Another TBB post featuring the most eclectic links around the web such as why you should diversify, YOLO spending while everyone is complaining, the end of Elon Musk, Google’s Gemini continues the AI race, what Hamas wants, more airline mergers, the crazy guy elected in Argentina is changing his tune, the latest on crypto while the bitcoin price continues to go up, two amazing stories in the Oddz & Endz section that will shock you, more places to visit along with a list of places to say no to, Brazilian visas are back again, beautiful college campuses, the latest in the frequent flyer miles and points world and a lot more, enjoy the weekend.
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Welcome to my quirky original authentic blog. It all started back in 2012 focusing on my crazy hobby addiction of frequent flyer miles along with hotel and bank points. It has since evolved to a curated weekly post of the best web content I find along with my commentary. Here to Educate primarily, sometimes Entertain and if I get to Inspire you, well, that is a bonus.
This blog publishes on Fridays. This is a one man labor of love operation, enjoy it white it lasts. I may post on a day that is not Friday. You never know around here…Actually, I am collecting annual best of lists as I do every year and I plan to post ten at a time over the holidays, so maybe I post on Tuesdays over the next coming weeks too. I should probably move on with my life in the new year, we’ll see.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Hot shot overpaid active fund managers were screaming that the 60/40 portfolio was dead last year. Well, not really. From the New York Times we get this article by Jeff Sommer: Don’t Put Your Eggs in One Basket. That Investing Principle Still Holds. The storm over the so-called 60/40 investment portfolio misses the point,”…The key issue is diversifying your portfolio, and that is as important as ever. Look, you are not the next Warren Buffett or Charlie Munger to bet the farm on a few stocks ok? To get rich you should diversify and get there slowly. Oh, to stay rich too!
Don’t keep your eggs in one basket. Diversify rigorously and systematically among stocks and bonds, and do it for the long haul…Keep your costs low, invest broadly — and stick with it. It’s a simple approach and a proven one. Despite painful lurches, there are good reasons to believe that it will work for years to come.
Meanwhile, as has been the theme around here, everyone is bitching but amazingly they find ways to spend like the good times will never end! Why Americans’ ‘YOLO’ spending spree baffles economists.
While some of this spending reflects the rising cost of necessities, Americans are also still buying big-ticket items and laying out tons of cash for experiences. This “YOLO” attitude towards money bucks the spending trends of past economic downturns – and some economists have been left scratching their heads, especially as consumer sentiment on the economy remains overwhelmingly pessimistic.
There are so many outfits in the wealth management industry selling fake BS capabilities only designed to separate you from your money while they get paid way too much for what they accomplish. And this is just right on point: Should CalPERS Fire Everyone and Just Buy Some ETFs?
Endowments have underperformed by 2.5% per year over the 13 years ended June 30, 2021. I estimate that endowments’ annual cost of investing is approximately 2.6% of asset value. Given the extreme diversification of the composite, which comprises more than 100 large endowment funds with an average of more than 100 investment managers each, there is every reason to believe that cost is the principal cause of endowments’ poor performance.
Both the pension funds and the endowments generated negative alpha, meaning their investment programs destroyed value compared to purely passive investing..Educational endowments did even worse than public pension funds due to their higher commitment level to “alternative” investments like private equity and real estate. [Yeah, stay away!]
It gets worse…yikes, you have been warned!
Remember at the top of raging inflation how many were bitching how expensive gas was. And now when we get headlines like this U.S. crude oil falls below $70 a barrel, closing at the lowest level since June…everyone is silent. And this is how it goes in our polarizing ways smh.
CRYPTO/ELON/AI
Molly White with the latest roundup shit in the crypto space. I read this and shake my head so violently I fear it may separate from my body lol. And all this while bitcoin has more than doubled since it hit the latest low when FTX blew up. Yeah, some things do not make sense and you should just move on…
The writer tries to figure out What’s wrong with Elon Musk? I enjoyed the podcast. Three theories: got too rich too fast and it got to his head, way too much drugs like ketamine, and, please sit down, it is all a simulation, nothing matters lol.
Hopefully, his latest behavior proves The End of Elon Musk. Author delivers to Elon an epic beating, wow! If we only can get him on a rocket to Mars. One way preferably 🙂
Ah well, allow me to respond on behalf of the Earth: The brands are right. No one gives a f—k about X anymore, and no one will be outraged when you — yes, you, Elon Musk — have finally killed it. The days of serial tweeters like me lamenting the days of Twitter Classic are over. We’ve gone elsewhere and use X only sparingly, and only as a necessary evil. Without us, and without any advertising support, X will soon make no money of any sort, and you’ll be left only with the occasional $8 a month from @FreedomBob69. [Still laughing with @FreedomBob69 woohoo!]
Meanwhile, one of the most ridiculously arrogant people in the crypto space who was on the run and caught in Montenegro recently is likely coming back to the US, maybe he can room with SBF lol: Do Kwon reportedly to be extradited to the United States.
Meanwhile, the AI race continues: Google’s Gemini Is the Real Start of the Generative AI Boom. If this ChatGPT AI thingie did not explode in late 2022…I wonder if the stock markets would have had such a strong run in 2023. Since such questions are impossible to answer, please don’t waste any time pondering about them and look ahead and always expect surprises.
GEOPOLITICS
Very educational Ezra Klein podcast: What Hamas Wants. He has been touching topics the mainstream media usually avoids, very courageous.
Argentina recently elected a crazy guy. Who right after his election victory, you know, he has been doing everything right. Is this perhaps the guy to finally get Argentina fixed? I guess time will tell. Javier Milei 2.0.
Since his election as President of Argentina on November 19, Javier Milei has undergone a remarkable transformation. As a candidate, he brandished a chainsaw, promised to scrap the peso and burn down the central bank, threatened to cut ties with Argentina’s biggest trading partners, and insulted seemingly anyone within range. The president of Brazil was “an angry communist.” China was “an assassin.” The pope was “an imbecile.” Rival candidates were “lying swindlers,” “thieves and murderers,” “the worst thing to happen to Argentina,” or just “soft.”
But now the dragon has stopped breathing fire. President-elect Milei just wants to “restructure” the central bank, not burn it down. He’s gone silent on his signature plan to replace the peso with the U.S. dollar. He’s invited that scary communist in Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to his inauguration. (Lula has not yet responded.) He’s stopped saying China kills dissidents. He issued a press release saying “His Holiness, Pope Francis” had called to offer congratulations and a rosary. When Milei goes out these days, he leaves the chainsaw at home.
ODDZ & ENDZ
This is a shocking story in the Wall Street Journal. And certainly not surprising. Behind the Tragic, Instagram-Perfect Life of an Ex-Disney Executive. There is so much fake stuff online. And then you get on a roll continuing to post shit that makes you money and extending the bullshit harming yourself and loved ones. When Dave Hollis quit his plum Disney job to join his wife Rachel’s self-help empire, the pair built a business around sharing some of their darkest feelings on social media. The reality was even worse.
Three months later, he logged off of Instagram and checked into rehab, according to friends. “I am feeling completely broken from the pressure of this strange public life,” he wrote in a post.
A year later he was dead.
The rise and fall of Dave Hollis offers an unusual glimpse into the pressures of the weirdly intimate world of social-media influencers, where you are personally the product and everything you do in your life can be produced into a commercial event.
Speaking of doing things online for the clicks to make money, I guess this dude will be making videos from federal prison for 6 months smh: YouTuber gets 6 months in federal prison for staging small plane crash.
This New York Times story is written by the guy who exposed the Theranos fraud. And it is just wild! The Strange $55 Million Saga of a Netflix Series You’ll Never See. After suitors flocked to a sci-fi project by Carl Rinsch, director of a single movie, the winner handed over money and control. They’re still fighting. Can’t believe they gave this guy so much money! What he did with it is just nuts.
Soon after he signed the contract, Mr. Rinsch’s behavior grew erratic, according to members of the show’s cast and crew, texts and emails reviewed by The New York Times, and court filings in a divorce case brought by his wife. He claimed to have discovered Covid-19’s secret transmission mechanism and to be able to predict lightning strikes. He gambled a large chunk of the money from Netflix on the stock market and cryptocurrencies. He spent millions of dollars on a fleet of Rolls-Royces, furniture and designer clothing.
Amazing video showing how intelligent the octopus is.
TRAVEL
Heads up if you plan to travel to Brazil: Brazil Visa For US Citizens Now Required.
How about Fodor’s No List in 2024. Emphasis on “No”.
I must admit I have not heard some of these colleges before! 25 Most Beautiful College Campuses in the U.S.
Interesting map I guess: You can drink the tap water in these 50 countries — maybe.
Amazing! Fog creates dream-like landscape in British Columbia.
I still like snow, hey I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But the older I get the more I like tropical places: The World’s Top 10 Tropical Adventures.
As we said earlier in this post, people are spending money again bigly. Global Tourism Rebounds to Pre-Pandemic Levels.
BUZZING
A section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life and anything else that just does not fit in another section above
If this is true…lesson is don’t drink so much lol: Man Discovers He Had Chopsticks Stuck in His Brain After Complaining About Five-Month-Long Headache.
I loved the movie The Holdovers.
I just discovered this live performance by the Young Fathers from 2018, I am slow! It has been on repeat for several days. If you are looking for Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber type songs in my blog, please leave.
This blog started with a focus on miles and points and travel. It has evolved since then. Everything below deals with the hobby of collecting frequent flyer miles and points and maximizing your travel experiences. If you are not interested, you can stop here, thank you.
MILES & POINTS NEWS/PROMOS/MY ACTION
I am going to try separating this Section this way:
GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/ETC.
Earlier this year Vanguard made a deal with American Express to market its RIA services to Amex cardholders. The economics just did not make sense at all and I blogged how this is not going to last. Well, here we go: Vanguard discloses to SEC it will end grand plan to market RIA services to Amex cardholders; new ADV details what may have taken it off the rails. By the way, I am no thought leader on anything.
Pretty good End of Year Checklist for 2023.
And the big news in our world was this: Alaska Airlines is buying Hawaiian Airlines. Is it a Christmas miracle or a bah humbug? First, don’t worry about it, these things take a very long time. If they get done.
Some thoughts: Hawaiian Airlines was hurting and I think I predicted here something was going to happen with either airline but I just did not think it would be them merging. But the more I think about it…it does make sense. I have no idea why Alaska Airlines again way overpays for an airline they acquire after Virgin America. I guess that one worked out so this will likely also work? It is going to be weird retaining the Hawaiian Airlines brand and adding Airbus planes to the all Boeing fleet for sure. But when you think flying to Western US, Hawaii and Pacific, this will be a formidable airline. If we get there.
We all know Hawaiian Airlines miles suck (actually, son is in South Korea right now on a Hawaiian Airlines award trip!) so merging these miles into the Alaska Airlines program should definitely be an upgrade. But will this be the catalyst for Alaska Airlines to finally capitulate and also go all revenue based like all the other US airlines? Probably sadly.
Meanwhile, Hyatt just continues to increase its footprint: Hyatt Will Add 37 New Luxury Properties by 2025.
You can REGISTER for Hilton’s latest “Points Plus” promotion running for stays between January 1 and May 1, 2024. You can earn 2,000 bonus points on every stay and an additional 500 bonus points when you use Digital Key.
NEWBIES
Updated World of Hyatt Complete Guide. I have added this to the TBB Miles & Points Resources Page, which is a mandatory bookmark based on my biased opinion.
We have talked here how everyone should at least try to earn 2% on all regular spending. And how you should have an anchor card with your preferred bank. Such card allows you to transfer your points to airline/hotel partners. For Chase, I recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Yeah, it comes with a $95 annual fee I know. Pay it, you can afford it.
For American Express, I recommend the Blue Business Plus card, it earns 2% on all spend up to $50k per year. It has no annual fee and it will allow you to keep all your Amex Membership Rewards points intact if you decide to, cough, cancel some other Amex cards for some reason. It is a business card which somehow still scares people out there. Plenty of blog posts from credit card salesmen designed to convince you that you DO have a business. Ok, never lie on a credit card application.
Me, wife and son have had this card. And we are keeping it. Maybe I should get one for my daughter to enter her into the Amex sphere one of these days. The card had no Signup Bonus for a very long time. Lately, the Signup Bonus is a low 15,000 Membership Rewards points. Yeah, I know, it is very low. But considering its non existent Signup Bonus history, it is darn good. You can find it HERE if you decide to go for it, thanks.
Heads up if you would like to fly on Southwest airlines for free. Chase Southwest Personal Cards: 75,000 Points with $3,000 Spend (Plus, Premier, Priority). These offers expire DECEMBER 11, 2023. Don’t fall for salesmen bloggers screaming it is your last chance, they always come back. And if you time everything right you can get to fly a companion for free until the end of 2025, check out the 2023 Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide. You can find them HERE, thanks.
Always check my TOP THREE TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARD OFFERS RIGHT NOW below. At this point, the two no brainer cards are still the two 90,000 NO Annual Fee Chase Business Ink cards, by far! 4 Reasons to Get a Chase Ink Cash or Unlimited Card Right Now. Available HERE. Chase will give you around $1,000 for free, come on! And also available with my REFERRAL link. I still can’t believe the 90k offers are STILL alive!
MY ACTION
The Signup Bonus for my last Chase Ink Business Unlimited card hit and, you know, I have been doing this for so long and have had numerous signup bonuses over so many years and still, you know, I get this serene euphoric feeling 🙂
I burned 45,000 World of Hyatt points for the Hyatt Centric Arlington, VA for my wife who signed up to run the 2024 Marine Corps Marathon with some friends from Michigan. I may show up to help carry her across the finish line hehe. Night rates were at $308 so thanks Chase Bank again for the points transferred to Hyatt 🙂 I do have three Cat 1-4 free night certs in my account, maybe I should email my Hyatt Globalist concierge to apply some of them towards this stay and get back my points…I need to think about this contemplating 2024 Hyatt stays and stuff like that.
An update on my EU 261 claim against Lufthansa for turning around our Detroit to Frankfurt flight with my mother back in late February! I hired Flightright to help me fight Lufthansa as my attempt for compensation directly with the airline led me nowhere. So, it looks like they are taking Lufthansa to court after doing another attempt to get the airline to pay. So, good luck if this happens to you with Lufthansa, it looks like this is the way they operate, keep stalling until the other party gives up. Oh, and I was told to wait another 6 to 12 months if it gets to court, just wow!
ADVANCED
Bloggers blog about sweet spots to use your miles. And that always leads to airlines plugging them holes. I am shocked Virgin Atlantic still has some before Delta Airlines will surgically remove them too, sad! Virgin Atlantic increasing the cost of some Delta redemptions from Thursday (Yesterday, sorry).
Things you learn after playing this game for decades: Which Hyatt brands do not upgrade Globalist members? Actually, I am checking in a local Hyatt Place later today to get another 2 elite night credits to get me to 57 for the year and my last thought was to inquire for an upgrade lol.
MILES & POINTS
HOT CREDIT CARD OFFERS: 90k CHASE Ink Business Cash, 90k CHASE Ink Business Unlimited, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture X, 75k CHASE Southwest Plus/Premier/Priority, 150k CAPITAL ONE Venture X Business, 75k CAPITAL ONE Venture Rewards, 100k CHASE Ink Business Preferred, 60K CITI Premier, $1,000 Cash Back CHASE Ink Business Premier, 140K CHASE IHG Rewards Premier (with $100 Statement Credit), 60k CHASE Sapphire, 60K CHASE Sapphire Reserve, 60k US BANK Business Altitude and many more including many AmericanExpress cards such as Delta Airlines, Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors cards! Please check out my Affiliate links. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. If you do not see a credit card with my affiliate links, perhaps I could refer you?
This section is about my hobby addiction of collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points since the early 1990’s! SKIP if you are not into it!
As of today, I have burned 1,126,350 miles/points year to date in 2023 and have 4,330,003 miles/points in the bank. Some do drugs, I do miles lol!
Thanks to US banks, very lucrative travel rewards credit card offers come and go all the time. This section will act as a reference point on the best CURRENT offers. I will designate new material preceded by NEW.
TOP THREE TRAVEL REWARDS CREDIT CARD OFFERS RIGHT NOW
Ok, the amazing 90k Chase Ink Business Cash and Chase Ink Business Unlimited card offers are back! These are NO ANNUAL fee cards. The Ink Business Cash earns 5% on office supply stores and internet/cable/phone services and 2% on gas and restaurants. Why don’t you go to Office Depot and buy gift cards of the stores you usually buy from, hello 5% Amazon! The Ink Business Unlimited works differently, it just earns 1.5% on everything…so if you were going to use a card to earn 1% why don’t you pull this one out instead? Bottom line, I think these are the BEST business travel rewards cards out there right now! The 90k Signup Bonus can be earned after $6k of spend on the cards in the first three months. you can apply HERE to support this blog, thank you (they can be found under Category/Business).
Everything You Need to Know About the Chase Ink Business Cards
The Capital One Venture X card offers a 75,000 point Signup Bonus after a minimum spend of $4k in the first three months. If you like simplicity and looking for one (premium) card, I highly recommend this card (and yes, I have it myself!). It has an annual fee of $395 but it comes with an easy $300 statement credit for travel booked on its excellent travel portal, essentially turning it into a $95 annual fee card. But wait…there is more! On each card anniversary you earn 10,000 points essentially making it FREE! Every dollar of spend earns 2 points and flights booked on the travel portal earn 5 points per dollar. You get access to Capital One and Plaza Premium airport lounges and a Priority Pass Select lounge membership and, this is important, you can add FOUR authorized users FOR FREE who can also have their own Priority Pass Select airline lounge membership. You can transfer your Capital One points to up to 18 Transfer Partners. No foreign transaction fees. Free Hertz President’s Circle rental car top elite status. Cell phone protection and PRIMARY rental car coverage. Awesome seats at baseball stadiums for just 5k points each. And lots more. Available with my Credit Card Links, thank you for your support!
Why We Think the Capital One Venture X is Best for Traveling Families
Remember, you are NOT allowed to ever carry a credit card balance if you ever get a credit card here!
Let me leave you with this:
Some of the links are behind a paywall. You can try to read them using Archive.is.
Thank you for reading my blog. If you enjoy it please pass it on to a family member or friend. Or Buy Me a Coffee, thank you!
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
Gold! For the Pacific Northwest!
Just wanted to do this because you mentioned it the other day!
More later!
Woot!
Your drawer sock is golden still, it is December 9th, wow!
Thanks for the great links!
The campus beauty list seems to me rather odd. U Chicago in but U Cal (Berkeley) not. Huh? Ah well.
I suspect the negative value added of the big pension funds reveals what the actual goals are. What sort of kickbacks to management would there be for buying Vanguard ETFs?
Yeah, some of these lists are definitely something!
Yeah, that whole system is a racket. I was on the Alumni board of my alma matter and we discussed the Endowment investment performance and I just could not believe my eyes, what a racket!
Just updated this post on my ongoing EU 261 claim against Lufthansa:
https://travelbloggerbuzz.com/buy-and-keep-holding-on-nvidia-ceo-crisp-era-best-places-to-go-world-of-hyatt-program-changes/
Update: Flightright just informed me that they are making a final request for payment from Lufthansa before they take the airline to court. Update2: Again, Lufthansa stalled and refused payment so there is a lawsuit active right now which will take another 6 to 12 months to resolve. So, if this happens to you, be very patient with Lufthansa!
So, Miles for Family, a Boarding Area blog which I can not believe is still alive after being sold from the founder, does a roundup like almost all Boarding Area blogs. And of course the first three blog links recommended are three of the most clickbaity blogs in Boarding Area! Leads the readers to read some gems, like VFTW’s latest:
Nearly Naked Man Snuggles In For American Airlines Flight
I mean, what can you say, speechless. And clickless here with not a single one of these blogs ever linking back to me. It is all a scratch my back greedy fest out there. Anyway, enjoy my blog and thank Carl’s drawer sock for supporting it month to date at, please sit down, $4.30 revenue to date.
I started writing my final post and it looks like I am going to go out with a bang naming names!
Anyway, it is the holidays so everything slows down. But, oh man, continuing to blog and seeing this injustice is, you know, a little demoralizing 🙂
Stop supporting me completely so I can quit, thanks lol.
Anyway, looking forward to watch the 2023 MLS Cup today at 4 pm. My clients are hardcore fans and, amazingly, it is his birthday so looking to celebrate in a special way.
Later
Wait, Leana sold MFF? When did this happen?
Yeah, sold to a Nancy years ago but still writes here and there. They are in Boarding Area now and just love linking to the big blogs there because, you know, one back link from them can do wonders for page views—-> $.
Hawaiian & Alaskan takeover is an interesting one. They are our preferred domestic carriers in the US. Have noticed the demographics on each carrier are vastly different on flights between Hawaii and mainland. Most locals fly Hawaiian whereas Alaska tends to be the foreigners from the mainland. People may criticise the Hawaiian mileage plan but it’s never failed to deliver us a first class seat to Australia or Asia and we’ve always managed to maintain a healthy stash without too much effort. Can’t believe 2023 is nearly over and already the mind has to switch to do we pursue Hyatt status in 2024 which of course like an addict the answer will be yes, and then the mind games begin as to how to make it happen
Interesting observation on the demographics of the two airlines.
Amazing how you can get value of Hawaiian miles. Just like a few can somehow still get such value from Delta Skymiles 🙂 It happens, but in general, the consensus is that the currency of these two programs is just not high.
Today my Hyatt elite night credit counter should turn to 57. I need to go check in at a Hyatt Place in Flint next weekend to get the final 3. I am hoping for Hyatt promos in 2024 to make hitting 60 easier but I am not sure if they are coming with capacity at high levels for the most part, we shall see.
Great content as always George!
Used your link to get a Venture X, hope it tracks!
On a separate topic, tried to get a Citi AA Plat after getting the axe 4 years ago and got my newish AA account terminated. Didn’t have many miles in it but a bit surprised given Citi’s and AA’s incompetence. Oh well.
Thank you, you have no idea how such words and clicks have managed to keep this blog going.
I see a CO Venture X conversion on November 30 so that must be yours. Since then, the only blog revenue is one coffee from Carl’s sock drawer card. So, I guess we can say yours was Last! 🙂
Every Monday morning I get an email with the weekly blog traffic stats. Usually when I post twice there is a bump. Not that it means anything $ wise, it is just for my ego. Well, the stats were even worse so just another demoralizing hit on my face. And $4.30 blog revenue for the month is just not doing it you guys. I was going to post on Tuesday with the first batch of 10 Annual 2023 Best of lists but phuck it, not doing it, I better do something else more productive. So, I guess the Friday post will show up this Friday and, like I have always said, enjoy it while it lasts…
Looks like Citi IT is still shining, sorry!
I think I applied 12/7 so it looks you’ll have another conversion.
Thanks for keeping and improving your blog George, it’s appreciated.
I log in every morning to see how much richer I get from this blog.
Checked today, still stuck at $4.30 from Carl’s amazing sock drawer card for a coffee. Nothing else.
To add insult to the injury of what TBB’s commercial success is like, some Pam decided to unsubscribe from my email list. Mind you, no spam ever from that list. Just each blog post emailed to the subscribers’ inbox.
So, if there is another devastating/demoralizing/defeatist way to start your morning when you have been trying to not veer from Educating/Entertaining/Inspiring…I don’t know what is.
I need intervention to quit this!
#BloggersAnonymous
Meanwhile, in Nicaragua, the Ortega regime is going after Miss Universe:
https://archive.ph/hBIU2
Can’t believe that Ortega dude is still around!
Not so fast George…
Or should I say good afternoon Buzz.
I can’t imagine how much time you put into your blog, and how unsatisfying it must be at times.
Let’s face it, as difficult as it may seem, that the world can seem awfully unjust at times. Fortunately for many of us in this country we are still very fortunate.
I wish I could express to you the simple joy of receiving your posts. I will always fondly remember catching up with your posts in some amazing part of the world, traveling mostly for free of course thanks in part to your blog.
I will truly miss your posts, but hold out hope that you will still post from time to time. However if this is the bitter end, I truly wish you and your family all the best. I’ll hold onto the dream of going to Larissa and watching your team on some crisp spring day.
Thank you again George and enjoy the coffee!
Thanks a lot for the five coffees. So in December, it is you and Carl with his amazing sock drawer card. Still waiting for Peteco’s Capital One Venture X conversion to come through.
So, as I have been saying for years, this blogging thing is just insane. No wonder so many bloggers have quit and become writers working for big businesses.
One day this blog will join Mile Nerd. Judging from my past, you know, I am going to find some depths of stamina left in me to keep this baby going hoping for just one of these assholes I have linked to numerous times to stop linking to their fellow big Boarding Area blogs and link to me!
Maybe my blog posts are too long. Maybe having a blog titled Travel Blogger Buzz does not have much to do with travel and bloggers anymore since I am leading with Personal Finance right off the bat. Maybe I should split that with a Substack and go back to my roots with my blog here speaking my mind about the miles/points stuff taking no prisoners…but I don’t have the time to do this!
Just spent a lot of time trying to delete email subscribers off my Mailchimp rolls…It is unbelievable how hard Mailchimp makes it to do this, wow. Managed to go from 565 to 539 and likely killed off some I should not have.
The true supporters have been less than 10 around here. Since 2012! If I knew that back then I would have never started blogging you know, still remember starting this as a joke to last three months, sad lol.
What I should do is just trash half of the material I hold to post here and just keep the half best. And just make it tolerable aligning my time much better with my blog revenue. But in months like this when the support does not come close to cover the costs, you know, it is very demoralizing and I think I deserve better. Because this baby was never started to get rich 😉
Anyway, buddy texted me from the Hyatt Place in Bangkok to tell me that the breakfast there is insane. And I am in freezing Ann Arbor trying to find time to do the blog post on Friday…
So unfair man.
Watched my team Larissa win another one on Monday, we are on a roll with a new coach, undefeated since he joined us. If we win Saturday we go in first place in the 2nd division about halfway through the season. We stay first and we are back in the First Division where we belong.
A new bakery opened here, Tous Les Jours or something like that, will go check it out, thanks for the coffees. Be like David everyone!
About the time, well, I am spending less time running now so I think TBB is going to be ok.
Anyway, gotta run, I mean, walk.
I think I hear my sock drawer opening up again…. stay tuned!
Thank you, my blog is sponsored by Carl’s sock drawer cards and David! 🙂
Starting to put together Friday’s post and I am making an effort to CUT material…let’s see how this works out. Knowing my modus operandi, it may end up the longest post ever LOL.
Anyway, the lead article is amazing! It will answer why so many are so unhappy with the economy so great.