the rate for Binion's has gone up

Vegas.com, expedia.com, and hotels.com are all listing Binion's at $42 a night. Last week, we booked two rooms for significantly less and would like to offer STBE revelers the chance to lock in our historically low rates. We have 3 spots left in Mike's Cheap VIP Suite, so claim them now to lock in a low rate ($19.50 per person). Once that suite is full, I'll try to help you find a way to get the lowest price possible (coupon codes, timeshare tours, whatever), but we won't make the reservations for you. As is tradition, we each reserve a room and when they're full, STBE revelers have to book any extra rooms. If we end up with 10 people, we could do 5 to a room, but with rooms as cheap as they are, that probably won't be necessary.

beer money update

I'm about a buck fifty closer to a football of beer! Apparently, this service is new, so they don't have a lot of ads yet, but they have sent me money by paypal the last two Fridays in a row. Sign up and pay for your first drink with ad money!

STBE Theme Nights are set!!!

We all knew magicians was running away with the revelers' choice on the poll, but what were Mike and I going to choose?

After much deliberation, Mike decided to go with "patriotic", reasoning the abundance of patriotic items that are sure to hit the clearance bins after next weekend.

I had initially settled on FLDS, but once the RSVPs started coming in, I realized that we wouldn't have the girl/guy ratio needed to be a convincing group of polygamists. Also, who has time to sew those dresses and fashion those bouffant hairdos? I went with an easy theme: Former Fatties, which was actually suggested by first-time STBE reveler Amy! She says, "we can stash more food from the buffet" in our giant pants. Always thinkin', that one. She still thinks Binh is a made up person, by the way.

Binh plans to protest the revelers' choice Magicians theme by dressing as a ghetto prom magician. She blames herself for the crushing defeat ghetto prom suffered. "I didn't vote enough!" Don't feel too bad, Binh, all of the themes were beaten horrendously by Magicians. It was because of the American Idol-style voting - the theme with the most rabid fans wins!

Anyhoo, we haven't decided which nights the themes will be on, but we will be there on what would be Michael Jackson's birthday (August 29), and perhaps we could all wear a sparkly glove with our magician outfits. Quoth evan, "now that you mention it, he WAS kind of a magician, wasn't he?"

There you have it! STBE '09 themes are set!

Go to the messageboard and talk it up!

theme night voting ends Friday!

While you'll know which theme gets the automatic spot, Mike and I will try to make our choices before the end of the weekend.

Now's your chance to start lobbying us on which themes you think we should choose.

hahaha, vegas.com responds via twitter!

l33t? Anyone care to guess what that means?

pwn3d!!!

Dear Ginger,



Thank you for using VEGAS.com to book your Vegas travel. Since you

booked through VEGAS.com you're assured of getting the best available

Vegas hotel rate through the VEGAS.com Best Vegas Rate Guarantee.



We've reviewed your VEGAS.com Best Vegas Rate Guarantee claim alert and

found that it does qualify for the guarantee.



The quoted rate from the competing website was $66. In this case, the VEGAS.com rate of $121.33 did not meet or beat the

competing rate. (Both rates are listed without taxes and fees.)



Therefore, we will honor the competing rate and give you double the difference (up to $150), resulting in a refund of $110.66 -- assuring that you receive the best

Vegas rate available at the time of your booking.



A refund in this amount will be processed within five business days.



Thanks again for using VEGAS.com.



Important note: Please note that, per the terms and conditions of the VEGAS.com

Best Vegas Rate Guarantee, bookings in which a customer has received a refund via

the VEGAS.com Best Vegas Rate Guarantee cannot be cancelled or changed thereafter.

Binion's will be hosting STBE '09!!!

After some famous Sugar Twin wheeling and dealing, we've secured the lowest rates yet! Based on 4 people per room, Ginger's Super Cheap VIP Suite will cost only $8 per person! TOTAL! Including taxes and fees!

Mike's Cheap VIP Suite will cost $19.50 per person (again, based on 4 people per room). The previous record low for an STBE hotel was $28 per person (total) after invoking vegas.com's low price guarantee...which is what happened here.

Once I booked and invoked the guarantee and vegas.com realized they had to pay me $110 back, they lowered their rates (within hours of my booking and invoking, a $55 difference shrunk to a $12.50 difference). Mike still booked at a super cheap rate (less than $20 per person for 3 nights? That is ridiculous!), so jump on it and get yourself a spot in one of the suites!

Oh, I guess you want information about Binion's Gambling Hall in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada! Let me pull some bullet points from the interweb and put them up here for you along with some guest reviews.

Hotel Amenities:
• Check In Time - 3 PM
• Check Out Time – Noon
• Internet Access Available *(for a ridiculously expensive fee)
• Parking
• Pool (rooftop pool! What what!!!)
• Restaurant On-site
• This casino property is within 1 km of Las Vegas Club Sports Hall of Fame, Marriage License Bureau, Las Vegas, and Las Vegas City Hall. It is also within 10 km of Las Vegas Library.
• Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel provides a casino, a restaurant, an outdoor pool, and conference rooms.
• All guestrooms include satellite television, cable television, and cable/satellite TV.

Hotel Review Highlights:
• “Hot chicks dealing the cards on some tables! Well worth the money!”
• “The Fremont Street Experience was so loud in our 10th floor room, it was impossible to sleep till it was over at midnight.” (ed. note, who sleeps in Vegas before midnight?)
• “This place is dirty and old!!! Our room had cig burns in the sheets and bedspread!! The filth in the bathroom was beyond belief.”
• “I would not stay at Binion's ever again. I would not recommend to anyone to ever stay at Binion's. If you don't heed the advice on this review I hope you got and [sic] excellent deal.”
• “The drapes were grey from lack of cleaning.”
• “The room we stayed in was from the 1970's.”
• “The pool was great and the view from the pool and are [sic] room was priceless.”
• “Why pay for an expensive hotel if ur [sic] not in it all day...I just use the room for shower and to sleep for a few hours…”
The WTD Review Award goes to:
• “I would gamble and play bingo all day and night the food was great the keno was good enjoyed machines to me the place was the best in world then Binion died and bingo is gone so havent been back its like a stab in my heart all through years I been there only stayed to hotel once but did all my gambling and all bingo games there best place in all of las vegas Binion did wonders for many people he was so special its just sad when times change to walk back in there would make me so happy and if bingo was there again id come there every two months again it will always be best of las vegas no matter what they change”
This person also wins the award for least punctuation as well as the world’s longest sentence (without a period).

Southwest Ding Special

Thanks to Ginger, I booked my return flight from Vegas to LA for only $38 via Southwest's Ding Special!! http://www.southwest.com/cgi-bin/systray?action=getHeadlineDetail&headlineId=4391237&src=sta_offer_4391237&disc=0:13:1245344791.553239:258@FE258BA4D203CBCBBA6AF7C746399B76188BE850

I plan to depart LA after 6pm on Friday, 8/28 after 6pm and my return flight is confirmed for Monday, 8/31 at 1:20pm. Believe in Binh...see you at STBE '09!

beer money

The other day, I was looking for jobs and came across a website (listed on Berkeley's career website) that said I could get paid to click on ads. So far, I've made a whopping 93 cents! Woo!

Anyhoo, I've decided that I'm going to see how much money I can make from clicking on ads between now and the end of August and then use it for beer money in Vegas. So far, there haven't been a whole lot of ads for me to click on, but it seriously took like 2 minutes. If you're interested in earning some beer money for Vegas, click here.

If we all join and get other people to join, maybe we'll even end up with a few bucks for the slots!

The Final Countdown!!!

The final round of theme night voting started last night and it seems to be off to a blistering start. I voted, went downstairs to watch a movie, then came back and found over 30 more voters. Way to go, guys!

Remember to vote every day for your top three themes, this one's for all the marbles! The top vote-getter will be a theme at STBE '09!!!

it's Binh's birthday!

Make sure you track her down to say Happy Birthday!

welcome new bloggers!

I was tired of going back and forth signing in between two blogs, so now you'll notice that I'm posting under my WT name instead of "Sugar Twiiiins". While I was at it, I also invited Binh and Gabe to blog, too! Mike has also been invited, but has yet to set up his account. Hopefully, with some gentle nudging, he can be convinced to take part.

Binh, as some of you may know, will be blogging in her official capacity as STBE Ambassador and Gabe has taken on the persona of a Vegas scuzzball. Be on the lookout for their posts!

secret poll

I think I'm gonna take the secret poll down, I don't want to influence people on how to vote in the final poll.

Round Three of voting has begun!

Sorry, I forgot to come back here and let you all know that stbe.org is back up and running.

Anyhoo, Round Three of theme night voting started on Friday, and if you look carefully, you'll find a secret poll.

Choose carefully (and often), the top three will be moving on to the final round to compete with the safe themes!

stbe.org is down

And I don't know for how long. The host I use was moving everything to a new server, then the new server broke, so all of the accounts were lost. As soon as they fix the new server, I have to re-sign up for a hosting account and upload the whole site again. Luckily, I have no idea what I'm doing and use frontpage, so it shouldn't take a long time. I'd complain, but it was free, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Anyhoo, if there are any updates about stbe, they'll be posted here and an email will be sent. Thanks!

Oh, in the meantime, the theme night poll is here.