The Alaska Airlines Bored Room
 

Welcome to the Alaska Airlines Forum Lounge thread! We are pleased to have you here!

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Cholula and, along with jackal, we are the hosts of this Lounge. We are here to provide you with whatever assistance you may need. However, don’t be surprised if, more often than not, your fellow Lounge mates are just as helpful to you — if not more so — as are we.

Before entering the Lounge, please follow the recommended guidelines:

• Content in mileposts pertaining to the discussion of controversial topics, such as politics and religion, will be subject to editing and/or deletion. Off-topic discussion is allowed in this thread, but remember — this is not the OMNI forum, so please do not treat this thread as such.
• No milepost padding will be allowed at any time. Excessive mileposts are subject to deletion.
• As with the other Alaska forum threads, this thread is subject to the same guidelines, rules, terms and conditions governing FlyerTalk. While we do not like to do so unless absolutely necessary, your hosts, including I, will take action if deemed necessary.
• Please try to respond to multiple mileposts at the same time by including the quotes in one milepost. This helps to reduce the incessant “bumping” of this thread and also may make this thread easier to read.
• If a different Alaska Airlines forum thread starts to go off-topic, please continue the discussion in here. It may be helpful and convenient to others if links between threads are also provided — one in a milepost in the original thread with the words “Continued in the Alaska Airlines Forum Lounge thread” linking to the pertinent milepost in this thread, and the other in this thread with the words “Continued from the (insert topic here) thread” linking to the pertinent milepost in the original thread. Reducing the humor and other off-topic discussion in the other threads will help in keeping those threads informative with valuable information for those Alaska forum FlyerTalk members who are primarily looking for information.

We trust that Alaska Airlines forum members will use their good judgement, as they have done for the most part in the past, in ensuring that this thread remains civil, with a fun community spirit that may be shared by all.

This Lounge serves many purposes, with the main purpose dedicated to improving and strengthening the Alaska Airlines forum community and its spirit. The topics allowed here are broader, less restrictive, and much more general than other threads in this forum. This will allow for more participation by a greater number of Alaska forum FlyerTalk members and for a greater number of topics to be discussed. It is also meant to relieve and reduce the off-topic discussion that in the past has occasionally worked it's way in other Alaska forum threads, which will help in keeping the other threads remaining on topic, ultimately rendering the overall Alaska forum as more valuable to a greater number of FlyerTalk members.

There is no cost to join the Lounge. Membership in the Alaska Airlines Forum Lounge is included with your FlyerTalk membership and everyone is welcome. This is a place where one can take a break from discussing Alaska Airlines and its Mileage Plan frequent flier program without having to leave the Alaska Airlines forum, so come on in, kick off your shoes and relax for a while!

Please allow us to explain the proposed purposes for this Lounge, and then I will show you around.

• If you are new to posting to the Alaska forum:
  1. Please feel free to use this thread to introduce yourself and meet our members, as well as ask questions pertaining to posting on the Alaska forum. You will find many of the Alaska forum members to be quite helpful, knowledgeable, informative, friendly, intelligent, patient, welcoming — and simply fun, so don’t be afraid or shy! You may use this thread to initiate yourself with becoming more comfortable with posting in the Alaska forum, while simultaneously getting acquainted with the other Alaska forum members. After all, we want you to feel right at home here!
  2. If you have actual questions that relate to traveling or earning miles on Alaska, we recommend that you please start your own topic after first doing a search on the subject or reply to an existing thread that is currently in the Alaska forum.
• If you are an established current Alaska forum FlyerTalk member, welcome to your new home for “hanging out” with your fellow Alaska forum members. Just pop open a cold one and discuss almost anything that is on your mind.
• If you are an established former Alaska forum member, please come back and post in this thread if you have the time. Your fellow Alaska forum members most likely miss you...

Sample topics that may be discussed in the Alaska Forum Lounge include but are not limited to:

• Anything that has to do with Alaska Airline and the Mileage Plan frequent flier program — especially topics that do not warrant launching a new thread or “bumping” an existing thread, no matter how ancillary or tenuous the connection. However, we recommend that valuable information pertaining to Alaska Airlines and the Mileage Plan frequent flier program be posted in either a new or existing thread in the Alaska forum so that it does not get lost or buried in this thread.
• Weather-related topics.
• Humorous topics and jokes of nearly any sort.
• Requests for the whereabouts of a fellow Alaska forum member who has not posted in the Alaska forum in a while.
• Nearly any imaginable topic is "on-topic" here.

Please feel free to use this thread in any way you see fit, provided that you follow the recommended guidelines.

Well, now that we have gotten business out of the way, please allow me to show you around the Lounge...

Over there is where you will find the latest publications to read, as we have literally hundreds of them. If you would rather watch some entertainment, we have a stage with some of the biggest names in show business, ready to perform just for you — LIVE! Ask and they will perform for you, whether it is comedy, music or drama. If you prefer the pre-recorded variety of entertainment, that entire wall over there is a state-of-the-art television screen, stocked with every television show, concert and movie from the last 90 years, all at your disposal.

If you look this way, you will find our complimentary food and beverages, available 24 hours per day, every day. We spared no expense: you will find truffles (both the mushroom and the chocolate varieties), Lobster Thermidor, Beef Wellington, Beluga caviar, shrimp cocktail, filet mignon, fresh-baked assorted breads and pastries, petit fours and other fine desserts, and other examples of some of the finest foods in the world on your left, most cooked to order exclusively for you by our team of executive chefs. On your right, you will find an endless selection of beverages, including the world’s finest wines, beers, cocktails, mixed drinks of every kind and soft drinks of every kind, as well as hot beverages of assorted coffees, teas and chocolates. Everything is available free of charge and you may consume as much as you like, but we regret to inform you that food and drinks cannot be taken out of this lounge, nor are there any exceptions to this rule.
We were going to spare no expense and install state-of-the-art computers in the Lounge, but since everyone that enters the Lounge is already using a computer, we decided to save the money.

Over there, to your right through that doorway, you will find the most exclusive shower and lavatory facilities, with the softest linens, scented dripless candles, fragrant anti-bacterial soaps, a tanning facility, multiple shower heads with voice-activated customized temperature controls, and other amenities. They are always cleaned, and an exclusive personal attendant is provided to everyone who uses these facilities.

We appreciate your patronage in the Alaska Forum Lounge. We look forward to seeing you stop by, as often as you like!

Before the Alaska Airlines Lounge is officially launched today, I'd like to give special thanks to Canarsie who is a valued member of FlyerTalk. And whose bust you'll see displayed right inside the entrance door to our Lounge.

Among his many other accomplishments on FlyerTalk was the establishment of the Delta Forum Lounge Thread 2 ½ years ago. In the time since launch, it has become the second most viewed thread in FlyerTalk history and has been responsible for creating and cementing many, many friendships both personally and on-line.

The previous three posts outlining the rules, regulations and ambiences of the Alaska Airlines Lounge thread were borrowed from Canarsie almost verbatim and with his permission. We felt he did an excellent job in establishing this Lounge criteria that has now been widely adopted by other FlyerTalk Lounge threads.

One final comment. This is your Lounge. It's up to you how it'll be run. You might want to have some fun by tracking who makes the various milestone posts.

Or you might want to appoint a Lounge Personnel Roster which has grown from just a few folks when started to what you see today.

Or you may want to do something totally different. Or nothing at all other than socialize right here in this thread. It's your call.

Enough with rules, regulations and suggestions! I see that the doors to The Lounge are slowly swinging open for the first time!

So come on in, relax and have fun!!

Thanks for setting this up! What a cool new addition to the AS Flyertalk Experience!

Just wondering for those "up in" AK if anyone saw the Running of the Reindeer, and any impressions of it... Looks kinda fun and dangerous too!

Cholula, thanks for installing a tanning bed in the lounge. God knows we Alaskans need it!
I haven't had the time to pay attention to ANY of the Fur Rondy events. After I get out of class today, maybe I should forsake FT and see if anything interesting is happening with Fur Rondy...

Gotta jet to class. No time for the tanning bed... :(:D

An update from class (isn't wireless great?)--

Did you see the YouTube videos of it?

http://www.furrondy.net/index.php?op...per&Itemid=123

Cool! Retract that!
 

WHOA!

This is COOL!

YEEEEOWWWWW!

Darn that voice-activated customized temperature control on the bidet!

OHHH!

It also has a retractable feature .....

WHOMP!:-::-::-:

:D

Hey, AS flies to Hawaii now. And to Arizona. :p :)

I welcome myself to the lounge :D

Where's the reindeer sausage?

If anyone feels like alerting me when fares to AK drop below $400 from SEA I have two BofA certs burning a hole in my pocket.

rondy is back...sort of
 

[QUOTE=
Just wondering for those "up in" AK if anyone saw the Running of the Reindeer, and any impressions of it... Looks kinda fun and dangerous too![/QUOTE]
^^
I was there on my tippy toes trying desperately to snap some pics and video. We arrived downtown sort of late and all the folks who showed up at 4th and D were herded down a few blocks so we really had to struggle to find out little piece of "higher ground". Was quite a sight to see that many folks turn out. Lot of energy in the crowd for sure. Glad we decided to head down there and check it out - it was worth it.

Happy to see some new life in the Rondy - we went to the outhouse races on Sat. and that was pretty entertaining as well. More of a demolition derby than anything, and a truly Alaskan event. Its nice to have something fun to do when the snow(ice) conditions are abysmal.

Finally, a forum for some off topic humor here!
 

Broke Back Mountain Lady


A successful rancher died and left everything to his devoted wife. She was determined to keep the ranch, but knew very little about ranching, so she placed an ad in the newspaper for a ranch hand.


Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk.


She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk.


He proved to be a hard worker who put in long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.


For weeks the two of them worked hard and
the ranch was doing very well.


Then one day, the rancher's widow said "You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels."


The hired hand readily agreed and went into town on Saturday night.



He returned around 2:30 am, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.


She quietly called him over to her. "Unbutton my blouse and take it off," she said. Trembling, he did as she directed.


"Now take off my boots..." He did as she asked, ever so slowly.


"Now take off my socks." He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots.


"Now take off my skirt."


He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the firelight.


"Now take off my bra." Again, with trembling hands did as he was told and dropped it to the floor.


Then she looked at him and said: "If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired!"

Hmm. I'll have to check out some of the other Rondy events, although it looks like most of the good stuff has already happened. Of the remaining events that piqued my interest, most are happening while I'm at work next weekend.

Is there a description of the events anywhere? I can't find it on the site. Maybe if I read about some of the other events, I might try to check them out, too.

About the only one that interests me that I might be able to check out (other than the daily stuff like the snow sculptures, etc.--how did they hold up with the warm weather last week?) is the barbecue competition next Saturday before I go into work. If it's anything like the barbecue competition during Golden Days in Fairbanks (or whenever it is), it's sure to be good. (Mmm...I miss Big Daddy's...)

Since the First Annual Fur Rondy Do was a dismal failure (JeepGuyDE had to cancel his trip up, and everyone else was out of town), anyone want to meet up sometime after noon on Saturday to see what's cookin'? (Bob, you should enter!) And someone remind me to start planning the real First Annual Fur Rondy Do earlier next year! (That is, earlier than two weeks before! :D)

And Florida. Unfortunately, fares to all of them are insane. Glad that our favorite airline is running profitably, but as someone on a limited budget and with far more grandiose plans for my miles (gotta build 'em up again so I can do C or F to South America or NZ or something), I'm gonna be pasty white for the foreseeable future...

Cross your fingers that AS continues to match the CO weekend web specials. If so, SEA/ANC is down to $232 or something like that. (Unfortunately, it's only for short trips with no advanced planning...)

Glad to hear that some fun is being had in ANC! I do miss Rondey... but thanks to the internet, I can at least experience a little without forking over too much for a flight up...

As for airfares... sometime in the near future another sale should happen late March??? (at least historically) with cheaper fares to/from AK to not necessarily SEA, but places that require a connection... otherwise the PFD sale in September/October is the way to go for buying any flights in/out of Alaska!