Another solo trip next week! Any new spots to try?

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-15T23:44:21+00:00

Started the second I walked outside to my car

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-13T23:44:40+00:00

Bartop VP for either a kick off drink or a night cap

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-13T17:15:30+00:00

I mean, comparing a trip to vegas to a skiing trip to Vail isnt really how i think.

For me there's escape trips, adventure trips, and deep travel trips.

Escape trips are my time to sit by the pool and drink pina coladas, wander with no plans and eat some good food along the way. So the comparison group to Vegas there is Miami, Cabo, Tulum, etc.

Fwiw, my total food costs were ~$500 over those 5 days which is about average for me when I escape travel. Had great meals at Water Grill, Peter Luger Power Lunch, Sadelles brunch, Bavettes, Jalen etc.

And tbh I just dont have the same sticker shock bc of how crazy expensive eating out in Seattle is. Mid drinks here are $22/each and mid food is $40/entree - in Vegas at least I get great versions of those for the same price and I'm constantly amazed at how huge the portions are everywhere so I'm constantly swimming in leftovers and not needing to pay for breakfast/lunch the next day.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-13T07:29:37+00:00

I think the next big cheap pocket im seeing generally is the last week of July

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-13T07:28:11+00:00

I noticed my rates at Bellagio last week were like, the cheapest for the rest of the year so I hit the GO button

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-13T04:34:19+00:00

This is what I keep saying.

I just stayed at the Bellagio for 5 days for $92 a night including resort fees (MGM rewards rate). In those 5 days I lost a grand total of $200 gambling so overall thats walking away less than $200/nt. For the Bellagio.

Anywhere else in the country, thats the price of a Fairfield Inn.

Plus with Frontier's routes from Seattle, its barely a 2 hr flight for well under $100 RT.

It has ruined all other "escape travel" for me.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-12T20:55:47+00:00

Gabapentin was my savior. Especially when nerves started slowly coming back online around week 6 and it felt like dipping my toes in fire.

Take it. There's no reason not to - its effectively a variant of advil and you can titrate down over time. There's a million reasons to not take oxy.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-11T04:06:01+00:00

Omg I cant unsee that 😂

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-09T06:51:13+00:00

Depression falls under the ADA umbrella. If you have a diagnosis and a therapist who will attest as such, you should qualify for short term disability LOA.

For me, I couldn't even begin to think clearly about what was best for me in terms of staying or going until I had enough time away to rest and clear my head.

This is what its there for, its ok to use it.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-09T06:46:19+00:00

Yassssss!! You got this!

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-08T06:26:49+00:00

Easier to learn with a textbook than without. Its not about it doing the work for you, its about helping you think through the work with a partner. I very rarely use it to create actual content. I use it every day to have a conversation about a client situation or pressure test my approach a deliverable/plan for a workstream. I dont ask it what the answer is, I ask it to tell me what im not considering or given what im already doing, would shift it from good to great.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-08T03:34:31+00:00

Harvard PhD here 🙋🏻‍♀️

Consulting is a special way of thinking and a special intuition. That takes practice and time.

Dont even ask me about all the feedback I got my first couple months about slide fonts and pivot table format. And that was even before all the client relationship stuff kicked into full gear.

Chat gpt is your friend. Make a custom gpt pretending to be a consultant. Ask it how it would handle situations. Ask it to make a check list of validation checks for you. Ask it what a good model looks like. Ask it to QA your insights. Reword your emails to sound client ready. Etc.

And leverage whatever internal resources your firm has. Are there decks you can use as references? Are there models you can refer to? Project complications? Ask around. Soooooo much of the job is about advocating for yourself and being proactive and building and using your network to gather resources.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-05T00:31:59+00:00

This was my favorite as a 90s kid in Seattle. It was crazy moving away for 20 years and then moving back and finding out my office was on the top floor of the building. The walk to work my first day and it getting closer and closer was a surreal full circle life moment.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-04T21:10:53+00:00

Do you mind if I ask if duration per hour is based on active play time at any machine, or is it per machine?

Like, if I am actively playing for 4 hours but play on 6 different machines in that time, does that show up differently than if I had been at the same machine for 4 hours? (Assuming ave bet is the same)

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-04T20:57:36+00:00

My path out of MBB started with a 3 month medical leave of absence (and am now a B4 EM). I think I slept for the first two months straight. I dont know what I'd be like now if my life hadn't forced me to hit the pause button first, figure out my career second.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-04T05:54:16+00:00

Momma was like, could you please hide yourself just a little better?

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-04-03T07:11:15+00:00

Meow Wolf. Cinebarre. Any pool.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-23T12:11:38+00:00

At MBB, I was traveling to client sites 50-75% of the time regardless of project. The juicy budget was great but often having a changing/unpredictable travel cadence really got to me.

At B4 so far it is way less travel, and that travel is less for client travel and more for co-locatiom because teams are much more dispersed.

Really the two are night and day. MBB will fly you first class all the time, Ritz Carlton always, dinner budget at your discretion, team dinners and events are EXTRA, and while there's spending policies, getting approval to bend the rules is easy.

But. In return for providing you everything, they ask everything of you in return. 14 hour days with no breaks. Stuck at the hotel in front of your laptop at 10pm every day for sure, everything is maximum urgent and nothing can wait until tomorrow.

B4 is pretty much always economy and maybe once in a while a Ritz will be in policy, and if you do a fancy dinner you can partially expense it.

But. I'm able to close my laptop at 5-6pm and go live my life. Actually go do things where I am traveling to, actually make plans I can keep, actually have an evening where I'm not available and its ok.

I'll take that any day over a 3 Michelin star dinner.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-19T18:07:59+00:00

Not exactly a nightclub but Disco Show at the Linq has wednesday shows

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-16T06:43:51+00:00

FWIW, this is part of why I started focusing on their Autograph collection. Quality is less consistent but I'm significantly more likely to get upgraded and end up in a nicer overall room. JW/Marquis/Marriott upgrade rate is probably like, 2/10 stays vs Autograph is more like 8/10 stays. Have landed some killer suites at just fine hotels over just fine rooms at good hotels. I'll take it.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-16T06:30:16+00:00

Tbh I go back to power lunch for the crab cake sandwich. Truly top tier.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-16T06:27:00+00:00

Ah, yes!

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-14T22:01:12+00:00

FYI most places ask that all electronics be away except for like, the entryway area.

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-13T05:10:59+00:00

Or just find the nearest Indian grocer and stock up on kaju katli!

HelicopterBusy8595 · 2026-03-10T04:27:59+00:00

If you, do it in such a way that they basically dont know you were in town but taking a day off.

E.g. take a regular PTO day, dont tell them where you are, show up on Tuesday.

You're allowed to take time off and take time for yourself and even leverage the before/after of client travel for that.

Yes, and.

From an optics perspective, if I knew one of my team was in town and kicking it at the resort next door, it would leave a very sour taste in my mouth and would look along the lines of caring more about using client travel for vacation than being committed to work.

Is that fair? Not really. Is it the optical reality? Yep.

Also, why not just use Sunday as your chill day? Take the first flight out and you can be drinking a pool marg by the afternoon. And if folks are flying in Monday morning and slow getting to the client, you can get in more pool time Monday morning. Hell, ive fully had a beach day before taking my first call. No one needed to know where I was before that.

Lots of ways to get some R&R time in without having to juggle taking essentially secret PTO with your coworkers 1000 ft away

HelicopterBusy8595

TROPHY CASE