Mountain Springs Resorts - An Inside Look (Cottage Country)

Cottage Country Canada Travel

This is a video from my Blue Mountain trip. This is a video showing inside Mountain Springs Resort. Mountain Springs Resort is located in The Town of The Blue Mountains in Collingwood, The Blue Mountains and Area. I setup a temporary ADJ Blue Mountain Station to post video clips and short posts. Mountain Springs Resort provided free high speed wireless internet on its property. I used the nightstand as my table, as you will see in this video. I stayed in a one bedroom suite loft. It had all the amenities except in-suite laundry. To do laundry, you just need to go outside - which is about 1 minute walk. Amenities include one bedroom (6 people can stay), full kitchen, living room, fireplace, Jacuzzi, private deck, queen bed, sofa bed, dishwasher, microwave, telephone, air conditioning. You will feel like you are living in your own home away from your home. These suits are time share units. Some people live there for the full summer and time share the rest of the year. Mountain Springs Resort offers a full range of services in summer and winter alike. If you like outdoor activities, you would love this place. Some of the activities are: hiking, biking, skiing, tennis, basketball, swimming, fishing, boating, water sports, visiting Wasaga beach, visiting the Scenic Caves etc. How much was the price tag? It cost us $450 Canadian for the weekend. Visit Mountain Springs Resort website at http://www.mountainspringslodge.com for more info. If you would like to see all Blue Mountain related posts - here is the link.
First Published: Sep 5, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

Rogers Platinum MasterCard and Fido MasterCard Devalue

Higher Returns Are Moving to Rogers World Elite MasterCard

Rogers Bank is devaluing its Rogers Platinum MasterCard and Fido MasterCard starting May 23, 2018. The higher rate of returns these cards were offering will be transferred over to a new Rogers World Elite MasterCard.

Previously, Rogers Platinum MasterCard had a 4% unlimited cash back rewards on foreign currency purchases and a 1.75% return on everything else in Canadian dollars. Fido MasterCard had 4% unlimited cash back rewards on foreign currency purchases and a 1.50% return on everything else. The new cash back rate for both of these two cards will be 3% unlimited cash back rewards on foreign currency purchase, 2% on Rogers products and services, and a 1.25% return on everything else.

The $20 Annual Fee will be eliminated from the Rogers card. Fido card has no Annual Fee.

The new Rogers World Elite MasterCard will have a 4% return on foreign transactions (which offsets 2.5% foreign currency fees), a 2% return on Rogers products, and 1.75% returns on everything else. So it looks like Rogers is shifting these returns from its regular credit cards to the new higher-end World Elite Series card that still will have no annual fee, but a higher income requirement to qualify for ($80K personal and $150K household).

Rogers is throwing in some insurance benefits such trip cancellation, trip interruption, and travel medical as well. The only other free World Elite Card available for Canadians is the PC World Elite MasterCard, but it does not provide trip cancellation and trip interruption insurances.

The Canadian credit card market is heating up with several other premium travel credit cards such as the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite and the Brim World Elite MasterCard. There will definitely be more cards coming on the horizon to compete and that’s good news for consumers.

Outsource Your Life Now – Here Is How

Outsource Your Life Now – Here Is How

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Outsourcing daily tasks is not a new idea. However, Tim Ferriss, author of "The Four-Hour Workweek," has made this popular by mentioning it in his book. Ferriss uses "a small army of virtual assistants" for everything he can think of - as he mentions in his book.What can you outsource these days? Let me answer this little differently by asking what you can't outsource these days? The following list should give you an idea of what people are trying to outsource (NB – Don't laugh. This is a real list from DoMyStuff.com )

• Help me armwrestle

• Repair my broadband connection

• Design my website

• Personal shopper

• Pull weeds in landscaped beds

• Choose my cell phone plane based on the phone

• Reform my life

• Pick me up a t-shirt from College Corner

• Research my house history

• Unlock iPhone or Blackberry to work on Helio

These should be good enough to give you an idea. If you are thinking only celebrities, professionals and rich people can afford outsourcing, think again! The Internet growth has created lots of outsourcing sites, and they are becoming affordable enough to indulge you in the luxury of not to do anything.

Today, I am going to review some of these outsourcing sites for you. There are too many sites out there, and I am going to mention only those which I have found easier to navigate with a clean layout. If you are interested in finding more, search on Google for these: outsource, virtual assistant, freelance etc.

GetFriday

A Bangalore-based (India) company. Currently this site is the busiest outsourcing site. GetFriday offers three pricing options: Pay As You Go, Monthly Plans, and Task Based Plans. Pay As You Go Costs $15 per hour with a monthly admin fee of $10. Basic monthly plans start at $120 a month for 10 hours.

https://getfriday.com

The Canadian Virtual Assistant Network

This is the only Canadian site I have come across. You can submit profile, interview, and hire a VA through this site. Site does not mention fees and charges. There is a Directory of VA by province which you can browse.

http://canadianva.net

DoMyStuff.com

DoMyStuff is an online marketplace where you can hire freelancers to work for you. Freelancers can pick up projects and independent contracting jobs.You need to post your tasks and freelancers will start bidding on your tasks. You can limit or pick bidders based on location, fees, ratings and so on. Payment system is very safe. You never pay (or freelancers never receive payments) directly. Once you choose the best bidder, you will have to forward payment into an online escrow account. No one will have access to this money while your work is being done. Once completed and you are satisfied, you will release the funds to the freelancer. DoMyStuff has a clean interface and easy to navigate. This site is all free; free for both employers and assistants. There are no monthly or transaction fees.

http://www.domystuff.com

Guru

The world's largest online marketplace. Employers can use this site for free but freelancers pay quarterly fees. There is a minimum bid set at $25 per project. Guru's open auction system works the same way as DoMyStuff.

http://www.guru.com

Elance

Elance is famous for small to mid size business. I find Elance a little bit expensive. However, their service quality is very good.

http://www.elance.com

Two other sites worth mentioning: FreelancerNow.com and RentACoder.com.

The Internet has revolutionized the way we do everything. We are online a lot these days and it makes sense to hire people via net to free up our time. These freelance sites have opened up endless opportunities to find work for qualified professionals beyond locall boundaries. The ability to work from anywhere in the world is a reality now

First Published: Sep 1, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

Rogers World Elite MasterCard Coming Soon

Rogers World Elite MasterCard & How It Compares with PC World Elite MasterCard

Rogers recently notified its Rogers Platinum MasterCard customers to upgrade to a new Rogers World Elite MasterCard before May 14, 2018. Rogers is devaluing its Rogers Platinum MasterCard and Fido Mastercard and moving some of the benefits to the new Rogers World Elite MasterCard.

For example, the 4% return on foreign transactions (which offsets 2.5% foreign currency fees), 2% return on Rogers products, and 1.75% (or 1.50 on Fido) returns on everything else are no longer available on Rogers Platinum MasterCard and Fido Mastercard. Rather, these high returns will be shifting to the Rogers World Elite MasterCard.

Also, Rogers World Elite MasterCard will be offering some insurance benefits that are rare for a no annual fee credit card. These benefits include Emergency Travel Medical, Trip Interruption, and Trip Cancellation insurance.

Another free World Elite series MasterCard available is the PC World Elite MasterCard, which offers some of the same insurances like Rogers WE but does not offer Trip Interruption & Trip Cancellation insurance + foreign transaction fee offsetting return. Even a premium credit card that charges a $150 annual fee like American Express Gold Rewards Credit card does not offer these benefits.

With all these value-added features for free, the Rogers World Elite MasterCard will definitely step-up competition on the Canadian credit card market and consumers are the ones who will benefit from it. I have been providing video updates on my channel about credit cards and rewards, so please subscribe to stay updated.

Toronto's Red Hot Real Estate Market

Toronto’s Red Hot Real Estate Market

First Published: Oct 2, 2008

Well, finally it looks like Canada’s largest housing market is cooling off. Recent numbers show declines in real estate transactions, however, it may not take a deep dive like in the U.S.

Toronto Real Estate Board reports that for the first half of September, transactions decline 23 percent from the first half of September 2007 and a 11 percent decline from the first half of September 2006. But if you compare 2006 and 2007, in 2007 there was a 16 percent increase in the first half of September than 2006.

Do all these mean that prices are declining as well? Not necessarily. According to Toronto Real Estate Board, average home price in Toronto is $386,524 (as of mid September 2007), up from mid September 2006($384,796), and 12 percent higher than mid September 2006 ($330,005).

As you can see, although real estate transactions are declining, we have not seen any price decreases. One thing I noticed that home owners, who are in the market to sell, finding it hard to do a quick sell like they did it in 2007. One of my relatives is in the market to sell their condo for three weeks – but so far they have not received any genuine responses. If it was last year, “the sell” would have been done by now.

Are you planning to buy a condo or a house? Do you think these real estate stats and recent market volatility will make buyers alter their plans? One of my friends is actively looking for a place to buy and nothing is going to deter him from buying his place. Things like volatile markets, sluggish economy, global financial meltdown, mortgage rates are no problem for him. I have another friend who was looking for a condo. However, since the beginning of recent financial crisis, he gave up his search. He thinks it is not a good time to make a major purchase. He wants to wait until everything is over.

Now, let’s look at a comparison of condo prices I have done.

300 Front Street West in Downtown Toronto (between the CN Tower and Rogers Centre) Square Footage: 1144 Approx
Starting Price:  $697,750 Approx
Tentative Occupancy 2012Top Floor: 50th

1 Bloor Street East Condo (Yonge and Bloor intersection) Square Footage: 1150 Approx Starting Price: $1 Million Approx
Tentative Occupancy 2011Top Floor: 80th

A New Condo in Scarborough or North York Square Footage: 1150
Price: Approx From $400,000 to $500,00

A Ten/Fifteen Years Old Condo in Scarborough or North York Square Footage: 1150
Price: Approx Around $200,000

If you are actively looking for a condo or a house, don't dive into any conclusions before doing your research and analyzing all pros and cons.

Real Estate Stats Source: Real Estate Board