They Arrived!!! They Arrived!!!

The brown truck showed up this afternoon with the usual one honk of the horn.
Out of the truck popped the female UPS, wearing the usual brown in color uniform, holding a small plastic envelope in hand.
With the delivery made, off she drove into the sunset leaving behind nothing less than another wish of Veronica's that has come true. And maybe just a wee little bit of a wish of mine too.
Because within the confines of that plastic envelope are tickets to the Jimmy Buffett concert being held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Virginia Beach on 5/26 at 8PM. Not only did I get her center stage box seats but also VIP Club Passes and VIP Parking.
Once again I want to thank Ryan Conrad who is the Director of Premium Seats for Live Nation at the Amphitheater, for his assistance in making this whole thing happen. 757-3683017.
And so for a few brief hours, Veronica and I will be transported from our ordinary lives, through the portal of our minds and imagination.....to our own personal tropical island complete with small waves gracefully rolling onto the soft white sand, plenty of umbrella drinks and of course hammocks swaying to the sweet musical beat of that free spirit who is known as Jimmy Buffett.
It will definitely be one of those "Calgon take me away" moments.

Medical Update

My back has calmed down enough for me to get back into my weightlifting workouts again. Plus the weather has been nice and warm so instead of riding my recumbent bike for 30 miles, which seems to take forever, I now do a 5 mile walk in the morning and another 3 miles in the afternoon.
As far as my other health issues...I am on my 2nd 30 day dose of Cipro to see if I can get my PSA levels down to a reasonable level. Taking the Cipro everyday is about the only thing that I am certain of as this point in time.
After completing this 30 day period, Veronica and I will be traveling back to Norfolk, an approximate 2 hour drive so that I can go back to my original Oncologist...whom I really trust.
I will donate my usual amount of blood for my Mast Cell Disease testing and also a little extra so that they can check my PSA levels.
We will then go over all of radiological test results including that rather scary MRI one that I posted about.
I have a bad feeling that if my PSA levels don't go down sufficiently, then I am destined to have a Prostate Biopsy done shortly thereafter. This is something that I am dreading.
The day that we head up to Norfolk will be a day that consist of 2 completely opposite halves.
The first half of the day will be dealing with the ever depressing and stressful medical issues.
But when that part of the day is over with, we can switched gears and transition into something much more enjoyable....the Jimmy Buffet concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Virgina Beach.
So from the doctors office, we will head to our hotel and relax for a while before getting all gussied up for the concert that Veronica thought she would never see.
Like I said...a day consisting of complete opposites. I refuse to let the 1st half of the day ruin the 2nd half.
As they say in the business...the show must go on.

Back On The Road Again But This Time With A Surprise

A long time ago when I was in the military I injured my back.
On Monday, while reaching for a framed picture that I had leaned against the wall on the floor, I threw my back out.
Every since that intial injury, it does not take much to throw it out.
It has been a couple of years since I have had any serious problems with it but it is very sore and downright uncomfortable right now.

Yesterday morning Veronica and I had to drive to Suffolk, so that Veronica could assist in a new store opening.
We each drove seperate cars because I was coming home on Thursday morning and Veronica was heading up to the D.C. area for a meeting and then returning home late Friday night.
It has been quite a while since I have listened to the radio, whether it be around the house or in a car.
As I was driving to Suffolk the radio station that I was originally listening to started to fade away.
I decided to change channels and found a channel that I used to listen to when we lived in the Virginia Beach area.
I thought that I briefly heard the announcer make mention of an upcoming Jimmy Buffett concert that was coming to the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
I thought that I must have heard something incorrectly because Veronica and I had lived about 10 minutes away from this concert site for approximately 8-9 years.
While living in that area, we had heard something about Jimmy Buffett having concerts at the Amphitheater on a yearly basis but something had occurred and he no longer had any concerts at this site, at least during the time period that we lived there.
We always figured that it was our usual lack of luck that we would miss out on  a local Jimmy Buffett concert.
Veronica and I had searched and thought about going to see one of his concerts at a number of different locations throughout the years.
There was always some reason that came up and we never did go to see him at any of those concerts.
So of course, as fate would have it, we move to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and who comes back to town for a concert in Virginia Beach. You got it...no other than Jimmy Buffett himself.
This has been on my wifes "bucket list" for many many years but for the most part she had conceded to the fact tht she would probably never see him in concert.
Boy was she wrong.
After checking into our hotel, I promptly went online in search of those ever elusive, much coveted and often times very expensive Jimmy Buffett concert tickets.
I went to Ticketmaster and was redirected to the LiveNation web site.
I must have spent 20 minutes trying every possible variation of tickets, availability and seat location possible. I even tried the Lawn Seating but there was absolutely nothing available...not even one single ticket.
I had all but given up hope when I noticed a VIP Ticket link at the top of the page.
I figured what te heck, I will give it a try.
I ended up sending an email to a Ryan Conrad.
As it turns out, Ryan is in charge of the Premium/VIP ticket sales at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater.
Below is Ryans information and a way that you can make contact with him, should you ever be in the market for some prime time concert seats:

Ryan Conrad Director of Premium Seats
Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
(757) 368.3017 / (757) 368.3698 fax
3550 Cellar Door Way Virginia Beach, VA 23456
ryanconrad@livenation.com

After sending emails back and forth, I made telephone contact with Ryan.
Ryan told me that the Jimmy Buffett tickets had gone on sale on or about 3/12 and that the concert was sold out in a matter of 2 hours.
Ryan also told me that he did have a couple of VIP Box Seats left and he offered those tickets to me.
I am usually not the type of person who would spend big money on tickets for any event but I also knew that if I did not act on this opportunity at this time, there was a really good chance that Veronica would never get to see Jimmy Buffett in concert.....ever and I really wanted to make sure that this happen to her.
With Ryans assistance and consideration, I went ahead and splurged on those VIP Box Seat tickets.
We are in Box 57 which is almost dead center to the stage. Along with the great box seats, there are several other perks that come with the Premium Seating package.
For more information, please click on the following link... Live Nation Premium Box Seats And Season Seat Packages
Yesterday afternoon, after making the ticket purchase, I made an elaborate email to send to Veronica in order to heighten the excitement of her getting to actually see Jimmy Buffett in concert.
Needless to say, by the end of that long drawn out email, Veronica was one happy and excited camper upon finding out that one of her dreams was actually coming true. I am very glad that I had decided to get these tickets and be a part of her dream.
I also want to thank Ryan Conrad for all of his help in turning Veronica's dream into a reality.
So come May 26th, Veronica and I will be attending the Jimmy Buffett concert in Virginia Beach and sporting the best "fins" that we can make.
And as usual I will let everyone know how this magical evening plays out.