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

So! We are counting down to the Vegas again. Plan post, with no plan. Just some highlights: The in: If all goes well, on the ground on the 20th, a Thursday, by about 9p. Cab to NYNY and checked in, up to the room to dump the bag and out to the strip by 10p. Will have been to work all day and up at around 7a so if this isn't a rager night all is forgiven. No plan this night (a theme on this trip), might stay close to NYNY so no need to cab anywhere. We'll see. Light gambling, a snack, and drinkies on the menu. The bulk of the trip: Then Fri-Mon it's just the Vegas-ing. Not seeing any shows (nothing left that I want to see), only 2 dinner reservations (Saturday at Morimoto at MGM, Monday at Il Fornaio at the home base), and beyond that it's just the big wander. It's a short enough trip that I don't think I have to do a cool down day, but we'll play that by ear (and the rest of the body). This trip will really just be walk out to the NYNY valet in the morning a...

As I rapidly age and my wizened body fails me, about the only thing that has kept birthdays from feeling funereal is the fact that I'm usually in Vegas for them. Such will be the case again next month as I turn 54, so as is my wont it is time once again to tally up the amount of cash that I'm saving compared to what a smelly, horrid, unworthy mound of flesh with no resort status (unlike me) would pay. -5 nights at NYNY in a Soho Premiere: $20 after Gold status removal of resort fees. Would be $1532 at rack rate, savings of $1512. -$50 in FP, $100 in RC, courtesy the MGM Rewards booking package, value $150. -A further $87 in RC and $119 FP left over from past trips, $206 in value, will increase as I tack on play during the trip. -$55 in Buffalo Wild Wings GC's I can use, should some sort of mind riot cause me to think going to a Buffalo Wild Wings in Vegas is a good idea. $55 value. Total: $1923 potentially saved versus a non MGM Rewards trip. As much as I complain about the...

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...