22/27, nine more to go!

I've now had 22 of my 27 hits credit, waiting on Office Max, FTD, Teleflora, Hilton and Network Solutions.

Office Max and Network Solutions appear to be "problem hits."  Not a red light, more of a yellow light.  Office Max hits posted last year in days, but the merchant is warning that it might take longer this year.  Or maybe not.  They don't really seem to know.

Network Solutions should hit, but it will be long after the promo is over.  In other words, there is going to be a lot of fingernail biting until the runner crosses the plate.  It's hits like these that lead to the need for a 37th hit.

So with nine to go, I have five hotel stay hits that I can do (with two already booked) and five car rentals left.  I also have a bunch of hotel points transfers.  In other words, I should be able to pull it off, with one to spare.  In honor of the promo, maybe I'll rent a car tomorrow.

Three hits and a miss

Alas, the first hit got pulled back today, as the Audience Rewards show that I bought (Brass something-or-other) got cancelled.  Of course, no one bothered to tell me, so I didn't find out until I called.  Good thing that I did.  For now, I'm going to see what happens with the trivia points, but I have a feeling I'll be buying another ticket.

The plus side is that I got two cheapos and a potential cheapo.  I bought my wife a teddy bear on FTD (With the romantic message, ""Happy birthday! You're worth every one of the 650 miles (and 93 Starwood points) I earned from ordering this!") and some flowers on Teleflora.  Total cost?  -$15.16.  Negative?  How did I pull that off?  Well, it turns out that what I bought her this year is a grand total of $15.16 less than the cost of the flowers I would have bought her locally.  Hey, those costs work both ways.

Vinesse could be an issue.  FTer dsquared37 turned me on to a wine chiller, which cost me $10.70, after $.75 shipping (versus the free shipping that others seem to have gotten).  There is still some controversy over whether a non-subscription is good for miles and, therefore, a hit.  The T&C on Vinesse's website may or may not indicate that a wine purchase is required.  Of course, those T&C are also from 2009, so take it for what it's worth.  If it does come through, it's a cheap hit for a wine chiller that I will never use for the wine that I don't drink.

Supershuttle hits, and fortunately, my wife's birthday is in October...

Turns out there are three flower-related hits (1800flowers, ftd and teleflora), a fact that had escaped my attention earlier.  Shipping is the killer with both of these, with the shipping costing as much as the cheapest items!

My DFW Super Shuttle no-show hit.  Thanks to FTer Heffa, who was kind enough to check a bunch of us in when we all missed our non-existent flights to DFW and weren't able to get to our non-existent Hyatt reservations.