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

3 weeks out, starting to see things form up to final states. The last MGM Rewards points have dropped in, I'm over the 20K threshold, without having set foot in town, which would be great if I was actually TRYING to get the Gold this year. Whether I even make the effort will hinge on this trip, probably. If I do manage to drop some coin at MGM sites and get 10K in the bank there I might make an effort. Not going to bust my balls to do so though. The bigger plus I'm getting from the MGM CC now is all the Freeplay, of which I'll have nearly $200 going into town. That will be the main thing that will end up dragging my ass to Aria or Bellagio from the north strip. I'll cab all over the place anyway like I do to drink, but otherwise I'd probably be content to concentrate most of my gamble spend between RW and FB. Outside of those 3 not much else will likely make any money off of me this trip.  Also have a more or less final number of what will be in the wallet. After pa...

30 days until we hit the (vodka and) rocks. We about to go Titanic and get a little Lusitania. Only hoping I have some Endurance and things don't end up a Terror. Santa Maria. One month from today I will already be several cocktails in, on the ground in the Vegas. No changes to the itinerary as of now, still locked into a lovely suite at the Conrad with a backup for Delano in case I see a (financial) ghost in the next month. Flights on JSX. Could definitely have saved a couple hundy flying commercial but this trip ain't that. This trip is Bruno Mars - leaving town $50M in debt. As a result there will be no Freebies post this time, because, well, there aren't any. Not entirely true, I will have about $180 in Freeplay at MGM resorts while there, but the trips where I'm saving $2K over rack rates and with comps - this is not that trip. In truth I also saved about $1500 booking the room through Priceline over today's rate at the RW website, but it's not like I had s...

  With a little over a month to Vegas, looking ahead to possible Next Vegas. I'm about to begin a final work project at the site I'm currently at which has a more or less hard end date of end June. So, logically, before I would want to begin the next assignment I would, of course, want to do another Vegas trip. I've put in the time for June 29 - July 5. Another five full day trip, Saturday to Friday. That's pretty much the sweet spot for me now for mid-year trips; any less feels like not enough time and any more starts to tax the failing body. No room or flights yet. Google Flights has it as somewhere around $200 for the airlines and JSX is at $500 again for semi-private. Will probably end up going JSX because fuck TSA. Haven't dug deep with all resorts yet but MGM has some good rates for the MB/Grand/NYNY level hotels, even with resort fees. Plenty of time to figure all that out though. Still 4+ months away, won't probably book anything until I return from Apri...

Don't think I'm going to need it, as the theme of the April trip is All Birthday Baller, but I booked a bailout backup if I waver. 4 comped nights, including the weekend night, and $26/night before resort fees made me stick down the MGM CC for Delano, as a backup to the Conrad. I could save myself over $1000 on the booking, and add another $150 in RC and FP from the MGM booking package if I cancel RW and go Delano. For April it's by far the best price/resort combo I've seen within MGM-land. I just don't want to be sensible on this trip though. Turning 55 is a milestone birthday, one I was never guaranteed to get to, after the events of about 15 years ago. I'd like to celebrate it in big style. I stayed at Delano over Xmas, it's fine , more than enough space for a single guy, and as I've always said I like the MB campus. It would also bolster my chances of regaining Gold this year if I stayed there. AND it's literal walking distance from the airport w...

The site where I work will be shutting down at the end of March. J&J research site. Less than a year and a half old. Crazy. But big money companies do big money wasting things. Apparently this is somewhat par for the course for J&J.  What it means for me is unclear. Right now it's not even official, apparently it gets media dumped tomorrow at 5p Eastern to minimize the stock drop it'll likely cause. More details about whether it's just...over on March 31st or if there will be months of decommissioning equipment (which we would likely be involved in) is also unclear. I've been assured that since I'm not J&J, that I'm a contractor, my job is safe. Apparently this comes from the higher reaches of my company group so that's good, but what that means for what and where I'll have that job is unknown. If it's a remote job, great, if it means commuting to someplace like fucking Fremont or something...not great. I spent some time dusting off the r...

T-minus 2 months from Next Vegas. Nothing has changed in the plan. Still locked into Resorts World and JSX, otherwise known as baller and baller. I requested early arrival and at the Conrad, so hopefully that will come though so I can get into the room a couple hours early. Flight time would make that ideal. Still have just the two food reservations, no shows or anything this time. Little early for a Birthbies post, but booking the King Suite on RW or Hilton's website would cost me $2380 right now, as opposed to the $1500 it cost me on Priceline. Tight. And I have the whole $2K from JSX and the room paid off now, so it's all gravy save at this point for the next 4 paychecks. Already have the full cash save needed in the bank and will try to bump it up some between now and then to have a cushion. I keep checking MGM pretty much daily for rate drops, but anything even in the same tri-state area of niceness as the Conrad suite (like a Resort Tower King at Bellagio) are just as muc...

The bill has come due for my abject failure in December. Tier level updates have happened and I am no longer MGM Gold. I'm back to a lowly Pearl, where the poors hang out. My shame is beyond measure. I knew it was coming. I didn't monitor my spend well enough at the end of the Xmas trip and left myself 5K points short, which would have been easily gettable had I not been in a fog of Belvedere and cocaine the last few days of the trip. I have no one to blame but myself, Belvedere and cocaine. In a practical sense it means 2 things. The biggie is no more waived resort fees at MGM resorts. That will cost me $200-300 per trip depending on length of stay and resort. Not inconsiderable, but also not the end of the living universe. The other main drag will be no available room upgrades on check in, which is less of a big deal. I think the whole time I was Gold it might have only meant a few view upgrades, I don't think I ever got a better room class out of it. There are also thing...