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Greetings +  Invites!
Welcome to the very first Pixel Dreams Chill Session! It's an exciting time for us and we'd like to spread the joy amongst our friends and family. We couldn't have done it without your love and support. After months of undercover preparation, we're proud to present our swank new website, new studio, new co-op students, and a new baby! Yep, a cutie little baby.
In this very first Pixel Dreams Chill Session, we are also giving away 10 invitations to preview the highly anticipated Google Wave!!! Give us a shout if you want to be one of the coolest kids on the block, and the envy of all your friends.
And so, without further ado, kick back, enjoy our digital chill-aid, and maybe even drop by for a furious, button mashing, head-to-head game of our favourite Nintendo Classic, Dr. Mario. Loser buys lunch for our co-op students.
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Hot New Website
 Motivated team? Check! Unbelievably cool clients? Check! More raw talent than oil in the Middle East? Obviously!
It's no surprise that PixelDreams.com v2 is sleek, sexy and full of smart new content. Not only have we changed the look, we've also changed the feel. From dark gray backgrounds and amped up layouts to fantastic community events coverage, v2 reaches out and tickles all the fancies you've never even thought of. Never mind the behind-the-scenes brainstorming sessions into the wee hours, the executing, or the creative mastery of it all. You don't just get a sense of what we are all about, but more importantly, the who!
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Welcome Co-op Students!
From Don Mills Collegiate, all hail Martin Herak & Kerri-Anne Mak. We look forward to a great semester with them full of coffee trips, photocopying and other menial tasks that we love to avoid. We asked them a few important questions before they started. They answered:
Martin Herak
 Fav Food: Lasagna, but if not available, he goes straight for the quesadillas.
Pet Peeve: When people quote something that everyone has just recently learned.
Super Power: Shape Shifting, like Mystique from the X-Men. (Umm, isn't that character a chick? Hmm...)
Interesting Fact: Martin owns about 600 comics, collected since he was a kid. (We think 300 of them are Mystique special features)
What do you want from your co-op experience?
"I'm most excited about the experience in general. Everything about Pixel Dreams seems amazing, the work, environment, the attitude. Can't wait to be a part of the team." (WOW, this guy is definitely going to move up the ranks with that attitude. Now where's Lannie's coffee?!)
Kerri-Anne Mak
 Fav Food: Fettuccine Alfredo, Tacos & Provolone.
Pet Peeve: People who mistreat animals. Also, strangers who sit next to you on public transit when there are clearly empty spots. (Interesting note: Khalid LOVES sitting next to people on public transit, especially when there are empty spots.)
Super Power: "(a) If other people had powers then my super power would be to be able to absorb their powers, but not steal them. (b) If other people don't have super powers then my super power would be to be able to heal." (We wish it was to give shorter answers.)
Interesting Fact: Kerri-Anne puts her friends ahead of herself. (awwww)
What do you want from your co-op experience?
"My dream is to grow as a photographer and to continuously learn new stuff." (Great! You can take pictures of Martin getting Lannie her morning coffee.)
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Team Building with Sir Bono
Talk about team building!
 With U2 in town, the stage was set for a little team time - getting out and experiencing the excitement of the Rogers Centre while bathing in the beauty of a Toronto summer's eve, and an open dome.
Trevor and Kara Stooke along with members of the Pixel Dreams team took in the sights, sounds and spectacle of what has been dubbed "The Greatest Show in Rock," and for good reason! The U2 show took four days to setup and featured a 200 ft. UFO canopy, light show, and an amazing movable video screen that showcased the band as innovators in technology. The presentation was equalled by an enthusiastic and energetic performance of the band.
Good times + Great Show + Fantastic Team = Priceless!
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Stooke 2.0
 Tada! After 9 months of development, Stooke 2.0 was finally released to the public on August 1st, 2009 at 8:29am. This release has updated some major bugs, like the 'ultra-cuteness bug' that her predecessor didn't have. Congratulations to our best buddy and partner Trevor Stooke and his beautiful wife Kara on their new-born baby girl. We're looking forward to spoiling little Isobel as soon as possible.
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Pierre Monké's Sneakers
 Pierre and the team would like to give special thanks to our peeps in Vancouver for years of great publishing and awesome social commentaries. We hope that one day we're big and corporate-ish enough so that they can bash our faces with their awesomeness! Now go out and get a copy of their latest issue.
Just to clarify to some Monké fans, Pierre does not wear the standard "Chuck", model of Converse Sneakers. He wears Blackspot shoes made by Adbusters. They're not just sexy, they're fair trade.
"Blackspot shoes are made with hemp, recycled tires and vegan leather and produced in fair-trade or unionized factories. We sell only to independent retailers worldwide in order to cycle money back into local economies". (Adbusters)
Every time you purchase a pair, they send you a little document stating that you are now a proud share holder of the anti-corporation. How cool is that?
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We ♥ Freshbooks
 Having suspected that the guys over at Freshbooks are super heroes by night, we called them up for a chat. It turns out that this Toronto-based online invoicing, time tracking and expense tracking service does possess a power of super awesomeness. And we love them long time. While we're at it, we'd like to shout out to Andrew Peek and Zach Aysan. Thanks to them, our clients love receiving invoices from us! Well, almost.
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Mobile Mobile Mobile
 September 16th, 2009 – MobileBiz held their BootCamp at Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) as part of MobileInnovationWeek. The Camp was a one day intensive engagement with industry leaders teaching the ins and outs of the mobile world. Topics covered everything from What's Hot & What's Not to Revenue Models. This year, Pixel Dreams attended MobileBiz BootCamp as an observer, and it was indeed a great learning experience. It was especially nice seeing our friend Marina Mann speaking at the podium. Go Marina! All attendees received a bag of treats, among which we really dug the tint case filled with yummy mints - compliments of Martiz.
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Technology, Entertainment, Design
 We love TED.com so much that we have TED breaks at the studio. TED breathes optimism and purpose into our lives, and inspires us to strive for better, bolder, kinder, worthwhile initiatives. Some of our favourite talks have been:
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Dr. Mario Rankings
 It's impossible to leave our studio without having played a little bit of that 90's Nintendo puzzle classic, Dr. Mario. Besides entertainment, the game is also an internal measure of team player's character, confidence, work ethic and creativity in trash-talking! Dr. Mario has reached a new height of competitiveness within our social network. After the first monthly tournament, the current standing is:
- Khalid Mokhtarzada
- Linda Nguyen
- Shaddy Takla
- Lannie Le
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Ride The Wave
 Many thanks to our secret agent friend at Google, we're among the very first to preview the much-anticipated, super-ass-kicking, new social media and communications tool, Google Wave. It is a web-based communications protocol designed to thread e-mail, instant messaging, wiki, and social networking into collaborative and real-time "waves." Think of it as Gmail… on steroids!!! You can start a wave and add people and content to it. We really dig the clean and (nearly) intuitive GUI, although it did take us a good 10 minutes to get familiar with all the rich, new features. We suspect this will become a very useful tool for both collaboration... and procrastination.
To conclude our first Chill Session, we would like to invite 10 of you to ride the Wave with us, so give us a shout!
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