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Win with Transat Holidays

Can’t afford to treat yourself.. you can always try and win it!

Here are some competitions sites from the newspapers in Vancouver, Canada which are the best places to find genuine competitions as you don’t usually have to sign up for anything or get 3rd party crap

Metro News
24hrs
Georgia Straight
The Province
Vancouver Sun

Straight.com latest contests

I have to share with you one of my favourite parts of the BBC site, Day in Pictures, the photographs are stunning and interesting, they capture amazing moments  and its a great quick click when you only have a little time.

I love the BBC news site in general, it feels very clean and interactive and beats the hells out of news broadcast in North America which is based on ratings and is completely glorified to make people watch.

This picture: Flamingoes walk around an amusement park in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, South Korea, as temperatures rise.

You can submit pictures of your own should you stumble upon and newsworthy event or have an amazing picture to share.

Here are some links you can submit your images to:
We set the theme, you take the pictures

How to send us your news photos and videos

Send us your portfolio or features on a subject of your choice

This is I think is a great idea, purchasing something very random for not too many bucks, you have no idea what you’ll get …just something!

It’s the mystery, the fact that it takes to back to your childhood of surprises and it’s like Christmas that makes it an attractive idea. It’s a bit of a novelty and a lottery but the something store displays random items received by people on the something tracker. Most of it seems worth at least $10, its free shipping in the US, $14.75 CAD, $18.75 for other countries, when I got mine it wasn’t too useful but I was still excited at the idea of it!

You never know… those Finger Drums, Memory Foam Slippers or Stove Top Grill may just be what you wanted. If not you can always sell it on Craigslist

H&M Coupon

H&M in Vancouver are doing a 50% discount – buy 3 items and get 50% off the lowest priced item.

Offer ends 27th February 2009 and you can download the coupon at
http://www.hm.com/ca (bottom right hand corner)

It’s actually not the greatest deal but its H&M and its a deal!

Dollar Stores

In London I wouldn’t even consider going into the pound shop mostly because its just stuff you don’t need and really badly made stuff but in Vancouver its almost a way of life!

There are some really good ones and some not so good, if you really want to know I like the one in Park Royal, the 2 in Lougheed Mall are a bit crap although they have some uses and I think its because Walmart is also there. I hate succumbing to the evil Walmart but I will if I can’t find something from the dollar store. There is also Dollar Giant in Abbotsford which is the size of a supermarket. I like the names…EFAD(Everything For A Dollar), A Buck of Two, Dollarrama, Dollar Depot etc etc

I actually held a cocktail party and bought the little umbrellas, stirrers, shot measurer, magarita and martini glasses, table cloth and serviettes from less than $12, its all going to get broken anyway so why not… noone really needs to know where you got it from.

Acupressure Massage

Now if you are looking for a wimpy, relaxing ahhhh factor of a massage go for some aromatherapy massage as this one is not for the faint hearted.

I recently picked up an $18 coupon with Unihealth for a one hour massage in 24hrs Vancouver commuter newspaper and thought I’d give it a try. I actually didn’t know it was acupressure massage when I booked it and haven’t been for many massages so was not sure what to expect.

I went to my local Unihealth, they seemed to have quite a few locations so I guess you can only really judge the person at that particular place. Overall the offices and rooms were pretty nice and it seemed no fuss, I just walked in and they told me what to do and were very polite.

I had a guy from China doing my massage, he didn’t speak much English but we tried have a chat anyway. He started with the muscles around my neck and instead of ‘aahhhh thats so good’ it was more of a case of ‘owwww that hurts!’ he kinda laughed at me and I ended up laughing at the pain too. We were both shocked at how knotted up my muscles were and he was digging his elbow into parts of my back and shoulders to release the tension.

Even though it was a painful experience, it did loosen me up and show how tense I was, I thought he had only just started when one hour passed. The next day I was a bit sore and all my joints were cracking but I felt lighter and less tense so I might even go back for more torture.. they say No Pain, No Gain!

Tip: Unihealth always seem to have these ads in 24hr for $18 massage and acupuncture so look out for them, they will obviously try to sign you up for more but they weren’t too pushy and regular price is only $55 which I think is reasonable rate

Marcella's Blog

For those of you out of a job because of the recession and cut backs why not apply for this job deemed the ‘best job in the world’. It sounds like such a hardship… “caretaker” of a tropical Island on the Great Barrier Reef but you will have to compete with 18,000 other applicants! I have a friend of friend that has applied and posted her video application on her blog she set up specifically for the job.

Marcella’s Blog

http://iwantthebestjobintheworld.ca/

Some information about the job

Candidates are required to create a video application in English of up to one minute explaining why they are uniquely qualified for the job.

The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (about 100,000 US dollars) for six months and includes free airfares from the successful candidate’s home country to the white sands and clear waters of Hamilton Island.

more info & application form

Hurry though, applications close in 2 days!

German loses 10k in Euros

Who forgets 10,000 Euros (approx 16k CAD) while taking a pee?! And the real burning question is what would you do if you found it? I’m not sure you could get away with just taking that amount and not feeling like someone will eventually find you but it would be very tempting!

Germans are meant to be efficient not flaky, maybe he is rich and £9,000 doesn’t really mean that much to him, I know  if I have walk around with $500 CAD I get nervous and can’t stop thinking about it. I would probably pee with it on my lap, different for guys I guess, unless he wasn’t peeing. ewww.

Sheisser!

Full Story

I like reading the oddly enough section on yahoo news, there’s always some crazy story in there to cheer me up, like “Indian boy weds dog to ward off tiger attack” WTF?!
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/oddlyenough.html

I am really loving my Wii Console, Wii sports and Wii Fit even after several months of owning it I am still addicted to the Wii Tennis, its awesome they packaged the Wii Console with some decent games!

I find the novelty does wear off a bit with Wii Fit as with most games but I can pick it up and dust it off after a couple of months and it’s still a fun way to keep fit.

The interaction gives it more of a social twist as many friends have come over to have lots of fun with it, you really find out just how competitive your mates are.

Latest game bought: De Blob – looks like a kiddies game and is simple like one but really fun for all.

Tips: It’s actually not a bad idea to use the wrist straps, I am one of those people that get a bit too over-enthusiatic about the games and I have thrown the wii controller at the tv and almost wreck my flat playing Wii Tennis.

Games are expensive so buy it, play it and then sell it on Craigslist for about half the price.

Red Flag Deals

Here’s a tip for all you internet shoppers, when you are about to purchase something online beforehand you should check for any coupon codes on the web to get an even cheaper deal.

Here are some sites

http://www.redflagdeals.com
http://www.retailmenot.com
http://www.ecoupons.com

or you can just type coupon code and whatever store you are buying from in the google search. Most big online store will have a coupon box to add your code to at the checkout and you can just try a few to see if they work, you don’t feel guilty when you are trying to dupe the computer