September is basically over and Christmas is right around the corner!
Oops, I meant Thanksgiving and Halloween! 🙂
Thank you very much for taking the time to check out my random thoughts.
FALL IS COMING!
I just love this time of the year and, clearly, being morbid and twisted!
THRIFTY IS MORE LIKE SHIFTY!
If you’re traveling soon and are renting a car, spend a few dollars more and avoid Thrifty Car Rental (part of The Hertz Corporation)!
I used them when I went to Atlantic City last month. I drove the car from the Philadelphia airport to my hotel in Atlantic City, parked it, and then drove it back to the airport.
They checked the car upon my return and all was good. Once the bill posted to my credit card and it matched my invoice, I threw away my three toll receipts from the Atlantic City Expressway.
Thrifty offered me their “PlateGlass All-Inclusive Tolling” option ($16.49/per day) to drive through the E-ZPass lanes, but I refused because I brought cash for tolls.
Two weeks after I returned home, I got a bill from Thrifty telling me I “declined” the service… but, I “activated the transponder device affixed to the car windshield and traveled through the toll facility”.
Because of that activation, they were going to charge me $49.47! (It showed up on my credit card this week!)
I never touched the device and the three toll agents that I talked to asked if I wanted to use E-ZPass and I said no and paid cash. The fourth toll was coin only (no agent) and the final toll near the airport to return the car was a cash only option.
I disputed the claim by email and two business days later, they replied they would drop the charge to $16.30 ($1.30 for the toll plus a $15 administrative fee).
I told them I’d rather pay $16.30 than the $49.47, adding “And, that $1.30 you paid was a toll with NO attendant and yes, I did stop and pay the toll with coins!”
I concluded with “I’m totally disgusted with my first (AND ONLY) experience with your rental company. I’ll never use you again and I’m definitely going to make sure others know about it!!! … TOTAL SCAM!”
Two days later, I got this response, “The Toll Authorities reported the rental vehicle going through 1 toll without payment. I have reviewed the toll and see that there is a cash payable option at this location. As a courtesy, I am adjusting the account in full in the amount of $49.47. Please allow up to 5 business days for the adjustment to post back to your account.”
So, the $49.47 charge posted Thursday (9/29) and I called and they said the “refund” of $49.47 was being processed. I just checked this morning (9/30) and it is pending!
Bottom line: I’ll never use Thrifty again and I’ll save every receipt longer! For my upcoming December car rental, I went with Alamo!
“THE PALACE PAPERS”
It’s now been more than three weeks since Queen Elizabeth II died.
This summer, I read the incredible new book, “The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor — the Truth and the Turmoil” from journalist and author Tina Brown.
It’s a look at the Royal family over the past 25 years since Princess Diana’s 1997 death.
From a monarchy standpoint, this is the follow-up to awesome 2007 book, “The Diana Chronicles”.
Since I know Brown’s reporting pedigree is legit, I believe what she reports and writes.
The book covers how Her Majesty botched the handling of Diana’s death with the Queen basically vowing that no one else in the future (Camilla, Catherine, or Meghan) would have the uncontrolled media spotlight that surrounded the Princess of Wales in the 1980s and the 1990s.
Since the book came out this past spring, it covers everything up to the Queen’s “Platinum Jubilee”, the celebration for her seventy years of service to the people.
One final note about the book: Her wittiness (and saltiness) came through in the first few pages when she attended a 2006 memorial service for the Queen’s cousin, Lord Lichfield, in Westminster.
Brown describes Princess Anne as “dowdy and gruff”, the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla’s (now Queen Consort of the U.K.) outfit as a “box-shaped hat capped off a dour air stewardess suit”, her ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, as a “walking pink gin”, a fashionable English cocktail in the mid-1800s!
But, what made me LOL was the overall description of the group of royals and their family, “This was a crowd that could well afford the best Harley Street dentist, but you could root for truffles in the forest of bad teeth!”
Come on, Tina, how do you really feel? 🙂
“THE DIANA CHRONICLES”
Can you believe that Princess Diana died 25 years ago last month?
If you’re still intrigued by the Royal family, I definitely recommend Tina Brown’s “The Diana Chronicles”, which was released in the summer of 2007.
Here’s what I had to say about the book in August 2019: “Brown’s book is very comprehensive and easy to read. It’s much more journalistic, thorough and fair (i.e. honest). However, she could be catty! Meow!
Although the front and back cover featured the same collage of photos of Princess Diana’s life, I really wish the book featured photos inside!
One thing that Brown talked about that intrigued me was Diana and Charles’s divorce settlement: a lump sum of £17 million (roughly $20.5 million) and £400,000 annually for Diana’s office (nearly one-half million dollars).”
GRADE: A
ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS RIGHT NOW!
I’ve been a fan of Charlie Puth for years now and he’s so adorable. Now I can say that I’m on the BTS bandwagon, sort of!
Charlie’s latest hit, “Left And Right” features Jungkook of the South Korean band. BTS.
The song is a #1 hit in India, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and a Top 5 hit in Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Here in the U.S., it’s up to #10 on the Top 40 radio airplay charts.
HITS AND MISSES!
HITS: “The Crown” season five arrives November 9th.
HITS: Part one of the fourth season of “YOU” debuts February 10, 2023 with part two arriving one month later on March 10th!
MISSES: Sadly, Peacock cancelled the latest “Queer As Folk” reboot after the first season! We’ll never know what happened after that shocking kiss in the rain at the end!!!
“BIG SKY”
I’m excited for the third season of ABC’s “Big Sky” because Reba McEntire joined the cast.
It’ll be great having her back on television after the incredibly funny six seasons of “Reba” (WB & The CW, 2001- 2007) and the disappointing season of ABC’s “Malibu Country” (2012-2013).
And, I love the fact that she’ll playing a bad person!
I’m also hoping that we’ll be seeing more of Jesse James Keitel that I fell in love with on the Peacock’s” Queer As Folk”. I’m still waiting to see if she’ll on the third season!
I binge watched the first two seasons recently because of Reba’s arrival and Jesse James, so here are my thoughts:
Season 1: I absolutely love the two female leads on the series, Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) and Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury).
The first season covers the disappearance of two white teenagers traveling through Montana. We find out that there are many more missing women, but because of their race and profession (sex trade), their disappearance didn’t get the same commitment from law enforcement. Shocker!
One thing I love about the series is that when it’s time for a character to die, they’re dead! This is something that is not dragged out forever on like most series. That was evident when a big name was killed off at the end of the first episode of the series.
Something that I found rather jolting was that after the first nine episodes, there is a three-month time jump and a new storyline is introduced for the final seven episodes to play alongside the first half of the season’s main plot.
GRADE: B
Season 2: While the bloodshed continued, I found the second season very disjointed.
The search for the baddie in season one continued. Some of the characters introduced for this season’s drug trade storyline were so annoying (two of the teenagers) and some were great (the other two teenagers).
And, that whole new Legarski storyline was too much and too silly. I’m a fan of John Carroll Lynch (“American Horror Story”), but not of Rick Legarski’s twin brother, Wolf!
GRADE: C+
After watching the first two seasons, I won’t get too attached to Reba’s Sunny Barnes because one thing about “Big Sky” is that it’s not afraid to unexpectedly kill characters off!
Although the third season is already airing, I’m going to avoid spoilers and wait until the mid-season finale airs and then binge watch the first half of season three.
I’m disappointed to learn that my hottie Omar Metwally will not be a regular in the third season because of a scheduling conflict! 😦
FINAL “HALLOWEEN ENDS” TRAILER
Is it October 14th? That’s rhetorical, I know it isn’t! 🙂
The final trailer for “Halloween Ends” dropped this week! I can’t wait.
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
Anthony
Jamie Lee Curtis will return as Laurie Strode.
Wait, many of us feel as if we’ve been living it since last Halloween!
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 