Santa has asked me for a little more info.

I am 28 years old, married four just under 4 years with no children. I work for a provider of competitive retail electricity in deregulated markets called NewEnergy. We are a subsidiary of AES corp., one of the world’s largest independent power producers. I travel about 70% for business, but my wife and I love to travel for vacations. We have two cats (a trend among frequent travelers?) and own a town home in Center City Philadelphia. My wife works full time as a recruiter of teachers for the Philadelphia School district. I was born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan. My hobbies includes Computers (I am an ad-hoc tech support at the office), golf, and frequent flyer mile collection. My wife and I live a truly uban life as we eat out or take in about 6 nights a week.

This has been my first year of extensive business travel and, as such, my first experience with elite status on any airline. I am currently Gold on American, Silver on Continental, and Preferred Plus on US Airways, Silver at Hilton, & Gold with Starwood. My favorites are Continental (unlimited upgrades) and Starwood (consistent upgrades and great awards).

I am having a bit of trouble figuring out what else to add so here is the bio my company uses to describe me:

"BLADE" is the Director of Market Planning and Development for the Mid-Atlantic Region of NewEnergy. In this role, Mr. "BLADE" serves to assist in the over-all management of NewEnergy’s business in the region. As an early member of the NewEnergy Team, Mr. "BLADE" has extensive expertise in the dynamics and structures that define deregulated markets. This experience provides hard to match perspective to leverage in the development of our Mid-Atlantic business.

Prior to his current role, Mr. "BLADE" served as manager of regulatory affairs & corporate development at NewEnergy and was primarily responsible for legislative and regulatory affairs on the East Coast. In that role, he served as NewEnergy’s representative for the many processes leading to the ultimate restructuring of the electric industry in the region.

Mr. "BLADE" brings to NewEnergy his knowledge of governmental affairs from his service on the staff of the Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, as an aide to U.S. Representative Dennis M. Hertel, and as part of the political advertising team at Shore & Associates in Philadelphia. He also spent one year as a Fellow at the Michigan Political Leadership Institute at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

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__________________________________________
Two wrongs may not make a right, but three lefts do.

[This message has been edited by BLADE (edited 11-29-1999).]

At Santa's urging, I've decided to come clean about my checkered past.
I was born in Oxford, England some 43 years ago. My family emigrated to the colony known as Canada when I was only 18 months old, hence I lost out on a sexy British accent. However, being an anglophone in Montréal provided an English Canadian accent to my French language conversations...a compensation of sorts. After graduating from Marianopolis College, I dropped out of McGill University's Journalism Programme to enter the family business in the prepared food industry...a temporary measure designed to augment the spartan fortune of a starving student. Twenty three years later, I'm still there, only now I'm looking to augment my spartan intellect by temporarily applying to my potential alma mater , McGill University, to further my suspended education.
I met my wife, Brigitte, 19 years ago. We've been together for the last 18 of them. She's my soulmate and my best friend. You wouldn't know it from some of my recent solo FT get-togethers, but we're seldom apart. We've no children or pets so there's nothing stopping us from taking 10 or 12 holidays a year. That's our passion. Travel. Anywhere, anytime...as long as it's fun, exotic and/or relatively inexpensive (no expense accounts allowed).
Our airline of choice is NW (I can hear the gasps) where we have both been Gold Elite for the past 4 years, although this year I'll become Platinum for the first time. In spite of their reputation, they treat us very well and almost always upgrade us...even on international segments...always without miles or certificates...including award travel. This past calendar year we've been to Asia twice, Europe twice, Hawaii twice (and going again tomorrow) and South America twice. I guess you've noticed a pattern there somewhere. Favourite destinations include Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hawaii, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Paris, New York and practically any National or State Park in Utah/California/Arizona. Still on the to-do list: west coast US from Mendocino to Seattle and all of Australia.
Looking forward to meeting even more FT'ers in the upcoming year, especially at the FAQ in Montréal next July.
Well, there you have it. My life in a couple of sentences.

I'm not gasping...I LIKE NORTHWEST AIRLINES!
They treat me better than UA.

Baze: Welcome from a fellow bubblehead (STS, 611(Gold) & 638. '75 to '81.

Maybe having cats is a trend among frequent flyers that have pets, since you can actually leave cats at home for weekend getaways... I have three cats with their own webpages... lot easier than dogs or kids to leave at home and jet away on an esaver http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

dg1: Cute kitties - three paws up if I say so myself. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 11-30-1999).]

Grin .. Thanks. We should keep editing our messages in place like this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

BTW As I speak right now the youngest just walked up, snuggled up to my nose and then draped herself around my neck and went straight to sleep. As a guy I hate to say something is cute, but it is cute http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by dg1 (edited 11-30-1999).]

[This message has been edited by dg1 (edited 11-30-1999).]

JeffS,

Thanks. I was on SSN596 "USS BARB" from 83-87.

CATS RULE!!! THEY ARE THE OFFICIAL ANIMAL OF FLYERTALK!

OK! OK, Someone needs to post his BIO!

NAME: COMMANDER LYON CATCOP
AGE: NONE OF YOUR BUSINESWS
PROFESSION: Official policeofficer of FLyertalk.

My job is to make sure that we keep this forum G rated so childrena nd cats can read it and proper adults are not offended by it.

I am very popular and perhaps feared by the Flyertalkers (especially arturo, president of the CMDR CATCOP fan club.) I did a ppurrffect
job makign sure people wer enot getting double stamped at the PIP. It's great being a CMDR CATCOP.

But i"m so jealous of this CATMAN. Everyone seems to love him, all I hear is 'CATMAN THIS AND CATMAN'S THE SWEETEST GUY AND CATMAN HAS SUCH A GOOD HEART."

HEY! I"m A COP! NO WISHEY WASHEY HALLMARK STUFF FROM ME! THANKS FOR LETTING ME POLICE YOUR BOARDS CMDR L CATCOP!

I am 25 years old and from a small town in Southern Mississippi, near Biloxi/Gulfport. I have only been traveling for a little over two years. I met my current boyfriend the first time I flew and I have been hooked ever since.....to him and traveling. I am about 5'2" and have long blonde hair. People usually think that I am 17-18 years old. I have been asked for my id several times in the Crown Room. I have three younger sisters, two of which are married, and 2 nephews who I enjoy spoiling.

I graduated from college almost 2 years ago with a bachelors degree in Computer Science. I work for a telecommunications company based out of Plano, TX. I travel to customer locations throughout the U.S. to make sure our product functions properly before it is turned over to the customer. I am usually gone between 3-6 weeks. Luckily, I have had the opportunity to work in some nice places like Hawaii, Puerto Rico (not that it is anything worth bragging about), and Germany. I don't have a car of my own nor a house/apartment. I live out of a suitcase and only drive rental cars. I spend about 300 nights a year in hotels.

I am PM on DL, Platinum with Starwood Preferred, Diamonds with Hilton, and was comped Platinum with Holiday Inn. I do not have status with Marriott because I usually have to stay in hotels like Residence Inn or Courtyard. I also stay in hotels like Homewood Suites. I don't go to many cities with Hyatts and if I do, my company is too cheap to pay for their rates.

I enjoy the beach and warm weather. I am looking forward to one day enjoying the beaches in Fiji, Tahiti, Bali, the Seychelles, and the Maldives. There are so many places that I would like to go that I certainly can't put them all on here. I am also eager to fly in a flat seat. It is something that I am looking forward to in the near future.

I enjoy cooking, eating and decorating. I like to find nifty things in the places that I go. Even though I don't have a place to put them, I just keep putting it all up in boxes and awaiting the day that I stop traveling so much. I really enjoy things from other countries that I can't find here in the U.S.



------------------
"Some people dream of worthy accomplishments, while others stay awake and achieve them.

Hi! Many of you already know me and many more are familiar with my website, Mileage Workshop. This started out as a simple hobby and a way for me to learn HTML but has grown into a source of income and has a loyal following of over 500,000 visitors a month! I thought I was alone in this world with my mileage interests until I found FlyerTalk and started meeting many of you. I now know I am normal! However, many of you have a sick obsession! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I grew up in ye olde historic village of Haddonfield, New Jersey (not to be confused with the Haddonfield in the Friday the 13th movies). Went to college in Florida at The University of Tampa and graduated in 1987. Packed up my stuff and moved to Seattle that summer and have loved living here ever since.

I am now 35 years old, live my my wonderful wife and our 20-month old boy who loves to travel (see his picture at www.mileageworkshop.com/logan.html). We currently live in the suburbs east of the city. We have two cats; a black and white genius that I swear can read the labels on the cat food cans and the world's smallest runt of a Maine Coon who is so stupid that I am convinced she has only a brain stem that allows her to eat, purr and spit up hairballs.

Other interest include alpine skiing, collecting license plates (my garage wall is covered!) and of course, travel. We take our toddler son everywhere with us and at his very young age, has logged over 25,000 miles.

Until very recently, I sold computer hardware and network services for a living but departed company after a drastic change in the pay structure that would have left me working slave wages. So....if you know of anyone in the Seattle area I should contact regarding sales or sales management, let me know!


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Addicted to airline miles? Check out: The Airline Mileage Workshop

My turn! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I consider myself a native Oregonian, having known no other home. My birth records indicate that I was born in Omaha, which is where my father, an airman 1st class, was stationed. I don't remember anything about Omaha since we moved to Portland just after I turned a year old, but a good many of my baby pictures show my father holding me out of cockpit windows, sitting on his lap in the pilot's seat of military jets and so forth. I guess the travel bug is in the gene pool.

I was a lucky kid. I got to travel a lot starting at a very early age. When spending summers with my dad, he'd let me hang out in the control tower with him when I wanted to (gets boring after a while, actually). For my 10th birthday, he arranged to let me ride in the jump seat of a 747. (Those were the days.) He was also a private pilot and I remember that same summer doing lots of flying in remote areas of Alaska. I felt very special somehow, knowing that most of my peers had never even taken a plane ride (let alone in a private plane), sat in the cockpit of a 747 or hung out in a control tower. But it was just another day in the life for me.

There are few things more exciting to me than a taking a trip. I feel the same way now going to the airport that I did when I was a little girl. I still get butterflies in my stomach the morning of a flight. My eyes have seen such amazing, beautiful places and people. I've also seen inexcuseable decay, ugliness and unfathomable poverty. I always wonder about what's on the other end of the ticket I hold in my hand, and what I will learn about myself in the process. Returning home I am always grateful for the unbelievable wealth that I have and for the life experience I've gained while travelling. I can't think of a better education.

Enough rhapsodizing. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I work as an applications developer and backup page designer for a major metropolitan daily. I just sort of fell into this newspaper gig. I don't consider myself a journalist and in fact graduated in economics with the intention of going to law school. As much as I've enjoyed my run at the gazette, I've decided I'm finally ready to get on with a more challenging career and plan to take the LSAT next year. If I end up at my first choice of schools, the University of Chicago, I plan to apply for one of the internships offered by United. I think I'd like to practice aviation law or maybe just be general counsel at an airline.

When I'm not out earning miles, I love to cook, go out to the vineyards near my home for wine tastings and just hang out with friends. Shooting darts, pounding back pints of Guinness and debating epistemology over a fine cigar is my idea of a fun Saturday night. I used to study ballet until I blew out my Achilles earlier this year so now I just stick to running and mountain biking and the occasional hike in the summer. I hope to finish my first marathon in October. When I have time, I devour books on military and space exploration history. If I could pick any career, I'd be an astronaut. Too bad my eyes suck.

I guess that it's. Oh, and I do have a cat. The sweetest most tolerant feline in the world. No matter how long I've been gone on a trip, she's always waiting at the door, mewing at me before they key ever turns in the lock. Amazing creature.

Cheers,

essxjay

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 12-02-1999).]

essxjay says:

"a good many of my baby pictures show my father holding me out of cockpit windows"

Having met you, I can say that we are quite fortunate that your father chose not to let go! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Essxjay: Being a two-time Evergreen State College Graduate, I would love to discuss epistemology with you some time. I took an entire quarter's class dedicated to the subject and loved it! You can smoke the cigar and I'll have a martini.

dgray: I think I worked for your unnamed company for a couple of years. Do they still have that dress code or can women now wear pants?

From essexjay: Alright already! I apoligize for my appearance! I'll never ask you to sit next to me on a flight again! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Yeah, right. Watch out fella's. Them babies will suck you right in!


[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 12-02-1999).]

TravelWeary: Lucky you. My folks wouldn't let me go near Evergreen. Said I'd turn into a Communist. Oddly, they kept pushing for Reed College, whose slogan is "Atheism, Communism and Free Love." Yikes! What the hell where they thinking? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Just bringing this forward again...

C'mon folks, there are a lot of NEW FlyerTalkers here. Tell us about yourself!

Catman:
I was beginning to wonder if you were properly policing this thread. When are you going to establish a separate one for cat lovers?

OK, OK since you brought it up again, Shadow, I'll give it a shot. I'm 32, I have one step son (7) from my previous marriage who's very dear (and loves to travel with me!) and another boy who used to be my neighbor and adopted me as his replacement dad. He's 12 and wants to be a pilot. His mom works for an airline so he flys all over the place after school and on holidays just for kicks. Not my idea of a good time!

I live on a small organic farm out in the middle of nowhere in NM. I'm not disclosing the exact location because in a prior post I admitted to having thousands of pounds of food buried in the root cellar, and while I'd love to meet some fellow flyer talkers, if things get ugly at the end of the year we don't want TOO much company!

I am a non-profit development consultant, which means I help charities raise money and expand their programs, and I work on both coasts. I'm constantly tempted by attractive job offers on the coasts, and once took one for a little while, but I got homesick. I love it here, looking up at the high peaks, being surrounded by gardens and then the hills rising up to the mesas and then the peaks. The air is clean. Cows are the main traffic on the road. We still have lions, bears, elk, and lots of other friends running around the neighborhood. People here are mostly clueless about what I do and I can wear scraggly farm clothes around town and not have any chance of running into a client. Lately, people have been offering me jobs here, which I used to think I wanted, but I've been turning them down because I value the anonymity and irresponsibility of my position here.

I usually spend about 6 months a year on the road. Lots of nights in hotels, though I stay with friends and family quite a bit too. My brother lives right by one of my clients' offices, so I stay with him a lot. I confess I haven't been elite on an airline in like 8 years. I almost never buy any airline tickets, having found ways to get enough miles to fly free without earning many. I hate United Shuttle and like having my own car so I often drive to San Francisco (20 hours) rather than fly if I'm going to spend more than a week out there. I used to travel with the Grateful Dead and drive over 75k miles a year so the road miles are easy and I like seeing this beautiful country from the road. I live almost 4 hours from the nearest airport, so by the time I drive that far I might as well just keep going a little more...

I seldom travel for vacation, though I always make plans to. When it gets down to it, I usually find I'd rather be home, and if I'm traveling I'd rather work than play, or at least work most of the trip and then take a little time to see the sights. I like going to places that are vastly beautiful, unspoiled, and have few humans!

I've really enjoyed prticipating in Flyertalk, and I hope I'll have a chance to meet some of you one of these days. You've helped me get lots of extra miles. And, you've helped convice me that my obsession is normal so I actually feel better about myself even as I've become more hopelessly addicted! I'm using some of the extra points I've picked up from tips on FT to treat the couple who manage my farm to a sweet vacation. Thanks y'all!

Thanks Steffo...glad you took the time to give us the info. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I do remember you mentioning travelling with the 'Dead in a previous post, yes?

steffo: "it's an obsession but it's pleasin' " http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

http://aubie34.tripod.com/index.html, this is my homepage that I just updated in my profile. I will write something about me and add it to this post.

Aubie! Welcome back to Flyertalk and I hope all is well. And it's great to have ANOTHER CAT LOVER on the boards.

Philforest... I love all animals but cats saved my life once. That's why they are special (If ANYONE wants an explaination I will tell you in person or by e-mail!)

Aubie - still with a Bruxelles-link?

Steffo:
I probably buy some of your organic produce at the Coop. Thanks.

An aside relating to the ATT wireless string.
They are now in the process of negotiating spaces for towers in ABQ so you may be able to get a slightly more local number.

Rudi,

My girlfriend moved from Brussels to Rome. I just got back from Rome on Monday.

so Aubie - you (or at least your girlfriend) become very multilingual: english (or at least some US-kind of english http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif), french (or at least what the Belgians think is french http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif), flamish (?), and THE REAL italian!

Speaking of real Italians, I've been posting (not so often) for a couple of months, so it seems only appropriate that I should introduce myself.

I grew up in Italy, with a *very* travel-phobic mother (to this day, she hasn't set foot on a plane). I must have got my genes from dad, however, because at 19 I caught the travel bug, and it hasn't left me yet. Problem is, many of the places I visit during my travels end up becoming my home for a time. So in the past 20 years, I've lived in Germany (briefly), Holland (not for long), India (a bit longer), and finally landed in the US (for the last 16 some years).

Here I seem to be gravitating towards the West Coast and beyond. After a good start in the People's Republic of Santa Cruz, I moved for three wet years to the Pacific NW (mainly PDX and SEA), then returned to sunny Santa Cruz in plenty of time for the earthquake and stayed there for more than a decade.

At 32 I decided to go "back" to college (never really had a chance to start sooner with all that moving around), and after getting a BA at UCSC, I found it necessary to continue to an MA at the university of Hawai'i.

And here I am now, living with my husband of two years (and partner of twelve) on the beautiful Windward side of O'ahu. If we keep up this West-moving trend, we'll end up in Japan or Australia sooner or later (not in our current plans, though).

None of my previous jobs ever required me to travel, so I travel almost exclusively for leisure (except for a few conferences as a grad student), and I've never been anything more than Gold on AA. Now that I live in Hawai'i, that's pretty easy to reach...

My husband, however, is a computer consultant/trainer, and especially lately, has had to travel quite a bit (UA Prem-Ex and AA Plat.). Amazingly, he doesn't have the interest (the obsession?) in miles that I have, so I actively oversee all of our accounts. You could say I'm "Premex by proxy".

Besides travelling, I love snorkeling and birdwatching (and nature-watching in general), and I miss mushroom hunting, my main reason for not wanting to travel in the winter when I lived in California (Hawai'i is great for snorkelling, but unfortunaltely has no wild edible mushroom to speak of...)

We have no kids, no dogs, and, I have to admit, cats make me sneeze really bad. Am I still allowed to post on this board after this confession?

I am *extremely* grateful to all the knowledgeable people who post on this board. With all the extra miles we have earned because of your wise advice, we will be flying to Europe at least twice next year, and still have miles to spare if my Italian friends ever want to come visit.

Other travel plans in the distant future include most of the South Pacific, Australia, and Seychelles or Mauritius (anyone been there?)

Muchos mahalos to all of you

:-) honu

p.s.: how do you make those emoticons?

[This message has been edited by honu (edited 12-15-1999).]

Smiley Faces:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/faq.html#smilies

THANK YOU PREMEX!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif !!

THANK YOU PREMEX!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif !!

THANK YOU PREMEX!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif !!

Thanks for bio Honu--glad to see another birdwatcher/nature enthusiast on board. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Hoku, that's ok if you are allegic to cat fur. My friend HOlly is (I had to dust myself off before seeing her http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif and my friend Richie is (which is how I got Yaz and Cleo -- now in kitty heaven.)

It's a beautiful story that if anyone wants me to share it I will someday VIA E-MAIL NOT HERE (or risk being arrested by CMDR CATCOP!)

Thanks for the welcome.

Blonde Bomber and any other birding or snorkeling enthusiast: you're welcome to contact me if you plan to visit the Islands. I may have good tips for good birding or snorkeling, especially for O'ahu.

Regards

honu

hono,
just came back from Kauai, and my roommates did plenty of snorkeling (they were in heaven). susi is from new zealand, and has been to australia numerous times! i'll be happy to ask questions for you, i'm interested in traveling there also.
ling http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

17 year old high school senior - Orange County, CA. I'm the son of an AA captain, but have no intentions of becoming a union laborer. I'd condsider being a CEO, though. Early Decision app to Wharton got deferred to regular.

I somehow found this site from www.PlaneBusiness.com. It's kind of interesting. If only non-rev's got frequent flyer miles... I thought I was special because I went to Boston for lunch. You guys just refer to this as a "weekend". It's pretty nice to be a 17 year old and not care that much about first class any more. I guess I like it more because it's not coach. Not Coach is more important than First. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif Although, I wouldn't refer to rows 4 and 5 on an F100 as "First Class".

Other interests include website design for spending money and I worked at the Gallup Poll for almost a year. I spent a month in France last summer sailing in a world championship.

- Derek

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50 cents an hour not a big Advantage?
Be paid $20-$120 an hour with BePaid.
http://www.bepaid.com/users.rhtml?REFID=10063853

Welcome Derek, I've seen your post on the planebusiness site as well. Nice to see another possible PHL person on the board too, although I'll probably only be in PHL for another year and half ....

I've been quiet for a while, so better make the most of a relaxed day in the office to introduce myself.

I'm British, 29 year old male, and work for an International Credit Card compay. Easy guess who that is. I am lucky enough to be a 100% traveller. This means I have no home and no costs of living, get to spend all my time in hotels and travel very frequently between locations. The downside is of course that I miss out on the opportunity to be a cat-owner.

I've been doing this for two years now, and have worked on all continents, and clocked up a fair amount of miles (both PremEx and AAdvantage Platinum for 99 being the most useful). I have limited choice over carrier or hotel, so I'm lucky to get to elite levels. So thanks to all of you who share promotions/tips on this board.

Right now I am on a secondment to our Latin American region, and looking forward to spending my Christmas break in Florida. Come early January and it all starts up again....

Thanks, GK...

Interesting lifestyle, but curiousity forces me to ask you:

Where do you 'hang' your clothes?
Where do you keep your 'stuff'?
What is 'home base'...the UK?

Sorry, after reading & thinking about it, I'm sure it takes some special effort on your part to maintain this type of life... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif