Let’s go on a wild ride to learn about some two crappy new benefits added to the Amex Platinum card, another mainstream publication writing about our hobby, warnings about Serve, my new modeling career combining travel (yes!), visit some very cool places around the US and the world, fly over and through mountains, learn how to help grieving friends, ponder about the meaning of life and stuff like that, see how some Greeks think of fellow Europeans, and ending with the best flowchart ever and Dwight.
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Amex decided to juice the benefits of the rapidly diminishing and becoming irrelevant Platinum card by adding a statement credit for TSA Pre and access to Boingo Wireless wifi hotspots. In my scale from 1 to 10 this is a 1 and I am being very kind. But many bloggers who get paid by pushing Amex financial products stopped whatever they were doing (adding credit card links to another post) and they just blogged about this faster than you can say “conversion”! Whoever did NOT conveniently forget to mention that the feature benefit of this card (the lounge access) has been severely damaged is a weasel! Irrelevant note: Every time I hear of Boingo it reminds me of the band “Oingo Boingo”.
When you see this headline in TIME Magazine you know that this has just gone too far…”These Credit Cards Are Desperate to Give You $400“. I think an expose on the affiliate credit card space would be a lot more juicy but I guess the eye balls are just not enough yet for that one. #sadface (H/T to Steele Street)
I am sticking with Bluebird. I thought about switching from Bluebird to Serve. And then I read this post by Miles, Points and Mai Tais and changed my mind. Pronto! This is the downside of the hobby…getting stuck in situations like this that suck your blood/time!
The next IHG Rewards PointBreaks list is going to be posted here. Probably the best hotel loyalty point deal out there at just 5,000 IHG Reward points per night.
The TBB Amazon shopping link does not bring much at all. So, I had to diversify my income sources. And since I can’t fall down to the level of pimping seven credit cards at at time to the masses I authorized my agent to think creatively. He is a hard working guy and it finally hit him! Now with my slim physique due to the amazing breakthrough diet of eating less and exercising more, he managed to get me an audition and voila. TBB’s Modeling career is off to the races! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my new career as a model! And it fits me appropriately because I can show you how I travel in style. How do you like my pink skateboard, isn’t it cute huh? Please don’t laugh….Screw it, laugh bwahahhaahhahahaahahahhhhhahahahhaahahaha. (H/T to Matador Network)
29 Surreal Places in America You Need to Visit Before you Die. By Bored Daddy.
10 Cool Places to Spend the Night. Found at CheapFlights.co.uk after a reader recommendation. There are some very cool and interesting places here, check them out.
Storm the Beach. Found at Twisted Sifter. Photos like this make me happy, wow!
I thought you knew humans could fly. By Matador Network. Totally insane flying by wingsuit madmen.
10 Ways to Help a Grieving Friend. By The Art of Manliness. Excellent advice here!
“Why you should Get your Shit Together Before you Make it Big“. By Mr. Money Moustache. He does make some excellent points in this one and should at least make you think about, well, everything in general. Unless you are busy pumping it up that is…
Thanks a lot Dayton for messing up my NCAA March Madness bracket. That was my last and best shot to become a billionaire!
Europe According to the Greeks. This is here for entertainment purposes only. If you are easily offended you are obviously reading the wrong blog, please leave. You were never going to click on my Amazon link anyway haha.
I found this at this Huffington post article. Probably one of the best flowcharts ever made?
If I was asked to help Dwight I would definitely recommend to him a Bluebird card and a Roth IRA 🙂
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First, somehow! And I’d give Boingo at least a 2. I’ve subscribed to Boingo before when I needed international access. There’s some value.
Ditto. Not worth a blog post, but more than free.
Second
2nd? Slow night?
Centurion Lounge trip reports are becoming the new LH FCT reports
Is it an amazing place? Maybe. But it’s going to get beaten to death because they need a way to justify the Platinum card. So they have to shove it down peoples throats. None of the bloggers will flat out admit that for 98% of people, the Plat card isn’t worth it.
And LOL at the pre-check “benefit”. It’s bad enough they use fuzzy math on Global Entry. Good grief
These earlier posts are killing my West Coast first advantages!
5th, but only because I was busy applying for an amex platinum card on a slow boingo cennection
@ Adam: Yeah, Boingo could have some value I guess. Congrats being first…I think it’s a first?
@ ctbarron: Moving up! You sure try harder…like Avis!
@ Steve: I need to sit down and do my own review of that lounge. Then you will see a review by someone who is not dependent on income coming from Amex. Reading Lucky’s review almost killed me on the gym treadmill! What people will say to move product!
@ Spencer F: I like to mix it up in here. Actually, the goal was to get to bed early but not sure if I can make it before midnight EST!
@ bighabitat: Lol, very funny. Once you get it make sure you fly to DFW to visit one, it is “amazing”.
If Amex was smart, they would include Amazon Prime as a standard benefit for all Platinum card members, instead of just new accounts. As you say, the “new” benefits are a bit crappy…and I’m not lucky enough to have a Centurion lounge at my airport or an airport that I frequently visit. I got in on the 100K deal last year and grudgingly renewed to preserve my MR points, intending to cancel as soon as 1) the next BA transfer bonus arrives or 2) I get approved for the Everyday card.
It would be cool if you had a separate, isolated page with some credit card affiliate links…I would totally support you for the cards that I was gonna apply for anyway, because I like how your blog is a voice of sanity amongst the fog of travel bloggers. But, I guess that is not possible since you probably need to actively pimp enough volume in order to receive the CC affiliate links from the banks. So, it seems that the Amazon link is the best option.
Good call on Amazon Prime. I am shocked Amex has not done more here. Apparently too busy with rolling out the Everyday cards I guess. We haven’t seen a meaningful transfer bonus in so long. I need to transfer out about 140k MR points and I am just sick and tired of waiting!
Re: separate page with affiliate credit card links. Yes, it would be cool, I just have not had the time to look into it. I ran into the Credit Karma folks and they blew me off, horrendous customer service skills. One day I will get there when I have time to really research this murky non transparent area. I must admit I really enjoy my independent voice and will continue in this manner as long as I can without shooting myself in the foot more than I have been doing. Amazon works okay for now as I can justify to Mrs. TBB that the time devoted here is not all for nothing 🙂 When I think about it, if I add them would I be having blog post titles with “crappy Amex benefits” in them? Probably not! Would I be doing pumpy posts praising Centurion lounges like they are the equivalent of Lufthansa FCT lounges? You see…the dependence it may happen. Just wait for my own DFW Centurion lounge review, you will see the difference between me and a blogger who makes a lot of money selling the now crappy Platinum card.
Thanks for the thoughts. I do get a lot of email supporting me and encouraging me to do this. And I certainly appreciate it. I need to figure it out on my own and do it in a way that it is comfortable to me. No rush, I am all for enjoying the journey!
Fully agree on this idea.
Actually, I agree with this idea on ALL blogs…. stop pumping cards in ridiculous posts, and let me have a way of rewarding those who have content I find useful when I actually want a card.
This is the way it should be but sadly this is not the case. Too much pumping going on and capturing the newbies who don’t know any better 🙁
Everyone at boarding area needs to take a deep breath as to the Centurion lounge. Lets not forget that any Amex cardholder can buy a day pass to the Centurion Lounge for $50. Parting with the $450 Platinum card does not mean you have to permanently say goodbye to the Centurion lounge, although parting with it will make you think about what the lounge is really worth to you on a visit-by-visit basis.
If you’re someone like Gary, who said today that he keeps the card for the fee credit + the Centurion lounges, I hope you’re going through DFW/LAS more than five times a year.
See my response above to DL Flyer for my thoughts about the Centurion lounge and Amex Platinum cards. Let’s just say Amex won’t be sending me an invite to any events anytime soon. 🙂
Exactly this – I have a friend who travels through DFW 2X a month, and LOVES LOVES LOVES her Platinum card for just this reason.
Anyone else… ? Pretty much desperately grabbing at straws to justify it. Maybe they’ll build enough more/betterer Centurion lounges, and maybe I’ll be in the Billion Dollar Bracket.
Yep, I agree. “desperately grabbing at straws to justify it” —–> you nailed it!
I switched to Serve and it was completely painless. 10min call to cancel Bluebird, about 15min call to get serve manually approved. Got the full card a week later. Follow the directions in the FT Wiki.
I signed up via Isis (a smartphone payment app) and I got $50 instantly for just signing up, plus I can load $1500/mo, $500/day directly via credit card. Debit loads are the same. This is in addition to the $5K with VR/etc. Better than regular Serve/Bluebird. There’s a new promo for $1 off every purchase of $1 or more with Isis/Serve, up to $50/mo for 4mo. $50 bonus for 2x$250 direct deposit before Jun 30th.
There’s also the $220 from Wells Fargo, free daily Jamba Juice, free cokes (actually the occasional bottled water, the Jamba is enough sugar for the whole family). I did have to pay $69 for the case for my iPhone, but I’d say its a good investment. No investment if your android/provider supports it.
Yes I have heard positive experiences switching. But also nightmare ones. I like low risk activities and making my life less complicated than it already is right now. Maybe after tax season I take another look at this. That Isis promo really sounds cool. You lost me on the Wells Fargo stuff. No bank locations in Michigan so when I hear WF my antenna does not go app.
Great, now I can’t get “It’s just another day” and “It’s a dead man’s party” out of my head.
On a side note, I’m grateful for the attention you bring to the tidal wave of posts when a new garbage affiliate link comes out. However, Amex’s customer service continues to amaze me and I’ve gotten a conservative $1,000 return (if i cancel this month) and possibly $1,600 return minus the $475 annual fee and that’s not accounting for any lounge access over the previous year. I don’t foresee that continuing year after year, but for some people this can be a very beneficial card for 11 – 14 months.
My opinions are the exact opposite for some of the recent pumps on sub-par cards from barclay, citi, comenity, usbank, etc. Not that I don’t mix those in myself, but their horrible customer service keeps me from recommending them to friends and family (even when they offer me bonuses to do so).
Amazing pictures by the way. I’ve been to some of those spots in the past year and I can’t decide on how much my poor photography skills were affected by the obviously poor lighting when I was there.
The card still has value (to some), but keep in mind they’re pushing the 40K offer when there’s a 50K offer with only $25 more on the annual fee.
@ joe: In my own opinion, Amex customer service used to be TOP NOTCH but has rapidly deteriorated in the past few years. Is it still better than the rest? Yeah, probably. All the banks you mentioned should take many lessons in customer service as it clearly sucks with them! Surprisingly (shockingly actually) I have found Discover’s customer service to be top notch!
Thanks a lot
#singingIt’saDeadMan’sParty
@ TJ: Totally agree!
To keep rolling with the punches, you know a country is in trouble when they generalize French as workaholics 😉
Boingo is a decent benefit for frequent travelers, arguably more useful than access to domestic lounges, especially on shorter layovers. I don’t get the TSA Pre part since they already credit for Global Entry.
Yeah, the Greeks calling the French workaholics is quite a…travesty 🙂
Mostly agree with your sentiment about the new benefits.
Just be ready for it folks, because the Centurion lounge humping will be endless
You can say goodbye to the LH FCT flogging, because the only reason it was continually hyped was as an excuse for bloggers to “remind” you how you can get the points to go there.
Now that the only currency that realistically gets you there is LifeMiles, and that CC doesn’t pay an affiliate commission, don’t expect the LH FCT to get Kardashian-like coverage anymore.
Enter the Centurion Lounge, and the Amex Platinum (but not the Mercedez Benz card, or if it is mentioned, it’ll be buried towards teh bottom of the post)…….
In fairness, the 20K LifeMiles card does pay commission and nobody is trying to sell it….yet.
Didn’t Gary try to sell the life miles card earlier this month?
He did post about it, and he’s one of the better ones in doing so
But as is often the case with non-affiliate links, it’ll get posted about a once or twice at the beginning, and then you won’t see it again until maybe a top 10 post when it’s buried among 15 affiliate links
Then when you point out the pimping, they’ll say “yeah, but I talked about this non-affiliate link”….. they won’t mention that they talked about it roughly 75 CSP mentions ago
There is a 40K offer going on right now.
I will try to post my Centurion lounge review this weekend. If I don’t get to it please do not get mad at me. You will see a difference between an independent blogger and bloggers who get paid by Amex 🙂
I need to go set an alert for this review post…
Being that you seem a man of integrity, I suspect your review will be something along the lines of “It’s a very nice lounge, but unless you have a lot of long layovers in DFW or LAS, lets not delude ourselves into thinking the annual fee is worth it”
Yep, something like that. Just wait to read what happened to me in the shower 🙂
Some really fine photos today but I liked the map and flowchart best. Literally laughed out loud. I thought Plagiarists for Italy was really good.
Happy Spring!
Thanks a lot. My favorite was Dwight 🙂
Love the map. As someone who has taught “The Odyssey” those references are awesome…
This stuff was required courses in the Greek high school. Lets just say it was not one of our favorite subjects. We didn’t know much back then! In my last year there when the arrangements were already done for me to come to the US as an exchange student for my senior year I really “let go” my grades and was just looking to pass so I can come to the US. Well, my Ancient Greek class got out of hand and I BARELY passed with just enough in the final. Talk about sweating buckets. That darn “Odyssey” almost screwed me up. If I had not passed there would have never been TBB lol.
No comments about FTG’s top 30 credit cards list? 30 aff links all in one post. You’re losing your touch, George.
Is there a betting pool for which F2B blogger will leave next?
What else is there to say? I shake my head watching the site get even MORE pushy on credit cards. Very sad to watch this, very sad. I would love to PRAISE it but…how can I? Nothing is off limits to sell credit cards any more? Even weddings now! What’s next, funerals?
No idea about F2B…it could be anybody. When it happens I will report it 🙂
Anyone know what’s up with Seth Miller’s website hack.travel ? It looks like it has actually been hacked and down for several days.
I have no idea. I had to take that off my Feedly simply because it was getting out of hand duplicating the same blogs that were already on Feedly! I know Seth has been doing a lot of traveling lately. Someone let him know!
I tried to switch my Bigcrumbs referrer to you, but alas, you’re not allowed to change it.
Thank you, I appreciate the thought!
Buzz, It’s a slow day out there in the world of Credit Card Salesmen, nothing interesting. Not even entertainment by your pal Wallet Slut, Used Credit Card Salesman on F2B…..Desperate for a laugh I read the new MMS interview with Huntley Mayo, Huntley’s Travel Hacking Class $19, includes 56 lectures to help folks learn how to use miles & points and save money on travel. One lecture is 49 seconds long, reminds me of my alma mater, Nassau Community College class of 75…..
he is also an entrepreneur, Personal Finance Blogger and know it all……..Buzz I read the book, The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton and have an Associates degree in business, and subscribe to the WSJ, I am I qualified to be a Personal Finance Blogger.
I dont think there has been a single comment by Ramsey which has failed me at least make me chuckle. Ramsey, I might be your No. 1 fan.
thank you common man
49 seconds long, wow! Well, at least he discovered this stuff in 2010, much better than 2013 or two months ago 🙂
Everyone with a blog is an expert these days it appears…
The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton is indeed a great personal finance book!
If you read the WSJ no doubt you can be an expert too!
And thank you common man 🙂
FTG.com’s Top 30 list…….. bwahahahahahah
Nice to see that the 2 highest airline signup offers, both on the most valuable airline currency out there…. were able to check in at #18 and #19 respectively
And the Mercedez Benz card didn’t make it at all. Interesting….
As long as FTG.com still pumps out garbage like that, I have no intentions to not mock it
The more time that I spend on TBB, the more I’m starting to absorb the TBB mission. These blogs could be 100% better. There is so much crap out there.
The only thing than that top 30 garbage posted was when they did the same thing, but over the course of 30 days
Amex Platinum = #17
Amex Mercedez Benz, same bonus, but 10K more points signup bonus = didn’t make the top 30
As a loyal reader of your site Buzz, I appreciate that you don’t have as much contempt for your readers as the FTG folks have for theirs
Amex Mercedez Benz, same BENEFITS, but 10K more points signup bonus
Sorry for the typo above
Ah, but Angry I will surely tell us the Mercedes didn’t make Top 30 because of the extra $25 AF. You know, paying 0.25c for MRs is a bad deal…
Yawn
My feelings towards FTG.com the blog are well known among TBB readers. I don’t remember seeing a single post without a credit card ad lately. Even if there is none in the body, there is an Editor’s note promoting one or more! It turns ME off being sold to. Maybe I am different. It must be working otherwise why would they be doing it?
What will be next, top 40? Because 30 was not enough?
@ FFHigh: As far as crap out there, YOU HAVE NO IDEA, NO IDEA what my poor eyes see every day! I should be angry 24/7 if anyone saw what my eyes see every day 🙂
But I am not because I try to be cool. I am fine with my 3 lists and I think I am fair. I sure try to be.
A reader recognized me today at my local Panera and thanked me for what I do. That is priceless to me, thanks Max!
George, it is a commercial enterprise. Of course you will see ads everyday. Top 40 NO Way. I lobbied to reduce it to top 25. And if I’m not mistaken the Fidelity 2% card made it in the list 🙂 I wonder how that happened?
If given the opportunity to receive suggestions in a calm and respectful manner, I will do what I can to do what I can. That’s all I can promise
BTW I lobbied for the 100K Citi AA card at #1 but outvoted as the $10K minimum spend is tough on newbies. And as an example when the Arrival card went from $1K to $3K minimum spend the “conversions” fell substantially. I never would have thought that little difference in spend would effect applications that much. Tells me we are dealing with newbies indeed.
>>>>>>>it is a commercial enterprise.
I think we have figured that out by now.
>>>>>>>>BTW I lobbied for the 100K Citi AA card at #1 but outvoted
Who outvoted you? Name names 🙂
There was never any doubt the blog dealt with newbies. No doubt. Which makes great sense….commercially!
I feel sad seeing FTG.com (the blog) like this. Just expressing my opinion. Thanks.
I don’t understand the sadness? The blog changed hands, purpose and direction. When you get 4-5 years of writing day in and day out under your belt on a hobby that is losing its umph, and somebody is offering you a check to stop doing it every day, there really isn’t much sadness.
And besides, there are fifty other blogs now. The space will still be the same, or better if half of them disappear.
Former fans of the blog are sad. Current readers of the blog are not getting the best advice. 50? Take this number & multiply it by 20. And the VAST majority of them are dishing out crap to line their own pockets first and foremost because, well, they are “commercial enterprises”. Anyways, preaching to the choir…
Not voting for the Mercedes Benz Amex Plat, all of you, I find it ____ (fill in angry word). You all there should know better!
Ok, I need to finish my Centurion lounge review post.
No, it really tells you do a terrible job in educating the noobs – but that’s hard to do when you have to squeeze in all those affiliate links, eh?
Based on the literally hundreds of emails they get per month and the thousands I received over the years I owned the blog, and the income the blog generates now and back then, I’d have to disagree with your assumption :). It seems the unhappy ones are here at TBB.
But then again, what would an old unstable guy like me know compared to this enlightened crowd of critics 😉
50 bloggers? More like 500… MMS keeps on finding new people to interview 😉
But sure, if half of them were gone tomorrow, the space might be better. Although that may mean more people to prey on for the big bloggers who mastered the used car salesman tactics 🙁
My response is above.
Next MMS interview:
Blog name: __________
I don’t have one yet as I just discovered you can use miles to fly for free yesterday and I can’t wait to share with my friends and family 🙂
+1
+2 🙂
This is a test. I have been trying to comment and the site is not cooperating. So rather than trying to post the same comment, I am testing to see if it will let me post anything! Here goes!
Must have been a tech glitz, it happens. I got your email with the lost comment and posted it below. Sorry, I will need to have a word with the TBB Technical Support Dept about this issue 🙂
OK, at least I know I wasn’t blacklisted!
I had written a longish comment about our refi, because I had asked about that here and wanted to share the info I have since learned. It didn’t show the comment the first time I tried and then when I tried again, I got a dup warning.
The short version is the consensus – why try to do a churn on the same day as a refi – was on target. Maybe George can post the long version – I sent it to him in an email. I won’t say more then it will really be duplication, except
@Ramsey – I know we now live in the same place, but I guess we did back east too – I grew up quite close to Nassau!
Elmont is a stones throw from Queens, on the border actually. Elaine, I was in your PDX Barbur Blvd Safeway today (bless you Paypower), lots of great East Coast ethnic groceries i have never seen here before in Portland.
@Ramsey, you are giving away all my secrets not to mention my name! Next time we should meet for coffee at the Starbuck’s inside. The east coast delicacies are because that Safeway is appealing to the folks who frequent Dan’s Deals. For which the neighborhood is duly grateful. I sure hope you left some PPs for me!
Here’s a funny Onion article just for us points junkies:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/bank-of-america-introduces-new-existential-rewards,35594/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default
That Onion article is da bomb, thanks!
[This is TWA44’s comment that was lost in cyberspace posted by TBB on her behalf]
@Ramsey – Nassau Community College? Really? Well, we not only now reside in the same place but it appears we used to as well!
I usually scan MMS on Fridays just to see how long the interviewee has been at it, and I did learn something new: Milez.biz – I also thought the story about the engagement ring wrapped in the boxer shorts was funny. But neither will work to get me to take his classes.
Just an update on a question I asked here, about whether to try a few CC apps on the same day that we applied for a refi. The general consensus was: don’t risk it. In the end, mostly because I decided that the one card I was after for my H (husband) was not the right card for us for now anyway, I did not try to coordinate the hard pulls with CC apps.
Good thing. When I looked at the list of documents I needed to assemble, there was a cautionary note in tiny print of things to NOT when purchasing or refinancing your home:
> do not apply for CCs, car loans, etc.
> do not co-sign any loans for anyone
> no home improvement projects
We’ve done many mortgages and refis over the years, and no one ever warned us about any of these.
Moreover, I had forgotten about how many docs they want. We also co-own a condo with our D (daughter) that is now rented and co-signed her home mortgage a few years back, so the paperwork they want has grown since last time. It would have been hard to coordinate gathering all that, going in to see the loan officer, and when they do the hard pull with CC apps and possible recon calls. Just too many balls in the air for me. Plus we were comparing the terms offered by our longtime mortgage broker and our credit union.
So, thanks for your advice and I hope my experience as reported here helps the next guy.
Happy weekend!
The refi work required in the past few years has increased substantially compared back to the go go real estate days where the only requirement was you can breathe (well, I am sure they were lax on that too!). Definitely not a walk in the park anymore. Better to just get it done, get your best rate and then come back at the credit cards again, they are not going anywhere in a few months or so.
Thanks, George! Much appreciated!
We locked a rate for our refi – 1/8 higher than had we done it before the Fed met, but we unfortunately weren’t tracking that – but I can’t really complain about a 3.25 rate. When we sold our house in A2 in 1980, interest rates were in the teens. When we bought in Portland in 1987, we were absolutely thrilled to buy a home with an 8.75 assumable mortgage.
At the credit union – where the costs were by far the lowest – the Loan Officer looked at every inquiry in the last 120 days and matched it to the card for which it was pulled. She also asked me to write a statement for the benefit of the underwriters explaining why we had so many credit pulls recently! She told us a story of someone who ended up paying a higher rate on a mortgage due to new CC cards and said it isn’t worth it. I didn’t argue – I am sure in many (most?) situations applying for CCs close to a mortgage app is not wise – but in our case it made no difference at all. We still had excellent scores, way above the 740 cutoff, and got the very best rate they offered on 10 year refis.
And I felt great when I whipped out our new Arrival card, to get 2% back on the deposit!
One nice bonus – the money stays in the community. I am a fan of “buy local” and “invest local.”
The only glitch – if my H goes out on strike, they will have trouble verifying his employment!! So I hope the timing works. Better yet, I hope they settle before they have to strike. But things are quite stymied.
Strike aside, a good day here in the Rose City where it was glorious weather. And the weekend promises to be sunny. I just hope folks don’t start making a beeline for “my” Safeway thanks to my buddy Ramsey! Anyone know a good spot to hide ’em? (just kidding!)
Don’t worry 44, I only bought 1 (as I was using my wife’s CC), every Safeway I have been to has them and never a fee or need to pay cash. PDX maybe VR free but we PP heaven.
Damn, was in PDX last weekend. Should have hit the Safeway:)
I was unable to leave a comment on FTG for an article written by Ariana on “A Frugal Guide to the Galapagos.” She mentions that you can book a LAN flight from the US to SCY using AA points. This may be true, but you can’t use the AA online booking engine to do so. If you have to call in to get the award, this definitely should be mentioned.
Probably a tech hiccup. Or maybe it was deemed not beneficial to assist in conversions? 🙂
This is worth a look – Lovers, Critics, Fenemies, Haters: Ann Friedman’s Disapproval Matrix:
http://annfriedman.com/post/49152967734/in-my-ongoing-quest-for-the-perfect-framework-for
On other topics:
> gorgeous day here in the Rose City
> distillers can now give samples so lots of shot glasses are getting used to try locally made spirits at the Farmers Market
> finally settled on rough dates for our trip back east so I can look into booking some tix for a Philly/DC trip for after Labor Day
> H is grading finals and making funny cracks about the impending strike at his U
> D is at the Oregon Garden on a Travelzoo deal that her Arrivals card will reimburse
> S is in TX at a BMW e-vehicle event – he is as far south as one can go in TX without getting wet or crossing the border!
Hope you all have some sunshine, wherever you are!
oops, I meant Frenemies!
Thanks for that matrix, I think it is brilliant!
I think it is safe to say that we do not have any Frenemies and Haters around here! I think we are primarily rational Critics because we do CARE about this stuff. We love to criticize the work and not the person ( I have always encouraged that!). Unfortunately, some of us know each other but not sure about the Lovers term lol.
BMW e-vehicle event sounds cool, hope he gets to drive one! Always fun to have stuff paid for the Arrival card [insert imaginary affiliate link here lol]
I checked the times of the flights on flightaware.org and realized there was no way we would make a 50 minute connection in Honolulu as the Island Air flight arrives late and the departing Alaska Air to San Jose leaves early! So, after almost an hour on the phone with United (hung up on me the first time!) I managed to change the flights without a fee due to a “schedule change”. so now we leave Maui 3 hours earlier. Which makes this Maui trip a case study of how NOT to use miles/points!
The US is the fattest country with 30% of its overall population obese and 70 % overweight costing
the US over $150 billion annually. Running a trading system is far more time consuming than most people at first realize.
All that matters is that you want the change to occur.
Have a look at my web site; web site (Ramon)