This Weekends Events

There will be a pop up vinyl event in Kitchener, Ontario on Saturday and a Comicon event in Orillia, Ontario on Sunday:

The Kitchener Vinyl Market will be held at the Rabbid Fox Tavern from 11AM to 4PM on the 20th of July, 2024 and admission will be a donation to Strong Start Waterloo.

The nearest bus stops to this venue are bus stops 2052 and 2053, which are serviced by Grand River Transit, whose site does have a travel planner.

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The Cottage CountryCon 2024 on the 21st of July, 2024 at the Best Western Plus Mariposa Inn & Conference Centre from 10am to 5pm.

Admission information to this event can be found by clicking here. And in regards to public transit, the nearest bus stops to the venue are serviced by the Georgian route on Orillia Transit.

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Please note that cash may be preferable at these events so you may want to find out where the nearest ATMs are to these venues. And by the way, Prime Day is still active at Amazon.ca and similar offers on some products are also available at Best Buy Canada until midnight today, Pacific Time, which is 3am Eastern.

Enjoy

July 17th, 2024 Comments Off on This Weekends Events Consumer Information, Events Rob McIntyre

Prime Day Has Begun

It’s midnight Pacific time and that means Prime Day has begun at Amazon.ca.

Personally, I look for deals on CDs/Vinyl and Blurays first and then browse my wish list to see if anything i’ve added there dropped in price. But you should note that deals will be offered randomly throughout today and tomorrows so it may be worth your while to pop into Amazon.ca every six hours or so.

What i’ve observed it that the majority of savings are in their miscellaneous Amazon Basic products, which can be quite useful, Amazon devices like the Fire branded tablets, televisions and streaming devices, and Blink indoor and outdoor games and doorbells. But I also like to browse their electronics store deals.

I believe a free month of Amazon Prime is currently being offered to new members and the $9.99 (plus taxes) monthly fee may be worth it if you are considering a big ticket item. But other offers are also being added to sweeten the deal, like a free 12 month Doordash Dashpass membership, on top of the usual subscriptions to the Amazon Music and Prime Video streaming services, Prime Reading eBook service and Prime Gaming, which includes access to Twitch.

As i’ve mentioned in my previous blog entry, students ages 19 to 24 can also received an extended free tryout period, an additional 50% discount on membership and deals on products students use, which is also quite useful for parents with kids off to college and university.

By the way, the aforementioned Doordash Dashpass membership offer is available to all current members as well, until 06/06/2025. And you should keep an eye out for discounted Doordash Gift Cards at your local grocery, pharmacy and gas stations, or bonus loyalty point offers given with the purchase of these gift cards at those retailers.

On a side note, new Prime members should know that Air Miles members can get 50 Bonus Air Miles by renting discounted films at Prime Video via airmilesshop.ca until the end of the 17th of July.

Enjoy.

July 16th, 2024 Comments Off on Prime Day Has Begun Consumer Information, Events Rob McIntyre

Prime Day Is Coming (July 16th-17th)

I believe an offer for a free 30 day Amazon Prime membership should be available to new members at Amazon.ca today, the 15th of July, 2024. And Prime Student is also available free for six months for students aged 19 to 24, with a special deal for students in the province of Quebec.

Prime Members who also like to stream music also have an option for Amazon Music Unlimited, which will be free for 5 months instead of one until the end of Prime Day, or 3 months for free for individuals that aren’t subscribe to Amazon Prime.

July 15th, 2024 Comments Off on Prime Day Is Coming (July 16th-17th) Consumer Information, Events, Music Technology Rob McIntyre

Ottawa Memorabilia Events & More

There will be two memorabilia collector events in Ottawa this Sunday and several others in Milton, Ontario and Grande Prairie, Alberta, that latter occurring over three days from Friday the 12th of July, 2024.

The first event of this weekend will of course be Grandecon at the Bonnets Energy Center, open from 2pm to 8pm on Friday, 10am to 7pm on Saturday and 11am to 5pm on Sunday, with various ticket prices that are listed here.

The venue has its own bus stop and is serviced by Route 01 and Route 03 on Grand Prairie Transit.

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The next event, Milton Comicon, will be on Saturday, the 13th of July 2024 at the Milton Sports Centre Banquet Room from 10am to 3pm and admission will be $5 or free for kids 12 and under.

Multiple bus routes on Milton Transit service this venue, including Route 2 (at bus stop 2040) and Routes 7 and 8 (at bus stops 2176 and 2195).

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The fifth annual Fanaticcon Ottawa will occur at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre on the 14th, from 10am to 5pm.

General admission to this event is $20 cash at the door or free for kids 12 and under. But VIP Admission appears to be still available at $22.63. And this venue is a ten minute walk from the Tremblay O-Train station over the Max Keeping Pedestrian Bridge. Or you can also choose to take the bus to stop numbers 7080 and 7081, which is serviced by Route 9 from the Hurdman O-Train station. Consult OC Transpo for additional information.

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The other Ottawa memorabilia collector event will be the Capital Trade Show at the Nepean Sportsplex from 10am to 3pm, also on Sunday, and this event is free.

This venue is serviced by multiple bus routes operated by OC Transpo, including Route 75 which links to Route 88 at the Baseline Station, the later terminating at Hurdman Station, where Route 9 can be taken to the venue hosting the other, previously mentioned event. The travel planner on OC Transpo calculates that it takes an hour and a half to travel in-between the two venues.

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Please note that cash is preferable at these events and ATMs may be available in the venue or nearby. And note that Early Deals at available at Amazon.ca, before Prime Day, which will be on the 16th and 17th of July this year.

Enjoy.

July 9th, 2024 Comments Off on Ottawa Memorabilia Events & More Consumer Information, Events Rob McIntyre

Netflix Canada (Enter Rolling Eyes Here)

Basic plan subscriptions are now $6.50 more expensive. And quite frankly, I am far from impressed.

I pay less for Disney+ and get UHD and 4k films, saving on the long run by pre-paying for a year’s subscription. And I can easily just get a gift card, preferably with bonus loyalty points, and binge watch whole seasons of whatever Netflix Canada has to offer in less than three months, so where’s the incentive to have a long term subscription?

Amazon Prime may be offering older films on their Prime Video service but it only costs $2.99/month to go add free so Netflix Canada will need to step up their game for me to consider resubscribing to any of their services for more than three months.

I’d rather just buy film downloads or blu-rays than to just throw money at Netflix Canada hoping they’ll add something I like. And Stranger Things is heading into their last season so what could there possibly be on there that I couldn’t binge watch in a short amount of time?

I am keeping a watch of the “Best of Netflix” articles and reviews but nothing really stick out for me anymore, making me wonder if the streaming service is past its prime.

July 6th, 2024 Comments Off on Netflix Canada (Enter Rolling Eyes Here) Consumer Information, Events Rob McIntyre

First Best Buy Express Opens

The first Best Buy Express in Canada has opened in the Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, British Columbia today. And 166 more locations should be opening across Canada within five months, mostly in former The Source locations.

These stores will offer Bell, Virgin Plus, and Lucky Mobile services and accessories, as well as the top selling tech from Best Buy and Geek Squad services. And Best Buy Canada customers will be able to pick up their online orders from these stores.

Best Buy Canada currently sells LPs and CDs online and I hope that they will expand their offerings.

Click here for the official press release, which includes additional details, and click here to obtain cash back from Rakuten Canada on Best Buy Canada purchases.

June 26th, 2024 Comments Off on First Best Buy Express Opens Consumer Information Rob McIntyre