Today I traveled from Philadelphia to Starkville — home of Mississippi State University. I've come for MCBIOS 2018, which is the 15th annual conference of the Midsouth Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Society. I was invited to speak at a workshop titled "No Boundary Thinking", where I'll be talking about hetnets (slides in progress). I am excited to be here for many reasons, but one is that the conference name reminds me of the legendary McRib® by McDonald's.
On the way from PHL to GTR, I was able to hit up three airport lounges, all complimentary thanks to my Amex Platinum (referral link). In this order, I visited the Amex Centurion Lounge PHL, the Delta Sky Club PHL, and the Delta Sky Club ATL at Gate A17 (Delta has 9 lounges at Atlanta).
At the ATL Sky Club, I asked the bartender whether there were any specialty cocktails. It turns out there were two. Of course, having previously completed the very prestigious and challenging Centurion PHL Challenge, I had to do the Delta Sky Club ATL Challenge and try both cocktails. Note that unlike the Centurion Lounge, not every drink is gratis at the Sky Club. Fortunately, these two beverages were on the complimentary menu.
Cooperstown
The first cocktail was titled the Cooperstown, I believe to celebrate a local baseball team. Here's the recipe:
Tanqueray Gin, Martini & Rossi Rosso Vermouth, Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth, Orange Bitters, Mint Leaves
Unfortunately, the bar was out of mint leaves. Personally, I preferred this cocktail to the second, but neither come anywhere close to matching the brilliance of an Amex Centurion specialty cocktail.
Bartender's Selection
The second cocktail was titled the Bartender's Selection, perhaps due to its seasonal nature. The recipe was:
The bar's featured cocktail for March is the Spring Beer cocktail. This cocktail is a flavored pilsner mixed with vodka, lemon juice, and ginger creating a refreshing beverage on a crisp sunny spring afternoon.
missing ginger, sweet
Again, the bar was out the garnish, this time ginger.
Highlight
The drinks were mediocre. However, the real highlight was just outside of the entrance to the Sky Club: an ExOfficio store. Now for those who don't know ExOfficio, they produce "the original travel-ready underwear", and I've been wearing their briefs for several years. I didn't expect airport malls to be at the cutting edge of ultralight high-performance gear. However, a few months ago I encountered a Buff store in the Barcelona airport. And here was an ExOfficio shop, which apparently only has 6 stores in the entire world!
I ended up purchasing a Sea-to-Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack. Note that the Sea-to-Summit website actually shows the old model of this pack. The ExOfficio airport store had both the old and new models, and the sales association had to call up a supervisor to figure out what the differences were.
The new model is actually slightly heavier at 2.5 ounces versus 2.4, but I think that's mostly due to a carabiner which used to be a button strap. The new model has a slightly larger (integrated) stuff sack to make it easier to pack and has a simplified construction (fewer seams). I do wish the seams were taped for greater water resistance, but this is not the case.
The most amazing aspects of the pack are its ultralight weight and compressibility. It'll make a good addition to my gear list for this trip and the ensuing backpacking adventure.
Steemian Boss Series
This is the sixth post in the popular Steemian Boss Series. Previous posts include:
- Ultralight travel to Key West
- Sights aboard a twinjet, Philly to Boston style
- How to hammock like a Steemian Boss in Cambridge
- Glory aboard American Airlines flight 501
- The Centurion PHL Challenge: 8 specialty crafted cocktails
Do you want to be boss? Just tag your post with #steemian-boss, mention me in the post or a comment, and if it meets the quality standards for this series, I'll resteem and add it to the list above in future posts!
License
This post as well as its images are released under a CC BY 4.0 License. Republish or reuse this content, but please attribute by linking to this Steem post.
Nice, the Amex card is good for the car rental insurance and travel insurance too.
Apparently if your bags are delayed for a certain amount of hours you get up to some amount of money to spend on clothing and related items.
I have found the purchase protection on the Amex Platinum useful. My one-month-old Google Pixel 2 started misbehaving and Google would only replace it with a refurbished unit and refused to pay to for an authorized repair. However, Amex's purchase protection covered the repair at a local authorized service center.
However, Amex Platinum does not provide travel insurance for trip delays or cancellations. This bugged me last month when I had to reschedule a flight to California and pay the outrageous $200 change fee of American Airlines. My colleague had booked his flight with a Chase Sapphire Reserve, which does have better travel insurance, but still wouldn't cover the circumstances of the rescheduling.
I'm using the Pixel 2 now too. Love it.
The camera was a huge upgrade for me. Have you had the thing where Google assistant randomly picks one of your photos, applies filters, and then you get a notification.
@arcange can you take a look at this comment by @nurmahdalena, which I believe is a #phishing attempt? The link goes to
http://bit.do/ecgYvwhich redirects tohttps://steemik.tk/@harley1989/the-atl-delta-sky-club-challenge-all-2-specialty-cocktails/(Internet ArchiveReveal spoiler
After I flagged this comment it was deleted, but here's the pre-deleted version.
I see that the @nurmahdalena's account has posts that still have a pending payout. I could downvote them as retribution for this phishing attempt. My only worry would be if @nurmahdalena's account was hacked and therefore he/she is a victim, and not the perpetrator.
@yabapmatt, as a veteran, do you have any advice what is the best course of action here? I think it's important to disincentive malicious behavior and attempted theft.
Aren't you mixing up who did what here? It looks like Harley1989 is the one copying, and nurmahdalena the one to tell you. But yeah wow what on Earth is Steemik.tk?? Did someone copy all of Steemit?
@tesselart, welcome to the world of phishing. There is a Steem user @harley1989, but they did not repost my article. The scammer did not copy all of steem.it, but likely a very small portion (just the page with my post). The scammer hoped I'd login on the fake steem.it to downvote the plagiarizing post. However, I wouldn't really be logging in, but instead forfeiting my private key to the scammer. The steemik site is an impostor meant to trick users into disclosing their password to the scammer.
As an aside, this is why you should use a password manager, which remembers domain names, so you know something is up if the site is not the same domain that your password manager has stored.
see this post my all friend. And be aware. I am linking you to the
awareness. please See that. @dhimmel
https://steemit.com/abuse/@perry1/nybgy-aireal-is-an-id-hacker-i-got-his-proof
Wow dude, a scam within a scam. Good spotting! It's likely the user who wrote to you is also just another alt account. Indeed I'm even a bit uneasy about Steemconnect being so widespread and constantly asking you for active or owner key. I really hope no one hacks that but then again I wouldn't be surprised if someone does. I mean after all it's the most widely used and "trusted" tool on Steemit.
Wow the scammer is continuing with the username @avtandil, having posted another comment:
Reveal spoiler
This account has been stolen. Somehow I'm still logged via busy and can edit/post the thief's comments.
@avtandil, thanks for the update & good luck recovering your account. Make sure to learn about the different levels of private keys / passwords.
Once this situation is addressed, I'd love to read the post mortem report... e.g how your account was compromised, what the hacker did, and how you recovered the account. Until then, I'll hold off on upvoting because I don't want to risk rewarding the hacker.
The account has been recovered now (using the normal Steemit method - https://steemit.com/recover_account_step_1), and again I'm the owner. The thief used phishing, giving the link suggesting that someone has copied my friend's text (her account has been stolen as well). Normally probably it wouldn't work, but as it was late in the night, I was not cautious enough... The thief didn't harm the account much, posting only few comments, mostly in Korean, the reputation was not lost. However he managed to send the Steem Dollars to Bittrex, and there's rather no possibility of them being brought back. Pity. But on the other side I'm very happy, that he did it now, when ST$ is at 1,65$, and not some time ago, when it was 7,65$ ;)
Sorry about your 104.568 SBD loss. Nice to see your
account_recovertransaction in the blockchain. Hopefully, in the long run, this experience will help save you from a more costly lapse in security.Have you considered keeping your wealth as Steem Power rather than SBD? Not only will you receive a higher interest rate, but also you'll have higher security and network influence.
Could You explain me please, about this higher interest rate? And how could I later change this Steem Power back to cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies? Sounds interesting...
Thanks you for information spam
These IDs are confusing us with all these
links. Please do not enter anyone on this
link. In this kind of link, my friend
soan55's ID has been stolen / hacked.
Sorry for begging in here.
Can you guys comment anything with nice workds Like "looks good, wow, nice article bruh" ? on my blog. It will be a help. Please ?
And I will appreciate more if you can upvote too.
I will upvote back to your blogs too.
Thats my promise
This is a jam packed post. You talked about your travels and also caught a phishing scam. All in a days work. Your blog reminds me of a marketing strategy where you cleverly include brands and/or items that could show up as an organic Google search which might result in more views for your post and possibly drive more new users to STEEM. Love that picture of the drink with the plane in the background.
I might have to take a look at this Steemian Boss Series, first time I come across it. I wouldn't mind taking part in this, seems like a descent contest. The first cocktail sounds good to me, very simple and does not contain so many ingredients. I like simplifying stuff.
Yes, would love to read some stories of other self-proclaimed Steemian Bosses... currently I'm the only one. Although it's not really a contest but rather a tag to embody when a Steem user reports exceptional experiences that are likely totally irrelevant to everyone else on Steem.
Nice! I was just there yesterday before my flight. I have my access through Priority Pass - one of the complementary perks of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card
Ah yeah, I had the CSR last year, but cancelled when the annual fee rolled around and switched to the Amex Platinum, so there weren't any lapses in my lounge access.
Which lounge were you at with Priority Pass Select? I didn't think that included Delta or Centurion lounges.
Oh I guess I was at a different one - The Club at ATL. Free food, alcoholic beverages and wifi. Can't complain! I looked at the Amex Platinum but I wouldn't really be able to realize the benefit of the Uber rides and dining is definitely where I spend most of my money, where the CSR shines. I also like that I can transfer points earned from the Freedom and Freedom unlimited to maximize my point gain and take advantage of the CSR's 1.5x redemption rate.
Looks like a wonderful trip, well done
The place looks amazing, good for you
Nice post
Im not drinking much these days, but I still enjoy your adventures in airport cocktail lounges. Kind of bumming that this one had neither of the garnishes for your drinks though.
Also pretty funny that part of your excitement over the event is by way of association to the McDonald's McRib. Is it because you like the sandwich or just the name?
Whatever the case mabye enjoy the conference in Steemian-boss fashion and safe travels.
Didn't matter much. I was pressed for time, so I basically had to chug the cocktails after getting the photo. Of course, I had other obligations as well at the lounge like filling ziplock bags with curry chicken salad.
haha, nice!
You have a beautiful photo! Interesting angle!
all the best for your conference
Nice post!
You got a 20.78% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @dhimmel!
Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!
Excellent Post, you could help me, so that my posts are labeled and more people can see them, thanks. God bless you.
You did have a splendid trip. I enjoyed your well detailed write up, though i didn't know most of the places you do mentioned, only heard about them but i do really enjoyed every bit of your post. Thanks
Steady your posts, knowledgeable, innovative and I like, thank you for sharing
I loved your recommendations although I agree with you that the Cooperstown sounds spectacular. Greetings from Venezuela
Nice post. Resteemed your wonderful post.
Esta super tu post tambien soy Barman y cuando vi tu trago quede atrapado, gracias por compartir
Cocktails are the best way to enjoy many things at once.
Both looks nothing nice :)
Brother! I wish you much success in your conference. I hope and everything goes well, the subject sounds very interesting.
How are you all
This is a great post sir! 🙂
good your posts, greetings.
Cocktails are the best way to enjoy the many things at once.
Neither looks good
Congratulations, your post received one of the top 10 most powerful upvotes in the last 12 hours. You received an upvote from @smartsteem valued at 186.80 SBD, based on the pending payout at the time the data was extracted.
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Now I want to go have drinks in an airport lounge
At least the drinks were complimentary. :d Best of luck speaking at the conference.
nicee !
afiyet olsun dostum
Congratulations @dhimmel!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following category:
very interesting post please visit my profile also https://steemit.com/@tanisha1 vote up and fllow me maybe
Hi @tanisha1, I have visited your profile and checked out your posts. However, they all appear to be plagiarized news articles. I've flagged them with all my might.
@dhimmel, lol this is hilarious. You crack me up.
Familiar post brother..😎😎
me gusta mucho todo lo que se relaciona con viajes por eso me gusto mucho tu publicacion. te invito a que vallas a mi blog y si encuentras algo que te guste ayudame con un voto. @garnica
very bad
Thanks to post
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