RE: A Vegas Trifecta

January and February were busy months for me that included 3 trips to Las Vegas in a 6-week period.  That's a lot of Vegas for any one person to handle, even myself.  Nonetheless, we continue to Make It Happen and here's a recap of how the 3 trips went:

Jan 12-14: Mike's 30th Birthday

My fellow IBM colleague and friend Mike was turned 30 this year.  He moved away to Austin several years ago and while I don't see him as often anymore, we still keep in touch through work or when playing video games online.

I arrived in Las Vegas on Friday night and met up with everyone at the Westgate.  We would be staying at the Hilton Grand Vacation Suites near the Westgate since our friend Chris's parents owned a timeshare with the chain.

This trip was about trying some of the things that people talk about in Vegas but never actually do.  For example, the first night we rode the ferris wheel of balls at the LINQ.  For 30 minutes, you go around in a ferris wheel of spherical rooms that overlooks the strip.  We also went ziplining down Fremont Street, something I've never done anywhere.  We got two drinks literally in ice cups at the ice bar "-5", which was way too cold to want to spend more than 40 minutes inside.  They also got me to try one of those oxygen bars, but it didn't do anything for me.

For a 30th birthday, I was disappointed that half of Mike's friends didn't show up for him in Vegas, but it is what it is.  He still had a great time and while the tables weren't as nice to me this trip, I was happy to have tried all the new activities that I'd seen but never actually thought about doing.

Airfare: $230
Hotel: $75
Gambling Wins/Losses = -$500

Feb 3-5: Christina's 30th Birthday & Super Bowl LII:

The next Vegas trip would include a stay at the Flamingo.  The D.C. group of friends who I know through my other friend Mike were all going to Vegas this weekend for their friend Christina's birthday.  This was a busy weekend with the Super Bowl on Sunday, so I flew into Las Vegas on a Saturday afternoon for a cheaper flight.

About 20 people were in for this weekend and it quickly became what one would call the proverbial shit-show.  Groups would connect and disconnect constantly and for the most part I just stuck with Mike wherever he went.  They had all wanted to try the ferris wheel at the LINQ again, but I passed since I had tried it just three weeks earlier.  I later met up with my friend Matt from Tucson that night and taught him the game of craps.  It's Las Vegas, so chances are always good that someone else I know will randomly be there the same weekend. :)

Sunday would be the big day, Super Bowl LII between the Eagles (woooo!) and the Patriots (boooo!).  We went to a restaurant called Hofbrauhaus that included an all-you-can-drink-and-eat deal for the game for $120 in advance.  It was a fair deal and guaranteed that all 20 of us could sit together in the same area.  The service was poor, but it was crowded.  The food was okay, but filling.  Overall, the restaurant experience was average and not really worth the price tag.  However, the result game was excellent, which made my day at least!  One of the more entertaining parts of the game was Mike putting down about 15 proposition bets of $10-$20 each and watching him hit or miss on several of them.  I think in the end he netted $5.  As for me, I made one bet, which was $50 on the eagles.

The rest of the weekend would include more drinking and gambling sprinkled here and there.  While everyone left early on Monday, I had a late flight out to save money from the busy weekend.  When everyone was gone, I didn't want to spend more time gambling since I was actually up for the weekend for a change.  So I decided to kill time by catching a movie at the Planet Hollywood.  I finally saw "The Last Jedi" and while some are critics of the movie, I certainly enjoyed it.

Airfare: $290
Hotel: $200
Gambling Wins/Losses = +$250

Feb 17-20: Tyler's Bachelor Party:

The final Vegas trip would be for Tyler's bachelor party, which was also at the Flamingo but fortunately we stayed at the Grand Vacation Suites this time instead of the actual hotel (thanks again to Chris who was a part of two of my Vegas trips).  Anthony and I got into Vegas on Saturday afternoon and that night we would mostly spend just gambling, finding a decent craps table that engulfed us for 3 hours.  I also got to meet up with my fellow IBMer and AHGL teammate for StarCraft 2, Chapin, and we gambled a bunch at Planet Hollywood before calling it a night.

On Sunday, the 7 of us in the party went golfing with Tyler's "golf friends" that come to Vegas on an annual basis.  They're mostly Tyler's uncle's friends who invite him out each year to play several rounds.  We played a course called Aliante, which was pretty nice yet still affordable.  I proceeded to shoot my usual double-bogey golf.

Later Sunday night, Tyler wanted us to try a steakhouse called the Golden Steer that they always visit as part of the "golfing" weekend.  Allegedly it has some historical value to it, "being Frank Sinatra's place", but in my opinion it was grossly overpriced.  I ordered a 24oz prime rib which was very good, but for $54.  There were 12 of us at dinner and not everyone had the same to eat and drink, plus the sides were all really expensive for such little amount.  Overall, there was a $1400 bill that we ended up splitting and I really don't feel like I just ate a $130 steak.  Regardless, it was what Tyler wanted to do, so it is what it is.

On Monday, we were supposed to go golfing again, but we decided to cancel given the previous night of drinking and the cold weather that day.  We made our way out to Fremont Street since a few of the guys had never been there.  I then found us an Escape Room where we could go the same day, which was a lot of fun and we escaped with 5 minutes left to spare on the clock.  That evening, 2 of the party had left and we were down to just 5, and we proceeded to have a friendly $20-a-person competition at Circus Circus, seeing who could be the first to win 7 of the carnival games, winner take all.  It was a close matchup and Tyler should have won, but eventually Anthony came back and stole it at the last minute.  Yours truly ended up with 5 points, but hey, at least I got a stuffed panda for Duncan.

At the end of the night, we were able to find a blackjack table at the Flamingo were everyone could get seated.  It was a good table (for most of us) and we ended up playing there for 4 hours!  A good way to end the weekend.

Airfare: $230
Hotel: $150
Gambling Wins/Losses = -$800


Sooooo finally the trips are done and I don't have to travel anymore for a while.  Yay!  The wedding was this past weekend, but I will save that for another blog entry.  Until next time!

Rockscaping Project

So you may recall from a previous blog entry that I have this one side of the house that has a big weed problem, and not the fun kind of weeds.  The weeds on this side of the house grow fiercely, especially during the monsoon season.  At least once a year they'd get so tall that I'd get a letter from the homeowners association and have to hire landscapers to come out and clean it all up.

While hiring landscapers is the easy way out, it adds up in costs over time.  Plus it does look pretty yucky out there when all the weeds are fully grown.  So for a while, I've been thinking about laying some tarp down and covering the area up, to help with the weed prevention.  After the section was free of weeds, I laid down the same tarp that I've used in my backyard, which for years has worked very effectively.  I also made sure to do this project during the winter time so that it wouldn't be too hot outside.

Took me about 4 hours across two days to shovel up gravel and lay the tarp down.  After that, it was time to order me some rock and I had my eye on the "rip-rap" type.  I went to two locations in town: Acme Sand & Gravel and D & D Materials.  I started with Acme and they quoted me at needing 6 tons to cover the 220 square feet I wanted to cover.  At about $40 a ton and $60 for delivery, that would've easily run me over $300.  I then went to D & D and they quoted me at 3.5 tons for the same type of rock.  They also let me buy a bag of rock (about 40lbs worth) for $2.50, so I took that home to lay on the yard so I could get a better estimate of how much I actually needed.  In the end, I decided I only needed to order 2.5 tons of their 3-6" Coronado Brown.  At $40 a ton, this ran me about $100 + $60 for delivery.  Not bad.

The rock was delivered on Friday and was a daunting pile to say the least.  I had inquired how much my landscapers wanted to do the job, but they quoted me at $450. :(  That seemed like a lot, so I decided to move it myself and just ask one of my friends to help out.  On Friday, I took a half-day off to start moving the pile with Anthony coming on Saturday to help me finish the rest.  It was challenging on my own since I didn't have a wheelbarrow.  Instead, I used a bin on a dolly to move the rock back and forth from the street to my yard.  Over 3.5 hours, I was able to move a 3rd of the pile.  *phew*  Exhausting work!

On Saturday morning, my legs and back were already sore from moving rock the previous day and there was still a lot left to move.  Anthony arrived at noon and fortunately brought a wheelbarrow with him, although the tire was flat.  We overcame the flat tire and used it anyway, alternating between the barrow and the bin.  Anthony had some experience moving rock and the barrow sped up the process.  After just 2 hours we had moved almost all of the rock over!  After we had covered the entire section of the yard, I still had rock left over that I had to remove from the street and sprinkle over the area.  After about another hour of solo work, I was finally finished.  Exhausting work and in hindsight, probably should've ordered just 2 tons at most (who knows, maybe they even gave me 3 tons).  Regardless, the project is done!

We'll have to see how it holds up, but hopefully it'll be just as effective as the area in the backyard.

A Vegas Trifecta

Back in the day, I found myself traveling to Las Vegas at least 2-3 times a year.  It was a popular destination when I was younger, for parties and random trips of excitement.  Over the last few years, I have not traveled there as often, only to play in APA pool tournaments on at best an annual basis.  However, this year is different, as I will be traveling to Las Vegas three times in a 6 week period:

• Jan 12-14: Mike's 30th Birthday
• Feb 3-5: Christina's 30th Birthday & Superbowl
• Feb 17-20: Tyler's Bachelor Party

At first, I was on the fence about doing the birthdays, since I knew I'd be going in mid February for Tyler's bachelor party.  But 30th birthdays are important milestones to people, so I figured I'd just Make It Happen and do all three.  It'll be a lot of Vegas, which I don't care for the city as much anymore, but at least each time will be a different experience with a different group of friends.  And fortunately, living in Tucson, I'm only an hour flight away for a couple hundred bucks round-trip each time.

Sooooooooooooooo, yeah, hopefully I don't get burnt out.  Recaps of the trips to come next month!

Rest In Peace...

A forewarning for my readers today: this is a sad post upcoming.  If you're not in the mood to read about tragedy, then I ask that you come back another time, or later when I'm back to posting about positive content.

My parents moved our family from Paradise Valley to Scottsdale in 1995. At first, it was a rough transition for me because I had a nice circle of friends I had grown up with in PV.  We would ride our bikes through ditches and washes around our neighborhood, many nights of playing street hockey in front of our yard, and having friends over for slumber parties where we'd play video games and trade basketball cards.

When my parents moved to Scottsdale, I was forced to make new friends at Mountainside Middle School.  I can still remember not fitting in at first.  The school had a lot of students who dressed and acted more preppy, wearing clothes like Tommy Hilfiger that was a little more expensive than my No Fear t-shirts.  I found myself having to change my look to fit in: new wardrobe, got rid of the bowl cut with my hair parted down the middle and cut it all short.  I was simply the new kid who hadn't found his place yet.

About a year later, I remember a kid name Mike approach me in the halls at Mountainside.  He mentioned to me how his parents were buying a new home in the Carino Canyon complex where I was now living.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but I figured it'd be nice to have another kid to play with in the neighborhood.  Little did I know this was the creation of what would become one of my longest and best friendships in life.

Over the years, I grew much closer to Mike and the Band family.  Being a 30 second walk down the street really helped, as we were only separated by 2 houses.  Mike would come over to play basketball and video games, I would go over to his house and do the same.  Even as we got older and attended different colleges and now living in different cities (Tucson for me, D.C. for him), it was easy to keep in touch because we'd coordinate being back at our parents' houses at the same time over the breaks.  The Band family would even invite me over for Thanksgiving dinner, holiday drinks, and just casual get-togethers.  I honestly felt like an adopted son at times.

Today I am writing to honor Mike's dad, Alan Band.  He passed away two weeks ago as he was fighting a battle with cancer and unfortunately did not win.  His funeral and burial were last week on the 12th and 13th of December, 2017.  Mr. Band - as I called him no matter how much older I got - was a very friendly man to me.  He always made me feel welcome, providing me with more food than I could eat and giving me sage advice over the years as if I were his own son.  I finally realized how much he cared for me when one night, as he was having friends over for dinner, in his drunken stupor he couldn't stop telling them "how much he loved this kid" with a huge smile on his face.

I knew Mr. Band for 20 years.  I still remember how happy he was at Mike's wedding a couple years ago and I'm really glad he got to see his only son get married.  He was very humored about the speech I gave when I was best man at Mike's wedding, mostly about how I wasn't  going to let Mike into the "Asian club" even though half of his friends are Asian.  I only have fun and fond memories of Mr. Band and I believe he lived a very good life.  He went a little early, but I think he can rest peacefully knowing how much he achieved and accomplished.

My condolences to Mike and his mother Mary, as it's obviously been a rough time for them this past year.  They are doing well though, all things considered, and the family still remains strong and positive of the future to come.

Rest in peace Mr. Band, you've earned it.