Making Good After Bordeline Thievery

Mindy & I talked for a while before finally falling asleep the night before. That meant that I netted little more than 5 hours of sleep. Regardless, I woke just before 5:30am feeling just fine. Of course it didn’t hurt that neither one of us drank alcohol at the Neil Diamond show. Smart move! I was moving swiftly through my routine and found myself back from Ykraps’ walk well ahead of schedule - 5:50am. I spent a good 15 minutes on the PC before meditation and run prep. Even though this was Mindy’s first day of class with kids, I didn’t bother waking her. She had the wherewithal to ask permission to be an hour late due to the concert. I left for my run just after 6:30am. It was quite chilly – only 53 degrees. I wore a tight, long sleeved wicking shirt. I was comfortable and ran the full four miles. Mindy was up helping get Jacob ready for school by the time that I returned from my run. She made my scrambled eggs but was otherwise quiet. She spoke of heading up for shower at the same time that I would normally head up. I let her know my intentions. I don’t think that she realized that she would hold me up. She came up to shower just as I was blow drying my luscious locks. She was still in the shower when I left for work. I left right at 8:00am in the BM’er. Work was quite busy. But as busy as we were, I still planned to take a full lunch. Come 1:15pm I left for the bank. I had a check from my insurance company that had been lying around for nearly two months. I finally got it deposited. That took five minutes. I spent the remainder of my lunch hour browsing Lowe’s, essentially walking every aisle. I had a lot on my mind. In such cases, that’s always good therapy. I was back at my desk by 2:15pm, and spent the afternoon fully engaged in work related matters. I took afew minutes in the late afternoon to draft a quick email to the Schottenstein Center expressing my disgust with the Neil Diamond show. Within 30 minutes I recieved a reply advising that refunds would be issued upon request along with a link to a formal apology from Neil himself (see my email and then their reply below) I had a nice drive home. I really wanted to get some minor yard work done after diner tonight. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let time slip by without doing it. We were having pot roast for dinner. Ykraps was already walked upon my arrival home. Cool! The pot roast was especially tasty. Not sure what the difference was but the au jus was much thicker, and a bit spicier, too. I helped with the rough clean-up but deferred the final duties to Mindy so that I could get outside and onto my yard chores. I headed out to spray/kill the bad grass in the front lawn in preparation for my fall lawn restoration project. I was nervous about using Round-Up. Once it’s down there’s no turning back. I spent about 25 minutes mixing and then spraying the two large areas containing unwanted/undesirable grasses. Immediately after, I moved onto watering the rear flowers. The kids played with the neighbors while I watered. They were quite noisy but having fun. After watering, I reloaded the humming bird feeder with nectar and the bird feeder with seed. These are tasks usually reserved for a weekend. By the time I was finishing up, Mindy was out on the deck relaxing. She shared that she had already applied for an received a refund for the Neil Diamond debacle. After finishing up outdoors, I headed in to wash my hands and move onto updating my blog. I got myself caught up through Sunday. Mindy called for me to tuck in the kids around 8:30pm or so. Afterwards, I returned to the PC but eventually found my way to the nearby recliner for a nap. I was overcome with sleepiness. Next thing I knew I woke up to find that Mindy had headed off to bed. It must’ve been 9:45pm. Feeling fully awake, I took to the family room where I tuned into an episode of South Park. Still not sleepy, I tuned into the DNC and got to see/hear Hillary’s speech. I really like her. Afterwards, around 11:30pm, I headed up for bed. To whom it may concern, My wife and I purchased two $120 tickets for last night’s Neil Diamond performance with great anticipation. Needless to say, we were completely disappointed and left the venue feeling completely taken advantage of. Neil Diamond’s trademark voice is what makes him who and what he is. Without it, he’s just another “old guy” prancing around on stage. And who would pay money for that? Perhaps what’s worse, he failed to fall on his sword and admit/recognize the obvious loss of his voice. There is no rationale that can explain away why the show was allowed to go on. After all, we’re not talking about $20 tickets here. I have been a life long Neil Diamond fan and was eagerly looking forward to finally seeing/hearing his iconic performance. However, instead of leaving your venue feeling entertained, we left feeling as though we’d been robbed. During the debacle, Neil commented that he does each show hoping to make each of our lives just a little bit better. Excuse me Mr Diamond, but it seems to me that you did last night’s show only to serve yourself as you certainly didn’t entertain my wife and I. The only recourse I would consider fair is a full refund of the hard earned dollars my wife spent on these tickets. Respectfully, JJW

(the response) For Immediate Release (Tues. 8/26 – 4PM) Refunds available for Neil Diamond ticketholders Guests seeking a refund for tickets purchased by phone or internet for the Neil Diamond concert August 25th at the Schottenstein Center should call Ticketmaster Customer Service at 614-431-3600. All other tickets must be returned to the point of purchase. VALID THRU FRIDAY, SEPT. 5 See Neil’s personal comments at www.neildiamond.com