Columbus

August 28th – 30th

Kirk Herbstreit High School Showcase

This weekend I worked High School football for the ESPN family of networks. I have worked this event in the past and as most of you already know, I really enjoy working high school sports. (You all thought I was going to say something about Kirk, didn’t you?)

This year it was held in Ohio Stadium. Which was really cool for the kids on the local teams.

We had a set day on Friday, 2 games on Saturday and 2 more games on Sunday.

It was a good time as I got to work with some of my long time freelance friends.

And Steph got a snapshot of Kirk and his boys…

Sunday night, Steph came over to see my house and meet Dave. Then her and I headed to dinner at Cap City Diner – one of my favorite places to take out of town guests.

Cincinnati

August 26-27th

St. Louis vs Cincinnati - NFL

A few months ago, I was crewed to work the St. Louis feed for a preseason NFL game at Cincinnati. On a whim, Dave asked me if I could get him on the crew. And I did – as stage manager.

We drove done Wednesday evening. We stayed in Covington where I used to stay frequently when doing Reds games. This was kind of our last little trip of the summer since I missed out on our Put-In Bay vacation.

We got a list of places to eat from the front desk. There is a little district of restaurants that we wanted to walk to. 5-10 minute walk; max.

30 minutes and a few blisters from my girl shoes, later, we found the district. Sure enough it was only 5 minutes from the hotel – but the map had confused us.

We had a nice dinner and made our way back to the hotel.

Since it was still relatively early, we sat outside in a gazebo and enjoyed the summer evening with a few adult beverages.

On Thursday, I had to be to work around 10am, so he dropped me off at the stadium. He went back to the hotel to work out, etc.

The day was a little crazy. Just issues with the production, the truck, etc.

Dave arrived later in the day, met with the Producer and then explored the stadium.

He had a great time – it was a super simple show to stage manage for!

I think we were on the road back to Columbus around 11:30…. Late night!

Taylor, MI

August 21st - 23rd

Junior League Baseball World Series – ESPN

The drive up on Friday was a disaster. I had just returned from 2 weeks of family hell on Thursday afternoon, then had to embark on this trip on Friday.

Route 23 was backed up for miles. I decided to go my mom’s way to Michigan, but I didn’t have a map. Minor detail.

But after talking to her and getting a brief overview of how to go and where to find a rest stop – I was able to plot the trip using the rest stop map.

All while hoping “Linda” would figure out I wanted to go the back roads… nope – she kept directing me back to 23.

Then to make matters worse – there was bridge construction in a few of the small towns… forcing me onto insanely long and out of the way detours. My 3.5 hour trip quickly turned into 6.

The hotel was right outside of Ford headquarters.


I ate an early room service dinner and went to bed.

Saturday morning I headed over to Taylor.


I had done this event once before – maybe like 5 years ago?
So I really remembered nothing about the venue.




The day went pretty good… considering all I had going against me!
I hadn’t done a Viz show since early June and I had an AP that had only been on remote one other time – just that alone is a struggle! But my incredible baseball knowledge got us thru the day!

Okay, that’s a stretch – but I did shock myself on a few things I explained to him about baseball.

On Sunday morning I set out early…. What is that?


That’s strange… a car window in the parking lot of the hotel.
Thankfully, it didn’t belong to my car, so I got out of there!

Fort Myers, FL

The final memorial service was today at The Palms.
Uncle Hugh, Aunt Mary, mom and I were the only family members to attend.

Considering the exhaustion and emotions we had endured, we probably didn’t take this service as seriously as we should have. It was for grandma’s friends who lived in her retirement community with her. She had only lived there 9 months, but in that time, she had become known and loved by many. Her death was a complete shock to them as well.

My friend Patty had a plant delivered to the chapel which was such a nice suprise!

We got a case of the giggles as we sat in the front row. We couldn’t help ourselves as we overheard the ladies arguing over who got to sit next to who…about where they were parking their ‘wagons’ (their walkers). They thought they were whispering. Thankfully, they likely could not hear our giggles.

4 services in 2 states in 6 days. That has to be some sort of record!

After the service we got back to her apartment and continued working on packing up her belongings.

Yet another 18 hour day.

Do people really go to Florida for vacation?

Big Rapids, MI > Fort Myers, FL

My parents and I spent the early afternoon with my dad’s side of the family. We went to my Aunt Karen’s for a little cookout which was very nice.

Then we drove to Grand Rapids for our journey back to Florida. This trip was beyond exhausting on so many levels. The only redeeming factor was that I booked us first class tickets for the entire trip. That made all the difference in the world. Plus I was able to keep my parents busy in the Crown Room during our layovers.

I don’t remember ever being so tired. But there is still tons of work to be done. Aside from all the legal stuff from the estate, we still have another memorial service to attend tomorrow at the retirement community where grandma lived.

Yes, I missed my vacation, but being there for my family was much more important.

Big Rapids, MI

The visitation on Friday night was very nice. Such a great turnout of family and friends. My parents and I moved away from Michigan when I was 8 – but I still remembered many of the faces. And it was very heartwarming to have family members from my dad’s side of the family there. That really meant a lot.

The funeral today was lovely. My cousins, their kids and I took up the gifts during the offertory.

There was the traditional small town church potluck in the basement afterwards.

Followed by the burial in Paris – where I lived from 2-8 years old.

From there the family all headed to our hotel in Big Rapids – the Holiday Inn. Where the kids swam and the adults had snacks and beer.

I am beyond my breaking point. The stress of this week has been overwhelming. To top it off, I am staying in a very old Holiday Inn in Big Rapids with my parents! This is a very small town – essentially my home town. But even so – this hotel is not up to par with the type of service I am accustomed to. I have had many confrontations with the front desk staff regarding their lack of service skills. But what do they care? They are “the” hotel in town.

I would probably pay $50 for a cup of Starbucks coffee right now!

Meanwhile, my idiot friends were on our vacation. It was a very difficult weekend for me. Obviously the loss of my grandmother weighed heavily, but I also lost my vacation. The vacation we look forward to all year… and the one I spend a lot of time arranging for all of us. I have a lot invested in it.

This weekend is our annual camping trip in Put-In Bay to see “The Menus”.

Dave, Roger, Cliff and Boo kept me up to date with texts and emails.

I can not remember where I put the photo CD - as soon as I find it, I will add some of their photos.

Fort Myers > Big Rapids, MI

Complete whirlwind of days… tons of family stuff to deal with!

Arrangements had to be made for a memorial mass in Ft. Myers, which was last night.
Very nice service. I got to see all my “Florida” cousins and their kids – many of which I hadn’t seen in years.

Arrangements had to be made for the visitation, funeral and burial in Michigan. Plus booking all the travel and the complications of getting grandma to Michigan in time.

Nothing is ever simple.

Mom, Dad and I made flew to Big Rapids this morning. Ok, flew to Grand Rapids and drove the hour north.

Still so much more to deal with.

We are all getting by on 2-3 hours of sleep a night.

Columbus > Fort Myers

Grandma died unexpectantly around 4 this morning.

I spent the morning arranging travel to FL and packing for who knows how long ?? Assuming I would be going from Florida on to Michigan. There will be services in both places.

Our yearly camping vacation is next weekend. It doesn’t look like I will make it back in time – so I put together “to do”, “to take”, and “to buy” lists for Dave since I am the one who preps everything for this trip.

Out of hope, I also packed my camping stuff for Dave to take just in case I am able to meet them up there.

Crazy, crazy day!

Got to Fort Myers around midnight.

Columbus

August 3rd – 8th

Pretty uneventful week. I spent it working on getting stuff around for my tax person. (2008 taxes) Only 4 months behind schedule!

But I did it! I got the stuff sent out to her!

Smokey & Claude also came to Auntie Nic’s for a mini-vacation!


“The Chosen One” on Auntie Nic’s Bed


Claude re-enacting a http://icanhascheezburger.com/ photo


Claude enjoying the livestock in the front yard.


Smokey sleeping on the newspaper – his favorite spot!