September 22nd-25th

Thursday – Travel Day

We had it all planned out…  My friend Mike was landing a few minutes after me.  So we were gonna meet in the Skyclub.  About 35 minutes later several other people were landing and we were gonna all go to one of our DDD places in Memphis.  (There are a lot of them!)

Well…  It ended up just being Mike and I.  Mechanical issues on the other flights.

So we headed to Interstate BBQ – a new place for both of us.

They are known for their BBQ Spaghetti, but that sounded kind nasty to both of us.  However, we did each order a small 6oz portion just so we could try it.  He liked it.  I didn’t.  I don’t really like BBQ Sauce.

I had the sliced beef plate, no sauce.  It was good.  No real seasoning or anything, just smoked beef.  I really liked the coleslaw!

Then we headed down to Oxford.  Thank goodness we used the GPS because I was taking us to the only Hampton Inn in Oxford.  Guess what?  They opened a new one 3 weeks ago.  Good thing we went ahead with the GPS!

It was a really nice Hampton Inn.  It just was in the middle of nowhere.  NOTHING around.

After we checked in, I took the car back out.  There is a sale at Chico’s Thurs/Fri/Sat and there is a really good one here.

It’s right by the Hampton Inn across from a Chili’s…  Hmm…  oops!  That’s in Athens, GA!  Not Oxford, MS.  Oh well.  I am getting my SEC towns mixed up.

In the evening, several of us headed downtown to Ajax for dinner.  

It’s one of my favs.  But it always gives me a terrible stomach ache.  Every thing is deep fried and full of jalepenos.

Instead of the meatloaf, which is what I always get, I went for pot roast, mashed taters and mac & cheez.  Thought I was in the clear.

Afterwards we went to Irie which is next door, on the town square.  We went there last year too.  It’s like people our age eating dinner, until 10pm and then it’s wall to wall college kids.  Might have something to do with the $1 well drinks?

I was getting really tired, so I headed back to the hotel with Mike around 11pm.  Some of the guys stayed our for a few more hours, I just didn’t have it in me.

Friday – Set Day

We got a lot done today and finally are getting to where we feel ‘comfortable’.  It always takes a few weeks to get into a groove on set days.

Friday night a few of us went to one my favorite places in Oxford – “Volta”.

The guys found it on accident last season.  They were told it was a “Mexican Fusion” place.  Well, it’s actually Greek.  I love the pimento cheese and hummus plate.  Yum!!

It’s always a gamble going there…  you don’t know how long it will take to get a table.  There is not a hostess.  You just stalk out your table.  It’s very strange.  But soooo worth it!

We got really lucky and were in/out in just about an hour.

Saturday

Georgia vs Ole Miss

Game went just fine.

In the evening, we all drove back up to Memphis to stay near the airport.  We went to a DDD fav – Uncle Lou’s Southern Chicken.

I get the grilled cheese – which is sooo good!  It has honey drizzled over it.  Strange, but oh my!  I also get a couple chicken tenders with “Sweet Spicy Love” sauce.  And then of course you must get a “Honey Dipped Biscuit”.

The boys were watching the LSU vs West Virginia game, so I headed back to the hotel.  The chairs/tables are Uncle Lou’s are not at all comfortable and I just wanted to shower and get to bed.

Sunday – Travel Home

Nothing like getting up at 3:45am.

I was with a few of the boys on the MEM > ATL flight which always makes travel better.  Sat in the Skyclub for a few hours before heading on CMH flight.

Another great weekend with the best crew in the country!

September 15-18th

Thursday – Travel Day

Traveled from Columbus to Nashville (via Atlanta) today.   On my first flight, I sat next to one of my long time engineer friends from Columbus, Tom.  It was nice to catch up.

In Atlanta I ran into an Ops Producer, Will.  Always so nice to see people I know while traveling.  Reminds me I am not the only one out there ‘living the dream’.

Once in Nashville, I headed to Café Rakka.  It’s a DDD place that a bunch of the crew went to last year.  I didn’t go because it was a Friday night and it was quite a ways away.  I prefer sleep on Friday nights.

It’s a Mediterranean place.  The chef makes each plate from scratch.  So it does take a while.  He also uses all fresh herbs and spices.

I had a special – filet mignon kabobs with salad, rice, vegetables and hummus.  

The kabobs were fabulous!

The hummus was kind of disappointing.  It was ok, but I have had better.

After eating, I headed to hotel.

Got checked in and took a nap.

In the evening, I met up with Steve and Thomas.  We went to a Mexican place that I went to last year.  It was crazy loud in there.  But the food was good.

Friday – Set Day

Got up early.  Had a great sleep!

Went down for breakfast a little after 7.  Sat with John and chatted about the week.  Michael joined us and shared one of his fascinating stories of when he was a runner for ABC.

For lunch we went to Rotier’s.

It’s a local place that is known for it’s burgers.

Shortly after we got back to the truck, we lost power for a while.  That ended up putting me behind schedule.  So the rest of the day was a thrash.

In the evening, I just ordered room service and got caught up on email.  

Saturday

Ole Miss vs Vanderbilt

The game was our quickest one yet.  Shockingly enough, Vanderbilt came very close to shutting out Ole Miss.

In the evening, I went to Pie In The Sky with Steve and Mike.

I ate way too much and spent the rest of the evening in my room.  I was miserable.

Sunday - Travel Day

Instead of racing home early this morning, I met up with some friends.  TG lives in Nashville and MB, her fiancée was visiting for the weekend.  So I met them for breakfast.  

We planned to meet at The Pancake Pantry.

When I got there, there was easily 75 people in line.  So I texted them to see if they wanted to try somewhere else.

We ended up meeting at Athens Family Restaurant.

I didn’t realize it, until I saw the logo on the wall, but it’s a DDD place.

Afterwards, we went to TG’s apartment so I could meet their new dog, Joplyn.  Joplyn was orphaned after the tornadoes that ripped thru Joplin in May, so they adopted her.  She is a very sweet dog.

I didn’t get home until Sunday night, but I got to catch up with friends…  something I so rarely get to do.

September 7th-11th

Mississippi St vs Auburn

Wednesday – Travel Day

Traveled a day early this week – my former AP from last football season (and many other sports) has “retired” from the network and has a lake house near Auburn.  Her, her husband and dogs are meeting me there late tonight.

I flew into Columbus, GA which is a very tiny 1 gate airport.  I ended up checking a bag since this trip required extra clothes and I threw in a bottle of wine at the last minute.

Well that proved to be a huge mistake.  It took 40 minutes to get bags.  Which was mystifying considering the bags had to be moved about 25 feet from the plane to the luggage belt.

This put me behind …  Stephanie and Lee were going to be meeting me at the exit for t he lake house since it’s down a long and windy road.  So our perfectly timed out trip, now required them to wait for about 30 minutes for me.

From the airport I had about a 90 minute drive – but I made it – we were soon unloaded Steph and I sat on the porch drinking wine and catching up until all hours of the morning.

Thursday – Day at Lake Martin

Up early.  Ugh.

Steph had invited the crew over today and they started arriving probably around 11a.

People came and went all day.

It was a wonderful day in the sun spent with some of my favorite tv people.

In the evening, we went for a boat ride and had a cookout.  

John - Steve - Lance - Jerome - Jim

We then all headed for the hotel as it was about 1 hour away.

Friday – Set Day

This was my first time at Auburn for football.  So I was excited to see another stadium.  Parking was a nightmare.  It took us about 30 minutes to find it.  And then had about a mile walk to the stadium.  Fun fun!

Due to issues last week, I got a pleasant surprise this week – my favorite Viz Tech was paying us a visit.  Oh how I love Bob – he is the best!

That evening Bob took Team Graphics (and Jill) to dinner.  We ended up at a Mexican joint.  Nothing like Mexican in Auburn, AL!  Much to our surprise, it was really good.

When we got back to the hotel, I ran into a long time friend, Ed at the hotel.  He also works for the network, just not on remote anymore.  It was nice to see him and catch up.

Saturday – Game Day

Due to the parking situation, I rode to work the with Producer since he gets to park next to the truck.  Much better!

The day went well and Bob worked on my laptop which was suffering from viruses that I got 3 weeks ago from a certain AP…  won’t mention any names. 

In the evening, my friend Steve and I went to BW3s for drinks and wings.

Sunday – Travel Day

Up around 3:15a so I could make my 6a flight in Columbus, GA.  This is always a tricky one - The hotel is in Central Time, but the airport is in Eastern Time…

 Aside from getting up at 3:15a in the morning on Sunday mornings, life is good.

September 1st-4th

Kent State vs Alabama

Thursday – Travel Day

Got to the hotel in the late afternoon - Was greeted by Lance and John who were sitting at the pool, which was by the front door, handing out beers as our crew arrived.  They had gotten in early, bought a cooler, ice and lots of beer - God I love this crew!

Quickly got settled in my room and headed out to the pool to join the others who had since gotten in for poolside drinks.

Eventually we walked across the street to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner.  Afterwards, we sat poolside again for awhile enjoying a few night caps.

Friday – Set Day

As most first weeks go, the day was a blur.  New graphics disk, a Viz tech onsite, new sponsors, etc.  There were of course issues that made for a very long day.  Thomas and I missed out on dinner with the rest of the crew but had fun making idiots of ourselves in the Wendy’s drive thru on the way back to the hotel.

Saturday – Game Day

Steve, our producer

After the game and once back at the hotel, most of us had dinner again at Ruby Tuesdays.

I am so happy the season has finally started and I am back with my boys…  but I have already started the countdown of how many weeks we have left.  If only college football lasted for more than 14 weeks!