Our annual trip to Hawaii (without the kids)

Posted on by TheGuy

Alooooooooohaaaaa my friends!  Kat and I were off in Hawaii last week. You will often hear about Las Vegas as “island #9” and we agree we like all 9 islands!  This trip was on Oahu which is one of islands 1 through 8 though I am not sure which number. I suppose it’s #1 since it’s the capitol of Hawaii!?  Anyway, we often do a winter getaway to enjoy some sun and warmth. Our five nights in Waikiki did not disappoint!  Honestly, you have to agree, a rainy (and 75 or so degrees) in Hawaii is better than 55 and going to work back on the mainland!

First of all I must say that it seems everybody I know goes to Maui.  Look, I love Maui like seemingly everybody else. However, I feel like Oahu is badly undervalued.  Oahu has everything Maui has plus the benefits of a big city. Yes, Oahu has bad traffic at times but so does Maui at times.  Oahu has every possible restaurant and/or type of food just like a big city anywhere.  Ok, so this blog is going to be about doing a quickie trip to Hawaii from the west coast.  Let’s talk about this….

Recently some friends of ours had money they had to use on Alaska Airlines. They wanted to fly to Nashville and invited us to join them. I was game but pointed out it’s about 9 hours each way, from our little burg, since we have no non-stop but instead would fly through Seattle. It is not very direct to fly from the great state of NorCal to Nashville, TN via Seattle, WA!  I said, “hey, for less cost of airfare and far less travel time we could be in Maui” as Alaska Airlines has a non-stop to there from our little village of an airport.   They stuck with Nashville, and that’s great, but gosh darn it I’d rather do a winter warm-up in Hawaii!  So, putting aside the Nashville trip Kitty Kat and I did our annual winter warm up to the islands.  The first time we did it we went for four nights but changed it to five a few years ago.  The main reason was because we often stay at a Marriott family hotel (the Royal Hawaiian) and if you use points the 5th night is free so that’s sort of a no-brainer!

So roughly speaking our flight on Hawaiian took off a bit after 8:30 am local time and landed just after 12:00 noon Hawaii time. As Hawaii is two hours behind the west coast that means it took just over 5 and a half hours to get there.  Let’s break this down a little further.  People think nothing of going to NYC, DC, Florida, Cabo, etc… for 3 nights but Hawaii takes LESS TIME to fly to than the aforementioned as we have very few non-stops from our little airport.  Driving to SFO adds at least two hours so that makes it highly impractical just to get a non-stop.  So when you focus on what non-stops we have from our airport Hawaii is at the top of the list!  Currently, out of Sacramento, we have non-stops on Southwest, Hawaiian and Alaska going to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island!  Prices tend to be around $500 in the winter for non-holiday weeks. You just can’t beat that!  I will admit, and shhhhhhhh don’t tell the kids, we often fly first class when we don’t have the kids with us.  It was an extra $300 per person on this trip and first class on Hawaiian really is first class!  We landed, feeling good, and then waited for our luggage as we had decided not to hassle with carry on bags. I will say this is one place to save time as the luggage service is very slow at both ends of the trip but especially in Hawaii.  Hey, I love Hawaii, but man they are slow to put out the luggage!

From the airport to the hotel we really like Waikiki as it’s QUICK!  It’s 15 minutes no traffic and can take 30 with traffic. That is, from HNL airport to the center of Waikiki.  It’s probably ten minutes to the Ala Moana Mall area which is another place to consider staying with a few hotels, a few timeshares and some Airbnb places.  We like the Royal Hawaiian as it’s pretty much dead center in Waikiki but it’s “hidden” behind a mall so it’s very private.  Even the driveway is hidden next to the Sheraton Waikiki.   You can do shuttle bus, cab or Uber. I am telling you now that if you are doing the quick getaway just take the cab. There is usually no line and it costs about $40.  It’s not worth saving $5 or $10 with the other options as this is a quick vacation so don’t waste time standing in line, waiting or stopping at other hotels.  Cab it!

So we dropped our stuff in our hotel and off we went for lunch.  Ok, I need to note that we have focused our hotel purchases on the Marriott family for about 10 years and thus have lifetime Titanium status. This doesn’t mean much but at this hotel it got us: 1) a free breakfast buffet each day, 2) access to the free happy hour, and 3) a suite upgrade in the old building.  I’ll blog some other time about earning your hotel status but it can be worth your trouble if you work the system to the fullest.  Our suite was a full one bedroom suite, with a side of the building view of the ocean, and was just huge!  It’s nice to have space we think… although Kitty Kat did admit she missed having an ocean front balcony so I know what I need to do next year!  I really will need to do a separate blog on the suite because it was really sweet and we had roughly the exact same suite two years in a row.

I have a lot more to say about this trip in the coming days. Topics will include comedian Daniel Tosh (who we saw live in Honolulu), John’s encounter with Tua Tagovailoa at our hotel, some restaurant reviews, and how good is the McDonalds tropical iced tea in Hawaii!


Aloha my friends.

Planning my next Vegas trip

Posted on by middleagemoving_7f2wn5

I am planning my next trip to LAS VEGAS, Nevada! Ok, in all honesty, I am always thinking about planning my next trip. Last year was my most visits ever in a year with 8 separate trips to LV including a one day (no night) trip and a 4 night trip… and many in between. What do I have planned for 2020? I usually do a spring and a fall trip for 3 nights with my awesome and supportive wife. Maybe do a summer trip with the guys and also planning an NCAA basketball (and catch a Knight’s game) weekend with the guys. What else? What am I working on now? I am working on yet another 24 hours in Vegas trip. Let me explain my process….

Like anything it’s the five W’s – WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY and sometimes HOW!?

WHO

Ok, well we know I am going and like always I’ll invite my beautiful and awesome wife. However, she already declined the next trip. What I heard was “I am agreeable to our two trips a year and you can go whenever you want that makes you happy.” I am sure she said other words but I am focusing on “you can go whenever you want.” So here I am planning…. My boy Danny, aka: Mr. Roper, can get off work as long as Mrs. Roper is ok with it as his job is managing some rental units they own. Heck, can always postpone stuff for 24 hours right!? So I’ll ask Danny to go.

WHAT

I am not sure the answer to the WHAT but I wanted to post about the 5 W’s so here I am talking about WHAT. I guess the what is A TRIP TO VEGAS! Or maybe it’s A TRIP TO FANTASYLAND!? Or maybe it’s A TRIP TO A PLACE FAR FAR AWAY!? Heck, I don’t know.

WHERE

Oh crap, this 5 W’s thing is not really working. We already said we are going to Vegas. I suppose the WHERE could be WHERE SPECIFICALLY!? So for example this will be a trip to the strip in Las Vegas. Which part of the strip though!? Also which hotel!? Going to a Knights game is center to the trip and I want to get some Mlife credit so am thinking either Park MGM or NYNY. My thinking is this is a trip with a college buddy so cheap room, centrally located, with a casino is the key. Both Park and NYNY check all the boxes. I have actually never stayed at NYNY but the location is great and they have lots of good restaurants in and near it such as Gonzalez y Gonzalez (is that a law firm or a Mexican restaurant?) which has great table-side guacamole!

WHEN

I am looking at February as I already have a trip planned for March and for April. So this is the February jaunt. I am eye-balling a couple different dates based on how much Southwest wants, how much the hotels want, and how much my Vegas Knights ticket source wants for the duckets. Narrowing it down to Feb. 20 or 26th. A Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightening or a Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers. A couple observations and considerations:

  • Generally Thursdays are more party nights than Wednesday but in Vegas it really doesn’t matter. It’s a night so it’s a party!
  • Playing a Canadian team feels more like real hockey.
  • Playing a Canadian team means Mr. Golden Pipes will sing two national anthems and that guy can belt it out!
  • Oilers are in our conference so the game is worth more.
  • Hmmmmmmm….

WHY

Why because we like you! Heck, I don’t know why!? WHY NOT? Isn’t that really the answer anybody says “why are you going to Vegas?” You really should never have to ask WHY! Let’s highlight what 24 hours in Vegas will likely include:

  • One hour flight each way so no big deal.
  • Tropical Passion iced tea at Coffee Bean in the airport.
  • Gourmet dinner – maybe at a crazy buffet.
  • Gambling in world’s best casinos.
  • Energy and vibe waiting outside to go into the hockey game is off the charts!
  • Las Vegas Knights hockey game which is truly EPIC.
  • After (win) vibe is even better than the before game vibe!
  • More gambling in world’s best casinos.
  • “Free” drinks while gambling.
  • Late night snack at some fun place like Shake Shack!?
  • Stay at world class hotel for under $100 (mid-week).
  • Wake up and get Lox Eggs and Onions or incredible gluten free french toast.
  • Drop a few more bucks in the video poker machine.
  • 5 minute cab ride to airport.
  • Another Tropical Passion iced tea at the airport (oh that crushed ice).
  • Hour’ish flight and I am back in the great state of NorCal.

So again I say WHY NOT!?

HOW

I never fully got the HOW. It’s called the “5 W’s” not the “5 W’s plus an H.” Hmmmmmmm…..

So, it’s time to purchase a plane ticket and book a hotel room.

Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Las Vegas Golden Knights v. San Jose Sharks

Posted on by TheGuy

When the Golden Knights began playing hockey in 2017 it was assumed that their big rival would be the Los Angeles Kings or maybe the Arizona Coyotes… or even, maybe the Anaheim Ducks. However, that hasn’t happened.  Instead by far the biggest rival to the Las Vegas Golden Knights is the San Jose Sharks.  So this post is going to be about Las Vegas Golden Knights v. San Jose Sharks. A compare and contrast if you will. I think there are a couple of main reasons why the Sharks and the Knights have created a nice little rivalry:

  1. The Sharks and Knights have played in the playoffs each of the past two years with the Knights winning in 2018 and the Sharks winning in 2019… but only after a controversial call against the Knights. Yes, the Knights vanquished the LA Kings 4 games to 0 in 2018 also but that was a first round ho-hummer of a series.  The Knights and Sharks battled going 6 games in 2018 and 7 games in 2019.
  2. The Sharks home is in San Jose which is in the State of Northern California.  The movie Better Off Dead is a modern classic (1985 or so) where I first learned of the State of Northern California or NorCal for short. However, the fine people of NorCal are some of the most territorial people I have ever met and they love to hate. For example, they have a huge one-way rivalry with all-things that are SoCal (Dodgers, Lakers, sunshine, beaches, etc…).  I believe Vegas got lumped into the NorCal hated for SoCal.
  3. Since they are in the same division they of course play frequently.  The more you play the more you have chippy fouls, bad calls, incredible plays, media making up stories, etc….

So as of today, the first day of 2020, we are where we are and the Knights and the Sharks form a great rivalry and fans of both teams seem to enjoy the rivalry.  Now, I am a Knight’s fan first and foremost so undoubtedly my blog post is jaded but I will try to be as objective as I can be.  I have been to a few Knight’s games, as well as games for all sports throughout the country, and I believe the Knight’s fan experience is up there amongst the best.   I have not been to the “Shark Tank,” down in San Ho, in many years but I recently did to watch the Knights play the Sharks.  The point of my post today is to compare and contract the fan experience at the two venues. The place in the standings speak for themselves (hint one team is in first and one team is near last).

VENUE LOCATION

I have been to several sporting events at the SAP Arena, or whatever it is called these days, and it’s a nice place. However, the neighborhood is pretty marginal.  If you stay at a hotel you have to walk through a very mediocre area with a lot of homeless.  Yes, there are some bars and restaurants a few blocks away, and they are fun, but it’s pretty average compared to what Las Vegas offers right outside the T-Mobile front door.  World class hotels are steps away – Park MGM, NYNY, and MGM Grand.  During the week you can frequently get very cheap rates at these hotels.  In terms of bars and restaurants… well, the Las Vegas Strip is one of the best entertainment destinations in the world and it literally goes almost to the doors of the T-Mobile Arena.  We drove up to SAP, parked in a massive parking lot, and then stood in line to go in as there nothing to do right next to the arena.  While waiting in line at T-Mobile they a DJ playing, an MC who greets all the fans (even the opposing team’s fans), and the vibe is electric.  San Jose was not so electric.  This really is a no-brainer.  WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights

PRE-GAME

So Vegas is a world class destination with more shows than any city I know of. They literally take the show into the Fortress (aka: T-Mobile Arena) for the games.  The DJ is blasting the beats inside, there is literally a Las Vegas show taking place on the ice, a world class singer sings the national anthem(s), and the vibe is pure electric.  In San Jose they have some guy playing an electronic organ that reminds me of going to games in the 1970’s when I was kid. At the game I went to they tried to do a theatrical production where two kids (one dressed in Shark’s gear and one in Knight’s gear) had a little sword fight.  Some fans booed the Knight’s kid… or maybe they were just booing the whole thing because it was pretty pathetic to make a kid the enemy. Ya, I know it was probably staged but it wasn’t very funny but rather just awkward.  WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights

FANS

So granted it was just before Christmas but you are supposedly playing your rival and the Shark Tank was fairly empty.  I don’t buy into “attendance” numbers since the definition of attendance now seems to be tickets sold rather than butts in seats so I will ignore whatever attendance number the Shark’s published. The place was about 20-25% empty.  I checked the day before and you could get the BMW seats (first two rows PLUS unlimited food and booze) on Stubhub for about $250 each.  We got seats around row 12, not too far from center ice, for about $150 each on the Hub.  The prices seemed pretty cheap but once I saw all the empty seats I understood I probably overpaid!  So the fans had one moment where we thought they did a good job. They sung the national anthem, with the organ playing, and they replaced the words “night” with the word “boo” which was funny. This has gotten them into hot water in the past as they messed up a previous singer.  https://www.bardown.com/sharks-crowd-abruptly-boo-s-when-anthem-reaches-the-word-night-leading-singer-to-botch-next-line-1.1075046  On this night, other than that one moment, the fans basically sat on their hands, didn’t cheer much (except one loud lady behind me), and it was something similar to Christmas mass at your local Catholic church.  At one moment the fan cam was darting around the arena (as it did A LOT during the evening), focused on two teenagers, who gasped with excitement, and we heard them from the other end of the ice.  When you go to a Knight’s game in LV you can barely hear yourself think.  WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights

FOOD

So stadium food has come a long way in my lifetime. In the old days it was hot dogs, peanuts, cracker jacks and frozen malts.  Over time some inventive arena added pizza.  Then, probably in the late 90’s, the variety of food expanded considerably.  Now days a lot of arenas have gourmet food from local restaurants, celebrity chefs, etc….  The last game I was at in Vegas I had an incredible chicken salad sandwich to go with my $17 Bud Light (yikes).  At San Jose we started with some Ritas frozen custard, followed that up with some tri-tip, and lastly had some turkey carver.  I have to say all the food we ate was very good.  I need to eat more food at T-Mobile before I can make a final decision on this.   WINNER: San Jose Sharks*

SPECIALTY LOUNGES

We had access to the stadium club which was downstairs from the main entry level at San Jose. There was a lot of nice food and drink options in bar/restaurant like settings. It was impressive. We were with people who had previously enjoyed BMW Club seats at SAP. They said it was pretty incredible with exclusive entrance and unlimited food and drink all night long.  At my last Vegas game I had tickets that came with access to the Bud Light Lounge.  It was nice for having short lines for food, drink and bathrooms. Plus offered nice seating if you didn’t want to walk down to your city.  I believe sections 16 and 17 at T-Mobile get you into the Bud Light Lounge though not 100% positive on that. Likewise I believe sections 5 and 6 get you into the Jack Daniel’s lounge.  I do not know if T-Mobile has anything equivalent to the BMW Lounge with unlimited food and drink. However, what decides the winner is that T-Mobile has Hyde. It’s a club, in full Vegas nightclub style, at the very top of T-Mobile. You don’t see the game much from up there but what an awesome concept!  WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights

OTHER STUFF

I was going to have a separate section for the people that clean the ice.  In San Jose it’s a mix of average looking men and women in warm weather gear efficiently cleaning the ice every few minutes. In Vegas it’s mostly women in skirts, along with a few guys, but all look they are models. 

SAP is looking old while T-Mobile is still brand new at about 3 or 4 years old. Don’t get me wrong. SAP is still nice but it’s a bit long in the tooth.  T-Mobile just feels clean and modern.

The video graphics at SAP were surprisingly outdated. They did a lot with clipart, superimposed onto fans, but messed up many times. The funniest being they put the word “nice” over the head of Shark’s fans and then switched to a Knight’s fan and put the word “naughty.” Unfortunately the word naughty also was placed above all the other fans, next to the Knight’s fan, and they were all Shark’s fans. Lol on that tech fail. Pretty funny since you are in the heart of Silicon Valley at SAP.

Exiting the arena – we were able to get out of ABC parking lot, at SAP, and onto the freeway in minutes which was nice as we had to drive home. However, I prefer T-Mobile where I can walk out, throw a few bucks into the slots, or hit the Piano Bar in NYNY, or any of 1,000 other options.

WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights

CONCLUSION

Overall the clear winner is the experience in Las Vegas.  Las Vegas Golden Knights v. San Jose Sharks is a fun rivalry though. Regardless of what team you root for, or if you don’t even know anything about hockey, I encourage you to check out a Las Vegas Knight’s game at T-Mobile Arena. I think you’ll find it memorable!

* Tentative – dependent on eating more food at T-Mobile

Another 24 hours in Vegas – Coffee Bean crushed ice, Knights and walking from Park MGM to the Bellagio inside most of the way

Posted on by TheGuy

My day to day life is sort of boring these days. Work, work, work and that’s not very fun to talk about. Living with teenagers could be interesting but nothing lately of blog worthy material. Eventually I’ll blog about my incredible wife but saving that for another day. Sooooooooo, it’s another 24 hours in Las Vegas trip report!

So the purpose for the last trip was a double play: push my Southwest Airlines status to A-list with 25 one-way trips during the year AND another night at an M-Life property would push my Hyatt to another level of benefits because you get Hyatt points/benefits for your M-Life stays… although their computers do not communicate 100% of the time it seems to me. I love points games and this seemed like a good one to me!

However, I made a goof and “bought” my plane ticket with points and points purchases do not count toward status. Actually it was sort of funny when I called as the Southwest Airlines representative told me, “you only get credit for the flight when you pay or when you use points earned on your Southwest Airlines credit card.” I said, “well, actually I DID earn the points I used for the trip on my Southwest Airlines credit card…” but I subsequently cancelled said Southwest Airlines credit card. She told me that didn’t count so, in another words, she misspoke when she said you would get credit if the points came from a Southwest Airlines credit card and should have said you get credit if you still have the Southwest Airlines credit card. So, whatever… but I am still one flight short of A-list status so… back to LV I go!

So, first of all a trip to Vegas doesn’t seem right to me if you don’t have a Dos Equis on the plane. There isn’t really enough time for two but one beer tells my brain we are going to Vegas baby! Luckily it was not the 7:00 am flight so it didn’t seem too odd to order a drink… and I certainly wasn’t the only person on the 11:00 am flight having a drink. You know when you fly Southwest Airlines you get free drink coupons all the time and I don’t drink enough to use them all… so I have to use them when I can. Three out of four recent Southwest flights (each of about an hour) they didn’t serve drinks due to “too much turbulence.” Yaaaaa right! So at least this time we didn’t have bad turbulence so I got my beer! Actually it was funny as the stewardess, in sort of rude fashion, said, “please know your drink order when we come through because this is a short flight and there are only 3 of us and 136 of you….” What happens when she gets to the first row? The very first customer asks “what drink options do you have?” Then the stewardess goes to row 2 and the lady there orders “7-up” and the stewardess, sort of curtly says, “we have Sprite not 7-up.” I had my order and my drink ready to go as I didn’t want to get on this lady’s bad side!

Dos Equis
Free Dos Equis on Southwest Airlines

So free beer done and it’s time to jump in a cab and head to Park MGM for my thirty dollar room. Yes, thirty bucks on a Tuesday night… but a $37 resort fee and the regular tax so I am sure it was eighty bucks, or more, for my $30 room but anyway it was a good deal! Now, last time I did the 24 in LV I got long-hauled by the cabbie so this time I told the driver I wanted to take surface streets. He said, “of course, I always take the street unless the customer wants me to take the freeway. From the airport to Park MGM would be ten dollars more if we took the freeway.” We arrived less than ten minutes later and the total was about $16.50 which was almost exactly $10 less than last month when I got long hauled. Soooooooooo, insider tip: make sure you tell your cabbie to take the surface streets!

The Park MGM is pretty nice in it’s “$500,000,000 rehab.” However, I don’t think they really spent five hundred mil but it’s nice. As I walked into the lobby at 12:58 the email arrived on my phone telling me my room was ready (as I had told them I would have arrive at 1:00 when I checked in early that morning online). The room was clean and nice but this was not a trip to hang in the room so off I went for one of the treats in Las Vegas that we don’t have back home in Nor Cal… tropical passion iced tea at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. As many of you know one of the best things about the Coffee Bean is they have the best crushed ice. I got an extra large so I would have lots of crushed ice to crunch on. Yes, I know it’s not good for my teeth… well, I could be doing crack but I am not so let me crunch on some crushed ice occasionally!

Coffee Bean iced tea
Coffee Bean Tropical Passion Iced Tea

I went to the Coffee Bean inside the Planet Hollywood shops, aka: Miracle Mile Shops, which was busy on this cold Tuesday afternoon. I sat there and read the paper and enjoyed my tea… and amazing crushed ice. I should add that I think the Las Vegas Review Journal (aka: the RJ) is underappreciated. I say this for two reasons: 1) compared to my hometown paper, which is down to about 10 pages a day (literally), the RJ is still robust with articles and lots of local news and 2) I love the Las Vegas Sun insert. So I really enjoyed my time chilling there in the Miracle Mile Shops.

LV Review Journal
LV Review Journal

After enjoying my iced tea, crushed ice, and the Review Journal I headed back out to retrace my steps. So I had heard you could walk from the Park MGM to the Bellagio with barely taking any steps outside. This is basically true… but how!? From the Park MGM you walk toward the pool doors, do not go outside, and turn right, and then left, following the signs for the Aria, and all of this is inside. When you get to a point just before the Aria you can walk outside, and up some stairs, to get to a platform for the free monorail that goes to Bellagio. Or you can keep walking into Aria, through Aria, through the Crystal shops, outside to cross the street over to the Cosmo. You walk into the Cosmo, down the escalator, out the side door, and you are basically at the Bellagio.

Or you can backtrack it, and walk from Bellagio to the Park MGM, as I did after I enjoyed my iced tea… by walking into the Cosmo, up the escaltor, out the doors to cross the street, into the Crystal shops, through to the Aria lobby doors, through the Aria lobby and casino, then to the walkway that connects Aria to the Park MGM. I would say Park MGM to Bellagio is about a 15-20 minute walk as there are lots of twists and turns. Also, signage is not perfect so it helps if you know what to look for.

So after that I had some time to kill until I met my buddy at the Aria buffet for pre-game dinner. I am bummed but I forgot to take photos of the buffet extravaganza. I sat down at the quarter video poker at the Aria to get a “free beer.” I lost $20 before a cocktail waitress came by. Darn it! See I don’t gamble much so to me $20 is about all I want to lose in a day. However, I still had time to kill and I still wanted my beer but decided to just buy it as that would be cheaper than a “free” one while I gambled. So I stood at a bar in Aria. It was sort of a mini sports bar. It took, literally ten minutes, to order a beer. Finally I decided to sit down and play some VP and try to get a “free beer” while I waited for the bartender. Eventually a bartender took my order but he was sure to tell me the beer was free only if I gambled max bet. Honestly I wanted to just pay for the beer but decided to go for the “free beer.” That worked out as my $20 became $34 so I walked away with my profits and my free beer!

I forgot to take pictures at the Aria buffet so I can’t wow you with photos but it was good. It was not great but it was good. I’d give it 3.5 stars out of five. I had some very good brisket, some pretty good Indian food, decent Mexican and a crap ton of deserts! They had several flavors of ice cream and appropriate toppings. They also had a ton of cakes, cookies, custards, caramel corn, etc….. Needless to say they rolled me out of there feeling like a whale!

From there we walked through the Aria, across my walkway, into the Park MGM, out the valet doors of the Park MGM lobby, and across the cross walk to MECCA… T-Mobile Arena, AKA: The Fortress. Seriously, if you are a sports fan GO CHECK OUT A KNIGHT’S GAME IN LAS VEGAS! It’s not just a hockey game but more like a Vegas show collided with a hockey game, in the most beautiful and modern arena, with a nightclub DJ laying the beats. Seriously, it is AWESOME!

The Fortress - GO KNIGHTS GO!
The Fortress – GO KNIGHTS GO!

I am going to do a separate post about the game but here’s a quick shot. Notice the Vegas showgirls in the background. The music is LOUD in the Fortress before the game and during timeouts but it’s pretty darn fun!

I wanted to also tell you about my incredible breakfast at Sadelle’s at the Bellagio but this is already way too long so I gotta sign off for today. This is a 24 hours in Vegas trip report and I hope you enjoyed it. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Until next time… viva Las Vegas!

24 Hours in Vegas: Knights, Park MGM, Southwest Airlines, FUN!

Posted on by TheGuy

I have been to Vegas over 40 times. Yes, I count as do many Vegasholics. Let’s face it, there are people that love Vegas and people that hate Vegas. There are far fewer people in the middle. I am on the love side. Most likely if you are reading this you are on the love side too. However, in case you are on the dislike side or, one of those unicorns that’s in the middle, please keep reading. Maybe I can bring you over to the good side with my trip report!?

To me the ideal Vegas trip is 3 nights. Three nights is long enough to get real comfortable with the hotel, where the gym is, what the different bars offer, check out a couple of the food options, etc…. Plus, more than three days and three nights of constant partying is hard for this old guy! So three nights is my go-to length of stays. However, I recently tried something new.

We have teenage kids so we can go out to date night whenever we want as the kids are happy at home but, on the other hand, they never go to sleep before us so we never get that alone time if you know what I mean. In addition, we really love the Las Vegas Knights hockey team. I’ll talk about them more another day but just watch the opening night ceremonies, from two years ago, which was just 10 days after the One October shooting in Vegas. If that doesn’t make you tear up you aren’t human! You can still donate to the Vegas Strong fund so check that out here. #Vegasstrong

So we love Vegas, we love the Knights and we love date nights. I decided to check into doing a one-night getaway to LV to go to a Knight’s game mid-week. Let me start by telling you it was so great it will be happening again but let me break it down for you. When we go on the weekends the strip hotels are $200-300 and more per night, plus resort fees, plus tax, plus, plus, plus. I am not going to lie a weekend in Vegas is not cheap. So, my thought process went, why not try a mid-week game!?

So they recently had a Tuesday night game. I reached out to a friend that has season tickets and they gave me a deal I could not refuse for two excellent tickets. I then went to Southwest.com because that’s the best way to fly from NorCal to Sin City. Weekends can easily be $400+ round trip but on this Tuesday/Wednesday the trip was under $200 round trip. I think it was $161 if I recall. I then went to mlife.com as we have status with MGM and low and behold I could book the Park MGM for $54 + fees so basically $100 a night but, remember, the hotel is right next door to T-mobile Arena (aka: The Fortress).

Well, last minute change of plans as we had sick kids. My wife is so cool she insisted I go without her. Hopefully she meant it because I went! I connected with a college buddy who was free, on short notice, to take her seat.

The flight was around noon which got me to LV about 1:30. I took a cab from the airport to Park MGM and the driver long-hauled me. That means what should have been a $15 trip became a $27 trip. Sort of a jerk move on his part but whatever. I normally would have given him $20 ($15 + $5 tip) but instead gave him zero tip and a sneer as I wanted him to know that I knew what he had done. I didn’t go further than that as it’s vacation and I wasn’t paying attention. When you leave the airport tell the driver not to take the freeway.

So I checked into my room at Park MGM which was very nice. They spent like $500 mil last year fixing the place up and it shows. The old Monte Carlo is totally re-done and it’s not just a coat of paint and new carpet. That place looks good! Check-in was flawless as it was electronic. I didn’t worry about any kind of upgrades or playing the “twenty dollar bill trick” or anything like that. It was just me so whatever room it was would be great and I didn’t plan to spend a ton of time in there! So I went to my room, threw my backpack down, and went out for a quick lunch.

I walked next door to NYNY as I new they had a Mexican restaurant with fresh, tableside, guacamole. Gonzalez y Gonzalez, which sounds like a law firm in El Paso, is a solid Mexican restaurant. However, for me, any restaurant that makes tableside guac is solid. I ordered a Modelo Especial and my guac. I quickly ate and then headed off for my next adventure.

It was 70-something degrees and sunny so I went in search of the pool at Park MGM. Most of the pooldeck was closed down but one pool was open. They had limited services (i.e. no poolside waitress) but that was probably good. I sat in sun for a short bit, jumped in the hot tub, and then moved on to my next activity. By now it was probably 4:00 or so.

So, I don’t know about where you live but where I live there isn’t a lot happening at 4:00 on a Tuesday. Well, go to the Park area on the strip in Vegas and it is a P-A-R-T-Y! The Park is between Park MGM, NYNY and the T-Mobile arena. There are several restaurants and bars along with tables and outside vendors. Being a game day they had a table set up selling Vegas Golden Knight’s merch and someone else selling beer. Plus, all the restaurants were pouring. However, the best thing was there was a live band playing cover tunes. Remember, it’s Tuesday at 4:00 and it’s rockin’ like New Year’s Eve at Time Square! That’s why I love Vegas. It’s always a party!

I sipped a “free” beer I got inside, in the casino, and listened to the music and people watched. The Toronto Maple Leafs were in town and I have to give credit to them as there were a TON of blue shirts there! The Maple Leafs fans came out. Now, of course, I should add that it was about 40 degrees in Toronto and 70 in Vegas so that’s not a tough choice but you get the point. Props to the Leaf’s fans!

I went back inside for another “free” beer and then headed to the arena about 5:30. I think they opened the doors at 5:45 but before that they had an emcee in the area, outside the main doors of T-Mobile, welcoming fans. An especially classy move was the welcoming of the opposing fans which came across as very sincere. This was appropriate since almost all Canadians are nice so they deserve a nice welcome! I chatted with a couple people in line and took a few pictures outside. T-mobile is unofficially called the Fortress when the Knights play. At just after 5:45 I walked into the Fortress for the first time. The vibe was strong from moment one!

Go Knights Go!
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas becomes the Fortress when the Las Vegas Golden Knights are playing

As I said the emcee outside was friendly. The metal detector employee was friendly. The ticket taker was friendly. The ushers greeting people and giving directions were friendly. Basically, I felt very welcomed to this beautiful arena. I had heard that the Hyde Lounge on the 5th floor was something to see so I headed for an elevator. I passed a DJ spinning tunes along the walkway, found an elevator, and made my way to the 5th. I am glad I did. It really was beautiful up there! It was like a nightclub, with a DJ, roped off tables, bouncers, and bottle service… all with a view, albeit a high view, of the ice below.

I was meeting my friends at the Bud Light Lounge (whatever that was) so I headed back down. By the way, no wait for the elevator going up or down which was nice. I went in search of the Bud Light Lounge and found it! Turns out the Bud Light Lounge is a private club for people who have seats in a couple of the center sections of the arena. It has an exclusive feel though it’s just regular food and drink inside. I enjoyed it though and look forward to my next visit to the Fortress and seats in section 16 or 17!

I had a good chicken sandwich and a Bud Light (hey, when in Rome….) and met up with my friends. Fun catching up but today’s blog is about hockey not friends. I went to sit in my seat which was down aisle 16 (center ice) and about the 10th row. If you like sports these seats are OFF THE HOOK!

Ok, I just remembered this was a post about 24 hours in Vegas and not about going to a hockey game so let sum up the hockey game by saying it was AWESOME BABY! Awesome with a capital A! Seriously the energy and vibe, on a Tuesday night, against a bad team, and it was still incredible. Other than playoff games the energy was the best I have ever seen in a sports venue. The Knights won and the fans went home happy!

So it was almost 10:00 when we left the arena and normally I would go to bed. However, this is 24 hours in Vegas so the party must go on! We went back to Park MGM and grabbed the best salad I have had in years. I wish I took a picture. It was at the fast-food type place next to the Moneyline sports book. It wasn’t cheap but it was seriously top notch! I threw that down and then went off to win a few more bucks at video poker. Ok, well at least I won some “free” beers!

I stayed up past my bedtime but still woke up early. I hit the gym at Park MGM and it was ok. It wasn’t great but it was fine. It got the job done. It was then breakfast time. As it was raining I decided to stay local and went to Primrose. Breakfast was expensive but very good quality. Lox platter plus fresh brewed iced tea. I think it was 35 bucks with tip. Lol.

I went back out to the casino to pass a little time and then jumped into a cab back to McCarran. The cabbie drove me direct rather than longhauling me so that was nice. A twenty included a generous tip!

I walked around the airport a bit, lost ten bucks fast, and then jumped on my bird bound for NorCal. I was back home about 26 hours after I left!

I will do this trip again but hopefully next time with my best friend – the wiff!

Until next time….

Prepping for moving to Las Vegas

Posted on by TheGuy

Realistically we are three years from moving to a new city. With all likelihood we will be moving to Las Vegas. We like the Summerlin area, Lake Las Vegas and also considering Green Valley Ranch area of Henderson. We have to get the kids through high school and stash a few more bucks into savings. However, in many ways my mind is there and I am thinking about ways I can be more ready to move when the time comes. So what do I do and what can you do if you are thinking of moving to Las Vegas or moving to any new place?

CLEANING OUT THE CRAP: We all have too much stuff and it takes time to sort through the crap so start early! I find that each time I go through a box of stuff I find more stuff I can get rid of. So if you start now and go through the same box every 6-12 months you will find more stuff to get rid of. By the time we actually move we’ll probably get rid of the whole box! Because really why bother moving some box of a crap that sits in the garage? Otherwise you’ll pay a mover to move it and then you’ll store it in your new house. Just get rid of it now. We did a huge Goodwill run last weekend and it felt GREAT to get rid of the stuff… and we have more to do! Perhaps it’s my OCD but I love getting rid of crap!

READ FORUMS ABOUT YOUR NEW CITY: The internet is awash with great resources to learn about different cities, states, countries. I take all the posts with a grain of salt as some sites, like City-data, for example seems to be a competition of Realtors who like one area bad-mouthing a different area and vice versa. Just a guess. Nonetheless, lots of good info to learn from. Before moving to Las Vegas become a contributor on the forms. Here are some forums that I like:

READ LOCAL NEWSPAPERS: The Las Vegas Review Journal may not be the best newspaper in the world but it’s going to be your local paper if you are going to move to Vegas so embrace it. So, subscribe to the paper! It was like $75 for a one year digital subscription. I love reading the paper but especially features like Kats Column which is daily. Also, reading the new homes section every Saturday morning is great if you are thinking of buying a new home. Beyond the daily there are a number of other newspapers and magazines to check out. Here are some:

WATCH THE DAILY NEWS: My family laughs at me but I watch Las Vegas news everyday online. I watch in the morning, at the gym, on the treadmill, and often watch the afternoon news at home. Here are some links:

LISTEN TO LOCAL RADIO: I like sports so listen to a couple different Las Vegas radio channels. The problem is they mostly have the national shows but if you go to their websites they have a schedule when the local shows are. Of course being Vegas they are heavy on sports gambling. I have not yet found a good local news/talk station in Vegas. Let me know if you have one. Here some links:

READ AND SUBSCRIBE TO GREAT BLOGS: There are a million blogs about everything and living in Las Vegas is no exception. The only limitation with Vegas is most blogs are about visiting Vegas rather than living in Vegas so you need to look through a bunch to learn about living in LV. However, as I say that, a bunch of the blogs about visiting are about stuff you will enjoy when you live in LV like the incredible food and the world class entertainment that takes place nightly! Here are a few blogs you might want to check out:

BOOKS ABOUT VEGAS: Ok, I have already said my family laughs at me for watching the local Vegas news every day. I am not sure they know I subscribe to the paper. Shhhhhhhh. However, another guilty pleasure is reading books (ficton and non-fiction) that take place in Vegas. A few of my favorites are below but honestly the list of books that take place in Vegas is LONG! Here are a few to check out:

PODCASTS, PODCASTS, PODCASTS: There are podcasts about every imaginable topic. Similar to blogs a lot of the podcasts are aimed at tourists coming to visit Sin City. However, I have found several that I enjoy. Here is a list of a few to check out:

  • Living in Las Vegas Podcast was my favorite but Scott Whitney seems to have shut it down.
  • Vegas Never Sleeps by Steven Maggi has a lot of fun guests and regular segments.
  • Vegas Nonstop with Jonathan J. Scott and Geoffrey (with a G) Kramer talks about everything from sports to food.
  • Rink Rats is all about the Las Vegas Knights hockey team. I will do many blog posts about the VGK (Vegas Golden Knights) in the future as they are HUGE in Vegas.

REAL ESTATE: If you are going to move to Vegas you need to know the neighborhoods and you probably want a Realtor or leasing company to help you find the best place. There are several great real estate websites as well as seasoned professionals we have used. I will share those here:

  • Kahli Grantz is a seasoned Realtor with Northcap Residential. She loves Las Vegas and it shows when she shows you around town.
  • Flip or Flop Las Vegas is one of the TV shows that focuses on the Vegas Valley.
  • Flipping Vegas is a popular show.
  • Gady Medrano is a Realtor who was made famous by being on one of the TV shows. Someone said she is very Vegas. You can be the judge with this Google search.
  • Rice Real Estate is a high end property management company if you want to rent a house.

What else can I say about moving to Vegas? Heck, if I say everything here I won’t have anything to say on other blog posts so let’s sign off for now.

Maybe I’ll meet you in Las Vegas one day!

Halloween Costumes to the office or not?

Posted on by TheGuy

Tomorrow is Halloween 2019. What do you think about people wearing Halloween costumes in the office? Basically the question of the day is Halloween costumes to the office or not?

I, for one, am not a huge Halloween fan. I don’t really like dressing up, try to avoid eating unnecessary sugar, and generally think of it as a kid’s holiday. However, I fully get that many adults absolutely love the holiday, love dressing up, love eating candy, and think of it as an adult holiday more than a kid’s holiday. To each his own….

However, the question of wearing costume to work, to a professional office, is a loaded one. On the one hand I love when there is some holiday spirit and we have seen some great costumes over the years in our office. I think people wearing something different, something fun, something that shows one’s personality is sort of fun. On the other hand we run a professional office where we often have clients coming in after the death of a loved one. Do they want to see people goofing off? I imagine some people like an excuse to smile at such a tough time. Gosh, this is a tough question isn’t it!?

Tomorrow my office is bringing in little kids to trick-or-treat for candy. That’s sort of a fun idea. I wasn’t smart enough to think of it but I like it.

Well, I don’t have an answer for you but let’s go eat some candy!

Until next time….

Neighbors

Posted on by TheGuy

I hear Mr. Rogers singing as I type this (“won’t you be my neighbor….”). Seriously though, as an about 50 year old, I have had mostly great neighbors in my life. Actually growing up we had sort of a grouch for a neighbor. I think I’ll post about him one day. However, today I want to talk about the value of having great neighbors because really good neighbors are priceless!

Of course, you can’t always know how great your neighbors will be as looks can be deceiving and people move. However, if you have little kids and you see a bunch of kiddy bikes in the front yards on a street you are looking at that’s a good sign. Trying to find like-minded neighbors is great. That doesn’t mean you have to be clones but have some similar interests. For example, our current neighbors are all the other political party from me, and sure I wish I wasn’t the lone guy on the island, but having different politics isn’t a big deal. What is a big deal is they all have kids, most of the kids are similar ages to mine, they all are professional college educated people, and they are all within a few years age-wise of us which is great.

Having said the above I truly think we hit the neighbor gold-mine where we live. Over 15 years there and I truly trust all of them. If there was an emergency and I needed to ask one of them to take care of my kids, or anything else that might come up, I wouldn’t hesitate. They are all good people. We aren’t best friends with all of them as we have different interests but we are all friendly and when we have a neighborhood get-together, as we did last night, it is always nice to talk to all of them!

How did we get to the point of having this incredible group of neighbors? Some of it is dumb luck of course. If I counted all 7 houses that made the court we had 15 kids at one point and now two houses have moved so down to a net of 11 kids as we have a new baby at one of the new neighbor’s house. There is probably about a 10 year age spread from top to bottom but most of them are within 5 years of each other and currently 4 of them are in the exact same grade at school. So that’s lucky.

Beyond the luck what have we done? When the kids were little there were always kids playing in the streets and parent’s sitting together, talking, and watching the kids (more talking than watching). We have had family dinners out, we have had couple’s nights out, we have had family pool parties, we have had adult wine parties, we have even gone on several vacations where some number of us all rented houses together up near Lake Tahoe (more on that another day). We have gone to the Sacramento King’s games, we have coached sports together, our kids played sports together (I think one year about 11 or 12 of the kids were all on the same swim team). So we have done bonding activities and done them consistently and done them for many years.

We have done little things. This is the first year that we have not all “boo’d” the other houses at Halloween. The act of out-boo’ing your neighbor became legendary as we would all try to cultivate the best selection of candy, toys and decorations to leave on another’s door step each Halloween. Heck, then there is trick-or-treating itself. I think the parent’s enjoy it more than the kids. As the kids run off to the next house the parent’s enjoy a leisurely stroll around the hood, sipping a beer or warm glass of cider, and chatting about life.

What have we not done? We live in a HOA controlled hood and you have to get things signed off on by your neighbors. For example, exterior paint color, exterior house modifications, etc…. Whenever one of my neighbors has come to my door, with an HOA form, I sign FIRST and then ask what changes they are making. I want to make it clear I support them whatever they want to do. Yes, I trust them but don’t be a thorn in your neighbor’s side or even give an impression that you might be a thorn in their side!

Also, don’t be annoying, don’t be loud (unless you invited all of them to the party too), and basically don’t cause problems. Nobody likes a neighbor who has bad friends that come over. Nobody likes a neighbor whose kid has a party, the punks leave trash everywhere, and they don’t clean it up.

Go out of your way to set that great first impression, go out of your way to be nice, be a good human, be a good parent, be a good child, and that will help you to be a good neighbor!

Until next time….

Old Friends

Posted on by TheGuy

The older you get the longer term friends you might be lucky enough to have. At the ripe old age of fifty plus one I have known my boy Howie, aka: “Footloose” (the best dancer in a group of white guys in the 80’s it seemed to fit – plus he vaguely resembled Kevin Bacon in that classic movie) for about 45 years. We met in the first grade so what were we? 6? 7 years old? So do the math and it’s about 44-45 years. I need to figure that out one of these days but I think 45. We met because my mom (Momz, RIP) saw that another kid in my first grade class lived a block away so she connected us.

At that point, when kids were allowed to explore the neighborhood without parents trailing at all times, we would go out on Big Wheels and later bikes, with no parents and aimed to get home by nightfall. We played every sport imaginable, we collected baseball cards, and then we played more sports. My gosh did we play sports back in the day! 2 on 2 football in the front yard, pickle (aka: man in the middle) where we would flood the frontyard grass and then work on our best slides (Momz didn’t love that game), and all sorts of other games we invented. Then as we got older it turned to listening to music (back then KROQ was the cool radio station in Los Angeles and we listened to local LA band Oingo Boingo as well as all the “new wave” groups like Duran Duran, The Smiths, Modern English, etc…. Then, of course, as we were teens our friendship turned to girls and talking about them. Before you knew it we were off to college on different sides of the country….

We stayed in touch during college – and this will sound crazy – without email or social media! We used the phone and/or sent mail through the Pony Express… I mean the USPS. We met up in Barcelona as I did a semester abroad in London (that language was tough to pick up) and Howard did a semester in Barcelona. We hung out in the summers back in LA in between summer school, summer jobs, summer girlfriends… and we played more sports… golf, tennis, basketball. His parents moved up the hill and mine moved to Utah. Yes, moving from LA to Utah will be a post in it’s own at some point.

I am typing this as I get ready to talk to Howie in a few minutes. We talk generally once or twice a month. He met his birth mom last week and I am excited to hear the details about that. Heck, maybe I’ll ask him to guest blog one day and tell you about that experience!

I remember visiting Howie in grad school in Blacksburg, VA. Fun trip! We drove around the area and ended up in the next town over. There was a friendly game of hoops going on, in a local park, so I suggested we jump out and join in. We were the only white guys but the international language of picking teams and passing more if you can’t shoot works for people of all backgrounds. Now, I should say I never played organized basketball and Howie is better at tennis and golf… but we had a good time that day running up and down the court for a long while. Winning, losing, enjoying life! Heck, enjoying life when you could walk away from hours of exercise without having soar feet, a tweaked knee, and searching for Advil!

Howie came to my 30th birthday when we rented a bus and toured the Sonoma wine country. It was called a “wine tour” but was really more of a drunk fest. Blog, with pictures, will be posted eventually!

I went to his wedding in Santa Barbara, he came to my wedding in SacTown, his bachelor party in LA, my bachelor party in Tampa. Plus, we got together at other times – Thanksgiving in LA, snow trip to Utah, my visiting him in Iowa, and the list goes on. Now we get together once or twice a year for a guy’s trip usually. A weekend in Vegas, Phoenix Open golf, guys golf trip to Tucson, Chicago Cub’s game at Wrigley, and the list goes on. We are now talking about a guy’s trip to Scottsdale for Spring Training this coming spring and walking the Camino in Spain in the next year or two. I think our wives are happy to get us out of the house. Hmmmm….

Shoot, I just realized this is getting too long so I will tell you more about Howie another time. For those that know Howie will want some legendary “Howie the cheapskate” stories and I promise a whole blog dedicated to that! However, maybe I’ll also tell you about his success as a family man and a businessman!? Or maybe about the time we rode RAGBRAI (bike ride across Iowa)!? Or how good he is at enjoying life – a trait and skill we all should take lessons on!

For now I got to get back to chillin’ on this lovely Sunday.

-TheGuy

Numero Uno

Posted on by TheGuy

This is my first blog post about what I hope and plan to be an ongoing blog.  What will I talk about?  I truly don’t know exactly but my thought is I will talk about:

  • Moving to a new state after age 50 (is the grass greener?);
  • Traveling (we have a lot of traveling planned);
  • Money (FIRE, budgeting, investing, etc… from a layperson’s perspective);
  • Parenting (we got two kids who are about to head off to college);
  • Marriage (I am married to my best friend);
  • Gym, golf, walking (basically keeping the heart working);
  • Cars, music, sports, grief, stuff (life stuff – good and bad);
  • LIFE!

At least that’s the current plan.  I feel like there is someone blogging about just about every topic that I mentioned above so I am not really breaking new ground except this is MY STORY!  It’s MY BLOG!  If you disagree that’s great I’d love to see your comments below.  If you agree with what I say that’s of course even better and shows how smart you are so definitely comment and show the world how smart you are!

So post one, post numero uno, my first post of my new blog.  What do I do? What do I talk about?  It seems like I should tell you about myself!?  I assume you want to know about the author!?  The blogger!?  I have blogged before but mainly about legal matters (I am a lawyer by day but hopefully not for much longer and I have no intent to talk about that stuff in this blog) and I had a short-lived blog which was sort of day-to-day stuff that happened in my life.  Here’s a link to my first post at my old blog. This new blog is about me at 50’ish and what will happen next.  So here’s some bio material for your consideration….

So I am just past 50 and my wife and best friend, we’ll call her Cat, is just under 50.  Our kids are 16 (Boy) and 15 (Girl).  They are a junior and a sophomore in high school.  We have a dog (Whitey).  We live in the ‘burbs of SacTown, California.  We have basically lived in California our whole lives except for short stints outside the Golden State.   I’d like to go somewhere else in a few years. We shall see….

California is a great place but I have often wondered what else is out there!?  In many ways I really believe California is the best place to live in the country… even with it’s many challenges and it does have challenges.  However, where doesn’t have some challenges!?  Is the place that you live perfect?  Heck, I have done every online test and read every single article saying where people should live and I generally come back with something in California or at least the west…. Plus we like the idea of traveling a bit and/or living abroad maybe!?

We will talk about this much more in the future but I like sun, I don’t like rain, I don’t mind hot, I don’t like cold, I have no need for snow.  That sounds like the western US and by western I mean Redding, CA or south (because we know the State of Jefferson, Oregon and Washington get way too much gray clouds and rain), the southern half of Nevada, most of Arizona, and maybe ½ of New Mexico (before it becomes Texas west).  If I had to pick today we’d move to the Summerlin area of Las Vegas, Nevada.

There are a few things we won’t talk about because I find them uninteresting but since they are great keywords on the internet we’ll mention them today: Star Wars, Star Trek, Anime, Monga, Science Fiction, Game of Thrones, Disneyland, XXX movies and the list goes on.  Actually Boy likes all the science fiction stuff, Cat and Girl both like Disneyland and I just wanted to say XXX movies to get some Google juice!  Is it weird I have never seen an episode of Game of Thrones?  I feel so out of it.

Until next time….

-TheMiddleAgeGuy___