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RTDNTOTO 🐻 Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 21 (2026)

Very productive day! got a fair bit of project accounting done, scheduled a call with my State DOT rep, and got a tree-planting plan in motion for one of our city parks. Also managed to grab a fairly priced yet delicious Beef on Weck for lunch at one of WNY's best dives (Operated by same family since 1926!).

It is 40 out today, which for Buffalo is BEACH WEATHER!
 
I did hear something funny about the Super Bowl statistics.

Bad Bunny 'ran' 124 yards with the football. NEPatriots had 84 total rushing yards.
 
Planit said:
I did hear something funny about the Super Bowl statistics.

Bad Bunny 'ran' 124 yards with the football. NEPatriots had 84 total rushing yards.
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That's pretty bad when the half time entertainment rushes 40 more yards than your team does the entire game.
 
The good news is that the Super Bowl is on a three-day weekend next year.

The bad news is that the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day next year. Sorry, your valentine will have to wait. (We never go out that day anyway.)
 
I was thinking more about the Super Bowl Half Time show, and I am going to maintain frustration that it was in Spanish. Not anger because it was every entertaining, but frustration. Reason I say that is because to help educate and inform a population about history and another culture, it is important to communicate in a way that your target audience would understand it.

The Olympic Opening Ceremony is a great example. There was a ton of artistic expression that showcased the culture and history of Italy, but to really help educate, the commentators had a script explaining all of it. Even the few operas that I have been to had a brief story description in the handbill.

In the case of the Halftime Show, subtitles in English would have gone a super long way to help people understand and appreciate the story he was trying to tell. Everything else could have been the exact same and I know personally, it would have resonated differently with me.

That's just how I see it.
 
zman said:
Mine haven't. Ive held status on Alaska and Delta, and have a number of miles on Southwest, and they havent expired.
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They don't on American, either, as long as there is activity of some sort at least once every 24 months.

We ripped up our Southwest cards and told them where to stick them once they started charging for bags. We will never be aboard a WN flight again, even if it was the only flight leaving off a desert island we have been on for months, we are starving and thirsty, and it comes to rescue us.
 
zman said:
Mine haven't. Ive held status on Alaska and Delta, and have a number of miles on Southwest, and they havent expired.
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We have a strict policy that we cannot use our miles number when we book work related travel. They don't want to give the perception that we are benefiting personally from tax payer funded work trips.
 
michaelskis said:
We have a strict policy that we cannot use our miles number when we book work related travel. They don't want to give the perception that we are benefiting personally from tax payer funded work trips.
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We are allowed to keep our miles as a de minimis benefit.
 
michaelskis said:
We have a strict policy that we cannot use our miles number when we book work related travel. They don't want to give the perception that we are benefiting personally from tax payer funded work trips.
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That sucks... and I've never understood that.

We are allowed to use membership numbers for airlines, hotels, and rental cars. In fact, we can use personal credit cards and get reimbursed so I can collect AMEX points on top of that too.
 
michaelskis said:
We have a strict policy that we cannot use our miles number when we book work related travel. They don't want to give the perception that we are benefiting personally from tax payer funded work trips.
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I was able to charge my hotel, air, and registration to my own card which also gives me Skymiles. This was not always the case. A check will be cut next week. I did have a city-issued Amex card at a time when I was a young planner - CDBG travel expenditures.
 
When I worked for the state, the policy was that an employee fronted all expenses and then got reimbursed. I didn't mind, but a lot of people hated this policy. Never bothered me, as they always made us whole within a few days after we submitted our report. The most I ever filed for was about $3,000, not a huge amount.

My current jurisdiction and my previous one take care of the hotel and airfare, then we submit for everything else up to a certain per diem, which I don't exceed. (When I do personal shopping or the like after the conference end for the day, I don't expect nor ask for reimbursement.)
 
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