Look, I realize I'm only 32 and should not have a complaint when I go to a concert, but when you go to a show in a listening room, you should be around other music lovers who are there to enjoy the intimate setting. Friday evening was one of the most unpleasant musical experiences I've ever had, and it had to do with people not respecting the talent.

Earlier in the fall we had the pleasure of taking in our first show at the Rialto Club. The place seats about 160 people and is set up for small acoustic shows. They have some work to do as far as customer service goes, but the idea of a venue this size in Athens is an awesome concept.

There are no rules posted anywhere but the unwritten rule in a place this size should be simple: listen to the artist and respect other concert goers.

Edwin McCain took the Rialto Club stage this past Friday. I've probably taken in somewhere between 15-20 Edwin shows in my lifetime. Clearly I've been a fan for some time, but never have I seen a true acoustic performance especially not in a cool location like Rialto. Needless to say, this was a performance we had been looking forward to for a few months.

Before I get to the show, I do want to take a little knock at the club. I had exchanged emails with the woman who runs it on a day to day basis. She had previously volunteered a table for us at the Edwin show. Obviously with a small room, the tables only seat 4-6 people. We ordered tickets along with our friends the Brachowskis, so an email exchange took place setting up the reserved table for us. Once we arrived, no table. I ran into the woman I had exchanged emails with and she smiled and said, "oh yeah we had so many ticket orders we just decided to not do tables for this show." So no apology. No explanation for the piss poor communication on the club's part. This was the kickoff for what became a forgettable evening.

After waiting at the bar for a good five minutes and not being served, the club doors closed and we had to rush in and find seats as the show was beginning. We end up behind these 4 women. They had their glasses and two bottles of wine with them at their seats, so clearly they were there to have a good time. Fine. Great even. As the show started, they continued to settle into their seats and talk ... at regular level as the music started. Again, fine. They were amped up for the evening and just got to their seats. Ok. I get it.

These women were older ... at least a couple of them were. I know the term "cougar" is very popular these days, but I didn't feel like it applied here. More on that in a bit.

For those of you not familiar with Edwin, even in a big music venue he is very interactive. He loves telling stories about his songs, his travels, his family, and in a larger venue he loves interacting with the audience. In this particular venue he was again telling stores but wasn't really asking for responses. Someone should've told that to the lady sitting in front of me, because every time he said something ... and i mean every ... single ... time ... she responded back to him as plain as day. No whispering, no muffled voice. Keep in mind no one else was doing this. Just this lady. Yep. And she did it all show.

As Edwin carried on, the ladies kept pouring wine, clinking glasses and talking at high volumes. Again, I realize 32 is still young enough to have a good time and certainly young enough to sing along at a concert, but I was unbelievably pissed off throughout the show. These women made the show totally frustrating for most everyone sitting around them and the club didn't say a word to them until there were two songs left in the set. Yes, I absolutely wanted to say something. A couple of us hushed them a few times to no avail. Someone in front of the women got up to say something to the club well before they came over to quiet them down.

So I took to facebook after the show and asked for a word to describe the unattractive cougars sitting in front of us. Wildebeest was my favorite, hence the wording in the blog title. Really though, it baffles me these wildebeests had no idea how annoying they were. Amazing.

While Edwin and crew were entertaining, it was very difficult to enjoy the show. I'm sure folks on the other side of the room loved it. Had there been some open seats we would've joined them!

On top of that, the Dawgs lost another football game this weekend. While all fans are certainly disappointed, I felt bad for those seniors. A bowl game is in their future, but dropping that last game at home is not something you really want to remember as a senior. Hopefully they'll recover for the Tech game this weekend and finish strong.

Ok, enough about the wildebeests. Enjoying the AMAs, the last little bit of the first fire of the season and the glowing lights of our Christmas decorations we already put out. Yep. We did that.

Ahhh, staying at home on a Tuesday because you are sick is so much fun. Not really, but I did sleep in until about 9:30. The body was able to move me as far as the couch, and that is where I stayed until about 3 this afternoon. The occasional movement to the door to let the dogs in and out didn't bother me nearly as much as getting sick earlier in the morning. All news isn't bad today though as I went through one of those crazy sweat sessions while sitting on the couch, and I am slowly starting to feel better.

What does one do on a sick day? After the move couchward, I started watching a little bit of the today show. Have any of you ever watched their "happy hour," with Hoda and Kathy Lee? Train wreck is the best way to describe it. After that bored me to tears I caught up on two episodes of Nip/Tuck and one showing of How I Met Your Mother. Both great shows for totally different reasons, but they kept my spirits up while I drank lots of OJ.

After a short couch nap, I did turn on the old PS3 and enjoyed a few matches on Smackdown vs. Raw 2010. This is the first WWE game I've purchased in probably 7 years. It used to be the staple of a fun night in DeKalb, IL, where there would be seven of us competing. The on-line feature makes me think we might be recreating some of those great matches from back in the day, as long as we can find the time.

After finally pealing myself up from the couch, I did find some time to clean up around the house. It is ridiculous how much dirt/clay the dogs bring in every day. Even more ridiculous how it ends up on everything. I love our dogs, but I sometimes get very tired of cleaning up after them.

Dinner is in the belly which means I finally ate a meal today. Rest continues to be the answer, and that is the direction I am headed. Hello couch, good to see you again!

The season finale of Mad Men is on this evening. Hopefully the eye lids will stay open until 11pm. The weekend has been a long one but more than enjoyable.

Chance, our awesome nephew, spent the weekend with us as we served as babysitters for only the second time. Previously when Chance spent the weekend with us he could not even walk. Now he is all boy, full of energy and talking a mile a minute. You can't always understand what he's saying, but it doesn't slow him down one bit.

Among the weekend highlights were Chance's first UGA tailgate, compliments of the Phi Psi house. Homecoming weekend brought out some old familiar faces and an opportunity to reflect on the years between those walls. Courtney spent the rest of the afternoon watching Chance while I worked the game. While we spent Friday evening taking Chance out to dinner, we ended up just eating some yummy Chick-fil-a at the house.

Courtney spent most of today at a wedding shower for Catherine, so it was all about dudes today and Chance spent time with his uncle. I will admit, I was nervous. Never had a true babysitting gig before, but the challenge was simply to fill the day with things to do until "Nanny and Papa" came to pick him up.

Following a pancake breakfast, we spent some time in the back yard kicking around the soccer ball. He seemed to enjoy it, but not as much as petting the dogs or running under the deck. Earlier in the week I went to facebook to ask friends what you do to keep a 2 and 1/2 year old boy busy and sifting through the responses helped me fill the rest of the day.

We first hit Lowe's where Chance was floored by the Christmas decorations, tractors and pretty much every other little thing in the store. He helped me pick up a few things for the house, then we headed to the park. Keeping track of a kid at the park is not easy. I knew he would love it but didn't anticipate how quickly he'd move from slide to swing to monkey bars. Courtney had left a small grocery list for us, so I very cautiously persuaded Chance back to the car.

Much like Lowe's, Chance was fascinated by any and everything at Wal-Mart. As you see above, he did get his hands on a little present. Early we discussed the importance of owning your first Transformer so I made that a reality. He wanted the blue one. No love for Bumblebee, Megatron or even Optimus. Nope, just the blue one.

We had about 30 minutes to spare before the in-laws showed up and knowing Chance's current love of Pirates, we ate lunch and then started watching Pirates of the Caribbean. It cracked me up ... this kid knows who Jack Sparrow is!

With the little monster gone, the house does seem quiet. It makes me realize just how unimportant some things are in life. When you have the responsibility of a child, weekly runs to Sam's or the mall seem so trivial. Courtney and I loved the weekend and Chance made it easy. Such a great kid.

Speaking of great kids, we were very fortunate to meet the lovely Anna Lee a couple of weekends ago. In what basically was a mini-reunion, Newp, Erich and Jill, Karin and Court and I made our way to Virginia Beach to visit with Greg and Sarah and meet their beautiful baby girl.

Anna was born earlier this year so our visit was long over due, but it was so much fun watching all of us jockeying for some Anna attention. That kid could've gotten us all to jump through hoops if she only asked. Make no question about it, that weekend was all about that little girl, but having a great excuse like that to visit with friends made it even more enjoyable. Aside from weddings, most of us had not all been together in a very long time. Sure we've all visited with each other separately, but getting everyone together has been the challenge.

Without trying to sound like a big softy, weekends like that make me realize how important these relationships are to my life. These are people who have helped shape me and been there for me when times were tough. As more difficult times come in life, these will be some of those important people who will help me, pick me up and tell me everything will be ok. I see moments like that weekend in VA Beach as truly special and memorable.

The final two days of the VA trip were spent around the Williamsburg area. We stayed in a hotel near the historic district, visited donors in the area both Monday and Tuesday and also took some time to just enjoy the beautiful town. It had been some time since I'd been to Williamsburg, and now I hope we can go back again sooner than later. Aside from the great historical aspects of the town and William & Mary, the town itself is so very pretty. We loved the experience, and I hope we can have more mini trips like that in the future.

The trip to Virginia allowed for two stops in Winston to see the parents. While there Mom and I were digging through the closest and came across several of Dad's old suits and blazers. He gave me the go ahead, so I snagged two of his old suits and this insanely cool blazer. The suits needed to be tailored a bit but this jacket fit perfectly. All of it found a nice home in my closet. Now I just need an excuse to wear this sucker out on the town!

Off to finish the final few minutes of the finale. I love and adore this tv show ... sad that I will have to wait until late Summer for another season.