This article originally appeared in 24hrs Vancouver on May 28, 2008.
When Leo Laporte’s tv show, The Lab with Leo was canclled earlier this year by Rogers Television, he didn’t get on the phone and try to shop it to another network. Instead, he rented out a second floor of his workspace in Pentaluma, California and created his own network – online.
Such is broadcasting in 2008. You don’t need a traditional network to get your message out. Leo spent $30 000 on equipment for his studio and created his own.
Time to combine some of our favourite pasttimes, drinking wine and saving money! I just had a peek over at Jen’s side of our workspace and saw a huge sale sheet. Sweet!
Penfolds has some great price points too with $2 off the Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz ($38.98), $1.50 off the Penfolds Thomas Hyland Shiraz ($19.49) and $1 off the Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chardonny ($14.49) and Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cabernet Merlot ($16.49).
There are also $1 off deals for Matua and Wolf Blass.
When you go up and down the aisles of your favourite wine shop, you’ll see little things hanging off the bottles. Those are called “neckers” - little spiffs to get you to stop and stare, pay attention and maybe pick up the product. Here are a couple to watch for:
Lindemans is promoting its South African line with fun Giraffe Pens, while the Little Penguin is giving you a a chance to go to Tofino and take surfing lessons! Here’s the thing about these enter to wins. They’re appetizing, eye catching, and interesting BUT .. few people enter. You either don’t have a pen, or forget to go to the website when you get home. But guess what? You’re already online, so it’s easy for you to enter!
Oh, and don’t forget to pick up some Little Penguin too. It’s on sale starting on Monday.
The Little Penguin Shiraz and The Little Penguin Chardonnay will be $1.50 off ($13.49), while The Little Penguin Chardonnay Riesling and The Little Penguin Cabernet Merlot will be $1 off ($12.99).
Those last two also come in PET bottles. Plastic bottles that are recycled into polar fleece when you return them and have less environmental impact because they weigh less for shipping. Oh, and they won’t break when you toss them in your bag to haul off to the beach!
There are a lot of other great deals next month, like $2 off Rosemount Sauvignon Blanc and $1.50 off Greg Norman Chardonnay. I’ll be telling you more about that Greg Norman next week. It’s one of my ALL TIME FAVES. Jenner and I will have a video next week for you to get ready for Greg Norman’s appearance at the Skins Game in Vernon next month.
For full disclosure, these are all wines that Jennifer represents. That’s how I know they’re on sale, I saw it on her sell sheet!
She’s also got a new territory, it’s all of Vancouver. Soooo … feel free to head to any beer and wine shop or BC Liquor Store in Vancouver to pick any of these up!
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I really like lip dubs too. The people who make them are always soooo happy. This one gave me chills. It reminded me of one of my favourite days with the family, cruising in Northern France, singing Enrique.
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An hour before the hoopla was knee deep in Pacific Centre, the media were invited for a guided tour of the new Apple Store Vancouver.
Noroosh, the manager, walked us through each area of the store and explained all the sorts of things that will happen, including some very exciting educational programs the Apple Store be offering the Metro Vancouver community.
BTW, the video was taken with my new Creative Vado, if you want to judge the quality. I wasnt paying attention to my filming, so it’s a little choppy.
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As devoured for the first time, by a young boy 1 week shy of his first birthday.
Last night Z also got his first taste of La Casa Gelato .. unfortunately no cameras were present .. he didnt like it at first, but was soon grabbing and clawing to get his face buried in my bowl of creamy goodness.
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Ah, who are we kidding, the way gas prices are going, if you can bike to work the thought has already raced through your brain and you’re doing it. But if you need a little push to get up the hill, here it is.
The City of Vancouver has bike lanes in and around the downtown core, so you’ll have your own dedicated space along Beatty, Homer, Hornby and others. The entire city has a comprehensive web of North-South and East-West corridors to get you across town with a minimal amount of congestion and traffic trouble.
Here are some links to bike maps for Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey. Don’t forget your helmet, it’s the law in the city to have one on when you ride.
If biking to work is a little crazy, you’ve got no excuse not take your wheels in for a tune up, because June is Bike Month!
Bike Month events include the Stanley Park Bike Festival, BEST Pancake Breakfast, the Sapperton Street Festival, the Bike Fest in Surrey, Island City by Bike in Richmond, the Car-free Commercial Drive Festival, Bike Movie Night, the Giant Critical Mass and much, much more. Come join the hundreds of thousands of people in the Lower Mainland who experience the pleasure of cycling, in the month of June and every day of the year. [source]
Metro Vancouver has some hidden gems to take your knobby tires off rocks and over logs. You know, a little mud on your face instead of sweat on your suit.
The South Surrey Athletic Park has over 3km of rolling terrain with trails, jumps and obstacles for all skill levels. The site is maintained by the Surrey Off-Road Cycling Enthusiasts Society.
But the true place for those who like to put the pedals through the paces is the North Shore Mountains, home to World and Olympic Champion Alyson Sydor. The local hills are to mountain biking what Whistler is to skiing – simply one of the best on the planet.
Vancouver, British Columbia’s North Shore freeride scene is the cycling media and bike industry darling at the moment. With its demanding trails and “X”treme stunts, and the new breed of rider that the area has brought to prominence, it has grasped the bike world’s attention span by the jugular — and has plenty of bike companies latching onto the bandwagon. - BikeMag.com
If you’re up to the challenge, check out the rides on the top of the mountains, whether you packed your bike on the Grouse Mountain Super SkyRide, or hit the trails and ride up on your own.
If I still haven’t hit on anything close to where you live, check out this ultimate list of trails and paths in BC at TrailPeak.com.
I live in North Vancouver, and work in Richmond. It’s about 30km and up and over 3 pretty hefty ridges and 2 nasty bridges. So riding to work won’t happen, but I am the cyclist for our 95Crave team at the Vancouver Triathlon World Championships, so a few laps to Deep Cove and back is not out of the question.
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Ahhh.. Pastis. I first discovered it in Provence in May, 1996. I was visiting family friends who were living in Aix-En-Provence I had my first sip of sweet summer drink on a steaming plaza in the town square.
Pastis is a distilled spirit made from a blend of herbs. The flavor is predominantly that of anise, thus putting it in the same general class as sambuca and ouzo. It is commonly consumed as an aperitif—sort of a liquid, alcoholic appetizer—and in France, where it’s most popular, the custom is to dilute it at the table with about five parts of cold water. The ritual of adding the water, which causes the translucent yellowish liquid to turn cloudy, is part of the fun of drinking pastis. [source]
Pastis is a way of life in Provence. When you have a handyman over to do some work, he won’t start until he sees a milky yellow glass sitting on the kitchen table.
I feel the same way about my backyard.
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At least that’s what I’m inferring as I select a request for “2 tickets” at “any price” through Ticketmaster and receive this message:
We couldn’t find tickets that matched your request.
I got in right at 10am. I received a message saying I would have to wait 5 minutes, and the screen froze.
If you refresh this page or hit the back button, you will lose your place in line!
I didn’t do anything… there’s a message right on the screen saying if you refresh you lose your place in line. So I waited, and waited, and waited, and then timed out. I tried again - got in, and timed out.
4 times.
Now there are none. Madonna in Vancouver is SOLD OUT.
Seriously, Ticketmaster you charge us RIDICULOUS service fees ($20 for my purchase today) and then offer quite possibly the worst service .. fix it.
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
The Apple Store in Vancouver is open. And while it offers something new in terms of sizzle, the steaks inside the store have been available in Vancouver for years.
We have Simply Computing,Westworld, Switch, and Future Shop. But Apple is not about the steak - it’s about the sizzle.
When we had our media preview this morning, the simple, stark space of the Apple Store Vancouver still had that new store smell. You know, like a car, but more woodsy and less vinyl.
The staff are beaming, and excited. They’re aligning and re-aligning every mouse along the counter. The boxes are perfectly straight. The store is crisp, and clean.
That’s the sizzle that Apple sells.
Everything is consistent with the message, even the Geniuses at the Genius Bar carry themselves with a subtle I-know-more-than-you attitude. But it’s not stuffy. They’re Geniuses, but not arrogant about it.
That’s Apple.
The question is, on a day like today with the new sizzle in town, would you want to be one of those previous retailers with just a lot of steak?
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The Super 7 Jackpot is $27M tonight and you get 3 tickets for $2.
I used to Lotto Pools all the time when this blog was on MySpace, don’t know why I haven’t done it over here.
Here’s how it works:leave a comment with a number between 1 and 47. I’ll take the numbers in order and group them together into sets of 7 and buy tickets for tonight’s lottery.
Everyone who puts down a number agrees to split the winnings equally with all the other posters. Anything equal to, or less than, $10 each in winnings will be recycled into new tickets with the same people agreeing to split.
Post away .. I pick #4, the next 20 commenters are in on the draw.
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
This article originally appeared in 24hrs Vancouver on May 28, 2008.
When Leo Laporte’s tv show, The Lab with Leo was canclled earlier this year by Rogers Television, he didn’t get on the phone and try to shop it to another network. Instead, he rented out a second floor of his workspace in Pentaluma, California and created his own network – online.
The sun is going to be out this weekend, and the 
The Little Penguin Shiraz and The Little Penguin Chardonnay will be $1.50 off ($13.49), while The Little Penguin Chardonnay Riesling and The Little Penguin Cabernet Merlot will be $1 off ($12.99). 
Ah, who are we kidding, the way gas prices are going, if you can bike to work the thought has already raced through your brain and you’re doing it. But if you need a little push to get up the hill, here it is.
I live in North Vancouver, and work in Richmond. It’s about 30km and up and over 3 pretty hefty ridges and 2 nasty bridges. So riding to work won’t happen, but I am the cyclist for our 
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