TGI(my)F

Yes, in my world it's Friday. No, I'm not in denial that it's only Thursday - I get Fridays off in July. Every weekend a three-day weekend. And this week has been exceptionally short since I took Monday off. Due to the overtime I put in working on the golf tournament, I ended up with an extra vacation day, which needed to be used by August 31, (vacation time re-sets September 1). And since I'm away the first two weeks of August, this week made the most sense. Boy, I love my job: lots of time off and I actually enjoy being at work too.

I've spent the last week or so, finalizing last minute trip details. Just to give you some background: last June Colin and I attended a timeshare presentation, with the guaranteed promise of a free trip to Vegas. So what's a few hours of our life for that. Nothing! Initially we were just going to take the few day trip, but since I have vacation time that needs to be used , we have extended our stay in Vegas, and are also hopping over to Southern California.

Anyways, about a month again the company booking our Vegas trip offered us an upgrade - that didn't appeal to us. Since we were already extending our trip, it made no sense to shell out the extra cash. We'll just stay in a cheap motel off the strip and move onto the strip for our final day/night, but then...

Last week we were offered a buy out: our taxes back, plus an extra $300USD. So we checked hotel rates and flights down - long story short, we took the buy out. It's probably costing the company more to send us to Vegas, since we didn't take the upgrade. They're most likely saving money by buying us out.

We are now leaving Vancouver at a reasonable hour - not 10 PM; and get to stay on the strip the entire time - the Tropicana.

So we'll be in Vegas for four days, planning to gamble (well, duh...); rent a car and check out Hoover Dam, and maybe a bit more of Arizona; catch Jerry Seinfeld at Cesar's Palace; and definitely enjoy the bright lights and nightlife.

Then we're hopping over to Orange County - visiting Disneyland, and possibly Knotts and/or Universal too...

In short, I can't wait.

Tomorrow I am going down to Tulalip, Washington with one (possibly two) of my co-workers, to check out the sweet shopping situation at the outlet mall there.

Happy Friday... Err, I mean Thursday...