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...

Depravity. Exactly 2 weeks back from Vegas, and I'm going again. Tomorrow. I'm such a fucktard. Taking advantage of the long weekend and squeezing in a 4 night trip. In to town tomorrow around 9p, the out fuck-early on Tuesday to hopefully make it in to work roughly on time, assuming no flight issues. 6a flight. Ouch, but will just try to get to bed by 11p or so so I can get at least a few hours of sleep. When it came down to it, I have the extra cash in the bank from the last trip, I get paid tonight and have already paid off the CC for this month, so I can afford the roughly $3500 I'm going to pull out. Assuming I come back with what the little birdy left on the rock, that still leaves me with $4K in the bank and 3 full months to build up the cushion. Is what I'm doing fiscally prudent? No. But when it comes to Vegas I've never been prudent in any way. Delano will be the resort of choice. Full comp, all 4 nights, even over a weekend. I finally will stay here, aft...

PTO approved for the April trip. It's a done deal, folks. 8 billion light years away, but already looking forward to this one. Sat-Fri at Mandalay Bay. In a Resort King Strip View with 4 comped nights, but now with MGM Rewards promising "premium upgrades", hopefully I can sneak into an Elite King or at least a high floor. Also will be getting resort fees knocked off with the new program so all-in for the room for 6 nights should only be around $300. Could have had 3 nights comped at Venetian too but I don't want to move resorts on this trip, I only want to pack/unpack once. Couple that with the $40 FP and $50 RC and MGM is a no-brainer again. As detailed in the last post, good flight times and a non-horrid airline so all should be well on that front. I've been doing nothing but over-weekend trips since last year so it'll be good to shed the crowds a bit and be able to move more freely. Some stuff might be closed M-W but I can always find something to do in th...

Locked in for the air on the April trip. Went with Alaska. $167 round trip but that's an upgrade from dead economy with seat selection and earlier boarding. Got the best seat I could at that level on both flights so should have no issues with overhead space or getting on and off. And it's in and out of SFO with good times both ways, no stupid early or late flights. I can also change or cancel the flight should something weird happen between now and then. I'll be in town around 8pa on the check in day, so time to get to MB, drop the bags and have maybe a little dinner before getting the serious drinking started. Then the out flight will be at around 3p so again, should be able to just check out and head straight to the airport. Bit of a wait when there but fuck if I'm not used to that. Just waiting on my boss to approve the TO which I don't see any issues with, then we can lay back and relax for a couple months while knowing a trip is on the horizon. Always a good fe...