I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[PolyRob]

This right here is one of my biggest peeves. I've seen that kind of action at various eateries, I'm pretty sure they're clueless and think nothing of it. But I want to call them out and publicly shame them, I know that's bad of me. I can only hope that people get used to practicing better hygiene overall because of this current situation.

I've given thought to wiping down everything I buy from the store before putting it away but honestly I'm too lazy to do it.

I watched Contagion tonight. I suggest people who have anxieties DON'T watch it. I've seen it before but only remembered little bits of it. I have a copy of The Stand sitting out too that I was thinking of reading again. I'm a glutton for punishment I guess. lol


My angry emoji was for the utter failure that testing has been in the US. It defies any logic. I've read excuse after excuse, but really there is no excuse for that. Some heads better roll for that.

YES! And sometimes it is just a lack of awareness and proper training. I saw someone disinfecting menus at Cheesecake Factory without gloves. OH and she was eating Doritos in between wiping the menus

I also watched Contagion last night!!! It was on Cinemax so why not?!

 

[LB002]

To make my late night ramblings more on topic...

I was going to apply for a new card to cover the MSR with our AK cruise costs, glad I did not as we are moving the cruise to 2021. Also I don;t have much bandwidth, mentally, right now to be on top of my CC game.

We will meet the $15k on DH's Surpass for the free night once pay for DD's overnight summer camp. I am holding off paying for camp until we see what they decide about schools and what the summer camp does with scheduling (if they have it at all).

I got a notice from Hilton that my Aspire card free night will be extended, I think into 2021 (should expire in May). We are scheduled to NYC next month and have tickets to the Statue of Liberty. Thankfully we haven't told the kids yet, so they won;t be disappointed if we have to cancel.

We have been racking up MR points with all this pandemic panic grocery shopping! We wan to re-do out patio and I told DH these upcoming weekends could be the perfect time. I may cash out my MRs for Home Depot GC to cover the costs. I have been skittish to spend unnecessarily since my industry (property casualy insurance) is going to get hammered this year, and being the new person, I am worried about job security. We were going to paint the house this summer too, but I am holding off for now o have the cash on hand if needed.

OK, so re-reading my post, it is a case study of why we are heading into a recession.

 

[wendow]

3pm on the dot and groups of kids were roaming the streets, walking to the park, riding bikes, etc. I have been a hermit watching from my window in disgust.

It's so hard. I have two super active, physical boys. They cannot sit inside all day. We've had beautiful weather for weeks here and as soon as we finish school, they are like dogs that haven't been let out in 12 hours lol. I open the door and they fly out...riding their bikes, playing basketball, on their scooters, etc. Normally, it's just us as none of my neighbors homeschool. But NOW, my boys heading out is pulling all the other kids out (it's like a weekend every day) and they are all out there playing. Now, they are just riding bikes and playing basketball and football but they do share scooters and the balls and even bikes. I don't know what to do. Neighbors are starting to post on our Nextdoor forum about if kids should be playing together outside in the neighborhood. And I'm thinking, 'try to stop them'...It's just such a battle right now.

Then there is dd17. She is the queen of social butterflys and just got her license on Monday so she is so anxious to hit the town

 

[LB002]

3pm on the dot and groups of kids were roaming the streets, walking to the park, riding bikes, etc. I have been a hermit watching from my window in disgust.

View attachment 481829

Our neighborhood has been good about socially isolating. We tried taking the kids for a walk and showed them how far apart to walk (we used 6ft string) but my son just doesn;t get it. They are going to do a BrainPop class on coronavirus designed for kids tomorrow, that may help him (I hope). We all need the socialization, but we won;t try it again soon.

My one neighbor;s husband is in a vulnerable population, and she is being super careful. Our other neighbor is a bank manager and they CANNOT close, she has to be there in person. She is just beside herself. We "joke" that she is the weak link in our closed circle. Our 3 families are very close and we help each other out all the time, so it feels so unnatural to keep ourselves seperate.

 

[platamama]

YES! And sometimes it is just a lack of awareness and proper training. I saw someone disinfecting menus at Cheesecake Factory without gloves. OH and she was eating Doritos in between wiping the menus

I also watched Contagion last night!!! It was on Cinemax so why not?!

Yes, I signed up for the free 7 day trial of Cinemax and will watch some other movies too! There were quite a few I was interested in seeing and it looks like there's going to be a lot of time to hang out with DD, heck I might even spring for the $9.99 for a month. haha Oh! Mean Girls is on there!!

That's just disturbing about the menu cleaner person.

Another peeve I have at restaurants is when the staff come by with the dirty wet rag to wipe down counters and tabletops, and I just picture stuff just being spread all over the place. Where has that rag been? Ugh. I might have some issues.

 

[Hoosier John]

Thinking about all the DVC points returned (from the virus and hurricane). Once things open back up, won't this make DVC bookings 10% fuller, thus harder to get (assuming a little over 1 month of closures), if that is even possible?

And similarly, I guess the parks will be somewhat fuller (but less than 10%).

 

[Hoosier John]

Since N1 - my grandchildren are N1 and N2 since both their names start with N's and are longish, and this is easier to use in texts, anyway, she had climbed in my bed last night. She is a light sleeper so I had to try to stay in bed longer this morning even though I awoke at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.

Quietly got up and did stuff with little light hoping to keep her asleep. But the noise from the coffee awoke her. I am sleeping in the master so kids could be with parents in the two queens - their choice, but first night N2 and last night N1 showed up. N2 easily sleeps and doesn't awaken as easily. This one is a very light sleeper. She also manages to take over the king size bed!

Anyway, we are now having coffee, biscotti, brie, manchego and grapes. Later it will be regular breakfast once the other 3 arise, usually a bit after 8. No one here sleeps really late, even on vacation. The sun is coming up, and I had planned to ride to the beach, but the car seats are in the other car and I didn't want to wake daughter to watch the now wide awake N1. So, I will make sure any midnite visitors go back to their own rooms tonite!

Ah, on your N1 in the ocean post, I decided that was a Niece. Thanks for clearing that up.
Better than T1 and T2 I guess (Thing 1 and Thing 2)

 

[brownhaired_girl]

My dd and all her friends were there Sunday night. She doesn't get it. None of the kids this age seem to. My dd17 is doing remote high school and college and all activities are cancelled. Her phone is blowing up constantly with kids wanting to hang out, go to the park, go wherever they still can, etc. It's driving me nuts how they just seem so oblivious. When I try to explain what the effort is here and how we are all playing a part in preventing the spread and that the sooner we get control of this, the sooner we can get back to normal life, she looks at me like
View attachment 481828
That's for you, @SouthFayetteFan

3pm on the dot and groups of kids were roaming the streets, walking to the park, riding bikes, etc. I have been a hermit watching from my window in disgust.

View attachment 481829

My mother has gotten pretty frail in the last year. She tires quickly, sleeps a lot and doesn’t track conversations well. Living in her own home is important to her and our vacations are all she really looks forward to any more. We went to Orlando last month but there were only 15 confirmed cases of corona virus in the country at that time and she barely left the room. If she got sick I don’t believe there is any way she would survive. I work Labor and Delivery which would be considered a fairly “clean” area of the hospital. When I get home from work I head straight to the shower, my clothes head straight to the wash and my hands are getting raw from washing. It hurts my heart to see pictures of kids on the beaches for spring break and realize they REALLY don’t think or care about how their actions can affect others.

 

[PolyRob]

Yes, I signed up for the free 7 day trial of Cinemax and will watch some other movies too! There were quite a few I was interested in seeing and it looks like there's going to be a lot of time to hang out with DD, heck I might even spring for the $9.99 for a month. haha Oh! Mean Girls is on there!!

That's just disturbing about the menu cleaner person.

Another peeve I have at restaurants is when the staff come by with the dirty wet rag to wipe down counters and tabletops, and I just picture stuff just being spread all over the place. Where has that rag been? Ugh. I might have some issues.

Yes! It is bundled into my cable package so when I saw "free to me" I played it right away! Mean Girls will DEFINITELY be added to my list! I have Doctor Strange playing on Disney+ right now. There is something so satisfying about watching all the MCU movies right after each other. You pick up on so many little details!

Yes, that is also disturbing! I know so many places are staying open for take out and offering additional delivery service, but I am having a hard time trusting prepared food. There is just so much unknown. I will probably stick to what I have here at home.

 

[wendow]

Thinking about all the DVC points returned (from the virus and hurricane). Once things open back up, won't this make DVC bookings 10% fuller, thus harder to get (assuming a little over 1 month of closures), if that is even possible?

And similarly, I guess the parks will be somewhat fuller (but less than 10%).

Yeah, I think that is a concern. I'm wondering if they can pull from cash rooms to help fulfill the dvc bookings. Is that a possibility? I'm a newer member and I just don't really know how this all works.

 

[wendow]

My mother has gotten pretty frail in the last year. She tires quickly, sleeps a lot and doesn’t track conversations well. Living in her own home is really important to her and our vacations are all she really looks forward to any more. We went to Orlando last month but there were only 15 confirmed cases of corona virus in the country at that time and she barely left the room. If she got sick I don’t believe there is any way she would survive. I work Labor and Delivery which would be considered a fairly “clean” area of the hospital. When I get home from work I head straight to the shower and my clothes head straight to the wash. It hurts my heart to see pictures of kids on the beaches for spring break and realize they REALLY don’t think or care about how their actions can affect others.

Both of my dd's are super sweet and caring types. I really think if they could comprehend that their actions could be harmful to someone else, they'd stop immediately. It's just that this has never happened. Not in their lifetime and not even in mine. They can't see how their actions could impact anyone else if they are just getting together with friends all the same general age. It's something that is hard to really understand. And it seems we are the only parents trying to limit. Apparently, all other parents are fine with their kids getting together and going out. It makes it really hard. We had to have a very serious convo with dd17 and say, 'sorry, this is what we are going to do right now to help protect ourselves and others'. We are always the 'strict' parents and now, I guess we continue to be.

 

[Hoosier John]

Chase Ink Preferred 100,000 Points Offer With $15,000 Spend (Public Offer)
Due to other more lucrative strategies (especially in 2 player mode) I'm personally giving this one a PASS for now... but for some with really high organic spend, this might interest you!

FYI - Support Links still show the tried and true 80k/$5k offer!

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-ink-preferred-100000-points-offer-with-15000-spend/

I hope this isn't the end of the old deal! That would be very difficult for me to meet.

 

[disneedee]

Doing the waiting game on cip. 2 days at 30 days. Husband can’t stay away from the store, and I dont have a MSR.

 

[disfanforlife]

I will play it by ear. The current communication says due to capacity demands banking/borrowing exceptions aren't being made. I think I pieced something decent together. I refuse to book flights right now because September prices are insane considering everything going on. I fear my replacement trip may be ruined due to a hurricane and I would have to plead with DVC to do something at that point. All of my 2018 points were banked because I purchased right before my UY started and got 2018 points. I didn't pay dues on them, but losing an entire UY I could have rented or thrown at some other random trip would be a little upsetting. If it comes to it, I would ask for an exception if possible. Hopefully things normalize and no natural disaster ruins my new plans!

I read that now too. So many questions, so few answers.
Luckily for me our points we current UY and had not been bandied. I had another trip for November I already booked 2 months ago . I switched some of my points that I just banked From my cancelled trip that was supposed to be this week. So at least I am using those points up first. And I booked 4 days in February for my DD and her BF. The rest I will hopefully use next March....

 

[disfanforlife]

Yeah, I think that is a concern. I'm wondering if they can pull from cash rooms to help fulfill the dvc bookings. Is that a possibility? I'm a newer member and I just don't really know how this all works.

Not trying to be gloomy. But I am thinking it could be the opposite. More people cancelling trips because they can’t afford to go after being out of work for unknown amount of time or even worse losing their jobs.

 

[ctinct]

Would that force businesses to close that are still making employees come in?

I’m not sure what they’d do. I believe in San Francisco, you are only allowed to go to things like the grocery store, pharmacy, laundry, and gas station,
and work, so there wouldn’t be much point in other retail stores staying open. Here in CT, there is at least one mall that is closing, and all Macy’s , I believe. But then I think about other types of businesses that probably need to stay open. Things like insurance agencies, unemployment offices, social needs and mental health agencies.....the list goes on and on. It’s a conundrum, for sure.

 

[apollodi]

Yesterday was DD6 and DD3's last day of daycare/after school care. I saw it coming and spent all day yesterday recording videos for my classes to try to get as ahead as I could before everyone was home. Got through 2 weeks on one of them! Then yesterday evening, my throat was sore. Moment of panic... until I remembered that I had just spent ALL DAY talking in front of a computer. My throat is fine today, haha.

I also recently tried to lower CLs on my SW cards. The minimum for my SW Performance was $5k, but the minimum for my SW Premier was $1k. Better than nothing!

 

[ten6mom]

Not a single one Though they'd probably last 15 years unopened so maybe I should reconsider.

We don't eat them either but there is value in stocking up on things that have an incredibly long shelf-life. Maybe I will buy some too.

As long as you remember to get the UNfrosted ones and then TOAST them and put BUTTER on them they will be delicious!!!

Another peeve I have at restaurants is when the staff come by with the dirty wet rag to wipe down counters and tabletops, and I just picture stuff just being spread all over the place. Where has that rag been? Ugh. I might have some issues.

Thank goodness there is someone out there who understands this.

Probably for that reason, I could never work in a restaurant.

I do carry wipes everywhere and yep, I have certainly been known to wipe down my own table prior to eating (especially when the kids were younger and more prone to touching everything).

 

[ten6mom]

So here's a question I hadn't thought of.

My husband does a solo (motorcycle) ride each year in May. Just a couple nights in an inexpensive hotel somewhere- him and the bike. Usually he does the same path (the Coronado Trail here within Arizona) but this year the beach has been calling him and we haven't spent any time in San Diego recently so I booked him at our favorite little Best Western in Oceanside. We go to the Oceanside Pier and visit the beach and do whatever. Part of this trip is always food (he likes to sit at bars and chat with bartenders).

I don't think any bars will actually be open in San Diego (if they're not already closed) by May. Even if he went to a little walk up taco shop and got tacos to go, he'd probably be OK with that... but would he be allowed to just sit or walk on the beach??? He doesn't want to congregate but I am thinking that all the state beaches are closed... so now I am getting sad for him.

 

[striker1064]

Not cc related, but it seems like it’s ok for us to post this kind of stuff during these extraordinary days.

NYC mayor will make a decision within 48 hours regarding putting the city in lockdown, akin to San Francisco. I have a gut feeling this is going to happen, and that my state, which made an agreement just the other day with NY and NJ about gyms, theaters, and restaurants, will shortly follow suit. I’ve been staying in anyhow, with the exception of going to the track to walk everyday ( and the track is pretty much empty), but this will be difficult. Necessary, perhaps, but still difficult.

I have a feeling it's coming to that soon here in DC because people are just not getting it. The mayor had to order all bars and restaurants to close because they were packed over the weekend.

I know this is really difficult considering you are a newer member. The reality is DVC has never dealt with anything as grave or consequential as this in their history. They have a responsibility to all members to try to keep things on track, so they will do their best to help but there will already be a surplus of 'regular' points that will be banked into the next use year due to this catastrophe. That means that going forward, there will be more points then rooms available, especially in the studio category. And, for the time being, people will not be borrowing in to even up the numbers creating another issue. They also have the ability to suspend the banking and borrowing function and not allow you to use extra banked or borrowed points.

Yeah, I think that is a concern. I'm wondering if they can pull from cash rooms to help fulfill the dvc bookings. Is that a possibility? I'm a newer member and I just don't really know how this all works.

This has been an interesting discussion on the DVC boards. The big thing is, DVC works on behalf of the owners. These exceptions to holding/banking/borrowing while, the right thing to do, essentially spreads the problem out over the entire pool of members among the next few years. It will make booking tougher the longer this goes on as people have expiring points they need to use. I think DVC is allowing some borrowed points to return to their original UY, but it's not consistent and although I would ask, I wouldn't expect it. Returning borrowed points isn't as big of a deal because you're just returning points to where they originally were, so not as much risk there. But they definitely won't double-bank points or anything like that.

I suspect we will see a suspension of banking and borrowing if this drags out (and really, it will, they aren't reopening on April 1). We have a Swan booking June 10-13 and frankly I'm a bit concerned about that one, for a few reasons.

And no, DVC will not pull from cash rooms. Cash rooms are either Disney hotel rooms (and as such not part of DVC), or they are from the ~2% pool of points owned by DVC (and they are allowed to rent them just like we are). It would essentially be like asking any other owner to give up their points to fulfill extra needed rooms.

This is the unfortunate reality of owning a timeshare. It's Disney, but it's still a timeshare. Some of us are going to have points we cannot use. The resorts themselves being closed is an interesting issue that DVC will need to figure out, but ultimately we all bought in to the club, so we're the ones left holding the bag. It really stinks.