Tag Archives: Points

Not a big LA fan

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csueastbayNo trip I’ve ever planned has gone to plan – And this was no different. I had planned to overnight outside of LA and work may way through the northern half of city after morning rush hour, but arriving yesterday at Bakersfield with plenty of daylight left, created the opportunity to pick up more sites before dark. And so I found Northridge, Los Angeles and Pomona before calling it a night.

This morning I only needed San Bernardino before leaving LA and picking up the two San Diego colleges, San Marcos and San Diego.

It was close to 10AM when I returned to LA from San Diego to pick up the four colleges on the south side of town (Fullerton, Long Beach, Dominguez Hills, and Channel Island). Fullerton was quick but LA traffic (no doubt aided by the nearby Jackson activity) was a mess. It was past 1PM (Three full hours in LA!) when I left the basin. Adios!

San Luis Obispo fell at 4PM, Monterey Bay (practically deserted this time of year) succumbed at 6PM, and San Jose and East Bay were captured shortly thereafter. It was too dark to grab San Francisco so I’m curling up for the night here in Millbrae – The original plan had been to stop back in San Luis Obispo!

So now I have an interesting option – The plan was to get to Arcata and spend night #3 up there, but I’m ahead of plan, and if I’m willing to make tomorrow a very long day, I can collect Humboldt and be home a day early. Hmm…

More points … again

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pomonaLike last year, our local motorcycle club is sponsoring another Scavenger Hunt. Unlike last year, the locations aren’t spectacular and scenic destinations, but the 23 California State University campuses.

Frankly, I’m not having much fun finding these campuses – most of which are located within cities – and if I had to do it all over again, I’d pass of this event. But since I’m so far along …

Today I hit Stanislaus, Fresno, Bakersfield, Northridge, Los Angeles and Pomona. Tomorrow I’ll pick up San Bernardino, two campuses in San Diego, then back through southern Los Angeles to pick up four more campuses before heading north into the Bay Area and Northern California.

Watching the news tonight from my Pomona hotel room, I just realized I’ll be passing through southern LA right about the same time the nearby Jackson memorial is taking place. Wonderful!

I didn’t plan this very well, did I?

Best Job in the World

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spaceadventuresThere was a time when that “Member since …” tag line on the bottom of my AMEX card provided bragging rights, or proof of longevity, or something. Today it just reminds me how old I’ve become. But that’s not what made me think about AMEX.

For some years, AMEX has awarded loyalty points (like airlines) for every dollar spent. Essentially, you receive one point for every dollar charged to AMEX, and my back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that every point is worth roughly one penny. OK, that’s effectively a 1% rebate.

And several times during the year, AMEX publishes a catalog of items you can redeem your points for. The items aren’t quite Neiman-Marcus level, but there are some high-end items. Two years ago, for example, one of the higher point value redemptions was a one-year Lamborghini Gallardo lease at 7,500,000 points. While intriguing, I had neither 7,500,000 points, nor did I see in my future anyway of charging $7,500,000 to obtain those 7,500,000 points. So I passed on the Lamborghini.

Today a new catalog arrived. Skimming past the travel, shopping and dining options, I was looking for the exceptional items. Finally, near the bottom of page 17, in a light typeface that almost allowed you to skim right over it, were two offers from Space Adventures:

Somewhat more down-to-earth were four offers from Xperience Days:

  • NY Helicopter Tour for Two  -  20,000 points
  • Tandem Skydiving  -  20,000 points
  • Hot-Air Balloon Ride  -  22,000 points
  • Air Combat Dogfight  -  130,000 points

No, I don’t have 20 million points either, but it did make me realize who has the best job in the world – The AMEX buyer who has to personally experience and review (for safety reasons, of course!) these offers before publishing them in AMEX’s loyalty point catalog!  ;-)