we're expanding

Yes, I know I still owe more STBE recaps, but before I do that, changes are coming to STBE. Notably, we want to add another trip and monthly meet-ups. Read more (there's not a lot more yet) here.

Great news!!!

Atomic Liquors has new owners! Sadly, it won't be open yet when we go, but we have something to look forward to next year!!!

I don't know how I feel about the renovations...I doubt we'll be able to buy tallboys of Busch.

STBE - Day two...so far

We started off with champagne brunch at Main Street Station where we stayed and gambled for a while. After that, we headed out to Atomic Liquor Store, an AWESOME dive bar. When we got there, we learned that it closed down. After taking a few pictures to memorialize it (check my twitter), we went to the Western, which contrary to my drunken ramblings last year, is not the bestern.

We walked in and it smelled like poop. It was gross and dirty and full of "mountain people" and crack whores (seriously). The slot machines paid out actual pennies instead of tickets. We each drank a dollar beer, then half of us took off to watch the "fountains of Bellagio" while a few brave souls stayed behind for the $3 black jack.

We have been talking in a really exaggerated Tyler Perry accent all day that makes us sound like the Swedish Chef. Right now, we're getting ready for Oates night. Eff Hall! It's all about Oates!!! (clap clap)

Fisrt post of the weekend!!!

Mike and I are chillin' at Jose Cuervo's Tequileria at the Las Vegas airport getting deucefaced!

I had two beers on the plane within 15 minutes, so I was already slightly deucefaced. Mike enjoyed a double margarita at the bar, and I joined him and ordered a big ass Bud Light (naturally).

Maybe we should retrieve our bags from baggage claim...

tomorrow's the big day!!!

Stephen and Ryan are in Vegas keeping it warm for us. The big crew arrives tomorrow! I limited the guest list a bit this year. While the large group (I think we had 15 last year, 18 at one point) was a lot of fun, the smaller group (10) might be a little more manageable.

The bag's all loaded up with ridiculous outfits and ready to go!

theme night shopping tips

We're getting closer to STBE 2011, so hopefully you've all had time to shop around for your theme night outfits. Kim and I went out today and got some sweet outfits. I got a new Red Hat Lady outfit, a totally rad Oates getup, and lots and lots of sweatbands for Sweatband Overload night.

The previous post is a good reference point if you're not familiar with what Oates wears. Red Hat Ladies can get away with just about anything as long as it involves purple as the main color and red accents. Sweatband Overload is just that: lots of sweatbands. Mike and I also think knee high striped tube socks are a must to complete that look.

We were able to find parts for all of our outfits at thrift stores, KMart, and Joanne Fabrics. We also hit up Party City, but the mustaches hadn't been put out yet (they moved everything to set up for Halloween). EBAY is also a good option if you don't have time to go out.

Happy shopping!!!

STBE '11!!!

Hey everyone!

Planning has begin for the 10th Anniversary of STBE! I know what you're thinking: "Wasn't last year the 10th Anniversary?" No! It was the 10th Annual. 10 years ago, we went to Vegas and started a tradition that has grown every year.

I've been a little slow to update the website because my work schedule is pretty hectic, but I did manage to get the front page updated. I plan on working on it some more this weekend, and I'll be sure to keep you all updated. So mark your calendars; the dates have been set!

WARNING: my birthday is on Monday this year, so be prepared to stay through Tuesday.

STBE hotel shopping

Feel free to start hunting for bargain basement hotel rates. Sign up for the Priceline rewards program (apparently, I did at some point) and maybe you'll get a $30 credit to be used on a 3 night stay. You get a $10 credit added to whatever you bid on a hotel room. It's good through May 23, so I was thinking I might use it to upgrade us to the Golden Nugget. It's easy to find on Priceline (which never lets you see which hotel you're bidding on until after you've successfully booked) because it's the only 4 star hotel downtown. I got shut down at a $34 bid (technically $44 with the $10 per night credit), so I'm gonna try again when the regular rates go down a bit.

stbe.org is back up!

Hopefully for good this time! Shout out to Will for hooking me up with server space!

STBE '10

Mike and I have already started planing STBE '10. As many of you know, this will be the 10th Anniversary of STBE! Currently, the server is down, so I think I'm going to switch to another host, because it's been down for a few days now with no sign of repair happening soon.

Anyhoo, I'll alert you all when it's back up and running...the theme nights have been chosen and will be posted.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

I was hoping that the other STBE bloggers would pick up some of the slack here and recap some of the days on the trip, but alas, that apparently isn't going to happen.

Anyhoo, the Shooters took off fairly early on Sunday, as they had an early afternoon flight to Santa Barbara. Mike had drunkenly told me the night before that he was going down to the strip to hang out with Christine and Steve, but didn't remember saying that to me at all when we told him we were planning to head out to the strip to go to the Excalibur Buffet. He said he didn't want to go to the Strip, and was gonna go gamble with Ryan while we all went.

So it was me, Binh, Gabe, Jose, and Dan, as the married Skidmores had also taken off that morning to head back to Thousand Oaks. We stopped at a gift shop on our way to the Deuce stop and grabbed some bottled water and Jose got a couple of tallboys for the road.

We know the Deuce is slow, but this had to be the slowest Deuce ride we had ever taken! Our first clue that it was gonna be a long ride came when the g-d driver stopped for TEN MINUTES! at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club. There was no one at the Deuce stop waiting to get on and no one got off the Deuce!

The g-d driver proceeded to stop at every g-d Deuce stop whether it warranted it or not and it took FOREVER!

We had finally had it and got off at New York, New York where I was about to wet my pants. I sprinted to the nearest bathroom and then we made our way through the hotel and across the skyway to the 'bur where we headed straight to the buffet. In front of us in line was a group of people who had just been to (and in) a wedding. That is right! Wedding reception at a buffet!

This is the very same buffet where I was told to "be a lady! You need to act like a lady!" Helleau, as evidenced back then by the KEG of champagne, and by the wedding party in front of us in line, THERE ARE NO LADIES AT THE EXCALIBUR BUFFET!!!

The 'bur buffet is all self-serve. No one brings you drinks or anything, which is kind of nice, because you aren't at the mercy of a waiter/waitress to get your drinks. Unfortunately, there was no champagne brunch! WTD!? We went there for a keg of champagne! They did, however, offer gatorade as a drink choice, which was awesome, since we had all drank a lot at the lady MJ show the night before.

We all agreed that the 'bur buffet was much better than our usual Main Street Station buffet and filled up quite a few plates before making our way to Mandalay Bay to get some Volcanoes at Rumjungle.

On our way, we saw a guy wearing a really bad wig. I don't know if I was able to capture how bad it was, but thank God Gabe was sitting next to him on the tram so I was able to get a picture somewhat on the sly.



Anyhoo, we finally got to Rumjungle (after walking the wrong direction, which we do every year) and ordered Volcanoes. Apparently, they aren't on the menu anymore as the waiter who looked like McSteamy said, "oh, you guys know about Volcanoes, huh?!" Then he walked up to the bartender and said, "4 Volcanoes," to which the bartender replied, "what the hell is a Volcano?" McSteamy ended up having to make the Volcanoes himself. Binh told Dan that Volcanoes "have 12 kinds of rum!" Which isn't true. There are 4 rums, 3 of which are 151 proof. Needless to say, I only made it halfway through mine. I always forget how strong those things are. Woof.

After our Volcanoes, we saw a dried out fountain and began launching pennies into it while making wishes. Jose was taking a bathroom break, we had to find some way to entertain ourselves. We also saw a parade of douchebags (seriously, they looked like Gotti brothers) walking in from the pool area.


Apparently, there are girls out there who find this look attractive! All of the d-bags we saw had d-bag girlfriends!

Anyhoo, we decided we should probably forgo our annual trek to the Tropicana to get our coupon book and cash in all the drink-related ones so we could get back to Fremont Street at a reasonable time to say goodbye to Ryan before he left. Alas, we were too late and missed him, so we had to text our goodbyes.

We stopped at the same gift shop we had stopped at before and got a 3 pack of Bud Light tallboys and some more bottled water and met up with Mike at Binion's. Binh fell asleep and blamed her lack of appetite for booze later on in the evening on our allowing her to sleep. For the record, I tried to wake her up twice and she looked piiiiiiissed!, so I let her keep sleeping.

Mike and I were the only people who brought clothes for former fatty night, so we went ahead and put our giant pants on over our regular pants and made our way to our annual fancy steak dinner at Tony Roma's. Binh ordered the $12.99 steak and lobster tail special and none of us could figure out what cut of meat they had given her. We called it the mystery steak. My ribs didn't stay with me long, and Mike and I took that opportunity to ditch our giant pants back at Binion's before we all settled in at the Golden Gate for penny slots while Jose and Dan played craps. We also left briefly to get some stiff drinks at Mermaids before calling it a night. I had been in Vegas for far too long and was ready to go home, as was Mike, for the same reason.

Binh complained that she was ready to party, but her nap ruined it for her, haha. Gabe also retired to his room, because he had a long drive ahead of him in the morning.

That was basically the rest of the trip! SLEEP!

Michael Jackson VIP night

I believe the evite said that if you're the type of person who likes to go to trendy night clubs then this trip isn't for you. Well that was a wrong, because as trashy as the Hawaiian Tropic Zone was, it is a trendy night club. Albeit in Planet Hollywood - the slut of the Las Vegas Strip (and that's saying something).

*note from Ginger: VIP tables and bottle service may not be in the spirit of STBE, but the way we ended up there definitely was! I demanded satisfaction, and we got it!


As mentioned previously we got not-deucedfaced by the weak drinks at the penny slots waiting for the UFC bout to end. Yawn. It ends and we waltz in at a quarter to 10pm - fifteen minutes before the MJ show, perfect. 10pm comes and goes and we're still watching a highlight DVD of homoerotic takedowns. The whole time Mike kept yelling, "Just make out already!"
Mike's brother-in-law (Steve? I'm bad at names.) was denied entry into the exclusive Hawaiian Tropic Zone (hereinafter HTZ) because his identification had expired last week and the state issued piece of paper stating it was in fact current was not enough for the bouncer. Sorry, you must be <21.


Well, extortion is an STBE tradition, but normally we're the ones threatening. So Mike wisely decides its time to speak to a manager. This is a problem, however, because Mike is dressed like a female circus ringmaster. Fear not, it is Las Vegas, and only the tourists are surprized by our silliness - the employees have seen much crazier/sadder lots than us.


Anyway Mike and sis go to the manager and explain the situation. Mike is trying to get some sympathy to get maybe-Steve in the (crappy) club. But his sister blurts out, "And then he asked for a bribe! Can you believe it!" At which point the manager switches from customer service mode to supervisor mode and shuts down. He no longer hears a complaint about a policy but a complaint about his employee. So he leaves to repremand the bouncer, and maybe-Steve never gets in. However, this may have contributed to the Demand for Satisfaction situation that came later (<-Foreshadowing!). I'll let Ginger elaborate.


Meanwhile, this was our Michael:

So those who called "she" win. Congrats. Here's what she looked like in costume (with a free glove we didn't receive):

Binh's got fireworks on ner feet!

By now, you've gotten a little taste of the action last night. Binhligerent was out in full force with glowstick flip flops and a giant toof. My bad, Binh says, "that was just a warmup last night! I'm not at full force yet!" Look out! "Not until we go to McDonald's!"

Anyhoo, we're off to a fancy $10 champagne brunch at the Main Street Station (where we hopefully won't get sick). I'll try to post some pictures later. I owe you guys a post about our $32 room and how it compares to the room at Caesar's.

Binh and Shooter say hi!

Ginger in Vegas

She's already begun the Sugar magic. Surely she'll be updating soon.

start counting down!

STBE is on Friday! Revelers begin arriving on Wednesday for pre-STBE R&R&B! How can you stand the excitement???

Qing and Kween of the...

Mike and I have been Qing and Kween (the klassie spelling) of many hotels in the past. Those hotels were easily 'bbreviated, while Binion's just doesn't seem to have a natural 'bbreviation. "The Bin'" just doesn't feel right, nor does "the 'ion's". And it's not Binion's Horseshoe anymore, so "the 'shoe" is out. So what are we to call our Qingdom this time?

Previous Qingdoms: The Strat', The Fiiiitz, The 'dust (yeah, we're old skool), and the Club.

I'll be realistic here with my request based on who I think actually reads this. Shooter, whattaya got? If anyone else reads this blog, feel free to weigh in! I kind of need a name by the end of the weekend so I can decorate our crowns with puff paint.

Jon - Kate and their 8 + 11 STBE revelers

I got a hot tip that Jon Gosselin is hosting a pool party at Wet Republic on the 29th. Lundy suggested we either get Kate wigs or wear d-bag Ed Hardy clothes and fatsuits.



+



+


+



= free (we think) STBE fun!

Brian, Stephanie, Jose, and I each signed up for the guest list +3, so we're all set! If we get there and they're charging admission, we'll be right across the street from Dick's Last Resort where we can get all you can drink Bud Light for $20. I'd rather pay for free flowing beer than to pay to get in to see an early onset midlife crisis case...and then pay $20 a drink on top of that.

STBE ground transportation

***I'll be updating this post as I find out when people will be arriving***

Please make note of these times so you can find someone to share a cab with or grab a shuttle if you will be alone. I'll be shuttling in since I'll be arriving 2 days before everyone else - $6 is much cheaper than a $20+ cab ride.

Click here for a list of shuttle prices.

I'll be arriving on Wednesday (8/26) at about 3PM, and will be departing on Monday at 1:15PM.

Binh will be arriving on Friday at about 9PM, and is departing on Monday at 1:20PM.

The Shooters are arriving at 5:15PM on Friday and are departing on Sunday at 2PM.

Gabe has indicated that he'll be driving, so check with him throughout the day to see when he thinks he might be arriving. Last year, if you'll recall, he rolled into town at about the same time Binh and I arrived at the airport and picked us up before we continued on to a night of debauchery and Binh falling asleep (and vomiting) in the bathtub.

Stephanie, Brian, and Dan will also be driving and are aiming for an 8pm arrival.

Jose is driving and will be getting to Vegas either really late Friday night or early Saturday morning. He's leaving early Monday "depending on how drunk we get Sunday night."

Mike is arriving at 8PM on Thursday night (bonus night for the Sugar Twins! what what!), and departing at 4:10PM on Monday.

I think this covers everyone! Oh, Mike's friend Ryan is getting in sometime around 5 on Friday...maybe he can meet up with the Shoots? Other than that, I think everyone is getting in at totally different times.

So you may have noticed...

Shooter has been added to the roster of STBE blog contributors...and clearly, it was a slow day at the office. You can tell he's a relative newbie to the STBE scene because he keeps suggesting things that cost money. He'll figure it out.

In the meantime, I hope you've been enjoying his posts as much as I have!

Who knows, maybe we'll get drunk and try to haggle our way into one of these shows for next to nothing!

stbe.org updated

I found a few more happy hours and updates some of the ones that were already listed to the drinkies page, and added a couple of links to the linkies page.

Sadly, in the research I've been doing over the weekend, I have yet to find a midget revue. Don't worry, the search hasn't ended!

See you soon!

Oh, and check the post below to see when people are arriving. I have yet to get Mike's information, but when I do, I'll post it.