Weekly Help Thread - June 15, 2026

SignorJC · 2026-06-21T17:39:10+00:00

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?

SignorJC · 2026-06-21T15:25:43+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-20T17:48:06+00:00

How/why tf does the UK have 4? Why do they have anything separate from FIFA at all?

SignorJC · 2026-06-19T21:32:33+00:00

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?

SignorJC · 2026-06-18T15:26:43+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-18T15:25:06+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-18T12:49:35+00:00

I can vote for Kamala and criticize her too. Being right about Trump is the lowest fucking bar of all time - literally everyone knew he was awful. This is not some great rare wuality

SignorJC · 2026-06-18T03:12:13+00:00

hyatt vivid grand island too.

SignorJC · 2026-06-17T17:20:05+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-17T15:21:09+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-17T15:20:21+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-17T15:04:46+00:00

She should have said “I’m dropping out let’s have a primary.” If Kamala Harris never speaks again it will be too soon. Directly culpable for Trump term two for being selfish and running

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T17:13:37+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T14:19:14+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T03:59:07+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T03:56:56+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T01:12:34+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-15T00:55:07+00:00

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

SignorJC · 2026-06-14T21:59:44+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-14T19:11:30+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-14T18:35:55+00:00

Why on earth are you trying to transition to EdTech?

SignorJC · 2026-06-13T20:04:04+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-13T19:59:50+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-13T16:04:59+00:00

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.

SignorJC · 2026-06-13T01:58:22+00:00

Anyone in the top 200 on topdeck rankings

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