Next weekend, myself and 14 other individuals will be getting on a plane and heading to the other half of the nation to Las Vegas, Nevada. What awaits us, only time will tell. The breakdown is 3 females and 12 males. This cast of characters is nearly as random as some of the games half of us will be wagering money on. In the same respect, so are a number of things the group plans to do. From seeing Mos Def perform to potentially seeing the Queen: We Will Rock You Show. For some this will be their first venture to the self-styled city of sin, for others its just another visit and tick mark on their calendar of life.
Group dynamics will most likely play a huge role in the stories to be repeated (and not repeated) from the coming weekend. Fifteen people will not all be going to the same place for the same purpose. At some point at the very beginning of the trip, the group will split into smaller groups and pursue their own goals. One group will, undoubtedly be spending most of the weekend in the casinos tyring to pay for their flight home. Another group will make the most of each day, taking in sights such as the Bellagio water show, and a number of the casino exclusive shows. A third group that may comprise members of the other two, will be taking it easy and gearing up for the legendary night life that pulses through the city after dark.

A trip rife with potential for fun and entertainment to be sure.

And yet for whatever reason I cannot make myself excited for this trip. I have absolutely no expectations from this trip and part of me has no desire to even bother going. It even took months of convincing by the others to get me to agree to go. I’m not sure if its some factor of the group dynamic that has me skeptical or something else that is triggering my apathy, but it has become apparent my presence will have a large impact on the outcome of the trip…or so everyone else believes. One thought that had occured to me was that, it is perhaps, less exciting to pursue the interests of others when your own lie elsewhere.

Regardless, I’ll be getting on the plane on Friday after work and travel across the country. I’ll have a good time and enjoy the weekend. Maybe I’ll even get a few pictures of Ronnie enjoying himself too.

Last night, I went over to my parents house after work. I knew my room would most likely flood, so I checked in on it first and it wasn’t too bad. Of course, it got much worse, but thankfully I wasn’t there to worry about it. Instead, I engaged in thoughtful analysis of health and dental plans with my father after an excellent home cooked meal from my mom.

You see, when we transitioned to this new company, I fell through every crack possible because I was still technically contract when we were bought out. So one of the cracks I fell through was the election of my new benefits. This unfortunate circumstance left me with no dental coverage and the most minimal health plan possible.

One of the things I picked up from this engaging session of insurance comparison were the overbearing and controlling nature of HMO’s. While they are a little cheaper, they totally make all the decisions for you and you have little say in most of the matters. That was the informative part of this post.

After all was said and done I felt like we carefully weighed every option. I now have dental and health insurance.

It felt like I was picking a pokemon to fight some other pokemon or something. Water is good against fire. Fire is good against wood. Wood is good against water. sort of.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Plus PPO, I choose you!