Ten Things Thursday

1.  I took the day off yesterday.  I couldn't bear to go to work, and the wife had the day off.  So I went to bootcamp where I worked my ass off, and then I spent the rest of the day in bed.  I resented having to get up this morning.

2.  I talked to my boss' boss' boss this morning about all of the horseshit that went down last week.  I told him how unhappy and angry I was.  It's not going to change the situation, but I feel better about the fact that at least I expressed myself.  I'm still looking for a new job.  Fuck, I'm still looking for a new job.

3.  Let's talk about Vegas.  I love Vegas.

Our flight got in on time to Vegas at about 10:30pm.  There was a woman waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator at the airport - she had our names on an electronic board - that was neat.  She followed us to the baggage carousel, where we claimed our bag, and then she escorted us out to our waiting Escalade for the short drive to the MGM.  At the MGM, we went to check in at VIP check-in, which is a secluded room behind the front desk.  Admittedly, we looked a little schlubby, which got the attention of one of the women manning the room.  But as soon as we said, "Our host told us to check in here," her attitude totally changed.  She offered us drinks, checked us in and sent us on our way to our room in the private elevator.  And then...

Surprise!  Our host had booked us in a suite without mentioning it.  (Yes, that spotlight on the extreme left side of the picture actually worked.)

 A stripview suite!  Here was the view from our wall of windows (sorry for the piss poor night photo quality):

And the bathroom (double sink and separate shower/tub):

So.  Freaking.  Nice.

It was about 11pm by the time we got checked in, so we decided to run down to the casino and play for a little while.  I only lasted a couple of hours before nearly falling asleep at a slot machine, and we were losing anyway (a trend that continued throughout the trip), so we went to bed.

The next morning, Saturday, we woke up early and went to the gym (yeah, seriously, we went to the gym in Vegas).  I did an hour on a very squeaky elliptical.  Then we showered and headed down to breakfast at Studio Cafe, where I had the ham and eggs with an English muffin and the wife had fruit and a bagel.  The food was good but the service was abysmal.  I didn't take any pics of food on this trip, as food porn is not really my thing.

We played the slots for several hours, but they were SO TIGHT.  Ugh.  I completely recognize that I'm going to lose money in Vegas - in fact, I expect it.  But I was putting in $20 after $20 and they lasted about 5 minutes each.  I expect money to last just a little bit longer than that, or else it's really not that fun.  So by about mid-afternoon, we headed back up to the room to take a nap.

And in the middle of our nap:

Room service arrived with a gift from our host.  It had jellybeans, smoked almonds, biscotti, chocolate covered raisins, sesame bites, chocolate with sea salt and two bottles of Fiji water.  It was really a very nice gesture.

That night, we still had $110 to spend on food ($150 was comped per day), so we decided to go to Nobhill Tavern.  It was so nice - we had our own little private booth that was closed off on three sides, so we weren't subject to other people's conversations.  We decided to stick with fingerish foods for dinner.  I started with shrimp cocktail - it wasn't particularly outstanding, and the shrimp were previously frozen.  The wife started with Caesar salad, which she liked.  Then I had the New England crab and lobster rolls, which was essentially three pieces of brioche with crab and lobster salad.  They were super tasty.  The wife had the cheeseburger sliders, which was a serving of two small cheeseburgers.  Again, she said she liked them.  We finished the meal with beignets  with salted caramel ice cream, which was yummmmm.

After dinner, we tried to play the slots again but they remained very tight, so we went to bed early.

Sunday, we woke up early, even though we'd gotten a late check out of 2pm, and we headed to the buffet.  Buffets may be lost on me these days, but I will say this - I ate one bite of about every dessert they had available.  Just one.  And it was nice.

After breakfast, the wife had some freeplay to go through, so we played the slots for a few hours and got on a little bit more of a roll than we had previously, but the slots were still being very stingy.  So we went back up to the room and packed up for our move to Vdara.  After double-checking that we didn't have any charges on our room, we headed out.

At Vdara, even though I was paying (or, well, work was paying), I showed my platinum MLife card at check-in.  I'd booked a City Corner suite and my player's club card got me upgraded to an Executive Corner.  The room, on the 38th floor, had quite a view:

Again, shoddy nighttime photography, but those are the Bellagio fountains.  That view is from the giant soaker tub in the bathroom.  From the living room:

That's Planet Hollywood, just past the Cosmo.

For some reason, I don't have any photos of the room, but the pictures on Vdara.com are pretty accurate.  There was a half bath, full kitchen, washer/dryer and the master bath had a soaker tub, separate shower and two sinks.  It was... swanky.

After checking in, we went to work out.  The gym at Vdara didn't have any ellipticals, so I did my time on the treadmill.  Then the wife decided she wanted to spend some time at the spa, so she went off for an eyebrow shaping while I relaxed in the room.  When she got back, we headed out to Sephora at the Miracle Mile shops, as they had a gift-with-purchase that I wanted.  Turns out, that Sephora was out, so I ended up not buying anything.  We headed to dinner at Skybox at Aria.  The wife and I shared an order of onion rings (she ate the majority) and then I had a hotdog (I didn't eat the bun) and she had chicken fingers.  The hotdog was delish.

Then we headed to the slots, where our money lasted a LOT longer than it had at the MGM, which made us a lot happier.  After several hours, we finally headed to bed, as the wife had an 8 o'clock flight out in the morning.

After that, it was all business for me.  I ate at the Aria buffet for dinner on Monday and at the Bellagio buffet on Tuesday (the line at the Bellagio was like 45 minutes long, which made me very grateful that my player's club card allowed me to pass it).  At each one, I ate a bit of protein and then one bite of just about every dessert.

I worked out at the Vdara gym on Monday and Tuesday, and I also walked from Vdara down to the Wynn and back again, walking through all of the casinos on the way - it was about 3.5 miles roundtrip.

On the way home on Wednesday, my flight was super delayed due to, of all things, rain in Vegas.  WTF?  As a result, I didn't get to work out on Wednesday - I'd planned to go to the gym at home, but it was midnight by the time my flight got in.  But, I got upgraded to first class.  Which makes my seat belt triumph a little less, but I'll still post my plane seat pic:

4.  Wow, #3 was long.  Let's see if we can do one sentence for 5-10.

5.  The company picnic is at Six Flags in a week - will I fit into ride seats?

6.  I want a kicky new haircut.

7.  I also want a manicure.

8.  And I *need* a pedicure.

9.  I have a rash on my chest, which is one of the symptoms of West Nile.  One of my co-workers had West Nile.  What does it say about my job situation that I kind of hope I might have West Nile?

10.  #9 was 3 sentences.