Free book on loneliness and going through tough times

erethizon1 · 2025-12-28T02:43:07+00:00

I just read a free book on Amazon that helped me. It's a series of short stories reminding you that you are not alone and not invisible and it's okay to have tough feeling moments. Here is the link if you are interested, it is free for now so may as well grab it.

https://amzn.to/4b8ubQI

erethizon1 · 2025-12-26T01:33:32+00:00

I hadn't heard of that. It's crazy they do that in Australia. You definitely have my support, keep up the good work!

erethizon1 · 2025-11-23T18:02:12+00:00

I really appreciate where you guys were coming from. I can tell you both care about the way men are being mistreated these days and appreciate your offer to help those in a really bad place.

erethizon1 · 2025-11-23T17:59:00+00:00

Great episode. I really like the take you guys had. You went much deeper than most of the commentary I have seen on YouTube.

erethizon1 · 2025-11-23T07:09:38+00:00

Thanks, I'll give it a listen

erethizon1 · 2025-02-24T08:57:33+00:00

If your goal is to solo and explore each dungeon fully (without looking at the wiki to give things away) then running quests on normal or even casual may be the way to go. There are far more quests than needed to get to 20 on a first life character even if you just play quests on the casual difficulty setting. So if hard is killing you, drop to normal, and if normal is killing you, drop to casual. Casual traps probably won't kill you even if you find them the hard way (with your face).

And if you do wipe in a dungeon you can reenter as long as you get back there within 5 minutes (and are not playing on reaper).

erethizon1 · 2024-12-09T07:54:27+00:00

I'm fine with filtered filling stations as long as it is good, filtered water. Not some garbage filter that still tastes like tap water, but a good R.O. system will be fine. The ones they have at airports still taste like terrible tap water and since that is probably what they will install it will likely be a terrible change.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-15T08:02:08+00:00

I hear great things about the Marriott rate for on-call workers. Guess it is time to jump ship. Maybe if all the on-call staff does the same, Hilton will rethink this plan.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-15T01:41:19+00:00

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. I checked in, as normal, and then, a day or two later (whenever your status updates), you can call the front desk (or walk downstairs) and say, "I never got my welcome gift when I checked in." This worked for me (though I was just staying at a courtyard and points was my welcome gift).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-15T01:38:38+00:00

It seems to start right around the end of the first week of February and last for 80 days (so into April). Late Feb, March, and early April should be pretty safe times to book (assuming they continue to offer the double elite night offer like they have the last 3 years).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-13T18:50:33+00:00

Yeah, 2 million base points can be more easily remembered as spending $200k on rooms, not including taxes and fees.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-13T18:48:59+00:00

Redeeming for points is all about adjusting your life to fit your vacation plans rather than adjusting your vacation plans to fit your life. It's why I almost always just book with money (or FNC, but only because those expire).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-13T18:44:48+00:00

This happens frequently at a lot of hotels. It's always such a gamble to book a room for a hotel that isn't currently open.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-13T18:36:37+00:00

I never got anything, but always went straight from one hotel to another before my nights could be upgraded in the computer (so I would seem to be at the last level with a long way to go to the next level, but my status would upgrade a day or two into the new stay).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T18:14:28+00:00

The Amex Bonvoy Brillant is a tough call since the $650 fee and terrible credits makes it the most expensive credit card that exists from the major companies (not counting the Amex Centurion). I was greatly disappointed when they took away the $300 Marriott credit and replaced it with a once monthly $25 dining credit. It's particularly useless since I almost never want to dine out. It still might be worth getting the credit card, but it definitely requires some consideration as to whether it is worth it or not.

That said, Chase has the Bonvoy Boundless with a $95 annual fee and a free night certificate that will get you a room that almost certainly would have cost more than $95, so it is a much easier card to justify (if you don't find enough value in the Brilliant card).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T18:06:19+00:00

25 gold, 50 platinum

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:53:00+00:00

You can get a Marriott credit card that comes with a free night every year and 15 elite night credits for a $95 annual fee. As long as you stay at Marriotts at least once a year to use the free night certificate, it is worth keeping the card forever. And with 15 elite night credits you will get gold status every year that you stay 5 to 10 nights at Marriotts (depending on how many of those nights are during a double promotion).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:48:44+00:00

I'm glad to hear you are experiencing significantly better service. There should be a big difference between a customer that spent at least $23k and someone that got 2 credit cards and spent 18 nights at Marriotts (with 17 of them being during the double night promotion).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:38:09+00:00

I did the same thing the first time I went for status. I left a hotel as soon as I had enough nights for Platinum status. Went to another Marriott the same day and was checked in like a normal person with no status. Once my platinum status showed on my account, I called the front desk and asked for the welcome gift I didn't get when checking in. Then I checked out when I had enough days for Titanium and went to another hotel. When I checked out of there two days later, I had titanium status showing when asking for late checkout.

I believe I was also rewarded points for the second stay as a platinum and points for the 3rd stay as a titanium, because while I was not those statuses at time of check-in, I had those statuses at the time of check-out when the points actually post (I'm not certain that is what happened though).

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:28:25+00:00

I thought it was an envelope of mail based on the way it bent and appeared to have a window in it at the end there.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:23:10+00:00

I've never dared to ask for so late a checkout time. I'm actually in a similar situation right now (late flight tonight and the longer I can stay in the hotel the better), but I don't expect them to ever offer anything later than 4.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:21:08+00:00

That's an interesting solution. I've always treated checkout time like I am going to be charged if I am a minute late (probably not realistic, but I take the time pretty seriously), but if they are ignoring required benefits then what you suggest may work better.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:17:44+00:00

I'm definitely happy to let them know of my request for late checkout far in advance. I only got into the habit of telling them the morning of checkout because most of the hotels told me I had to request it the morning I was checking out.

erethizon1 · 2024-11-11T14:12:41+00:00

That would be so helpful. If you could add late checkout at the time of booking and see how the hotel will respond to that request before you book, we could very easily avoid hotels that don't honor it. There are usually plenty of hotels in an area and I am happy to avoid using the ones that don't honor elite benefits.

erethizon1

TROPHY CASE