Just had my license frames “installed”. Looks great. US Airways 25 operated by Suburu Outback 2010. =)
Take a look,
Proud to fly with US. Proud to drive with US.
-Kinglobjaw
Me and my car. Me and my airline.
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Category Archives: Posts With Pictures
Comments, more posts when I get back to the States.
Upon checking my blog and emails, I’ve gotten some comments and emails while I’ve been away. Some nice, some spam and some nasty! I’ll sift through all of it once I get back.
I’m currently in Mauritius, having arrived from Cape Town a few nights ago. Today was a very busy day- visit to Casela park and riding through a “Safari” on a Quad! My hands are still a bit startled from all the bumpy terrain, but it has been a fantastic experience. Check out this pic, I was way up high on that thing!
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Enjoy the summer! I’m leaving soon. I’ll be back.
Lufthansa flight LH451 will be boarding in under two hours. From Frankfurt, I will continue onto South Africa. I’m excited to add a new continent to the “been there” list.
Wanted to wish you all safe travels and a fun summer filled with new experiences, lots of upgrades/ premium awards and great flights!
I’m excited, but laid back and I’ve been enjoying a Pineapple Mojito at the pool. The mint adds quite a kick! I’m waving one final goodbye:
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Delicious steakhouse at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn
So I’m sitting in the Star Alliance Lounge in at the Los Angeles International Airport and thinking about my favorite Phoenix trip past-time. I have to tell you, one of the reasons I decided to go to Phoenix before the Africa trip was to check-out the recently renovated JW Marriott Camelback Inn. The Camelback Inn renovation introduced Arizona to a fantastic Steakhouse whose locations usually dominate the East Coast. The steakhouse, you ask? BLT.
By no means, will this be a professionally written restaurant review, but I’m hoping that my very positive experience could possibly serve as a reccomendation for a pleasant steakhouse dining experience. I’ll be blunt, you have most likely never been to such a unique steakhouse.
Basically, the dining experience is not only about enjoying a delicious piece of meat, but it’s all about customizing and trying new things. Along with your cut of meat, you have the option of selecting many steak sauces and enjoying every single piece of meat with a different sauce. I have to say, it was very fancy and I enjoyed comparing the many options. I didn’t order the steak, barbeque or mustard sauces since I’ familiar with those, but I tried chimichura (brazillian w/ olive oil), peppercorn, bouilabaisse. red wine sauce and blue cheese. The red wine sauce was my favorite! Alongside the 12 oz. piece of well done filet mignon, it was a match made in heaven.
Side dishes are shared, which reminded me of an Asian restaurant. I really enjoyed that option since I could try many more sides and regulate the amount of each that I ate. Since my excersize and healthy eating “regime” I bestowed upon myself, I opted for veggie sides: glazed carrots, grilled asparagus, creamy spinach. I also tried mashed potatoes and and potatoes au gratin with gruyere, which my parents ordered. All great sides. One interesting bit- they also serve a side dish of cactus fries. And that’s no nickname! Those are actual fries made from a cactus. I’m assuming this is only a specialty served in Scottsdale.
Unfortunately, no room for dessert after this meal, but I’m sure one can look forward to something creative and unique.
Here’s me dining with my folks at BLT. Notice how full our table is!
I normally don’t write restaurant reviews, but I still hope this helps.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Dividend Miles Select- two new benefits for DM Select members
Just got a letter from US Airways MasterCard informing me that my card has been upgraded to Dividend Miles Select benefits. This is really nothing more than a snazzy way to tell me that I have two new benefits associated with my card. Benefits that make this great card a truly awesome and one of a kind airline miles card. Very similar to what Continental does with one of their credit cards by waiving bag fees for card holders. No bag fees waived here, which I don’t really care about since I already hold Preferred status, thus all my bags fly free. Here’s what I can look forward to:
- A 5,000 mileage discount on all award tickets booked. This would indicate that a Domestic Saver coach award round-trip would cost 20,000 miles instead of 25,000
- Award processing fee waiver which equals to $ savings
I don’t feel like going over the full rules and restrictions, but I’ve attached a detailed scan of the brochure. It’s large and clear enough so you can read through all the rules here (2.2MB size).
Here’s a smaller version of the front and the back of the brochure,
Unfortunately, there isn’t a promo code one can mention when calling US Airways, so it’ll take some time for an agent to locate information for the new benefits. Involving a supervisor would be the best procedure, for now at least. A supervisor was able to assist and pull up information quickly, while a basic agent told me he never heard of this before, which is understandable given the benefits haven’t even started.
My Mom also carries this card, but hasn’t received this letter yet. I’m wondering if I should call Barclays bank to find out whether she is also a DM Select card holder.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Got my InterContinental Platinum Ambassador kit in the mail, let’s look inside!
Before we take a look at the goodies inside, I have to say that this is by far one of the nicest elite membership kits I’ve seen so far. Granted, I had to dish out $150 for Ambassador status ($100 is for renewing every year), but the benefits associated with this tier as well as the 5,000 points and free night certificate are definitely worth it. Since a majority of my stays this summer will be at InterContinenental hotels, I figured it made perfect sense to sign up now. Plus, the 5,000 points boost will help me get closer to re-qualifying for Platinum status for 2010 since all points earned part of this program qualify you for elite status. A very unique and refreshing characteristic to this program.
I was only expecting a letter with a plastic card in it, but never an actual boxed kit. I always thought of the IHG hotels family as the cheapest (I mean quality-wise, not price) of the major chain families since very few hotels have lounges and almost all phone agent positions are outsourced, albeit friendly. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when I received this today:
Luggage tag close up (notice that it’s not plastic, but heavy duty metal):
Free night certificate for one weekend night with the purchase of one additional weekend night (no blackout dates or restrictions, expires 1 year from date of issue):
For more information on the IC Ambassador program, click here. Another limited time benefit is free internet for Ambassador members at select InterContinental properties until July 31, 2009.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
United’s B18 Red Carpet Club
As I mentioned this morning, I was able to visit United’s Red Carpet Club which opened in June of 2008 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. I had to leave the airport earlier than expected, so I wasn’t able to enjoy a full, planned, 3 hour stay, but I managed to snap a few pictures from both the outside and inside of the lounge.
While the lounge is nice, the views are very poor:
Before I left, a quick look at the busy Lufthansa gates:
Overall, I thought the United B18 club at O’Hare was much nicer than the one at the F concourse, but the staff was very rude. Still, they didn’t card me and gave me two drink “chits”. For those who are new to this concept, it’s basically a drink voucher or ticket which entitles you to one free alcoholic drink at the bar. However, for Lufthansa international Business & First class passengers, the amenities could be considered dismal! Lufthansa needs to open their own branded lounge at this airport. Until that happens, I don’t plan to route any of my international Lufthansa departures from Chicago O’Hare.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
LOT painted a special theme plane.
I’m a sucker for themed planes and I absolutely love LOT’s repaint of one of it’s 737-400′s. The new livery symbolizes a 20 year anniversary of a movement called “Solidarity” which was an opposition movment that overthrew communist rule in Poland in 1989 (also the year Kinglobjaw was born) and gave way for democracy.
Normally, I find golden paint tacky, but I really like what LOT did with this bird.
LOT's special livery on this 737-400 celebrates the introduction of democracy in Poland
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Working out with Kinglobjaw and the seasonality of said workouts.
Airlines aren’t the only ones who run seasonal routes.
Once in a while I like to blog about something different than airlines, travel and rewards programs, although by the time you finish reading this you’ll realize it will somehow become travel related. Slightly…
Over the past few months some of my posts casually mentioned muscles aches or working out. In this post I’ll update you on a new and interesting portion of my day to day “operations”. See, I told you that airline ‘lingo’ lingers around most if not all of my posts. Basically, I now go to the gym on a daily basis for about two-three hours and starting in June it’ll be a seasonal activity for me to go rollerblading or take my bike out for a ride in addition to working out. I write about my workouts with great relish as it’s probably the most unique and new thing in my life. I haven’t thought of myself as hardcore gym goer until now. Aside from the health and good looks I’m gaining, I’ve found working out to be an excellent way to get rid of stress and annoyances. It comes down to three things- the workout, the water and the music that accompanies the former two. Since I started working out in April I’ve gone down from 230 pounds to 204 as of this morning. It also feels like my arms are getting really strong.
Not to turn this into a health blog or anything but my routine is simple:
- First hour is running on treadmill or stepmaster (the two alternate everyday)
- Next 20-30 minutes is lifting weights
- About 10-15 minutes of leg work
- Remaining time is divided equally between seated chest presses, ab crunch machine and working on back muscles
So, that was one the workout. Music on my iPod is stuff I’ve found on Napster which I then purchase on iTunes. Music by ATB ( featured on my Kinglobjaw.com music section) has some great beats and rhythm that really make the workout go by. I also drink a lot of water throughtout the entire day. What I can recommend to other gym goers as a quality water bottle is a Swiss Sigg bottle. Some will say that $25 for a water bottle is a little too much, but it’s a high quality water bottle which will last for a long time and it’s proven to be safer than the “nalgene” plastic water bottles. Inside of aluminum bottle is coated with a liner, so there’s no scraping of aluminum. For those who are worried about the presence of the aluminum, consider this- tea and deodorant transfer more aluminum to your body than this bottle ever will. Don’t worry about dementia! I have the red one with the Swiss cross:
Try looking on eBay to save a few dollars. I saved $7 by buying it on eBay instead of Whole Foods.
When it comes to motivation I can’t say I was thinking about my health too much. I mean, even when I was little heavier, I was still healthy and getting all the nutrition I needed. My main goal was and still is to look good and get into excellent shape and condition. The Island Caretaker contest also got me going. I knew if I was chosen to participate I would have to get into better shape and perform fitness tasks so I started working out anyway. Unfortunately, I wasn’t chosen, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to work out. US Airways’ employee campaign to loose weight didn’t really move me as that happened a few months earlier, but it was still a nice thing to do to get company employees motivated. I wonder if Doug Parker took advantage and started working out. Haha!
By topic about this I wanted to open up all topics or discussions. If there’s a certain topic you want me to discuss, I’ll gladly do it. Leave a comment or use the Contact link.
One last thought before I close. Before my Hawaii trip I got an email from a reader who suggested I should review hotel gym facilities and how they stack up against other hotels. I think it’s a really great idea, but I don’t I’m not sure if I’ll be doing that anytime soon. I’m not a health expert so I can’t really say how effective a gym can be compared to the next. That said, I will definitely pay more attention to hotel gyms and casually mention personal thoughts should I do a hotel review in the future. But wait, there’s related good news! I was planning to talk about this in a seperate post, but since we’re talking about health I’ll say it now. A new feature soon to appear on Kinglobjaw.com will discuss the dietary information of US Airways snacks.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark
Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway on US Airways starts today
At approximately 7:50PM local Philadelphia time, a US Airways Boeing 757 should begin boarding. The flight? A nonstop service to Oslo, Norway. US Airways press release here.
As with all the other US Airways transatlanic B757 services, there are 12 Envoy seats upfront and 164 in the back. Duration of the flight is approximately 8:00 hours and Great Circle Mapper tells us all it’s 3776 miles.
Philly to Oslo, Norway- 3776 miles, 8 hours in-flight on a US Airways B757
This is the third of four new transatlantic services US Airways launched since April:
- Charlotte, NC to Paris commenced April 21, 2009
- Philadelphia to Birmingham, UK commenced May 12, 2009
- Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway begins this evening
That leaves us Philadelphia to Tel Aviv which commences on July 2, 2009.
One last interesting tidbit. The flight (US788) from Philly to Oslo is the continuation of the inbound flight from Ft. Lauderdale. That segment is operated with a B734.
Have a nice clicK life,
-Mark