impacting performance. So for the long term, High Potentials, those who can actively think out of the box and create unique solutions, are as important as the High Performers who ensure seamless execution, every single time.

PV Ramana Murthy in his book, breaks down corporate talent into principal components:

• Natural Abilities (NA): The inherent strengths that individuals are born with, such as creativity, interpersonal skills etc. For High Potentials, Natural Abilities would be more pronounced.
• Acquired Capabilities (AC): The knowledge that employees develop over time through education, training and work experience — for instance, financial analysis or coding. This is where the High Performers score better.
• Unconscious Capabilities (UC): The untapped capabilities within individuals that often surface unexpectedly — like an employee demonstrating exceptional abilities.

PV Ramana Murthy defines these components as part of a neat formula to measure talent for an organisation generically. I feel that while quantifying talent is sometimes necessary when it comes to visualising HR outcomes, this is more of a fluid exercise. Talent is where all these factors combine to give rise to the ability to multiply value within an organisation using existing resources.

Therefore, while it is efficient to score talent on the broad-based buckets of the 5C’s: Competence, Character, Commitment, Communication, and Collaboration, it is also necessary for the Talent Management and Talent Retention teams to have a more broad-based and nuanced approach when it comes to recognition and growth.

So, while I watched a lot of the high achievers in school and college struggle with their corporate careers, I have also seen some peers and friends with an intuitive and creative personality, fast-track their way to the top of the corporate ladder.

I think it is very generic to say that you need to be more likable and network like your life depends on it, to land the right opportunities. It is perhaps a bit of both, and also how you approach problems, break them down, solve them, and then articulate them to a larger group. Corporate success is thankfully not legacy-driven.

While a good pedigree can open doors, sustainability is a game of stamina and a little bit of imagination.

What Is Talent In The Corporate Space? was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In almost all modern distributed systems, data plays a crucial role. Larger systems behind applications like Spotify, Google Drive, and Amazon.com manage petabytes of information: songs, files, products, and user preferences. Hundreds of millions of users want instant access to these systems and the data they store, and it is considered unacceptable for these systems to fail. To achieve this level of reliability and speed at scale, we rely on a fundamental architectural technique: database replication.

Database replication refers to creating new copies of data on other sources. Recall some of the key goals of system design:

• Reliability: we want our systems to work correctly; and not just sometimes, but always (or as close to always as possible).
• Availability: we want our systems to be operational and accessible whenever our users need them.
• Performance: we want our systems to be fast, meaning minimum latency and maximal throughput.
• Scalability: we want to make sure our system design is flexible enough to handle larger workloads that may arise from a growing or more active user-base.

Database replication supports all of these goals. By creating backups for our data, we make our systems tolerant to data loss (reliability) and also ensure that even if one server hosting data crashes or requires maintenance, our system can still stay online (availability).

By distributing read queries for our data across multiple replicas and possibly placing replicas in areas closer to certain user-bases, we reduce latency and thereby make data retrieval faster (performance).

Furthermore, by allowing us to simply add more “read replicas” as our user base grows, we can handle massive spikes in read-traffic without having to upgrade the hardware of a single machine (scalability).

Of course, if we’re guaranteed that our data always stays the same, we can copy our data without thinking about it too much. However, when our data keeps changing and we want to make sure every part of our system has the latest copy, we need to be more intentional. Our main goals are that the data in each replica should (1) be updated fast and (2) remain consistent with the data in other replicas.

All changes (writes) are sent to a single, “leader” database, which is responsible for then updating the many “followers”. This strategy successfully distributes reads across followers, but writes to the leader can be a bottleneck, depending on the type of replication: synchronous or asynchronous.

• Synchronous Leader-Follower Replication: If consistency is important, we need to finish writing to all followers before we can consider our write successful and continue with the application. This could introduce significant latency, especially when databases could be geographically far from the follower.
• Asynchronous Leader-Follower Replication: If a short break in consistency is acceptable, then we can simply write to the leader and continue while waiting for the followers to update with a slight delay. This is faster, but introduces inconsistency. In this scenario, if the leader fails after accepting the write but before its followers replicate it, the latest data can be lost.

In both scenarios, when the leader fails (called failover), a new leader is “elected”. How exactly this happens is out-of-scope for this article.

This strategy aims to improve upon leader-follower replication. It elects multiple leaders to:

1. Improve performance: followers can now refer to the closest leader
2. Avoid failover: if one leader goes down, it does not mean all followers have to wait for a re-election.

The most significant downside to this strategy is that leader conflicts can arise, and resolving these conflicts can be difficult.

To avoid leader election issues and consensus issues between leaders, we could also just avoid having leaders entirely. Now, we don’t need to send writes to a leader, as they can just be sent to any replica.

Since there is no leader, to accept requests, leaderless replication systems rely on quorums: if a majority of the replicas acknowledge the write, the client considers it successful.

Leaderless systems also rely on repair techniques, such as read repairs. In a read repair, data is read from multiple replicas. If one of the replicas has dated information, then that replica is quietly updated in the background during the read.

The table below neatly summarizes all of the discussion in this article.

Database Replication in Distributed Systems was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

November reminded us what this community can do.

If you read even one Code Like A Girl story in November, you helped push women and non-binary voices further into the spotlight.

On Medium, we shared 43 stories, and readers contributed more than 17,000 reads, proof that this community keeps showing up for women and non-binary technologists.

On Substack, we published 12 stories from incredible writers in tech and AI. We also gained 100 new subscribers, nearly 200 new followers, and had over 5,000 views, an over 800-view improvement over October.

That did not happen by accident.

It happened because you read, shared, recommended, and rooted for their work.

This is what our mission looks like in action: helping talented people get seen in a space that doesn’t always make room for them.

From the beginning, we made a simple decision. We would recommend every one of our writers’ publications on Substack, and only our writers.

It’s our way of giving back for the stories, expertise, and lived experiences they share with this community. And it’s working: since we began this approach in August, those recommendations have already helped more than 118 people discover our writers’ work.

Below are November’s top reads from Substack and Medium, along with one hidden gem from each platform that absolutely deserves your time.

Whether you’re here to learn, grow, or feel a little less alone in tech, you’ll find something that lands.

Jenny shares how small, curious AI experiments turned her from a “reliable but invisible” engineer into the person leadership calls for every strategic AI conversation.

By building practical tools, like autonomous research agents, UI testing, and a natural-language SQL MCP, she quietly shifted her company’s priorities and showed what was actually possible.

Her core message: you don’t need to be an AI expert to gain an unfair career advantage, you just need to start solving real friction points while everyone else waits for a strategy.

This guide is a practical roadmap for turning AI-powered ideas into production-ready apps, even if you don’t write code.

Karo and Karen walk you through every step from validating your idea and mapping user flows to choosing your stack, writing strong prompts, using Git from day one, securing data, and debugging without losing your mind.

It’s vibe coding with guardrails: AI does the heavy lifting, you stay in charge of vision, quality, and shipping real products.

Read full story

Christine argues that “vibe coding” isn’t dead at all, it’s just grown up. She traces how the hypey “build an app in minutes” fantasy faded, while a quieter reality emerged: women using AI as a force multiplier to prototype, learn, and access tech spaces that weren’t built for them.

Vibe coding, she says, has split into a gateway for beginners and a powerful assistant for experts, and that’s precisely when it got good.

Claudia shares what really happens after an AI product launch, when real users expose issues your laptop never warned you about.

Her Cantonese conversation partner survived a big Reddit moment, but user traffic revealed memory bottlenecks, slow response times, speech-recognition gaps, and unexpected feature needs, each was solved through quick, practical product fixes rather than massive technical overhauls.

Her message to builders is clear: early traction isn’t about big numbers, it’s about the small signals real users give you when they care enough to keep trying, keep testing, and even promote your tool on their own.

Sneha explores how Lovable’s agentic mode reshapes the UX workflow. Instead of just following instructions, AI begins acting like a true collaborator. It reads intent. It applies design principles automatically. It keeps designers in flow.

Her voice-first campaign builder is a glimpse of what UX will look like when AI becomes a creative partner instead of a task executor.

Vinita lays out ten habits that matter far more than raw talent. Accountability over blame. Questions over assumptions. Feedback over flattery. Deep work over busyness.

These habits make you someone people trust, listen to, and promote. A powerful guide for anyone trying to grow their career with intention.

Aleena challenges the hype cycles of modern software. She argues that “new” tech is often just old ideas with new packaging, that frameworks like Spring are patchworks built around missing language features, that few people truly understand MVC, and that configuration works best as executable code.

It’s a fun, sharp reminder of how much of our industry is built on decades-old foundations.

Amy revisits her early days in data, when coding was messy and joyful and debugging weekends felt like an adventure, not pressure.

As her career grew, the joy shifted into performance. Yet she reconnects with something true: data has always been a conversation. Human. Imperfect. Full of meaning.

Her reflection is tender, grounded, and shaped by the father who first taught her to love numbers.

This month’s stories would not exist without the brilliant women and non-binary technologists who shared their work.

In reverse order of appearance: Anjolaoluwa Ajayi, Alexia Pouyaud, Sneha, Megna Guduru | Code And Curry, Vinita, RMONTECH, Veenarao, Gabrielle Y, Anuja, Aleena, Better Allies®, Nidhi Gahlawat, Nidhi Jain 👩‍💻, Jenny Ouyang, Victoria Olorunfemi, Amy Blankenship, Elizabeth Eagle-Simbeye, Amy (Data according to me), Kalyani Dagde, Hareem Fatima 👻, Mena Esezobor, Hazal özzerif 🦌, Neela 🌶️, Diana Cristina Culincu, and Prineet Kaur 👩‍💻.

Your voices shape this community. We are grateful for every story you share.

I was interviewed by Alex Ponomarev of Thriving in Engineering about building inclusive teams and the work we are doing with Code Like a Girl. It was a meaningful conversation, and I am grateful for the chance to share our journey.

We hope our American friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

As we head into the holiday season, a small update: Code Like a Girl will be taking a break on both platforms from December 20 to January 4.

Thank you for being part of this community. We can’t wait to come back rested and ready for an incredible 2026.

Dinah Davis,
Founder of Code Like A Girl.

Bytes of Brilliance: November’s Top Tech Reads on Code Like a Girl was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

After an extended wait, Teer and Kard have finally returned!

One life’s rage was bad enough.
Two may be unendurable

Check out the e-book and paperback on Amazon or read on for the cover and book description.

♦

The young bounty hunter Teer remembers two lives: his own, travelling with the half-demigod Kard and struggling to learn his own strange magical powers; and that of the last Adept of the Orders, a trained master of the powers he fumbles with.

A journey deep into the Unity has bought him reconciliation with the dead man’s memories, but the injustices of both lives fuel an anger Teer struggles to control. Even as he and Kard return to the borderlands where they are safe, they collide with more of the injustice that defines the Unity.

Injustice they cannot stop. They are two men, but Teer now remembers an entire life of running and exile. Pragmatism says to move on—but Teer’s anger is done running.

Hundreds of innocent lives hang in the balance, but against the might of the Unity Army and the commands of a Spehari demigod, what can one man do?

The post Adept’s Path is out now! appeared first on Glynn Stewart.

The modding toolkit for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

C# 8 Updated Jul 14

The post Flash Sale appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

The post Flash Sale appeared first on Grand River Rocks Climbing Gym.

A writer living in Listowel  stated that her husband hauled toxic sludge from Uniroyal Chemical's waste ponds in Elmira to the United States for disposal at the start of the cleanup. I am aware of most if not all of the alleged cleanups done but have no knowledge of toxic wastes being taken to the U.S.  I can not categorically claim that she is incorrect but am very curious about the location where they went.

A couple of letter writers jumped on the Susan Bryant bandwagon and praised her efforts.  It makes a good story but is not accurate. Susan Bryant and Sylvia Berg  made a private deal outside the purvue of the other APTE coordinators with Uniroyal Chemical. In exchange for APTE dropping their opposition to Conestoga Rovers pathetic DNAPL investigation around 1992-93 followed by the Ministry of Environment's letter of December 10, 1993 letter accepting this report, the two ladies received promises of future efforts to clean the Canagagigue Creek as well as promised lifetime invitations to all public meetings regarding cleanup plans etc.  In other words permanent seats at the table.  For this and the expected public accolades they sold out both their souls and their citizen colleagues. To date there is no cleanup whatsoever in the downstream Canagagigue Creek.

Dr. Richard Jackson wrote an excellent Letter To The Editor describing the need for and purpose of the warning signs along the Creek. He stated "However these contaminated sediments were subsequently flushed downstream and dispersed into the Grand River watershed." This statement very well may be accurate however without further statements it could be misconstrued as suggesting that the contaminated sediments are all gone. Sediments are constantly being deposited as well as being eroded in creeks especially during spring floods and other high flow times. The history of data from the Canagagigue Creek shows concentrations and locations to a certain extent changing over time. This is normal and most observers understand that the toxic chemicals such as DDT and dioxins (and others) continue to erode from both the former Uniroyal site as well as from downgradient and downstream areas impacted by Uniroyal's decades of operation and pollution migration. 

Firstly despite the title above these are two different but serious issues. Today's K-W Record has an excellent Opinion piece by Luisa describing the abhorrent behaviour of the Waterloo Region District School Board in improperly punishing an elected trustee for vigorously doing his job.  They banned trustee Mike Ramsay from attending either public or private trustee meetings for three months because he publicly criticized the Board's stupidity in the Caroline Burjowski matter

The second matter is in regards to a four page long, overall very good article by Record reporter, Terry Pender.  Mr. Pender interviewed Lanxess Canada staff and many of their friends and fellow travellors.  I do not blame him for not knowing that everybody he interviewed were all on the same team as he did not have a program so indicating. Partly because of that but as well do to the simple fact that most of the participants are newbies such as Hadley Stamm and Nathan Cadeau and a few older ones may well have simply forgotten basic facts from twenty and thirty years ago plus. 

The Letters To The Editor included a woman from Listowel whose husband died as a result of taking toxic sludge from the former Uniroyal Chemical to off-site disposal. Another woman wrote that there was an "...utter lack of responsibility from industry and all levels of government.". She also appropriately puts Lanxess Canada mouthpiece Hadley Stamm in her place. A former Record reporter also sent in a Letter in which he mentioned Varnicolor Chemical, another serious polluter in Elmira. Only this year have we been advised what I have known for many years that Varnicolor added at least a half dozen chlorinated solvents to the Elmira drinking water aquifers. Finally Dr. Richard Jackson, the first Chair of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) explained clearly why the warning signs along the Canagagigue Creek were placed there by Woolwich Township against the wishes of our corrupt Ontario Ministry of Environment. Yes Woolwich's mayor was playing politics but also she was correct in doing so. The Creek is badly contaminated and so are the fish despite five minute wonder, councillor Nathan Cadeau's claim otherwise. Another gentleman from Cambridge also contributed a Letter and as well congratulated both Terry Pender and the Record for their efforts.

The Youth Impact Project (YIP) is a collaboration between the Children and Youth Planning Table of Waterloo Region (CYPT) and Smart Waterloo Region Innovation Lab (SWRIL). The Youth Impact Project looks to fund youth who are addressing local challenges which are identified through the 2023 Youth Impact Survey results. The funded projects include a focus on supporting youth mental and physical health, increasing feelings of belonging, and responding to climate change and food insecurity.

In 2024, over 100 youth from 15 local organisations pitched their ideas to a panel of nine youth. The Youth Decision-Making Panel (“The Dragons”) decided which projects would receive funding to make their idea a reality. In 2025, CYPT and SWRIL are accepting youth applications online, and a team of three youth are deciding which projects will receive funding.

GrassrootsKW is an interdisciplinary youth-led climate group aiming to make climate initiatives more accessible to youth in the Kitchener Waterloo region. Through both in-person community building events, as well as a website that connects youth to opportunities, GrassrootsKW is building a community for youth climate action. Visit their website here. 

Applications for the 2025 Youth Impact Project are now closed and 17 youth projects across Waterloo Region received funding. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we announce the other 12 projects!

The post 2025 Youth Impact Project Showcase: Grassroots KW appeared first on Children and Youth Planning Table.