Any of you out there who follow Boarding Area bloggers probably already know this, but now that it’s launched I’d like to welcome everyone else out there to MilePoint.  I like the format because it incorporates certain facebook features I like such as the ability to Like posts and a notifications area that pops up letting you know about new messages to subscribed threads.

MilePoint is a new forum for frequent travelers started by Randy Petersen (who also runs Boarding Area).

A lot of it is similar to Flyertalk due to the overlap of members, but overtime it will evolve.  It is all about content and what people make of the site.

Sunday marks 1/2 marathon #2 of the year: the Disney Princess Half.  This time I have someone with me so I can get some pictures that are my property.  My pictures last time were property of ASI which is why I never posted them here.

I haven’t done much training these past few weeks.  I spent a week at the hotel with the broken treadmill again and then I was home for a week and just too lazy.  I’m adding a new toy to my arsenal next week so hopefully my training gets back on schedule because it’s only 2 weeks until the next one.  The hotels I’m staying at next week have adequate equipment, but I’m traveling to a colder area so I can’t run outside.

The travel tip of the week this week (I know it’s not Monday, but life happens) is to always buy 2.

Whenever I buy deodorant, brushes, or other products that are consumable I always purchase two…one for the road and one for home.

Before I started doing this I would constantly run out to the store at my destination because I would realize I left my brush at home or I didn’t have any tooth paste.  Before the 3-1-1 days I’d buy the normal size bottles of shampoo and conditioner and travel with them.  Now I have 3 oz bottles I refill from family-sized bottles. If I didn’t have the same products both places, eventually I’d like one product better and try to keep it with me at all times which meant I’d ultimately leave it at home.

If you travel once-a-year this tip doesn’t apply, but if you live out of your suitcase more than you live out of your dresser, then it’s a good idea to keep the same products in both places.  I’m almost to this stage for headphones as well since I use them at home for the gym as much as I use them on the plane and this way I won’t have to hunt them down all the time.

(stealing from DrG over at MilePoint.com)

Dropbox isn’t new, but it is new to me.  As someone who travels frequently it is nice to be able to transfer files easily from my home computer to my phone, nook, or work computer.  Now I have access to certain files wherever I am.  I was just e-mailing files to myself or using Google Docs before.

Dropbox shows up as a folder on my desktop.  I place a file in there.  It uploads it to dropbox land.  I go to dropbox on my phone or nook and download the file and transfer it where I need it.  This is great for files like many of the free .epub books out there in the public domain.  I can browse on my computer, download, place it in dropbox (I don’t care much about covers and other meta data so I skip Calibre if the file didn’t come with that).

Dropbox comes with 2 gb of cloud storage in their free plan and they have the ability to purchase more.  2 gb is adequate for me for personal use since I don’t need to share a lot of pictures and I view it as more temporary than something like Google Docs or photo hosting.

There is a feature to share files with others.  I haven’t tried that yet, but it may come in handy when my husband wants to share files with me since he’s a Mac and I’m a PC and I like to keep my flash drives formatted to NTFS because I need to keep large virtual machines on them for work.

• Sign up via a referral link (extra 250 MB) - Here’s Mine http://db.tt/Y9q7UTL
• Complete steps such as the tour to become a “Dropbox guru” (extra 250MB)
• Connect Dropbox to social media (up to 640MB) – http://www.dropbox.com/free
• Register .edu email address (extra 500MB) http://www.dropbox.com/edu
• Refer other users (extra 250MB each)
• Refer fellow students (extra 500MB each) – dropbox.com/edu

As a value-added service Amazon just announced that Prime subscribers (ETA, only paid subscribers) are now allowed to stream many movies and TV shows from their Instant Streaming for free, 5,000 right now.  I’m sure it will be similar to the Netflix streaming where it is often not anything you actually care to watch, but sometimes in desperation I do watch Netflix streaming.

Maybe it’s time to cancel Netflix since I rarely use it anyway.

****Edited to add**** I had realized this when I came to edit and someone had already commented.  The streaming is only included in the paid $79 membership (which they state is not increasing at this time).  Student members will not get free streaming in addition to their current 2 day prime.

I’ve fallen behind on my class reading.  Reading from a laptop on a plane is pretty far from my idea of fun, but I still wasn’t too keen on getting an iPad (due to my refusal to use apple products) or a plain old eReader.  Let’s face it, I’m not a reader and since that’s the case I see little point in owning a gadget for an activity I don’t do.  Similar to how I don’t own a waffle iron.

Then I learned that the Barnes and Noble’s Nook Color (and other nook models) is just one big application running on Android.  Other craftier people used that to their advantage and decided to put Google’s new tablet OS Honeycomb on the nook.

Voila, I have a fairly functional android tablet with the form factor of an eReader and the price point of less than half of the Xoom.  Also, the OS is running from a microSD card so to make it a proper Nook Color again I just have to take the card out and it will boot up just fine!  This only set me back around $300 after the nook, taxes, and a fresh microSD card.

I can’t get certain things to work on it though including the Delta app, but I still have my phone for that.  There is no GPS and the color doesn’t have a 3G option like the eInk version does, but it does have a wireless-N card.

I haven’t had the opportunity to explore this as much as I would like since I’m out of cell data coverage and the Wifi at this hotel is horrible.

Some features: You enter your sky miles number and it accesses your itineraries.
It displays sky miles number, status, and mile balance.
It searches for flight schedules and flight status.  Flight status includes flight amenities for first and coach.

The most interesting feature is the parking locator.  It allows you to take a picture of your parking spot and set a GPS marker to assist in finding your car.  You can even e-mail it to yourself with email accounts you’ve added.  I’m sure there are most likely stand-alone apps that do the same thing, but I thought it was a good bonus feature for a flight app.

This adds Delta to the ranks of Southwest, Continental, and American Airlines that already have android apps.  Now it’s time for US Airways.

Go search the market for Delta and you should see the official Delta app.  I’m one of the first 50 to download it apparently.

Full report tomorrow.

It’s been a long week in Phoenix and I’m waiting for a red eye so I decided to hit up the Phoenix Roadside 66 in the B concourse of PHX.  Since it’s an HMS Host establishment I know I’ll have to present ID for any alcohol purchase.  I went through the TSA checkpoint with my passport card so that is most accessible.  I present that to the waitress.  She asks “do you have your passport?”  No.  I pointed out the birthday on the ID, but she says it’s a state law that she can’t accept it.  Really?  I looked up the AZ state laws and it says “border crossing cards” from federal governments are acceptable.

I can use my passport card to clear TSA and to clear CBP, but I can’t use it to buy a beer in AZ?  Really?

Tip docked for lying.

I know just last week I said I just have the normal Hilton HHonors AMEX and I was fine with that, but tonight I sat down and did the math.

Last year (according to my nice AMEX yearly summary) I spent ~$9,000 at Hilton properties on that card.

Since the Surpass earns 9 pp$ instead of 6 pp$ at Hiltons if  I take 9000 x 3 I get 27,000 points I didn’t earn.  This is just north of 1 free Category 3 room.  Plus this year I’ll get the upgrade bonus points based on spend and stay so the first year it definitely pays off.

I also figured while I was at it I might as well request a credit limit increase and that got instantly approved.  I only requested a $3000 increase on a $5000 limit, but figured it’s better to play it safe.  I thought about trying to double it, but with my pending Hilton Citi card and it’s limit I don’t really need more on the AMEX.