We bring you a Hyatt brand cheat sheet, find out how the Saudi Tinder, a world elections tracker, an oil bible for suckers, we visit the Athens Hilton, sign up for a Choice Hotels promo, getting ready for the coronavirus in the US, the most spoken languages, get you more tax deductions and tax credits, help you not to lose it all in this latest market correction, another amazing 52 things we learned last year, an awesome short movie, how Amex screws people and lots more!
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MILES & POINTS
It will be very interesting to see how the travel industry deals with all the disruptions going on due to the corona virus situation. I think we will see which companies are stronger and able to last until the eventual recovery and normalcy returns. This is where having to service lots of debt can kill you! And, extending this to our quirky hobby which remains the base of this blog’s existence, my gut feeling is we are likely to see amazing promotions come our way. Maybe not right away but I think they are coming. I could be wrong of course because I am no thought leader or anything narcissistic like that. 🙂
Nice straight forward give me the basics review of the Athens Hilton. I have two nights booked with points here in early November.
Mile Nerd is back with his once a month post: A Simple Time. He takes on Jackassery. Lol.
I am struggling to find worthy stuff here, weekends are slow!
Late addition: Hyatt Hotel Brand Cheat Sheet – What You Can Expect At Each Hotel Brand. There is one named Alila, seriously?
Oh, wait. I have an “amazing” Choice Hotels promotion! Stay two separate qualifying times between March 7 – April 26 and you can earn enough points to redeem for a future FREE night.
TRAVEL
Life in Saudi Arabia has changed, thanks to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, more commonly known as MbS. Or chainsaw dude. Very interesting article. Wait, it will shock you, is that better? Tinder, Parties and No Morality Police, An Israeli Reporter’s Journey Through Saudi Arabia.
This is very cool: Ranked: The 100 Most Spoken Languages Around the World.
Well, this is impacting travel big time and I found it to be an excellent article on the subject: Preparing for Coronavirus to Strike the US.
Well, this is Ann Arbor specific. If you live here you know this guy. And if you ever visited here you were likely approached by this guy, he has been here forever! Arthur, downtown Ann Arbor’s well known panhandler, dies at age 66.
PERSONAL FINANCE
You know, a merger between Wells Fargo and American Express may actually be a good fit lol: American Express Employees Boosted Card Sales By Misleading, Coercing Business Owners. Every day I get something from Amex urging me to take their “free” money borrowing from them, every single day, it is so absurd!
You can’t control what the market does but you can control your taxes. 12 Tax Deductions and Credits You Shouldn’t Overlook.
And, most importantly, Don’t Lose It.
You can’t control the financial markets. They’re driven by news—and we simply don’t know what news we’ll get in the weeks and months ahead, whether it’s about the spread of the coronavirus, its impact on the global economy or something else entirely. But don’t despair: There’s also much that we can control, including how much we save and spend, the amount of investment risk we take, how much we pay in investment costs, our portfolio’s tax efficiency and—most critically at a time like this—our own emotional reaction to market ups and downs.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Short film masterpiece: Be a Lady They Said.
Ok, time to laugh: Unmute this. You are welcome.
What an awesome site. The Ballot. It keeps track of all elections around the world! And check out the Elections Calendar to see what votes are coming up.
Another one of these posts! 52 Things I Learned in 2019. I love them! Some favorites:
The average human hug lasts 3 seconds. This holds true across all cultures.
Tikka masala, the famous Indian dish, was probably invented in 1971 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Sperm cells can’t turn left, so they swim in ever-expanding right-turning circles to get where they need to go.
Having a younger brother reduces your earnings by 7% on average.
Another must read for you. I lost count how many times I screamed WTF reading this one: The Bible That Oozed Oil. This is about some religious zealots somehow kind of scamming a bunch of morons who believed that a Bible was oozing real oil when all he was doing was buying it from a Tractor Supply store. And of course they thought Trump was sent by God. I shook my head so much it almost separated from my body. How sad!
BLOG BUZZ
We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.
The American Airlines AAdvantage account of Middle Age Miles was finally terminated. As warned. And, as expected, he is going the legal route. Helps a lot if you are an attorney in real life. And good luck. And something that applies to all bloggers, an article of yours will not be linked here if it contains a link to one of these blogs, ok? I still have some principles!
I may need to cut down my work here. Because it just does not pay and my regular work is super busy right now due to the market downturn. In my line of work, we work a lot more and make a lot less when stock markets dive. It comes with the territory of course but then when you really look at it from a grand picture….makes continuing the blog here for what this blog brings, well, it has always been an incredibly non smart thing to do. But, you know, I liked the non monetary rewards I get. But after more than seven years it is getting much harder in times like this. Lets see what happens. See you Wednesday. God willing.
Or I can evolve like Miles to Memories and start doing posts like: “What Credit Card should I get next? Here’s How to Make the Best Decision.” with almost two dozen credit card affiliate links…Will this be the blog The Points Guy buys next?
I saw the movie Invisible Man. I liked it.
Pushed my long run day to Sunday from Saturday because it was too long. I managed to run 8 miles beating my PR by 1 minute #winning.
And I leave you with this…
TBB
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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.
Lots of miles and points booking over the weekend. All those miles from the cancelled trip to Japan were just sitting there. Prices looked rather good but if you’re right and prices fall I can just rebook.
Great links today, Buzz. I love that Election link, but it’ll take some thought to put that ‘Sperm only turn right’ discovery into actionable info.
Long ago I came up with a solution for folks who get in the 10 items or less line with more than 10 items. Just program the registers so that item 11 adds a $.50 surcharge per item, continue to item 14 for which the charge per item goes up to $1.00, etc. Problem solved-call it Lexus shopping.
Bronze! FTPNW! (Trying to save time here) (Wait, I just wasted that time.) (Damn.)
I read that article about the oily bible yesterday meself. There are some evil scammers and a LOT of very gullible people out there. Explains a lot about some things, too.
Trying to stay sane about the markets myself so thanks for that HumbleDollar posting. When folks are right, they are right!
Good work on the running!
Mayor Pete is out, Tommy Steyer too? What is happening in the world? Greece shooting immigrants? At least we still have the Bern. All hail Socialism. Cant wait to hear that you pulled the level for Bernie Sanders in the election come November. What a thrill that will go up my leg. Oh wait, they out woked Chris Mathews too.
Guess I should finally leave a reply seeing as I follow you enough on your blog and on twitter. Couple items of not:
A. Since you brought it up at the Ann Arbor DO, i’ve been reading your stuff, A LOT! It’s always nice having a voice of reason in our little corner of the web;
B. Sad to hear about Arthur. I’ve seen him on and off on around the Downtown and South U areas of Ann Arbor since I started school there 10 years ago.
The oil bible folks didn’t appear to be monetizing their “miracle”. Nor were they flying jets into buildings for 77 virgins. Life is … interesting, yes?
There are indeed Alila Hotels; the Bali properties look nice. Haven’t stayed yet but the one in KUL is like $75 night cheap cheap cheap and COVID included methinks!
Stick a comb in Amy, she’s Bidone
#TBBon
Been a very busy day today…so sorry about the delay in responding.
@DML: Nice to rebook for free 🙂
@Sam: Your solutions to solve that lane problem is fantastic! Yeah, that fact about turning right only was WTF material indeed!
@Carl: I laughed at your abbreviation, well played. The Bible dudes could have done much worse but…still. Try to avoid looking at the market tickers…the more you do, the more it messes with your head 🙂
@Bern: Lets see what happens tomorrow. You know who I support.
@JoshL: Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, kind of sad about Arthur…that dude had been around for so long!
@GringoLoco: You are right about the oil Bible guys…I think they truly believed so…they felt that buying some oil from Tractor Supply was harmless 🙂 I had totally forgotten about the Alila brand, I may hit it next time I visit Malaysia…but will wait for the viruses to go away first lol.
I like Warren to stay in for a while to take votes from Bernie so Bloomberg can outlast them all….money wise lol.
Lets see what happens tomorrow.
Gotta run!
It will be interesting to see what Pete and Amy dropping out does to the Tulsi Gabbard vote.
Lol
Tulsi Gabbard got 29% in American Samoa. 103 votes!
And Bloomberg got a blow out win with 175 votes. Millions well spent!
When you have billions you don’t worry about millions 🙂
I think Tulsi can do this…with Pete out, when the corona virus kills all the old farts that are left 🙂
LilMike got American Samoa. StutteringJoe Biden cant help but trip over himself. I smell a 4th house in Bernie’s future when he gets the nomination. Just hope his weak heart doesnt take Hillary as his Veep. He’d be dead before Inauguration day
Why are you falling down to Trump’s level repeating these childish names he is calling other people? Come on man!
You would love to see Bernie win it, don’t you? I am starting to think many Republicans are voting for him. Or are there so many idiots living here voting for people like Trump and Sanders, OMG!
I obviously wanted Mike Bloomberg to do better. We’ll see what he does today. Likely going with Biden or he still goes at it if he is convinced Biden will blow up (which I think he will).
So if Im a Socialist am I happy or sad the market was up today? I thought Im rooting for CoronaVirus and StockMarket tank if im a “Democratic Socialist”. My pronouns are it and the and Im voting Bernie or Bust
yawn
ok boomer
Lived in A2 in 2006-10 never ran into Arthur.
It looks like we will be in Athens in the Hilton that week before the Marathon to Athens run. Will finally show my kids that Greek Titan of travel blogging.
Don’t diss the Choice promo. I have no regrets earning 8,000 points for every two nights with Choice Hotels over several work stays rather than stay at Hilton or IHG properties. Burned just 32,000 for four nights in London. Ridiculous value at over 2 cents per point. Would do it again in a heartbeat.
Hey TBB, remember back when Darauis MMS was around and he would do trip reports in 42 parts. Looks like the Middle Age Miles blogger would do the same thing but with his fight with AA, oh Lord the pressure to come up with content, he hit the mother lode!
Craig at Middle Age Miles isn’t dragging out the AA story-he’s reporting it as it happens and he’s making it happen. He’s doing the good scout’s work here and I’m giving him all the slack he needs.
And my thanks.
Some updates: Son’s team trip to India was just cut short, company sending them all back to the US tomorrow. On British Airways Business class, no AA codeshare so it does not show up in the AA website. Will lose some hotel points for sure, oh well. Radisson Rewards finally processed the status match to Gold, took many emails back and forth. I had warned him that this may happen…
Today is leg rest day finally!
Big day in the polls today. We’ll find out if Mike Bloomberg is viable or he goes all in for Biden. Imho Bernie is selling loads of BS. Reminds me of that Greek leftist guy Tsipras who was voted in for promising the moon only to find a harsh reality when it came time to govern and…you really don’t want to know what happened next, as in the next four years only to elect a boring mostly pragmatist guy in a landslide four years later. I do not think Bernie will even get to this point, Trump camp will just bury this guy. I guess we will find out very soon what happens after tonight Super Tuesday.
@Oliver2002: See you in Athens. Hope this corona thing does not interfere. I know, I know…it is in November but ya never know. I can not believe you never run into Arthur! He always walked around Main Street mostly. And Liberty and sometimes State Street.
@Ian: Yeah, good point.
@Mike: Well, you are right in a way, but I highly prefer info that my help me instead of freakishly boring trip reports with Emily pictures. I think you miss her too 🙂
@Sam: Yeah, it will be interesting to watch and yes I am reading them of course. But Mike’s point stands. This blogging world is all about finding content and the next best thing to happen when you get your account terminated is find a series of posts to tell readers what you are doing 🙂 I still can not believe he quoted TPG though, that left a mark…not sure when I will get over it. Maybe when he links back to me but if he does…it will make no difference so I can understand linking back to Titans to get noticed and…voila backlinks that bring in way more clicks. And on it goes…I am surprised Dan (to my knowledge) has not taken this up. Doing this…is also good blogging business as it creates more reader loyalty. If someone saved your miles/points/account/dignity…you do your best to help them!
You are all welcome here for me saving your dignity…..woooooohooooo, just joking.
For Ramsey: I have no idea what will happen in the stock market today. But I am sure Jim Cramer does and you are buying it in a trading “service” type “deal”. Be careful out there.
but we are still rooting for it to crash right? Flu epidemic and stock market tank are great things right?
Are you ok?
It would appear the market doesn’t know what it is going to do today either!
#TBBon
My kind of stock tip: Stop looking at the market. Or subscribe to Jim Cramer Trading Signal group so he can tell you exactly what to do based on his amazing crystal ball he built with proprietary algorithms, maybe Ramsey has a referral link 🙂
I look at my quarterly statements – when I remember
Buzz-
Time will tell what Craig and his blog turn into as forces in our hobby (or not). So far, he seems to me a sincere guy with a sharp eye for details and writing about them. I admire your stand against what the titans do, but I think his link to the TPG article was a shorthand way to get one aspect of the AA shutdown story out to his readers. Not everyone has the big staff TBB does to re-write copy.
Comparing him to Daraius at this point is just a bad comparison. I sometimes miss the mark and this one sure did to me.
I could be proven wrong but I think TBB readers will find much to like on Middle Aged Miles. Until he sells to TPG of course.
Time always tells 🙂
If I had a click for every bank link based on the links I have blogged about I would have Randy courting me promising me Titanhood 🙂 They all started doing “Best of Web” type posts linking to stuff when not one has sent anyone here saying maybe, hey for the best of web stuff maybe you should check out TBB. Or maybe they don’t give a shit about their readers? 🙂
I think the Daraius (always had trouble spelling his name, always!) reference was only referring to the NUMBER of parts in a particular series. I think a trip report at MMS had 36 parts. One was “We entered the room, at the left of the door was a small closet and the hallway led to a couch and a table”. 🙂
Who do you think will sell first Me of MAM? Hmmm, maybe I should start linking to TPG so I get noticed before I run out of gas here!
I hope Ramsey is okay. Reports indicate that the calls by Jim Cramer’s trading signal service have been really problematic lately. Jim is blaming faulty hardware which was made in China. 🙂
must be a good day at the Buzz. Market down. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Dude, stop looking at the market daily. I am having some fun with Rams who pays Jim Cramer money for trading signals lol.