Bargainista and friends’ holiday wish list

Behind the scenes a team of us have been busy discussing ways we can improve Bargainista in 2011, especially returning to more frequent blog posts. Have you noticed we’ve been having a busy December? We’d like to kick things off by asking some regular contributors and friends of Bargainista to share one gift she wants most this season. As for me, Hanukkah is over and I’m not expecting any gifts unless I buy them for myself but I’m going to play along.

Eden Spodek
Yes, you already know I’m a bit of an Apple fan girl and not having an iPad – touted one of the biggest game changers not only in 2010 but for years to come – seems peculiar to many of my friends and family. But money doesn’t grow on trees and you can’t have everything. I love jewelry and other pretty things but I’m also practical and a bit of a geek so yes, if I was writing a letter to Santa, an iPad would be top of my list. If you’re wondering which app I’d download first, that’s easy: Flipboard, hands down!

Rebecca Atkinson
Living in New Brunswick, I really thought that in December my biggest concerns would be snow, but apparently Mother Nature has other plans this year. With seven inches of rain falling in 24 hours (yes seven inches), the one thing I really want for Christmas this year is rather low-tech. All I want is a good raincoat. Having to walk a dog, batten the hatches during rainstorms and run to and from the car to daycare or the house – makes one see umbrellas and down-filled jackets just aren’t quite cut out for that kind of task or weather. Since we are dealing with a flooded basement, I know I won't be spending this kind of money for an occasional rain jacket anytime soon, so if the Hydroil 3 from Mountain Equipment Co-op ended up under my tree, I’d be pretty happy. Plus it comes in all kinds of fun non-yellow colours.

Jenny Bullough
I am an ebook addict. I never go anywhere without either my Kindle, my Kobo, or my Sony – sometimes all three in case the battery fails! Oh, and I also have an iPad, which does other things although I primarily use it for reading books. While I am fully on board the ebook technology train, so help me I still like the feeling of opening a cover on something rather than just picking up a tablet, and my devices need protection from the sticky, curious fingers of my 2-year-old; so Incase Convertible Book Jacket for iPad is right up my alley!

Connie Crosby
It’s a little crazy, but the thing I want the most for Christmas is a Kobo wifi ereader from Chapters•Indigo (in mauve, please!). I am feeling a bit spoiled already because I am reading ebooks on the Kobo app with my iPad which was also a gift, but I have a vacation in the sun coming up in the new year and we all know you can't read the iPad screen in the sun. I use my iPad already a lot in my work, and I like the idea of having a separate device for vacation to make it easy to carry a selection of guilty pleasure reads. Plus, since I fell in love with ebooks, I have already spent money on a number which I hope to share them friends and family. What better way than to just lend out my Kobo?

Kathryn Lagden
All I want for Christmas is an Electrolux 36" Dual-Fuel Free Standing Range. Look at the SIX burners on this baby! With one of these ensconced in my kitchen I could make a roast, boil two pots of veggies, make a gravy, simmer apples for my toddler, fry up some potatoes, and have room to spare in case a friend dropped in and I needed to heat up milk for hot chocolate. OK, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but my current stove is so old that it does not have a light in the oven and regardless of where I put the dial it only really has two settings that – on and off. In fact, when a part broke I had to call four repair companies to find someone who had even heard of it!

So I would be delighted to find this shiny new beauty under the tree on Christmas morning. Although, to be honest, finding it already installed in the kitchen would earn Santa a double serving of shortbread and milk!

Michelle Tampoya

What I want for Christmas? A pair of Frye boots – in particular, the Veronica Slouch boots in dark brown size 8! Pre-baby and pre-mortgage days, I would of had this in an instant. But the days of throwing down green for yet another pair of brown boots just isn’t within financial scope. Although, I could argue that all of my brown boots have heels making is particularly difficult to walk during 3 degree weather when ice may be possible. I could also argue that I can’t really “dress-down” my current brown boots, meaning that I don’t make good use of my casual brown jackets. Come to think of it, there are more reasons why I should have the boots than not...hmmm.

What’s on your holiday wish list this year?

Related articles

• Bargainista kicks off the holiday shopping season!
• Hanukkah miracles do happen
• Escape the Mall Challenge (for charity) - part 1

Tip of the Week - Podcasts for your listening pleasure

Wondering why I’ve been so quiet lately? I’ve been busy working on PodCamp Toronto. It took place last weekend.

There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not podcasting is dead. Far from it. To prove my point, I’m going to share three podcasts with you:

Mannequin: The fashion podcast from FGI Toronto
Hosted by Graeme Spicer
I met Graeme at PodCamp Halifax last month. He’s got an impressive background and is no stranger to retail or fashion.

Six Pixels of Separation
Hosted by Mitch Joel
In episode 144, Mitch interviews Bob Young, CEO of Lulu.com where they discuss Lulu’s success as an online book publisher.

Community Divas
Hosted by Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby
Okay, so it’s a shameless plug but only because I interviewed the every so lovely Ali de Bold from ChickAdvisor.com in episode 11 and wanted to share it with you.

Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which are your favourites? Any particular episodes you’d like to share.

Connie Crosby's quest for an HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition digital clutch

I wrote the OneDegree Week in Review (WIR) post last week and you know what they say, timing is everything.

On the heels of co-presenting at PodCamp Halifax with my speaking and podcasting partner, Connie Crosby, and the other camps that took place that weekend, WIR focused on the camp movement. So, when I received a social media news release (SMR) announcing the new HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition digital clutch was now available in Canada at BestBuy, I included a link to the SMR in my post.

Connie was in the market for a PC. She read my post, watched the video about the new digital clutch netbook and she ended up with an interesting story to tell. Here’s our interview…

Connie, I think it’s fair to say you’re a bit of an Apple fan girl. Why were you looking at PCs?
One of the things I do as an information consultant is conduct online product reviews for clients, primarily in the legal industry. Because the legal market primarily uses Windows and Internet Explorer, I need to be using that environment also for my reviews. I could have set myself up with Windows for Mac but it is helpful when working to either have the online product running on one machine, and be writing the review on another, or at least having two screens for more working space. I figured that some of the notebooks and even laptops are fairly inexpensive so wanted to check those out. I was looking for something with Windows already included (I didn’t really care which version), wireless capability, and an Intel chip. I wasn’t fussy about battery life or whether it had MS Office or a webcam included.

Which computers were you considering and why?
I originally saw a basic Acer laptop at The Source for only $450 just after New Year’s. That is the price I had stuck in my head. But then last week I saw the Mini HP Vivienne Tam edition mentioned on the web. They were advertising it as a “technology clutch purse” although it is actually a netbook. I am probably the perfect demographic for this netbook – a woman who loves technology and tries to be fashionable. From the photos, it looked stylistically like quite a nice machine. And being a netbook, I thought I could justify the extra cost – it was going for about $800 – since it would be good for travel to conferences when I didn’t want to carry my full Macbook Pro. But really, it was the style of it that attracted me. And Best Buy Canada, who was selling it, was including a special cover for it and matching wireless mouse, so that sweetened the deal.

The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition digital clutch looks great in the photos and video I received as part of a social media news release. How does it compare in real life?
When I first saw it I was disappointed. It did not bode well that, even though this was the big “launch” of this supposedly unique machine, it was plunked in amongst all the other netbooks and notebooks on the store display without anything identifying it as special. When I found it, I discovered the look and feel of the machine was not as special as some of the photos led me to believe. A lot of the HP machines have a sleek, pearlized or metallic finish. Instead, this was plastic with what seemed like a flower decal on it. It seemed more like a child’s toy than a fashion accessory to me.

I hunted around to see the special cover and mouse that was part of the deal, but couldn’t see them on display. The store was quite busy (this was a Saturday afternoon) with a number of people looking at this and other machines, but there were not a lot of sales clerks around. I finally found someone and asked about the special offer. He didn't know anything about it, but went to the back to ask. He came back with a typical gray neoprene laptop cover and told me it would like like that in red. I was doubtful and so asked to see the case and mouse, but was told they were in the box and I would have to buy them before I could see them. He wouldn't open a box to show me. I was already disappointed, and this poor service sunk the deal for me. I had a friend with me, and she wasn't exactly impressed either. I left the store without considering any of their other machines.

I’m sure in the past, you didn't need to think much about where to buy a computer. How did you decide where to go and what was your experience like?
I knew that Best Buy had the exclusive rights to the Vivienne Tam special edition, but thought I would see what else I could find that suited my needs. I headed to Future Shop. They had an HP representative on hand who was quite helpful, who helped me find one of their machines for about $550 that he said was basic and was all I needed. But then he handed me to a Future Shop representative to close the deal, and that person pushed hard to up-sell me to a more expensive machine. I left that store unimpressed, and decided to go back to The Source to see if the Acer I had originally seen was there. It was, although the sale had ended.

What did you end up buying?
The Source had another end of the line Acer laptop they were clearing out for $500. I found a sales clerk, and she was quite patient with me answering my questions. At this point, I decided the price was right and I liked the service I got, so that is what I purchased. So far I am happy with it, and glad I did not spend the extra money on the HP netbook.

What about YOU?
Does this video inspire you to check out the HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition? Have you seen it yet? If so, what did you think? Would you consider buying a fashionable laptop or netbook? Leave a comment.

Sharing from PodCamp Montreal

I attended PodCamp Montreal – a free unconference – where people from all over gathered to meet, learn and share information about podcasting and other forms of social media.

One of the rules of PodCamp is presentations are shared online. Many of the sessions were streamed live on Ustream.tv.

Check out the slide show from the session Connie Crosby and I gave about our new podcast…

Creating a Podcast: Community Divas Live!

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: podcasts podcasting)

I was also part of a panel discussion with Kim Vallée, Michelle Sullivan, Rayanne Langdon and Isolde Legare, called “Managing the PR Beast: Building Relationships with PR Practitioners While Maintaining Credibility with Your Audience”. Simon Roy created an audio archive of our panel. He archived 10 presentations in all.

Enjoy!

Flex time!

Thanks to Ford Canada and Social Media Group, I was asked if I wanted to take a Ford Flex for a spin. It’s Ford’s answer to the minivan since they stopped manufacturing the Freestar a couple years ago and it’s made at their Oakville plant.

I’m no soccer mom but I wanted to test it out around the ’hood with my family in tow. I’m a minivan driver so I think I have a pretty good point of reference. The kids loved it because of the features we don’t have in our van. Mr. B. enjoyed his test drive too. I even liked the two-tone Light Ice Blue Metallic with White Suede roof colour and as Mr. B. will tell you, I usually have an aversion to blue cars. Don’t know why, I just do.

I also thought it would be a lot of fun to fill it up with some podcampers and take it to PodCamp Montreal. Joining me for the ride were Connie Crosby, Lily Mills, Jay Moonah, Daniele Rossi and Brent Morris.

The Flex is spacious and with six leather captain seats, built in DVD player, SIRIUS satellite radio and four sunroofs, it’s a more luxurious vehicle I’m used to driving.

We had a very comfortable ride but found parking and turning such a long and wide cross-over vehicle more challenging. As you can see below, at 201.8" in length, it’s somewhat long for a standard parking spot. Cool thing is, when you’re backing up and getting too close to an object behind you, an audio signal lets you know.

Seats in the middle and back rows can easily be turned down for extra storage. When all seats are in the upright position, storage isn’t as generous as I would have thought for the wide Flex design. We managed to fit all our our overnight luggage in the back.

The electrical outlet was a bonus for us geeks ’cause we could use our laptops without wearing out the batteries.
One of the cool features we wanted to check out was the “fridge”. We had planned to bring a special lunch with us instead of stopping at a fast-food place on the highway. Needless to say, although having a small fridge compartment is a great bonus for keeping snacks and drinks cold for the kids, it was smaller than we expected and not large enough to hold our lunches.

According to Ford Canada the Flex starts at $34,999 and the model I previewed retails at $44,229.

Read more about Flex features.

Photo credit: photos of me and the electrical outlet are courtesy of Connie Crosby. UPDATE: Connie also took the photo of the Flex in the parking lot.

Six random things about me

I was tagged again! It usually happens every few months and I don’t always participate. This time I couldn’t refuse the ever-so-talented Daniele Rossi who illustrated my laptop bag (pictured).

Here are six random things in random order:

1. I went to the mall today, wore a different colour of blush on each cheek and took polls at 3 different cosmetics stores before deciding which colour to buy.
2. I loved 80s fashions in the 80s but I’m not digging them now.
3. I have a hard time finding shoes that fit; otherwise, I’d spend way too much money buying them (a girl can never have enough).
4. Scallops make me violently ill.
5. I got suckered into the faceyourmanga.com vortex on twitter this weekend (my avatar is pictured)
6. Launching a podcast and public speaking help me step outside my comfort zone because I’m shy and hate the sound of my own voice.
7. I can’t count. Contrary to what some of you may think, I do have a life away from the computer. ;-)

I am tagging the following bloggers: Amrita Chandra, Rayanne Langdon, Jay Moonah, Nancy Zimmerman, Glen Farrelly and Mitch Canter

Random rules (hat tip to Connie Crosby):
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

photo credit: The Finished Product by Daniele Rossi on flickr

Announcing Community Divas!

I’m passionate about a lot of things.

One of them is Bargainista. Why? Because of you! Without you, it wouldn’t exist. If no one was here reading, leaving comments or writing guest posts, I don’t think I’d still be here doing this almost two years later. We are all part of this community.

And that leads me to another one of my passions: community, especially the ones I belong to online. They are made up of real people sharing common interests and ideas while forming real friendships. Many of us have been able to get together offline too.

The podcasting community is one of those online communities very near and dear to my heart. With the urging of my friend Connie Crosby, I joined the PodCamp Toronto organizing team last fall and attended Podcasters Across Borders (aka PAB) in June. I didn’t have a podcast but I didn’t let that stop me.

Now all that has changed. With the help and support of many of our friends, Connie and I teamed up and we decided to host our own podcast about online communities and some of the social networking tools that help build them. It’s called Community Divas. The first two episodes feature an interview with our friend and community builder, Jay Moonah. We hope you’ll listen and participate by giving us your feedback and offering suggestions on how we can make it more meaningful for you.

Follow Community Divas on twitter; join the fan page on Facebook.

If you’re interested in learning more about podcasts and social media, consider attending Niagara on the Lake Podcasting and Social Media Meetup next weekend and PodCamp Montréal, September 20 & 21. Admission is free for both events.

photo credit: Glow Bracelets on PAB Cruise by Andy Caster on flickr

Weekly Wish - Women who rock!

This was a big week for After a Fashion. While having a virtual meet-up on Monday, we decided to have a real-life dinner gabfest at Fire on the East Side Wednesday night, along with the divine Jen Evans (centre).

As we shared insightful conversation and lots of laughs over good eats and pretty martinis, there was a lot of discussion about why women in the social media space aren’t getting as much recognition as they should.

From my Bargainista perspective, most of the people pitching me are either women with little blogger-relations know-how or straight men who just don’t have the requisite passion for products or services targeted to women.

I interviewed some young PRs on twitter (note: predominantly male) and asked them where the females were. They said there are just as many Canadian women PR students and/or recent grads embracing social media but the males are far more active and vocal.

PodCamp Toronto 2008 was an unconference for podcasters and social media enthusiasts held in February. I was a member of the organizing team. We had 7 members (3 women; 4 men). We treated each other respectfully every step of the way. When it came to the actual sessions and attendees however, women were definitely in the minority. What was even more disconcerting was the lack of young girls. There were a handful of teens in attendance: all male.

Taking stock of the marketing/PR/corporate communications professionals who blog and podcast (I belong to that community too), the content creators are predominantly male.

Although based in Connecticut, Joseph Jaffe who wields a pretty big stick in the social media community, put out a call for requests to join his blogroll. At last count, 33 men and only 3 women responded.

The men in this community are a tight-knit group and share a lot of link love, not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing. On a one-to-one basis, they seem to have a lot of respect for their female peers but many only shower their love on a couple. When it comes to blogrolls and conference speakers, women are also noticeably absent. Why?

Women who are active in the digital and social media space can’t blame it all on the men. We can and should do a far better job of promoting ourselves and sharing the love. It’s up to us to make our voices heard and get more involved in the community.

As a start, I’ve added a new blogroll - Women who rock! - it lists my female friends and those I admire in this space (with the exception of those on the original Bargainista blogroll). Stay tuned for more real-life initiatives supporting women from the After a Fashion gals this spring.

So this week, if you haven’t already figured it out, I’m wishing us gals will stand up and be counted. Have your voices heard and share the love!

Pictured (l-to-r) Michelle Tampoya, Connie Crosby, Kate Trgovac, Jen Evans, me, Kathryn Lagden and Jenny Bullough.

After a Fashion meets PodCamp Toronto

You didn’t think I’d spend a whole weekend at PodCamp without sharing, did you?

If you’ve been following the adventures of After a Fashion, you’ll be pleased to know Jenny Bullough aka Chloe Barbosa and Paradise Wunderland (that’s me) gave a presentation: “Everything You Need To Know About Second Life”.

Of course we talked about shopping. ;) Jenny also shared her wonderful case study about eHarlequin’s book launches in Second Life. I’m leaving a copy of the slides here so you can have a look:

| View | Upload your own

There were many fascinating sessions at PodCamp. Check out the media archive you can catch up on the latest in social media and podcasting. See, sometimes the best things in life are free! Thanks to all our sponsors.

Personal note: You may know I was on the PodCamp Toronto 2008 organizing team. I want to give a big shout out the other team members: Connie Crosby, Dave Fleet, Rob Lee, Katherine Matthews, Sean McGaughey, Jay Moonah, and Tommy Vallier. You’re amazing!

Join me at PodCamp Toronto 2008

Last year I extolled the virtues of PodCamp Toronto and told you about some of the wonderful podcasts available. But PodCamp isn’t just about podcasting. It’s THE unconference for podcasting and social media. This year, PodCamp Toronto is taking place February 23 and 24 at Ryerson University in Toronto.

I learned a lot and had a great time meeting new people last year. So when Connie Crosby asked me how I felt about joining the 2008 organizing team, I jumped at the chance. In addition to Connie, this year’s team includes: Dave Fleet, Rob Lee, Katherine Matthews, Sean McGaughey, Jay Moonah, Tommy Vallier and yours truly.

Less than five weeks away, there are already more than 200 people registered and a slew of jam-packed sessions. There is an exciting new concurrent track – From Zero to Podcasting (Z2P) – offering a mix of campfire style discussions and technical presentations aimed at helping everyone, from newcomers to advanced podcasters. You can even start from nothing and learn the skills necessary to plan, prepare, produce, publish and promote your own podcast.

Have a listen to the audio promo.

Hope to see you there. Did I mention registration is FREE! Sign up on the wiki. Volunteer, it’s a great way to get involved and meet new people. If you have something to share, why not offer a session. I am.