Thanks for the nice words and fond memories!

I'm still around. I'm still traveling and collecting miles & points, but that hobby has taken a backseat to running in the past few years. I ran a marathon at the end of 2007 and caught the bug. I've now run 16 marathons and will be running Boston in April! The miles have helped move us around for marathons.

I didn't match beaubo's take on the KLM deal, but I was able to take advantage of that one, too, and I have to agree that it was probably the easiest miles ever. I took 3 flights (on NWA and Continental), and they matched nearly all of my AA pudding miles. Add in the 1.8 multiplication that occurred later, the top-level status match for several years, and the incredible deals they offered from the US (e.g. I think SFO-AMS-SIN-AMS-SFO in Business Class was 40k miles on sale), and we had quite a run with KLM. I collected several dozen Delft houses in just a few years.

Recently, the travel hasn't been quite so fun. The last few trips we've taken have been full of very long delays and hassles. Let's hope for a return to the golden days soon!