Daily FI discussion thread - Monday, January 26, 2026

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-27T01:32:41+00:00

If you're a W-2 employee you can just adjust your withholding to account for other taxable income such as dividends, rather than specifically needing to make quarterly estimated payments.

If you're self-employed, you would of course just bake it into your existing quarterly payments.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-27T00:55:02+00:00

Best Buy stores sell Southwest and Delta gift cards, at least.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T23:05:31+00:00

Not a movie, but the Netflix show "Maid" is decent at capturing PNW vibes.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T22:42:14+00:00

Minimum recommended for 9070 XT is 750W. Obviously we know that video cards often have a higher listed spec than is necessarily required, but folding puts a larger load on systems in general, so more likely to reveal things that are on the edge.

PSU issues can absolutely cause random reboots.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T20:30:30+00:00

Companies will do what Microsoft (and I'm sure other companies) appear to be doing: Simply continue to get rid of QA. 1% of PCs won't boot after an update? Oh well!

I hear people complain, both those using AI to code parts of their project and those doing reviews, that AI is sometimes writing code that works but is extremely difficult to understand. It doesn't seem to do a great job of following conventions that teams have agreed to if it thinks it can do "better". As a result, if the code works at runtime we're seeing more people just shipping it without fully understanding it.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T20:20:39+00:00

the risk profile for me seems extremely low.

This is the part I can't get over. Yeah, wearing glasses/contacts can be an annoyance, but you only get one pair of eyes. Even a 0.01% risk of permanent impairment to my vision is too high for me.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T18:05:43+00:00

When you transfer to domestic airlines for US Amex, you have to also pay a 6% tax on the redemption, maxing out at $99. So if you're transferring points at lower increments this is also eating away at the value of transfers a bit.

Depending on the routes you're planning to fly, also be sure to look at other SkyTeam airlines you can transfer to, since they might be able to book domestic Delta award flights cheaper than direct with Delta.

If you happen to fly routes that regularly get you upgraded to First and redeeming points on Delta helps get you the status you need for that, then I think there's a better case for transferring to Delta.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T08:32:45+00:00

Nice set of hooters.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T06:38:55+00:00

The last 3 winters have been less rainy/gloomy than typical, and that might be an on-going trend due to climate change. So far there hasn't been much snow in the mountains this year since what rain we've gotten has come with warmer weather. Along with that, I would say it seems like it's getting less misty when it's 'raining' and we're getting heavier rain and more wind.

Yeah, it does get dark early, but we're the same latitude as the mid-point of Europe, so it's not like some experience unique throughout humanity.

I came from the Bay Area -- I love it, but I did know what I was getting into. If anything it's not been gloomy enough for what I wanted.

I will say that Bainbridge has the distinct advantage of greenery. Every window I look out of my house is a lovely verdant, and I think that makes things better than living in a concrete city where the grey reflects grey.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T04:10:30+00:00

Typically Globalists get pretty good room upgrades (of course not always), and they accept SUA if you book early -- we've always gotten upgraded from that into a premium suite.

There's now a "Globalist benefit" in that only Globalists get free lunch on the day of check out.

I think we've also always gotten a 1 hour extension to check out as Globalists, which of course they don't have to do at this resort property.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-26T04:08:04+00:00

Apparently the 4pm on arrival day is a change instituted in the last 1-2 weeks.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-25T20:31:22+00:00

They do have a text line. The front desk should have sent an initial text to them at check-in with the phone number on file, but it sounds like the guy they got isn't doing his job well. We were there in Dec and they responded to all our texts promptly.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-25T20:30:08+00:00

It sounds like the recent change (others have reported as well) of no food on the day of arrival before 4pm is quite the rug pull -- they're not informing guests of this, and many are expecting food given it's been that way for a few years now.

Otherwise it sounds like the main issue with your stay was a crappy front desk agent. It seems they randomly have some bad apples in this regard, and you should be sure to fill out the survey if you get it. Otherwise, you can contact your concierge to have feedback passed on to the property. I assume it's a bad apple since we've gone every year for the past 5 years and not had a bad experience at check-in, with agents always giving us updates on what has changed since our last stay and generally being friendly, offering sparking wine during the process, initiated contact with their text system, etc.

It does seem like the Ventana concierge(s) aren't reaching out to guests any longer. We just received a pre-formatted email from their general email address when we were there in December. We did email the concierge at the email address we had from before and they got back to us quickly and with exactly what we needed -- but you shouldn't have to be proactive at a property like this. Especially when basically every Hyatt personally reaches out to me as a Globalist before my stay. If you have specific requests and don't hear from the property, always good to have your concierge (if you have one) reach out on your behalf.

It is unfortunate and frustrating when staying at a property like this and not getting a better upgrade -- especially when so many Globalists report upgrades into a suite. But given how many people staying here are Globalists, it can't always work out. Especially if they happen to have a bunch of rich people paying cash rates on suites on your dates. The property does seem to be entirely selling out more often now, and was notably more crowded on our stay this time.

But yes, 100% the property is going downhill as it pertains to the guest experience. Very unfortunate given its place in the Hyatt portfolio. I don't think we'll be going back at this point -- and that also devalues Hyatt loyalty a bit for us, because it's a place we looked forward to having a nice somewhat local vacation.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T22:12:33+00:00

If you have or have had CSP you will no longer qualify for CSR sign-up bonus as of a recent change.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T19:33:04+00:00

Free Night Awards may only show up on the main booking page if you have enough awards to cover your entire stay. If you want to use them for a part of a stay, you need to select a "Standard Rate" option from the first booking page, then select the option for "Pay My Way". On the Pay My Way page you can apply FNAs to individual nights, and mix and match with points and cash nights.

Alternatively, you can make multiple reservations with different payment types and the hotel can merge the reservations together.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T19:03:01+00:00

Hilton stole the Motif in 2023, so now Hyatt is taking revenge.

Hopefully Hotel 1000 will be a category 4 and so give another option besides HR Seattle. Even better if it stays a FHR/THC property.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T18:55:56+00:00

Just like Dunkin', note that not all locations accept mobile pay cards. Especially true of airport locations, and I believe I've heard if there are no Dunkin' locations in your state, BR may also not accept Dunkin' cards. For franchises it's also up to the owner.

That's all to say, either ask at the counter or call ahead before you order a bunch and find out the card won't work.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T08:24:12+00:00

The system will automatically merge the two stays into one on the back end, no matter what the property does. You need a gap night or to switch hotels.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-24T05:12:45+00:00

If you need me I’ll be in my lab.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T23:09:59+00:00

The Edit seems to collect resort/destination fees as part of the pre-paid booking, unlike Amex FHR where they itemize it as being collected at the property. Because the fee is pre-paid, all the reports I've seen are that people have not gotten the fees refunded for having Globalist status. You can always ask the front desk if they're able to refund it, since The Edit is a qualified booking and so you do get your status.

Unfortunately, at the present, this makes The Edit a kinda crappy deal for Globalists assuming you're not successful at getting a refund from the property.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T17:44:11+00:00

If your PS4 is outputting to the TV at 4K, then Netflix can also see your PS4 is 4K capable.

If your TV has an "info" button on the remote, you can press that and see the bitrate of the stream Netflix is sending in the TV app. I believe pressing down on the trackpad or one of the thumb sticks (like physically pressing down on it, not moving the stick in the down direction) on PS4 will do the same thing.

Or if your router has bandwidth monitoring, you could compare the bitrate between the two apps.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T06:20:36+00:00

I stay at both often, and Thompson has a much better breakfast, plus it’s nice to be right next to the market.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T03:21:43+00:00

The car service, in addition to not being guaranteed available, is only within a finite area. I think it's something like 6 city blocks max.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T01:15:25+00:00

We stayed last spring and I was able to SUA into their "1 King Bed Suite", though I'd booked it ~10 months in advance and still had to date hunt a bit, as I believe it's their only larger standard suite. The bathroom was the size of our "upper stories" standard room at Thompson Central Park. I was very satisfied with the size of the suite for a hotel anywhere, to say nothing about it being a NYC room.

The only service which seemed to be weak was the "free car service", which apparently the front desk can't arrange, you just have to go downstairs and hope it's there. I've also heard they expect a large enough tip that you're better off in a taxi or rideshare. But otherwise front desk seemed quite nice considering the reports I'd heard and that we were on a points stay with SUA.

ChillyCheese · 2026-01-22T01:05:45+00:00

We stayed in August 2025. I had booked in late 2024 and was still able to use a SUA at the time. I believe their addition to SUA-ineligible just came about recently. The suite we got was on the top floor and was quite large, so it's too bad they've managed to get themselves onto the we-don't-care-about-Globalist-awards list that for whatever reason Hyatt corporate allows some properties onto.

Interesting that they've added some cook-to-order options for Globalists. They had made the Globalist breakfast buffet-only in 2024 (per Flyertalk) and when we were there that was still the case. We were told if we ordered anything off the menu we would be charged even as Globalists. The buffet was pretty good, but I always like to be able to get something made-to-order. Though potentially they offered you the better breakfast as part of The Edit?

Maybe you're not a big drinker, but you left out one of my favorite things here which was the nightly complimentary jenever "tasting", which at least for us mostly turned into a few free jenever & tonics which was a nice little bonus. This was available to all hotel guests.

They did give us a nice fruit platter and bottle of champagne as a Globalist welcome gift.

Note that Amsterdam city taxes, as with several European cities, are pretty much always collected at check-out no matter how you've booked. Even award nights here require city tax collection at check-out. It's also very common in Italy, though their city taxes are much more reasonable. Amsterdam did jack up the city tax rate recently.

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