This DCBLOG Post & Its Accompanying YouTube Series is Dedicated in Loving Memory of My Late Dad Mariano, Who Was with Me on This 2021 Vegas Trip That is Being Documented on Here, and Who Passed Away the Following Summer After a Brave Battle with Brain Cancer.
A #DCBLOG SPECIAL
BY DC CUEVA
ESTIMATED READING TIME: 34 mins.
Sports and MTV Reality shows are among my four biggest passions right now: a third is Music -- and proof of my love of that comes in another of my traditions before something big happens to me. There, I got to do something you all probably got to do when Thanksgiving comes around and just before Christmas: going on a binge-buying fest -- but not for gifts for loved ones. For there, I spent money on buying legal online music to compile a vacation playlist... for that it led into the fourth & newest member of this quartet of what I'm into the most: everything that's related to Las Vegas.
Vegas has grown from just being a small vacation town to now being in the big time, and where (as I've written here before) it has also grown in stature to me on a personal level. I first got to go there as a kid on my summer vacation back in 1994... and obviously there wasn't much to do there other than roam through the Circus Circus midway. But it was in 2007 and well after I had turned adult age that I truly got to experience Sin City for the first time... and ever since, it has almost become a bit of a personal Super Bowl to me: the single biggest occasion that I have looked forward the most almost every year for the past decade & a half.
To me, the vacations I take to Southern Nevada aren't just a simple little trip, it also feels very much like an event. Ten previous times I have gotten to venture on either that 90-minute flight or that 9-hour drive from the Bay Area to Las Vegas, and each of them have been special. I've gotten to experience a lot over the thirty-six total days of my trips over the last quarter-century, from going to the biggest hotels in town to spending quality time with family and relatives as we have also experienced the evolution of this city into a major metropolis that brings millions of people the world over to the desert. And the addition of professional sports to the town has only fueled that growth, even with many challenges including the decreased size of Lake Mead on the outskirts of town as of late.
So, to think that there would be an eleventh edition of DC VEGAS would not have been possible back during the heat of last summer and during a time where we have been reminded many times to be very cautious during this time. But as it turns out, the return of yours truly to my favorite city during a global pandemic turned out to be just as memorable as the ten others that came before it. And also, there was something just as poignant that came out of it that proved another point that's just as important.
A month out from my birthday last year (mid-October to be exact), my parents began casually pitching an idea about us traveling out to Vegas to take advantage of comps that they have compiled from hotels that they go to a lot during these trips. My mom and dad did a lot of traveling for many years, as they have ventured on trips and cruises to the Caribbean, Europe, and the list goes on... but obviously, we have stayed home during this time -- and where our only trips other than daily errands have been to visit my sister & her family out in Central California on certain weekends.
To be honest, I didn't really take seriously that we would go on a trip like this, especially considering how we were still in a pandemic and how we still have to be totally aware of what is going on health-wise. But need not worry: all of us in my family did get our immunity shots over the summer to get that most important of all those requirements out of the way without any fuss being made about it, just as those protests raged on over that testy issue and those variants that have emerged since. But in addition, I also saved up much of what those in our capital sent me during this time, plus most of my $2,000 slot hand-pay from Reno in 2019, to spend whatever I can and as reasonably to fit my budget.
In the end, we made those plane and hotel reservations for the third week of November -- a week after my birthday, and where I thought it would be just me and my dad, considering that we were celebrating both of our birthdays there -- me a little bit late and him a week before his. But as it turns out, my mom was also going along with my cousin Janice (who was with me for my favorite of all these Vegas trips in 2010) and our uncle who hasn't been to Vegas before -- and where he told me that he was just going for the vacation aspect of it and not to gamble much... he has someone in common in that predicament in not spending that much on the casino floors.
Before every vacation, I spend a good amount of whatever I have in my piggybank to stock up on what I need for these trips. Considering that Vegas' November weather is much cooler than it is in summer, I didn't buy that many clothes this time around -- thus, no shorts in my luggage as it would normally be the case... and there wasn't much space in my check-in luggage to pack in an extra pair of shoes, which I would usually have to handle the many miles' worth of walking during the trip. I even bought myself a facemask from that MTV Challenge -- even though the goal of getting to get to meet the host of that show, TJ Lavin, wasn't possible as he was filming the second All-Stars season out of town.
As seen above, I got to add plenty of new songs to my playlist and bought my first pair of wireless plugs... and yes, even in a Spotify age, I still buy my music piecemeal and still divide that load among several iPods just to make sure that I didn't have to worry much about using up my data for all that music being streamed. But most importantly, I have developed a hobby of becoming a good photographer and video producer over the past few years... and I invested in a gimbal to take steadier & fluid walkthrough videos -- and you got to see the results of that in my YouTube vlog series.
As those of you brave enough to travel during this time and the succeeding Thanksgiving weekend that came after this trip, for me it very much didn't make any difference as far as my airport experience goes: we just checked in our luggage, went through the security area and everything else pre-flight related... the only difference was just to make sure that you're masked up at all times -- and surprisingly, the process went much more easier than I first thought... and not just because it was Monday rather than Friday. There was no fuss made about it at all when we left the Bay Area on our flight to what's now Harry Reid International Airport... and the nice thing about the plane ride for me was that I had an entire aisle all to myself as I filmed our final descent into town -- and if you saw it in my vlogs, then you saw that money shot of the new Raiders Stadium as we touched down in the Silver State around 4:30PM.
For those who come to Vegas regularly, it is just a simple routine to walk from the plane to baggage claim and drive off to the hotel. But for one who waited exactly 750 days from when I left on my last trip two years ago before Halloween 2019 to during this twisted time, it felt almost like an eternity having to go through what we had to endure 2020 and 2021 in wondering when this eleventh trip here would come. But as we walked all the way from our gate at the end of the terminal through all the slots, shops, restaurants and the thousands of travelers a week before this Thanksgiving weekend, my mom told the rest in our party that this was something I have been waited for a long time... and when you go to Vegas just once a year, then it fits the bill of the big deal that it is to me.
So, as we took the taxi to our hotel and stared at the awe-inspiring sight of the Strip all lit up at night, I felt happy and relieved that this was happening for real... I never thought that this would happen so soon. And as we were on our way to where we stayed, all I could do was just look out the window and capture this return I had anticipated the moment I left town two years ago.
In 2005, a bold new resort opened on the northern end of the Strip with the goal of providing the highest-quality service to their guests, something its namesake founder had in mind when Steve Wynn opened The Mirage and changed the game forever in 1989, followed by him opening up the Bellagio a decade later. His new property became so popular, that Steve decided to build a second tower on the same land once occupied by the old Desert Inn... and in both instances, a TV commercial saw him sit right on top of the sign without any special effects.
So, it came as to be a surprise to me that we got to stay at Wynn Las Vegas for the first time in these trips. And when it's Wynn, it means a five-star hotel just as it we got to experience staying a couple times at Cosmo down the street -- albeit, at the sister property of the almost identical tower known as Encore. And to make it even more sweet, there's what every hotel room has to have in a view... and in only one previous trip did I get to stay in a hotel that had the one thing those who fly here aspire to have when it comes to the backdrop: a picturesque view of the most famous three-mile stretch in this country.
And when we walked into our room on the 26th floor, we were greeted with the drapes being opened to the best view I've ever had of the Strip in all my trips here... and if you check out other YouTube tours of a room at Encore that has that kind of view, then you'll know that I felt like a kid in a candy store when I walked in -- albeit with a little bit of the carpet being wet from having been cleaned beforehand to make sure that it is all cleaned and wiped down before we could enter the room for obvious reasons.
But ask my parents: whenever they go on these Vegas trips, they have taken advantage of that first night to spend all of that first night down on the gambling floor -- it's the same thing when they go on those overnight or all-day trips to the local casinos. And when I wake up on day 2 in town, I've found myself having the whole room to myself... and compared to them, I'm not an avid gambler in just doing some of that around what I am here for in the first place: the total Vegas experience. But even with that, their excessive gambling has prevented me from truly taking advantage of that, and those places I've wanted to go on these trips haven't yet come to fruition, and it's a good number of them that's yet to be checked off.
Whatever the case, there's nothing quite like the feeling about those first twenty-four hours in Vegas -- and it's most especially the case after everything that went on during the year from hell + nine months that proceeded this trip. We just spent our first night there in Wynn and Encore playing the slots, walking around the entire complex and just chilling out while also buying some pizza too... and if you saw the last minute of the Encore vlog, there is nothing more cringy than watching a drunk white guy deciding to do a little dance while in the piano lounge area. And this one, of course, caught it on camera.
Day 2 began with me waking up in having my dad's bed next to me being unoccupied by his all-night gambling spree, and the other one who was with me in our suite was my uncle. This was the first time that he had ever been to Vegas in his entire life -- and he's lived in the U.S. since the late '90s (he, like my parents, were born in the Philippines). He was also in the same predicament that I was in that we didn't really want to gamble that much and just preferred to be tourists for a change. When my parents came back from that all-nighter, my uncle and I ventured across the street for lunch at a chicken place at the Fashion Show Mall before we spent our Tuesday afternoon just strolling the Wynn once again before we walked back for some chill time and watched the Warriors before we went out for night 2.
Most of these DC Vegas trips in this run of annual vacations have had an event or moment that's meaningful: that epic 2010 trip with my cousins, meeting 'NSYNC's Joey Fatone during that September weekend, spotting Pete Rose and Mike Tyson, soaking in the atmosphere of a Manny Pacquiao fight, and even me actually getting lost on that first trip back many years ago... and obviously, there are so many others that we can't fit into this post. For this trip, there would be three notable moments that saw me put two checkmarks on places that I have never been to before in Vegas.
As noted in one of our posts on here in the past when it pertained to sports betting and various odds in an aspect of the sports world that has since become a hot commodity, there was a time where Las Vegas was on the outskirts of the big time. That is, in having no major professional team call the desert home... and it was for the obvious fact that Nevada has long allowed legal sports betting when everyone else wasn't allowed to do that, and the major leagues preferring to not want to have their games get rigged in any way by the bettors. But in a three year span, the Golden Knights and the Raiders took up residency on the Strip while Congress struck down that sports betting ban... and the Vegas sports scene increased rapidly beyond boxing, MMA, UNLV, golf and other assorted events.
One event that has called Southern Nevada its home for the entirety of its existence has been the World Series of Poker, having started back in 1970 and eventually grew to becoming the biggest event in a game played in millions of basements on a given weekend's late night. Two decades ago, poker reached new heights in popularity thanks to ESPN giving unprecedented TV exposure to the WSOP... and I was first exposed to poker when we had one of its various shows on our TV at a family Thanksgiving party. The game was rocked a decade ago by a devastating online fraud scandal, and tournament fields that peaked in the four digits were hit hard... but poker has survived and overcome that ordeal.
The World Series of Poker has traditionally taken place during the summertime, but the pandemic saw the 2020 event be moved almost entirely online. The 2021 event returned to being held in-person with contestants returning to the felt table, albeit that year's Series took place in the fall -- which, for a time, was when the final table took place after ESPN's edited TV coverage of the event aired during the NBA/NHL offseason. The sure luck of us taking a taxi ride down to where we stayed in 2019 at Gold Coast, and it being across the street from where the WSOP was holding its final year at the Rio off the Strip gave me reason to walk on over to film this walkthrough below. And in between all that, I even took my very first taste of a delicious Subway sandwich after I walked back to this locals hangout.
It opened to much fanfare in June 2021 as the first new Strip resort to open since The Cosmopolitan a decade earlier... and it marked the culmination of a 14-year journey for a property that began its life when the Stardust was torn down, followed by the failed Echelon project that began the same time as my annual trips in '07. It went through a recession, a lockdown and years of inactivity before former owners Boyd sold the site to Genting, and things got back on track. Not only does Resorts World takes on unique status as one of the few Strip hotels not operated by the two big wigs that are MGM Resorts and Caesars... it also signals the rebirth of the northern Strip as new properties are soon to open there.
Being one who's watched a lot of Vegas content on YouTube during this time at home -- daily vlogs, nightly live streams, slot videos and the like... I remember vividly having all the screens in my room being tuned to the various live streams on Resorts World's grand opening. If you're counting at home, that would be seven screens -- big screen TV, two tablets, laptop, two phones & a mini-projector -- at one moment tuned to the big soiree... and even a few got to crash the VIP party just before the doors were swung open to the rest of the public and the madding herd on that hot summer night.
When the tens of thousands who walked in back on June 25, 2021, they felt like they were walking into a new Disneyland attraction with the kind of awe only a young kiddo can have when he walks into that Mickey Mouse playground... only this one was as grand as you can get: a $4.3 billion playground with 3,500 rooms, a 117,000 sq. ft casino, a shopping mall and a large sphere at the front of the hotel's interior Strip entrance. Once we booked our flights for last year's trip, I had Resorts World at the top of my to-do list... and I felt fortunate that my dad told our taxi driver to drive us over to that new palace.
That night & morning, I notched a first: the first time that I did what my parents usually do on their first night and pulling an all-nighter from late night on one night to almost until sun-up the next morning. And I spent all of those six hours getting to walk around Resorts World filming six vlog videos and doing an Instagram live hit, while also running around with my cousin Janice taking selfies like (and my apologies if this is being brought up) we were folks in crashing into a certain place of power in a town that boast my initials, albeit in a more lighthearted tone than it was on that day earlier that year.
So, what could possibly equal or top this first of two full days in Vegas? Well, there's not one, but two stories that shall only be told when there is no visual proof to it... and that is where the classic tale of what happens in Vegas shouldn't exactly stay there, but be put out in the open on a blog site such as the one you're checking out right now. When we finally took that taxi ride out of Resorts World and back to Encore at just after 5AM Wednesday morning and took our elevator back to the hotel room where me, dad & uncle stayed in (my mom & cousin had their own room next door).
There not too far from the gentlemen's suite, we happened to have spotted a guy in his late 40's or early 50's having supposedly passed out after having too much to drink downstairs... just lying there on the ground snoring out loud and bothering some of those trying to sleep near where we stayed. It's hard to believe stories like this when you don't have to put it out there by filming or photographing that moment, or even putting it on social media... but now, I have another one of those stories to share. It would make you want to picture in your mind what I spotted with my own eyes without even trying to get out one of the three cameras I had in my cubby bag or my iPhone to capture it for everyone to see -- it would've been inappropriate to post on SnapChat or Instagram anyway but you get the picture.
But something else also took place on Day 2 of this Vegas trip... and all without me ever knowing about it until I found out about it while at lunchtime. Those who know me in the social sphere know that I love MTV's The Challenge... and where on a usual Wednesday I'd be a loyal viewer to weekly episodes of "the fifth major pro sport," but this would be a rare exception. For this other "Only in Vegas" story, news erupted in my social feeds that Nelson Thomas (a multiple season Challenge alum and who had also been on the channel's two dating shows Are You The One and Ex On The Beach, which I also cover on this site) had reportedly gotten into a fight at Aria down the street with a man who he was stalking over his wife... and the next day Nelly chose to go all-in on the GOAT of American red-top tabloids TMZ for putting that dirty laundry out in the open. A similar scenario also played out with Vegas vlogger The Other Me when he got arrested live on his YouTube stream.
Cosmo has certainly owned its reputation as the favorite hotel for many who travel to Vegas: its luxury, its many surprises and everything about it shouts pure Vegas to many. Its image is, well, not exactly as squeaky clean to others if you ask a couple Vegas vloggers about their past experiences there... and with it losing its independence in being sold out to MGM it might test that deserved reputation among those who love going there. But in every trip that I've made here since 2013 this purple palace has been a must-visit for us... and it was no exception on this eleventh DC Vegas excursion as we once again made our way through this playground. And as it was for the greatest of my eleven trips, we took a limo down the street.
Watch any video from a dedicated Vegas vlogger, and it's likely there's at least one video that has taken them to Cosmo: Pompsie grew to prominence because of a regrettable episode he had with security, while both The Big Jackpot and NG Slot choose this hotel for their Vegas live streams and group slot pulls. And Canada's own Vegas guru Say Hi to Matthew has gotten to spotlight the many hidden gems that give Cosmo its unique charm... and if you've seen his videos then you probably know about its many speakeasy bars, tucked away restaurants and what has become its most popular late night hangout spot.
It is because of Matt that I got to discover what has rapidly become the most popular pizzaria on the Strip: the place known as Secret Pizza -- and despite it having no sign to let people know where it is, it's no secret that lines form on a weekend late night to grab a pizza slice. I got to grab my first bite at Secret Pizza for lunch on Day 3 in Vegas... and it was just part of our latest scroll around Cosmo where, my cousin and I took the escalator up to what is The Marquee dayclub during the summer pool season. But in this case, it was transformed into an ice rink and an outdoor winter chalet... see the videos below.
Every Vegas trip in recent years has seen me take a moment to walk outside onto Las Vegas Boulevard and to soak in the atmosphere that is the most well-known three-mile stretch that there is out west. My parents joked to me one time that I actually know my way up and down the Strip more effectively than I do back in my own hometown, and with good measure: the Strat is at the very top of the northern half, Mandalay Bay is at the opposite end down south, and you can use public transport or a taxi to get around that easily. That is how good I am knowing the Strip than I do the rest of my family.
When Janice & I walked out onto the pedestrian walkway that links Cosmo to Aria, Planet Hollywood and the shops & restaurants across the street, I got to do what has become a must in my world. It would not be a DC Vegas trip without me taking the opportunity to do something I consider just as sacred tradition to me as anything I have: taking out a selfie stick from my small backpack, hooking a camera to a tripod socket, extending that stick to full height, pressing the timer button on the back of that camera and smiling after that 10-second countdown. Below is the latest Vegas DC Selfie...
The Strip has been where most of the attention is when it comes to the 40 million people who travel in from out of town for these trips. But for many, downtown has been the heartbeat of Vegas... it was where the city was first incorporated, where the first casino opened up, and where most photos from back in the day of this city portrayed the city center along Fremont Street. But the year after my first Vegas trip in 1995, city officials had to find a way to help bring people back to downtown: they closed Fremont to car traffic, erected a large electronic arched canopy above a newly-paved pedestrian walkway, and so began the Fremont Street Experience.
Since then, Las Vegas' downtown area has gone through its own renaissance as the FSE has become a venue for nightly concerts from local bands and big-name artists, the wide array of street performers who range from drummers to people who -- shall we say -- would be NSFW... and everything that makes Las Vegas Las Vegas... it has its own unique character that is so much different than the Strip -- and one that locals who call this place home have always flocked to often more the Strip. But even before 2021, it was hard to think that I had never officially been to downtown -- nor have my parents who have always been on or around the Strip. It all changed when we took that taxi from Cosmo to there.
Just as it was with Resorts World the previous night, when I walked onto Fremont Street I had the same type of feeling like I've walked Fantasyland for the first time... we pretty much get that feeling no matter how old we might get up there in age. Just looking over at the marquees of those like Binion's, the Fremont hotel, 4 Queens, Golden Nugget and the others that line this street, I came to the realization that a place like downtown is truly the center of this city in spite of the tens of thousands of hotel rooms that lay just a few miles away.
The canopy that stands many feet above the visitors is no doubt the largest and widest LED screen that there is in the world, which a few years ago received a modern upgrade to the high-definition era. There is music always blaring out at most hours of the day and night which gives this place that unique feel of being at a concert even when the live acts aren't playing until just before sundown. And from taking this walk up and down downtown, I saw the many sides of Fremont Street and then some: as you can see below, there was a critical mass-like wave of bicycles going along on their traditional Wednesday night stroll, plus a dancing DJ, drummers and the usual suspects that make Downtown something else.
It was totally chill for the rest of that third night and our fourth & final day... yes, I did get to watch a little bit of The MTV Challenge when I went upstairs back to my Encore room for a little rest break before I took in one of my many mini-sessions on the casino floor.
As you know, I prefer to play lowball on the slots compared to my parents who love to spend dollars upon dollars there... and unlike them I don't really lost nearly as much money as they do, but then again I don't really play the slots all that much. I am one who prefers to spend more on food and souvenirs than in the casino, and I bought the usual array of hats, t-shirts and other assorted souvenirs that I always get whenever we on these annual trips... so does the array of odds sheets from the race & sports books.
When we made our last departure to what is now Reid International Airport, something else also went down: once we checked our baggage and went through security to our gate, an incident took place where a passenger on our plane who came in from out east collapsed to the ground, and paramedics rushed to his rescue... delaying our boarding procedure by a half-hour as he was rushed to the hospital. But after it was taken care of, for the first time I got to film our departure as we left Vegas...
Las Vegas trips are something that I always anticipate, and always enjoy so very much. But as I write this recap some three-hundred & seventy days later I came to also appreciate something that is much bigger than any of the things I worship... and that would be family.
Originally when we booked this trip, I thought that it would be just me and my dad going... but as it turned out my mom also booked her tickets for this week. She also invited my cousin Janice along for this trip, and she was part of my 2010 trip -- which ranks at the top of all my Vegas trips for that it was just us, the cousins, who celebrated my cousin Jay's birthday. But as this trip wound down on that Thursday before Thanksgiving, there was not a single hint that this trip was going to be even more special, meaningful and poignant for a different reason.
And that would because of the haunting fact that this trip turned out to be the very last vacation (Vegas or otherwise) that my dad would ever go on. Mariano got to travel with me on seven of these Vegas trips, plus many other times where I wasn't able to come -- plus both of my trips to New York City. But four months after we flew out of town, we received the heartbreaking news that he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer that would take his life in July of this year. It was something that came totally out of nowhere... he was feeling healthy, and then in a half-year he was taken from us.
Mar loved being able to travel all around the world with my mom by his side, which brought them to so many different countries overseas and even up to Alaska. They also loved Vegas as much as I do, and in the past decade they spent many days and overnights at local casinos... and spent this pandemic at home watching endless hours of slot videos. Even though I usually spend most of my Vegas time all alone, I was so fortunate to go on these trips with my mom & dad, and when the time comes that I do return to Vegas a piece of me will not be by my side anymore... and any trip I take will have to be with who is now his widow, my sis & bro-in-law, or any of my cousins. It truly won't be the same.
Needless to say, the events of what happened to us back in July is a sad but poignant postscript to something unique and something that was truly unlike any other that took place in the autumn air of a year ago. In fact when Thanksgiving comes around this coming Thursday evening, Mariano would have celebrated his 72nd birthday at the same time as this great American tradition that starts the holiday season. But instead, our family will all gather to celebrate his life and party just as hard as he would.
As for the subject line of this post, DC VEGAS XI is something I did not expect to happen thirteen months ago, given the pandemic and other things that took place that mid-fall of 2021. But this trip proved that after all that we went through in the most trying twenty-four months of our lifetimes, things that you put off during that time and finally experience would be more than worth the wait... and to also be sure to have the time of your life in experiencing it just as if it would be your last. The four of us who are alive now a year after have learned that lesson very hard, but not before getting to experience a Vegas vacation that was truly unlike any other.
🎰 🎰 🎰
This DCBLOG post marks the closing chapter of the DC VEGAS XI story... but that is not the end. To coincide with this one-year anniversary, the @DC408Dxtr Social Network has just launched an all-new fan page on Facebook... which brings my broad social media presence for the first time to the world's biggest online global community. It's there that, starting Thanksgiving weekend this coming week, we will begin posting pictures from my Vegas trips for all of you to check out... and you can give me a fan follow to Facebook.com/DC408Dxtr when that is posted. Other than that, DC Facebook will operate just as my Twitter and Instagram pages (and yes, I'm staying on the former in spite of the recent drama there): your regular escape into my world of passions, fun, my life, a random thought from time to time, and links to these DCBLOG posts and YouTube goodies.
Also next week as the long four-day weekend that officially launches the winter holiday season, DC YouTube will premiere a new season of trip videos as DC COAST TO COAST takes the trip down the I-5 to Disneyland. Unlike what we've gotten to share with you in those Vegas videos above, this next vlog series is one that is actually appropriate for the whole family to sit in front of the couch & enjoy while you're laying there snuggled up next to the fireplace, and we invite you to spend at least part of the Christmas season watching it all at YouTube.com/DC408Dxtr. And the DCBLOG content that usually covers MTV matters is taking this week off for this blog post & YouTube work, and we'll be back here this coming short week ahead covering Week 6 of Ride or Dies.
Finally, this past week for the first time in my life I made a donation to a charity in honor of my dad as I donated to both Stand Up to Cancer and the American Cancer Society. Right now, I have a personal appeal ongoing right now for my inner circle... and if you're in my extended family you should have gotten a notice from yours truly about my efforts. As the holiday season rolls along and we head into next year I hope to be able to do charitable work in his honor, and do be sure to stay tuned to my social media outlets for more... and you can check out my all-new Linktree to find out about that and where you can follow me across all social media at Linktr.ee/dc408dxtr. And thank you for being with us.
- I AM DC
@DC408Dxtr
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