EZEtoGRU

Very sad. I'm assuming he OD'd but let's see what the investigation points to. RIP Aaron Carter.

I've been an AMEX platinum card member for years. I almost certainly will not renew in March 2023. I find the value I get out of the card to be decreasing whilst the yearly membership keeps increasing. Centurion lounges have turned to shit since they started reopening after pandemic closures. The food quality has gone seriously downhill. The lounges are very crowded now...to the point that there is sometimes a waiting list to get in for members. They simply aren't relaxing anymore. Several months ago, I was connecting at LAX heading to Vegas. I could have used the Admirals Club but since my flight was departing from TBIT, I opted to try the Centurion Lounge in that terminal...big mistake. It's in a basement-type area. It was hot, over-crowded, and generally a dump. I spent about 5 minutes there before getting flustered and opting to leave. I ended up waiting at the gate for 1.5 hours until boarding. The gate area was less crowded and cooler than the AMEX lounge. Beyond the lounge problems, I find many of the events that AMEX sponsors and/or invites members to are on the coasts(think NYC/BOS/DCA/MIA/LAX/SFO/SEA). If you live anywhere in fly-over territory in the US, you have much more limited options. Same with the Equinox bennies. Of no use to me where I live in Michigan. As a principle, I don't shop at Walmart so the credits to be gotten from them are of no value to me. The UBER credits each month are useful to me 4-5 months a year when I travel to Miami or Las Vegas. There is no UBER where I live in Michigan so I cannot use the credits for the months I am not traveling. Flyover territory issue again. I do use the CLEAR membership benefit but only because it was part of what the Platinum Card covers now. I'm not sure I really need it as I've been a member of Pre-Check for years and 90% of the time Pre works just fine. Since I currently have both Pre-Check and CLEAR, when I'm ready to pass through security at the airport, I just pick the shortest of the two lines. Incidentally, the line is shorter at Pre-Check about 40% of the time and shorter at CLEAR 60% of the time. Losing Clear once I give up AMEX Platinum is not a big deal to me. It's nice to have but certainly not essential if you already have Pre-Check. In conclusion, I feel that the AMEX Platinum Card has diminished in usefulness for those that don't live on the coasts or in one of the big US cities (where there is Equinox and UBER). My alternatives are Chase Sapphire Preferred as well as a newly acquired Delta Skymiles AMEX. The annual fee is lower than the AMEX Platinum card and it gives me access to Delta lounges/Centurion Lounges when flying Delta. As I am transitioning my domestic flying from American to Delta I might as well go all in with Delta😍!

My second dose got less of a reaction and faded quicker than the first. The woman who administered the second one said many people have a lesser reaction to dose #2.

So now you are attacking the intelligence of people that responded to your thread. As the OP, you knew you would get a variety of responses. As it happens, the responses indicate most folks are still masking under some circumstances. So what. What do you care? You just wanted to attack people for doing something different than you? Sad.

In conclusion, the majority of respondents to this thread continue to mask-up in some situations that they deem potentially risky. Well-done guys for being prudent and considerate.

Ummm....nah. I don't know what kind of freedom you're fighting for...I'm not fighting for any kind of freedom. No-one on this thread has said nobody/everybody should wear a mask. The OP asked what people's current masking practices are and numerous people, including me, responded. The OP proceeded to attack me and make fun of my current masking preferences. Your response really should be targeted at the OP not me.

Unicorn has been anti-mask during most of the pandemic. Not a surprise that he continues to be so now. No doubt he started this thread with the purpose of stirring things up so he could act shocked and push his anti-mask agenda. Some people seem to think COVID is in the rearview mirror. Not true. Our weekly COVID numbers were released yesterday in Michigan. Over 1000 COVID hospitalizations currently in the state and 158 COVID-related deaths in the last week. Clearly we still have a COVID problem.

Exactly the same for me. For airports and airplanes, I always mask. Also, any crowed indoor spaces (concerts, sporting events, etc). I got my bivalent booster this morning!

TMZ is reporting Jordan likely suffered a "medical emergency" prior to the crash. He may have already been incapacitated before the crash. If you look at pictures of his crashed car, it doesn't look bad enough to have caused someone to die as a result of the crash. It would not surprise me at all to hear he had a heart attack or something like that. RIP Leslie Jordan.

That's kind of weird. So aside from Malik, what is the current quality of the other Campus dancers? Are they as hot as he is?

Agreed. He’s the go-to medical professional on this site.

I agree. Some of the proportions seem over-exaggerated.

I fully concur with everything Ben has said here. I have been an AA Executive Platinum member nearly since it's inception so many many flights on AA for many many years. AA's service quality decline since the merger with USAir has been astounding. None of their current offerings hold a candle to what they used provide. AA recently announced that their domestic on-board Flagship First product will disappear by 2024. I've been in Flagship First(FF) transcons multiple times this year. On one trip (BOS-LAX), I was the only person in the FF cabin. Service still sucked. The purser managed to skip several of the dinner courses...and he only had one passenger to serve for the entire 5-hour flight. First world problems to be sure, but when one is paying big bucks for 5-hour flight, it matters. These FF transcon flights are a tiny portion of the domestic flight options that AA offer within the US. AA standards have fallen so much that I'm not sure there is much difference between an average domestic flight on AA versus Spirit.

My comments were related to domestic airlines on domestic flights and clearly stated as such. You're talking about international flights which is a whole different kettle of fish. So apples to oranges. BA hasn't been a particularly good airline for some time now. There was a time they were very good...not anymore.

News Flash: No US carrier on a domestic flight is worth a damn these days....including in first/business class. They all suck. Whilst Delta is likely the best of a bad bunch, that isn't saying much. At this point, just be happy you get from A to B in one piece. Any expectations beyond that will disappoint you.

I was in Memphis last week for two nights to attend a concert. I stayed at The Peabody Hotel downtown which was walking distance to the concert venue. The hotel itself is lovely and well-maintained. I do enjoy old style hotels that have been kept up nicely. Plenty of food options in the hotel or within walking distance. As I'm sure some of you know, The Peabody continues its long tradition of hosting the "Peabody Ducks" each day. At 11:00am, the ducks come down the elevator from the penthouse (where they live) and then march on a red carpet to then hop into a fountain that is in the middle of the lobby bar area. They swim around for the day (or stand on small podiums in the fountain) in the fountain and then do the "march" back to the elevator and up to the penthouse again at 5:00pm. It's a huge tourist draw with lots of people watching. It happens every day. I found it somewhat cute but was more bothered by the whole thing than anything. As I have evolved over the years, I increasingly find the use of animals in unnatural situations for the purpose of human entertainment to be disturbing. I suppose as a child/teen/young adult I probably enjoyed this sort of thing. However, in the last 20-30 years, I am more and more against it. I feel the same about circuses. I have not been to a traditional circus for many many years and would not dream of going. Same for bull fights. I find them disgusting even though I have had ample opportunity to attend them in Spain and Latin America as far back as the 1980's. Even zoos concern me unless they make a major effort to create a very natural environment with ample space for the animals. As I watched the ducks in the fountain, I was surprised how small the fountain (that they have to spend 6 hours in) actually was. It's tiny but 6 ducks need to spend a good part of the day in it and compete for podium time (so they don't have to be swimming the entire time). When the ducks arrive into the fountain, some of them immediately feel the need to rush to a podium to grab it quickly before another duck did. It just all seemed somewhat sad to view when thinking about it from the duck's point of view. I wonder how they feel about having to do this every day? Most people seemed to love it but I don't feel I would repeat the experience nor would I recommend seeing it. Has society moved on from this sort of thing? Societies do evolve. Something that was seen as cute and acceptable before may not be considered appropriate today. Afterall, public hangings in the old south were considered acceptable entertainment years back. Thoughts?

I agree with this. It's all about the marketing. Gay providers know they open up more hiring opportunities if they market themselves as bi.

I don't feel bad for the boat owners but I do feel for those that have lost a home. Having lived in Miami when Hurricane Andrew hit, I know how awful hurricanes can be. Whilst the impact on me personally was fairly small (lost power and water for 4-5 days), I saw the devastation on other people's lives. It took the southern part of greater Miami two years to recover. After Andrew, I headed out of Miami on any flight I could get to avoid any potential incoming storm. Hurricanes are no joke. I would never live in Florida again primarily due to the hurricane threat.

I never met him. I do recall his final month on here was rather turbulent and erratic. He seemed to develop a nasty edge and did go on the attack several times. Part of that included sending nasty PM's to several people. I recall being a recipient of one of them but don't remember what the issue was. Some posters speculated that he might be having mental health or drug issues at the time. I also hope he is doing well today.

I tend to agree with you. I expect it to be a tough go with a Tampa club. It’s just too close to FTL and too small a local market. If the dancer quality is greatly inferior to what is at the FTL club, why bother? Just travel to FTL instead. Matt has been in this business a long time so he chose to open in Tampa for a reason. We’ll have to see how it goes. I would have thought something up the east Coast (DC, PA, NY, MA) could have worked but what do I know.

Looks like another potential US death of someone with MonkeyPox. This time in California. https://www.yahoo.com/news/second-possible-u-death-monkeypox-063319028.html

Interesting. Purses not being allowed discourages women from attending. I assume that's the idea. No gum or cologne? That's kind of odd although it wouldn't put me off from going as long as the dancer talent is good.

1/5th dose. yes. Second shot scheduled for end of Sept.

yep.

I'm ten days out from my first injection. I still have a pink spot on my forearm at the injection site but it is very faint. I'm confident it will be gone in 1-2 days.