Wandering Money Pig - A journey of early retirement and FIRE (financial independence retire early)

  Toby being happy (June 2021) Abraham Lincoln:  “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” As I write this post on a beautiful sunny and a warm sunny afternoon in June, I’m pondering why someone is happy or unhappy.  I got thinking of this important question that humans have been asking themselves over the millennia thanks to couple of very disparate things that happened on the same day. On that same day, we went shopping for food at Walmart on a very busy Saturday.  As we were checking out, we got the sense our cashier wasn’t having a good day.   She ignored our greeting for the most part, and she was curt in her reply of our parting greeting of “have a nice day.”  She replied with a “yeah” to our greeting, which I thought was rude and inappropriate.  It was bad manners and bad attitude all the way around… It immediately got me thinking right then and there why she was so unhappy that instance.  Was it the fact that she’s...

  Laughlin, NV During my wife and myself’s planning phase of our epic 2 1/2 month long cross country road trip going from North Carolina to Southern California, we had penciled in a stop in Laughlin, Nevada .  Laughlin, was always a fascinating destination for us to explore, as it sits right on the mighty Colorado River , offering several casinos and plenty of outdoor activities.   It is a place I had admired from afar, as the marketing photos and brochures always made the place look absolutely beautiful, especially with blue/turquoise waters of the Colorado River standing out like a prima donna.  Combined that with the always happening casino resorts hugging the river and providing a neat walkway along the river, it certainly had a massive appeal for someone who grew up in New York City.   Just about 2 weeks prior to our what would be our second trip to  Laughlin,  Nevada, my wife and I had already stayed at the Avi Resort in the same city.  E...

  View from Delano Hotel, Las Vegas  When most people think about visiting Las Vegas, Delano Hotel may not be the first hotel that comes to mind.  It isn’t well known like the Bellagio, Caesar’s Palace , or the Venetian , possibly because Delano used to be called “ the Hotel ”, which confused lots of people, including myself. When I visited Las Vegas for the first time back in 2001, I visited Mandalay Bay , specifically, to eat dinner at  House of Blues .  I had no idea there even was “ the Hotel ”, which was/is connected to Mandalay Bay and was/is part of the same huge resort complex.   When it came time to book our 4 night stay in Las Vegas again during our epic 2 1/2 month long cross country road trip, we decided to book it at Delano.   We wanted to stay at some of the top rated hotels owned by MGM Resorts, and rooms looked absolutely stunning with a separate living area and a bedroom with 1 1/2 bathrooms!  After staying at motels/hotels for...