Photo: "Thinking" by AshtonPal, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.

What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):

TTC Chair and City Councillor Adam Giambrone is poised to announce his candidacy for the mayor of Toronto in the upcoming municipal elections in October. In an invitation sent out this weekend, he's asked supporters to join him to "celebrate Toronto" at a "night of...excitement" at Revival night club. I wonder if he plans to step down as TTC Chair during what will no doubt be an intense campaign, or if they'll need to allocate even more tasks to third party blue ribbon panels as a result.

The TTC appeared to have had another inadvertent blip in their web development process when the long-anticipated and soon to launch "online trip planner" was accessible to the public ahead of its official launch. After reading about it on Spacing, I gave it a try and found that it was so buggy and prone to error that it can't be poised to launch all that soon.

Tim Hortons is about to take another bite out of McDonald's fast food breakfast market share - by introducing their own version of the popular Egg McMuffin sandwich. On the rare occasion that I'm famished and on the go (usually in rural parts), I'll grab one of Tim's current breakfast sandwich offerings, but never on that buttery scone thingy it comes with by default. Having an English muffin option seems like the next best option, I guess.

Ashleymadison.com, the web site that helps married people find extra-martial hookups online, may be too spicy for the TTC to take on as an advertiser but is poised to make a foray onto the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) with an IPO possibly coming within weeks. Buying into a company that promotes infidelity seems like a safe bet, given how common a reality it is in today's age.

Never mind the high speed chase that resulted in a collision with police car and charges for impaired driving and resisting arrest; the interesting part of this story is that after apprehending the driver, the OPP also charged him for using his cell phone during the pursuit.

In an effort to curb violent murder, Giorgio Mammoiliti is proposing that the City impose a curfew on teens and forge partnerships with faith groups instead of dribbling basketballs with them. I can't wait to see his full platform when it's revealed on February 25th.

And on blogTO this weekend:

• Jonathan shared a lovely display of photographs of the ruins at the abandoned St. John's Convent in North York.
• Lauren took us to The Chef's House, a student run restaurant that's part of the culinary program at of George Brown's Chef School.
• Charlotte reviewed El Almacen, a new South American-style cafe that specialize in yerba mate on West Queen West.
• Ian checked out the latest cutting-edge Canadian designs at Radiant Dark 2010, which has been moved to the to the heart of the Financial District in the lobby of Commerce Court West.
• Derek got some great crowd photographs of the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament protest in the downtown core.
• Debbie had something for the TED fans our there, and recommends checking out the new Toronto-based Heads series.
• And Maria stopped by the Interior Design Show to check out some futuristic styling at the MTCC.