Ticket Stock

Last weekend my favorite radio station hosted their annual Ticket Stock, sometimes Ticketstock. I wasn't able to go, but what I love about it is that it is free to the fans. No admission price to get in, and no cost to get autographs from any of the celebrities that show up. They are mostly local sports stars. Like the Cowboys Tashard Choice, the Rangers David Murphy, etc. They also bring in some pretty big time guests as well. Like this year they brought Barry Sanders. He was so committed to getting here when his flight got canceled out of the city he was in (I believe Detroit). He drove himself to another city to catch a flight to Dallas, what a guy!. Now Barry Sanders' autograph was free as well, but there were a limited number of tickets that you did have to wait in line for.

The other fun part of this event is that almost all of the show hosts do a little concert together. They are collectively called the Time Wasters, and you get a nice mix of original songs, song parodies, and straight covers. Really cool, and can be really wheels off. Their backing band is one of the hosts' own band who learns all of the songs they are doing fairly quickly.

I did get to hear parts of it live on the radio. I enjoyed them trying to get Barry Sanders to admit he was better than Emmitt Smith. He refused, especially since he was in Dallas. Tashard Choice has everyone convinced for a few seconds he had just been traded to St. Louis. Good times. I hope to go next year.

From Home

Well, by brother was in town for about a week, to visit, and it was his birthday. I was originally going to meet him, his girlfriend, and a couple of other friends Thursday night, but that got nixed when we got record breaking snow here. So, we weren't able to get together until Friday night, his actual birthday. We all went to dinner with my dad and step-mom. We ate at the terrific Marlo's House which is a Mennonite restaurant. I am amazed at how quickly the sole cook back there gets food out on just a 4 burner stove. The food there is excellent.

Saturday is were things took a turn for the worst. Here a group of six of us went to the French restaurant Bonnie Ruth's. Now I don't mind if there is long dinner that grows organically from conversation and what not. This was not one of those times. This was three hours just wasted. A little rest give from time to time for waitstaff is to order an ice tea w/o lemon, and see how well they pay attention.. This time it came with the lemon, a little warning.
The highlights:

• I never, ever got any water
• Well over an hour to get our appetizer
• Over an hour for my brother's girlfriend to get her glass of wine
• A friend dropped his fork before we got our entrees. We got tired of waiting for the waiter to bring a new one once the meal did arrive we got our own.
• They ran out of creme brulee. Which they were going to give one free to my brother, nothing offered to replace it.
• We were offered free champagne cocktails for our trouble. We never got them.
• THIS JUST IN: The bastards double charged my card. I just found this out like 5 minutes ago.

My brother and his girlfriend spent Saturday night at another friend's house, so we could get together easily on Sunday. We ate breakfast at the Original Pancake House (it was awesome), and then we went and saw The Wolfman. Which was awful, one of the worst movies I have payed for in a long time. Boring, cliched, etc, etc.

Monday was the last night I would see my brother before he went back to California. It was a nother family dinner at Babes Chicken House. I had never been before, but had heard rave reviews of it. Those were well deserved. You don't get a menu really. The waitress gives you a list of the 6 or 7 entrees they have available. You order your entree, and then every side dish they have is brought to your table family style and is all-you-can eat. I had the (very well reviewed) fried chicken, and I gotta say it was the best restaurant fried chicken I have ever had. Once you are done you can take your leftover entree home, but you can't take any of the sides. I still got away with the leftover biscuits.

Well, it was good to see my brother, I hope I can visit him again soon. It has been to long since I have been to San Fran.

Wasting Time

Just a few notes. I hope everyone enjoyed to Super Bowl. I know I did. I watched the game at a friends house. Won 25 bucks, drank too much (didn't drive), and ate too little (just a kid sized bowl of chili). I wanted the Colts to win, but it wasn't like I was pissed of the the Saints won. I do get tired of trying to be guilted into rooting for them because of Katrina. You watch enough sports and you learn everyone has a sad story. That is half of the Olympics and a third of College Game Day.

A bit of sad news. For everyone planning to come to Dallas for the NBA All-Star game, it grieves me to report that there are no more Lamborghinis available to rent.

A story that really made my blood boil