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We had heard that Weird Al was coming to town and playing at the Starlight Theater several weeks ago and so we went to see if they had any good tickets left… naturally they didn’t. So we decided to try and win some tickets and then maybe if worse came to worse, we’d buy some cheap nosebleed seats. Well the feeble attempts at winning tickets were not helped by my owning an iPod which I listen to on the way to and from work, and for some odd reason no one was giving away tickets during my playlists.

So two days before the concert I decided to see what tickets were left, and for some odd reason some prime tickets were available. So I went ahead and grabbed them.

Now let me take a moment to express my pure distain for buying tickets from ticketmaster (they don’t deserve a link). The tickets were $38 a seat (which isn’t my issue), but there was an $8 “convenience” charge for EACH TICKET!!! What the heck is that all about? We called the place they were playing to see if we could come down and buy the tickets there, but they said the same $8 per ticket charge would apply. So if we didn’t use the “convenient” way to buy the tickets we still had to pay the convenience fee. What a joke! Then to add insult to injury, there was another $4.something processing charge. If you are going to give me this rediculous charge at least do me the decency of masking it, and just make the tickets be $46 each. Highway robbery at it’s finest…

Anyway… we got to the theater an hour early or so and it was a PERFECT evening. 72 or so degrees and just a slight breeze. Our tickets were dead center and 20 or so rows back… pretty sweet. Some comedian comes out and makes fun of various things around KC (the plaza, the triangle, Sprint, etc) and actually made me chuckle a few times (I don’t laugh easily).

Finally the show starts. This was only my 3-4 “professional” concert, and my first time seing Weird Al. He put on a great show, and was easily my favorite out of the shows I had seen. When I started thinking about it, I know more of his songs then probably any other artist. I guess this was an extension of his Poodle Hat tour so he played several songs from that album. Several of them I didn’t know either the parody or the original song… guess I’m getting out of touch.

But he did do some classics… All about the Pentiums, Horoscope (which I proudly know the long fast part in the middle), The Saga Begins (Star Wars I one), Yoda, Amish Paradise, I was Only Kidding, a compelation set or two, and several others I of course forgot.

We had a total blast and are going to make sure to get tickets early next time he comes. A highly recommended show from a great artist.

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Somehow I talked my beloved wife into allowing me to get some Lord of the Rings statues from Sideshow Collectibles. The premise is that we LOVE LOTR and are trying to get into “fine art”. So figured that these would bea nice combination.

The statues we received were Helm’s Deep and The Golden Hall part of their “Environments” series. Unfortunately I missed out on the first one, Orthanc which is now selling on eBay for around $1,000. We can only hope the same happens to our new statues.

They are beautifully detailed, especially the Golden Hall. Unfortunately the Hem’s Deep statue is covered by semi-hard to see reddish/marroonish dots. They definately don’t seem like they fit in… unless they are squished orcses or something. I sent an email to Sideshow asking if this was a bug or a features, and that I could provide pictures. I was quickly responded to with a request for the pics, so I will have to take some tonight to send along. So far so good on the customer service. Their FAQ’s state that sometimes replacements can’t be had due to limited number editions (which this is) so I’ll then have to decide if I want my money back or a botched statue.

Anyway… will post the results of the dot findings when they happen, but am excited to add these to the collection. Now I just have to find a place to display them proudly.

**update**
After sending some pics they approved my return, and sent someone to pick it up. According to the UPS tracking number, they just got it. So hopefull a new unspotted Helm’s Deep will be on it’s way shortly.

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Well my brother Brett called me last night to ask my opinion about something.

A little history… before I got into the wonderful world of computers and the internet, I was going into Sports Medicine. I spent a few years in High School and College as a “student trainer” helping with the sports teams at each school. I really loved what I was doing, and had fully planned on going into it, but then I got engaged and decided that I actually needed money in my future. I thought “hey, I like comptuers” and knew how to do websites, so I dropped Sports Med (not necessarily willingly) and went into computers. Since then, I always try to help when I see someone get hurt in a game, or wherever to try and use what I learned during those years and slow down the memory loss.

That being said… what I learned is fairly rusty, but apparently accessible. Brett decided to fall down the stairs after a LAN party and twisted his knee. He had already gone to the doc but hadn’t really been given instructions on what to do going forward… so he called his wonderful brother to try and access that fading memory to see what he should do.

Twas kinda fun rememebring all the tests to see what was wrong with the knee, what everything is called around in there, and what potential issues there may be. I passed along all of the above information, but really enjoyed strolling down memory lane. So thanks for injuring yourself Brett!! We’ll have to do it again some time!

Oh… and what he hurt was his LCL, or Lateral Collateral Ligament. The doc said it was just a mild sprain and all should be good.

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