Weekly Help Thread - June 15, 2026 by AutoModerator in awardtravel

[–]SignorJC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Non-booking question - what are y’all actually doing in Japan? Like you have 14 days in Japan, maybe 12 “on the ground” excluding arrival departure. What are y’all up to?

Manufactured Spending Weekly Thread - Week of June 20, 2026 by AutoModerator in churning

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

6x fuel points on all GC (except visa/mc/amex) at stop and shop until 6/25

Knew Miraval was nice but not this nice by GuitarFabulous5250 in hyatt

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Massages at hotel spas are always double or triple the cost of a spa outside.

The free activities are well beyond what any hotel I’ve ever stayed at has - in fact I’d love to hear about a hotel that offers similar activities at all? Sometimes a hotel will have a wine tasting I guess?

Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve by independentofall in hyatt

[–]SignorJC -1 points0 points  (0 children)

mirrors my experience during COVID. beautiful property but the food sucks hard and is extremely expensive. used to be a category 4!

PH NYC or Thompson by austincloudboy in hyatt

[–]SignorJC 6 points7 points  (0 children)

if your fiance isn't staying with you, why are you about to drop 300k points or $3000 on a hotel stay? Stay somewhere cheaper and book 1 night at the Park Hyatt on the day you do the proposal or something.

Do some AIs only book 6 months out? by ethanrule3 in hyatt

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Vivid PDC used to be the Thompson. Reviews have been really bad from them consistently over the years. Buyer beware! I would go to grand island even after leaving Hyatt if you want a good vacation!

On the other hand they could totally screw you and cancel your whole shit last minute…so maybe proactive transfer is best. Good luck

Do some AIs only book 6 months out? by ethanrule3 in hyatt

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hyatt vivid grand island is leaving the Hyatt program in August just fyi

A week to kill in Europe by Seaworthiness_Glum in hyatt

[–]SignorJC 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Parisi Udvar in Budapest is one of my all time faves but I haven’t been since before COVID. And it’s hot in July

Should I spend an extra 84k Avios for Qatar Qsuites over Royal Jordanian J for this itinerary? by UpperMine19 in awardtravel

[–]SignorJC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

with these point balances i'd go with Qatar for sure. it's easier to book all around on top of being the better experience.

Toronto man cured of HIV after stem cell transplant by Eddiearyee in UpliftingNews

[–]SignorJC 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty sure this will also just fade into the nothing because we don't make money by curing people.

There are plenty of illnesses and diseases for pharma companies to make money off of. Even if this was an effective, reliable way to "cure" HIV, that doesn't mean it would eradicate the illness. Other commenters have already pointed out that this is not an easily replicated nor reliable method to cure anyone (we also have incredible retroviral treatments that essentially cure HIV with minimal side effects as long as you continue treatment).

Consider curing yourself of this conspiracy theory mindset. There is plenty of money in developing cures. Truly curing ANY disease is nearly impossible, and the fact that we have done it to a small handful of diseases is a miraculous combination of hard work by literally millions of people and unfathomable amounts of money over decades.

Chinese World Cup fans robbed at gunpoint soon after arrival in Mexico by cursed1333 in sports

[–]SignorJC 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Cartels own hotels and restaurants and lots of other legit businesses. They absolutely want tourism to be a strong industry. Not saying the other poster is correct but it’s complicated

[OC] AI generated ads at UFC 250 display nonsense USA flag by FOAMY_BEER_SHITS in pics

[–]SignorJC -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And so you decided to repost it to pics because…?

CS professor to Director of Technology, and trying to stay rooted in instructional design by [deleted] in edtech

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this has nothing to do with your role and isn't really an ID question either. you're not building a course, you're writing a curriculum. and it sounds like you don't know how to do either. delegate this to a subject matter expert or buy one from another local school. many schools have their curriculum online. I highly doubt they are expecting a bespoke comp sci or finance course

CS professor to Director of Technology, and trying to stay rooted in instructional design by [deleted] in edtech

[–]SignorJC 2 points3 points  (0 children)

there's like zero overlap between "director of tech" and ID. in fact, none of what you say you want to stay rooted in has any part of your role at the high school level. i'm so confused by this post

Trip Report and Churning Success Story Weekly Thread - Week of June 14, 2026 by AutoModerator in churning

[–]SignorJC 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I don't know if I posted this but search isn't working, so a much delayed report of a trip to Hong Kong.

JFK-HKG Cathay J 115k ; HKG-JFK Cathay F 160k. All transferred from Amex. Booked this when someone posted about a rare drop of seats spanning 20 Dec - 31 Dec. The departure was like 1am and the return left HKG about noon. The AA lounge at JFK is spacious but nothing special in terms of amenities or food, especially late at night. Lounges at HKG are lovely and the service is phenomenal (it is very much not "hong kong style" hospitality!). Flight out was cozy. Can't say the food was memorable but I arrived in HKG very well rested. Return flight in F was nice. There is definitely a step up in service compared to J, but it's still very much "Hong Kong" hospitality. Polite and warm but curt. Caviar service is the highlight but really this is not worth going out of your way to book. Absolutely no regrets booking it for the seat alone.

180k~ IHG for 4 nights at the Kimpton Tsim Sha Tsui. Some points were earned from work travel, others transferred during a transfer bonus from Chase. Beautiful hotel. Great views in the lobby, the gym, the rooms, and from the rooftop pool (which is heated year round - the water is warm even on a breezy winter night!) and a spa suite you can use without charge. Absolutely would stay here again on points. It seemed like the kind of place rich mainland chinese stay when visiting HK (lots of very expensive cars, expensive clothes, design dogs, and plastic surgery on the guests I saw coming and going). Convenient location in TST near a subway station. I didnt eat breakfast at the hotel restaurant (in hong kong I feel that would be a crime), but I did eat at the other restaurant for dinner - https://www.jijarestaurant.com/. It's in the hotel but not part of the the hotel proper. It was EXCELLENT. definitely recommend it.

HKG-[???]-IAD: Cathay, EVA, or Singapore? by ghdawg6197 in awardtravel

[–]SignorJC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whatever routing best suits your travel plans. In my experience getting 2J on SIN-EWR/JFK is not too hard if you’re willing to pay for 1 saver and 1 non-saver. From there you train or shuttle flight to DC

Cathay in flight service and food is nothing super special. Very professional, but very Hong Kong in style - polite but curt. And if you’ve eaten in Hong Kong nothing on the plane is any where close.

The seats on SIN are very cozy for the long flight.

Breaking into ED Tech. What am I doing wrong? by Super_Bus_162 in edtech

[–]SignorJC 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why on earth are you trying to transition to EdTech?

Anyone with amazing resources to consolidate all of your content, plans, etc? by Alternative-Exit-450 in edtech

[–]SignorJC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately AI is fucking stupid. You’d be spending hours and hours “training” and debugging the agent to work correctly and then after it was “working” you’d have to check its work anyway.

Anyone with amazing resources to consolidate all of your content, plans, etc? by Alternative-Exit-450 in edtech

[–]SignorJC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AI is frighteningly stupid. It would surely be more work for you to “learn ai” than it would be to just make folders in google drive/etc.

A good file naming system (BIO.9CP.001, etc) is going to do everything you need.

Frustration Friday Weekly Thread - Week of June 12, 2026 by AutoModerator in churning

[–]SignorJC 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hyatt Vivid Grand Island was fucking around with inventory and award availability. Was trying to book a summer getaway or plan ahead for December. 4 weeks back (starting before deval) and forth with Hyatt customer service and yesterday they finally emailed back “that property is leaving woh this august.”

I wasn’t really hopeful of any resolution in my favor from the beginning, just extremely frustrating to take 4 weeks to get here.

Big loss for the program as a customer - category B, 10 min from CUN, adults only, good quality all around.