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

In keeping with the upcoming all-baller Vegas trip, I have some new wrist candy coming along. Plunked down a little over $3K for a Longines HydroConquest full ceramic piece. Flirted with a Tudor as well, but it would have been a grand more and frankly I'm getting a lot more watch with the Longines. Love the simple, clean diver look and the full ceramic case and bezel will mean it'll look better far longer than a stainless piece. Apparently the stuff is basically scratch proof for all intents and purposes. Full ceramic from most other luxury brands are generally $10K and up. 43mm case so should be a good size for my wrist. Ordered it two-day from Jomashop, so it should be here well before the trip. Slightly worried about not having a manufacturer warranty, as it's a pretty pricey piece, but that's the chance you take getting a big discount from an online dealer. It's a $4100 watch from an AD, so I'll take my $1000 discount and my chances. So along with the privat...

MGM fucking with me again. Trying to dump rooms with 2 weeks to go, clearly. Could book the 6 nights at a $27 rate at Aria, less than $500 all in. Or Delano, NYNY or Vdara less than $400. Gah. Could save me over a grand. Could be at Encore for the same $$ as Conrad now too. Venetian $500 less. If I went with MGM props, I could be prudent and bank the extra $1K with the somewhat uncertain future RN, but I still don't want to give up the baller suite at the Conrad. The Encore suite is nice but I greatly prefer the resort at RW to the WynnCore complex. And I don't feel like I  have to scrimp, so unless that situation comes up (don't see how it could) I'll be at RW in 14 days. Plus none of the other props have the ROOM Conrad does. This thing has high ballerism to value quotient. Do I need it? No. I could get by with a 350 sq ft room and have on many occasions. Chances are extremely high no one but me is going to see it anyway. But I will see it, and appreciate it. And I c...

Things on track, generally. 2 /12 weeks to Vegas. No changes to anything trip-wise. MGM fucking with me. I could be at Delano again for less than $400 all in, but not going to bite. Sticking with posh. Work sitch unchanged but worrisome. As far as I know I still have a job after June, but my boss has gone quiet on me and it makes me nervous. I don't think he would pull the dick move of cutting me loose after the current contract is done, but if he does it's going to be unholy hell thrown at him. You can't tell someone their job is safe then pull that rug at the end. Going to try to corner him soon to get some surety. As it stands 2 Vegas trips and, you know, not being homeless depends on it. Not much out there in the job market, but I'm looking. Despite the slight uncertainty in the workplace, I've decided I need a new toy before the April trip. Getting a new watch. Took advantage of a 15-month 0% interest rate CC deal from my bank. Looking at either a ceramic Lon...

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...