I’m far from being a techie. Tech stuff is just not that… succulent. But, given that we are more and more dependent on our computers, I thought I’d share a couple of geeky solutions that have spared me from much computer-related despair and hair-pulling.
A couple of months ago, I sensed that my two year old laptop was – prematurely- ready to call it quits. Usually, I give my laptops three years, but this one (I won’t mention the two-letter brand name) was not going to make it. I’m quite proud to have had the foresight – for once -  to [...]

I know that we are harping on a theme these days (here and here), but just as no one really, really, really – like, I mean, really – told me how having kids would change my life, no one has warned me of all the prep work that is required to send a kid off to college these days. Oy!
We got most of it done by now, including the dorm room shopping bit and that’s mostly thanks to this convenient solution called Alice.com. For those of you already using Alice, it’s a “duh!”, I know. For others who have not [...]

Lots of kids young people have been dropped off at college already. Yikes. In mid-August? That’s early. Thank goodness, we still have another 10 days before our own drop-off. My son and I have still not crossed off most items on the door-room-basics shopping list.
I feel wholly unprepared for this stage in his life. As our oldest, he’s the first one to head to college and away from home. Though missing him will be the (my) largest issue ( I never expected to have a teenager I’d want to be around), getting him prepared for dorm life is a whole [...]

I love Groupon. I wrote about it earlier this year: Groupon is the online deal-of-the-day buying collective that offers substantial discounts to various types of local businesses.  I have since made lots of nicely discounted purchases through it. In fact, Groupon has helped me get acquainted with the new city that I’ve moved to, as I discovered cool restaurants in yet unexplored neighborhoods, got great deals on activities like paintball battles (for my son’s birthday), architecture cruise (to take visiting family along) and golf (for the husband).
Since Groupon’s inception, there have been a dozens of copycats that have crept up [...]

Seems like someone got a new marketing team… Mention “Waterpik” and I used to get visions of the water-spurting funny, tickly contraption that sat on the bathroom counter in the 1970’s (exactly like the one seen here). And then, as far as I was concerned, the company fell off the radar (no dentist ever recommended it again)… that is until they announced the SinuSense (wrote about that here).
And now, they are “rebranding” the Waterpik as the instrument for the “Evolution of floss”. I always thought that was exactly what the Waterpik was, a water flosser, but perhaps the company was [...]

We are finally getting a wee bit smarter about our exposure to UV rays. Still , it seems that we need to refine our sunscreen applying practices. For instance, did you know that it takes a full 30 minutes for the skin to properly absorb sunscreen?  So you need to apply it BEFORE you hit the beach. And then, TWO hours is the maximum amount of time that you should go before applying sunscreen all over again. That’s valid for sunscreen of any strength because, as you know, anything over SPF 30 is of marginal added value (Source: Chatelaine Magazine, [...]

As a marketing professional by day, I’ve really enjoyed observing how the big brands are applying themselves at  enhancing their social presence through iPhone apps (ok, and some on other smartphones too). Here, I’m not talking about the Netflix, or the NPR or the Alice.com kind of apps that simply extend online websites functionalities to the mobile world. I love and use these too. But  what I really admire, are companies that developed creative, entertaining and/or useful applications that  are not meant to create anything but a better experience with the brand and increase goodwill… for free in most cases. [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Are your kids already saying they are bored and you’re thinking, wahhhhhhh? There’s another six weeks of summer? Besides preaching the usual “only boring people get bored” singsong (not so effective on a three year old anyways), you will want to turn to woojr.com for some great easy-to-do craft ideas and printable activities to do at home or to take on the road. Woo!Jr is a network of craft sites that proposes crafts for kids aged 2 to 13. We like that this site is not only for the little ones.
If you’re like us, you [...]

Pack your stuff in a box instead of a suitcase? Not a crazy idea. Actually, we like it a lot… I see several advantages to the UPS Luggage Box. I like the concept of shipping my luggage instead of lugging it around through airports.
There are indeed some good reasons to love the Luggage Box:

Stick your tongue out at the airline companies for making air travel so unfriendly by diverting the luggage fee to another type of “shipping” company. UPS promises competitive rates with that of the airlines.
No standing in long cattle lines to check luggage at airport. More time for [...]

I soooooo wish I had these the other night when we attended a wine tasting event. It was a crowded affair with little room to sit and the tasting and sampling went on (no one forced me, I know) for more than three hours. I wish – oh so wish – that I’d had a pair of Rolleez in my bag. After three hours of standing, I desperately wanted to take my shoes off, at least for the trip home (you’d think that the wine would alleviate the pain, but no…).
Rolleez are lightweight rollable flat “emergency” shoes that conveniently fit [...]