You're never too old for @ChuckECheese in #GrapevineTX!

You're never too old for @ChuckECheese in #GrapevineTX!

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Youth Baseball: YMCA - A great place to start

So my wife has wanted to get the kids into sports for a long time now, but it can be quite cost prohibitive, and time consuming. This is especially true when you just want to try it out, have some fun, and see if you even like it.

Where to turn?

We found an answer at the YMCA:

YMCA SportsThe YMCA Youth Sports philosophy is to allow kids to participate in a noncompetitive program with an emphasis on fun, development of character, and fair play.  

The season is short (time commitment solved), the cost is low ($55-$70 for several months play). My youngest has started first with baseball, he joined team 13, got a team color of Orange. Each team was assigned names after real league teams, so we were the Astros (who are actually doing quite well this year).

So how have they been doing? Well... I just keep thinking of the Sandlot kids. But they are having fun, and I think my youngest (and a few others) have a real knack for this kind of thing.

My oldest starts flag football in a few weeks... so more driving and practices are to come.

This has been a great experience, especially for someone like myself who isn't a big sports fan.

If you are looking for a place to have your kids play just for fun, or to get started cheap and easy, the YMCA might be your place!

Darrell

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Priceline (Internet Travel Service)

Priceline (Internet Travel Service)

Can be written at:

Executive Services
Priceline.com LLC
800 Connecticut Ave.
Norwalk, CT 06854

Welll... I dedicated to myself that I would give the good the bad and the other. Let me tell you about Priceline. First of all, I have a general principal I have found to be overwhelmingly true. The more a company spends on advertising, the worse they customer service must be. If the only place I've heard of you is commercials... it's because my friends haven't used you and raved about you. This one is no exception. Sorry William Shatner, this company is a bust.

My mom comes into town. She is leaving tomorrow for Chicago, and she booked a hotel there through Priceline.

The price of the hotel is the same as it would have been if she booked it through the hotel directly ( she uses this hotel often). Plans changed, she decided to not stay in Chicago, but drive directly down to Pontiac, IL instead.

She called well over 24 hours in advance (usual industry standard) to cancel the hotel reservation. She was informed that the reservation was booked through a web provider so they couldn't cancel it, she'd have to call them. But they couldn't even see which web provider booked it.

She went through emails and found out it was Priceline. She called them to get told that they had a no cancellation policy, and they would be charging a $100 cancellation fee. Escalated twice, still same answer.

• That will be disputed with the Credit Card Company. 
• This entire family will never use Priceline to book anything.
• I found the Yelp entry for Priceline (74 reviews with a ONE star rating... that's bad averages). 

Recommendation: 

DO NOT use Priceline. In fact, do not book anything through any of these services. Develop a relationship with a favorite (hotel, airline, etc) and build that relationship and points with them.


Darrell

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