Give Me Back My Five Bucks

WARNING: New Rule with Swagbucks!

2009-11-06T09:04:00.005-08:00

This is really really bad news. Apparently Swagbucks is only letting you redeem 5 (!!!) prizes PER MONTH now (when I think before, it might have been 2 prizes per day - at least that was my cap whenever I tried to redeem my SBs for more than 2 Amazon gift cards).

Thankfully I've been redeeming my Swagbucks for Amazon.ca gift cards every time I hit that 45 SB mark because I knew that if something like this were to happen (or if Swagbucks went under), I'd still have those gift card codes to use.

But I think it's really crappy and a sneaky thing to do, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I know a lot of people were saving their Swagbucks up to buy presents.

This news definitely makes Swagbucks less appealing, because if I can only redeem 5 Amazon gift cards per month, but I earn significantly more Swagbucks than that per month, I'm never going to be able to cash out. Unless I start to redeem my SBs for different things that they offer - but since Amazon cards are the most value for your SBs, it doesn't make sense to.

What do you think about this news?

(news and picture via Moms By Heart)

Happy Friday!

2009-11-06T08:28:00.003-08:00

Let me just say that it was really hard to pull myself off of the J.Crew website this morning. An extra 20% off sale items & free shipping!? Yes, please! But alas, it's not in my November budget. A friend and I are planning a trip to the outlet mall maybe in January, so I can't really justify buying clothing until then. Especially because J and I are traveling in December and January, AND Christmas is just around the corner.

Last night it was stormy and pouring rain. So after dinner and the hockey game, J and I fully wrapped ourselves in our rain gear, and went out walking for around an hour. It was great, except I wished it were raining harder! :) We've been walking more lately, which I'm happy about. It gives us something fun and casual to do together (for free), and I really dislike just bumming around the house after work every single day.

Tonight we're going out to our favourite Chinese restaurant for dinner (should be around $30-35 after tax/tip), and then probably watch movies or play board games when we get home.

Switched over auto insurance

2009-11-05T15:36:00.004-08:00

Okay well after it was all said and done, I only ended up saving $213.02 on my annual insurance. Which is still a huge amount, but it's not as much as the online quote I got yesterday. Part of it is because they don't have 2010 vehicles updated online yet, so when I called customer service they said just to pick the 2009 model "because it would be the same discount." HA! Wrong.

That's okay though. If J insures his car through CDI when it comes due (in 2 weeks), I'll save another $100 on my insurance. Not bad! Although I think it will be cheaper for him to go through ICBC since it's an older car. But we can always do the online quote to see. And next year I should be able to get an even bigger discount.

Now tomorrow I have to go in and cancel my extended ICBC coverage because they don't let you do that over the phone (lame).

Love this weather...

2009-11-05T10:21:00.001-08:00

I love this time of year. Dark and stormy outside. Makes me want to just cuddle up on the couch and watch movies. Or take a long walk in the rain. :)

This weekend I'm hoping we go out hiking (Sunday is supposed to be the better of the 2 days) and rock climbing. I also really want to take my car out for a long-ish drive. Maybe up to Whistler on the holiday next Wednesday. It would be cool to do the Sea-to-Sky highway and see how Whistler is looking, so close to the Olympics.

Lamebook >> Totally Over!

2009-11-04T14:08:00.003-08:00

Hahahaha fake or not, that's just priceless.

via Lamebook.

Fun times with auto insurance quotes

2009-11-04T12:45:00.005-08:00

Wow I am shocked at the range of auto insurance quotes I got. In BC you must get basic insurance with ICBC. Any other extended coverage can be with a private insurance company.

What I have now:
ICBC - $1,942 ($883 for basic + $1,059 for extended)

Quotes:
Coast Capital - $848 (total with basic = $1,731)
CDIDirect - $691 (total with basic = $1,574)

If I go with CDIDirect, that's a HUGE savings of $367 per year (or over $30/month)! It kind of makes me wonder if I could have been saving on insurance costs all these years with my other cars and my scooter.

I'm going to do a bit more research tonight and then tomorrow I will most likely switch over my extended coverage to CDIDirect. w00t!

Closer to getting the GPS

2009-11-04T10:42:00.002-08:00

So the GPS that I’ve been eyeing on Amazon has gone up in price (from $229.99 to $249.99), but I am certain that it will come down again before Christmas. Maybe even a lower price. I currently have $142.65 in Amazon gift cards (from Swagbucks), so I’m about halfway there!! Even if I don’t earn another Swagbuck, the price of the unit right now with my gift cards is still cheaper than getting it through any other site.

I will re-evaluate my gift card situation closer to the end of the month. I'm earning at a slower rate now that a lot of my referrals have capped out at 100 Swagbucks.

To Do List

2009-11-04T09:31:00.003-08:00

Weekly To Do List:

~~Get 2 quotes for car insurance. Right now I want to call Coast Capital, but I'm not sure who else I should call. Any suggestions?~~
Call to find out the best way to pay off LASIK eye surgery. Still going to wait until around the end of December to actually pay it off.
Call MSP to change address. I changed my address via the website but the bills are still going to my parents house. I tried to call yesterday but I was put on hold for over 20 minutes and then couldn't wait any longer because my lunch was over.
Buy mom’s Christmas present. Dad and sister will pay me back.
Pay the $20 I owe for our hockey pool ($10 each). Whoops I should have paid that a month ago.
Try to find a nice thick black belt on Etsy. Under $20!
Figure out how the Bluetooth works in the car. If it doesn’t work properly, call the dealership.

The Lunch Challenge - Week #4

2009-11-03T12:43:00.004-08:00

Well this is Week #4 of my lunch challenge and things are going well. We're going grocery shopping tonight, and this week I've decided to make an egg salad sandwich (Wednesday), tuna salad sandwich (Thursday) and hummus & pita (Friday). It will be a nice change after a week straight of soup (I had other choices, but a hot bowl of soup is so comforting on cold, miserable days).

Over the weekend my sister gave me my belated birthday present - a Calgary Flames sweatshirt (yes, I am obsessed) and a box of fresh, handmade chocolate (our friend owns and operates an organic chocolate factory). This means pieces of fresh, chewy caramel, assorted truffles, peanut butter cups, chocolate caramel nut bars, etc. I'm in heaven. Everything is so good. *DROOL* J devoured the peanut butter cups for breakfast this morning, and I wish I had brought more than one piece with me to work. It will be a sad day when the box is empty. Which, not gonna lie, will probably be tonight.

New jersey to add to the collection

2009-11-03T08:22:00.005-08:00

I am one lucky girl. Last night J came home from his Montreal/Toronto trip, and he brought me back a retro Calgary Flames (Jarome Iginla) jersey! :) It was an early anniversary present. I've been wanting one since the beginning of the season, but couldn't bring myself to spend the money. My sister was going to buy one for my birthday, but couldn't find them anywhere!

Now I'm all set for the game in January (and for us to hoist the Stanley Cup later on this year). Go Flames, go!

October 2009 Goals: My Review

2009-11-03T06:50:00.001-08:00

Well, here's how I did for October. Not too bad, considering I went to the island twice (once to Tofino for the long weekend and ended up buying more than necessary, and this past weekend back to my home town). I also paid $175 for car insurance and bought 6 months worth of BC instead of my regular 3 months (to avoid another dispensing fee).

October Goals:

Work out at least 3x/week on my Wii. FAIL! Epic fail. I only worked out 2 or 3 times all month.

Go for a hike. CHECK! We only went for 2.5 hours, but we also went for 2 long walks.

Go rock climbing 2-3 times. FAIL! We only went out once.

Get down to 130 lbs. FAIL! I'm still at 132-133 lbs. Which is amazing considering I haven't really been working out AND I ate like complete crap when we were in Tofino.

Plan Whistler ski weekend. FAIL! We haven't been able to plan this because we didn't know what J's weekend commitment schedule was. Now that we know it, we can pick a date and book the hotel.

Plan a weekend to go home. CHECK! I went home this last weekend and it was so much fun.

$450 into Retirement Portfolio. CHECK! I ended up saving $675. :)

$300 into Savings Fund. FAIL! Well I emptied out my Travel Fund, so technically I put $1,164. But without taking into consideration already saved money, I only put in $164. So I consider that a fail.

$150 into Emergency Fund. CHECK! Technically I put in $1,250 but $1,000 of that was already saved money from my Travel Fund, so I actually saved $250.

$200 into Travel Fund. FAIL! I kind of re-distributed my monies this month, and now have a goal of $3,000 for this Fund. That being said, I only saved $50.

Christmas presents...

2009-11-02T12:04:00.003-08:00

So it was a FAIL with Ticketmaster. I logged in right at 9am and clicked for 2 tickets of any price point, and it came back with none available. Boo urns! I was really hoping just to pay face value for tickets, but I suppose it’s a pretty big game so a lot of people will be wanting to go. And all games in Calgary sell out.

I ended up buying 2 tickets on Stubhub for $115 US each, or $264.95 US after all taxes and fees. J will pay me back for half of the cost, which will end up being around $145 CAD after exchange rate. And that’s that for our Christmas present to each other! :) So easy.

They’re not the greatest tickets, but they’re 1st row in the 3rd level so even though we’ll be quite high up from the ice, at least we’ll have an unobstructed view. And they were by far, the best valued tickets considering the cheapest 2nd level tickets were at least $60 more per ticket.

Christmas Presents:

J - hockey tickets while we're in Calgary for our trip in January. Budget: $145.

Sister - not sure. Was thinking about a sisters trip to the spa? But that's really expensive. Will have to be creative. Am thinking of scouring Etsy for something fun and kooky and original. Budget: $150.

Mom - kayaking day trip. My mom, sister and dad are all going in to give my mom a kayaking day trip for 2 (including catered lunch), since she LOVED the one we got her last year. Although, we can't afford an overnight trip, so a day trip will have to do. The cost is $399 + tax. My dad is pitching in $200, so my sister and I will each pay around $100. Budget: $100.

Dad - no clue. Something eletronic-y. Budget: $75.

J's parents - I know his mom really liked this silk tea cozy from Smoking Lily (and has been eyeing it for a long time), but it's pretty pricey and I'm not sure how his dad would benefit from it? I'd like to bake them something but his mom is obsessed with baking, especially around Christmas time, so it probably wouldn't be a good option. Budget: $50.

J's brother's family (4 people) - I was thinking of baking a pumpkin pie, and also buying some chocolates. That way I don't have to buy 4 individual gifts. My only concern is how I'd get the pie safely there on the plane. Probably have to bring it as a carry-on when we visit in January. And we might not have a stove by then, so if that's the case then this idea is out the window. Budget: $40.

Miscellaneous - I like buying little boxes of handmade chocolates for when I visit people during the holidays - like friends, J's grandparents, and my relatives. If we have a stove in time, I might bake cookies instead. Will be much cheaper. Budget: $50.

TOTAL = $600

Typical Christmas costs. I spent a lot more last year on presents and I'm confident that I can stay within my budget this year. Especially if I can bake presents this year - I've got 4 go-to recipes that I love to make - pumpkin pie, apple pie, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and maccha shortbread cookies.

Do you own a GPS unit?

2009-11-02T09:53:00.005-08:00

So I'm looking to buy a GPS unit for my car. We have a hand held one for when we go hiking, but that's it.

Amazon.ca is selling the one that I'm interested in, the Garmin nüvi 265WT, for $229.99. I want to use my Swagbucks to get it, and I currently have around $135 in Amazon giftcards via Swagbucks. Makes me kind of wish I hadn't used all those Swagbucks to buy travel books, but that's neither here nor there. I'll use then eventually.

I'm going to wait until closer to Christmas - because then maybe the price will have dropped again (list price was $402.37), and I will have a chance to collect more Swagbucks. Ideally I'd like to pay for the entire thing in Swagbucks, but that might not be realistic depending on how many I can earn. I also should have $100 coming to me from Google Adsense, which would fully make up the rest of the cost of the GPS but I'd kind of like to earmark that money for maintaining this blog should I choose to move it over to Wordpress.

Do you use a GPS unit? If so, which one do you have, and do you recommend it?

If you haven't already signed up for Swagbucks, please consider using my referral code! :)

K vs. Ticketmaster

2009-11-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I had a great visit home. I ate yummy home cooked food, hung out with friends and family, caught a hockey game, and just relaxed. Oh, and I ate a ridiculous amount of Halloween chocolate.

Today I'm going to try to buy Flames/Penguins tickets at face value via Ticketmaster (we're going to Calgary in January to visit his family and we scheduled the trip around this particular game). They go on sale to the public today, so if I'm not able to get a pair (Flames games always sell out), I'm going to have to resort to paying StubHub prices, which are around $150-175/ticket. Which is expensive, but not the most we've ever paid for hockey tickets. Because we're both trying hard to save money, these hockey tickets in particular are going to be our Christmas present to each other.

Cost of prescriptions

2009-10-30T13:21:00.004-07:00

For the most part, not having extended health benefits through my work isn't that big of a deal. It would definitely be nice, but I'm young and in good health. I've never been away sick from work for more than 2 days, and I don't have any medical problems.

It just hurts when I have to renew my BC prescription. Instead of my normal 3-month supply, I just bought out my entire 6-month prescription to avoid another $8.60 dispensing fee. Total damage? $84.11. Yuck. Although, I suppose $84.11 every 6 months is nothing compared to, you know, how much a baby costs. :)

I budgeted $50 for my prescription this month, so clearly I'm going to go over that amount. Which I'm okay with, because I'm set for the next 6 months instead of the next 3.

Oh, and another bummer for not having extended benefits through work? I have to pay MSP ($54/month). So boo to that.

Home for the weekend

2009-10-30T09:21:00.003-07:00

Hooray! Today is pay day and Friday. It's been a long week, and I'm excited to go home and see my family (and for a belated birthday dinner). Meanwhile J is off to Montreal/Toronto until Monday night on an NHL extravaganza with his brother - Habs/Leafs game and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Jealous! (Although, not so jealous of the HHoF - I went there last year and it was just okay.)

Here are my weekend expenses:

Friday night

$0 - Nothing planned. Maybe going to see a concert (free). But probably not. I won't get home from the ferries until around 10pm, and I'd like to spend time with my mom.

Saturday

$5 - coffee with a friend.
$0 - watch 1 or 2 field hockey games.
$0 - dinner with family.
$0 - stuff face with Halloween chocolates & watch movies. Possibility of someone convincing me of going to the Halloween party, but highly unlikely I'll go.

Sunday

$15 - lunch with a friend.
$0 - hockey game with a friend - tickets were comped (otherwise I would have paid $25).
$0 - play Wii with sister.

So because my weekend costs are so low, I might bring my car across. I have a ton of things to bring across too, including bulky luggage (that I borrowed for the Alaska trip). It will depend on ferry traffic once I start to drive out that way.

myCELLmyTERMS.com coming to BC soon!

2009-10-29T08:02:00.003-07:00

For those who are curious about myCELLmyTERMS.com, I got this e-mail yesterday:

We would firstly like to thank everyone for their support. As you are all aware we secured a deal with the Dragons for myCELLmyTERMS. We are currently in BETA in Ontario and we are expanding rapidly across Canada. Look for us in Alberta, November 15th, British Columbia by November 30th, and in Quebec and Eastern Canada by mid December. We are constantly revising and improving our site to get the best cell phone deals for our customers. Many of you have already created a proposal for wireless service. If you receive an offer that is not what you are looking for, you can use our Counter Offer feature to let the selected dealer know that you are looking for something more.

We created this Free online service for Canadians so that WE can have a voice in this Industry. We need everyone's help to make the myCELLmyTERMS movement effective. The more people using our system, the louder our voice is. We will make the Wireless Carriers hear us! Join our ever growing community and spread the word.

myCELLmyTERMS The Best Cell Phone Deal is..... Whatever You Choose!

Well that's very exciting to know that British Columbians should have access to this website by the end of November! My current contract doesn't expire until next year, so I won't be able to utilize the service until then. But hopefully some of you out there will. :)

K & J enter the civilized world

2009-10-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that J has informed me he is going to install a stove in our place now that we're here for a while. A STOVE! Finally!!! I can't wait until we can say goodbye to that skillet and cook up some real food.

He says that we'll have it by the New Year, since he has to save up to buy the stove and then figure out the venting (that's why we currently don't have a stove - no venting for one). But the point is that the wheels are in motion. They're turning! Pretty soon I can unbox all of my pots and pans and make stews during the winter, and cook proper dinners and bake to my little heart's content!

November 2009 Monthly Goals

2009-10-29T06:39:00.001-07:00

Has everybody have their fill of drama from yesterday's posts? Yes? Okay, moving on ... :)

Here is my November budget and goals. The first one with my new car purchase. I net about $2900/month, so as you can see from the spreadsheet below, I have the potential to save $1,300. Not too shabby!

Note:

Car insurance - My car insurance is fully with ICBC at the moment. My plan is to drop down to basic coverage with ICBC and go with a private company for everything else. I just need to do more research and get quotes. I've heard that Coast Capital is great, so I'm going to give them a call.

Travel - I don't plan on traveling next month, but there's $50 to play with if I decide to take a trip home, or if we decide to go hiking for a weekend.

Clothing - I'd like to buy a thick black belt. I've been looking for one for a few months, but haven't had any luck. I think I will try thrift and consignment stores in my hometown to see what options are there.

November Goals:

Work out at least 3x/week on my Wii. Ideally I'll work out every weekday morning at 6am. But realistically, I'm aiming for 3 days.

Go for a hike. At least a day hike. J says he might be booked up for 2 weekends with work-related things, so timing is tough.

Go rock climbing 2-3 times. We'll end up going more often during ski season, when we go skiing for a few hours, then climb for an hour right afterward. But until then, it's hard to get someone motivated to go. :)

Plan Whistler ski weekend. We need to book by the 3rd week of November to get a really cheap deal for April. We're inviting a few other couples.

Try something new. I'd like to try out a drop-in yoga class, or drop-in pottery, or floor hockey ... or some sort of fun activity. At rec centres, drop-in prices are usually less than $10. I don't want to sign up for on going classes because I already have a climbing and skiing membership, so drop-in is the best situation.

$450 into Retirement Portfolio. Divided into RRSPs and TFSA.

$100 into Emergency Fund. Getting closer to $5k!

$200 into Savings Fund.

$50 into Travel Fund. We've already paid for our next 2 trips - Vegas in December and Calgary in January. I have $1,000+ in my account right now, but I'd like to keep growing it instead of dipping into it for my spending money.

$50 into Car Fund. I don't have to worry about maintenance at all, but I'd like to start saving for next year's car insurance.

Thinking positively...

2009-10-28T22:26:00.003-07:00

The up side to this recent flurry of action on my blog is that my site stats have more than doubled my previous day's totals. So, woo hoo! :)

Dear GMBMFB Readers

2009-10-28T12:00:00.004-07:00

A lot of people have been leaving comments about how my blog has shifted focus, how I’m spending too much, how I’m boring now, how I have a shopping problem (?), how I’m just “a regular 9-to-5 drone,” and how I’m not doing the things I was doing two years ago, or even last year. Situations change, people change, and I have to adapt.

So when I started this blog, I was in debt. Then I got out of it. Then I lost my job. Then found a new job and moved to Vancouver. Then I got a better job. All while planning this trip of a lifetime which is not going to happen next year as planned. I've had a lot of exciting things happen to me over the past few years. And now that my situation has changed, yeah I’ve purchased a new car that I’m really happy about. If you don’t like it, too bad. I’m working at a job, trying to earn money on the side, trying to get the best deals with everything that I buy, and saving for new goals – retirement, travel, and hopefully in the next 3-5 years we’ll have enough saved up for a place of our own.

Personal finance is different for everyone. That’s why it’s called ‘personal’ finance. We all have to make decisions that we think are best for our lives and our situation. That includes spending and saving on a big and on a small scale. I’m not going to waste time justifying my decisions and my life to those people who don’t like/agree with what I’m doing. I’ve blogged about perception so many times and have shown that even though I may be talking a lot about spending money, I’m still saving in the background.

I certainly appreciate all comments that I get, and if I lose readers along the way because I’m not going traveling anymore, or because I’m boring or because I work a regular job, or because they think I'm a shopaholic, or because I’ve changed my goals because my life has changed, unfortunately that’s something I can’t control. I’m not out to win any popularity contests – I’m out to do what’s best for my life, and I’m here to blog about it. What you see is what you get.

That's all. :)
Krystal.

Trimming down my cell phone bill

2009-10-27T13:22:00.003-07:00

Ever since I moved in with J, I've used my cell phone less. I just analyzed my last 4 months of usage, and I'm averaging less than 150 minutes per month - TOTAL. I use my office line to make calls during the day or e-mail friends ... and during the weekends/evenings I'm usually with J.

I currently pay $18/month for my cell phone (200 anytime minutes + unlimited weekends starting at 6pm), plus $5 for unlimited evenings (starting at 6pm) and $6 for 125 sent text messages. After all fees and crap, my bill comes to around $42. Well, I could eliminate $5 just by getting rid of unlimited evenings. And as for text messaging - well I use about 60-70 text messages/month. The $3 plan comes with 60, and the $6 plan comes with 125. So I'm kind of in the middle. I don't want to go lower with text messaging b/c it's too expensive if some months I end up going over.

So here's my dilemma. Should I pay the $5/month for the security that if I did ever go over my minutes, I'd have that cushion? Or do I get rid of my cushion and go bare bones. Half of me is saying, it's only $5. That's a small price to pay for the security of never going over my minutes. But the other half of me is saying that I never go over my minutes, so that $5 is better off with me.

My new car...

2009-10-27T07:59:00.008-07:00

So, last night I bought a new car - a 2010 Suzuki SX4 AWD. I pulled the Car Cost Canada report on the car (which cost me about $40), but in the end because of that report, I got over $1,000 off the price of the vehicle - and there was only a $1,500 difference between the wholesale price and the MSRP. Whether that wholesale price is entirely true or not, I don't know - but that was what was in the report, and I'm happy with the negotiating I did.

The price of the car came to around $25k, but after taxes, freight, PDI, etc. it was closer to $30k. I put down $2,000 and my bi-weekly payments for 48 months at 0% interest will be about $265. Which I am comfortable with. I could have lowered my bi-weekly payments and gone with a 60 or 72 month term, but I know I can pay off the car in 4 years or less (no penalty for paying off the loan faster).

In terms of the car that I chose, it was between a fully loaded SX4 or a base model Subaru Impreza (which was still more expensive than the loaded SX4). And after researching both models extensively and talking to people about both cars, I decided to go with the SX4 for a bunch of different reasons. It has more ground clearance, better fuel economy, 2WD and 4WD locking capability, higher driving position, and it looks 100% nicer than the Impreza.

Anyway, even though it was a lot of money for the car and I'll be making payments for a few years now, I'm really happy with my decision. We'll go back to the dealership today after work to pick it up. :)

The Lunch Challenge - Week #3

2009-10-27T07:51:00.004-07:00

So I'm into Week #3 of bringing my lunch to work, and it's going well. I sometimes have the urge to just go out and grab Subway or a burger or something, but it passes. And it gets easier. Still, it's sometimes hard when most people in the office go out to buy their lunch every day.

Right now, I'm eating a piece of fruit in the morning (around 11am), lunch around 1:30pm, and another piece of fruit and a granola bar around 3:30pm. Then I get hungry again around 5:30-6pm, but that's about when we have dinner anyway.

I also used to get french vanillas from Tim Horton's or from the 7-Eleven, but I don't anymore. Along with not going out for lunch, I'm also not buying snacks either. No matter how delicious they are, the calories in those drinks are absolutely outrageous. The only time I do get them is if we're grabbing breakfast at Tim's super early in the morning before we start a long hike. That way, I can justify it. I'm consuming a lot of calories for breakfast which I don't normally do, but I'll be burning a million times more than that over the weekend. :)

This and that over the weekend

2009-10-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well we didn't end up going hiking this weekend. But, we did go on a 2.5 hr. walk on Saturday (beautiful day), and a 2.5 hr. hike yesterday (rainy and miserable). So all was not lost. I would have really liked to climb another mountain, but hopefully we'll have a chance next month to go.

We also went to Costco for the first time in months to pick up some much needed bulk items: chicken breasts, cheese, romaine lettuce, green tea, granola bars, cereal, some personal items, etc. All in all, it came to $95. Then our weekly grocery shopping only came to $41 at Superstore. $120-140 is what we usually spend on groceries combined each week, so even with a huge Costco trip, we still ended up relatively on budget.

Over the next 3 pay cheques, I want to set aside some money so that I will have about $300 spending money for our Vegas trip at the beginning of December. If we each bring $300 that should be more than enough since we can always get 2-for-1 buffet coupons for virtually anywhere down there. Plus, we'll only be there for 2.5 days/2 nights - and neither of us are really into shows. But we are going to see the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers play a game (tickets already purchased) so that should be exciting. We're also contemplating a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam (special offer via Travelzoo).