December 6, 2011

Are you living in Heaven or Hell? - Delta Skymiles Limited Time Offer


This is truly a limited time offer that is not for the faint of heart as it involves some serious trust, but if you understand the math, you will surely want to jump in with both feet. SO, Delta is currently running a promotion until December 16th, 2011 where if you transfer miles from your personal account to another person’s Skymiles account they will give a 100% bonus to that transfer – Happy Holidays Delta! The limit per transaction is 30k, so let’s take this simple example: I transfer 30k Delta Skymiles from my account into your account and then when you open your account you see 60k miles. Math is FUN isn’t it? For 60k Skymiles it cost me $330 USD and 30k Delta Skymiles.

Now the gift of giving is all well and good, something I do believe in, but what about the idea of seizing an opportunity. If you were to purchase 30k Delta Skymiles directly, it would cost you $1,050 USD – not happening. If you were to purchase a ticket from JFK to HKG, in economy class it would cost you approximately $2,000 USD (I just looked for a random time period in July of 2012) and only net you 16k Skymiles (32k Skymiles if you are a Gold Medallion member or higher as they double your miles flown for being a loyal Delta Skymiles member). Neither of these options seems like one I would want to take (though I do plan on traveling to Hong Kong sometime in the near future). Can anyone see the opportunity as yet?
To explain this opportunity I am going to speak of a parable I saw mentioned on a recent episode of Boardwalk Empire (I figured it out before watching the episode but it was something I had wanted to have written down somewhere, so why not here).

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, "You have seen Hell".

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, "I don't understand." "It is simple," said the Lord, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves." ~ Monotheistic.org / Wikipedia

Help your fellow man!!! Pay the $330 USD to send 30k Delta Skymiles to someone but then have them also do the same for you. In doing so you both would pay $330 for the transaction but net 30k Skymiles in the process. When you think about it, the cost of a flight domestically for Delta on award travel is 25k (economy low) + $5 taxes give or take. The cost of a flight for the same time period I mentioned above in July from JFK to LAX is $549.40. Why not feed one another and hedge your bets (the airlines do this with oil prices, why can’t we as customers – hey wait a minute there is an idea there for a business where you purchase an open ticket now that can be used at a time in the near future from zone 1 to zone 2 for example regardless of the price of that same flight at said time, hmmm…) to lock in a domestic flight at the cost of $335 approximately? Why not do it twice with another fellow man and pay $660 + taxes for 60k Delta Skymiles and secure the price of a flight to South America?

This is too good to be true huh, or could it be that Delta is trying to give us an opportunity to help each other during this holiday season? There are limits on how many times a person can do this (receive up to a maximum of 300k into an account / send up to a maximum of 150k into an account) as well as other restrictions…nothing crazy just read the fine print: 100% Bonus Offer. Either way, look into it yourself, crunch the numbers, find a trust worthy friend (once you send it, they are gone and now you are sitting waiting to be fed) and if you take the plunge enjoy trip as well as post a comment below of where you are going. Happy Holidays!

November 30, 2011

30 in Santiago

A different vacation from the one I had in my mind, but still profound in representing a turning point in my life. I had thought I was going to be in Santiago, Chile partying up a storm at the crack of dawn on my 30th birthday. And though I was at a party at the W Santiago Whiskey Blue (W Santiago Review), it wasn't as I had pictured. But that was a good reflecting moment for me as I realized that though it wasn't as I had pictured, it wasn't a memory I would want to forget. Whatever your belief may be, I have yet to meet someone who can see the future correctly, which is probably a very good thing because maybe I would have seen the future picture when I was 29 and said to myself: "this is not what I want for my 30th". Who am I to know what a 30 year-old person needs in their life, I was only 29! Now being 30, I can appreciate the birthday that was and the picture I have now in my life is much better than the one I had pictured for myself. So in “whoever’s” wisdom it was to not have us see the future, it has been equally divine that we can hold onto our memories (Alzheimer’s and poverty should be a CRIME…but that is for another discussion) for we live moment to moment, picture to picture.

Below you will see a slideshow of photos from my birthday trip to Santiago. I took a number of photos of different things but something I hope to change about myself going forward is to step out from behind the lens.




click to see larger


While in Santiago I went to a football match between Audax Italiano vs. Universidad de Chile. The game was held out at the Estadio Bicentenario Municipal de La Florida. The seats my wife got for us was so nice, leather and padded, which made watching the game that much more comfortable. It’s always interesting when going to events in other countries because as we left the game there were these TV cameras at the entrance taping some guy who appeared to be famous, since everyone around us was trying to get his autograph as well as photos taken with, but we were just trying to leave. Christy ended up being on the TV because it was impossible to get around him without stepping in front of the camera. Nice!

It has come that time again for me to get on my soap box but this is more for me than it really is for anyone else (I understand the confliction as this is a public blog that anyone can read but just go with it). My beautiful wife (inside and out) who I have known since I was 14 years old (married for 21 months) took me to Santiago Chile for my 30th birthday. Now, who when they were 14 years old thought of what they were going to be doing for their 30th…not me! But, I have to say just as everyone before us has said, GOOD! The one thing I must have heard over and over when I was younger was “don’t rush to get old, don’t worry it will come in time, stay young”. Just as in the movie “Wedding Crashers”, the scene where John (Owen Wilson) talks about how life got away from him but he feels as though he is young and can still do crazy things. This is where Claire (Rachel McAdams) turns to him and says “Well... you're not that young”. That is where I think 30 sits. Some may consider it to be a “sweet” spot, but as I have only just turned 30, I am not wise enough to say at this point. But as many, who have before me, have come to share their wisdom I have heard similar tales of one’s 30’s being a great time...getting better. When I was 14 I had only met this girl from queens who I became friends with. Now at 30 she is my best friend who I want to share the world, my world, which is really the only world we really know, with. BETTER! I do not know what the future may bring but having a partner adds character and color to the soul.

You can have your own beliefs on whether we are “alone” in our existence, seeing as we come into this world alone but I think it’s the life we choose to lead, interactions we care to be a part of, memories we love to share in, that helps us leave this world together, just at different times. Who knows what will happen today or tomorrow, but the marker in time we call our birthday is a memory/moment/picture we as individuals can use to better understand who we are from yesterday…understand ourselves by connecting with others, growing our perspective to change the world, our world, my world, together.

Dent the Universe - Steve Jobs

September 27, 2011

One's travel



 “Life is a journey, not a destination” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


A concept that is lost at times as we are too busy making plans for our life. The choices we make in this one life we live (even if you believe we are reborn, this life, the one you are living right now, is the only one you will have as “you”) can mean so much more than the actual choice itself. My choice to travel hasn’t been about going to Korea or Brazil (destinations) but the interactions (journeys) I have with the people who are there. This is probably why I have not really been that interested in going to Antarctica or why when I go somewhere, walking through a museum doesn’t make me feel as though I have journeyed (though the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is one NOT TO MISS).

This may be why I have such an affinity for New York City, one of the most diverse metropolitan cities I continue to journey through...but such kinship was not embraced by my younger self (I grew up in South Side Jamaica Queens). I knew I wanted to get out of New York City at my first chance (which for me was college), but that was just me choosing a destination. It took that journey away, for me to realize what New York City is to me…a lesson well learned.

As I look back on my travels on this planet, I have grown an appreciation for my blessings (all of them). I am a firm believer in individual perspective and of course you are entitled to yours; how your interpretation of destinations and journeys reveal themselves to you is but your own!

Below is a Tripadvisor map that shows where I have been (yellow dots) and where I would like to visit (green dots). If the list gets bigger or stays exactly where it is, I plan to embrace my journey through the destinations of Random Lives!