Allow me a little plug for my employer's new daily deal offer. This is a good one. Get $80 worth of trees, shrubs or perennials for $25 at Halla Nursery in Chanhassen. It's part of the Strib's new dail deal program called Steals. Click here to sign up. Every weekday, a new deal with a discount of 50 to 90 percent is announced, including restaurants, spas, events and other local deals.

Here's another amazing daily deal. This one from Groupon. Get $50 worth of merch for $25. A 50 percent discount isn't really so amazing these days, especially on clothing, but the fact that it's a well known brand name such as the Gap is. And they're doing this discount in the prime time back to school shopping season. In an article on the Huffington Post, the Gap was listed as one of 12 brands that might disappear in 2010. To be fair, the article said it could be the Gap, Banana Republic or Old Navy (all owned by the same parent company), but Old Navy was the most likely culprit. Did you notice that maybe a month ago, old Navy discounted its entire store 30 percent. All is not well in Gapville I am sorry to say. BTW, the Gap deal cannot be used at any of its outlet, factory or online stores.