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

To answer this post's question... I don't know. Making the decision to quit a stable, long term job with a 401k plan and good benefits may seem like a questionable one. It may end up being so. I don't have the answers yet. But I do know that the decision came down to some simple math based on some simple questions:  -Was I happy? No. -Was the situation likely to improve? No. -Was being safe and secure even in a job I was growing to hate and resent worth it? No. So here I am. About to turn 50 and with a skill set that doesn't necessarily set the current world on fire. What I do have is a breadth of experience, in several different industries, but for the most part it's been as a manager of people in some form or another. There will always be a market for that. I'd prefer to find something working more or less solo, but running a small team is something I'd feel comfortable with. I have no real preference on industry, I j...

All locked in for Vegas December-o-rama. Black Friday/Cyber Monday have come and gone, nothing changed in the plans so what I have booked now is the truth. Very happy with the rooms, especially Caesars. The same nights have been unavailable since the night I booked it so I got in when the getting was good, apparently. Took a flyer at getting a matching offer from a host at Cosmo, but he could only do 3 nights for me and 2 nights at casino rate so I'm sticking with the Palace. The only concession I made to Black Friday was picking up one new hoodie to take to town. Since the weather will likely be on the chill side, especially at night, I needed maybe one more suitable warm thing. Got a great looking SF Giants hoodie that's still dressy enough to not be frowned upon in the swanky bars. Had to do a warranty replace on my Pixel 2 XL too, USB-C port was bugging out so I'll have a fresh new phone to take along. Just the one show during the stay, LOVE again, nothing else...

Real real countdown mode has begun. 1 month to Vegas-ness. Finally locked down the hotels. Doing 1 night at Vdara in a Studio Suite on a comped night through myVegas, and the other 5 nights comped on a repeat of last year's resort, in a (wait for it) Laurel Collection Augustus Tower Strip View room (whew!) at Caesars. Thought about doing the 6th night at Caesars but it would have added $185 to the proceedings so it's worth it to do the move on the 2nd day. I've wanted to stay at Vdara anyway and the comped night makes it a no-brainer. Right now a little inconvenience to save a couple hundy is a good thing. It's been an odyssey on the "where" on this trip but I'm glad to have it locked up. So all 6 nights comped, and I don't think I could have found a better pair of rooms to do it in being the low-rolling fool I am. Very excited about the Augustus room, it should have a pretty sick view. Next week during the Black Friday sale period there may ...

Freebies/comps/discounts for the last trip of the year. One of the best hauls all time. -Five comped nights at Caesars in an Augustus Strip View room - $980 saved. -One night comped via myVegas at Vdara in a Studio Suite, savings of $95. -Two long ago purchased Restaurant.com $25 off of $50 certs, may or may not use, potential $50 off. -myVegas reward for a food voucher at Nine Fine in NYNY, $21 value. -myVegas reward for a free burger at Park MGM a $12 value. -Beatles LOVE dress rehearsal ticket at $35, regular price $145 saving $110. = $1268 in value. The 5 comped nights at C.P. alone makes it one of the best 'bies ever, for a no-roller like me I certainly appreciate them, especially on their best standard room. Two years in a row at the beautiful Palace. We'll see if we can add a show and maybe another R.com cert when Holiday deals come around. Will update if they fall in. Total overhead (non-fun) on this trip then works out to: -Round trip flight - $97 ...

It has all come down to this, the last Vegas of 2018. Pretty good Vegas year thus far, nothing Earth-shattering but 3 solid trips and I'm ready to close out the proceedings with one last blowout. 6 nights in the desert await, so time to plan. This post will likely update as I get closer. Day One: Early-ish flight in, if all goes to plan will be on the ground by 11:00a Sunday morning. Doing the Bell Limo thing again, probably straight over to Vdara to drop the bag at the bell desk, then having done the pre-check-in thing will try to find someplace around there to have brunch while waiting for my keys. Maybe something like The Henry at Cosmo, don't want to roam too far from from the room early that day as owing to the early wake up call, after I check in I may well be in need of a napper. After successful check-in and a probable nap, time to get cleaned up and head out for night one in town. No real set plan in terms of destinations, going to try to ease into this ...

Settling into week 2 of Unemployment "Woo!", Electric Boogaloo. Running out of things to do already. My life has always been very simple, even in the busiest of times. I have no significant other, no kids, no friends, no real hobbies, no real interests that don't involve sitting in front of a computer screen, so taking 40 hours of activity away from an already light schedule is a challenge. Not complaining, this is what I wanted and needed, but it's already getting boring. I wanted to join a gym, but the only one around here would be $60/month and I don't really want to add any extra expenses right now, for obvious reasons. I have been walking a bit, trying to do a couple miles at least 3 times a week and hopefully more if the knee holds up. Ideally I'd love to get back into tennis again but then there's the aforementioned knee and the expense of rackets and shoes and balls and such. Don't see it happening. Golf, all the same things, and even mo...

*Warning - not much of a Vegas post* Whelp, the time has come. I've been bellyaching about my dead-end and degrading job for a year now, and I finally have done something about it. I quit. Deep. Fucking. Sigh. I gave my 2 weeks originally after accepting a job with a tech firm by the airport, but after weighing all the ups/downs I decided to bail from it. Commute, less money, strange initial working environment (apparently the guy whose job I was supposed to be taking was going to train me?), parking issues here in the City and other factors. One of the biggest being I just need a god damn break. I've been working non-stop for 10 years and I just need some time to clear my head and get some happy back. This last job was really a soul vampire for the last couple years. Yeah I'm stepping into uncertainty and don't have a guaranteed job lined up but I've never had much trouble in my life finding a job and in this job market I don't expect much ...