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

Less than a month out, trying to get the hype going. Just not feeling it yet. As previously stated, Q1 has been a big roiling vat of crazy. I'm forgiving myself for not being as Vegas-focused as I have been in previous years right now. But there's something else going on. I think I might be losing some of my obsession for V-town. I don't check the Vegas news sites or message board as much anymore. I'm not as laser focused on every new Vegas bar or resto opening. I used to be way more in tune with Vegas happenings than I was SF. That's not the case so much since the December trip. I've been distracted this year, but maybe I'm starting to grow out of my 10+ year "Vegas Phase". My absolute lack of any fun gambling last year didn't help. Aside from the small amount I've played in other casinos, at MGM props alone last year I played over $40K coin in and did not hit a single, not one, hand pay. For that much coin in I lost over $7300 and just ba...

Flight booked for the Vegas April. Got a good deal on Alaska, $150 round trip. 7:20p flight out of SFO on the 20th, so can just leave work around 4p and be at the airport in plenty of time and not lose any PTO. A pretty much perfect out time of 1:20p on the 25th, to be back home by around 3p. Can just check out of the room at the normal time and head straight to LAS. I looked at JSX again but they would be over $500 for the same trip and logistically it'd be a bitch to make it all the way over to OAK to get on that flight. This way I can just leave the car in the work lot and not have to worry about paying for parking, then head to SFO on the fly-in day on Uber and be there in no time. I won't have to do a painful save on this trip as I had hoped, today I cashed out my 401k from KitRo and should have a little over $6K coming in time for go time. It will leave me, again, with no retirement savings for the future but heh, FUTURE, right? So this looks like the first trip of 2023 i...

Xmas happened. It was fine. Moving on. Clearly, I haven't been focused on the Vegas lately. It's been a crazy couple months. I de-committed from the Arizona move. A very good decision. I had an inkling it was going to be a shit show and I was completely right. One of the benefits of age is having, then trusting your personal instincts about something. From nearly the start I knew it was going to be a bad move and I somewhat painfully but rightfully extricated myself from it, and the company. But, a random recruiter out of the blue to the rescue, I'm about to make a triumphant return to the biopharma world. Will be joining Agilent in a Program Administrator role. It looks like a good stable company, pays a little better than now and gets me into an individual contributor role which I've wanted for years. I'm done managing dumbasses. Only downside would be having to get a car again but the slight raise should cover some of that. So, since a little bit of stability has...

It's all over but the shouting...crying, puking, laughing, passing out, anything else that will happen over the next week. The work week is over, the email OOO is on, the Signal and Slack notifications are off. The laundry is done, the money's out of the bank, yadda yadda. It's just a matter of about 36 hours until I'm on a chartered plane to the promised land. It's a nice change to have a day off before the trip. I can relax and get all the final prep done at leisure, then can get a full night's good sleep and be ready to hit the ground running Saturday morning. Haven't even started to pack but have the luxury of all day tomorrow to do that. Tonight it's a fairly traditional Friday night on a Thursday, can finish up the playlist while drinking wine and staying up late to make sure tomorrow night I get good zzz's. The money is good. Full $6K out and ready to blow. At $3100 currently on the CC which isn't ideal, but if I can stay under $4K-ish aft...

It's on like Donkey Kong. One week til the Vegas. Here's the plan, limited as it is. Saturday: Xmas Eve. If all goes well with the JSX flight, I'll be on the ground by about 10:30 and over to the Grand by 11a. Check in will be handled by the app, but may look at the line to see if I should wait to check on what kind of upgrade I can get. In any case should be able to head up, dump the bag and get on down to the strip by latest 12p. Probably will post up somewhere by about 1p where I can get some victuals and drinkuals and watch the Niners game, at least for a while. Sat night, no plans, probably will try to make it down to V/P to check on what's left of the old Sam Ross trio crew. Then maybe a late dinner and we'll see how we're feeling, it will have been an early wake up to catch JSX at OAK, so turning in earlyish would not be a punishment. Sunday: Xmas day. Up whenever. Wandering probably when out of the room, may check out the new Brew Dog place by MGM, or us...

It's happening. Arizona, that is. I have, for better or worse, acquired the new position and have to be moved to the desert by March 1. I've already gone into the pluses and minuses so I won't do that again here. Suffice to say my life will change pretty significantly this year. Can only hope it's for the better, and will leave it at that. More to say as the move progresses. But hey - Vegas in 10 days, right? Not even going to start dicking with the AZ move stuff until I'm back. This would normally be the time I'd be pushing everything into the back burner and obsessing about impending Vegas but it's been such a rush to get this job over the past month that I have really not had much time to lock in on the trip.  Luckily, this trip's been on easy mode for months now. Nothing's changed. Money's fine, room's great, not much of a plan outside of a couple food reservations. Have one more site visit in AZ to get past early next week then it's...

20 Days to Vegas. So much shit going on in life right now it's hard to focus on the trip. This week is crucial to my assent to greatness in my company. Trying to get kept on by working through an extended audition with potential new bosses by traveling to LA for a vendor site visit (complete, and went fine I think) then 2 days of them here, and 2 days in Phoenix,  the potential landing place for me in all this. I'm 90% in the door and will be the guy for this move.  I'm conflicted about that. I've been in the Bay Area since high school, and in The City proper for 15 years. I've carved out a comfortable, boring niche here but it's all getting a bit stale. I live in a fetid closet, and while the rent is low I despise my landlords/roommates and would love to bail on them. I also, as a white, bald, old chubby guy, have zero chance of ever knowing the touch of a female again here. It's just not that kinda town anymore. So while I'm set up well here, I wouldn...