D2

It seems I am playing email tennis with my contractor and his electrician. I'm being...specific about what I want, and based on what I'm getting back in an electrical quote, I'm not sure they're getting it. The process is particularly slow in that it took a week to get some simple answers about the initial quote.

The designers also sent me an invoice for all the stuff they'll be purchasing on my behalf: flooring, fixtures, furniture, etc. They sent my their bank details so I could wire them the six-figure amount, but my bank refused to accept them because apparently while TD lets you keep your transit number when your branch closes, CIBC's system interprets this as an input error. So instead I got a bank draft and sent it to their office Xpresspost.

I have no confidence that we're going to finish by the end of June (which was our original timeline) at this point. Around two months in and we're only done demo and ceiling rough-in.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) edition.

I recall seeing this when it came out, but that almost certainly would have been on home video, so in the year 2000. The past really was a different time: Rene Russo gets chat about this movie still for having the audacity to show the goods at 45. Just like drinking green juice, that was out there for 1999.

That aside, the rest is well-done. The cinematography in particular is cleverly cut at several points, the soundtrack is good (despite being a little late-90s synth heavy), the mains all have at least a little depth to them (props to Denis Leary for a restrained performance). The heist relies a little strongly on "magic" to happen in the end, but I'm willing to forgive.

For some reason I have never forgotten the detail about matching paintings by their edges, and the film's use of Magritte's The Son of Man also left an impression.

Anyhow, 4/4. Brosnan was at the height of his power here even if his Glasgow accent was implausible (why not make Crown from Ulster?).

In...2018? 2019? I finally started flying enough to get airline status. In those days I was jetting back and forth between SFO and YYZ every 4-6 weeks, plus my work travel from the Bay Area to Seattle and the UK/Ireland. Then the pandemic happened and they renewed everyone, then I managed to fly enough to scrape it together in 202..3? Kept it through 2024 and 2025 (one year by paying for an extension).

But I fly a lot less than I used to. Is it worth coughing up $600 (or 30k points) to keep it for 2026?

Well, having it has been nice: guaranteed Zone 2 boarding (so there's always room for my carry-on up top where I'm sitting), free checked bags, better treatment on the phone and from ground staff, (much!) shorter check-in line, occasionally bidding for an upgrade actually works. Enough travel hackers have figured out how to get there that plebs like me the lowest rung no get lounge access automatically (boo) but I can deal. Oh, and status match with Avis, too (but not, alas, Marriott).

On the other hand, how much flying do I see myself doing this year, really? I'm definitely taking a trip soon-ish (before the end of April for certain) which will involve flying, and at least one more before the year is over. If I can toss in a third somewhere (I think I want to go back to Tofino, although allegedly it's even more expensive now), would I pay $100 per journey leg to benefit? I mean... probably.

I think I'm going to do it, paying with points. Those are basically Monopoly money anyway. I don't remember the last time I cashed them in for a flight, or how many times I successfully did so.

Now then, Platinum Marriott status? That was really worth something (free breakfasts! bonus points! early check-ins and late check-outs!). But it took 50+ nights a year (which I used to be able to get Uncle Zuck to cover almost all of). Alas.

I'd travel for work again, but my rosy feeling about it is heavily influenced by the fact that I got to go to interesting places like Dublin. Had I accumulated those nights staying in the Marriott City Express of the rural midwest, perhaps I'd feel differently.