Upside to the Downturn...

Jimmy Buffett Tickets went on-sale yesterday.

And, as always, I was online at 10:00am, on-the-dot, with two PC's in action, to purchase my tickets.

Now, my past experience with TicketBa$tard has left MUCH to be desired. In fact, where Buffett Tickets are concerned, I always end up getting screwed (okay, it is a self-induced sorta screw-ed-ness, but still!)!

I can logon to their website the very INSTANT that tickets go on-sale, and I can NEVER find decent seats!

And, boy, does it p*ss me off!!!

But, since it's Buffett, I sorta develop this "Tazz-and-her-Tennis-Ball"-like personna. It's like, I will simply die if I don't have Buffett Tickets!

So, I logon the very minute tickets go on-sale (with multiple PC's, as I've mentioned) and I grab the "Best Seats" I can find. Which are usually in the 200-section... Not Nose-bleed seats, but - honestly - not great!

Of course, they COST as much as the "right-next-to-the-stage" seats would, but I buy 'em just the same...

And I KNOW that TicketBa$tard "holds" better seats 'til about a week or two before the event, but I *still* buy the sh*tty seats because I. SIMPLY. MUST. HAVE. TICKETS!!!!

(It's a sickness, I know!)

Annnnnnddddd... Because I am a masochist, I peruse Craigslist, and eBay, and whatever scalper-sites I can find, trying to find better seats at a better price...

And, of course, I keep going back to TicketBa$tard...

Annnnnnndddd... Invariably, a week-or-so before the show, I *do* find better seats (in the 100 section) on TicketBa$tard, and I end up buying them too!

So now I've paid DOUBLE THE PRICE for tickets, right?!

I do try to unload the original tickets, but I *always* take a Significant Loss on 'em. (Don't get me started on my eBay rant, BTW. Let's just say that Craigslist is a better place to unload extra concert tickets and leave it at that!)

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And to segue even further... A colleague of mine, a fellow Parrothead in the Atlanta GA area, *also* goes through similar pains to get his tickets. But in the South, it's even worse (Buffett's Phan-Base is positively rabid down there!). He's lucky just to find two seats TOGETHER! Period! (Atlanta Shows sell-out, 100%, in mere minutes!).

* * * * *
Well, yesterday when I logged on, my initial attempts - requesting "Lower Level" ONLY - returned a "No Seats Available" responses (GRRRR!!!), and when I opted for "Best Available" I ended up with with 200-section seats (AGAIN!!!). Not too terribly awful (4th row of the 200 section). So I started the whole Purchase-Process thing... But something made me hold-off on finalizing the purchase. I switched back to my work laptop and tried for "Lower Levels" again, and actually scored seats in Section 107!!!

Okay, not the GREATEST seats in the world, but certainly "good enough!" So I bought 'em!

Now this is the FIRST TIME, EVER - that I have scored "Lowers" on the First Try for a Buffett Show!!!

So color me Happy!

* * * * *
Going back to my Geohhh-juh Colleague: He, too, was able to score "Lower" seats on his first try - but he saw the final ticket price and got Sticker-Shock! He chose to "pass" on the tickets...

* * * * *
My theory is that there are actually LOTS of folks who *wanted* to go to the show, but when they saw the final tally (appx $300 for 2 tix), they gave-up their seats and THAT'S why I was able to score Good Seats for the Buffett Show.

Sooooo... That's the "Silver Lining" to the Dark Cloud of our current economic state!