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

A good trip, that one. Very solid Return of the King (uh, me) after 4 months of deprivation. Nothing momentous, just some good drinking, decent fooding, and in a shocker, good gambling. No blow by blow here, just some general impressions. Had a good flight in, slight delay but nothing horrid, Flight out bad - 3+ hour delay. Took it in some stride by getting late checkout but on fly out day just get me the fuck home, and Alaska didn't. But file it under shit happens. Plenty of drinking, never felt too out of control, also did some light shrooming most days of the trip which was mostly good but it got me on Monday, I took too much apparently and freaked out a bit after about an hour out and several resorts away. Made it back to the room and let it wear off and the night was OK, but by about 1a that last night I was fried. For the most part though the body hung in there and kept me in fun all day every day with no naps. I slept OK for the most part. Hung out a bit with Evan again, at ...

Escapade #48 all time in Las Vegas, Nevada begins in around 48 hours. The prep is basically done. The money is out of the bank, the laundry is done, the bag is partially packed, I'm checked into the room, there's not much left to do. I check into the flight tomorrow night, do a little more packing Thursday morning then head off to park the car in the work garage, work Thursday til 4p then I'm gone. All is well. Waffled a bit on staying at NYNY as with the funds inflow I could afford an upgrade to a suite somewhere, but I'm good with getting re-acquainted with one of my former fave resorts now that the rooms are fresh. Certainly can't sneeze at how little it's going to cost me, and nothing else in the MGM palette really tickles my nuts right now. If Aria's standard rooms finish the makeover they're under maybe I'll stay there later this year. Money's good. Still have $2K in the bank after all needs and wants are pulled out. $1K per four full days ...

They dragged ass for a good month, but the distribution from my old 401k finally came through this morning so the "save" is done. Actually got about a grand more than I was expecting, which is nice, so over $8K in the account RN. Will have another $2300 coming in from the paycheck Friday so paying down the MGM CC to almost nothing, and will have roughly $8K of spending umbrella on that, plus will take around $5K cash along for gambles and incidentals. I have a decent amount of MGM RC on this trip so probably won't have to hit the CC too hard. Unless it's a MGM spot there's no real reason to blast it - but 3X points on MGM spots will be a do. Bevvies, lunches, MGM bar drinks, all on the CC. All that will be easily pay-off-able in the following month with what's left in the bank before and after I go and with the normal paycheck infusions. I'll likely have something around $2K still in the bank when I'm wheels up next Thursday. It's a crazy low overh...

I've been a bit of a poshy the last few years. A lot of stays at Cosmopolitan, Aria, Encore, The Conrad, etc. I'm looking forward to taking a step back and staying at a good, old "fun first" joint. I stayed at NYNY a ton in the early Vegas days. I stayed there 6 times in the '13-'16 era, when I was trying to maximize every penny I could save on overhead. I wasn't getting offers for the high end MGM resorts back then as I was spending a lot less on gambles. Back then I might do $7-10K coin in all year at MGM spots, whereas last year I dropped in $41K. But man, some of those trips were fun. True low-rolling; playing MyVegas all year to squeeze out a few discounts, staying at NY or Monte Carlo or Luxor, whoever would comp me a few nights. I was over the moon for Vegas and couldn't get enough, it was an obsession and I scraped and clawed for every penny to afford those trips. These days the resort quality has gone up, and the save is not nearly as hard, bu...

As of the writing of this post I am two weeks out from being on the ground in Vegas almost to the minute (if the flight is on time). Settling in to the job pretty well. It's very different from other things I've done. It's nominally "customer service" but 80% of the job is just sending and responding to emails. Tons of detailed coordination. Leaning on One Note heavily to keep it all organized. It's a steep learning curve but I think in a couple months when I'm fully in the flow it will be a keeper. The good is that I'm out the door at 7:45a every morning and home before 5p every afternoon and no weekends ever so the work-life balance is great. With an increased 401k save every month (have to start fucking saving for retirement at some point) and with having to spend over $100/month on health insurance again, the raise is negligible, but at least I didn't lose anything in the job swap. The new car is good. According to the car forums it's an u...

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...