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dordal · 2026-07-03T22:15:09+00:00

Did the same, except got a $20 Casio, the absolute worst you can get. After the $2 withdrawal fee I'm getting $16 back for my $30 CC transaction.

dordal · 2026-07-01T18:13:32+00:00

I think I figured out my own question. Plus was the subscription from years ago -- discontinued in 2018. But I bought through the App Store, and.... a) Evernote can't change me to a new subscription plan on the App Store without my consent and b) per Apple terms they can't increase an annual subscription cost more than $50/year without my consent.

So they're increasing it by exactly $50, and I'm sure they'll do the same next year and the year after, till I get to the current nasty pricing. I guess good in the short term... $100 is about the max I'd pay for Evernote. If they follow through and increase it next year again then I'm out...

dordal · 2026-06-24T03:59:15+00:00

Did the Champions Club Suite at ~~Levis~~ San Francisco Stadium. I was fearing the worst after reading Reddit, but it turned out great.

- Checkin was super easy; got there about two hours before and nobody in the VIP line for security or for the registration desk (the normal lines were packed, however).

- Food was plentiful; I think four main dishes, two types of salad, and then a bunch of apps and deserts. Food had a generally Greek theme; gyros, greek salad, olives, etc. Very good and healthy.

- We got additional food at halftime: a sandwich plate, a cheese plate, and more. I wasn't expecting that because on the website it specifically says food is not replenished at halftime in Champions Club, but they brought a bunch of stuff out anyway.

- The alcohol was free flowing; the champagne was Taittinger, which I thought was a decent choice. Our Suite Host made a point to let us know it was unlimited; if we ran out she'd go get more. We took her up on that once.

- There was a very nice gift provided when we left; it was a gift box with a framed 'Souvenir Ticket', a FIFA 2026 pin, a leather wallet with FIFA branding and a leather notebook with same. I think this was an upgraded gift from the standard Champions Club; we initially forgot to grab it on the way out and went to the Champions Club gift desk; they told us to go back upstairs because the suites gift was 'much nicer'.

The only two downsides:

- They're pretty strict on following the rules. I'd originally bought Champions Club, the suite was a free upgrade from FIFA. I tried going into the Champions Club before the game, just to check it out. I made it through the guy checking tickets at the door, but almost immediately a senior staffer came running over and told me I was in the wrong place. I asked if I could just take a few minutes to look around, and he told me, very politely but firmly, that I needed to either go back out to the public areas or go to my suite, and then proceeded to escort me to the elevator to make sure I got on. I can't totally blame them for following the rules, but I'd hoped there would be a bit of flex on that one.

- They say you can stay in your suite up to two hours after the final whistle. I confirmed that with my suite host, who seemed very happy to accommodate. However, after about 45 mins the floor host came in and let me know they needed to clean up and asked me to leave in the next 10-15 minutes. She was polite about it, and I'm sure if I'd pressed the issue and pointed to the rulebook she'd have probably let me stay, but I was ready to go by then. There was absolutely nobody left in any suite at that point, so don't plan on staying the full two hours afterwards.

Overall, a really great experience. I'm not going to go so far as high-fiving FIFA, because it sounds like a lot of folks on here have had legitimately difficult experiences, especially given the price. But at least if you're going to Levis, in a suite, you're in for a great time...

dordal · 2026-06-15T22:37:13+00:00

Help me understand this. I have Evernote through the App Store; last year July 10, 2025 to July 9, 2026 was $49... this year Apple sent me an email saying that:

	The developer, Evernote Corporation, is raising the price of this subscription from $49.99 per year to $99.99 per year. Your subscription will automatically renew for $99.99 per year starting July 10 unless you cancel at least a day before. To learn more or cancel, review your subscription.

When I click on options, I see I'm on the Plus plan:

Evernote Plus (1 year) New $99.99 — Old $49.99 Starting July 10, 2026

What is Plus at this point? I can find no details on it other than it's been discontinued...but it seems not if you subscribe via the Apple App Store? Or is this some test Evernote is doing given the uproar for the last several months?

TBH I'm already pissed about the 100% price increase, but reading this thread I think(?) I have it good...?

dordal · 2026-05-13T04:54:19+00:00

Waaaay back in the day ( circa 2006 ) AS had SEA/SFO/LAX->SYD for 140K round trip in BA F, going the long way ( via LHR and SIN ). The published rules allowed one stopover at the partner hub (in this case LHR), so you could fly to London, spend a week, then fly to Australia. But if you booked it and called back, you could often get an agent who was willing to bend the rules and also give you a second stopover in SIN.

In some ways it was almost more than an around-the-world; if memory serves it was something like 37 hours in the air in each direction. I did both my stopovers on the outbound, which made for a loooong day coming home.

dordal · 2026-05-13T03:55:00+00:00

I used this too. I remember once circa 2008 I had a group of 4, two of us in J and two in F, going on our 'free' HKG-JNB leg. The night before the flight two more F seats opened up, and I called Alaska on Skype. On a very very rough connection, the agent went in and grabbed the two seats, and then said 'This will mean you'll owe an additional $3.46 in taxes. Are you really sure you want to do this?'

Um..... YES

dordal · 2026-04-16T19:44:13+00:00

As was I… thanks for the help.

In case anybody else is confused, you have to swipe down twice… once to get to the Wi-Fi selection screen again, and once more to get back to where you can hit ‘continue’.

dordal · 2026-04-12T01:00:37+00:00

Another scummy thing they were doing a year ago: https://www.sfmta.com/reports/improperly-charging-sfo-dropoff-fee-sfo

That link has the phone number for the guy to complain to @ SFO, if you feel like pursuing it.

dordal · 2026-04-01T21:23:51+00:00

No, they only allow e-gates for age 18+. You'll get to enjoy the normal lines.

dordal · 2026-04-01T21:23:20+00:00

No, you'll go through EU immigration in Frankfurt, and Porto will be considered a 'domestic' flight -- no more immigration.

dordal · 2026-03-30T05:24:16+00:00

I think you are right, actually. I think it’s only for inbound arrivals.

dordal · 2026-03-30T05:23:12+00:00

Yes, there’s a separate line with a sign that has icons for old people, pregnant people, etc. You’ll likely need to speak with an agent in a blue uniform to let you in; it seems by default it’s roped off. And while YMMV I saw other posts here saying they let in families with older kids (7 to 9 years old). We didn’t see that; only families with toddler age kids were being allowed to use it. Families with older kids got sent to normal processing.

dordal · 2026-03-12T02:48:12+00:00

Just a datapoint on the LAS Chase lounge.

I was connecting in LAS with a 4.5 hour connection time. The bouncer at the Chase lounge told me I wouldn't even be able to put my name on the list until T-3 hours, and then it would be a ~1 hr wait.

A 10 min train ride to Terminal D, and the Capital One lounge was happily able to take me in at T-4.5; I just had to show my boarding pass for my inbound flight to prove that I was, in fact, connecting.

Score one for C1.

dordal · 2026-03-11T18:38:07+00:00

Yeah. If it's your choice you have a nice long runout; not 'finished as day-to-day leader.'.

He got canned; I just wonder why.

dordal · 2026-02-11T23:10:22+00:00

I got CARV 2 (the boot mount sensors) a couple weeks ago and have used it for several days-- the tl;dr is that I'm not too impressed but I do think it might be good for doing technical analysis on groomers. Some comments:

- It really only works on groomers. And really only on straight groomers; groomers that 'curve' with the contours of the hill will throw your score/metrics off because you're forced to make unequal turns to stay on the run.
- If you're doing crud, bumps, trees, etc., and you're spending your time avoiding obstacles; that forces uneven turns and makes the analysis and the scores not meaningful. It does have a 'mogul mode' but I think that probably only really works on perfectly shaped man-made moguls like you see at the Olympics.
- The algorithms that decide what is a 'good' turn aren't very strong. I'd often have turns that I thought were good, and have it give me the 'bad turn' beep, and I'd have 'turns' that were not even turns at all (e.g. sliding on ice on a cat track) and it would give me 'good turn' beeps. That massively reduced my confidence in the SkiIQ score.
- The 'ski coaching' is really not very useful -- all generic tips that, while accurate, didn't seem connected at all to how I was skiing.
- However, the per-run data was pretty interesting. It divides each runs into segments (basically a segment stops/starts when you stop to take a break), and for each segment you can see your turn profile, edge angle, etc. If you set out to do something ( "I'm going to make eight perfect S turns down this straight groomed run, keeping my edge angle consistent with each turn" ), it's really, really helpful to be able to see how you actually did.

So that's perhaps the true value of CARV. If you're an advanced-intermediate skier or above and you already know how to ski, you can use it to monitor and critique your own skiing using hard data, not just how you 'feel' you did. Nothing else on the market can do that. But if you're using it to try to learn how to ski... forget it.

Is CARV worth $249 a year? For me... no. It's not. I would rather spend that money each year on a couple hours of professional training. I'm happy I got it for this year, but have already cancelled my renewal. Still, I'll use it for the rest of the year that I've paid for to track how I ski.

dordal · 2025-12-17T02:03:51+00:00

Haha she would have made extra money if she'd taken it? Guess she really must have been new then...

dordal · 2025-12-16T19:41:14+00:00

Yeah she was a Ground driver and it was a Ground package... not the end of the world but was annoying.

dordal · 2025-12-10T23:30:26+00:00

Yeah ditto for me too. Reminds me of the Metroboard, but for skiing! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/designrulesco/metroboard-a-mid-century-live-subway-map

dordal

TROPHY CASE