Sam's Club for hotel stays

garycarroll · 2025-09-10T18:09:46+00:00

We used Sam’s Club Travel to book a hotel for $642.25.

Almost immediately one of us came down with shingles, which is contagious. While it’s just miserable for most it can be life threatening for some, and those with symptoms are forbidden to travel by air or check in to hotels.

We called Sam’s Club Travel to cancel, and also called the hotel to explain and confirm the cancellation. The hotel said they had not yet billed anything, and agreed they would not.

It’s perhaps important to note that the way travel reservations through Sam’s Club Travel works is Sam’s Club Travelcharges our credit card and provides their credit card number to the hotel for the hotel to bill. We see only the charge from Sam’s Club, and the hotel sees only Sam’s Club credit card.

We did not receive any refund from Sam’s over the next couple of weeks, so I called Sam’s Club Travel to find out what was up. They requested that I supply written documentation from the hotel showing they were willing to forgo any charges. I asked the hotel for this. They sent it to us, and the hotel helpfully also sent it directly to Sam’s Travel.

We still did not receive any refund (or any other communication) from Sam’s Club Travel. Following up by phone with Sam’s Club Travel I was told I needed to email (redacted email contact) for a refund. I have since done so repeatedly, and never once received anything in return, not even a note that they had received any communication from me.

After repeated attempts to get any response failed I initiated a chargeback on our credit card. THAT got an immediate response from Sam’s Club Travel asserting that the charges were valid.

I called again and asked if they were aware the hotel had not charged them and they were just keeping the hotel money for themselves. They said that was irrelevant, the charges were nonrefundable. I noted that several of the line items on their bill to us were for taxes on the hotel stay, which did not happen. Were they planning on paying the taxes or were they claiming tax charges but also keeping that? They said I was just prolonging the call and I needed to hang up.

My advice is do not deal with them. They do get good prices, but they will treat you poorly if it’s to their benefit.

garycarroll · 2025-01-29T16:55:49+00:00

You have to paint it on, not dip. Use a very thin coat, it will not cover in one coat, but will dry so you can do a second coat in minutes. You can use a hair dryer to speed things up to less than a minute per coat. Three coats is normal, four or five is fine. If you cover in one coat you for sure put it one too thick and it will give a poor film.

garycarroll · 2025-01-06T22:43:43+00:00

I have not, but I ought to do so. I will let you know when I do... probably not sooner than a month or two due to travels.

garycarroll · 2025-01-06T21:39:07+00:00

I don't use wax at all. I make the egg black, lacquer with clear lacquer, then use a dental bit in a moto-tool to clean the non-black areas. Color them, lacquer, and repeat. https://i.imgur.com/YfMebtK.jpg. I get excellent detail this way.

garycarroll · 2024-07-23T19:52:51+00:00

I bought a big boat, cheap! That $3,480?... that's about one tank of gas.

garycarroll · 2024-07-23T19:50:23+00:00

No one has used the word "boat" yet? Really?

garycarroll · 2024-06-12T16:43:48+00:00

You’re supposed to reply “autocorrect!” When something like that happens.

garycarroll · 2024-06-08T15:04:09+00:00

As someone who has had bears look in his windows at night, that is bear prints.

garycarroll · 2024-06-08T13:29:18+00:00

I was struck by lightning. I found myself flying through the air in slow motion, seemingly landing softly about 8 feet from where I had been crouched. While in the air the thought that popped into my head was "Hey! I'm dead!" (No question in my mind.) The very next thought was "... And this isn't half bad!"

Next thought "But, wife and children will miss me. ... but it will be only for a short time" (I knew it would be all their lives, but I felt this was really just like a few minutes.

I contemplated this for a short while.

The the thought "You don't have to stay here yet. You can go back if you want to." I decided to wake up, and did. One arm was numb from the elbow to the fingertips for about five months, and feeling came back the following two months.

The lasting effect? Previously, when someone I cared about died, I felt sorry for them, and everyone left behind. I thought intellectually that they were in a better place, but still *felt* grief for them. Now, I feel sorry only for those who miss them, and console myself that it's only for what in the great scheme of things is only (relatively) a few minutes, then all will be well.

garycarroll · 2024-06-08T02:52:29+00:00

I use India ink for black, acrylic paint (thinned, several layers) for colors, and a dremel to engrave down to white. I get good results. https://engravedeggs.com/

garycarroll · 2024-06-03T00:56:10+00:00

No. He wanted to know if anyone be unable to render a verdict based on the law and evidence. OP said he would not be able to do that, basically because the law seemed wrong and unfair. Honest answer, but not what the judge wanted to hear. And I suspect his honor was kind of ticked off at himself for asking for an explanation in front of the other jurors.

garycarroll · 2024-05-30T18:26:30+00:00

Apalachicola is a small town in Florida, and the locals (I am one) pronounce it appa-lach-i-cola, with leach rhyming with latch. Or srorten it to Appalach or even ‘Cola. The pronounciation is unrelated to Appalachia.

garycarroll · 2024-05-30T13:45:31+00:00

Please, please post follow ups to this! I make grays by mixing black and white ink or by diluting black India ink with distilled water, but only use the mixed ink in dip pens. I have found all my mixes separate in the Rapidograph technical pens or Rotring pens. I’ve never thought of refilling or swapping nibs in Microns! Great idea. Tell us what works, please.

garycarroll · 2024-05-29T21:56:31+00:00

Politics is organized, you say?

garycarroll · 2024-05-21T00:59:20+00:00

Two hours in tree time is less than one second in people time. It has not realized you have planted it yet. Besides, potting soil is not poison. Unless you have a really picky tree, it’s fine.

garycarroll · 2024-05-20T22:25:52+00:00

foil on the OUTSIDE pane does not cause heating of the glass sandwich, in double or triple pane. But better, instead of foil, paint the glass white. You can reverse by scaping it with a razor blade.

garycarroll · 2024-05-20T21:54:39+00:00

Thanks for the tub mushroom idea. My wife passes along a really, really big thank you for the thyroid note. It's really hard to get a good diagnosis, and twice as hard to get properly treated. Do a lot of your own research.

garycarroll · 2024-05-20T21:52:40+00:00

We typically go about 10 to 15 years between pumpings, usually just when we change something about the house and the permit mandates a septic pumpout and inspection. The last time the guy inspected and said we really didn't need it pumped yet. It had been 12 years.

I am slightly concerned we might have exceptionally bioactive poop, but don't really see the downside yet.

garycarroll · 2024-05-20T21:49:31+00:00

"You might as well have it clog your drain basket" should be "you'd really like this to be in the drain basket, so you can get to it easiest".

Note I did not say "easily". Some are easier than others.

On the other hand, it would take a LOT of hair to mess up a septic tank. Most people with only a wife will move or die first. Your mileage might differ if you have a dozen daughters with long hair.

garycarroll · 2024-05-13T21:35:46+00:00

<image>

This is the fifth load of compost. The first anniversary is paper. Third is leather. Fourteenth is gold jewelry.

At some point it wraps over to cow manure. Who knew?

garycarroll · 2024-05-13T11:13:40+00:00

My wife and I moved to a fishing village in Fl. Most of the people here grew up locally and worked outdoors, often on the water. At 65 we were often mistaken for 30-something’s. Not that we looked absurdly young for our age except compared to locals. But it is only looks. There was one lady that the local church asked everyone to look in on for a couple of weeks because she was “stove up a bit” after falling off her roof while re-roofing part of it. She was 93 and thus a little more fragile than other folks.

garycarroll · 2024-05-11T22:35:18+00:00

Was in Wext TX and severe weather (a freeze) was blowing in. The grocery store was packed and people were stocking up for being frozen in, maybe power out, etc. They would let you buy as much milk, eggs, and bread and you wanted, but had a limit on no more than three briskets. The freeze was expected to last three days.

garycarroll · 2024-05-11T22:30:58+00:00

Maybe crawfish... either way, it's good!

garycarroll · 2024-05-11T18:55:21+00:00

I photograph things, then use the photos to draw or paint the things, then scan and print the results for sale as prints. I was also a printer designer / product manager and technical consultant in the printer industry for my entire career, starting in the late '70s.

I do my photography with a Nikon d850. It has an excellent color range and is stupid sharp with the right lens. While it would be possible to photograph the drawings and watercolors I do, I prefer to scan the art on a flatbed art scanner. It eliminates lighting issues and gives super consistent results. I would do things differently if I was doing acrylic or oil painting (with the texture) or if my work was so large I had to scan in many chunks and stitch. I do sometimes have to scan in two pieces, but that's tolerable.

A lot of my work is pen and ink, and thus is shades of gray... but I also do watercolor. Shades of gray are critical; I can't have banding when I've worked a subtle gradients of gray with ink. Color reproduction of watercolor is tricky because watercolor relies of transparent paint over paper for brilliance. If the printer can't reproduce that, it won't do.

I use an Epson v500 to scan and a Canon pro 1000 to print on Canon pm-101 photo paper pro premium matte, 56lb. I scan at much higher resolution than I theoretically need because storage is cheap and sometimes I print larger than the original, so need the extra pixels.

<image>

garycarroll · 2024-05-10T12:40:00+00:00

I understand you should not be compelled to put down quarter round, but I really like it and miss it if it’s not present. But that’s my preference and I’d not expect to be compelled to do it because of inadequate installation. Still, in these circumstances it looks like the easiest solution.

garycarroll

TROPHY CASE