Buckle up for a ride showing what real unbiased travel rewards credit card advice is, the skinny on the Citibank Double Cash Card, learn all about United Open Jaws, the “tragic” news Westin Diplomat is leaving Starwood SPG, travel to Nepal and Scotland, learn about Asset Allocation/You are the Enemy/Top 100 ETFs, and we end with the last edition of Blog Buzz which goes out with a bang!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order
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MILES/POINTS
Citibank Launches New “Double Cash” MasterCard That Earns 2% Cash Back, NO AF. Best analysis of this card by Doctor of Credit. I am holding out for a signing bonus. And it looks like the Citi Dividend cards will be replaced by this card. I don’t trust Citibank. Not like I trust any bank lol. But Citi is, well, special. I am sticking with the Arrival card, thank you!
What I Didn’t Say About United Open-Jaws. By Travel is Free. Pushing the boundaries, breaking new ground, pushing the envelope. Well, you get the idea. I look around and I am drowning in moronic posts trying to push more cards to their readers treating them like idiots. Not here. Also, my head hurts as I am just glad when I can find an award for a round trip due to my limited availability. Darn kids and their school schedules lol.
TRAVEL
Beautiful, Spectacular Nepal. Video from The Adventure Blog. Love it!
Drone Captures Amazing Footage of Scotland. By The Adventure Blog again. Wow! I need to invest in a TBB drone. Please click my Amazon link so I can fund it by the year 2,169.
Why the $#&@! Did Your Airline Cancel Your Flight Today? They Had a Very Good Reason. By New Republic. This makes a great case for the airlines cancelling flights…that they are doing it for us. Yeah, tell me about it at the airport. Fascinating read. And sums up where we stand today, just take a look at this!
PERSONAL FINANCE
Your asset allocation is wrong (and so is everyone else’s. ). By Bason Asset Management. This is short and sweet and so critical to building wealth. We can argue until the cows come home whether your portfolio is adequately allocated in international stocks or whether you should increase exposure slightly in emerging markets, BRICs or PIGs or Gold or whatever. The key is to actually stick with it and rebalance the darn thing at regular intervals.
You are your portfolio’s worst enemy. By MarketWatch. Most will never admit it. They tend to be men. Women tend to make better investors because they are not as impulsive. Call me sexist 🙂
The Top 100 ETFs by expense ratio. By Matt at Saverocity. Pretty good list!
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is for long time followers of this hobby and references to blogs/bloggers may not make much sense if you are new to this. You are welcome to stay and read it of course but if you go WTF just remember this note! I think of TBB as the SNL of miles/points blogs and the content here is intended to be satire. If you get hurt I can refer you to my therapist!
I am announcing many changes to the TBB blog, my baby. Due to time constraints I intend to do the following:
- The Blog Buzz section at its present form is over, finished. It is the most time consuming by far! I understand it can be entertaining for most but I just can’t afford the time anymore and it is time to take my own advice: To Ignore the blogs that always make up almost all of this section. Yes, I said it before but this is it baby. Fall is here, summer is over. Enough goofing off, time to get serious (pun intended). I will reserve the wrath of TBB for the most egregious examples of blog crap unleashed to readers who are treated like dumb credit card clicking machines. Maybe pick one or two examples that made me flip the most! I know it will be hard to pick them as the competition every freaking day is just fierce. Just take a look at the blog posts below!
- Blog posts will be shorter. Maybe much shorter. These are just way too long! By killing most of the Blog Buzz section this will be accomplished much easier!
- The Odd and Endz section will make its appearance whenever. When it gets way too long, this section gets voted off the
islandblog. - I will experiment with formats. I will continue to pick the best blog posts in the miles/points blogosphere. And then I will share what interests me which I deem entertaining, educational, and even inspirational at times.
- The formatting in WordPress drives me nuts…it’s like Microsoft Word…you just never get what you see. I have to get in the code to insert <br> page breaks! I don’t do coding very well.
- We all evolve and keep growing. This has been a learning experience like no other. What I REALLY enjoy is communicating with all of you, we are like family 🙂 Ok, that was a joke. I just enjoy the interaction and helping people. So, keep giving me feedback. And keeping me accountable.
- It’s the third day I have a new credit card in my wallet and I have not met the minimum spend yet! That has NOT happened in a VERY long time. Wake up call! I need to not lose touch with my hobby. And I need to find the time to BURN! Cutting and pasting the 18th post of the weekend about the expiring United and Delta card promotions and making fun of them is just way too time consuming, thank you for understanding.
- I need to keep this fun. Sometimes having to make a mention in Blog Buzz just because I made a mention of some other blog post just did not seem thorough and fair….so I did. Again and again, always trying to keep it entertaining. And it got so long, looking up at the clock hours had passed. This is just crazy doing it for a few dollars per day! No mas! But I am no mail it in kind of guy….so, I guess, it is all a process lol. At the end of the day I am still wildly entertained and deeply humbled anyone cares what I have to say. So, you all rock, thank you!
There has been an entertaining back and forth with me and Seth of The Wandering Aramean over at Flyer Talk when he jumped at me for my “erroneous claims and conclusions”. It is all based on what I actually blogged about in this post. Anyways, if you are extremely bored you can read how two stubborn humans go back and forth. But what I find MOST entertaining in the whole exchange is having Delta Points jump in to take shots at me. They are so funny because I think he believes stuff like this in Post #151. If you want to laugh this IS it! How can a human being seriously think that my shilling of Amazon links is worse than all the BA Blogger shilling of credit cards COMBINED is Sooooooooooo ludicrous that you can only just laugh non stop! Thank you Delta Points! TBB is primarily about entertainment, we ALL thank YOU!
Buying my new car with a points card – $6,800 brand new – hello Elio! (oh and 84 MPG) – Delta Points [WTF! Is this for real? I am not going to shake my head because I do not want to lose it. What a bizarro way to push an Amex card and a few crappy referral links.]
“My Wife and I Will Soon Be Living in a House Less Than 200 Square Feet” – Million Mile Secrets [Probably one of the weirdest Friday blogger interviews ever. For some reason I would rather not want to live in a home less than 200 Square Feet! I am not personally talking into Vendoming it but…puulease, 200 square feet? It gets more weird when fart filtering underwear gets mentioned. Of course MMS injects the whole post with his credit card links. Brilliant move indeed!
I shook my head many times reading the First Class product picks of One Mile at a Time and View from the Wing. What was hilarious was them challenging each other! Mr. View is partial to satay and challenging One Miler to explain how some First Class seat is better than another one? Well, I don’t know. Maybe it is because of the shape of the particular ass that’s on it that just fits better? Yikes!
Value Of The Chase Ink Cash Card – One Mile at a Time [Reaching new lows! 13 Chase card links in a post about the Chase Ink Cash card!!!!!! If this is not due to “Stay Chase-y” effect, I don’t know what is!]
New Citi Double Cash Card Benefits – One Mile at a Time [In a classic pump post we have 7 affiliate credit card links in a post about nothing really, AMAZING! If you really want to know about this card please read the post by Doctor of Credit above in the Miles/Points section. I am starting to get angry! ]
The Two Newest — and Best — Amex Points Tools – View from the Amex Suite [ 9 Amex links. And maybe I am just imagining more credit card related posts full of links at Boarding Area! MMS , TPG and FTG…watch out!]
5 days left for the limited time United Explorer rewards credit card offer – The Noob Credit Card Salesman [In 7 pay me links…you get this note: “There is also a *targeted* offer (if you purchase a United airline ticket) that includes a $50 statement credit, I could never get the landing page to load after clicking “apply.” It just directs me from Chase’s website to the United page.” Funny I know it has worked…yesterday! I HATE THIS SHIT!!!]
Citi Double Cash: a New Cashback Credit Card Option – The Points Guy [Exactly what One Mile at a Time said above. Pumpin mode, it never stops!]
5 Great Bank Rewards Credit Card Perks – Frugal Travel Guy [Deep! Click the links. Just kidding, please don’t!]
One Mile at a Time is adding two new “features”. One is a guest blogger named Travis and the other one of the most innovative features ever introduced online…drum roll please….the Weekly mega link orgy listing the links of all the posts in the previous….week! Oh Google what you make bloggers do! By the way, OMAAT dude says he does not and will not outsource the blog. Yeahhhh…riiiiiiight.
Learn How the Biggest Cash Rewards Credit Card Works – View from the ATM depositing Commission Checks [Like I said, this is almost the same as what One Mile at a Time said. Which is awfully little. Read this only if you are gullible and think this is not dictated by the bank that pays them for marketing expenses. Think!]
Why Won’t Credit Card Companies Let You UPGRADE to a More Expensive Card? – View from Up There [Okay, this one had some valuable info and of course several credit card links. But I wonder…out of so much to blog about how come we decide to write such posts that invite credit card links that pay us SO OFTEN!!! It’s a mystery. Or call it the wild race to keep pumping so we don’t get dropped from the banks our masters…]
A Breakdown Of Airline Credit Cards And When To Use Them; 3 Signup Bonuses Ending Soon – Dan’s Deals [The mothership. Unloads. 35 credit cards. I got me a new eye contacts prescription just in time, yes!]
Bunch of questions answered by video by The Credit Card Guy. Naturally they all revolve around….credit cards. And links to them. Pump it boy!
Reader Success Story: An Ex-Pat Learns to Travel for Free – Frugal Travel Guy [Looks like someone forgot to add the credit card links…Lol!]
MileagePlus Explorer Card 50,000 Mile Sign-Up Bonus Last Chance – One Credit Card at a Time [LAST chance! LAST chance! Shaking my head. Great race with View from Up High to be the biggest pumper in Boarding Area and match the more commercial blogs like TPG and MMS. ]
And we leave the truly best (real best, not like the rest of the crap in this section!) for last. Matt of Saverocity wrote Citi DoubleCash Scam, sham or shazam? and takes a critical look at this card and most importantly hammers The Points Guy and View from the Wing for being “1099 contractors who work for Citi”. Lol, love it! And the picture on top of the post is VERY funny!
Ending Soon: 50,000 United Mileage Plus Bonus Offer – Chris Guillebeau [Of course not posting about the better offer is pretty pathetic. Not surprised if this site does not have a clue. What is extremely pathetic and revolting is this: “Note, however, that this probably isn’t the best card for everyday use. That’s still the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which offers 40,000 points for initial signup and then double points for all dining + travel spend.” If you don’t get angry with this stuff, even a little, are you living? Just made that up, I laughed about it …Oh, Think!
Top Four Hotels In New York I Want To Visit (Again) – Points, Miles and Martinis [A tiny post about the four hotels the writer wants to visit. Wow. Thanks for letting us know! We don’t care, sorry! I could do posts to infinity like this….We all can. Shaking my head ]
Travel Skills dude, a renowned miles expert, is pushing the inferior United credit card offer again because it “definitely helps pay his bills”! We would like to screw our readers too out of $50 by keeping them in the dark but we do not put our bills first! %&*$#@
And that is the end of the Blog Buzz entries for good….SO FREAKING EXHAUSTING! Thank you for understanding! I will bring it back when you guys consistently order in excess of $1,000 per day from my Amazon link so I can finally make minimum wage off my blog lol. I just thought of that! I have no doubt right now Delta Points is screaming to his computer “You see you see TBB never stops shilling his Amazon link”. LOL.
This is what it is like to be totally blasted and super lucky at the same time!
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
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TBB
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Ha! First!
I know it must be shocking! After you refresh…you realize it is indeed a first! How do you feel? 🙂
It feels amazing! 😉
Lol, thanks for playing along 🙂
Thanks TBB!! Blog Buzz are the greatest blog posts one can ever find. I am sure you will have more interesting posts in the future. They may not be in this form but your creativity will not stop you 😛
Doing the Blog Buzz section will create at a MINIMUM an extra 2 hours each day. This is from just working on WordPress with Feedly! It does not include reading the darn crap! So…here I am Tuesday morning and I am in perfect harmony with my decision. I know it will cost me readers but it is not like this is a commercial operation lol. Thanks for the kind words. Last thing you will ever see at TBB is the greatest blogger innovation: A weekly post with links to all blog posts of the previous week #brilliantlySUPERlame!
You need an intern for blog buzz. I nominate Ramsey, Steve, or SteveSucks.
Not sure they want to do it for free. Sharing my Amazon revenue is doable but not too attractive lol. Monday is a very slow day today…I am experiencing interesting feelings such as:
Will I be thought of as a quitter?
Will Ingy come back and make fun of me? (that will be instant inspiration to…get back in it lol)
Will you guys think my site sucks now?
There is so much of this crap on line and in news outlets…stupid shit like Kardashians and housewives and what not…was i contributing to this non sense myself? Maybe I was…But noone had the guts to do it and what was I risking anyway, my credit card links? Lol. At least it was thereapeutic according to my therapist. And Wildly entertaining…primarily to me!
I am open to ideas always.
It just felt…right to step away and refocus on other things. I am the most surprised I am still here almost 2 years later when this was going to be a 3 month gig!
3
I can see you in the medal stand with tv7 and Mia. So proud of you!
The posts by Matt and Drew were great. DoubleCash…DAAAHble check! How can I get me some award seats in grill class, LOL.
Yeah, thanks. I don’t trust Citibank…this card…just something is not right…it will come out
I was shocked to find Ben is writing 50 posts per week. Words fail. Does that really make sense? I do 3 per day, some pretty short, TPG rarely gets beyond 4 and that is with external writers.
Yes me too! Seth over at FT listed all the posts by OMAAT and VFTW for the past 3 months. Stubborn me to prove a point counted them all and here is what I came up with for OMAAT:
June 156
July 195
August 197 (as of early Aug 30)
There are some duplicate posts in there and it was late at night but sounds about right. Incredible blog posting machines. This is why you have templates 🙂 I am not sure why you need to hammer your readers about blog posts with a news item visible everywhere else and then a cut and past of a news release or other crap these two post. It must be an SEO thingie I guess. Or doing it to keep traffic up—->ad revenue up? I don’t know and I don’t care. I hold my nose with these two lately, they have turned into incredible pimping machines. Sad to watch…
That’s a lot of posts that I ignore. Signal to noise it poor.
It is very sad how delusional Delta Points is. Truly, it was just embarrassing to read his little jabs at you in the midst of you and Seth debating. It was like two grown-ups having a conversation and then some little kid comes in to try to tickle one of them. 🙂
Also, he is doing a lot of bragging about how much flying he is doing in September. 40,000 miles to go nowhere?! Doesn’t he realize that people actually do that because they have to and they are still working and having meetings on top of that – and many of them don’t even like the travel part! Honestly, his poor wife – leaving her all the time to go try and be noticed by Delta people. Just sad, and I am sincere – not angry. 🙂
Will miss the Buzz posts – maybe turn them into Twitterfests instead! Tweet out a barrage of buzz posts when someone crosses the line 🙂
That’s a good analogy about Delta Points! And what about his “Delta Points Mileage Runs” blog – how on earth can BoardingArea allow that crap on their site (oh wait, because they have no shame!) Have you seen some of his “MRs”? Like, 7, 8, 9 or more CPM! Yet I saw him chastise a poster on the MR thread on FT for a ~5 CPM itinerary for it not being a MR.
I bet Delta Air Lines would love to force him to stop using their name in his blog title, etc.
Maybe his wife encourages him to go on all these flights to get him out of the house?!!?
FTG (the guy) was on fire in a recent thread in the External Miles & Points Resources forum, blasting everyone with his anger. But as soon as it got a little pointed towards him he bailed. I’m not sure who is more sad, FTG or DP.
I am an easy going guy, well mannered and fun loving and do not take things personally in general. But I do have my limits 🙂 It is FTG and DP. Frankly, it never fails to just go WTF with what they come up with! I have lost count after I read something by them to just sit back and just SCREAM…”WTF was THAT? How can someone think this way?”. Words fail me. It is unbelievable…and then I regain my breathing and realize…Yes, they are not joking, they truly BELIEVE what they say!
Blog Buzz will now only have a few gems instead of a chronology of cc link orgy posts! #hint
Also, good thing you took Dans Deals off of your like list. Not only for the credit card stuff, but that he likes to screw his readers out of portal earning opportunities in favor of his own affiliate links. The shoes deal? You could get up to 10% back on that if you went through a portal (or he could have mentioned that) instead of sticking his own affiliate link in there.
I like my lists 🙂
Actually it was quite liberating to be let go and I’ve already made several posts that I should’ve made long ago already.
Daraius and some other bloggers came to my last seminar and told me I was being an utter fool for caring and letting it impact my writing.
There may be 35 links in the where to spend post and the airline spend posts,
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/50312
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/50729
but judging from the comments in those posts there was more than enough value-add in the post to justify its existence, which is the basis of any of my postings. They take hours to write and compute and add more value than another top roundup which is why lumping them together is silly.
Anyway, let me know of any other “hot deals” sites where they write every single deal says to go find a portal?
/.02.
MMS told YOU are an utter fool? Just imagine the words he will use to describe me for taking “hours to write and and compute and add more value” in here since Day 1 huh?
Yes you provide more value and you certainly know more than the others who grace the Ignore list. Just 35 at a time is a little hard on the eyes man.
Regarding the hot deals posts…it does not excuse the fact stated by “Dan”. But I understand the economics believe me.
I need to clean out the Like list. Many in there should no longer be there…I am just lazy.
I love the personal finance section as a regular staple!
Thanks for the feedback!
Also I bought some more books through you! So I think you earned like $3!
Great! Covered tomorrow’s coffee at Panera 🙂
Thanks for the link, George. I think you made the right decision about the blog buzz section and hopefully the blogging thing becomes more enjoyable for you as a result.
You are welcome. When I decide something I don’t look back, It sure feels like the right decision this Tuesday morning, I don’t have to waste my time looking at this crap!
We will miss you George :/
I will miss the Buzz section. In fact, I am missing it already! I have already had to hold myself for not marking so many pumpy posts in Feedly for “further review/Buzz roasting”. So sad. But we all need to move on!
Mr. Gleff over at View From My Plate, is still out to fix the world. This guy must have Napoleon Syndrome or some other inadequacies. He revisits the same Austin hotel to check back on the results of his blog’s criticism of the hotel having room service meal trays in the same hallway where he is staying. Now is is riding the elevator and checking every floor to see if the trays are getting picked up quickly enough to his satisfaction. He gloats that his previous post on this hotel was responsible for the staff doing a better job at this. (probably responsible for some hard working soul to lose his job)…What A Tool !!!!……My only wish is that the hotel staff know who he is and are aware of his doings. His toothbrush will surely be fair game when he is out of the room and his room service food will get “THE SPECIAL TREATMENT”, just like in the movie Waiting with Ryan Reynolds. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348333/
Please watch this…to see THE SPECIAL TREATMENT………………………………https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnfOnueJ8SQ
Haha, Ramsey, great find. Perfect match. LOL.
Very funny guys…Thank you for keeping the Blog Buzz tradition going 🙂
Give him a break. If you were an obese middle-aged credit card peddler you’d be mad too.
Hahaha, that’s harsh
Dang, Gary really needs to get a life. Pathetic!
I can grab a video online post it and make a few idiotic comments too about it (like the Delta landing video)….Yikes. Sure breaks the string of credit card posts 🙂
George-
“It is because of the shape of the particular ass that’s on it that just fits better.”
Run to the trademark office and get this one locked up. Then call Kravis and tell him you have the perfect marketing slogan for the travel division of Internet Brands.
Ask for a penny a hit.
On another topic, can we still call you Buzz?
Lol…Now that I read it again that was indeed awesome….the thing with that particular ass that fits better I mean. Lol!
I will always be Buzz…I see your point. Picking a blog name is SO important!
I remember waiting on line to order at the Burger King rest. located in the main terminal ticketing area of STL. One of the swinging doors to the back area where they prepare those “have it your way sandwiches” opened and I saw a gal/chef hocking a louey on top of a burger. The Flem Whopper was born. Needless to say, I still get nauseous when I think about it…..STL was a TWA hub, spent waaay too much time at that crappy airport (worse than Detroit Metro). You could feel the racial tension/hate between the food service workers towards the passengers/crew even back then.
Yikes!
Love Westin Diplomat and looking forward to their rebranding by Hilton. Of course, they will probably charge a million points a night there, but my Gold w/Hilton goes much further than with SPG.
Your statement is right on!
I should make a contest how much a suite at this hotel will cost under HHonors. And give away a Southwest free drink coupon 🙂
“write such posts that invite credit card links that pay us ”
Think, just think, of the poor Chase peon (peons?), chained somewhere in a basement who has to read EVERY SINGLE ONE of the pumps and count the links!! Where’s the hostage rescue team when they need it?!
(Oh, er… I suppose George has been readin’ and countin’ — and waiting for the rescue team — until he decided to rescue himself! Good on yer, George!)
It feels liberating not to be doing this anymore…But the entertainment mission will suffer…no doubt. I am sorry 🙂
Hey! That wasn’t anonymous! I want credit so the rescue team comes for me too!
Hooray for the rescue team!