Oranges - Citrus Fruit of the Year!

My wife and I love oranges, but did you know that according to Wikipedia, the sweet orange—is the citrus fruit Citrus sinensis (syn. Citrus aurantium L. var. dulcis L., or Citrus aurantium Risso) and its fruit? The orange is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo (Citrus maxima) and tangerine (Citrus reticulata). It is a small flowering tree growing to about 10 m tall with evergreen leaves, which are arranged alternately, of ovate shape with crenulate margins and 4–10 cm long. The orange fruit is a hesperidium, a type of berry.

Oranges originated in Southeast Asia. The fruit of Citrus sinensis is called sweet orange to distinguish it from Citrus aurantium, the bitter orange. In a number of languages, it is known as a "Chinese apple" (e.g. Dutch Sinaasappel, "China's apple", or "Apfelsine" in German). The name is thought to ultimately derive from the Dravidian word for the orange tree, with its final form developing after passing through numerous intermediate languages.

I understand that oranges are all the rage in Florida too. We just love oranges.

OK, OK, if you’ve made it this far, I can now get to my point of this post. I have a theory that our friends at SVO lurk here daily, and like the Wall Street Journal to a stock broker, we are becoming a daily news source for most of them. I think I’ve figured out a way to test that theory. Basically, if I bury a link to say THIS ONLINE ORANGE SHOP deep within a boring thread about oranges, we can monitor how long it takes someone at SVO to find it and remove public access to it. My guess is that public access via this link will be removed by the end of the day. In the mean time, does anyone want to open up their own SVO sales office?

Oh yeah, to allow this test to work effectively, please do not post anything about what you found on that link. Instead, feel free to write about ORANGES. Mmmm juicy oranges.

BTW, if you are thinking I found that link through some sort of super-power or back door, think again. Just do a Google search for “Starwood Vacation Ownership Online” and page down a few pages in the search results.

Now you corporate SVO lurkers that just found this link here by wading through a boring story about oranges . . . . Is this what you thought you would be doing when you signed up to work for your Fortune 500 Company? How about you step up to the plate and STOP LURKING and START actively contributing to this board?

Last time I checked, we all had a common goal of ensuring SVO timeshares are the best in the business. Why can’t we discuss things openly between us owners and you without you just sitting there, lurking quietly in the shadows?

-nodge

All the info on oranges is avalable online .I didn't think orange dealers were spending so much on such nonsense.

Bitter orange rind is used in the production of Belgian White Beer (e.g. Hoegaarden) - along with coriander and wheat. All oranges are not alike.
Would it be possible to improve the method to reserve an orange? The current orange reservation system is stuck in the tangerine age.

Personally, I think Florida oranges are overrated. Or maybe it's because I spent so much of my childhood indulging in their deliciousness that my taste buds simply fail to appreciate them for their full value and flavor any more.

The Aruban orange....now that would tempt me. Though it's lack of availability depresses me.

It’s interesting, if you click on the orange owner’s information kits you can see which grocery store is selling which type of oranges based on which info kit they stock. No one seems to be stocking the Colorado Riverfront or the Cabo oranges. Has anyone bought either of those varietals yet? Maybe the grocery stores are getting those supplies from another vendor?

-nodge

Most corporations would allow employees to obtain similar information about oranges from their intranet, not a public site. Probably put up by the same people that allowed the American Idol teambuilding event.

And I agree that Aruban oranges would be nice -- interesting that they are still available on the website but not elsewhere.

I also found another part of the site where one can purchase clothing and desk items for those selling oranges. This one is an item nodge would love to purchase for his upcoming trip -- it can be personalized with a variety of types of oranges and will keep things from getting lost. (no pictures of dancing oranges available)

LisaRex said:

Personally, I think Florida oranges are overrated. Or maybe it's because I spent so much of my childhood indulging in their deliciousness that my taste buds simply fail to appreciate them for their full value and flavor any more.

The Aruban orange....now that would tempt me. Though it's lack of availability depresses me.

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Florida oranges are low cost and if you don't favor them you can barter for a sweeter orange if purchased from the grower .I think I'm going to send the Hawaiian grower 2 cases next year. Sadly i'll only get one case back.

I think the real problem is that many of us wanted to buy oranges, we went to the orange store and purchased what we thought were oranges from the very skillful orange sales staff and sometime thereafter (way after the fruit recission period) we realized that our beloved orange was in fact a lemon.

We love our oranges, but of course we bought them from another vendor at a much lower price - and we can't convert them to apples.

I love this thread!

And I do have to say, I love Florida Oranges...LOVE! But sadly, my husband is SICK AND TIRED of Florida Oranges and would MUCH rather swap them for Bahamian Oranges. I have to agree. :whoopie:

I have a big Maui pineapple and a mysterious little fruit from AZ that looks remarkably like a baseball. A NYC stockbroker rented my baseball fruit this year, except in Feb. it looked more like a football, and I can't wait to try trading it for fruit from somewhere else in 2010. I have my pineapple rented this summer.

My Dream

So I was visiting this swim up bar- As I ordered my drinks they gave me as many orange slices and pineapple slices as I wanted with those cool little umbrellas! Swim up bars with fruit rule!

Honeybells are my favorite,but only during weeks 1-4.

So far, twenty four hours later, looks like your link is still active and oranges are still for sale

mishpat said:

So far, twenty four hours later, looks like your link is still active and oranges are still for sale

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It doesn't surprise me that they are still for sale. Any of the lurkers who are actually selling the oranges have gone through a strenuous screening process that determined that the salespeople and their associates must be comfortable with ambiguity. They are undecided as to whether the selling of these oranges should be discontinued, relocated or even reported. Such actions require clarity not ambiguity.

Certain flavours (Cdn. spelling, eh!) seem to have a $0 cost, maybe we should place an order to see what happens.

John McPhee, a New Yorker staff writer, wrote a book entitled "Oranges" which will tell you more than you want to know about real oranges. McPhee is a brilliant essayist and the book is an easy read about our newest favorite subject.

mishpat said:

So far, twenty four hours later, looks like your link is still active and oranges are still for sale

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Uh-uh, check again. It is now requiring a username & password.

saluki said:

Uh-uh, check again. It is now requiring a username & password.

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Hmmm.... it looks as if the link in the OP has changed - I can still see the starwood collateral webpages by going in the backdoor.
http://www.starwoodcollateral.com/c...=1&subcat=12&sort_by=user10&search=++Search++

For me, the original online orange shop link (post #1) still works without a password, but clsmit’s orange store employee promo doo-dad link (post #7) is now requiring a login ID and password.

I guess this data is currently inconclusive, but it could suggest that SVO is aware of the situation with the first link (thanks to someone at SVO wading through a story about oranges as part of their job), but its just not competent enough to fix it.

Who knew that so many people loved oranges too?!

-nodge

Yesterday I randomly used my original SVO salesperson's 1st initial and last name as an ID, then the salesperson's first name as a password, to find the clothing and nodge-trinkets. I also put stuff in my shopping cart to see how far I could get. If I had an account code I could have had my very own orange-logo attire! I think they've made it more secure today. Just when I was going to buy they changed the rules. Imagine that.

So the person who takes the SVO reservation-fixing job could fix this, too -- nodge, this job is calling your name!

(At my company we need passwords with both upper and lower case and number and a special character like # to be approved. They are a pain, but they certainly are more secure than your first name...)

Damn, I missed the Orange sale!

Outstanding!!!!

All three of the links above now link internally to the same login screen.

It's like we've established communication with an alien species, and they have a sense of humor too.

Welcome. We knew you were watching. Is there any chance we can convince you to actively participate here too? We have so many questions to ask your species.

-nodge

Too funny! I can just imagine the Orange IT people running around and firing off emails to one another to secure the site.

I can't believe they closed the site. There went Denise's Christmas present!

LisaRex said:

I can't believe they closed the site. There went Denise's Christmas present!

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Yeah, I was gonna stock up on Starwood logo fly swatters, beer can holders, and personal lubricant!

I can still access this link with no password - http://www.starwoodcollateral.com/brand_index.html