Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03 - Page 797

Shape Shifter · 07-03-2003, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
And maybe if you bitched less, you'd have friends.

(Just continuing to take your advice).

Be nice. Looks like PLF had a tough night.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2307056/detail.html

evenodds · 07-03-2003, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy Getting to trash PLF always helps my mood.

That's why we keep him around.

That and his impeccable taste, love of spinning hippie girls, and disgust for people who misuse "irony."

tmdiva · 07-03-2003, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Here's the rub with the Marriott deal...

My parents have one of the Marriott things. Last year they combined their two weeks so the whole family could go together to Park City. I can't speak to the cost issues, since I wasn't paying, but the accommodations were just okay--hotel-room feel rather than condo feel. However, if we'd just rented a house we wouldn't have had access to the great pool/hot tubs etc., and we wouldn't have had rooms shouting distance from the lift for the alpine slide. There are tradeoffs.

tm

purse junkie · 07-03-2003, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
Maybe if you drank less, you would have more meaningful and substantive conversations with your friends.

True. But can anything make a pleasingly trivial conversation that ambles into a long discussion on foreign policy or the need for health care reform more palatable, spirited, and free than a couple of drinks?

I think not.

robustpuppy · 07-03-2003, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
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

Meaningless lawyerly intro: you might like it, depending on your needs.

My SO's parents had a Marriott timeshare and last I heard, they were planning to sell it. I think they didn't find it to be worth the cost because they didn't get as much use out of it as they anticipated. That's probably because when they travelled, they had specific places in mind that they wanted to go to, and specific times that they wanted to go.

If you just want to be able to use it once a year and would be happy with any one of a number of different tropical/ski/metropolitan destinations, you might find it to be worthwhile.

We used the timeshare one August for a week in Puerto Vallarta. We were flexible about our destination and the week we traveled, so it worked out nicely. As I recall we had a surprisingly good selection of places from which to choose -- including Maui, Aruba, Paris (suprising for August). Of course all the places were on the Internet, so we weren't flying blind. I picked PV only because I couldn't coordinate affordable airline tix to any of the other places, and we ended up getting there on frequent flyer miles. Call me a prole, but it was the perfect vacation.

The place (a 1 bedroom apartment) was great -- not ultra luxurious and not decorated to my taste, but clean, comfortable, and waterfront (the sunsets were incredible). The resort itself had all we needed, including a concierge who arranged all of our water sports and outings, etc., internet access, pools, bars, restaurant, etc. Having a full outfitted kitchen was enormously convenient, even though we ate most of our meals out. It spoiled us for staying in cramped hotel rooms without even a fridge to keep some fruit or juice in.

If you want more details I can talk to my SO's parents and PM you.

evenodds · 07-03-2003, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by purse junkie

True. But can anything make a pleasingly trivial conversation that ambles into a long discussion on foreign policy or the need for health care reform more palatable, spirited, and free than a couple of drinks?

Yeesh. Maybe you need fewer drinks and more interesting friends.

Edited to add: last night we discussed the texas law firm scandals, tennis, the nba draft, 4th of july parties, alcohol preferences, and took bets on which women the single guy would be taking home.

robustpuppy · 07-03-2003, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by evenodds
[We] took bets on which women the single guy would be taking home.

How many women did he end up taking home? I need more interesting friends, too.

evenodds · 07-03-2003, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by robustpuppy

How many women did he end up taking home? I need more interesting friends, too.

Two.

robustpuppy · 07-03-2003, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by evenodds
Two.

How many contenders were there?

I definitely need more interesting friends. Living vicariously through the friends of imaginary internet friends (we are friends, right?) is a just little too attenuated!

Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) · 07-03-2003, 02:49 PM

deleted because the picture won't load, and I have no other point than the picture

ThurgreedMarshall · 07-03-2003, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
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.

I haven't been to the meeting. I was looking online. I've heard different things from different people. Some say they love their timeshare, others, like you think it's a waste. The opinions definitely vary widely.

And Marriott was just what I was looking at. I hear RCI is big too.

TM

evenodds · 07-03-2003, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by robustpuppy
How many contenders were there?

There were two single women in the entire bar.

He made late plans with the one with whom he already had an arrangement, and took the other home while the rest of us split for various dinner obligations. Quick work for happy hour, but he is a professional.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy · 07-03-2003, 03:01 PM

Anyone notice that today should be a K day for both the politics board (where everyone else was left chasing the Trane) and the FB? Has this ever happened before? This is too much excitement for the day before a holiday. No doubt just as exciting a time as was had by that young man at the bar.

NotFromHere · 07-03-2003, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThurgreedMarshall
I haven't been to the meeting. I was looking online. I've heard different things from different people. Some say they love their timeshare, others, like you think it's a waste. The opinions definitely vary widely.

And Marriott was just what I was looking at. I hear RCI is big too.

TM

Well, I'm going to agree with others who have said that it depends on your lifestyle. If you go skiing at the same place every winter then it may be worth it. But really, we did the math and for what they want for "initial fee" "change fee" "maintenance fee" etc., we calculated that we currently spend less than that per year. And we usually stay at Marriotts and Hiltons for the points. We've taken the tours through the condos and they are very nice, we just didn't like the confinement of staying at the same place or hassle of paying a change fee to stay in another place. We're more the Expedia - let's go in 2 weeks kind of people.

leagleaze · 07-03-2003, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by evenodds
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.

Have a friend who has parents who have owned them and traded for other time shares, they have loved it.