Tuesday – Travel Day
Columbus > New Orleans
Woke up with a slight sore throat. Ugh.
Flew thru Atlanta. Was nice to be on big planes again with first class. All my recent trips have been on
small RJs and prop planes and on other airlines.
Although my seat was broken (wouldn’t stay in upright position) on the Atlanta to New Orleans flight and I made the mistake of telling the flight attendant. Delayed the flight until it was fixed. Awesome!
Traffic was rough, even at 4pm. Took me longer that it should of to get to the hotel - between traffic and Linda (my GPS) giving me bad directions. But made it around 5p.
Got checked in and settled.
Walked to a CVS to stock up on cold meds - the sore throat didn’t go away and neither did the sniffles.
Checked in with my friend Mike about dinner – but he was still working. (Some of the crew had a tech set day today)
So I walked over to Shula’s and sat at the bar. Wasn’t feeling that great, so I didn’t have the whole kit-n-kaboodle steak dinner. Just had a French dip.
Went back to room, worked on email and such for a while and in bed by 9:30. Big night in the Big Easy!
Wednesday – Set Day
SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
(view from my room)
Just like every other year on any given tournament, we are behind before we even arrive at the truck. But that’s part of the challenge that I love about tournaments.
I had spent the past couple weeks planning and preparing with the engineers and operations manager on how to make the Duet end of things go more efficiently. We have 3 Duets, 1 Viz, 3 Duet operators, 1 Viz operator and 4 APs.
I was very pleased with how it all came together, but there were still kinks to work out upon arrival.
Several of us went to lunch at Liuzza’s – it was interesting - Cajun-Italian cuisine with a wide range of menu items.
In the evening, a few of us went to dinner in the French Quarter. I don’t remember the name of the place, sorry. But it was good.
We also ended up at Bally’s – or some casino – but I played $20 worth and called it a night.
Thursday – Game Day
SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
I did two of the four games today. Things went pretty well. Still behind and kinks to work out, but all in all, a good first day.
Worked all day and then stayed for a while to prep for tomorrow.
Ate room service for dinner.
Friday – Game Day
SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
I did two of the four games today. Games went good.
I started to prep for the games tomorrow – when we switch networks and the graphics have to be revised for this network. As mentioned before, I am not allowed to mention the network I work for…. But we were switching from a cable channel to a channel that everyone has… and is owned by the same company.
This did not go well. It soon became one of the most stressful nights of my life. The disk I was provided with was not complete and what it did contain, was mostly incorrect.
I could not believe this was possible and therefore re-downloaded it easily 8 times. Each time, it was the same. But I kept doubting myself, there was no way it could be THIS bad!
I may have had a panic attack (or two) – only my amazing AP friend, Thomas knows for sure. He was so supportive of me and thankfully, knows how things work in the ‘graphics world’ and confirmed, the disk really was THAT bad.
We sent out emails, pleading for help because we were coming back at 6am and desperately needed help in order to get on the air.
Saturday – Game Day
SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
There are a couple of rock stars – Mark & Lindsay that made today possible. They tag teamed the mess back in the office and sent update after update until I had enough templates to put together a show.
One of the most stressful 24 hours of my career - But thanks to some awesome people, I made it thru.
Before I knew it, the day was over. Such a sense of relief!
I wanted nothing to do with anyone. I went to my safe haven – Morton’s – for dinner. Sat at the bar and had some of my soul cleansing comfort foods. Mini Lettuce Wedges, amazing bread & butter and a burger. If you have never had the burger at Morton’s, trust me, it is well worth the $18 price tag. I may have topped it off with a couple of their signature Cosmos.
I also had a “brush with greatness” – Kentucky’s own Anthony Davis was also dining there with his ‘wranglers’.
Sunday – Game Day
SEC Men’s Basketball Championship
So a few days ago, we all gave up on ever getting our cars out of valet and started taking cabs to work. We would literally wait 30 mins and still not have a car. Or you would get back at night and have to sit on the street for 30 mins to get into the valet line.
Championship game went well and as expected.
Another season comes to a conclusion. New challenges were presented, but I feel that I conquered most of them. And ones that I didn’t, are noted for next year.
At this Champ Week event, I had the best support I could ever ask for. From the engineering staff.. to Operations.. to my dear AP, Thomas (whom took the brunt of my frustrations)… to the folks back in the office – we rocked it! Thank you for a challenging, yet successful end to yet another college basketball season!
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