This week in the Blogerati Files, toronto.optimuscrime.com .

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
Music, musings, amusings and self-deprecation from the Big Smoke.

Why did you start blogging? What's your blog's birthday?
I started blogging as a way to keep in touch with my university friends. I was sending out mass emails to friends/acquaintances and started to worry that they were too frequent and/or completely unwelcome. I started to blog so friends could drop in on me and see what was going on in my life at their leisure. My old blog (thebeesknees.blogspot.com) was born on January 3rd, 2004. I made the move to Optimuscrime Toronto on September 26, 2006.

How long have you lived in Toronto?
My whole life, with a couple of interruptions for my edumacation (I lived in Kingston for four years and Montreal for one).

What's the funniest/strangest thing that has happened to you in Toronto? Did you blog about it?
I couldn't possibly blog about all the strange shit that happens in this city. Just yesterday, I was in a Value Village and this man kept proclaiming himself the King of Canada. Loudly. And he told the poor cashier that there were hundreds of rats in the store and he had injured himself on a buggy, but don't worry - he was going to talk to Bill Clinton and George Bush and they would crack down on things. Toronto is a daily adventure.

This week in the Blogerati Files, 2xy.org .

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
Less thought-provoking than Noah Grey. But sassier.

Why did you start blogging? What's your blog's birthday?
I started doing something similar to blogging in 1999. Then it was full-on, shameless blogging from April 24, 2000 (the day I signed up for a Blogger.com account) onwards.

How long have you lived in Toronto?
Since 1997. So... 9 years.

What's the funniest/strangest thing that has happened to you in Toronto? Did you blog about it?
Last year, I got locked up in a closet at the office, two days before Christmas. And yes, I blogged it.

This week in the Blogerati Files, radicaltrust.ca .

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
Social media and corporate transparency in the age of dialogue.

Why did you start blogging? What's your blog's birthday?
I started blogging so I could teach myself as much as possible about social computing. I want to know how and why sites like MySpace, YouTube and Flickr start and flourish. I work in advertising, so there's some professional motivation to understand this, but it runs much deeper. These are real communities that are being built. Any time new forms of communication encourage real conversation and community, barriers are broken and bridges are built. That's why I call my blog "radical trust". I'm blogging to learn it, to teach it and to encourage it.

I started my blog on October 2nd 2006. It still has that new blog smell.

How long have you lived in Toronto?
12+ years.

This week in the Blogerati Files, and now there is this distance .

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
Music news and ramblings from a twentysomething rock journalist.

Why did you start blogging? What's your blog's birthday?
I've been keeping "and now there is this distance" (it's a line from an Interpol song) since December 2004, but I'd had a number of different online diaries since 2000. The problem was that I always ended up vacillating between craving an audience and being completely fucking paranoid about people reading my thoughts. Eventually, I just said to hell with it -- in order to be a decent journo, I needed to practice writing for an audience, so I started this distance to be a mix of my own ADHD-esque thoughts with pop culture and music newslinks. I've never widely advertised my blog though, since I like to keep things on the downlow in order to not feel worried whenever I allude to my personal life. I'm one of those bipolar cases of an attention whore who also needs privacy.

How long have you lived in Toronto?
I'm originally from Kingston, home of five jails and Queen's University, but I moved here to attend U of T about five years ago. After my first year, I moved back home for maybe all of two months before I started clawing up the walls and made my escape back to Toronto ASAP. I haven't left since.

This week in the Blogerati Files, It's All About Me!

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
The title says it all .... It's all about me!

Why did you start your blog? Blogiversary?
I started my blog in July 2005. My friend, Angie, had one and it seemed like fun. And it has been. I used to be into penpalling in a big way and this is kind of the same thing for me.

How long have you lived in Toronto?
I moved to Toronto from Antigonish, NS, in February 1987. It feels like I've been here forever as I love it here!

What's the funniest/strangest thing that has happened to you in Toronto?, Did you blog about it?
When my husband and I got married in July 2002, we had planned a very small wedding at City Hall ... just he and I, my sister and his son. The date we chose turned out to be the day that everyone gathered at City Hall during the Pope's visit. So it was the four of us ... plus a half a million people celebrating our wedding! Alas, none of them gave us presents. Ha!

While awaiting our dinner, Lalibela and Kitfo platters, my table of friends -- along with bloggers everywhere, who may or may not like Ethiopian food -- noticed the "Where's Obama?" thing on the nearby TV. (My crew figured it was an intern prank, and apologetic CNN host Wolf Blitzer blamed the graphics department.) As for this typo in the Globe's slideshow, while it may have been an honest error, I'd rather chalk it up to an overactive imagination, or maybe a Freudian typo.

Meanwhile, Toronto's odd jobs market remains strong -- and weird -- as ever, with calls for Village People impersonators and "freak" DJs to revive the all-ages dance party scene. Then there's the morning helper gig for a busy guy and his dog Benny, though take note, as tasks include both pet care ("experimenting with various cooked/baked/prepared meals; teeth cleaning") and "office" tasks ("loading and organizing my S50 (mp3 player)"). But hey, the guy "couldn't care less if you smoke pot as long as you wash your hands thoroughly before petting my dog." Finally, did I misread the forecast, or would not a team of "24/7 on call" snow shovelers have bupkis to do right about now?

Image from Snohoe.com