So I was sitting in the office waiting for a report to be processed and I went on the Interweb and saw this article (CNET.com: Extreme office time-wasters) about the Top 10 extreme office time-wasters. Curious, I checked my report and it saw that it was still churning along so I continued on with the article. I found myself guilty of many of these time-wasters, at one time or another. In no particular order, here is their Top 10 list.

1. Instant messengers – My IM of choice is MSN Messenger, although I hardly use it these days. My previous place of employment blocked the use of MSN Messenger so we’d have to use Meebo, Web Messenger, or some other method but it’s not my time-waster of choice.
2. Social networks – For me, the only social networking sites I’m on are Facebook and LinkedIn. I joined LinkedIn when I was without a job at the beginning of the year. But I quickly found a job and I don’t use LinkedIn now. In the first couple of months when I first joined facebook, I frequented it a lot but nowadays, I go days on end without logging in because I don’t really have a need for it anymore. I don’t check at work and I hardly check at home, either. Maybe I need more friends.
3. Newsreaders – Now this I can attest to. The first thing I do in the morning when I get into the office is settle down, get my coffee, and load up Google Reader. Newsreaders are awesome because I don’t have to go visit individual sites to see what’s new and I don’t have to ask myself whether I’ve read this article or that post already. In reality, I only spend about 30 minutes a day total catching up on Google Reader (and that’s usually when I’m stuck in a work-related wait).
4. YouTube – Nope, not at work. I assume it uses a lot of bandwidth so that’s an IT flag. Plus, you typically need the sound with the video and most offices don’t tolerate loud noises coming from computers. The only time I go to YouTube is if someone sends me a link to view. I’d never go to YouTube without a purpose.
5. PC and online games – Playing games at work? Are you kidding me? Maybe if you work at EA or something. I don’t think work computers even have the default games installed on them (at least not for the companies I’ve worked for). Besides, I love me some PS3.
6. E.mail – My primary e.mail account is at Hotmail and my previous employer blocked access to Hotmail. That totally sucked (not just for me but a lot of people). We had some IT-inclined co-workers that found backdoors via proxies but IT caught on pretty quick once more and more people went that route. My current place of employee doesn’t seem to have any firewalls blocking wbsites (like Hotmail or Facebook). I guess they trust their employees to be adults and not abuse the system. I check Hotmail three times a day: morning, lunch, and right before I leave work. I just see if there’s any new e.mails and if I can respond quickly, I do. Otherwise, I wait until I get home. I try to get people to e.mail urgent things to my work e.mail address because thanks to my BlackBerry, I’ll always get that immediately.
7. Photos – I confess, Flickr is my BOF (best online friend). I go to Flickr quite often throughout the day, just to catch up on comments to my photostream and new photos from my contacts. But when I need to leisurely browse through groups and view photos in more detail, I save that for home. The photos look better with Safari anyways.
8. Manual file-searching – No comment, I don’t even think this qualifies as a time-waster. At least not a voluntary time-waster one would like to do.
9. iTunes – I had iTunes installed on my computer at my last place of work and I imported ALL my music from home. We also shared music over the work networks so that was cool. With my new work, I don’t have iTunes installed but I did bring some music from home and I rock the Windows Media player with tunes while I work. As long as the music doesn’t get too loud and it doesn’t bother anyone, I think you should be allowed to listen to music at work. I have a small problem with headphones; they’re fine, as long as you’re not oblivious to the world around you.
10. E-commerce – Again, I’m guilty of this time-waster. Once in a while, I do my banking online at work. And once in a while, I’ll check online stores for deals or price comparisons. But I’m not a shopaholic. I know what I want to buy and I buy what I want. When I don’t know what I want to buy, then I go searching for reviews.

That’s not a very comprehensive list but it does include a few things I do at work. I think my worst is Flickr and e-commerce. Other than that, I’m pretty good with my time during work. I get all my work done and I don’t really waste that much time. The non-work things I do at work are usually time fillers, like in-between meetings or if I’m waiting for the computer to process something. It’s all about responsibility and not abusing the trust your company has put into you.

Face it, we live in a world where technology rules. If you disagree, you are lying to yourself because without it, there’s no way you’d be reading this.

It’s amazing how much technology is engrained into my life. I use it to play, to communicate, to entertain, and to capture precious moments in life. Would I be at a lost if I didn’t have all the gadgetry that I have. Yes and no. But let’s get it clear, there’s more things I can’t live without than things I can.

1. Apple MacBook Pro. This is basically the technological nexus of my world. Everything goes back to my computer. I specify my MacBook Pro because I don’t even use my desktop PC anymore. It just sits there like a big hunk of black and broading hardware that’s been neglected and hardly touched. But my MacBook Pro is my baby. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a desktop again and I definitely don’t see myself going back to a PC again (by choice, because businesses are still dominated by PCs).
2. RIM BlackBerry. If I need to get in touch with anyone or if anyone needs to get in touch with me, the BlackBerry is my lifeline. It keeps my life organized, it tells me where I need to be, and it constantly alerts me when new e.mails come in.
3. Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi. Photos, photos, photos! I love photography and the XSi allows me to take as many pictures as I desire. There’s also definitely a cool factor when you whip out the dSLR to take pictures. It’s like I’m all professional and stuff.
4. Sony Playstation 3. I’ve just recently gotten back into gaming. I was huge on Nintendo growing up as a child of the 80s. I had the original Nintendo and the SNES. I completely jumped past everything in between and got a Sega Dreamcast in the late 90s. that had a short life and I never did much gaming after that. I skipped the entire Playstation era (1 and 2) but I bought the Playstation 3 when it launched because it was touted as not only a gaming system, but a complete home entertainment package. And it has been that. The Blu-Ray player is awesome, it plays videos (perfect for when I download missed tv shows on torrent and want to watch in plasma glory), music, and pictures. Oh, and the games. I like games again. I still can’t sit through a gaming session marathon but I’ve been able to work my tolerance to about 90 minutes per sitting now.
5. Apple iPod. Besides photography, I also love music. I’m a total concert whore (I’ve actually got two concerts this weekend). My iPod keeps me entertained on the long bus rides to and from work and when I’m at the gym. I get so much entertainment from this little device.

What does your list look like?

I hate to admit it but I think I’ve grown fond of the BlackBerry I got from work.

If I had known prior that I would be getting a BlackBerry for work, I would have fought tooth and nail against it. Who wants to have a 24-hour lifeline to work all the time? I didn’t need to have constant access to my work e-mails and I definitely didn’t want to be easily reachable via phone. Lucky for work they just sprung the BlackBerry on me without consent. But I have to say, today I am singing a different tune.

The BlackBerry is convenient and I don’t even mind the constant access to e-mails. I haven’t received very many calls (outside the work hours) so it’s not the horror story I imagined it would be. This will probably all change in the future once I’ve been with the company longer but for now, I like the BlackBerry. In fact, I don’t think I can go back to my Windows Mobile PDA smartphone anymore. It’s funny how you can go from detesting something one day and then being enamoured with it three weeks later. And now I bring you the top 10 reasons why I like the BlackBerry:

10. It’s sexy. Look at it, I know you want to lick it. I don’t keep it in a case or anything because I like how it looks.

9) BlackBerry Messenger. An IM network strictly for BlackBerry users? Awesome.

8 Apps. There aren’t as many apps available as there are for Windows Mobile smartphones but the apps I’ve installed so far are kick-ass. There’s hardly any loading time and it’s very integrated with the rest of the BlackBerry OS. So far, I’ve got apps for weather, instant messaging, Twitter, and Facebook. And although they are technically applications, they never feel like the applications of the Windows world.

7. It doesn’t feel like a resource hog. There’s a distinct lag whenever I run programs on Windows Mobile. If I want to view a picture, there’s a lag. If I want to launch the browser, there’s a lag. When I want to text, there’s a lag. With the BlackBerry, I don’t get any of that.

6. No reboot required. The BlackBerry doesn’t run Windows. Therefore, it doesn’t hang, it doesn’t crash, I don’t need to reboot it. Actually, let me qualify this by saying I’ve yet to reboot my BlackBerry. Like any OS, the BlackBerry is prone to problems that require a reboot. However, I’ve had my BlackBerry for about a month now and I’ve yet to reboot it. I think I rebooted my Windows Mobile OS smartphone about 10 times within the first week.

5. It’s got this status symbol attached to it. Maybe I’m being brain-washed by the might of the BlackBerry but it makes me feel important. It says I have a BlackBerry because people NEED to be able to get in touch with me anytime via phone and/or e.mail. It’s like a power suit, but for my hand.

4. The trackball. It’s just awesome. It’s just like the trackball on my Mighty Mouse

3. I can use the BlackBerry with one hand. That might not sound important but when you’re used to using a stylus to move around Windows Mobile and using two hands to type on the keyboard, being able to use a device with one hand is immeasurable. If I’m driving and I need to make a call, send a text, or look at the map, I can do it while I still have one hand on the wheel. Not that I do that, mind you. Never.

2. If I want to call or text someone, it’s super easy. From the main screen I can start typing in a name and it will automatically bring up the dial menu. Once it filters down to the name I want, all the numbers appear and I can call them by pressing the dial key or I can hit the menu button and then choose to text them. With Windows Mobile, if I want to call someone, I need to bring up the dial menu and type in the contact. If I want to text someone, I need to go to the text menu and type in the contact. If I want to call someone and go into the call menu but then change my mind and decide to text, I need to exit the call menu and go to the text menu. It shouldn’t be this cumbersome.

And the #1 reason why I love the BlackBerry…

1. The BlackBerry OS. I never really liked the organizer and address book on the Windows Mobile OS. I had to download PocketBreeze to meet my organizer needs (and even that seems sub-par). The BlackBerry OS, however, has a great organizer and address book. Every syncs to/from my desktop exactly as they appear. Entering a new appointment or a new contact is easy, sweet, and simple. The BlackBerry media player is pretty great, too. It shows all the music, videos, ringtones, and pictures you have and viewing anything is simple. The image quality is top-notch (though that could be just a comparison between the two specific units I have). The log screen shows everything (calls, e.mails, text) so I don’t have to jump from one area to another. Seamless integration is the key phrase here.

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BlackBerry, work

I’m $1,000 poorer but 1,000 times happier.

I moved up in the world of digital photography and bought myself the brand new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi SLR camera!!! It was a semi-impulse buy; I knew I would get a digital SLR camera eventually but I didn’t think it would be this soon. However, the planet and stars aligned (read: new job, just got paid, new camera on the market, one-day sale) and now I’ve got a brand new toy.

I bought the camera + lens kit and I’m pretty stoked. I’ve never used an SLR before so the 18-55mm lens that was included should suffice for the time being, while I learn how to use this beast. There’s so many buttons and controls on the camera that I was overwhelmed at first. But once I took it for a test drive, I was starting to feel more comfortable. I pressed all the buttons and tried all the adjustments, just to get a sense of what everything did. Later on, I’ll actually learn how to use the functions properly. So far though, I’m impressed with what’s getting spit out. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the quality of the photos are better than that of my Canon PowerShot SD870 IS camera.

I’m a big fan of education so I’ll have to pick up a user’s guide for the XSi once they come out. There’s only so much I can get from the tiny manual that was included with the camera so I’ll need to put some money down for a real tutorial guide. But in the mean time, the Interweb will be my guide as I learn all about aperture, ISO, depth-of-field, exposure, and much, much more. I know all this stuff to an extent but there wasn’t much application with a point-and-shoot camera. Now I’ll be able to see real-life results when I adjust all these settings and see the differences in the photos I take.

I plan on getting out every day this week after work and just taking pictures. Hopefully I’ll end up with some good photos by the end of the week.

I got paid last Friday. I went to the mall on Saturday. This is what I bought:

The Kooks “Konk”

Whoever said buying CDs would become a dying art was wrong. The ability to freely download music has increased my CD purchases because I can try before I buy. If I don’t like what I hear, I don’t buy it. If I don’t like what I hear, I also don’t keep it.

If not for the availability of music on the Interweb, I would definitely not have been exposed to as much music as I have been. I would not have been as excited for Pemberton Festival. I may not be going to see Kate Nash in concert this week. I may not have known who The Kooks are and I would not be enjoying them perform Naïve next week at The Commodore.