February 23, 2012

Why is American Airlines blocking Pageonce Travel’s Trip Tracker?

When people ask what my favorite iPhone app is I say Pageonce Travel’s Trip Tracker without hesitation.  It automatically pulls all your travel reservations (air, hotel, car) with confirmation numbers and everything and loads them into one place.  It also sends alerts if anything changes.  As a frequent traveler I totally rely on it… I don’t even print the email confirmations anymore.

So I was very disappointed when I logged on tonight to check my travel for the week and noticed that my American flights were missing.  Why?  Because according to the app, American has decided to block access for some reason.  Pageonce suggests calling the AA 800# but when I did the American Airlines rep (who, ironically, was obviously not in America) could only help with reservations.  She had no clue what Pageonce even is.  Disappointing indeed.

I wrote this post because I searched Google and couldn’t find any info about American and Pageonce.  Am I the only AA Platinum flier using this thing?  I’m hoping somebody might comment who knows what’s going on.  Or maybe share other ideas, for instance it looks like Expedia is still sharing info with Pageonce, so perhaps if I book all my future flights on Expedia instead of aa.com maybe I’ll still be able to use the app?

I Still Haven’t Forgiven Lassen’s

Boycott Lassens

It’s been three years since Lassen’s broke my heart by donating $27,500 of dollars in profits in the company’s name to the “Yes on 8″ campaign to end gay marriage.  If the owners had only donated in their own name with their own money I wouldn’t care nearly as much.  But this money was donated in the company’s name.  I find it completely hypocritical too, because they know darn well that if they put a “Yes on 8″ sign in their window they would’ve lost considerable business.  But they’re happy to do it on the sly without their customers knowing about it.  Just awful.  Thankfully those donations were recorded by the California Secretary of State, and so my personal boycott continues…

 

Seven Day Vegan Challenge

daytwobreakfast

Vegan BreakfastFriday night I watched a program on CNN that a friend had told me about called “The Last Heart Attack.”  It scared the hell out of me.  Saturday I embarked on a challenge to see if I could eat only vegan food for seven full days. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal because I thought I could just cut out meat, dairy and eggs and be OK since I already eat a lot of vegetarian stuff. Wrong. Egg whites, gelatin and/or some form of dairy seem to be in most everything.

That first day was pretty rough… I was shocked to learn how many vegetarian items that I like are not vegan. By the end of the day I had decided to head over to Trader Joe’s with their handy Vegan list and start shopping for only Vegan items.   Because of that today was a bit easier.  Breakfast this morning was really good and included TJ’s soy “yogurt” and blueberry fiber muffins.  I’m chronicling the seven days on my other blog, Ventura County Vegan.  The fact that wine and coffee are vegan-approved makes me think that I’ll make it.  I hope you’ll follow along and maybe even try it yourself.  If for no other reason than the fact that the food you take for granted now will taste SO MUCH BETTER in seven days.  =)

ToGo’s Sandwiches is Coming to Ventura!

Togo's Ventura

Well it’s been a good year for new restaurants!  We got a Freebirds, a Panera, and now we’re FINALLY getting a ToGo’s Sandwich Shop.  I saw the sign today between Robek’s Juice Bar and the Baja Fresh over off Telephone, where the old Quizno’s used to be.  Of course I’d rather see more locally-owned restaurants open but I love all this new variety.  Cheers!

“Harvest Passport” Coming This November

harvest passport

This looks like fun:  In November, the Ventura County Winery Association is going to be offering a “Harvest Passport” for $35 that gets you a full tasting at six Ventura County-based wineries.   You also get a 10% discount at the wineries and get entered into a drawing for some prizes.

Thankfully they give you the entire month to visit all six wineries so we don’t have to do it in a day!  I think we’ve all tried to do that once or twice up in Santa Barbara, and by about that fifth winery it’s hard to tell Sea Smoke from Charles Shaw. =)

Here are the wineries that are taking part:

Bella Victorian Vineyard & Winery
Cantara Cellars
Four Brix Winery
Herzog Wine Cellars
Magnavino Cellars
Old Creek Ranch Winery

You can purchase tickets on the association’s website at www.vcwines.com.  Enjoy!

Death Cab for Cutie in Santa Barbara this weekend

Still looking for something to do this Saturday night?  Surprisingly there isn’t a beer, wine or food festival scheduled in the Ventura area (that I know of).  Seems like we’ve had one of those every weekend since June!  Anyway, there are still great seats available to see Death Cab for Cutie at the SB Bowl Saturday night.  The opening act is Explosions in the Sky, which I’m looking forward to almost as much as Death Cab.  Should be a beautiful night to listen to some live music under the stars!

Occupy Ventura is Here!

occupyventura

Looks like the revolution is arriving in Ventura some time over the next couple of weeks.  As part of the 99% I’m glad to hear it!  I’ve moved my money from the big four Banksters but am ready to do more.  I’m not sure exactly what yet, but this movement is still in its infancy and will hopefully mature quickly into a true revolution against the 1% of the population that is running this country into the ground.

Here are the links to their sites if you’re interested in jumping in:

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002949629078

Website:  http://occupyventura805.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  @occupyventura

 

Keep the Ventura Parking Meters and Move On

I can’t believe someone was motivated enough to collect 10,000 signatures to force an expensive ballot initiative to remove the $1/hour parking meters.  In reading about this in the local rags it appears there are two groups who say the parking meters are ruining their lives:  Some downtown merchants and some downtown shoppers.  It seems to me that the problem isn’t the parking meters – they’re just being blamed for other shortcomings in those peoples’ lives.  Here’s my advice to both:

1.  Merchants:  If someone is not willing to pay $1 to park in front of your store or restaurant, and they are also not willing to walk a block or two to avoid paying said dollar, it means YOUR STORE SUCKS.  Sorry to put it in those terms, but that’s exactly what the market is telling you.  Do us all a favor and close up shop and move on.  How many gifts from heaven, thai/peru/sushi restaurants and sharp knives do we really need? You’re taking up valuable space in our downtown district.

2.  Shoppers:  There are still free parking spaces everywhere in downtown.  If the prospect of having to walk an entire block or two or three in order to enjoy a meal is too daunting that means you’re probably too fat and/or lazy to be eating out anyway.  That’s not the fault of the parking meters.  Stay home and skip a few meals!  How on earth could you reasonably say that you love going downtown and there are things there that you need, but the idea of paying ONE DOLLAR or walking a couple blocks keeps you from doing it.  Ridiculous.

OK that’s enough already.  I’ve spent more time on this than it deserves.

Half-off Wine Samplers at TastingRoom.com

Wine Sampler

This is a great coupon code if you’re a wine lover… go to TastingRoom.com and choose a sampler and you’ll get half off and free basic shipping if you use coupon code SN20.  I just ordered one that includes a L’Aventure wine and got the whole 6-bottle sampler for $15 delivered.   I think this code only lasts 48 hours so check it out!  (Full disclosure – I get NO compensation or other benefit by you doing this.)

Help Freebirds Help Hungry Families Today

Freebirds Ventura

Freebirds World Burrito at Telephone and Victoria is doing a soft launch today (the official opening isn’t until Wednesday) and the first 250 people to show up between 11-1 and 5-7 today will get to test out the food in exchange for a $5 donation to Food Share.  They’re doing it again tomorrow (Tuesday) for Schools on Wheels.   Don’t miss out!

Source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jun/11/the-joys-of-being-a-food-competition-judge/#ixzz1PB7UQEix