tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194059332008-09-06T18:31:52.903-05:00Earning and using airline miles, points, thrifty living, saving, stocks.Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-73401469608282648462008-09-04T19:35:00.008-05:002008-09-05T18:21:09.468-05:002008-09-05T18:21:09.468-05:00

AT&T Wireless If anybody got a new plan (>$ 39.95 montly or more) in the last month with AT&T wireless you can get a nice one time $25 discount if use my referral code. (ie joined as a new subscriber-not a renewal or additional line). There is no spam involved with this method. Just send me an email at naridon_at_yahoo_dot_com. Substitute the symbol and dot at the right place for the email

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-20601266582318061682008-09-04T00:50:00.006-05:002008-09-04T10:25:38.117-05:002008-09-04T10:25:38.117-05:00

Starwood introduced a new program called SPG Flights where one can redeem Starwood points for the cash value of any available airline ticket on required dates. While, it might seem a little pricier than the "so-called" free award ticket, it has the benefits of being free from blackout dates and capacity control restrictions. Additionally, it seems like you can redeem the points on several

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-73499005169471055572008-08-28T15:09:00.005-05:002008-08-28T15:25:10.094-05:002008-08-28T15:25:10.094-05:00

Just heard that Air Canada's regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from the planes in order to reduce loads carried. Since Jazz is an airline that does not fly over the oceans, it is reasonable safe. However, they do fly over the Great Lakes, which are not your backyard ponds. So just relying on the seat cushions as flotation aids if your plane is forced to land on water in Lake Superior

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-52990023737329602162008-08-26T07:53:00.004-05:002008-08-26T08:06:04.245-05:002008-08-26T08:06:04.245-05:00

I saw a recent article at the Middle Seat blog that talks about Wed morning probably being the best day to find cheap airfares. Some credibility is given to this notion by at least two of the major airlines that do publicize their sale fares starting Tuesday "e-fare sale" (United) and "Net SAAver" fares (American) on Tuesday afternoon. If this leads to other airlines scrambling to match fares,

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-64601916271911744772008-08-21T11:27:00.007-05:002008-08-25T20:09:56.940-05:002008-08-25T20:09:56.940-05:00

Info on getting magazines for Airline frequent flier miles can be found in this post. If you are looking for paid subscriptions (from a trusted vendor), please use this referral link: Magazine Subscriptions From Amazon Partial List of Airlines sites that allow redemption of award miles to magazinesAmerican Airlines: https://americanairlines.mpmvp.com/magazine/ In my personal opinion, issues like

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-9227819885742056342008-08-20T06:49:00.007-05:002008-08-20T20:00:36.537-05:002008-08-20T20:00:36.537-05:00

This post explains some conversions of airline miles (AAdvantage, US Airways etc), on the mile swap website points.com (details true as of Aug 19, 2008 when logged in from US for my account). For info on magazines for miles go back in time. Your actual conversions might be different. Briefly, it seemed to me that AA miles convert better than US Airways for getting Amazon cash. Points.com does

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-43424574847194822212008-08-18T13:34:00.004-05:002008-08-20T20:06:23.682-05:002008-08-20T20:06:23.682-05:00

While going through yahoo finance and looking at Mastercard's stock price, I came across this article on mileage credit cards. This article several points that have always been running through my head and a few more, so I decided to 'repost' a small portion of it here. I will not be posting the entire article as you can see it on Yahoo or in New York Times. (log in might be required on NYT site)

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-63837728870081174662008-08-16T22:05:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:30:23.203-05:002008-08-20T19:30:23.203-05:00

I came across an article on TIME.com that talks about "foreign investment" in USA Inc. At the same it reminded me of an old (2006!) TIME article that I had bookmarked, which spoke more about the lead which US still maintains in technological education. While these two articles do not compare the same issues, but it was still interesting to note the changing perspectives of the writers. The

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-6217483899760486392008-08-15T23:18:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:28:30.388-05:002008-08-20T19:28:30.388-05:00

Several airlines are waiving the third bag checked fee which was being levied on active duty service personnel. This is clearly a sincere attempt by the major airlines to curtail the negative PR generated by recent news articles. Continental and Northwest, Airtran, United both announced fee waivers on Friday. While this is a generous gesture, (as a potential shareholder in airlines I feel)

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-28954761850879867752008-08-14T18:13:00.003-05:002008-08-18T22:46:49.689-05:002008-08-18T22:46:49.689-05:00

The FAA has proposed a fine against American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) up to $7.1 million for deferring much necessary safety and maintenance actions on two of its planes. The fine also covers some other violations relating to substance abuse, etc WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR - News), knowingly flew planes that needed safety repairs, the U.S. government

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-8204122969282380392008-08-04T16:49:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:26:06.964-05:002008-08-20T19:26:06.964-05:00

I recently read an article here about somebody's plan trying to book an award ticket next Spring for two people to Hawaii for the cost of $90. My first issue with that is this is a very very risky venture with a low chance of success. Why Skyteam you may ask? Many frequent travelers think that when it comes to award redemption, Skyteam is the toughest. I joined the ranks of those people with a

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-51167768872274051012008-07-20T16:02:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:25:27.739-05:002008-08-20T19:25:27.739-05:00

I can tell this to you in one line: If you want to fly for free on Delta or Northwest or Continental airlines or any other Skyteam alliance airlines, it is very very hard to do so. This post specifically targets Skyteam after my 6-8 day marathon in an attempt to book free tickets using my 31000 flying blue miles. The miles were up for expiry at the end of August, so I was calling around Air

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-30702213772021019462008-06-08T00:27:00.000-05:002008-08-20T19:24:56.189-05:002008-08-20T19:24:56.189-05:00

(reposting from email) A truly inspiring story. Spend some time to read fully. God has always been planning things for me' July 28, 2008 Shobha Warrier Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore. You may ask, what's so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing out from various IITs and joining big

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-38965671723454626362008-05-15T17:39:00.000-05:002008-08-15T17:43:36.794-05:002008-08-15T17:43:36.794-05:00

I think that business cards are a waste of paper. People mostly communicate via email nowadays, so just writing down someone's email is good enough. Or just take it down on your cellphone's text interface. Disclosure: I do have my own cards which I printed last year using DIY software on my own cardstock. BUT, I probably have more business cards of other people that I have collected over the

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-65512619734532722312008-03-12T13:28:00.000-05:002008-03-12T13:28:26.437-05:002008-03-12T13:28:26.437-05:00

Some good movies to watch shot from very close to the moon by Japanese spacecraft carrying a HDTV camera BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Japan marvels at its Moon movies

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-29240588918107240602008-02-18T21:27:00.001-05:002008-02-18T21:27:22.251-05:002008-02-18T21:27:22.251-05:00

Indian Parents and Marriage I guess one clear difference I see between Indian parents and Western parents when it comes to pestering their 30-something children to "marry and get settled down", is in the approach and decision making freedom. Western parents (or more often aunts) might try to set you up with someone on a date and ask you to call them, talk to them and spend time with them.

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-91620691755309616622008-02-14T13:26:00.004-05:002008-02-14T18:47:48.718-05:002008-02-14T18:47:48.718-05:00

Ok Everybody it is Feb 14! Now curb your euphoria. So usually I try to ignore Valentine's day because of the commercialism associated with it. But every year I fail to ignore it. However, what I do is, not fall to the "buying any gift trap" but end up doing something vary different (not really by design, but more due to stinginess - jk). E.g one year, I was out with a camera on a snowy evening

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-13859588199386439792008-02-11T23:01:00.000-05:002008-02-11T23:18:11.864-05:002008-02-11T23:18:11.864-05:00

Facebook announced that it will be launching Spanish language version of its social networking website from Monday (Feb 11, 2008) [Source]. The translation of the website was carried out by several volunteers in about four weeks time (a short time in my opinion). If you are in Spain or any of the espanol speaking countries from Latin America and visit facebook.com the Spanish version should load

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-18313344246657368222007-12-11T14:39:00.001-05:002008-07-30T00:20:51.683-05:002008-07-30T00:20:51.683-05:00

Among Italian dishes, I really love eggplant parmesan (ep). What is so great about that? Well, this is coming from somebody who absolutely hated eggplant (brinjal) growing up, so for me to profess love for this vegetable in a signature dish is BIG. Yes, a long long way from childhood dislikes! I am not going to share a lengthy review, but just briefly indicate portion sizes and taste/cost details

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-55963806749231634292007-10-09T13:14:00.000-05:002008-01-17T15:57:46.975-05:002008-01-17T15:57:46.975-05:00

Neighbors fight, states scramble over clean power - from CNN.com In residental neighbourhoods, one man's clean power can be another's "sight nuisance" or "ugly windmill" which scars the view. Read more at: Neighbors fight, states scramble over clean power - CNN.com

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-90688973363284530872007-05-07T16:55:00.000-05:002008-03-06T10:46:10.201-05:002008-03-06T10:46:10.201-05:00

Or..should I say, cuisines? Because I don't really count calories while eating, but I usually do worry if my pants start getting tighter around the waist! So some of the nice cuisines that I like are: South Indian (especially Tamil Nadu - obviously when your mother and grandmother's cooking is from one cuisine, it is usually your top choice!) Rajasthani Punjabi Bengali Sweets Outside India

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-35765242414499933292007-04-18T14:39:00.000-05:002007-04-18T14:42:44.697-05:002007-04-18T14:42:44.697-05:00

This is a review on Airtel's call india service that I posted as a comment on the floatingsun.net blog (by some chap in San Diego). At the bottom I will add more reviews about Reliable, Onesuite and also Reliance Calling Services [probably by the end of April]. I started using Airtel at the beginning of 2007 when they had a double down offer. So here is the good and bad of their service. Good:

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-30592571849726360722007-04-13T08:00:00.000-05:002007-04-13T08:05:44.902-05:002007-04-13T08:05:44.902-05:00

On the latest (cultivated) controversy about the national flag/anthem and Tendulkar/Murthy. Contrary to media portayal, In Tendulkar's case, (IMO) he was actually showing MORE respect by cutting a cake with national colors on it. I personally would not put something into my mouth unless I respect it. It is like Annapoorna devi for me (our country and the flag, that is). Further, in Tendulkar's

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-89629009396722994662007-02-15T22:19:00.000-05:002008-03-06T10:45:23.027-05:002008-03-06T10:45:23.027-05:00

Smiling in the Apple Store in NY City. Me and my friends were trying different types of smiles (genuine, plastic, surprised and more) in front of a webcam. Silly time pass. If you go to NYC, check it out, it is near Central Park. Snow Day - Feb 14, 2007 I spent a glorious day on Wednesday. First, of course, work had to be done in shoveling the sidewalks clear of snow. I did this the night

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19405933.post-79208151234392088422007-01-21T17:35:00.001-05:002008-08-19T20:20:52.067-05:002008-08-19T20:20:52.067-05:00

A simple list of words and their equivalents in the languages of Tamil, Spanish (Venezuelan) and English (US). The words in tamil would be crudely spelled without phonetic additions as of now, but that could be added later on. The authors of this section are Nari and Claudia. The format will be English | Spanish | Tamil | Hindi As time goes on, we plan to add more words. Suggestions are welcome.

Narihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037718579403666928naridon@yahoodotcom.com