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

Good shorty trip. No drama. Flight in was sorta fucked, my supposed 9a flight was cancelled the night before by Alaska (3rd trip in a row at least one of my flights has been cancelled by them) and then once the 11:30a flight did board (late) we had a ground hold for almost an hour before we got in the air. Didn't end up getting to Vegas until after 2p. In Alaska's defense it WAS shitty weather all day but it's frustrating to lose Vegas time on such a short trip. Finally got into town, in a cab and to Bally's for painless check-in then out to the strip by 3p. Took a cab straight over to V/P and stopped into the Dorsey for a couple, then on to both Electra and Rosina. Always good to see Evan, Daniel, Armando and the crew. Hadn't eaten anything all day and was getting drunkish so made my way over to Joe's Stone Crab in the Forum Shops and had a very good filet. On most trips it would have been the highlight meal but another steak later in the trip would beat...

Shortest plan post ever. No plan. But seriously folks! No really I have no pre-conceived notions around this trip. It was totally impromptu and unplanned and it'll be a glorified long weekend (during the week), so I'm just going to wing it. There are no shows or concerts in town, and no sporting events to speak of, the Knights are home on Thursday night so that might be a factor but only in the avoidance of T-Mobile. Assuming an on-time flight (no guarantee as apparently a big storm is coming in here on my fly-out morning) I'll be on the ground around 11a ( UPDATE : nope, Alaska as always cancelled my flight, best case I get in at 1p now. Fuck.), so catching a cab to center strip I'll be there around 11:30a. Maybe catch a drink somewhere to get in the groove then hit up Bally's around noon to see if I can check in or failing that at least bell desk the bag and mosey around center strip until check in time. Some food may be in order. One of the R.com certs m...

Not much of a freebies post this time. Good deal on this shorty trip though. -Round trip flight to Vegas $149 - would have been $580 if booked separately so $431 saved. -3 nights at Bally's Las Vegas $149 - would have been $185 if booked separately so $36 saved. -myVegas reward for buffet pass at Mandalay Bay - $25 value. -The sad Restaurant.com certificates I never use for Carlos & Charlie's and Senor Frog's - $50 value. So total savings if I use everything is $542. By no means anywhere near my top freebie haul but for a quickie trip booked 3 days ahead of time, not bad. May or may not use any of the food discounts but they're there if I want to save some dosh on vittles. Props to Vegas.com for coming through with the very solid package price - especially on the flights. Wouldn't even have gone on the trip if not for that. K, then.

I'm going to Vegas in 3 days, for 3 days. Don't judge me, I can feel you judging me. My Federal tax refund has come through, and like the complete rational adult that I am, rather than put it away to buttress the "out of work" fund, I'm going to spend it and a little more and go to Vegas this week. Because, me. Crazy good package deal on Vegas.com has me on a round trip main cabin flight on Alaska and three nights in the new-ish Resort Room at Bally's for slightly less than $300, minus resort fees. This was less than even the flight alone on any carrier, had I decided to go the comped room route. Vegas.com for the win. Nice to see packages at even mid-level resorts are still being heavily subsidized. Even with my Caesars Rewards discount the total for rooms alone would have been $180 at Bally's, and the book price for the flight I have would have been almost $600. I think I caught a light event/convention week, so that might explain the low packag...

Found out today Steely Dan will be in town at the Venetian while I'm in Vegas. I could see them either on the Wednesday before my birthday or the Friday after. A bit torn by this. They are one of my fave bands by far, but Dan was always Donald and Walter...with Walter gone now I wonder if it would be the same seeing them without him. I have no doubt the music would be the same high quality, but I'm wondering if it would feel slightly funereal, like watching the Beatles without George and John. As I get older this is a dilemma for a lot of the old bands I grew up with. Most of the 70's and 80's bands I came up with have now lost members either through death or through legal wrangling and the like. That was one reason I was so jazzed to see the Fixx last summer as it was the intact, original lineup.  I mean, I've always thought the whole "replace a major band member with someone new" reeked of desperation. Queen can tour successfully without...

3 little months separate me from my Vegas. Still locked into 4 nights at Hard Rock as of now. Great rate for a suite, don't see this reservation changing unless some high-level resort rooms comp up at CET. On the job front, have gotten some nibbles and even a bite or two, I've been phone interviewing at least once a week and had 2 of those with Thermo Fisher Scientific to be onsite at a Merck plant last week. A little concerned as they haven't contacted me since. I would be interested in the job but I think the person I interviewed with last who would be my direct supervisor may think I'm qualified to do HER job, and may hold that against me. Politics get played in the business world sometimes before you even have a job. Have another set of interviews onsite at another pharma firm in South City for Thursday, but that's a startup and startups make me leery. I had an interview with a startup company named Munchery back when I wasn't really looking for...

Whelp, that was an interesting one, huh? Everything started more or less normally. Work, weekends, and Vegas trips. Work-wise, was plugging away at a thankless job and continuing to grow more and more disillusioned. Surrounded by employees and bosses that didn't understand what I did and didn't appreciate when I did it. An owner stopping my inventory process right in the middle to completely re-vamp the database that I used all day every day, with no warning. Most importantly, a new "boss" was hired as operations manager and became my direct report. Dark foreshadowing. Weekends were the usual, out to Polk street to party it up, with the twist that during the course of the year I started leaving Polk in the evening to head down to SoMa to go to Butter and Driftwood and occasionally Cat Club. Predictable, somewhat routine but still fun. Got nowhere whatsoever during the entire year with the opposite sex, but my strong "oh well" attitude made that not mu...