Drink Check
 

Do you like Young's Double Chocolate? We have that on tap at one of my local beer joints. I can't drink a whole stout (heavy, man), but I like the little sampler cup of that.

Drink Check
 

For a really good chocolate, I recommend heating some good bitter chocolate (2 squares) with a bit of butter and about three or four teaspoons of sugar. Add a shot of espresso and a shot or two of light cream. Heat until it begins to thicken (but doesn't turn to fudge; you may need to add more cream to taste here, too) and then add a shot of a smokey single malt scotch just before serving. Serve in a demitasse. Much better than Young's Double Chocolate, and carries a bit of a punch.


(Editted to add potential need to add more cream, which can be very important!)

Drink Check
 

Partying mood: go to a good Mexican place, margarita on the rocks with salt

Sit around a bar and bs with people for several hours: whiskey, neat

Sit around the deck on a hot day and bs with people for several hours: sangria

Sit around house and bs: wine

Dammit, the dessert list at that restaurant really sucked: Bailey's or White Russian

QUESTION
 

I have a friend who owns one in a foreign place he vacations every year, and he loves it. I have another friend who owns several weeks you can use anywhere in the US or internationally.

They've been extremely happy with them.

QUESTION
 

If you can, try to pick one up on the secondary market, where they usually go for next to nothing. Which tells you all you need to know about how much they hold value. From everything I've read, treat it as advance-pay purchase of x nights in a hotel in whatever locale you choose.

Drink Check
 

Assuming that I'm not drinking Pisco Sours, I generally drink gin martinis, sometimes dirty, sometimes neat. Margaritas and wine will also be consumed, depending on the venue. If I start with beer, I'm ending with beer.

I will, on occasion, go home and sip some scotch, but I consider that to be a separate event from the martini / margarita / wine / beer event.

QUESTION
 

Depends on the number of people involved and where it is. You really have to love the place to go every year. There are some places that I do love enough to go every year, so I could see doing it. I'd want to go in with fewer people and more flexibility. A relative has a beach house that she owns with just one other person, and that works well for her. I think that they split it every other week, and they can easily arrange to swap if they need / want to. The beachhouse isn't that far from where she lives full time, so she takes advantage of it a lot.

QUESTION
 

For the most part it's a complete and utter waste of time. Parents had one and ONLY because they were retired and could go during "Non-blackout" times was it worth it. I tried on several occasions to use it, only to find out that the fuckers are never available when you want them.

That said, a partner at a former law firm let his wife and best friend go to Cabo and when they returned, he found that they were owners of a timeshare in Cabo. However, there were only 8 owners of 1 individual condo so time availability was not an issue (except during the winter holidays). Still he was pissed that she did it without discussing it with him first, but they ended up using it a lot.

So, it depends on the plan, but for the most part - don't waste your time.

Drink Check
 

Maybe if you drank less, you would have more meaningful and substantive conversations with your friends.

Question
 

My Mom bought several RCI timeshare weeks in the 80's (I think for like $3,000-$5,000 per week) and we've kind of taken one over. It is extremely easy to trade them - one note though, these are premium (red weeks) so that they can be traded for anything and you always get the best room in the resort. Different categories go for different prices. Some of the lesser categories require you to use 2 weeks to stay at the same resort and you will not get a room on the water, etc. We've used ours for Vail, Cancun, Germany, Austria, Bahamas, etc., and never had a problem with trading. We did have to book Hawaii two years in advance. Every resort that we've stayed in has been clean, well-kept and in a good location. Our actual time share is in Vermont.

One additional note - your maintenance fees are tied to the resort where your time share is actually located so if you go with an older resort that needs repairs, the fees will be higher.

QUESTION
 

I was thinking more along the lines of a Marriott timeshare. You pick one resort location as home base, but can trade with other participants (for a fee of course). There's a buy-in fee and you own a week at that resort every year.

TM

Drink Check
 

And maybe if you bitched less, you'd have friends.

(Just continuing to take your advice).

Drink Check
 

Actually I'm not a big chocolate fan generally. For some reason I just found it good (in a quirky way) in a beer selection.

QUESTION
 

Hey I went to that meeting too. Did you get your gift certificate?
Here's the rub with the Marriott deal...
1 - there are only a few Marriott's participating in the "Vacation" thing. Those properties are "off-site" away from the hotel - so, slight inconvenience. They offer you "valuable Marriott points" for future stays at a Marriott - which equate to like 1 night in a nice hotel.
2 - they offer that "trade" thing - again, that has never worked for me. I can't/won't book a vacation 2 years in advance.
3 - the places are very clean and very nice - but in order to get your money's worth, you have to split the room - there's some weird false wall/extra door deal where you qualify for extra nights if you only use half the place.
4 - do the math - for what you pay for the place, with the "maintenance" fees, you could stay at any hotel, anywhere for about the same or less, with no black out hassles.
5 - we were pissed anyway because we were told it would be a 45 minute sales pitch, but it turned into a 3 hour hard-close since we kept saying NO.

Drink Check
 

I haven't actually tried it; the purist in me has always questioned the concept of a chocolate taste in beer. Maybe I'll sample the next time I see it. I'm now out of this morning's purist snob mood. Getting to trash PLF always helps my mood.