To bring these two topics together, I was an employee of the state of South Carolina and my benefits stunk. My wife's benefits as a NYC public school teacher were enormously better.

As I tell people, having moved from SC to NY is like going between two extremes.

In SC you pay minimal taxes and get nothing in return. In NY you pay through the nose for your taxes and if you're in the right position, you get everything handed to you on a silver plate (with the exception of bottled water. They killed that.).

MD completely sucked compared to TN - let's just say that my retirement contributions from the State of Tennessee are three times the amount I was receiving in my last year in MD (2006), plus I get my first longevity check next month, insurance premiums are much lower, cost of living is much lower, and no state income tax. ^

Wow, I broke 5k posts and didn't even realize it.

I seem to remember that my income taxes didn't go down that much, relatively speaking, from NY to SC, and there were some taxes (e.g., personal property tax on cars) that didn't exist in NY. I'm pretty sure I pay less tax proportionally in PA than I did in SC.

Now, the cost of living was much lower down there, but so were salaries (I made as much as a college professor in SC as my wife did as a preschool teacher in NYC).

I've only been an official resident of three states but am certain that TN is the smallest tax burden, VA was moderate, and MD was :rolleyes:

I was quite shocked by that, but it's nice to see.

Alas I won't be able to make it so I won't be able to keep count, right or wrong. :)

If I do it again, I may go the DL route to pad off that account. I'm already at over 110k EQMs and it's not even July yet.

Congrats!

I need a gov't job.

In other news, according to Monster.com one way for me to break through barrier I'm up against (age, too much experience, etc.) is to get rid of the gray and color my hair. Today's e-mail included a link to a rebate form for a free box of for Just For Men hair color.

AH! I moved us to the reclining exit row so if not we get a little extra leg room at least.

I have never been to Steak and Shake. I like Patty Melts. Thus I need to go to Steak and Shake sometime.

In and Out is Good!

Too funny!


Sorry to hear this. :(

Not sure who's in charge of the FAQ but could we add an explanation on the companion upgrades regarding whether or not a companion could be added for multiple segments at the origin?

ie, can a companion be added to both AUS-IAH and IAH-BOS by an agent at AUS?

Congrats! ^

Indeed, though I'm not really sure what it would be worth in the end. I've got JAX-LGA and JFK-BCN also on DL this year so I guess I could match over and get back pretty close to silver and pick up 40k SkyMiles, but what would I do with those? I'd still need to requalify in 2010 so that's where the real value proposition would be. I'd look for the fare on one of the early 3-day weekends in 2010 but I'm not so sure that trying to go to Rio around Carnival is such a bright idea. I don't know that I'm quite that crazy.

I am mostly in charge of it. And I'd need an answer from a gate agent before I was willing to answer that question in a FAQ. My understanding is that it is possible but that it mean extra keystrokes so the GAs generally don't want to do it, but I am not positive on that.

:eek:

It really depends on the agent. I've had some agents do it and some agents refuse it.

So, stick to the old, "If you don't like the first answer, hang up and call again" or in this case, find another agent. :)

For me, it's worth it as I'll be around 55k-60k after the KUL runs get credited. But the big variable is the alleged fourth tier and what would be needed for that.

C'mon, what better time to go to Rio than Carnival!?!?