Get Help with Priceline Hotels at Betterbidding.com

A while back I used Betterbidding.com to help me make the best bid on Priceline Hotels and ended up getting about $99 $75 a night for a Club Quarters room in Chicago when the conference rate at the nearby (four blocks away) Palmer House Hilton was over $160 $169 a night. I saved $282.

The users and especially the site manager there will bend over backwards to help you find the best rate, even going so far as to post a detailed multi-step bidding strategy to take advantage of some quirks of Priceline bidding. Basically, a rejected bid is not the end.

Here's a link to the discussion thread on the forum for the Chicago trip, which includes the bidding strategy they posted for me.

Florida Wedding Odyssey, Day Three: The Big Event

I've been writing journalistic and academic articles for a decade, yet words fail me to describe James and Laura's wedding. It was perfect for them and for their guests. I hope you, dear five readers, will join me in wishing them all the best.

Here, as you can imagine, is a slideshow. Credit for the photos goes to my dad Randy, who had the presence of mind not to drop his camera in the sand on the day of his cousin's wedding.

Update: Fixed the captions on two photos. Laura's dad is Ben, not Ken.

Florida Wedding Odyssey, Day Two

A beautiful rehearsal dinner capped Day Two of the Florida Wedding Odyssey (so called for its four-day length and multiple events, each requiring a separate outfit). My cousin James and his fiancee Laura looked great and James' parents, Rick and Deb, redeemed my opinion of country clubs by finding one with really quite good food. I ended the evening buried underneath a dogpile of little kids, which suited me just fine.

Here's a slideshow.

Florida Wedding Odyssey, Day One

We're down here in Florida attending my cousin James' four-day wedding. Today was the BBQ, tomorrow's the rehearsal dinner, Sunday's the wedding and Monday's the brunch. First stop as always was The Crab Trap, which overlooks a lake containing actual gen-u-wine gators. You'd think there'd be alligator on the menu, but instead you have to settle for Three Crab Soup, which is just about the tastiest thing you could imagine.

Somehow I managed not to get a good shot of the bride and groom, so look for a shot of James and Laura later.

Here's a slideshow of some photos from The Crab Trap and the BBQ.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

My youth is passing into history as the yawning abyss of 30 rolls forebodingly toward me from just over the horizon. Nevertheless, I maintain the ability to act like a total goofball, with the always-essential assistance of Jami, who bought me the birthday-cake hat.

Many thanks to the many friends who made my party at The Watering Hole such great fun. To the many other friends who didn't hear about the party because it was put together at the last minute -- sorry. I'll make it up to you with another party mid-summer, and probably yet another when everybody gets back to Lincoln this fall from points far and away.

Look for a slideshow of photos soon. Here's a slideshow of photos.

Comments Back Open

After a long hiatus, comments are now open again. WordPress 1.5, my blogging software, appears to now have fairly bulletproof comment spam management built in. If all goes well, there will be no more ads telling you to sprout horns and pop a Levitra (no prescription required).

Shelf Road 2005: 60 Degrees, Then 60 Inches

This year's Shelf Road trip went great on Day 1, with 60-degree-plus temperatures and bright sun-shiny conditions. Then the freak snowstorm (which wasn't really 60 inches, more like 16 -- which is still nuts!) hit, and Day 2 got canceled. Consequently, not a lot of photos to share. Someone needs to remember to buy Mother Nature another round of drinks before next year's Canon City conclave.

Thanks for the Mountains

Credit for the pretty mountains header image goes to "pguler," whoever he or she is. Found the image on Digital Westex Image Gallery.

Ack! What Happened to the Orange and Green?

Gentle five readers, you may be looking with trepidation upon johnfulwider dot com sans its gorgeous Orange and Green color scheme. Never fear, it shall make its return in somewhat different, but still shockingly handsome, form once my long-overdue upgrade to WordPress 1.5 is complete.