Let’s face facts – you dropped the ball. It’s Christmas Eve, and you still have shopping to do. Pretty soon those stores are going to be closed, and you’re going to be up the creek without a paddle. Or are you? Whether you like it or not, there’s one place left. It may smack of desperation, but it’s better than showing up empty-handed (though only slightly so). It’s the gas station.

Winterized Washer Fluid is always a great gift – it says “Stay safe this winter! People care about you! But obviously not me, because I bought you washer fluid.” There’s lots of options here – lottery tickets, Pringles, The Toronto Sun. What’s not to love?

Well tommorow’s Christmas Day, and I can only hope our last minute shopping ideas have provided you with some of the gifts you needed, or at least given you a few laughs. I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of your holidays, and I’ll see you all on the other side of Happy Ho ho Day! 🙂

Chances are that if you’re reading this, you didn’t watch Arrested Development. After all, if you did – or if anyone did for that matter – Arrested Development would still be on the air. It’s a shame, because you don’t know what you were missing. Well now, courtesy of MSN, you can find out.
MSN is putting the entire series online for your enjoyment free of charge. Currently the first nine are available, and they’re adding three more every week until all 53 are available. If you’ve never seen it you owe it to yourself to give it a try. If you’re already a fan, there’s all kinds of new stuff for you to enjoy -like Messenger pics and wallpapers.

This show is a personal favourite, so please, consider my sharing this link my gift to you. Happy Holidays!

Click here to check out Arrested Development.

Want to save $100 on an Xbox 360? There are two great deals starting Boxing Day that you won’t want to miss;

Future Shop will be offering an Xbox 360 Premium Bundle (includes Headset, 20GB Hard Drive and 30 Days of Xbox Live, as well as two games packed in – Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Live Arcade Unplugged) for $399, and they’ll be throwing in the game The Outfit to sweeten the deal. With the extra free game, this is definitely the better deal of the two – but I think it’s also going to be the harder to find. It’s marked as a “Door Crasher” in their flyer, which suggests to me that this will probably be a Boxing Day only deal. I can’t confirm that though, so don’t be afraid to check on this deal the rest of the week. You might luck out!

Rogers Video is offering the Premium Console (including Ghost Recon and Live Arcade Unplugged) for $399 for the entire week – December 26th thru January 1st. There’s no additional free game, but we can say for sure that this will be on sale the whole week. Also – it seems logical that Rogers Video would run out of stock long after Future Shop. After all, not many people think of going to their local video store to pick up a sweet deal on a gaming console.

[We’re in the last week before Christmas, and everyday until that very last minute we here at SmartCanucks will be bringing you some great but obscure gift ideas for that special someone]

Nothing says I love you like “Ch-ch-ch-Chia!” Chia-Pets, the Clapper, the Ove Glove – anything bought to you by Joseph Enterprises is a worthwhile gift. This close to Christmas, ordering online probably won’t do you a lot of good unless you’re willing to put an IOU in a Christmas card. Luckily you can find most of these products at your local Home Hardware. And seriously, if you can show me someone who wouldn’t smile when unwrapping a ChiaPet, I’ll wear that damned Princess Leia dog costume.

Every great product ever imagined is available online at Joseph Enterprises.

Up to 70% off all merchandise begins December 26, 2006

Winners is having a “Boxing Week Blowout” sale that starts on December 26, 2006.

You get 25% off all clearance items. Some special deals include:

– Apple iPod Nano, 4GB (Black): $179.99 (max 1 per customer)
– Faux fur, faux shearling and downfilled coats: $79.99 and under
– Brand name young men’s denim: $19.99
– Ladies assorted sweaters: $19.99
– 500 thread count sheets: $59.99-$69.99
More details and store locations here

I’ve never really been all that into sports, but as a kid I would’ve sold my soul for a subscription to Sports Illustrated just so I could get my hands on one of these. The Sports Illustrated Sneakerphone is the ultimate in kitsch for anyone who grew up in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Nothing says cool like calling your Grandma on a shoe. And now it’s available without a subscription! You can pick one of these bad boys up at your favourite Canadian electronics liquidator, XS Cargo for only $9.99. If you don’t have an XS Cargo in your neighbourhood, you can also get this on their website.

The Sports Illustrated Sneakerphone is available at XS Cargo.

More details on this GAP offer here

This has been around for a while but it’s still an awesome deal. You can simply buy a $100 voucher that gives you 365 days of activation. I also heard that you get this $100 voucher if you buy a new Pay As You Go package but I can’t confirm this since Rogers promos  change frequently.

More details on the $100 – 365 Day Rogers Pay As You Go voucher here

The early bird gets the worm, saves a bundle and can shop in their PJs! From big blockbusters to juicy bios to lavish coffee table books, Indigo/Chapters’ early boxing week sale has something for everyone with books priced under $5, $10 and $20.

Click here to start shopping at Indigo/Chapters online

[We’re in the last week before Christmas, and everyday until that very last minute we here at SmartCanucks will be bringing you some great but obscure gift ideas for that special someone]

You mustn’t forget Fido at Christmas! And what better way to thank him for year-long loyalty than to dress him in drag and let him loose on unsuspecting sci-fi conventioneers? If you happen to know a a Star Wars fan with a lovable pooch at home, you can’t beat a gift like this – especially for only $15.95 USD.

Besides – getting your dog bone shaped cookies and Kong Dong’s is so 1976. What better way to step boldly into 1977 than with an outift that screams “Help me Obi-Woof Kenobi, you’re my only hope!”
Pricess Leia Dog Costume available at CostumeCraze.

[We’re in the last week before Christmas, and everyday until that very last minute we here at SmartCanucks will be bringing you some great but obscure gift ideas for that special someone]

You’ll never find anyone who doesn’t like Tetris. It just won’t happen. Go ahead and try – I’ll wait.

See? Tetris is universally loved.

…and so is food! That’s why Tetris fridge magnets may in fact be the single greatest idea since the invention of rubber pants. At 278 rubels a set, these are clearly the real deal. That’s around $11 CDN for those of you who don’t memorize the daily foreign currency exchange charts every morning.

Tetris Fridge Magnets are available from Art Lebedev Studio.

Front Entrance 10:00am

Don’t miss this much loved annual event where siberian tigers, Reindeer and other animals receive their seasonal goodies. Strolling Carollers and free Hot Chocolate following the walk. Please bring a non-perishable food item for the food bank. FREE Admission for EVERYONE all day! Happy Holidays.

This is an outdoor event! Dress warmly.

More details here

Every year the good folks over at Google get together to tell us all about the things we’ve been searching for over the past twelve months. And so without further adieu, I give you the 10 most popular searches on google.com in 2006.

1. bebo
2. myspace
3. world cup
4. metacafe
5. radioblog
6. wikipedia
7. video
8. rebelde
9. mininova
10. wiki

It looks like technology ruled the roost again this year, with only the number three most popular search “world cup” avoiding the whole geek chic culture. But what’s that you say? You haven’t heard of half of the things on this list? That’s ok, neither have I — and I consider myself a pretty tech-saavy person. Yet I actually had to search bebo before writing this article just to make sure I wasn’t completely out of touch with the real world (for those of you scratching your noodles like I was, it turns out it’s a myspace-like community.)

If you want to see a ton of great top ten lists just like this to get a better sense of what held interest for people in the year that was, hop on over to Google Zeitgeist 2006. Everything from the top ten searches asking “who is” to the top ten searches for tickets are. All very neat stuff!

2007 TODAY’S PARENT PLAY ALL SUMMER PASS INCLUDES:

– Half price admission to Rogers Chinese Lantern Festival!
– Three $5 off Parking Vouchers!
– Free Admission to the Canada Dry Festival of Fire!
– Free Admission to the CNE!
– Discounts at our Gift Shops and selected Food Outlets!*
– Unlimited visits to Soak City® and more than 30 other rides and attractions!

This promo is valid until December 31, 2006

Click here for more info on this Ontario Place Pass