I just read a pretty good piece in The New York Times. There’s talk of another football league starting up to rival the N.F.L. Yes, it’s been tried before, and all have failed. I was jazzed about the XFL when it started six years ago, and I still have one of the authentic game balls.

Anyhow, have a look. Hopefully they’ll be successful. Anytime I can get more football, I’m all for it.

Amy and I have not been back home for long today. We spent the last three days in south Georgia for our anniversary weekend trip. Yeah, our anniversary isn’t until June 19, but we decided to go a month early because of a concert.

I took Friday off, and I really wish I would’ve taken Memorial Day off, too. Before I get started, reporters typically don’t get holidays off. In my experience, if I want a holiday off, I still have to burn a vacation day. It’s one of the most wretched rules I’ve seen, but sometimes necessary.

Anyhow, Amy and I took Alyssa to Grandma and Grandpa Paul’s house Friday morning (Granny gets the next visit because it was easier to drop her off in Georgia this time). We said our goodbyes to our girl, and we headed to Tifton, Georgia. That night, Amy finally got to see Spider-Man 3, and that’s the first time we’ve been to a movie together in a while.

We got up Saturday morning and headed 45 minutes south to Valdosta. Halfway there, the smoke from the GA/FL wildfires was so bad, I couldn’t see the road a quarter-mile in front of us. Thank goodness for air conditioning because the smell was horrible, and the AC made it a lot better.

We did a little shopping at some outlet stores, then we headed to Wild Adventures theme park. We went there because Weird Al Yankovic was in concert Saturday night. You have to understand my sense of humor to know why I’ve been waiting to see him for at least 22 years.

Wild Adventures is a small theme park. We got there by noon, and we had been on every ride by 5:00 that evening. I guess all the smoke deterred people from coming until the concert at 8:00 that night. It’s a nice place, but out in the middle of nowhere.

That evening, Amy and I had reserved seats pretty close to the stage. Weird Al hit the stage and put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. He mixed in several costume changes (outfit matched to the song’s video), several “Al TV” spots and great audience interaction.

The clips of “Al TV” messed up in a few places. Instead of bringing the show to a halt, or getting people mad, band members came out and played around with the crowd until the glitches were fixed. They did a fantastic job of improvising, so that’s a big kudos to Al and the guys.

At one point, Al came within two feet of us. He was dancing with the crowd while singing a hilarious love song, and I thankfully got some great up-close photos of him. I’ll post them when we get them back.

I had several people question my sanity last week when I told them I was going to Weird Al’s show. But let me tell you… If you want two and a half hours of nothing but fun, you have to go. I wish he would come back around soon.

He played most of his latest CD, Straight Outta Lynwood. He touched on quite a few of his old hits, but mainly included them in a melody of songs. Oh yeah, he performed “Fat” in his fat Michael Jackson outfit. Awesome!

I hated to see that show end. But, it did, and we headed back to our hotel in Tifton. We got up early this morning, and the family is home once again. One more peaceful night, then back to work tomorrow.

It’s been a great weekend. I know this post might seem a little disjointed, but that’s only because I’m so tired. I couldn’t let the night pass without talking about the concert. Amy’s not a Weird Al fan (certainly not to the extreme I am), but she enjoyed his show.

A great trip despite being choked half to death most of the day by smoke. One more thing, kudos to the brave firemen staying at our hotel in Tifton. I hope you all can get those fires put out so you can get back home safely.

The title of this post should be easy to decipher if you’re in TV news:

Thank goodness sweeps is over!

We can take days off again!

We were informed last Friday afternoon our executive producer (interim news director until Anne arrives) has taken a job in North Carolina. I’ve worked with him the last two years, and I can say it’s been a good experience. Seems like our management has been upside-down lately.

Best of luck to you up there!

I finished writing and editing my sweeps piece tonight. It’s going to be pretty cute, so tune in Thursday night at 10:00 CDT if you’re in the area.