Text 12955, 110 rader
Skriven 2014-05-04 22:21:04 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
  Kommentar till text 12848 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: to the moon 585
===========================
-=> Quoting MICHAEL LOO to NANCY BACKUS on 01 May 14  13:35:00 <=-

 NB>> systems, as I figured I'd never collect enough points before they
 NB>> expired to be of any use...  :)
 ML> They let you get magazines. Not that you need magazines.

Quite true.  ;)  I have more than enough already... ;)
 
 ML>> of the system, and instead of the 5-10 percent discount that
 ML>> the award ticket system offers get at least double that, plus
 ML>> the opportunity to enjoy experiences I wouldn't have been
 ML>> able to afford at all. 
 NB>> There is that, and the better one knows a system, the better one can
 NB>> use it to one's own betterment...  :)
 ML> There are now all these sites - Airfare Watchdog, Boarding
 ML> Area, Flyertalk, whose stock in trade is the secrets and
 ML> loopholes that people like me have used to get advantageous
 ML> results (legally); they make their money telling tales out
 ML> of school, and then all the folks unleash themselves on the
 ML> marketplace and screw everything up pretty instantaneously.

I can understand their reasoning... sorta...  from their viewpoint, and,
of course, also the people that use their services to try to get the
bonuses... 

 ML> It's owing in large part to this phenomenon that I now have
 ML> to pay $10000 a year to get privileges that used to be free.
 ML> C'est la vie.
 
but... that hardly seems fair to those who've earned them...  :) 

 ML>> Plus there has been instilled in my
 ML>> brain a feeling of proprietorship regarding the (not too
 ML>> proud-making) United Continental Holding Company.
 NB>> Part of the thinking behind rewards systems of any kind... develop
 NB>> loyalties so as to build up the reward...
 ML> And then get screwed as the reward disappears. Among other
 ML> things I'm supposed to get from my latest milestone is free
 ML> club access for life, but that privilege seems recently to
 ML> have gone away. I do still get to use clubs outside the US
 ML> for free for life, but that's, what, one trip in 20?

The playing field keeps changing... sigh....  Somehow the proposed
schemes mogrify in the implementation...  

 NB>> Discover apparently thinks that I'm made of money, or wish to be
 NB>> thought of so, as they just unveiled a new short-term program where,
 NB>> if I spend $3500/month for the next 6? maybe only 4? months, they'll
 NB>> give me an additional $500 rebate credit to my card...
 ML> Look on the Internet for "manufactured spending." Lilli
 ML> used to spend a few thousand a month on the dollar coins,
 ML> which she then had her husband load into the car and take
 ML> back to the bank for a full cash-in refund. I believe that
 ML> is unfair, though it is legal and was at the time okay
 ML> under the rules. There are other things one can do.

Sounds unfairish to me, too... even if it is technically legal... I
suppose that would be one way to parlay something like $800/month
available for spending into something higher... but that's more work
than I'm willing to put in...  I checked, too, and it was 6 months that
the program runs, and if, in any one month at all, you don't make that
sum charged to your card, you lose out totally on the promised rebate... 

 ML>> Speaking of which, Annie told me the other day that Liz the
 ML>> chef referred to me as "my Michael," rather peculiar since I
 ML>> don't see her much at all - evidenced by the fact that this
 NB>> Probably the same usage of the possessive as what I've used to
 NB>> describe a particular person that has some specific connection to
 NB>> us vs others of the same name...
 ML> Problem is until recently it was "our," which I find
 ML> slightly less aggressive.

Maybe it's just being reported slightly erroneously...?  Or a slip of
the expression...?  ;)

 ML>> Boston 6 hours ... early. Of course, owing to this front
 ML>> forecast to go through Philly about now, I got up 7 hr
 ML>> early and got to the airport 6 1/2 hr early. Then with a
 ML>> half-hour delay, here I am.
 NB>> And were you famished and parched...?  ;)  And is there proper
 NB> sustenance available,
 ML> I had a glass of Louis Latour Bourgogne Blanc Cuvee LSF,
 ML> which was watery but otherwise typical, and what was
 ML> advertised as 1 1/2 lb of mussels steamed in garlic butter
 ML> and white wine - I thought the serving a tad short, but
 ML> the weight might have included the broth.

Not bad.  ;)

 NB>> or didn't it matter anyway, as you could make
 NB>> your way to your intended destination early as well...?
 ML> I could have done this, but it wasn't as much fun, and I
 ML> would have had to contact my ride at work, et cetera.

Take your fun where you find it... and minimize inconveniencing others,
eh...?  Sounds reasonable to me...  :)

 ML>> Duck hash with double-yolk fried egg
 NB>> And here I thought that it was going to use double-yolked eggs...
 NB>> not simply simulate them... ;)

 ML> Double-yolked eggs are not common most places.

Oh, I know... :)   It was just that it was a fancy-shmancy recipe...

ttyl         neb

... Weeds!  No, that is my vineyard!  Ever heard of dandelion wine?
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