I remember, in a time before I lived with a woman, where a package of TP would last for months, seemingly biodegrading before it could ever be used, especially when purchased in bulk from Costco or Sams.

Now, we run through it like the government prints money. It is absolutely amazing to me.

Tissues too, eh?! :rolleyes:

Because I'm never in a foreign location with a consulate or embassy on a non-holiday weekday. Also, doing it through the U.S. passport office would require making an appointment with them, obtaining a money-order to pay the fee, taking time off from work/study-time for the appointment, etc. With the expediter, I can just drop off the necessary forms and my passport, and pay by credit card.

Zimbabwetpification?

No -- in the US you drop it off at your local passport acceptance facility and they mail it back. You can expedite the procedure and have it done in a couple of days.

WWTBD: I'm looking at hotel options in BCN for New Years. Everything I'm considering is in the ~EUR120-180 range. There's the Hilton which seems to be in a decent part of town and I'm still Gold there for the rest of this year so I suppose a decent chance of an upgrade to lounge access. The other option that I'm vaguely keen on right now is this one. Seems to be in a similar part of town as the HH but way more fun. And free breakfast for everyone until noon. Both are about a mile uphill from Las Ramblas region though the indie is closer.

The SPG options and the 1898 that :rolleyes:v recommends are out of my price range.

Thoughts?

IIRC, you still have to pay by money-order, or some other obscure financial instrument that should have been rendered obsolete by at least 1987.

@:-)

You generally just drop it off at the post office with the extra payments and a pre-paid return shipping envelope and it comes back to you promptly.

As an alternative, if you can get a morning appointment in NYC during the next couple weeks I'll do it by hand and ship it back to you.

Paging belynch

Fiancee bought a package of 12 rolls of paper towels for the apartment this week. It's an unfair comparison because of the prodigious use of paper towels that is inherent in the beginning phase of living in a new place, but I'm willing to bet that most of those 12 rolls will be gone by the end of the weekend.

I feel somewhat sacrilegious interrupting this thrilling conversation, but question:

Does Bed Bath & Beyond participate in any of the online shopping portals? I have to buy a wedding gift from there (using gift cards redeemed from Discover cashback ^) and I don't see them listed on any of the sites I usually use - ShopOnePass, Bing cashback, Priority Club points (currently having a bonus), etc. Weird. Isn't it against the rules to not get SOME kind of collateral for one's online shopping? :)

In other news, I finally got my Plat card (after making it in mid-October) - there must have been a mass printing about a week ago.

And belynch - wow - the saga continues. I'm so sorry for the unending :rolleyes: that's been getting thrown your way.

I appreciate the offer, but the expediter is literally just around the corner from my office, their fee is cheap, and they guarantee/insure that the passport is back in your hands within 4-5 business days. I don't want to chance the postal service during the holiday period, even with priority mail, especially as my departure is just before X-Mas.

Buying your toilet paper online, eh?

Is Discover cashback worth the effort? I have a Discover card that will soon be available for spend, since I'm nearly done paying a balance transfer. I'd consider using it and possibly dropping my AmEx charge. 63K MR points for a VS ticket is not a compelling enough reason for me to keep Membership Rewards.

I find that it is not. I use my Marriott Rewards Visa normally, with a smattering of the CO World MasterCard. I also have the Chase CO Debit Card which is very useful since I only use credit cards for larger purchases. Once the wedding is paid off I'll be canceling the CO World MasterCard and sticking with the Marriott Visa, as it gives me five points for every dollar I spend at Marriott and two points for any airfare, car rental, or dining purchase, and one point for anything else. My Discover card collects dust for the most part. You could get a Hilton card and build a nice pile of HHonors points.