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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Oh Je-fa-fa, Oh Je-fa-fa ...

... without me you would su-ka-ka!! We knew it would be a night filled with laughter but WOW! Walking out of there with our faces and stomachs aching along with sore throats and waning voices from screaming and laughing, well ... in one word it was AWESOME!! I had just remarked to Bob on Thursday evening at dinner that I hoped "Guitar Guy" (Brian Haner) would be there, but I really didn't think he would. I thought it was a special appearance for the Christmas special where Achmed sang his Christmas carols. So it was a wonderful surprise when "Guitar Guy" came out on stage to open for Jeff!! Brian, surprisingly, is a comedic act all on his own. He was very good! As he shared some family stories and things they experienced on the road, he had us roaring with laughter. He ended his set by playing the "Star Spangled Banner" with a video of a waving flag on the big screen. It, as always, was very moving. After a 15 minute intermission we were finally rewarded with Jeff!!


Jeff opened with Walter, our favorite funny, cranky, politically incorrect old man. He didn't disappoint. Walter makes fun of everyone. There were lots of new material intertwined with some of the old, classic we all know and love. The audience loved the personalized material about "Norfolk." When an outsider understands the local pronunciation we love it. Walter had lots of material about "Nawfuck." Needless to say, had us rolling in our chairs. Sadly, while they let us take photos of Brian, we were told no photography of any kind during Jeff. Since I was sitting on the end of a row, with a "guard" facing the back a few rows up I couldn't get anything. Had I been in the middle of the row, I'd have gone for it. In this particular situation having a really good seat didn't work in my favor when it came to taking photos. As Walter ended his set with his now famous, "Welcome to Walmart! Git yer shit and git out!" we were already exhausted. And then came ...

... Achmed!!! We've seen him on video so many times. It's so much better to see him in person! How Jeff can make a puppet have so much personality and expression is truly a talent. When "Guitar Guy" joined him on the stage for one of Achmed's new songs, we loved it! When Jeff and Brian get on stage together there's always lots of spontaneous jokes. Jeff even said, "I hear the punchline 2 seconds before the audience does." Those two just crack each other up, muck like Harvey Korman and Tim Conway used to do on the Carol Bernette Show. Us "infidels" eat it up. As the audience roars with laughter, Achmed says, "Silence! I keel you!"

Last but, of course, not least came one of the big favorites - PEANUT!!! Love, love, love Peanut!! He is every bit as politically incorrect as Walter and Achmed and we love every minute of it. Again, there was old material mixed in with some new. Even the stuff we've heard over and over was still funny. There weren't many races Peanut didn't make fun of. He is so bad. And we love him. He discussed ta-tas, tampons & Always with wings, a taste of China (supposedly an offended Chinese fan wrote in and complained), decorating the barbed wire on the Mexican border and more - much more. We were exhausted by the time Peanut went back in his case. And Jeff left the stage ...

... only to come back for an encore with Bubba J. Bubba J is in a league of his own. When the audience was louder with Bubba J's punchlines, Jeff would pause and look at the audience in amazement and a bit of frustration. It got worse with each joke. We got louder and louder. I'm not sure how much of that was part of his act and how much of it was genuine, but either way we ate it up.

After the puppets were put away Jeff and Brian came back on stage with air guns to shoot t-shirts out into the crowd. Jeff was determined to get some all the way in the back balcony and after several attempts (and upgrades to more powerful guns) he made it. Cari and I had an awesome night and would definitely go see him again. In fact, he may be recording his next DVD here in Va. Beach and, if at all possible, we will be there. What a blast!!

QB signing off, for now ...

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Whew - it's been a while ...

... hasn't it? Lots of "life" goin' on these days. Cari was home for spring break and Bob threw us some curve balls with a health issue. Suffice to say, Cari didn't have much of a break on her spring break. We're trying to get back to "normal," whatever that means. Sometimes you have to settle for a new normal.

I finally surrendered to my sleep issues and got a prescription for Ambien back in January. Started off with 5mg and increased it to 10mg in February. After a couple of months of getting some decent sleep I'm beginning to feel better than I have in a long time. I actually have some energy these days and it feels good! I think the increased energy level has spurred me on to do some much needed spring cleaning. I worked in my kitchen this past week, cleaning out cabinets, closet, pantry, etc. I'm hoping to get to the drawers next week. It feels so good to be able to open a door and actually see what's in there - and to know what I've got and what I need. My closet will be next - good grief, I won't even go there. I'm not sure it's ever been this bad before. I could take pix of before and after ... but I won't. On to other things ...

Don't feel like I've accomplished much in the way of knitting this past month. I did manage to finish a pair of socks for Cari and have started some others, but haven't completed anything else.


From Knitting


Not sure what's going on lately with my color choices - I used to be quite a bit more conservative. Check out my next pair of socks I'm working on:


From Knitting

I also started my chenille scarf in these gorgeous, bold colors:


From Knitting


I'm using a favorite standby pattern - Misti Alpaca Ribs and Ruffles (without the ruffles).

I can't wait to finish this cape! I simply fell in love with the colors and feel of this Kudo yarn:


From Knitting


From Knitting


Off to, hopefully, visit Mom's this afternoon - and maybe get some new pix of Zach. Then Cari and I are off to the Ted Constant Center tonight to see Jeff Dunham!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!!

til next time ...
QB

Monday, March 1, 2010

Nikon Customer Service

I would've never believed I could have such a disappointing, frustrating experience with Nikon. My father-in-law has been a Nikon person all his life and has never had anything but wonderful things to say about their products. I am sitting here in shock trying to soak this in. Here's my story:

My D200 started flashing the dreaded "Err" message around the holidays. Thank goodness I had a D50 as a backup. Not having time to investigate the problem, I just put it aside and used the D50. Earlier this month I decided it was time to tackle the problem and researched the problem online, tried everything I could find and ended up calling customer service. I talked with a technician who walked me through several possible "fixes" and when nothing worked, he informed me I would have to send it in to the company for repair for the "injury." ??? Injury? Excuse me? Never mind, I won't even go there. I shipped it the same day - to the company - to Nikon. Not some third party company, to Nikon.

Flash forward to a couple of weeks. I finally received an email with a pdf attachment requesting my repair approval to the tune of $224 for a "standard B2 repair." That's it. Needless to say I called customer service the next day for an explanation. I didn't get one. The CSR I spoke to told me exactly what the standard form I received said - "standard B2 repair." I explained to her that I didn't know what that meant and I wasn't going to pay $224 for something when I didn't know what it was. She said she'd have to request that information and email it to me when she got it - and that could take 24-48 hours. That's the best they've got? Seriously?

Almost a week later I get an email explaining that a "B2" repair is a "standard shutter/mirror replacement." OK. I authorized the repair. Last week I checked the website several times checking on the status - it always said, "SHOP." No problem, that's what I expected. I checked it today and was appalled at the status of my camera. The current status of my camera's repair is "PARTS HOLD." The definition? "Product is waiting for repair parts." ??? Are you kidding me? This is NIKON! It's a standard replacement part! Where are they getting the parts from then? If I had sent it to a third party company for repair I could certainly understand them having to wait for parts ... but wouldn't they order the parts from Nikon? I just don't believe this.

So I started more research about Nikon's customer service. Wow ... I found all kinds of things. In fact I found very little positive about it. Think I'll buy another Nikon in the future?

I don't have enough sangria to feel better ...