Text 10160, 108 rader
Skriven 2014-02-21 15:18:36 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
  Kommentar till text 10105 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: carousel of time 235
================================
-=> Quoting MICHAEL LOO to NANCY BACKUS on 19 Feb 14  14:47:00 <=-

 ML> not straightforward, and luckily United's budgetary brains haven't
 ML> been wrapped around all the ins and outs yet. They did throw a
 ML> major monkey wrench into my top-status renewal by requiring an
 ML> annual spend of $10000 a year, for which I get 6 upgrades (i.e.,
 ML> 1 1/2 international trips with Lilli or 3 by myself), first dibs
 ML> at exit rows, and some actually fairly valuable perks that might
 ML> be worth $10000 a year if I had that much to spare. As of about

Big if, of course... :)

 ML> a month from now, I have been promised "lifetime platinum" by
 ML> the airline, which gets all those perks except no upgrades and
 ML> normally requires a $7500 spend (I spend on average $5000). When I

A little more workable...

 ML> first made status on the airline, one official told me "you need
 ML> never fly in coach again if you don't want to." Two bankruptcies
 ML> later, neither mine, that turns out not to have been true.

How typical.  Once upon a time, I was lured into getting a particular
credit card with the promise that if I stuck with them for 20 years, I'd
get every penny I'd paid in interest back.  Nice enough deal, I'm
willing to be patient and constant, especially for benefits... so I
accepted it, and used it for charging medical expenses as needed... Of
course, 20 years was too long for THEM to be constant, they sold it off
to someone else, and, as under the terms of the original agreement, for
shorter periods of time one would get some smaller percentage of the
interest paid back, I got that smaller amount.  Closed the account, as
you might have guessed... probably did a balance transfer to a different
card that was wooing me...  ;)   Somehow, corporate truth just doesn't
stay true...  ;(

 ML>> so to get me there. My expenditure on United runs perilously
 ML>> close to that dime, so it's barely making balance. If it knew
 ML>> how much I gave to its former partner, it would perhaps treat
 ML>> me even better than it does, in an effort to get a bigger
 ML>> share of that spinach.
 NB>> Possibly.  :)  If anyone was thinking rationally that makes policy...
 ML> Hard to say. There might be someone somewhere who can figure
 ML> things out, but it appears from most activities that United
 ML> (and Delta, and American, and Southwest, and so on) are big
 ML> money hoovering machines that don't really care where the
 ML> revenue comes from just so it does.

It does seem that you are right, sadly... 

 ML>> the hostess asked if I was asthmatic or something; only
 ML>> after I'd assured her that I'd be okay was I allowed to
 ML>> sit at the bar for my lamb tips and sausage with a half
 ML>> bottle of red wine (terrible inky stuff, but cheap and
 ML>> alcoholic). 
 NB>> She didn't want any casualties laid to her door, I see..
 ML> Pretty much, but it appeared to have a bit of real concern
 ML> mixed in.

Ah.  Some really do care... :)
 
 ML>> I'll be in Williamsport for the week after Easter, so
 ML>> we will see about the feline dynamic there. 
 NB>> By then the newest arrival should be well settled in... :)
 ML> No doubt; whether it's amity or disharmony, that's to be
 ML> seen. Annie remains silent on this, but that might be from
 ML> power outage.

They've been having similar weather to ours... I suppose that could be a
possiblity... 

 ML>> Today's treat was a drink at Frank's Tiki Room, a dimly
 ML>> if luridly lit, smoky bar straight out of the movies -
 ML>> the kind of place where World War II sailors would get
 ML>> drunk in and be robbed or get venereal disease. 
  (snippage)
 NB>> So the value of the place was in the atmosphere, not the offerings.. 
 NB>> ;) Either the sailors were less picky, or the pickings were better
 NB>> back in the day...  (G)
 ML> In the olden days at such places, the sailors weren't picky.
 ML> I doubt they ever were, especially after a couple Mai Tais.

Good point.

 ML> But this place wasn't actually a place where World War II
 ML> sailors got in trouble. Vegas may have been well on its way to
 ML> becoming Sin City, but it wasn't and isn't somewhere that sailors
 ML> would frequent, being in the middle of the desert and all.
 ML> I said it was "the kind of place ..."

Of course... the Vegas joint just stole the atmosphere... ;)  And maybe
wasn't quite as floozy or whatever as the real thing... ;)  Just gave
the same sort of feeling...  (G)

 ML> - Richard Herd tells a
 ML> story of how he was sitting in his agent's office chewing the
 ML> fat, and the agent got a call from a director looking for "a
 ML> Richard Herd type"; so the agent said, Richard's right here,
 ML> why don't I ask him?, and the guy on the other end said "I
 ML> said I wanted a Richard Herd type, not Richard Herd."

[snicker]  Ah, well...  ;)  Sometimes you just don't want the real
thing.....?  :)

ttyl        neb

... Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit!
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.20
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