It’s been one week

It’s been one week since I’ve made my triumphant return to Toronto and started my new job. OK, maybe it wasn’t triumphant ala Liz Taylor’s Cleopatra feb 011.jpgentering Rome, but it’ll be nice to be able to buy char sui bao again.

The move was the smoothest one I have ever undertaken, thanks to the help of the parents, Furmac and Juice. Everything fit inside a 16 foot cube van, despite all indications that we had too much dang stuff. Furmac pointed out that his working at a geospatial mapping firm helped him optimize the space in the van.

Even the cat travelled well. She got into her carrier grudgingly, and meowed critically on occasion, but it was a far cry from the last move, where she cried like a newborn baby the entire way. She even acclimatized well to the new place; by nightfall she had reconnoitered the area, secured her possessions (the cat hides in box.jpgComfy Wingback Chair and the Food Dish), and went to sleep on top of the comforter.

The new apartment is smaller than my old one, so it feels quite cramped. Or cozy, depending on your mood. We’re also no longer on the 21st floor, so gone are the high ceilings and panoramic views.

It is located in a quiet neighbourhood just west of High Park. Up north is the quasi-trendy European delis and bakeries of Bloor West Village. The disadvantage is that it is too far of a walk to the Village, so I’ll have to take the bus or streetcar if I want to go anywhere.

Moneris goes MPLS

Moneris (the guys in Canada that provides the services to your favourite retailer so you can pay with your credit and debit cards) are migrating their x.25 IP network to Bell Enterprise Group’s IP VPNe network, which uses Cisco MPLS technology. VPNe is a good thing because it will let Moneris to finely tune their bandwidth, set classes of service for different kinds of traffic, and basically get a more consistent, secure and reliable connection.

Moneris is used by a lot of big name retailers; everytime you swipe your card at places such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Staples, or Future Shop, you’re using Moneris. These clients can also migrate to VPNe, and seamlessly link up to Moneris’s private VPNe network through an Extranet VPN connection to exchange – and control the flow of – data easier. They will also still support their cheaper, dialup network for smaller shops.