Kelly,
As a fellow Mac and Canon user, I've also tried to use the Image Browser and iPhoto combination to view and organize my images, but I was not happy with either program. iPhoto, in particular, was cumbersome, confusing, and it littered my computer with unnecessary files.
I now download my pictures with a card reader via Mac's built in "Image Capture" application, and then open, edit, and view them in Photoshop CS's browser. I also use iViewMedia -- an excellent Mac friendly picture viewing and organizing program that allows me to easily sort, arrange, delete, and then view my images as full screen slide shows. The slide shows can be controlled with my mouse -- which means I can look at an image for as long or as little as I wish. I can also view my photographs with iViewMedia as rows of thumbnails in various sizes, or as single images, and can save any combination of images as a self-contained "catalogue."
iViewMedia never litters my hard-drive with space-eating picture files, either. Full exposure data is always visible in both the Photoshop CS browser and in iViewMedia.
For info on iViewMedia, go to: http://www.iview-multimedia.com/prod...edia/index.php.
It costs $50 to download. (There is also a more advanced version called iViewMediaPro available for professional use at $100.)
Good luck.