It's Not A Bender, It's A Lifestyle.

Despite being in a good place financially right now, need to reign in the spending pre-trip. Have been, as is wise, putting most of my spending on my Mlife CC. Just makes sense, grab up all the points you can with daily spending, then convert those points earned into sweet sweet Ex Comps in Vegas. But lately I've been earning too damn many points , if you pick up what I'm putting down. Weekends out in the City have become a thing again, I'm able to do most of a normal Saturday out again, though most venues are still outdoor seating. I've become a bit of a tip monster though, doubling or more my tab in gratuity, basically due to wanting to be supportive of the 'tenders and bars and just generally being grateful to be able to go out again. It's causing the CC to get a wee bit overloaded, nothing I can't handle but more than I should be spending pre-trip. So, from now til I'm back from the trip, I'm an indoor boy on Saturdays. It's only 3 weekends u...

Vaxxed. 2nd dose went in the arm today. Feeling pretty good about it, I think I got in before it's going to get crazy with demand and maybe lack of supply as this week anyone 50 and older and those with health conditions can get it. All adults in mid April. Those lines are going to be loooong.  As it was today, I parked in the SFG garage, walked over, got processed, stabbed, assessed a waiting period, and was out the door in about a half hour. About as painless as could be expected. Same for the 1st dose. SF has a lot of detractors, but when it comes to organizing stuff like this and cutting through the red tape bullshit they do a pretty good job. The City does seem to prioritize HHS issues. And the whole thing cost me $3 to park in the garage today. The timing is great for Vegas trip one too, as the 2nd dose apparently takes full hold in the body 2 weeks after it goes in, and that'll be just before the birthday trip. I'll still be as masky as possible to protect others, bu...

  Time to lay out the potential deets for the Birthday Bash Bonanza coming up in a few short weeks. There will be at least one virgin involved. Wednesday Assuming the Southwest flight is on time, I'll be in, cabbed over and at Aria around 2p. Just about perfect check in time, should be able to head straight up and dump off the bags, freshen up a bit and get going on a mostly full day one. Normally I would be holding back a bit on day one financially, so that I don't overextend the save for later in the trip but there will be no such concerns this time. It's all go from lights out this trip. Probably will head over to Cosmo to get a snack, a drink or seven and some gambling going. No reservations for the day so free to ramble, no going up to V/P to do the Dorsey/Electra run, they will be closed, so the rest of the day/night are open to the winds. No plans, no restrictions, it's all on the table day one. Fuel in there somewhere, most likely. Thursday Thinking this might b...

Less than a month away, time to crow about all the Benjamins I saved by not being a filthy Vegas plebian. -5 nights at the lovely Aria, $410 all in, would be $998 if I had no status, savings of $588. -$50 Mlife Freeplay and $50 Resort Credit as part of package, plus another $95 in Ex Comps, $195 in savings. Free gambles and foodz. -$45 in Identity resort credit at Cosmo, sure to be more by the time I use it on the Friday, likely to be something like $65 minimum accrued, enough for an entree at least. -$75 in potential savings in Restaurant.com certs, say I use one so $25 saved. Think I have about $30 left on my Yardhouse GC, so call it $55 in food savings. So around $900 in savings on this trip assuming I use it all up. Not an all-time barn burner of a 'Bies trip but tidy. As usual for new, improved, more affluent me, I could have cheaped out on the room and gotten another $50 in RC from Luxor or The Ex, but then I would have been staying at Luxor or The Ex. As it is I got a great ...

At long last, a true countdown can start for trip one of 2021. Has seemed like a long-ass time since Vegas, and for me it has been. By the time I'm wheels down it will have been 4 months. Seems like longer, maybe due to all the pandemic bullshit. Sporadic weekends out, not really doing anything aside from work and home, and the general rut that engenders. It's all so tiresome, and seemingly no real end in sight at least until fall, assuming no surge. So, I now have something to imminently look forward to again. All the hype can start to build, I can start putting final touches on the plan, and start getting my head into another Vegas trip. Nothing has changed on the trip specifics, it's Southwest for the flights and Aria for the room. Can't think of anything that would change with that at this point. $30/night at a 5-star and less than $90 base fare round trip too good to beat. I did add Early Bird Check In with SW, helps beat the cattle call a bit with boarding. Should...

Created a shitstorm at work today and the end is probably near for this jobby. I took an offhand slight and reacted to it like I usually do, getting all defensive and blowing it out of proportion. I do feel rightful that I was wronged, but the other party does have a point they could press too, which they no doubt will. Especially since they are basically my bosses bosses boss (but also a direct report, contracting is weird). I made a big stink though and I'm probably going to have to eat some crow or hold the righteous line and walk the fuck out, and soon. I halfway feel like I'm sabotaging this job on purpose. I keep feeling uneasy and unsupported and uncomfortable in this job, even 2 years in. I keep losing sleep over stupid shit that isn't in my control. I keep feeling undermined and the longer I work there the more political it gets, which I hate more than anything on a job. And just generally I don't want to be there anymore. Which all adds up to "it's pr...

And here we are, sports fans, it's the yearly "I'm tired of being fat and I'm going to get into shape even though I say that every year and never do", post. Since COVID lockdown began a year ago, I've been a disgusting glutton. When it started I was off work for a couple months, and did nothing but stay inside, eat, drink 5 nights a week and exercise basically not at all. In the months since about August, I've been onsite daily and have at LEAST been getting some steps in every day, but my diet has stayed horrendous, consisting of daily bad GrubHub choices, junk food snacking, and little activity outside of the 4 hours a day at work. The drinking has dropped off, as I'm now back to just Fri/Sat with that, but the overall effect on my health is starting to tell. My blood sugar over the past year has spiked up to Uranus. It was more or less under control pre-COVID and now it's in the danger zone. I largely haven't felt the effects of my diabetes ...

Way ahead of the game, but have prospective rooms booked for a potential Labor Day trip, and the inevitable Xmas week trip. Labor Day would be the next theoretical trip slot, being it's a PTO day saved on the Monday (assuming I'm even still with my current company then) and it's a good gapper between July and Xmas. Thought now might be a good time to book before everyone else gets the same idea. Rates with Mlife pretty high, but was able to for some reason score a Classic King at NoMad again, at only $28/night. Despite it being a huge holiday weekend I'll be in a posh hotel in a great location for less than the two Aria trips in April and July. Don't think I'll have anything better on a price/resort quality balance pop up between now and then. Tracking prices on Google Flights for the plane, but in no rush to book. Right now it's over $250 but hopefully it will drop around $200 then can jump on it. Probably won't get any better than that for a holiday we...

July trip a done deal. Booked the flights today, doing a one-way flight in from OAK on Allegiant, using up $100 of flight credit with them, bought a seat and a bag and total cost just $12. Then the other one-way came down from a hundy to $80 on Alaska today, so I snapped that up for a total round trip cost of $92. Probably not going to do any better than that by waiting, what with vacations likely to surge this summer as COVID abates. Flight times are good, flying out around 4p on the Thursday so can leave work around 12p and get over there for that, then flying back on the 10:45a flight on the Tuesday so not TOO early of a wake up call. I put in the PTO request at work and got it approved, so barring an unforeseen event this trip is locked in. Good gap between late April to late July to build up the Vegas fund again. Getting a little raise in April that will bump me up to about where I was before I got into employer health care this year, so getting the save done shouldn't be too ...

'Bout a month and a half out from the long-awaited April trip, so getting some food on the books this week. Not going to overdo it reservation-wise, and being posh but frugal. Prugal? As of now, not booking anything for the first 2 nights, as I can just work my way into the trip, play it by ear and book or walk in somewhere at the time of hunger. I don't want to be locked into a reservation halfway across the strip if I'm having a good time. Then Friday night, night 3, I have booked Blue Ribbon at Cosmo. I've eaten there before years ago and it was quite good, and they have a large, varied menu so I can choose whatever I'm feeling. Will be able to shed some Identity resort credit that way; maybe by Friday even having enough accrued to finance the meal. I could do one of my faves in there like STK or Jaleo but it's always good to try something different. Nothing on the books for Saturday night, again seat-of-pants'ing it, then Sunday, my birthday, I'm doi...

This is more of a life post than a Vegas post, be warned. I have, through a bit of subterfuge, gotten bumped up in the line and have gotten my first Pfizer vax dose. I basically played off the fact that I'm a pharma employee to weasel my way into the "healthcare" tier of vax priority. I don't really feel like I've denied anyone else a dose, though, I waited months to even try that tack and the people who are truly at highest risk should have gotten vaxxed by now. Got it free through Healthy SF. I thought I was done with them when I didn't pay my December premium but they extended me without my asking until September of this year. Probably COVID related. It's nice specifically for the vaccine reason, as who the fuck knows when I would have gotten it with Kaiser. Also may be helpful on pharmacy for the few months I have left with HSF. This is the 2-dose Pfizer vax, so I have to go back in 3 weeks for my second, final dose. It's nice to be in the process ...