Author Archives: lorifranze

A busy upcoming 6 weeks… (busy in a good way!)

22 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in Ski, Travel

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Hope everyone had a great weekend! I did. I spent the weekend in Ellicottville with friends. While the conditions at Holiday Valley were cruddy the weekend was filled with good friends, food, wine and fun. Lola & Otis even made it down on their first

The wonderful village of Ellicottville

international adventure! In the next 6 weeks I have a lot of travel and am open to suggestions for places to eat, things to do and even in some cases where to stay.

This is what the next six weeks look like:

  • Greensburg to visit family then to Seven Springs to ski (anyone ever been there?)
  • Horseshoe for a night to ski (bought that one on Groupon)
  • Blue Mountain for two nights (bought that one on Fabfind)
  • Mont Tremblant for a long weekend (bought that one on Teambuy)

And, I almost forgot I am in Stamford for business and Ottawa for business and pleasure (visiting with a girlfriend and her baby boy who I haven’t met yet).

I need suggestions on where to stay for one night in Tremblant, a place to eat in Stamford (although I have yet to have a bad meal there) and any other suggestions you may have!

Here is hoping to some good skiing.

Apres Ski!

Have a good week everyone!

A secret on how to make even your worst day better…

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Lola & Otis

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Go volunteer! Otis and I visit with a group of seniors at True Davidson Seniors home once a week and no matter how cruddy my day was it reminds me how many blessings I have in my life and just how wonderful it is to have a pet in your life.

I have seen frowns turn to smiles and some residences who were silent for our first visits now ask Otis how he is! One lady yesterday actually told us that seeing him was the best part of her day.

While he doesn't look it - he loves doing his therapy work!

Otis now just doesn’t belong to me – every single person we visit call Otis their pup and they were so excited when we handed out photos of Otis at Christmas time. They now look forward to Wednesday nights after dinner because they know Otis will be there.

The residences are not the only ones who benefit – Otis gets rub downs and cookies but more importantly I get a reminder of how wonderful my life is and how precious health is and how quickly your youth can disappear making life a challenge.

If you would like to volunteer with your pet, check out Therapeutic Paws. Or find something that you are passionate about and get out there and help someone less fortunate than you; I guarantee that it will make you feel better and you will get more out of it than those you are servicing.

Breaking up with my cable…

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Advice & Recommendations

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I am sure like many of you I am really frustrated with my provider of cable tv, internet and wireless. I spend almost $5,000 with them each year and still get treated like a nobody.

As I do every month I combed through my monthly bill like a forensic accountant and found (as I often do) a charge for something that I had canceled. It was only $20 but it is $20 that they shouldn’t have charged me so I called in and of course they told me ‘yes we billed you but you will get it reversed next month’…

So let me think this through – you take out $20 for January 13- Feb 12 for a service that I had canceled in December. You hold on to my money (and how many other customers) only to give it back to me a month later? How does this make good customer service??

Beyond the billing issues I have started to ask myself ‘Self, do I need to be paying $35 for the channels and $20 a month for the box when I can stream Netflix and content from other channels for free’? So I am taking the plunge and breaking up with cable and returning the PVR box that really did change my life as the man behind the counter said it would.

Anyone else out there do the same?

I will let everyone know if cable and I are quits for good or if we hook up again!

Should I be worried about all my info floating around the web?

16 Monday Jan 2012

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I am one of those people who doesn’t hesitate to buy something online – deal coupons, new pots and pans set from the Bay, bedding during the White Sale, memberships and subscriptions – I love when the Canada Post truck pulls up out front!

An email I got this morning reminds me that maybe I should think twice. Below is the opening of an email I got from Zappos:

First, the bad news:

We are writing to let you know that there may have been illegal and unauthorized access to some of your customer account information on Zappos.com, including one or more of the following: your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number (the standard information you find on receipts), and/or your cryptographically scrambled password (but not your actual password).

THE BETTER NEWS:

The database that stores your critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed.

Before posting I did check to make sure that the breach was real since it could have just been a phishing email for my password to get to my real info. And it is a fact that there was a massive breach at Zappos. (Read more here)

My dad has been warning me about my identity and private information but he is 67 years old and doesn’t have a computer at home so I sort of nod and tell him that I don’t need to worry but again, maybe I do!

I am not the only one who likes to shop in her jammies, in bed; eMarketer reports that by 2015, Canadians will spend $30.9 CAD billion online.  (Read why now is the time for Canadian retailers to have an Ecommerce website)

So with all that spending going on maybe some of you have some tips for me on how to keep my information and identity safe or do you just stay away from Ecommerce?

How to win with the daily deals…

14 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by in Contests & Deals

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I have to admit that I am a big fan of groupon, dealfind, teambuy, fabfind and the list goes on and on. I get all their deals in my inbox first thing in the morning and quickly sift through them. (I have to warn those sites now sending me 6 deals in one email that you get deleted pretty quickly – one deal at a time please) I love the aps on my iPhone too!

Now you might laugh and like my boyfriend accuse me of wasting money but he wasn’t laughing when he got a oil change for $25 at the dealership from a groupon I bought on my ap while at the airport waiting to fly south a couple months ago.

I have a few tips and tricks on how to win:

  1. Stay local – if you don’t venture far from your own hood regularly don’t think a great price on dinner at the pub across the city will get you out there.
  2. Print the coupons right away – if you sign up to as many sites as I do you are likely to loose track. Good news is the establishment has to honour the face value of the coupon (at a minimum). I have had some places give me the deal weeks after the expiry date.
  3. Refer friends, post to your Twitter or Facebook – when the sites first launched and weren’t as main stream I was able to make almost $400 in cash referrals (that isn’t counting all the credits from the sites). With credits I have been able to redeem for massages, housekeeping and dinners.
  4. Be vocal if you aren’t satisfied – none of the sites want to be known for being difficult to deal with or having partnered with companies that are sub-par. If you can’t get booked in for the car detailing or the carpet cleaner doesn’t show up (both have happened to me) then call or email in and get a refund!
  5. Read the fine print – some deals are not good on the weekends or you have to do something like, sit through a timeshare presentation in order to validate your deal.
  6. Deals are great for trying something new but if you can save at things you’d buy anyway – like an oil change then you definitely win! Remember though that there will be long wait times for appointments when there are deals.

Now, some sites worth checking out:
Zozi 
This one is new to me but might be purchasing a ski trip at a B&B in New Hampshire for 2 nights with breakfast, $30 dinner credit and skiing for $393!

Teambuy
Today I can buy a deal from them on cellulite reducing capris!

Groupon
For Groupon I recommend the ap for your smartphone! Today I found a deal on getting a tattoo proving you can get almost anything at a discount – surprisingly over 31 have been purchased.

Dealfind
Dealfind pays cash for referrals – for real, I have received many a cheque! I almost bought their current deal but was alerted to the fact that you need to attend a 2 hour timeshare presentation for the deal – sometimes it isn’t as great as it seems!

Do you have a favourite deal site?

Help, I need an intervention for my addiction to…

13 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in About me, Contests & Deals

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CONTESTS…. yes… you read that right…

It all started back in October when I was working on a contest with one of my clients and their partner. Every week we selected a winner of a $500 Visa gift card – seemed easy… sign up and win. So one night as I was watching TV I started looking for contests to enter. (My favourite aggregator is Win Free Stuff Canada) I entered maybe a dozen that were ‘expiring soon’ and only things I wanted to win.

To my surprise I got an email titled “You won our trip to Greece”. I instantly wrote back “Really” and the girl on the other end offered to call me. I knew that contact is sometimes made over email so it was legit. September I will be spending 2 weeks in Greece, flying down in Comfort Class on Turkish Air…

My 1st win!

I had continued entering contest even before knowing I was a winner and happy with my win I didn’t ever expect to get another notification like that one.

It was the Wednesday between Christmas and New Years and i was just lounging at home. I stepped away from the phone and when I returned there was a message. I have voice to text so I was able to catch some of the message without dialing in. The caller mentioned that he would send an email so I went to the laptop to find a message stating that they had good news for me in reference to a Kia Rio contest. Of course I thought, not again and not so soon… and maybe I won a gift card for gas or a carwash but when I spoke with the caller I found out I won a Kia Rio 5.

My 2nd win!

So you can see why now I have developed this addiction! Someone has to win and I love that it has been me… twice! So now I make sure every couple days I take a look at the sites for the new contests and anything I might have missed.

Only downside is the apologies I owe to my Twitter followers and Facebook friends for all the retweets, posts, likes and stuff.

Time will tell if things happen in threes! I have a Lotto Max ticket for Friday – will let you know if I win big! And please let me know if there are sites out there that you like for contesting and if you have been a winner in the past too!

Let me introduce you to Lola & Otis

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in About me, Lola & Otis

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Frolicking in the cottageAs I had mentioned in my intro post & my About section, I am a proud parent to 2 Chinese-Crested Poodles. “What?” You ask… They are poodles crossed with those really ugly hairless dogs (there is really no other way to describe them) and they are totally wonderful.

First I got Lola. Having a dog growing up, once I settled in to my own home I had to get a furry companion and knew shortly after that I needed another dog. Lola sat in the window waiting for me to come home every night. She fell asleep on the window ledge and that is where I would find her when I got home. She was just too sweet to spend her days on her own so we go Otis from her parents second litter.

Otis is the typical little brother giving her a hard time, stealing her cookies and also protecting her in the dog park. He is a lover though.

Otis & Helen

He and I volunteer once a week at a home for seniors where they absolutely adore him and I think he might be the favourite part of their week.

Now those of you who are not pet owners or animal lovers may think I am crazy as I go on about them like they are children but I have to tell you they are certainly part of my family.

It is great to have them now that I work often from home and there is nothing like coming home to someone who is happy to see you no matter how late you are or if you forgot to pick up kibble on the way home.

There will be lots more posts about Lola & Otis – that I can almost guarantee.

Hello… Anyone out there?

11 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in About me, Uncategorized

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I have always wanted to blog and was inspired by my friend Lisa who finally started her blog – Eat It, Like It, Love It (and you may ask why I was inspired for such a simple task like starting a blog? Well Lisa barely tweets so her commitment to blog was very inspiring)- if you like to eat (and who doesn’t) you should sign up for her updates at http://www.eatitlikeitlove.com!

Enough about Lisa and on to me! i am a 30 something, (finally) self-employed marketer and cycling instructor. I have so many interests that I can not start to identify a single theme or idea that will be posted. Some of the likely topics you will see over the next couple weeks:

  • travel
  • contests
  • downhill skiing
  • fitness
  • cooking
  • dogs (my dogs Lola & Otis)
  • great customer service
  • poor, miserable customer service
  • direct marketing
  • Leslieville
  • Toronto

and probably some random, useless things!

I hope you will follow me… offer your comments!

PS  – In case you don’t know what logorrhea means I’ve pasted the definition. Of course I am going with the second meaning as I am not PATHOLOGICALLY INCOHERENT (although some of my colleagues would disagree).

log·or·rhe·a

 [law-guh-ree-uh, log-uh-]  Show IPA

noun

1.

pathologically incoherent, repetitious speech.
2.

incessant or compulsive talkativeness; wearisomevolubility.