It's over! 36 hits achieved!

33 posted, with two Hertz hits and NetSol still to come.  The Hertz hits shouldn't be a problem.  Nor should the NetSol one, although that will take a few months to post.  I have a hotel stay coming up this week, so that stay should provide the insurance hit.  A few notes from my FT post:

With the mysterious Connie having saved my Choice transfer, I have finally reached 36 hits (insurance hit to come later, but that's a freebie). My total out of pocket was $596.24, earning me 114,462 miles, pre-insurance hit. Cents per mile of 0.5209083 (although that seventh decimal point might have been rounded), which just missed my goal of 0.5 cpm. That number includes the $44 I spent for Choice points to transfer; Had I decided not to do that hit, I would be under the goal but sweating out every hit.

A few notes:

1. Any hit which involved a hotel I would have stayed in anyway, a restaurant I would have eaten at, an item I would have ordered, etc. was considered a free hit, since there was no incremental cost. If I surrendered a more valuable currency for a cheaper one to earn points (i.e., not earning SPG points and choosing to earn miles instead), the difference was added into the cost.

2. When I transferred points from a hotel program to US, I added the cost of the points (based on Lucky's estimates) to the numerator and the miles that I received to the denominator. That made my "accounting" more conservative, since a straight valuation of the miles might have made them worth more than the points transferred, but ultimately I felt that it made for a better comparison in a cents per mile sense. There was no discount given in programs where I never would have used the points anyway (I'm looking at you, PCH.).

3. "Negative costs" accrued where I bought a substitute item at a cheaper price than I would have paid absent the promo. Let's just say my wife received cheaper flowers this year than she might have in the past. She can think about it while she's drinking her PDB in SQ F.

4. Most expensive hit: The Wyndham transfer, valued at $70. Ouch. I shouldn't have done that one so early. Or at all.

5. I gave no bonus for the enjoyment I got out of doing the promo which includes, but is not limited to: trying to explain to the Hertz people that I really don't need the car, chatting with Joan from Choice in her van down by the river and trying to figure out exactly how much to spend at the W Hotel restaurant without going over $67.