So I moved.

Well I'm in Toronto now and loving it. I endured about a month of mostly just sitting around the condo waiting for something to happen and applying to jobs. Everyone else was off doing their own thing, and me, I was just cleaning up after them. At first I certainly enjoyed not having to head to work, but that feeling soon subsided. After just four weeks 'off' I'm back to the grind, landing my first Canadian job!

Little story: Bill is made a bet with me that I couldn't land a job within four month (July 1) - he's quite the pessimist so from his perspective four months was pretty good odds for him. The wager: if I landed a job he'd get me a MacBook Air, if I didn't, well I'm not sure what I owed him and it doesn't matter now anyhow. I'm typing this out on my new MacBook Air and loving it. Of course I have to fight him for it - its so damn light and the backlit keyboard comes in handy.

Not having a DVD drive, ethernet port or firewire port was a small downer when it came time to transfer files from the iMac, but between an external hard drive and my iPod it wasn't much of a challenge. The hard drive on the MBA is smaller than what I'm used to so I've junked all the junk but I still have 30 GB open.

But wait, there's more. I mentioned during my interview that I'm a Mac user/fan/fanatic/devotee - so guess what they purchased for me?! A MacBook - so in about one week I've received two new Mac laptops. Being able to work on a Mac at the office is a dream come true for me - I'm delighted to finally have the option and the freedom it represents. I know it might be dorky, but it really is a huge perk for me.

So there it is. I'm working again, but on a Mac this time. Kitty is a Canadian immigrant now and loving being back with "mom and dad." Life is good - the wait to get here was long and emotional but its done now.

Success

Work has been crazy busy and all the homework on top hasn't been helping with the stress levels, but I still managed to learn just enough Flash to make something useful. In our office, we have these three 40" LCDs in the lobby, and I was fortunate enough to get the chance to work with them. Though not incredibly exciting, its my first chance at learning Flash and seeing what it can do.

Anyway, there were more than a few kinks to work out and I still have plenty of little things to learn. But I've managed to build a relatively nice looking movie that fills out the screens (no easy task) and looks good doing it. I have a few guide books to read and I'm taking a two-day class next month - I'll be an old pro in no time.

Google Office Widget

Oh this is bloody fantastic! Google launched a little Thanksgiving treat in the form of this little gadget for the Google Homepage to quick launch the recent documents created or modified in the Google Docs & Spreadsheets application. This is something I have been waiting for - though a dashboard widget would be really sweet too!

Scrybe: Online and Offline

I just read this morning's downloadsquad review of the scrybe beta. Its yet another online office productivity suite of applications, but this one looks like its really going to stand out. First of all, it will work with Safari, which Google Documents (formerly known as Writely) isn't able to do yet. Secondly, and most importantly of all - you can go offline with just a couple of steps and no software to download. You just set your browser to 'work offline' and then log in to the system and go to work. I imagine it keeps a copy of all your work on your computer and keeps them in sync when you're online. This is huge, now there is really no reason to use Word or any other desktop application - unless you're a hardcore word processor I suppose.

I've signed up for an invite, can't wait to start trying this out. I have been using Google Documents quite a bit lately, its just so convenient.

The Green Office

Going green and being green are not only becoming chic, but getting closer and closer to being a necessity. I just read this morning of a study which suggested students tested better and workers were more productive in 'green' buildings. I'm quite looking forward to maybe getting a personal glimpse into this when the company I'm at moves into a 'green' office later this year. Just having a green building is only a part of the total footprint the office or school has on the environment. All of the furniture, materials, cleaning supplies etc also have a major impact. Finding these materials isn't also very easy down at the local office supply store, beyond maybe some recylced paper. Treehugger has posted about The Green Office, a website dedicated to suppyling an office with virtually all of its needs while providing accurate 'green' information on the products. What sets this site out among the others I've seen is their willingness to include and recognize products that aren't actually green. Some sites will only sell the earth-friendly products, leaving gaping wholes in their prodcut line-up and still creating hassle and extra work for the consumer. The Green Office looks like its covers all the bases - making it a one-stop shop for green office supplies and everything else you will need.