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

It's all over but the shouting...crying, puking, laughing, passing out, anything else that will happen over the next week. The work week is over, the email OOO is on, the Signal and Slack notifications are off. The laundry is done, the money's out of the bank, yadda yadda. It's just a matter of about 36 hours until I'm on a chartered plane to the promised land. It's a nice change to have a day off before the trip. I can relax and get all the final prep done at leisure, then can get a full night's good sleep and be ready to hit the ground running Saturday morning. Haven't even started to pack but have the luxury of all day tomorrow to do that. Tonight it's a fairly traditional Friday night on a Thursday, can finish up the playlist while drinking wine and staying up late to make sure tomorrow night I get good zzz's. The money is good. Full $6K out and ready to blow. At $3100 currently on the CC which isn't ideal, but if I can stay under $4K-ish aft...

It's on like Donkey Kong. One week til the Vegas. Here's the plan, limited as it is. Saturday: Xmas Eve. If all goes well with the JSX flight, I'll be on the ground by about 10:30 and over to the Grand by 11a. Check in will be handled by the app, but may look at the line to see if I should wait to check on what kind of upgrade I can get. In any case should be able to head up, dump the bag and get on down to the strip by latest 12p. Probably will post up somewhere by about 1p where I can get some victuals and drinkuals and watch the Niners game, at least for a while. Sat night, no plans, probably will try to make it down to V/P to check on what's left of the old Sam Ross trio crew. Then maybe a late dinner and we'll see how we're feeling, it will have been an early wake up to catch JSX at OAK, so turning in earlyish would not be a punishment. Sunday: Xmas day. Up whenever. Wandering probably when out of the room, may check out the new Brew Dog place by MGM, or us...

It's happening. Arizona, that is. I have, for better or worse, acquired the new position and have to be moved to the desert by March 1. I've already gone into the pluses and minuses so I won't do that again here. Suffice to say my life will change pretty significantly this year. Can only hope it's for the better, and will leave it at that. More to say as the move progresses. But hey - Vegas in 10 days, right? Not even going to start dicking with the AZ move stuff until I'm back. This would normally be the time I'd be pushing everything into the back burner and obsessing about impending Vegas but it's been such a rush to get this job over the past month that I have really not had much time to lock in on the trip.  Luckily, this trip's been on easy mode for months now. Nothing's changed. Money's fine, room's great, not much of a plan outside of a couple food reservations. Have one more site visit in AZ to get past early next week then it's...

20 Days to Vegas. So much shit going on in life right now it's hard to focus on the trip. This week is crucial to my assent to greatness in my company. Trying to get kept on by working through an extended audition with potential new bosses by traveling to LA for a vendor site visit (complete, and went fine I think) then 2 days of them here, and 2 days in Phoenix,  the potential landing place for me in all this. I'm 90% in the door and will be the guy for this move.  I'm conflicted about that. I've been in the Bay Area since high school, and in The City proper for 15 years. I've carved out a comfortable, boring niche here but it's all getting a bit stale. I live in a fetid closet, and while the rent is low I despise my landlords/roommates and would love to bail on them. I also, as a white, bald, old chubby guy, have zero chance of ever knowing the touch of a female again here. It's just not that kinda town anymore. So while I'm set up well here, I wouldn...

The last of the MGM Rewards CC points dropped in.  The final tally will be: 72358 Tier points (just 2600 points short of retaining Gold, piece of cake, should be done deal on the first day) and a little over $125 Slot Dollars, independent of the other Freeplay from the trip package. I was sweating tier points a bit after the April trip but a strong September trip (of points, not winnings) and plenty of CC spend got me there. Doubtful I would have gotten there w/o the CC. It's harder to earn points now since the Mlife-MGM Rewards switchover. In previous years on 4 trips I was beyond Gold in 2 trips. Eh. Benefits are better now so worth the tradeoff I guess. On the money side, blegh. Unless I do well on the virtual cards in town, I will have to float the CC debt this month which I hate to do. It'll be the first interest I've paid on anything in years. It's not worrisome, I'll pay off whatever needs to be paid in January, but I really need to look at my spending going ...

One month until Xmas Vegas. Bit strange having everything settled so far in advance of the trip. I usually have book and rebook going on this time of year as end of year sales and such bump me from resort to resort. This time is was done a month ago. Unless dome ridiculous package comes along at like a Cosmo or Wynn or Resorts World it's the suite at the Grand. It would have to be a drop dead deal to make me drop what's in place. I just don't see it happening. Aside from the flight and room being set, I do have a couple reservations in place. One on Xmas night at Craftsteak in MGM for a nice Xmas dinner, then Wednesday I'll use up the RC's at Morimoto, also in the Grand. No shows or anything booked this time, unlike the last trip. Free to just ramble on 4 of the 6 nights. We'll see what kind of hijinks we can get up to. On the personal side of things, it's looking more and more like the position in AZ is firming up. Just a matter now of if I want to take it....

I have given up on the Xmas Vegas save. Which is not to say I'm stopping saving, just that I don't have much chance of making it to $6K by go time. I'm at $2800 now, and on the next check will only be able to put about $800 away after paying off the CC and all the other stuff like rent. So that's $3600, with only two more checks left to save. Yep, it's getting that close, the trip. If I can scratch $2000 together on the last two checks, it's best case $5600 that'll be in pocket on go day. No infusion in-trip, so that would be $930/day spending cash. That's workable, and frankly if I just take it slightly easy on day one and drink and eat more than gamble and gamble, I can have the full $1K or more for the last 5 days. This should be doable. I like to hit a bunch of my drinking spots on day one, and gambling is usually something that I kick into more on the 2nd, full day so it falls within the usual plan. I will probably dole myself out $700 cash for the ...

Next after next trip resort might be in the bank.  Dicking around on MGM Rewards website, as I do, and noticed my offers have improved a bit. Like, seriously, a bit - I get $5 more Freeplay. But I noticed I do get an extra night comped at a couple places, one of them being Bellagio. I talk a lot of shit about Bellagio, and Bellagio deserves a lot of shit. It's overpriced for what you get, it's populated almost exclusively by retired insurance salesmen, and it just reeks "we were so cool in 1998". But alas, in terms of standard rooms it's still one of the better resorts in the MGM portfolio, and you can't argue with the location or the view. So, when I saw two comped nights and only $60/night on offer from them for one of the newly renovated Premier King rooms, I bit. After removed resort fees it'll be just a little over $400 for 6 nights. When I had previously checked these dates over my birthday week, it had been pretty astronomical, so for 6 nights at a ...

Got some good Vegas-related stuff done this week, now that we're in the month before the trip month. Getting my health shit in order. Went today and got my labs all done for my doc to check out, and while there got both my flu vaccine and the latest, bivalent COVID booster. My 5th shot now. The bloodwork will allow me and my doc to make any updates to my meds so I can be about as optimal as possible health-wise, and the vaxx'es will hopefully shield me from getting any pre-trip or in-trip sniffles. With no bitches wearing masks anymore, it's the least I can do to try to cover my ass. Also, in addition to the shoes, undies and jeans I stocked up on last month, have ordered 3 good luxury-brand button up shirts from Amazon to hopefully up the sartorial game a bit. The golf pullover thing in winter trips is getting a little stale (and ain't winnin' me any tail), time to try a different tack and match the wingtip shoe game with some more professional-looking shirts. With...

You knew this post was coming. The freebie-discount sitch for the upcoming trip. -6 nights at MGM Grand in a Tower Spa Suite: $124 (!!!) all in. Would be...we may never know. It's not even available to book anymore, either as an MGM Rewards member or as a horrid, worthless nobody with no status. Looks like the last night is not available for that room type - sold out. So I have to do some guesswork; the 5 nights that are available come out to about $240/night and $1592 all in after resort fees, so if you figure another night at $240 and another $44 resort fee, the estimated all-in for 6 nights is $1876. So that's a savings of: $1752 fucking American dollhairs. Wut. -$25 Freeplay, $50 Resort Credit as part of the booking package, plus another $53 in Rewards Points (more Resort Credit) and $125 in Slot Dollars (more Freeplay). So that's at total of $253 of usable free money on the trip. -$100 Dining credit awarded after getting to 75K tier credits, which will happen on the fi...

Wut. I was just able to book a very nice suite at the Grand, the Tower Spa Suite. I've looked at it before, but always decided that, at around $120+ a night when I've looked at it previously, it was just too much for a suite at the Grand. I just booked it for $124 for 6 nights. Total. MGM's booking algorithm must be broken. It works out to something like $20/night, for the suite you see above, along with a huge bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. 4 comped nights and 2 nights at $55/nt. I was actually just looking at a possible rebook for Mandalay Bay, which I thought might have dropped and is why I even cancelled the MB Elite King booking. MB actually went UP, and I was slightly molded that I might have to downgrade in room quality until I saw this gem. The Tower Spa Suite is actually bigger than the Elite King, has the spa tub, is in a better strip location and, oh yeah, is $400+ less all in. Jazzed. No guarantee of a strip view but I will try to hook that up as my "premium ...

Just checking in, as I do. Jonesing for the Vegas, already. The last trip wasn't so great for the wallet but it was an overall good time so I'm already obsessing, 2 1/2 months out. So far only the flight is really locked in, which means the dates are locked in, but other than that no real plans. The week between Xmas and NYE is pretty dead in terms of shows. The normal Vegas shows like Cirque and such will mostly be running but there's really nothing I'm interested in seeing that I haven't already seen. Which means the only attractions I'll likely see for that week will be bars. I may try to schedule a few dinner reservations for the week to keep me somewhat honest, but will hold off on that for the most part until I'm sure where I'll be staying. That decision is very much pending. I have an Elite King at MB booked now, which would be more than fine if that's what I end up with. It's close to the airport for the JSX terminal, it's one of my f...

Going to be arriving to My Town in style for Xmas Eve. Flight prices for basic economy have been hovering around $330 for crappy flight times for the Xmas week. Finally got fed up with it and said fuck it, I'm going chartered plane and finishing out the Vegas year in style. Booked a JSX flight going out of OAK. Small, fast, roomy and no FUCKING TSA to have to deal with. Hop on fare, only $430 round trip so only about a hundy more than flying with the cattle on a major carrier. No having to get to the airport an hour early, can just get there with a half hour to spare and jump on. Then can catch an Uber to the resort, or if I end up staying at Mandalay Bay could literally walk there from the JSX terminal, it's like half a mile. Will have to Uber to and from OAK a couple times but for the charter jet experience it's worth the extra expense. Pretty excited about this. Sure I could probably save a couple hundy waiting for an Allegiant fare to come down but then I'm flying i...

4 days back. Can't quite believe it happened, and that it's over. But here we are. Flights: No issues. Both on time by Alaska and no delays. Getting the 6th row seat both times was worth expense. Got on and off in no time. Seatmates were fine. Played Alien Isolation on the iPad on the way back. Room: Aria, got upgraded to a King with a strip view. was able to check in right away after getting to town, but had to spend an hour switching out rooms due to yet another dead in-room safe in the first room. Me and fucking in-room safes at MGM resorts. But once up there the room was in good shape, everything worked and it was quiet and had no issues with housekeeping. Only gripe would be it took 10 minutes for the water to get warm but a piddly gripe really. A good base for the 6 nights. Resort: Aria its normal, boring, pretty self. It's got the personality of an aged cheese and about as much excitement, but it is nice to look at. They fixed their taxi line since the last time, at ...

Vegas is happeNINg.  The laundry is done. The money is out of the bank. The balls are shaved. There's really nothing standing between me and my sweet Vegas, barring a drone strike or something. The money was a scraper but I got it done. I should apply for food stamps with what is left in my checking account right now, but the full $1K per day save is in play for all 6 days. The Xmas save is going to be a scratch but I'll worry about the Xmas save when (if?) I return from the September trip, thank you. At least I get paid while I'm in town so I won't have to eat crickets when I'm back. Hoping the good juju from the last Aria stay follows me this time. Last time there I bracketed first day and last day $2000 hits...that'd be a nice this time too. Winning a little early in the trip takes so much pressure off, would love to drop that in this go 'round. Praying to the MGM video poker Gods the next 3 nights. But if I spend the whole wad, it is what it isn't. N...

A scant 10 sleeps until we be rollin' on up into the Vegas. Absolutely nothing whatsoever to report, but I'm here reporting shit anyway. Barring some last-second hallelujah rate at an interesting resort, the butt will rest on one of the two queens in the room at Aria. After a brief dalliance with Cosmo I'm pretty locked in now. It's fine. Aria is fine. I'm fine. No drama elsewhere, the job is pretty slow so I should have no issues leaving for a week and being carefree about it. The money will be on point almost to the dollar. It's a good thing I get paid on the last day of the trip or I would have no way to pay rent for the second half of the month, unless I come home with some of the save. Then it's one check and on to the Xmas save. Back in the "save money for Vegas" grind but I guess it's better that than spending it all on drugs. Which, oh, there will be blow on this trip. A buddy unexpectedly hooked me up so there will be a little of that...

I'll have the full spend for this trip, but it wasn't easy. It'll come down to the wire. I have $4800 in da bank now, with one check to go before the trip. After rent and a couple other necessaries coming out of that check, I'll be able to pay down my MGM CC by $500. That will leave me with the needed $1200 and a little airport bar money. Paying down the CC a bit, along with some prudent spending over the next two weeks, will get me to Vegas with more than $5000 spendable on the card. I won't use nearly that much, but it makes it comfortable in that I won't have to worry about it when I - whip it out - in Vegas. The credit card. Moving on.  I may take the Apple card and its $7K+ limit with me just as an emergency backup but I can't think of any scenario that I would use it. Guess that's why it's the emergency card. Wanna bang the MGM card exclusively to rack up sweet 3X points on spend. That takes a little pressure off the cash in pocket too. So it...

Cosmo fuckin' with me. They currently are running a low price, no resort fees promo. I could get a Terrace One Bedroom suite, one of the nicest rooms I've ever had in Vegas, maybe THE nicest, for a little over $1200 for 5 nights. These rooms are big, comfy, have a great walk-out terrace and a Japanese bath that has a strip view. This wouldn't be the fountain view I had several years ago, but still a killer room. Would be a sizable resort and room upgrade from the standard room I have booked at Aria. Downsides are that it's only for 5 nights, the Thursday is blacked out so I would have to find a room for that night somewhere else at additional expense and would have to change rooms on NIN show day. Not ideal. It would also be $700 more than what I'm paying at Aria, right next door, and I wouldn't get any of the related MGM rewards points I'll get from staying at Aria, which I need right now. I could swing the extra expense, it would just be a pay-it-down sit...

One month from today I will be sipping 'tinis at Lobby bar at Aria. The real countdown begins. The save is in a good, but not laugher state. I'm at $4K, so will need to put away a grand on both of the last 2 checks. I slipped a bit on this last check, was supposed to have $4500 RN but I was a bit too randy with the spending over the last month, so I need to reel it in now over the next 30 days.  The MGM CC is what's killing me, but that's expected since that's the only payment method I really use outside of rent. All told I should be OK, may be carrying a little more on the CC when I get to town than I'd like but with the $6500 limit I won't be in any real trouble. Just need to keep my Saturday spending in check a bit over the next 3 weekends, and maybe stay in on the w/e before the trip. We'll see. Going to get going in earnest today on VP training. Try to do 100 hands a day with low errors and get a tune up on for the real thing. With the full $1K per ...

It dawns on my that this may be one of the more Posh (capital P) trips I've taken in a while.  I'll be at the top-end, 5-star Aria, firstly. Yes the standard rooms are a bit run down but with my Gold status I may be able to finagle an upgrade to something more posherer. In any case in terms of resorts you can't do any better in the MGM pantheon. Don't even mention the sleepy, overrated Bellagio to me. Aria's no Wynn, and no Cosmo, and not even a V/P, but it's damn nice and for the price I'm paying it's stonking great for that week. I've also upgraded to the Alaska Premium Class seats on the flight's in and out. 4 inches more legroom, guaranteed overhead bin space, row 6 for easy in/out, complimentary beer/wine and early boarding before the unwashed masses in the rear of the plane. How disgusting it must be for the little people. In actuality it was only $22 or so more per flight so not sure why more peeps don't do it. This is one of those ti...

Upgraded the tech package a bit prior to the upcoming September trip. Picked up a new 2022 iPad Air for the media blasting/Bluetooth hub duties on the trips. M1 chip, nice big screen, and 256 GB storage. Plopped it on my Apple card at 0% interest, plus about $200 off for trading in the Mini so only about $550.  The iPad Mini served my well for a few years but the pitiful storage was just not cutting it anymore. After loading up all my music I only had room for a couple movies and not much else. 64 GB storage is just not doable for someone who likes to have stored copies of things. Especially when dealing with potentially spotty WiFi when traveling it's important to me to have downloaded copies of stuff ready to go. On this one I have all the music, about 20 movies and Alien Isolation loaded up with half the storage left to play with. The Air is blazing fast, ridiculously thin and not much heavier that the Mini so I'm not really losing much portability. It still fits in my under...

I know. Lame reason for a post but I'm not going to rack up page views any other way. I'm trying to get to 3 views on this one! But hey - August! No changes to report. Everything is locked in and I don't expect any changes. There would have to be a mind-blowing discount on something at Priceline or the bottom to fall out of rates for V/P or Wynn for me to change up the great rate locked in at Aria. Can't possibly add any more events or reservations than I have, without removing all freedom from the week. So now it's the slightly excruciating countdown. As it gets inside 45 days or so, as I am, a long-gap trip like this starts to fill my head daily. Going to start pumping a little VP practice now, not 100 hands a day yet or anything like when I get to September but 50 hands or so every few days just to get the feel again. I drunkenly lost my MGM CC this past weekend, so it'll be a week until the new one arrives. That'll ding the accumulation of rewards points...

Some good savings on this trip. Here goes. -6 nights at Aria - $516, would be $2646 (!) if booking with no MGM status. Savings of $2131. -$155 Freeplay, $89 Resort Credit, $244 of freebies either from booking package or accumulated points. -Free appetizer at Yardhouse, around $15 value. That's pretty much it, but that ain't nothing. That's $2390 of savings over what a horrific, unwashed beast with no MGM status would have to pay. The room discount is obviously the headline here. The room price includes a removal of the resort fees that a non-MGM Gold rewards member would have to pay. It's a pretty insane discount and it makes me glad that I've stuck with MGM. Don't think I'd have these discounts with anyone else. I'm not a high enough roller to get on the radar of V/P, Cosmo or Wynn but MGM seems to like me just fine.  So despite spending a shit ton pre-trip on flight upgrades, shows and a new iPad, the trip room overhead itself isn't so bad at all. ...

How's about a good old fashioned plan post? Haven't done one of these in a while because, well, I haven't planned very fucking much on the last several Vegas trips. It'll be good this time to have a happening on a few days. So let's block it out day by day: Saturday: Assuming all goes well with the flight I should be wheels down at Harry Reid at around 10a. I'll be doing mobile check in with Aria so possible I can taxi over and get right into the room, but more likely will have to drop the bag at the bell desk and go have a bevvie and maybe a snack somewhere before getting upstairs. Hopefully can be installed by around 1p though, then can start the trip in earnest. No plans on day one, so I'll likely just wander most of the day. I'll have a full day's save to blow so surely some gambles will happen at the many VP machines in Aria. Maybe hit Vesper at Cosmo since I'll be next door. Probably will go up to V/P in the afternoon to say hi to Evan an...

It's MGM, Jim. No drama or stress about where I need to spend all my hard earned wages on this upcoming trip. It's 3 courses of MGM with a bottle of MGM and MGM for dessert. Gotta plug away hard at the MGM rewards points on this trip. With likely just two trips left in the year, I need to max out on gambling at MGM resorts pretty much exclusively. I'm currently at 44K rewards points for the year, needing to get to 75K to maintain Gold status. I'll get some help from the trickle of points that come in through the MGM Rewards CC monthly; with 6 months left in the year that might get me another 9K points. That helps, but still leaves me 30K+ points short so I will have to get after it on the last two trips. Staying at two MGM resorts for the last two trips and trying to eat and drink there and flash my card for sweet, sweet 3X points will help too. But I'll still have to gamble. I've had decent luck at Aria in the past so that'll be the logical drop point for ...

Haven't been able to lock down a room for September...until now. Rates are high everywhere, mainly due to the Friday night that I added. So, I bailed on the Friday and am going a day earlier instead, now will be in town Sat-Fri. Only a $20 bump on the flight so no penalty really, I'm in same time on the Saturday morning and I'm out at a better time on fly-out day, 1p. Coming back on Friday gives me a whole weekend to recover from the week too before going back to work. Still Alaska, everything good there. For the room, my "best room to location to price" algorithm settled on Aria. Could have gone with a Delano suite again, but while I love the MB/Delano complex I didn't want the slightly isolating feel of being so far downstrip on this time. With all the activities going on on this trip I want to be more central. I also could have gotten a suite at Vdara for the same-ish price but Vdara rooms are so clapped out at this point, and I don't need what would be...

Oh hey. Would you look at what time it is. It's 2 months to Vegas time. There is news on the event calendar for the week. I added yet another show, I'll be seeing Interpol on the 13th at Virgin. Absolutely have fallen in love with the band's stuff over the last few years and hoping the new album coming out Friday will be a return to form. Sure to dig the show if for nothing but the oldies. Only $80 for a good seat in the orchestra so a no-brainer really. So I'll be taking in shows 3 out of the 6 nights. MJ ONE on Monday, Interpol Tuesday then the big one, NIN on Thursday. Still have Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday with no real major obligations so a good mix of freedom and things to do. Packing in a lot of awesome on this trip, and I'm here for it. So still a month until the real real countdown begins, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting a little brighter. Way brighter than it was in April.  

I've had a couple of...struggle-y trips this year. Going to try to remedy that. Physically I just haven't been able to keep up. I'm getting older, facts. I'm 11 years older than when I first started going to Vegas, and I was already pretty old back then. I've got to stop thinking I can just "push through" on these week long trips. A weekender, with a day off to sleep after? Sure, push through. 6 nights, 5 full days? Ya gotta pace yourself, bitch. So, here's the "make it through a week of Vegas in September" plan.  1) Hydrate/replenish. I drink a lot in Vegas. no, I mean I drink a LOT in Vegas. I'm drinking from basically get up to drop out. I HAVE to put some of that body fluid back. I bought a pack of Emergen-C electrolyte powder that I'm going to mix into a big glass of water every morning on waking up. That along with a maybe a big Gatorade purchased after making it downstairs should get me off to a good start, then during the day ...

Whelp, after nearly 3 years of dodging it, and 4 vaccine shots, I finally caught the 'vid. Felt funky Thursday morning, did a rapid test that was pos then took a PCR that came back same. A new guy that started last week tested pos and I was in close contact with him, think his dumb ass gave it to me. And I even recommended him for the job after interviewing him. Fucker.  I don't feel terrible, mostly classic cold symptoms, headache, chills, body aches, runny nose. The fact that I'm quad vaxxed probably has knocked it down quite a bit. As it happens I've got it over a holiday weekend so I may only miss three days of work. Thu-Fri-Tues. I'll test Tues and if I'm negative I'll go back Wednesday. In the end I'm salaried so I'm not losing anything.  It was inevitable I guess. No matter how vaxxed you are it seems like variants can get through that. At least it's seemingly going to be mild and not really kick my ass. About the only thing I lose is not ...

3 months from today I will be in the Vegas. Slightly less depressing than being 4 months out! The true rut really in place now. I do my Saturdays out but even those are becoming a little boring and predictable. Not much going on in the City - no shows or events I really want to see. Giants season underway but despite a sweep of the Dodgers this weekend they don't seem to have the spark we had last year. Dubs still in the playoffs but that's over in a week, hopefully with a title. Aside from those distractions it's just go to work, come home and veg online, rinse, repeat. My whole concept of "fun" now is wrapped up in a city that's 450 miles away. Of course I'm "looking forward" to the September trip but it's hard to even think about a 3 month wait. It's the 2nd week of June now, early summer; it'll be fall and the first fucking week of the NFL season when I'm finally back. There are a couple 3-day weekends between now and then tha...

So, so far away. But it's still out there, and that keeps me going. The rut would be unbearable without knowing that somewhere in the deepest, darkest aether, a Vegas trip awaits. I'd be a sad, probably dead monkey if it were not so. This trip will be an action trip, too, with a Cirque show, and overpriced tix to Nails. Too early to book food but surely I'll have time for at least one splurge meal on the trip, as well. The last couple trips have maybe been a little too unstructured. I think having a couple things pre-booked (that I can't bail on w/o losing money) will be good to keep me engaged in the Vegas Experience and not just shuffling from one bar to the next. Added the option to tack on a day at the end of the trip too, I'll still have most of the weekend to recover  with the fly out Sat. If I don't completely lose my ass on VP it should be fine. Nearly 5 full months between trips is brutal, but I should be fairly bursting with hype by the time we get th...

Finally going to see MJ One in September. I've been circling this show for years, always just deciding it was too damn expensive, but MGM's running a flash 30% off sale so I broke down and booked it. Having seen KA and Mystere, and Love several times, I know what I'm getting into and I should be set up for a solid show. Putting all his alleged extra-curricular activities aside you can't downplay the greatness of the guy's songwriting. That and the Cirque experience should make it worth the hundy. So it'll be a "show" trip. MJ on Monday and NIN on Thursday. It'll be nice to have a couple events scheduled to break up the constant meandering VP and Belvedere train I've been on the last few trips. There's a lot of entertainment to be had in Vegas and I really ought to schedule at least one thing every trip to take advantage of it. Ready to Beat It to Vegas.