No, this is not a post about the 1970s ad campaign by Campus Crusade, which featured small white buttons with those three words printed simply on them. It was a well funded campaign and included billboards, maybe radio and TV, along with the ever-present buttons. I remember that it caused some of us to wonder why it was “it” and not “him.” (Or, would it have been better theologically to display something like “He found me” on those buttons?) But that was then and this is now. Living in these early days of the new millennium, I’ve been searching for a different small round object. This one is shiny and has lots of music on it, and from my small sampling has been selling very well. In this autumn of 2006, Weird Al has yet another CD to peddle.

The good news is: I finally found the sought after Weird Al album “Straight outta Lynwood.” Or should I say, it was found for me. After checking my fifth “sold out” retail establishment, I approached one of those geeky kids in the blue and yellow at Best Buy and explained my dilemma. Being the good sport that he was, he felt my pain and came to my rescue. Because the store’s computers were down, he couldn’t easily check the inventory of the other local stores; but he did look up the actual phone number of a nearby store and called them direct. And yes indeed, they had the merchandise. I was in luck (even though I had to drive in the opposite direction of home.)

Long story short, I have the disk. And it is now, as we speak (or should I say as I type), on my iPod. My favorite cut by far is the title track “White and Nerdy,” where he pokes fun at himself for not being able to relate to the gangstas. Both the audio and the video are awesome.