I hadn't been to Las Vegas in a few years so I was really looking forward to the trip. Especially since I wouldn't be traveling by train. I had also never had the pleasure of attending a Jimmy Buffet concert and, although I'm not a Parrothead, I really enjoy unique spectacles, regardless of who or what it involves. We started Saturday before the sun came up; enjoying steak and eggs at Carnell's Chuckwagon in McCook and ended our culinary experience for the day by having lamb at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. There is a difference between the two On Sunday we ate at Emeril Lagasse's restaurant, also located in the MGM Grand. At least based on our experience, Wolfgang Puck won.

Norm (The McCook Chef) and I had a great flight out on Ted Airline. I had never heard of Ted Airline but I'll fly them again if I have the chance. They're a subsidiary of United Airlines and they're very customer oriented. Free headphones were provided to each person on board in order to listen to selected channels from XM satellite radio. Cocktails were reasonably priced at $5 and the service was fast and cordial. The flight only took an hour and 40 minutes and it was smooth as silk. Of course, we could have taken the train to Reno and gotten there in 37 hours but why would we have wanted to do that? Plus, Jimmy Buffet wasn't in Reno.

There were really only two glitches in the entire trip. The first occurred with our arrival at the hotel we were staying at; The Signature at the MGM Grand. Our room was not ready when we arrived and it was suggested we have a cocktail in the lounge and that our room would be ready when we finished. Norm is a Coors Light guy, no matter where he goes while my drink of choice is Stoli vodka and tonic. The cost of those two drinks was $17.50, but hey, we were in Vegas. The lounge was full with Parrotheads and, because I had on a Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville shirt, one of them bought me a free drink so it wasn't all bad. We finished our drinks and headed back to check in.

We were told our room in Tower One still wasn't ready but there was a room available in Tower Three. Since neither of us had stayed at The Signature before, we didn't know the difference between the two so we took the one that was ready. Big mistake. The towers are side by side and Tower three is the furthest away from the casino at the MGM Grand, connected to the Signature by a covered walkway. That was bad enough in itself because we estimated the walking distance from our tower to the casino to be at least a half mile and then another quarter mile to the Sports Book which is located at the very back of the casino. I had on a new pair of penny loafers and it didn't take long for my feet to start hurting because of all the walking we had to do. Every time I've been in Vegas in the past, I've stayed in the hotel proper with elevators just off the casino floor that delivers you directly to your room. I expected the same this time but ended up with the furthest thing from it. I also took the wrong shoes when my son and I attended the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis a couple of years ago and I promised myself I would never put myself in that position again, but, lo and behold, I did. And the walk in Vegas was even further than the walk between venues in Memphis. By the second day, I was in such pain that I looked like an old man shuffling across the floor. It was a bad deal; a very bad deal.

Since Buffet was appearing on the night we arrived, I wasn't yet suffering any discomfort because we had only made the walk from our tower to the casino and back once. There was a huge tailgate party in the parking area just outside the MGM Grand Garden Arena where he was playing and that was really one of the highlights of the trip. Everyone was happy, in good moods, singing, drinking and generally enjoying a laid back good time; the same kind of good time promoted by Buffet in his songs and words.

Eventually, an announcement was made over the public address system that the concert was about to begin and everyone should re-enter the building and take their seats. We knew we had good seats, parallel to the stage and downstage just a little. The arena holds 18,000 people and the concert had been sold out for months. When Buffet came out to play his first song, the crowd erupted as it always does and stayed on their feet for the entire song. His second song was not one of his better known songs and everyone in the entire arena sat down; everyone that is except the person mentioned in the title of this column, who eventually became the cause of the second glitch in our trip. Not only did he and his girlfriend stand throughout the second song, they stood throughout the third song as well when no one else in the entire arena was. Grumbling started behind him, coming from the people whose views were blocked by him and his girlfriend standing. Finally a guy sitting behind him said something directly to him and the guy standing turned around and spouted off a whole litany of expletives to the guy. The guy sat back down and said nothing else. This happened twice more, with the guy standing reacting in exactly the same way with the same result.

My view was not blocked by him since he and I were on the same row. A man and woman were sitting between him and me. But even though his standing did not affect me directly, it affected me indirectly because he was running the show for at least thirty people sitting behind him and I didn't think that was right. I've never been able to abide insensitivity, rudeness, or disrespect towards others and he was doing all three. I kept waiting on someone to call him on his behavior but no one ever did.

I learned a long time ago that if you want something done, you usually have to do it yourself so I did. Even though he was twice my size and half my age, I confronted him about his behavior. I won't go into the details of the confrontation but I was able to convince him to not just sit down, but in fact, leave. After he and his girlfriend left, the rest of the concert went smoothly and the people sitting behind him all thanked me for interceding on their behalf. I've never heard of physical confrontations at a Jimmy Buffet concert before so maybe it was a first. But it had to be done.

I don't want you to get the wrong message from the telling of this incident. I don't like physical confrontations because there are almost always other ways to solve a crisis. But this time there wasn't. The thing that concerned me even more than my confrontation with him was that I was the one who had to do it to begin with. I'm not sure who we have become collectively as a society when we won't step up to the plate and confront injustice but it was clear to me that those people who were being denied full participation in the concert due to his rudeness simply weren't going to do anything about it. That's a troublesome thought to me and I've thought a lot about it since it happened.

The rest of the night was conflict-free and we stayed up late playing blackjack and enjoying our surroundings.

On Sunday, we ventured out from the MGM Grand and went to a couple of other casinos. Our gambling ventures were more or less successful. Norm lost a little money overall due to his loyalty to the Colorado Rockies appearing in their first ever World Series and I won a little. In fact, I actually came home with more money than I left with which is always a good thing. We had much better results than the guy I was sitting next to at the Playboy Club on top of the Palms Hotel who lost $18,000 in 35 minutes, betting a thousand dollars a hand playing blackjack. The Playboy Club was a remarkable experience; one I hope to repeat in the not-too-distant future. Nothing but pure class.

We got up the next morning, ate at the MGM Grand Buffet and headed for the airport, none too worse for the experience except for my feet.