Best Social Buying Website for Toronto Residents

Many web savvy Torontonians are by now familiar with the mega-deal websites Groupon, Living Social and the like. The concept has been such a hit and has been practiced and modified by competitors from small local upstarts to large multi-national efforts.  Fortunately you can subscribe to a daily email that summarizes all the deals available.  As always, be sure that you know what you are buying.  I always visit the website of the deal offeror, usually search for third party reviews and often call or email if I need clarification before making a purchase.  I have made quite a few purchases across several of the deal websites and while I can say the websites that run the deals have all been relatively easy to use, the quality of the deals has been quite variable.  It is really up to you as the buyer to do your homework and sniff out good value.  Without further ado, here is the link for the daily summary of deals for Toronto.

http://www.dailydealzone.com/toronto-daily-deals.aspx

Today as an example there are 17 new daily deals and 18 extended deals.

I would like to post a piece in the future about suggestions for deal site purchasers.  A guide to how to get the most for your money.  If anyone has thoughts on the subject I invite your comments below.

Two Minute Stress Buster

Concentrate for a moment on something stressful or challenging in your life. Can you notice your body getting tense? Feel your muscles tightening? Check your breathing and notice what's happening. Did you STOP breathing? Or is it rapid and shallow – higher in your chest? Okay, now you have a baseline.

1. Check the time and make a mental note of the minutes.
2. *Cross one ankle over another. Notice which leg is on top. Either will do.
3. *Next, extend your arms just below shoulder height, with the backs of your hands touching each other.
4. *Take one hand (same side as top foot) and cross the wrist over the other hand so that your palms now touch.
5. *Interlace your fingers.
6. *Swing your hands down, then in (inside) and up onto your chest. Relax your shoulders.
7. *Sit like that for two or three minutes and you’ll feel your breathing shift lower and slower in your chest, your  muscles relaxing and your mind clearing. Keep your head upright.

Albino Squirrels are not a myth!

I can now finally say at long last that I have seen an Albino Squirrel in Trinity Bellwoods Park.  Long talked about as a Toronto legend, everybody knows someone who has seen an Albino Squirrel, but few people can lay claim to personally coming across one of these furry little creatures.  I must say, that over the last few years I have been to Trinity Bellwoods Park several dozen times and I had given up hope of catching a glimpse of one of these guys.  People had said that with all of the redevelopment that the white squirrel population had died off, well it was a pleasure to see our little friend and I had enough time to catch a video.  The Youtube link is posted below:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6YAyiQNWxo

Is Lumosity worth your time and money?

I read about Lumosity some time back in the very excellent book "What Color is Your Parachute."  Lumosity is a web based platform of games designed to challenge and improve aspects of your brain functioning.  I didn't actually check out the site while reading "What Color is Your Parachute" but clicked on an online advertisement sometime later.  Perhaps you have seen one and are curious.  I decided I would provide my basic information (no credit cards) in exchange for a 7 day trial access. There are over 30 games and various training programs that run through the games in specific sequences.    I first completed the Basic training program.  It is 40 modules and was a bit of a slog to get through in the 7 day period but I wanted to give it a fair assessment before I considered spending for the website.  It is sold as a subscription model -- ie monthly or annually.  I didn't buy right away and I was rewarded for my patience as Lumosity sent me an email shortly after my trial period with a discounted rate.  In fact the first email offer was for a 20% discount and I didn't respond to this.  I next got an email for a 30% discount or 6 months free with an annual subscription.  I was tempted to wait further and see if the deals got better but decided that I was enjoying the site enough that I wanted to resume training unrestricted. 
Try it for yourself:

www.lumosity.com

Stress Buster Video

This short video will relax you. I recommend paying it on full screen. For more videos like this, I have started a playlist of guided relaxations on Youtube.