Your Junk Car= $1200 for a bicycle + bus tickets

If you live in BC, you might be interested in this:

Bring your old car to the junk yard , you will get $1200 for a bicycle + bus tickets

your old car MUST have insurance on it and MUST be driveable.

you can choose
- lots of bus passes AND $1200 for a bicycle
or
- no bicycle, but more bus passes
or
- up to $2250 towards a new car, depending on how green it is


http://www.scrapit.ca/incentive_choices.htm

You might ask what the catch is. The catch is that your car has to be 1995 or older. Nevertheless, I think it is a good move for BC government. I hope other provinces will follow.

Make Your Mark at RD.com

Reader's Digest believes in the power of the individual to create change. At RD.com - Make Your Mark, you can find all kinds of the stories about what people are doing to make a difference. I have read a really inspiring article about an incredible woman who has made 41 trips to Haiti to help those less fortunate than herself. The lady’s name is Helen Little who is 77 years old and will make her 42^nd trip to Hati in July to help the poverty-stricken country in any way she can. She has tried everything she can to help this Caribbean nation. When she is not in Haiti, Helen spends her time in North Carolina going to yard sales to gather up cheap clothing and any shoes she can find to send there. She also spends a large portion of her time fundraising. Since she began her work two decades ago, Helen has seen improvements in Haiti--the streets are cleaner, more children are attending school, and the generation growing up seems more aware that things need to change. And Helen plans on helping them continue that change for as long as she can.

At Reader’s Digest, you will find more stories like this. Stories about how individuals use their own power to create change and make their marks. If you would like to participate, you can join the weekly challenge at RD.com. The Weekly Challenge is a chance for you to get involved! Each week, rd.com selects an issue and gives you meaningful ways to take action around it. For each issue, such as Cut Down on Car Pollution, you can pledge to take a Step, Stretch or Leap. For more information, please check out this page.

DC Trip Expenses

Finally, I have all the expenses for my DC trip calculated. We have spent $435 each person for a three days trip to Washington DC during May long weekend. The following is the break down(for each person):

1. Airline Ticket: $185.78. This includes all the tax and fees for a round trip flight to DC.

2. Hotel: $128 for three nights at a 4 star Hotel downtown DC.

3. Parking at the airport: $9

4. Gas: $28

5. Train to Baltimore: $6.1, our return flight was departed from Baltimore Airport. So we had to take the train to the airport.

6. Miscellaneous: $96.12, this will include food, metro pass, tips for the housekeeping in the hotel, etc.

Overall, I think we have spent wisely on our trip.

Bleach The Movie

Bleach the Movie is the latest Manga hit. NCM Fathom and Viz Media present Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody to select movie theatres nationwide for two nights only - June 11th and 12th at 7:30 PM!

I absolutely love Manga and if I would need to come up with my own powerful Manga Character name, I would name it Hikari (to shine / shining). It is a great name for smart characters. And it sounds cool as well. :)

Advance purchase tickets for this movie are available NOW by entering your zip code in the "Find Theatres" box on this page or at the theatre box office. Seating is Limited - get your tickets EARLY!

Is Tax Refund Good or Bad?

I have finally got all my tax refund back yesterday, both Federal and Provincial. Some people might have argued that tax refund is a really bad thing because you basically give the government a free loan for a year. However, I prefer to receive a tax refund at the end of the year than getting it each month.
Spending habit is hard to adjust when you are trying to go from extravagance to thrift. At least it is a very painful process. Having the tax refund at the end of the year actually works as a forced saving. If I receive the tax deducted each month from my pay cheque, I might just allow myself to spend more rather than save the money.
Also, receiving a big sum of the money at the end of the year allows me to better utilize it. I can either put them into my mutual fund, ETFs, Stocks or Cash component based on my overall assets allocation.
What is your preference? A big sum of money at the end or a little bit each month? No matter what your preference is, saving it is the key! :)

Laugh out loud – at RD.com

Do you like jokes, cartoons, funny photos and videos? If you do, you should check out RD Laughs Main page. With Reader’s Digest Laughs, that’s exactly what you'll get! RD.com has a huge library of jokes and anecdotes (including those submitted by readers), humorous Stand-up Videos, Funny Cartoons, funny photo contests, and more!

The cartoons, jokes and videos are all organized by their categories. As a software engineer, I like to read those jokes under the “Computer Jokes” category such as this one:

Erred Error

“Usually there's no computer problem I can't solve. But I met my match when I turned on my machine and was greeted with the message "Keyboard not detected. Hit any key to continue.”

With RD.com, you can not only read jokes but submit your own as well and possibly win 100 dollars in cash! If you would like to submit your joke, photo, or video, you can go to their main page and scroll down to the bottom. On the right hand side of the page, you will see “Helpful links”. Click on those submit links. You are on your way to create smiles.

If you would like to sign-up for their jokes’ RSS feeds to keep the laughs coming your way, please use this link.

GCR Weekly Report

Great Canadian Rebate is offering 4.75% in Cash Back Rebates for purchase made on the new Zellers website.

"Zellers is the mass merchandise division of Hbc with locations in communities nationwide. The chain offers customers value, stylish brands, service, price competitiveness and great value through Every Day Low Prices"