This past weekend The Wife and I traipsed across the state to the House of Mouse’s shopping mall – otherwise known as Disney Springs. Why? Mainly so I could go to a concert at the House of Blues. It’s kind of funny that out of a four-band lineup. I was only really interested in the two middle bands. It was also a chance for some couple time for The Wife and I.

Anyways, we decided to get that the smart thing would be to get a hotel on Thursday, spend Friday in Disney Springs, and head home on Saturday morning. We even got a hotel close to Disney Springs so we could walk rather than dealing with parking. However, since I was busy with my new job, I didn’t do my normal checklist for the trip. As a result, some items were forgotten. Such as The Wife’s neck fan, her portable bedtime fan – and my ear pro for the concert. There were some other interesting difficulties. I purchased a new safe for travel. It required some last-minute jury-rigging. That requires a full review in another post. Maybe after another trip.

We had fun exploring Disney Springs. There was a Diwali Dance shindig going on. We got to see a few dozen folks in colorful costumes dance up and down the way. This is the kind of multicultural stuff I like. Bring your neat stuff in and show off. We spent a lot of time visiting the various shops. The Wife loves handbags, so we stopped into a couple of stores for the brands she really likes. She has the same experience that I have with gun shops. It’s neat to see the new stuff but damn those things are expensive. At least The Wife can see if the items she was lusting after show up at the outlet stores near us. Then there was the issue of the lightsaber. Did I want the lightsaber? Yes. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pay what they were asking. The Wife, being The Wife, walked through the fact that yes, we could afford it, and I was just having sticker shock/repulse. So, a replica of the original Luke Skywalker came home with us. I will admit that it was neat when one of the hotel employees stopped us on the way back the room to see which one I got – and then proceeded to show us his collection.

The concert. At The Wife’s urging, I got one of the upgraded seats the House of Blues was offering. Expensive, but worth it – for the most part. I didn’t have to fight the floor crowd. Just sit back and watch the show. The only issue was that it felt like my seat was under a fan. If I do this again, I’m bringing a jacket. So, as I stated earlier, I forgot my ear pro. The lady running the VIP program was nice enough to find me some foam earplugs. From prior concert experience, I knew those weren’t really going to help. So, I decided to try using my AirPod Pros with the ANC turned on. Yeah, that helped out a lot. First band was Edge of Paradise. Their overall music isn’t bad, but I dislike how their vocalist sings. It sounds too shrieky. Next was Nanowar Of Steel. I was disappointed that they didn’t play “Pasadena 1994.” However, they more than made up with their stage presence. This is a band who knows they are there to make the audience laugh and rock. Between costumes and antics, they more than fulfilled their purpose. The third band was Amaranthe. This was the band that really drew me across the state. They were the first band I heard that did the clean female, clean male, and growling male vocal combination – and they do it so well. The funny thing with Amaranthe is that some of their songs I’ll recognize immediately, but some I need to hear a bit. They played most of the songs that I love hearing. The final band was Dragonforce. Yeah, I didn’t stick around for their show. It’s not that I didn’t want to see them. It’s more that I had seen the two bands I really wanted to see, and I was feeling the combined discomforts of fatigue and sitting on a metal barstool for a few hours. Do I regret not staying? No, not really. At that point, I don’t think I would have enjoyed the performance – and I don’t want that kind of concert experience.

Saturday morning was a nice drive back. And we even managed to pick up the groceries. Overall, it was a successful trip. I just need to find a place to mount my new lightsaber.

It was my last week at my now “old” job. I worked for that division for fifteen years – my entire professional career. There was some concern HR wouldn’t be able to finish their pre-work before I was scheduled to transfer to the new division. Thursday I had lunch with my teammates. Well, most of them. Some were either ill or dealing with ill podlings. That time of the year. Friday was my last day. I’m excited to start my new job, but I know I’m going to miss my team.

Saturday, The Wife competed in our Area Humorous Competition and took first place. I’m extraordinarily please that she will get to go on to division. Which means The Wife and I have to do some editing and rehearsal to get her ready. Now. if only the contest wasn’t on the same day as a big craft fair that we usually try to hit with Rocket Engineer Brother’s wife and my mom.

On Sunday, I put up a pole for a couple of our bird feeders. The Wife wanted one close to one of our windows so the cats can see the birds up close. During this I found out one of the other poles had suffered a structural failure. Probably due to us exceeding the weight limit with one of the feeders. Fortunately, Amazon had a heavy duty one on a lighting sale. We also put up a new camera to cover one of the blind spots. Because one of the neighbor’s windows is just in the camera view, The Wife and MIL went over to let them know. Which gave them a chance to see the neighbor’s new baby.