Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

We tried the JustPlay app for three hours -- that's the interval between payouts. During this time we only watched ads, and earned 160,000 points. The payout for this is 32 cents. Even if you devoted all your attention to the app, ads pay out typically 5,000 points each, require about one minute, and there is a two-minute wait in between ads. There are various offers you can complete (and you should expect to spend money completing those offers) for a fat amount of points -- just keep in mind that 100,000 points is 20 cents so don't be hopeful because of the jackpot numbers. In our opinion, JustPlay is very attention-intensive for the payout, compared to doing surveys and tasks on your own schedule at MyPoints, which has been around for many years and has paid out. Read our review of MyPoints or sign up with our referral code .

You may have seen DailyRewards advertised on Craiglist in the jobs sections. They offer payment for online tasks, including deposits into Paypal. A very lucrative offer is from VIP Casino -- $120 if you spend $25 : *Cash Back will appear as Pending for 32 days. Must deposit and play within 1 week from account registration to earn Cash Back. Must deposit and wager $25 CAD to earn your Cash Back. Must be a new VIP Casino member. Offer may only be redeemed (1) one time per user. This offer is presented to you by DailyRewards on behalf of a third-party merchant or sponsor ("Merchant"). DailyRewards does not endorse (and therefore is not responsible to you for) the Merchant's views, policies, products or services. Have questions? Please contact the DailyRewards Help Center. If you are not credited within 45 days of offer completion, you have 14 days to contact the DailyRewards Help Center for further investigation. Help Center tickets submitted after the 14 day grace period ar...

As you can see from the first slide,  MyPoints  is still paying out. I've been with them many years, and could have made more if I really focussed, but sometimes I get busy so I just do a little bit each day, like answering a simple poll or quickly going to a website. They don't monopolize your time or demand attention every hour. But if you're looking for "points website" or "easy work online" or to "get paid doing surveys", then first you have to set your expectations correctly. It's definitely not a "get rich quick" scheme. If you spend money at a reputable online merchant (e.g., Best Buy, Walmart), chances are it's on their list of affiliates and they can get you a rebate. That is the surest way to "earn money" -- by basically saving money. There is no magic money that appears out of thin air -- not for you and not for the points site so they can pay you. They cannot retroactively get you a rebate. You must go t...

For budget eats, I have found that the baked-in-store bagels from Superstore are the biggest compared to other supermarkets. The prepackaged 6-packs are basically always $3.50 IF you buy TWO at a time. The other types of bagels at Superstore -- also priced the same -- seem a bit smaller or less dense. So if you are squeezing the maximum bang for your buck in terms of a quick, filling, meal I recommend the Always Everything Bagels. Superstore versus Walmart This works out to 60 cents per bagel, and you can certainly get even cheaper bagels at Walmart, coming in at 50 cents per bagel. However, I found Superstore bagels to be fresher and look bigger -- and the biggest-of-the-big seem to be their "Always Everything" bagels topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and roasted onion. That said, we actually weighed a 6-pack of bagels from SuperStore versus a 4-pack of bagels from Walmart and the average weight per "Always Everything" bagel was basically the same. It's no...

I bought a second-hand Alienware laptop off Facebook Marketplace. It looked in near-new condition and the seller reset the laptop and along with it, the Windows 10 installation. But when I got it home, the Windows 10 automatic update got stuck several times, eventually stuck on “Your Device is Missing Important Security and Quality Fixes” and error 0x800f984 with retries failing. I searched for a solution and found this page  . I tried the initial solutions including trying to fix corrupted files, but after hours, it seemed the best and most straightforward solution was to just bypass the automated installer and go straight to Microsoft to download Windows 10 updates . It did take a while to download (on my slow internet connection) but I didn't need to use the command line to try speculative fixes, or any even more complicated solutions that might result in a worse situation if done incorrectly. Afterwards, it had a few more updates but they went through fine. That page also has a...

My friend surprised me by taking me out for lunch and he randomly picked Lunch Lady -- apparently a place with quite the interesting story of being discovered by TV in Vietnam. We were in there about half an hour after it opened and it was pretty packed. Parking isn't that easy to find either. I'm supposed to avoid shellfish, so I missed out on the daily special soup noodles and went with a server recommendation for a no-shellfish lunch. I could have gone with a vegan option but it seemed every other word was tofu so I went with their version of ham-and-eggs. Even though it had beef and I'm supposed to avoid red meat too... Extra fries for $4? Extra bread for $3? This place is not cheap. BÒ NÉ ($18) Marinated filet of beef, 2 fried free range eggs, sautéed onions, house-made pâté, laughing cow cheese, french fries on a sizzling skillet, bánh mì. Extra Bánh mì +$3, extra Fries +$4 Basic and satisfying. Nothing too fancy here but things don't have to be fancy to be de...

Due to Covid I hadn't gone out at all, until my friend invited me to try Disco Cheetah -- her treat too since it was for my birthday, which was a lovely surprise! Which also means I didn't pay for the food but then neither did the restaurant so I guess it's all good. We were curious about the various things so ended up getting the "Disco Cheetah Sampler" which sounds like it has a lot of stuff, but really it's two things -- deep fried chicken and falafel. The rest is filler text. I'm really tempted to fail them outright because they tried to advertise "scallion" as a significant component of the sampler plate. And no, it wasn't a significant component of the sampler plate. Disco Cheetah Sampler ($29.99) fried chicken bites x5 pieces, whole chicken wings x3 pieces, falafel bites x5 pieces, fries, dipping sauces Also comes with a selection if dipping sauces and some pickled red radish. I'll allow a mention of the dipping sauces since th...