myVegas August.

Locked in my myVegas rewards for the upcoming trip.

Using a reward I've used before, that is about the best one value-wise on the entire list for mV, the "2 for 1 entree" at Nine Fine Irishmen at NYNY. It's actually a $35 credit to the place, no strings attached, no minimum buy as I remember. Good lunch belly-filler to soak up the previous night's alcohol and hopefully some of that to come.

Then will roll down further south to use the first of two rewards on the day at Luxor, which, to be honest, I probably wouldn't step foot in anymore if it wasn't for myVegas, but it's on the way to Mandalay anyway, so I'm getting the $20 off of $40 spent in the decent Public House there. Having just had lunch this will probably be shots/beer.

Also locked up the $75 off of $150 buy at Tender steakhouse in Luxor again. I've used it twice and always have had an excellent steak, some good apps and solid wine. It's pretty pricey but I like to do one "splurge" meal on every trip and this will be it.

Being smart this time too and not falling into the trap of going out of my way to use rewards, feeling tied down to them and not being free to roam. This one is a perfect plan, I get up that Sunday, head down to NYNY for lunch at Nine Fine, then leisurely head over to Mandalay Bay stopping at Public House along the way to make my pilgrimage to Skyfall (which I was going to do anyway), then will have the 7:15pm reservation at Tender. I get a good day's meals at really good prices, and am not wasting any time farting about chasing mV rewards around town. Then after Tender I'm free to make the slow, drunken run back up strip to Bally's.

Picking Sunday to have something of a plan in Vegas is a good thing, Sundays always seem a bit dead in town for some reason, especially after about 9pm or so. I guess all the casuals get on planes after a quick weekend in town, or are racked out early for the morning flight. So having some appointments keeps me from just sitting in mostly empty bars on a slow day watching the wretched mid-summer sports that are on (Giant's baseball, and thus baseball, ended months ago).

As much as I sometimes malign it, mV has come through nicely for me in the last couple weeks; I booked the free night for the Xmas trip at Mirage (worth $70), and now $130 worth of food/bev credit for the August trip. I'm low on LP's now, but I won't need any redemptions until at least the Xmas trip, where I can take advantage of some of the "night stay" restrictions like the $50 credit at the Times Square bar, or I can just bank them for getting some rooms for the March trip next year.

Not bad for 10 minutes' time playing a dumb game every day.