New Adele! - Whatcha' think?

Brand new Adele ... Like it?

Beat The Bank - OH THE POSIBILITIES!

Pay off Debt, Save, Shop, Travel, or how about $50,000 down on a new home?

BEAT THE BANK IS BACK!! 7:40am, 8:40am, 10:40am, 1:40pm, & 3:40pm ... Weekdays!!

Are you ready for up to $50,000??! :)

Creepy Jim Carey

I'll always love Jim ... even when he is super creepy.

Letter from Jack Layton

Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

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To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,

Jack Layton

The Best Engagement Photos Ever?

Everything is zombies, or glittery vampires lately .... but this is an awesome twist on some engagement photos!

How Music Sales Have Changed

Click the link to see how things have changed since 1980! ... Very cool.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/research/30years.gif

Lady GaGa - The Man, Mermaid thing ... ??

GaGa dropped her brand new vid' ... and it's weird.

See her play a man ...

See her with no makeup ...

See her as a mermaid ...

Check it!

Anne Hathaway ... Rapping? No kidding.

I thought this girl was reserved and shy? I was wrong.

AWESOME.

Then & Now - Funny!

These are great ... Then & Now in College.

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

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NOW:

The 'Unplugged Wedding'

So there you are at the altar, gazing into the eyes of your beloved, saying your vows. You turn to sneak a glance at your wedding guests, all your favorite beloved friends and family… and are greeted by a sea of down-turned faces staring at their LCD screens.

When your photos come back from your wedding photographer, all your guest shots include your favorite people staring at their favorite devices. People are smiling, but they're all staring at little screens.
Welcome to the era of the over-documented wedding, where, even if you've hired someone to take photos, every guest has a camera and an iPhone and is tweeting the whole event. They're there with you, but are they really present?

Welcome to the 'Unplugged Wedding' ... No cell phones, No Cameras ... Whatcha think?

Finally beat your kids at Monopoly

... I started playing it on the iphone/ipad, then ran accross this.

I will now be the Monopoly champ ... Maybe ... Unless my 6 year old nephew beats me again.

-A group of mathematicians figured out which properties were the best ones to buy, based on their rent, and the likelihood people will land on them.


-If You Want to Win at Monopoly, Buy Illinois Avenue and the Orange Properties Near Free Parking


-If you want to win at Monopoly, take advantage of the people getting out of jail.

-It turns out the best property to get is Illinois Avenue. That's one of the red ones, just past the Free Parking corner.

-B&O Railroad, right next to Illinois, is the next best property to buy.

-If you're looking to buy all of one color's properties so you can build houses, your best bet are the orange properties: New York Avenue, Tennessee Avenue, and St. James Place

-That's because those properties are six to nine spots away from jail, which means that people just getting out of jail are most likely to land on them.

-Illinois and B&O are 14 and 15 spots away, which means they're likely to land there on their SECOND turn out of jail.

-Boardwalk and Park Place have the highest rents, but they come after the "Go to Jail" square, which means that fewer people land on them.

-Jail can also help you late in the game. If you're stuck in jail, you won't land on other people's houses and hotels and have to pay up. The mathematicians say that once all the properties have been purchased, you should NEVER pay $50 to get out of jail early.

The Best Company Perks!

How goes your job stack up compared to the top company on mashable.com ... 'Clif Bar'

Just because a company has been around since 1992 and has nearly 300 employees, doesn’t mean the workplace can’t capture a startup-y vibe. And that’s exactly the case at Clif Bar. Let’s start with the digs: Clif Bar moved to a new HQ building last year, and the 115,000-square-foot space was refurnished with the employees’ well-being and the environment in mind. There are four atriumed gardens that let in natural light and plenty of oxygen; repurposed bikes, kayaks, paddles and surf boards suspend from the ceiling to function as artwork, there’s bike parking and there are “loaner bikes” that can be used for local errands. Want to squeeze in a workout? There’s a 40-foot bouldering wall and a fitness center with a yoga room, dance studio, two massage rooms, shower and locker room facilities and free access to five certified trainers and nutritionists. The gym offers 33 different fitness classes including rock climbing, yoga, boot camp and spin class, and every employee gets 2.5 hours of paid gym time per week.

Some other perks include:

Free coffee

A $350 stipend to help cover the entry costs for races, events and competitions

A dog-friendly office

Clif Base Camp, a “competitively priced” daycare center that has capacity for 64 children up to 5 years of age

Concierge services, including on-site car washing and detailing, haircuts, laundry and dry cleaning — to support a healthy work-life balance. While not free, these services are convenient and efficient
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ubsidized massage and chiropractic services on site

Alternative Transportation Rewards: Employees who commute on foot, by bike, on public transportation or in carpools can earn up to $960 a year in rewards. Employees earn points that can be redeemed for commuter checks, extra cash, Clif gear, massages and more

Cool Commute Incentives, the nation’s first-ever biodiesel incentive program for employees, rewards employees for biking, walking, carpooling, taking public transit and driving a hybrid or bio-diesel vehicle.

Employees can get a $6,500 tax incentive for purchasing biodiesel, and up to $500 for the purchase of a commuter bike so long as they commute by bike at least twice per month.

Cool Home Incentives: Employees can receive up to $1,000 per year to make eco-home improvements — like installing Energy Star appliances, insulation installation, solar installations or energy-efficient windows — that will reduce waste and the use of fossil fuels and increase the use of renewable energies.

Flexible schedule: Clif Bar teammates get eight paid holidays, plus a paid week off between December 25 and January 1. Employees start with 15 days of paid time off, and that increases to 20 days the second year and 25 days the fifth year. Then there’s the 9/80 Schedule, whereby employees can work 80 hours in nine days and then get every other Friday off.

Sabbatical: After seven years at Clif Bar, employees can enjoy a six- to eight-week sabbatical.

Kali’s Kitchen: Founder Gary Erickson’s grandmother Kali inspired him to bake, and so Kali’s Kitchen works with regional farmers to source organic ingredients for affordable meals (a $6.50 price point is common).

Weekly breakfast meeting: Every week the company assembles for a company breakfast — bagels, fresh fruit, eggs, oatmeal, juice, bacon and sausage and more are served — and the team shares news and announcements and a consumer’s “letter of the week.”

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