Tim Hortons Camp Day: June 2, 2010

Tim Hortons Camp Day is my 2nd favourite day of the year (next to Christmas, of course). It means for every coffee you buy, you’re donating to the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation. Every penny from Tim Hortons coffee today will be donated to help less fortunate kids go to camp.

These camps increase children’s self-confidence, self-esteem, and teach them leadership skills. This year the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation will send over 14,000 deserving kids to camp, but hope to send many more with your support.

According to the Tim Hortons Website, $9.4 million CDN was raised on Camp Day in 2009. Let’s help make it $10 million or more today! If you can’t make it in-person, or want to donate a little extra, you can donate through CanadaHelps.org.

Before heading to Tim’s today, learn more about Tim Hortons Camp Dayand the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation. I’ll be heading through the Timmy’s Drive-Through this afternoon. Will you?

Groupon Vancouver: 2 Thumbs Up!

I have a new love: Groupon!

Each day, Groupon Vancouver offers a new “cool thing to do” at a discounted price, often saving you about 50%. You purchase the “groupon” from their site and take it to the vendor for the discount.

Last week I bought a groupon for Epic, the Vancouver Sustainable Living Expo. Tickets were normally $15, but we got tickets for $5 each!

The process was so simple:

1. Sign-up for their daily email notifications.
2. When you see an email that tickles your fancy, click to purchase it.
3. You can then print the groupon or access it through their free iphone app and show it to the vendor.

Since Groupon Vancouver started in April 2010, they have offered discounts for local food, yoga, conventions, art, and so much more. They have groupon sites for many large North American cities and have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, CNN, Wired, and so many more media outlets.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I am now a huge Groupon Fan (I’m a Groupon Groupie)! I look forward to getting my daily groupon and can’t wait to see what I’ll save next time!

Get the Groupon Daily Deal now, and enter your email in the top left corner to subscribe.

Driving in Vancouver: BC-wide Cell Phone Ban (Part 2)

Are the new cell phone and electronic device restrictions in Vancouver and throughout BC really going to make us safer? Many studies indicate that drivers are just as distracted by electronic device usage while driving, even with a hands-free device.

With our new law, effective Jan 1, Vancouver and BC drivers have restrictions on the use of electronic devices while driving. An Angus Reid study from June 2008 found that 85% of drivers supported some level of a cell phone ban.

Hands-free is Not Actually Safer

A University of Calgary study from 2004 found no significant safety benefits to using a hands-free cell phone. They found that even though hand-free dialing may eliminate some of the distraction (as opposed to physically dialling), once you start a phone conversation, the distraction level is the same as using a hands-on phone while driving.

Accident Stats

• Cell phone while driving can decrease your brain processing and reaction time by 50%
• Distractions associated with cell phone usage while driving is comparable to driving drunk
• When text messaging, drivers spend about 400% more time with their eyes off the road
• Distracted driving (including cell phone use) contributes to about 25% of all motor vehicle accidents MVAs are the #1 cause of injury-induced death in people under 25 years of age

Common Driving Distractions

• Cell phone and electronic device usage
• Eating/drinking
• Manipulating vehicle controls
• Reaching for objects in the car

Activities not contributing to driver distraction include talking to a vehicle passenger, or listening to music or audio books.

Cell phone regulations are already in place throughout the world including parts of Australia, the United Kingdom, Finland, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Singapore, and several US States and Canadian Provinces.

For more information about the new BC-wide electronic device  and cell phone ban and rules, read my WriterGal post, or visit the ICBC Drive Cell Safe website.

(Stats from the Discussion Paper: “Addressing the Problem of Distracted Driving and its
Impacts to Road Safety” by the BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General)

Driving in Vancouver: BC-wide Cell Phone Restrictions (Part 1)

It's now illegal to use a hands-on cell phone in Vancouver and throughout BC (photo: Chance Agrella, freerangestock.com)

Aside from the 2010 Winter Olympic Buzz, Vancouver is talking about the new cell phone ban that came into effect on Jan 1, 2010. Here’s what every Vancouver driver needs to know.

The new law bans or restricts the use of certain portable electronic devices while operating a vehicle. It applies particularly to cell phone usage, but also applies to devices including PDAs, Mp3 players, and handheld electronic devices. Email and texting are now completely banned while driving.

Permitted Electronic Device Usage

You are permitted to answer calls using a hands-free device (such as a Bluetooth headset). Permitted hands-free devices or headsets must be:

• set-up and in place before turning on your vehicle
• operated by voice command or one-touch
• worn in one ear only (unless you are on a motorcycle)

You may use the full, hands-on capabilities of your electronic devices if:

• lawfully parked off the roadway
• calling emergency services (911) about an emergency
• using a hands-free device

Fixed GPS devices, portable music players and television screens may still be used as long as they are set-up before starting the vehicle, and are not operated (unless using voice commands) by the driver.

Emergency response personnel (peace officers, paramedics, and fire services) are permitted to use electronic communications devices in carrying out their job. Commercial drivers have similar device restrictions to regular drivers, but with additional permitted uses. Drivers in the Graduated Licensing program now have a full ban on using all electronic devices while driving…No exceptions.

Grace Period

During January, there is a one-month grace period in which you will only get a warning and a reminder. Starting February 1, 2010 you can be fined $167 plus 3 penalty points if you’re caught using an electronic device while driving in BC.

Hopefully this will help keep Vancouver roads safer. Visit the WriterGal blog tomorrow for more information about driving in BC.

For full details about the BC-wide electronic device and cell phone ban and rules, visit the ICBC Drive Cell Safe website.

Flight Centre Toronto Travel Expo: Live Webcast

Today was the first time I have been interviewed on a live webcast. The gang at Flight Centre asked me to join them via skype and talk a little about my travels and about being one of the newest Guest Bloggers for the Flight Centre Blog. It was an amazing experience.

It was a quick chat, but exciting nonetheless! I tuned in throughout the day to listen to other guests and it sounded like everyone had a great time.

Flight Centre did a travel expo in Vancouver earlier this year and it was a blast. I can’t wait until the next Flight Centre Vancouver Travel Expo!

Here is the UStream recording of the chat. It’s got some lag between the video and audio:

Congrats to Flight Centre on another successful travel expo!

WriterGal Returns…What’s next?

Hello to all! We have finally returned from my road trip across the Western US. Twenty-four days is a long time to be away and both Dan and I are very glad to be home cooking our own meals and sleeping in our own bed!

I’ll be posting some photos and a recap from our trip soon.

After this month-long hiatus from the WriterGal blog, I’m excited to get back into the WriterGal blog again.Expect some more mash-ups, travel-related postings, and perhaps some photography. Part of our trip took us through Napa and Sonoma wine country and I now have a new interest in wine, so I may be sharing some of my new wine discoveries on the WriterGal blog!

As always, you never know where life will take you. We’ll just go with the flow and see what happens next…

WriterGal on the Great Western US Road Trip

Tomorrow I leave for what we’re calling “the Great Western US Road Trip.” I haven’t posted for a while because I was busy prepping for the trip and finishing up some last minute contract work.

I’ll try to post the occasional article on the WriterGal Blog, but I will also be guest blogging about our road trip on the Flight Centre Blog.

I hope everyone is well, and thanks to all my friends and family who made the first month of the WriterGal Blog super exciting!

More to come soon…

Happy 1 Month Anniversary to the WriterGal Blog!

I just realized that my blog has been up for exactly 1 month TODAY! I’ve had some great feedback and traffic so far, and here are some traffic stats from August to share:

• 966 Page Views
• 450 Absolute Unique Visitors
• 42% of you use FireFox (Yeah for Firefox)
• You are visiting from: Canada, USA, Belgium, United Kingdom, Australia, India, France, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Philippines, Mexico,  Japan, Malaysia, Switzerland, Pakistan, Algeria, and Singapore.
• Most of you found me through a Google Search (followed by linking here directly)
• My 2 posts about the Canada Line Skytrain were the most popular this month

I’m very happy with how this first month has been. I hope the coming months will be just as exciting for me as a writer, and for all my readers, friends, and family.

Sincerely,

WriterGal (aka Ashley Mikulik)

WriterGal Guest Blog on Granville Online

WriterGal (Ashley Mikulik) was a guest blogger for Granville Online on Tuesday. The Online editor of Granville Magazine asked if I would like to be a guest blogger and post my article about Richmond Country Farms on their website.

Of course I said YES!

Here is the article posted on their site: Granville Magazine Vancouver.

Below are some photos from the market. Enjoy!

WriterGal Using Social Media to Promote Flight Centre Contest Entry

[Download PDF of this Press Release: Flight Centre US Photo Contest]

Using Social Media to Promote Flight Centre Contest Entry

Vancouver Photographer, WriterGal, Makes Top 15 List For Photo Contest

For Immediate Release

WriterGal's photo in the Flight Centre US Photo Contest

Vancouver BC-August 25, 2009: Yesterday, Vancouver amateur photographer WriterGal (aka Ashley Mikulik) was announced as one of 15 finalists in the Flight Centre US Photo Contest and she will be using her social media networks to promote her entry and get votes.

Her photo of Donald Duck near Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is one of 15 photos that you can vote for in this contest. “The top photo, as voted by you, will walk away with a cool prize pack courtesy of our friends at MOO and earworms and the gang here at Flight Centre,” says the Flight Centre Blog.

“This is the first photo contest I’ve entered and I’m super excited about the response I’ve gotten on day 1 of voting,” says WriterGal, “I know first-hand the power that social networking can have so I’ve been promoting my photo on Twitter, Facebook, my personal blog, and local forums.” She is hoping that the local community, as well as her network of family and friends, can help her win.

Voting will take place on the Flight Centre Blog. Anyone can vote, but you are only allowed 1 vote per IP address, per day. Voting ends on Aug 31.

“I’ve had success promoting through social media sites like Twitter,” says WriterGal, “They are amazing places to connect with new people, share fun websites, and socialize.”

“I’m still somewhat of a newbie at photography, so I’m really excited that I’m a finalist. Hopefully this will encourage other hobbyist photographers. Even people like us can shoot great photos!”

About WriterGal (Ashley Mikulik)

Ashley Mikulik (aka WriterGal) just launched The WriterGal Blog (www.writergal.ca), where she shares her experiences about living in Vancouver as well as marketing, communications, social media, and website tips for small businesses. Ashley is a professional writer, editor, and designer who “dabbles” in photography and videography. She also maintains a Flickr account with her best photos (www.flickr.com/photos/writergal).

Media Contact
Ashley Mikulik
Email: ashley@writergal.ca
Website: www.writergal.ca

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