Roth IRA

Today I finally opened a Roth IRA! It's probably something that I should've done a few years ago, but you might recall that I was actually considering buying a second home for a while and was saving my money for a possible down payment...but that obviously never happened. After much consideration, I decided to open an account with Vanguard. I made maximum contributions for both 2009 and 2010 and put 70% of my money towards the Target Retirement 2045 Fund. The objective of this fund is a retirement close to the year I selected, which is kinda funny 'cause I hope to retire sooner than that...but I guess we'll see how life goes for me the next 35 years. :) It starts out very aggressive with about 90% of funds invested in stocks and only 10% in bonds, but over time it will automatically balance the funds out based on predetermined trends. I put the remaining 30% towards the Vanguard 500 Index which invests in the 500 largest U.S. companies (w00t - IBM is 7 on their list!). It's exciting for me knowing that today I made a move towards saving more of my money and preparing for the future. I feel so responsible and am happy to finally have gotten this account open!

Gilbert's Sentence is Today

Gilbert Arenas is scheduled to be sentenced today, March 26, in D.C.'s Superior Court. In case you missed my first blog entry regarding this story, the gist of it is that he brought unloaded guns into the Wizards' locker room to play a bad joke on his teammate and he's charged with possession of a handgun, which violates the strict laws in D.C. I guess they're expecting him to get 3-6 months of jail time, a 3-year probation, and 300 hours of community service. Whatever the case, he appears ready to take his punishment like a man, and for that I laud him.

Some people ask me why I'm so fond of Gilbert Arenas. Aside from the fact that he's a U of A alum, I know he's not very bright off the court, but I what I care about is his personality as a basketball player. He plays with a goofball attitude a majority of the time and looks like he's just having fun out there. He's really friendly to people when he takes the court: other players, refs, fans, and seems to get along with just about everyone. And when it's crunchtime, he plays with the fire and aggression that is needed in today's NBA superstars to win ball games. I'm a lot like Gilbert when I take the court myself. I'm also a short combo guard who loves to shoot with a sort of reckless abandon but I'm effective and will always get my share of assists. And regardless how the game is going or who I'm playing, whether I'm shooting well or not, I'm out there laughing and having fun. I chat with people about random stuff like their funky hairdos or their nice kicks, compliment them on their game or sympathize with them when things aren't going their way. Basically, I just enjoy Gilbert's carefree and jovial character. That and he's a pretty fierce fantasy contributor. :) I'll be keeping Arenas in all my fantasy leagues until he either retires, dies from one too many reconstructive ACL injuries, or gets banned forever for driving a tank through D.C. (who knows, he's the kind of guy who'd actually do it).

In another story, Arenas is switching his jersey number from 0 to 6. There's a good chance he ends up staying with the Wizards next year, but if he changes his number, that will render my two current Arenas jerseys outdated. :( However, Arenas also happens to be changing his number to yours truly's. :D 6 has always been my number...mostly because it's the rarest of the favorite numbers out there. Finally, it'll be sad that we can't really call Arenas "Agent Zero" anymore. Guess we'll have to settle for something like "Six Shooter" instead. ;)

Hope the sentencing goes well tomorrow. Good luck Gilbert Arenas!

Mission Accomplished!

So last week I informed you of an event-packed weekend I had upcoming for me. I attempted to do it all, but fell one event short due to over-exhaustion, but overall I survived the whole thing and really had a blast.

Last Wednesday was Chet's bachelor party in Vegas. We were only there for one day, but we made the most of it. We gambled in the afternoon playing $5 blackjack at O'Sheas where I won $150 on one table. We weren't able to gamble that much on the trip, which probably helped cut down on the number of losses I could endure and as a result I ended up $40 for the trip...not bad.

There were about 14 of us staying at Mandalay bay, so we had dinner at the Rumjungle where they served us a variety of meats on a sword (well the sword looked more like an oversized skewer to me).

After a delicious meal, we made our way to The Mix, which is a lounge also at Mandalay and resides about 55 stories up that overlooks the entire strip. At the mix, we met up with a girl I had met on the airplane coming from Tucson into Las Vegas. Not often that you actually meet someone on the plane who's really cool and you can have a fun time hanging out with, but that was definitely the case. Next on the agenda was an hour-long ride in a Limo-Humvee around the city of Las Vegas. It didn't feel like an hour, but possibly because we were all fairly drunk at this point and enjoying the time as wannabe ballas. ;)

Our eventual destination was Ghost Bar at the Palms. This was another lounge/mini-club 60 or so stories up that overlooked the strip. I say mini-club because there wasn't much dancing going on, but there could've been. And for a Wednesday night, the look was actually pretty good.
I think Chet got the bachelor party he wanted and I'm surprised that we had no casualties (I don't think anyone threw up or made a complete ass of themselves that night). The next day we had an 11am flight to catch in the morning, which basically meant I wasn't going to get much sleep that night. I cashed in around 4:30am in the morning and woke up at 7:30am, so on the way home from Vegas I tried to salvage any sleep I could on the plane, but that proved rather challenging since the rest of the party was still drinking and partying on the planeride home. Thursday night, the bowling championships were at 6:30pm, so when I got back to my home at 2pm, I tried to squeeze in a quick nap to recharge my batteries for the finale. When I got to bowling, I was deathly tired, but once I sipped some Amberbock at the alley, I felt rejuvenated. I ended up bowling close enough to my average where it didn't hurt my team's chances and luckily our X-Factor (the player with the lowest average of 150) really had a great night bowling two great games of 180 and 200. We walked away from the night as repeat champions and I joked about how I should make trips to Vegas the night before the finals a tradition. :)The picture above shows my championship patch from '08-'09 and my new championship magnet from '09-'10. They cut on costs this year which means we no longer get patches and apparently we can't even get a magnet that has the year(s) we won the damn thing in. :(
Anyway, following bowling I was supposed to go to my friend's birthday party, but after a post-bowling celebratory dinner at Texas Roadhouse, I just felt too tired to make the drive to the party. I knew I had to get up early for golf on Friday morning and if I went to that party I wouldn't have survived. I flaked and just crashed when I got home. :(
Friday was an absolute beautiful day for golfing. I really suck at golf in case you didn't know, and for the 9-hole scramble, the only shot I contributed was a 17-ft putt I sank for birdie. The picture shows my co-worker teeing off, but as you can see there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature was a chill 68 degrees. Considering how poorly I played, I kinda regret committing myself to golf and would've rather gone to the birthday party if I had to pick between the two. I don't think I'll play golf again next year unless I drastically improve my game, but it was a good bonding event to share with my co-workers. That afternoon was the spring training baseball game...sad that this is the last year the D'Backs will have spring training in Tucson.
The D'Backs won the game in a 10-2 rout over the lowly Atheltics. The rest of Friday I just wanted to recooperate from the previous 3 days and get ready for Chet and Kassie's wedding which was being held at the golf resort in Tubac, Arizona. The venue was gorgeous and I can see why it was worth the 45-min drive to get here. Some shots of the place can be found on facebook, here, here, and here.
I enjoyed the music they played at the ceremony. It was a Strings instrumental of various 80s rock and modern pop songs. I have to ask Chet and Kassie where they found that album. The reception followed shortly after and was open bar, but I spent the first half of the reception contemplating whether I'd be making the drive back up to Tucson or if I'd be staying at the resort overnight.I eventually made the executive decision to crash in Tubac and then I kicked my drinking into high gear. The wedding was a blast and I was really happy to be a part of it...I knew so many people there that I would've really hated missing out. And overall it was a great weekend, but now it's back to work, back to doing taxes, back to chores and errands, and back to reality. *sigh*

Operation: WTF Was I Thinking!?!?

So tomorrow marks the beginning of what will be a very exhausting week for me. But the good news is, it's all play and no work! :) Tomorrow morning I fly out to Vegas again; gonna be there a night for Chet's bachelor party. But what really worries me are the days after. I get back to Tucson on Thursday at around 1:30pm and this coming Thursday is the bowling CHAMPIONSHIP for our league. I'll probably be up all Wednesday night partying and not get much sleep, so I'll somehow have to put together a quick power-nap on Thursday when I get back to prepare for bowling. Our team is the defending champion, so I have to represent! But It doesn't stop there. I committed myself to attending Chuck's birthday party, which will be happening right after bowling. Usually I'd be good to go for a fun-filled night like this, but I also volunteered to golf with my co-workers on Friday morning at an 8:45am tee time. It's an annual tradition for our department to go to a D'Backs Spring Training baseball game this time of year, but before that a few members would play 9 holes of golf before the game. This year they are recruiting new players and that's where I decided to jump in. Friday night will hopefully be my recovery night, and I'm gonna need it. Chet's wedding in Tubac (45 minutes south of Tucson) is on Saturday and you know we're gonna party hard that night too.

The bachelor party in Vegas, bowling, the birthday party, golfing, the baseball game, the wedding, I suppose they are all things I could've passed on or still bail out on last minute. But no way! That's not what the Andy of 2010 is going to do. He's gonna Make It Happen! Expect a wrap-up of my killer time sometime next week! ...if I'm still alive. :D

What Happens in Vegas...

...stays in Vegas? Nope, it gets written on a blog instead! Hahaha, I'm not gonna spill all the beans, but I will say that this was one helluva a Vegas trip. Drinking like a fish all-day everyday, $50 bets, struttin' around the strip in suits, and throw in some of your best buddies and yeah, you're gonna have quite a time. Here's my abridged wrap-up of the weekend.

Thursday: Got in around 6pm and walked into my suite at the MGM Signature and it was awesome; kitchen, TVs in the bathroom, fridge, and even a fancy doorbell.

Mike didn't arrive in Las Vegas until 10pm, so I made my way to the nearest convenient store to pick up some beer for the fridge. Well, it wasn't that near, a good 10 minutes walk, and it was kind of a bitch to carry a 12-pack of Coronas in one hand and an 18-pack of Bud Light in the other a whole half-mile back to my room. I'm surprised someone didn't mug me and take all my beer. Anyway, now equipped with a fully stocked fridge, Mike soon arrived and we first met up with the others who came in on Thursday. We started at the Bellagio, then made our way to the vodka bar in Mandalay Bay, where Mike and I dropped a good $160+ on various $13 vodka drinks for everyone. The last one was called Infused Vodka and it was killer. It was basically straight vodka that had soaked up grapes, pineapples, peaches, and formed itself into a sort of jungle juice. Powerful drink in hand, we made our way over to Bill's Gambling Hall to meet up with one of my ladyfriends from college who I hadn't seen in a several years but we found out we were both going to Vegas this weekend via chatting on Facebook. Needless to say, she still looked just as smoking as she did long ago. Mmm mmm MMM! Lol. We called it a night around 4am, at which point I texted my buddy Nate to wake up and get his ass to Vegas, but he and his fiance Elizabeth had just hit the road...it was already 5am Arizona time.

Estimated Gambling Gains/Losses for the night: -$190

Friday: Nate got in around 10am and we hit up the buffet at the MGM Grand. Quite excellent I must say, but we all know that Las Vegas buffets are hard to go wrong. Friday was mostly just a day for drinking, gambling, and hanging out. The drink of the day were these 48oz pitchers of Bud Light for $5 at the Imperial Palace. But instead of getting the pitcher as round for everyone, we all held our own pitcher in our hand.

Surprising, the beer stayed cold to the end, but I finished mine after a good hour or so. Later that night, everyone was getting together at Margaritaville for dinner and hanging out, but unfortunately that's when some drama ensued...half my fault and half Kyle's. There were 6 of us waiting to get a table, but Kyle felt the need to go on one of his "I'm gonna flaunt my money around" trips and paid the hostess $100 to get us seated at a table immediately. And after he did that, he was no where to be found, so then security started asking us for him, basically to tell us that they don't do that kind of thing here. I had a few comments for the waitress and the security guard that others didn't think kosher. I started to think about what I said, to the waitress in particular, and all that 48oz pitcher kicked in and I started to get upset. Long story short, I left my dinner and the party that night and walked off on my own. But the night was not all lost...I met up with my ladyfriend and hung out with her the rest of the night.

Estimated Gambling Gains/Losses for the day: $-130

Saturday: Of all the days, it was expected to rain on Saturday, the day of the wedding, where the ceremony was being held outside. After a late lunch, I got ready in my nice beige suit with a purple shirt and tie underneath. I really looked good in my suit and got several compliments about it. It's rare that I ever get to wear the beige one, but it just felt right in Vegas.

The ceremony was beautiful, as they usually are, but extremely quick...done in 10 minutes (and very punctual I might add). And when we left the area, the sign had already changed to the next wedding, lol.

Reception followed shortly after at Frank Sinatra's old suite at the Caesar's Palace. We rolled up in style, grabbing a limo for 9 of us and rocking out the whole way there. We were able to talk the limo ride down from $100 to $70 (with tip) and it was well worth it. Well, you can imagine the thrill of riding across the strip in a limo all dressed up in suits. :)Did you hear about the two antennas that got married? The ceremony was okay but the reception was excellent! (Haha, thanks Nate for the joke) The reception at Caesar's was a blast; great food, plenty to drink, dancing, the works. I was very impressed with the whole wedding that John and Ashley threw. It's not easy having a [real] wedding in Vegas.The rest of the night we tried to meet up with the bride and groom for their afterparty. That seemed quite difficult to do however, possibly because the groom thought his best man was more concerned about trying to get laid with a random chick he met the night before and had invited as his date to the wedding. We went to Paris where they said they were headed and stumbled upon these Eiffel Tower drinks that were half Strawberry Daiquiri and half Pina Colada. These drinks were so massive that they pretty much lasted us the rest of the night.We never saw John and Ashley again for whatever reason, and I eventually met up with my ladyfriend, but way later than I had hoped, circa 1am in the morning. She wanted to go clubbing but her friends didn't, so we ended up just gambling the rest of the night that was left. But that was a good decision for her as she made $300 at a Blackjack table before the night was over.
Estimated Gambling Gains/Losses for the day: -$140

Sunday: The final day was mostly just Mike and I trying not to gamble away the rest of our money. Our flights didn't leave until 9pm, so we spent the afternoon playing some craps, blackjack, and watching the USA-Canada hockey game. Mike and I finally had a good run in craps at Bill's Gambling Saloon. Mike grabbed the dice to shoot and a lady in maybe her mid-to-late 30's said, "Who's shooting now? Oh, he's cute. He must be good." Laughter aside, Mike threw a couple points on his rolls. I picked up the dice next and the same lady said "Oh, another cute one. It's the boy-banders over there." Maybe she was onto something there, because I hit 3 points on my roll and the table was all of sudden hot. Mike and I shot very well, but the rest of the table eventually cooled off. Mike was smart to get out while he was ahead and if I was smart too, I would've done the same. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.

Estimated Gambling Gains/Losses for the day: -$200

Overall, it was a great weekend! It would've been nice to come out ahead, but I learned something from my ladyfriend (she ended $600 up for the trip). If you want to win big, you gotta bet big. By the end of the trip I was getting that down...I just need to train myself to walk away sooner, 'cause at almost every table, there were points when I was definitely making a killing and eventually lost it all 'cause I had nowhere else to go. Walking around Vegas in a nice suit was definitely a different feeling as well. A man could get used to looking that good in a city like that. I still think one of the funniest points during the weekend is when I walked between my two friends as if they were bodyguards (both wearing dark suits and one of them is a big man) and acted as the rich and important Asian dressed in his white suit, lmao. Funny the comments I heard when we did that. It seems that the trips to Vegas just keep getting better and better. Maybe it's 'cause I have more money to spend, or maybe it's because I'm there for a special event like a bachelor party or wedding. Whatever the case, I got a week to recover before I go back and do it all again. Yep, bachelor party next Wednesday in Las Vegas. LOL. Let the good times roll!