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

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 ...