Las Vegas 1/2-1/5/2019. Happy Birthday to me!!

Well, first trip of the year, and as much as I had "planned" to cut back this year, hitting that $16,700 jackpot in Lake Tahoe in December kinda sidetracked any intentions of "cutting back.

However, this year will be a year of calming down, playing smart(er), and emphasizing "value" over "fun" (fun being defined as wild and reckless gaming).

So this trip is partially to celebrate my birthday, and partially to get $500 in Free Play that I won at the Asian Marketing banquet in October. That plus the $375 that I'm getting from CET should provide a nice "start" to the three days.

My ex-wife and I have a new arrangement for handing off the car. I drive it and park it at the Amtrak Station and take the free bus to the airport. She picks it up and drives (to my) home where my son will be waiting for her. My son is now 17 but still not "equipped" to stay at home alone.

I am meeting "A", a colleague from work, who's staying at Palazzo. I will pick her up at the airport at about 9:30PM and we will go over to Momofuku at Cosmpolitan for some Ramen "siu yeh" (a late night meal)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siu_yeh.

Other meal plans are:

Hobak Korean BBQ - lunch with two of my hosts from myVegas
Rao's - dinner and trying their Osso Buco
Mr. Chow's - I have invited my pool professional friend J to join A and me for Beijing Duck (carved tableside)

This trip, I'm staying at the Cromwell just for a change of venue. Maybe I can break my "no hand pay" jinx there . . . .

Other trips on the schedule include:

late January - Silver Strike tournament downtown, staying at the D
February - Harrahs Lake Tahoe for Chinese New Year. I'm taking my son to attempt to get him to embrace his "Chinese" heritage (he's bi-racial)
Late February - first GGWU booster of the year in Las Vegas (a 36 hour whirlwind)
March - junket to new Orleans, but this trip is now "iffy" because of so many other trips.
April - comp trip to Aria

Wish me luck, and I will make sure that A or J remind me to take pictures of all of the meals.

 

Dai,
Hopefully you can continue with the big hits in the New Year. I realize it is quite a bit of work, but was wondering if you were going to post a breakdown of the year like you have done in the past. It is very helpful to consider the options. As someone who does not live close to any casino properties it presently does not make sense to even include 7* but as gambling continues to spread it could be something which makes more sense in a different location.

Your analysis and thought process always have been very helpful and interesting, and the slot and food porn is pretty fun too. Hope you first and foremost have fun and are able to book some more wins secondly.

Happy (Early) Birthday!

 

DaiLun, you always seem to have good heads-up info. Do you know the dates for the GGWU redeem dates in November/December 2019?

 

Well, I don't know about that, but I have put in a feeler to my resources at CET and let's see if they have any information that they can share. . . . .

OK, so CET doesn't have any dates to share at this time, but every year both mLife and CET have their events the same weekend, so look for mLife or CET to announce their dates.

 

Well, that WOULD give me something to do for the day, since I'm off until the 7th. Let me look at my trip spreadsheet and see what I can come up with . . . .

 

Happy Birthday @DaiLun and wish you good luck in your first trip 2019.

 

Happy Birthday @DaiLun. Hopefully 2019 will be as generous as 2018.

 

Have a great birthday celebration! I always enjoy your trip reports...

 

Happy first trip of the year @DaiLun and Happy Birthday too!
Love how you always have dinners planned for friends and hope the wins continue!
Hoping for the usual foodie pics!

 

Happy birthday, @DaiLun, I hope you have a great trip.

 

Well, something new to add to my list of "things to do". Accumulate QFR badges. I should get all of the slot badges out of the way Wednesday afternoon.

 

Happiest of travels and birthdays to you!

RICHARD

 

Happy Birthday! I will be in Vegas at the same time and plan to do a live trip report. Enjoy and good luck!

 

Thank you to all for your good wishes. Now for an update. A change in plans was necessary.

Originally, I was going to have my ex-wife come down and stay with my son, a 17 year old who was "shocked" when I said that he didn't have the skills to fend for himself for 3 days. (more on that later).

Then there was a drain clog, outside the house but before the city main sewer. Every time we did laundry, it backed up into the lower bathroom. When they ran the camera, they found the blockage. I called the leasing company (I rent) and told them that it was becoming a health hazard because nothing that drained water could be used. The water was draining, but very slowly. Now, our landlord is so cheap and slow I knew that nothing would be done. The owners are lucky that it's two guys living in this house. If worse came to worst, I could drive 3 miles to work to do a No. 2, and the No. 1s, we just let sit. Why we stay here is a "long" story, but the owners know that finding renters like us would be hard to find, and they haven't raised the rents to what they "should" get in this area at this time, so I'm saving about $8-12,000 a year.

Anyway, I digress. So, I've decided to send my son up to his Mom's while I'm away, and I will have the neighbors watch out while I'm gone.

That was the #1 surprise. The #2 surprise was that our power went out at 10AM, and stayed out until 8:30PM.. I was OK with it, but for my son it was TORTURE. He had no computer, no TV, just DAD!

So, I used the time for some bonding exercises. Played Gin Rummy, went out to eat at an AYCE Asian BBQ.

Hot Pot Station
AYCE for $24.99 each. We had:

Bacon (his favorite)

Garlic Beef and New York Steak

Rib Eye Steak

Clams

Garlic Shrimp

and Rice. They have a station where you can make your own dipping sauces.

It was a nice meal and gave me some time to introduce him to his Asian side. He already uses chopsticks better than me. But hey!! I didn't starve growing up and that why my parents never corrected me.

Anyway. Today is a day of rest and prep. After I drop him off at the train station tomorrow, I've gotta get back home and Uber to the airport. My first A-list standby of 2019.

 

Good luck!

 

Food looks good, nice pics

 

More food pics to come . . . Osso Buco at Rao's, Beijing Duck at Mr. Chow's, Something from Momofuku. Yum yum yum!!!

 

I can't remember a year where they haven't been the 1st weekends in November and December...

 

As I recall, there was one year where it was the second weekend, but I'd have to check my TRs. I have been going since 2013. I know that's only five years.

 

Good luck big boss!
Hit another grand!
Take my money back from Cosmo haha