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

Couple months out from trip 2 of the Vegas year. As of now still sticking with MB in a Strip View room. probably won't switch it up unless my offers improve with MGM, which is unlikely. Even with comped weekday rooms at CET, the new waived resort fees and FP/RC packages still make it more logical to do MGM stays. I love the MB campus too so even though it's in the hinterlands it's fine w/me. Have finally paid off the last of the CC damage from the flurry of late last year/early this year trips so now I can start building up cheese again to be in a comfortable position for April. 5 more checks between now and then and nothing big to pay for so getting to something like $6500-7000 should be doable, especially if I get my tax refunds, which would add $1100. Not sure if I'll see the fed one though. In any case I should be in good funds by mid-April. In good shape in the new MGM Rewards system, just need to get to 75K points to keep Gold and already have 21K in hand so shoul...

Going to see NIN in Vegas, for the 3rd time. Saw them with Soundgarden (what a bill) at PH in 2014, then again at Hard Rock in 2018. Now it will be at PH again at Zappos in September. I got into the artist pre-sale and got section 206, row A. Just left of center with a panoramic stage view. I paid dearly for them, but fuck it, how many more times are they going to tour at this point?  Unclear if they will be touring in support of new music, but I really don't care wither way. Their back catalog is so deep they could play 10 shows back to back and not repeat a song and it would be...Nails. Coming in on a Saturday leaving on the Friday after the show. Should be epic. Will start keeping an eye out for flights, not going to commit unless one is crazy low, it IS still 7 months away. That could be trip 3 of the year though if I don't manage to make it back in the summer. The PTO is already approved and I'm geeked.

Mlife is dead, long live MGM Rewards. Feb 1 everything changed up in the rewards scene for what was Mlife. The new program brings some interesting perks. As a Gold member, as I am, I will now be entitled to waive resort fees on my stays, may have access to a $100 dinner credit at that level, and apparently can be availed a "premium room upgrade" if available on check in.  It's all new so I guess I won't know what it'll look like when I actually get to town in April, it'll be interesting to hear through the grapevine what other people are seeing with it before I get there. If it all pans out and is more or less seamless, it will be a nice upgrade package. In the case of my next stay in April it would knock the total room cost down from $572 to $307. That would absolutely be a big incentive to always book with MGM. Nothing short of fully comped stays at other resorts would compare to that.  And what is a "premium room upgrade"? If that means going from...

Took a while to get to this, sorry. Quick, possibly ill-advised trip. Never really got rolling on this shorty, maybe was still body-tired from having come back from a 7-day'er just two weeks before. Got in and up to the room at 1a. Not ideal. Just farted around the MB complex for a few hours, Skyfall, 1923, and hit the rack late, which didn't exactly set me up for a good sleep trip. Saturday got a bath and hit Fuel during the day then over to see Evan at Dorsey. Tried to get into a RW night but never really did. Went back to MB and just farted around, mostly losing money on VP. Sunday I was sleep-deprived and tried to get into it but gave up and went back to the room for a nap. After that had a great bison steak at Rivea, def a do again in the future. One of the best steaks I've had in Vegas. Made it down strip but didn't really have my heart in it. Cabbed back to MB and stayed up late drinking heavily and losing heavily. Late night but not a great one. Monday was a tra...