College Station, TX

Baylor vs Texas A&M Women's CBB - Big Monday pres. by Bud Light/Judgment Week

Well the new power supply is not working.

I found a Radio Shack near campus – will go there on my lunch break.

Headed to work… was working with a group, that for the most part I didn’t know. Which is always fun.

At lunch, I headed to Radio Shack – which of course wasn’t easy. There was an accident, so traffic was messy!

Called the store en route to find out what entrance it was near. Literally ran thru the mall… I had all the pieces and parts – just not the box it had come in – due to space limitations in my luggage. I also had the receipt.

Well, they didn’t have the same model at this location.

Fine, give me a store credit and I will buy the next version up.

Easier said than done. (of course, because this is my life!)

The sku # on the receipt didn’t match anything they had in the store.

The manager said, “this didn’t come from a Radio Shack”

I was outraged at that insult!
And promptly whipped out my camera and showed him the shot I took of the front of the store on Saturday night.

HA!

Apparently, it was a third party store. It was actually something like “Bob’s Electronics” that was a Radio Shack authorized dealer. However, from the signage, you would of never known that.

I refused to back down. I stood strong on “the customer is always right” theory and nagged until he figured out a way to give me a store credit. Magic!

Got the new charger, ran to the car.

Stopped at a Quizno’s and ate as I drove back to the arena.

Oh yah… there’s a game to do!

Oh my…. Baylor Head Coach Kim Mulkey’s suit!
She is known for her insanely tight pleather suits. Ugh!
Not to mention her tall and teased hair!

I couldn’t find one of the really special ones on the internet, but here is something that will give you an idea.

Nashville, TN > Houston, TX > College Station, TX

Migraine hit in the night.

At some point, I got out of bed to go throw up, but didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. All over my PJs.

Eventually, I was able to change and take my PJs to the laundry room and wash them. Showered and got ready to leave.

As usual, throwing up helps a lot and I was able to function somewhat – but it’s still always hazy.

Flew from Nashville to Houston on Continental, which is a GREAT airline, I just never fly them, so I have zero status, which makes me cranky.

Got my rental car – some sort of Jeep… a Patriot I believe. Told Linda I needed to go to College Station. Just shy of 2 hours. And it’s thru the back roads of Texas! 

Made it to College Station and was STARVING! Hadn’t eaten since last night… and we all now know what happened to that meal!

Stopped and ate before even getting to the hotel.

Eventually made it over to the hotel, got checked in and settled.

Hmmm… what did I do with my PJs? I wore them last night…

(envision light bulb above my head here)
NOOOOO!
I left them in the dyer of the Nashville Hilton Garden Inn guest laundry room!
And these weren’t just “any” PJs – they were my official road PJs!
XXL Michigan State long sleeve T and my sage green Tommy Hilfiger PJ pants with brown leaves. Aghhh the horror!!!!

I immediately called the hotel. I was informed I would have to wait until morning to speak to housekeeping. Oh no, what if someone steals them!? I mean come on, they are indeed, the best PJs ever!

Meanwhile, I had heard from the Director from yesterday’s game. He had left his coat in the truck in Murray and the engineer had told him he had both the coat AND my laptop power supply. Good news!

So I again emailed the truck company – this time with my FedEx account number so eventually I could get my power supply back.

Hmm… what’s going on with the new power supply? It seems to now be sending power intermittently. Whatever, I am too tired. I am going to bed.

Due to my lack of PJs, I had to sleep in regular clothes. Ugh!

Murray, KY > Nashville, TN

I realized last night that I didn’t bring my cell charger on this trip. What angers me is that as I was leaving the house, I looked at it and said to myself, “I have two, that one stays here”

WRONG!

I have 2 camera chargers!

See, three weeks of not traveling ruins my brain.

Our portion of BracketBuster Saturday went well. Graphically, it was a struggle with my newbie AP, but she was sweet, so that made up for all she didn’t know about basketball.

I had looked up a Sprint Store online and there was allegedly one only a couple miles away. So after the game I put the address in Linda and set out on my quest.

Never found the place, but found a Radio Shack – they had one of those universal ones that has a changeable tip so it works with almost any phone. I got the car version since I don’t have one of those.

Made it back to Nashville in the late afternoon. Got settled in my room, put a load of laundry in and then sat down to work on the blog…. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No power supply for my laptop! I left it on the TV truck! This is not my weekend!

Went down to the front desk inquiring about a Radio Shack. They showed me on a map that there were several within 10 miles. The closest one was at Opryland – when I asked what it was, you would of thought I had asked what the White House was. The guy working the desk almost fainted – “It’s a destination!....” He rattled off all the things to do there in his southern accent – he reminded me a lot of that American Idol guy – Clay Aiken.

Anyway, the reason I asked was because I had a lot to do and didn’t want to try to find a Radio Shack in a mall that had hundreds of stores.

And good thing I didn’t plan on it because the exit for Opryland was backed up for a good mile.

So I went to one of the other ones.

No longer there.

Then headed towards the next one. Hmm… this doesn’t seem to be the best neighborhood. Linda, where are you taking me?

Oooh – there it is!

The entire time I was inside, I was fearing for my life.

But was able to find a power supply and made the guy open it and confirm that it indeed powered my laptop.

I quickly got out of there and back to the hotel!

Put my laundry in the dryer and started another load.

What an eventful day!
It’s been years since I have been to a Radio Shack; today I went to two in 2 different states!

Am bummed about the laptop power supply though – all these years I have been so proud of myself for never leaving it behind.

I did a little research and sent an email to the truck company; hoping it would eventually be found.

Got my laundry out of the dryer and went to bed.

Columbus > Nashville, TN > Murray, KY

My 3 weeks of no flights are finally over! It’s so weird to go so long without flying.

Another one of these trips where you fly into one state and drive to another because it’s the closest airport. That’s usually a bad sign.

This is my 2nd trip to Murray - ironically, I was here about 4-5 years ago on this same weekend - BracketBuster Saturday.

The drive from Nashville to Murray is a little over 2 hours.

The first hour and a half is all I-24, so an easy drive. Then you exit onto SR 68 and life comes to a screeching halt! It takes forever and a day to get thru the Land Between the Lakes. It looks like it must be a nice area in the summer for camping and such – but today it was just frustrating. Plus there is this bridge that is terrifying! It is so freaking narrow! There is no way 2 trucks can pass on this bridge!

I rolled into Murray around 5pm. We had a partial set day – not until 6pm though. So I hit up “Linda” my trusty GPS, for a package store so I could have some post set-day beverages awaiting me later that evening. Hmm… she couldn’t find any. So I went to a gas station. Nothing. As I was paying for my water, I inquired. “Closest package store is 40 miles away. This area is all dry.”

My response – “This is a college town and it’s dry!?”

I passed like 100 package stores on the way – nope, I didn’t think to stop until now.

Moving on!

Checked into the hotel. Very nice and new Hampton Inn. My room was huge!

And it had a view of the truck – so I could tell when it was parked and powered das boot!

Set day was from 6-10p. Our game is at 11am local tomorrow and it’s BracketBuster Saturday – so they wanted us to get a head start. Which was good for me – my AP hadn’t done basketball before. So this was going to be an uphill battle.

At the end of the night, everyone was headed to some campus bars (only way to drink) – I chose to hit the Tumbleweed next to the hotel to make it a quick dinner and off to bed!

Columbus

4 Purdue vs 12 Ohio State Men’s CBB – BTN – 6:30p et

Tonight was a huge game for both teams!

The Boilermakers defeated the Buckeyes 60-57.
Which was Ohio State's first loss at home this season.

Columbus

Chicago vs Columbus – NHL – Visitor Feed

What an easy day!

The production team was late, then once they did arrive, I built about 10 graphics and then took a 2.5 hour lunch break!

Wow! Days like this are so rare.

The Blackhawaks won 5-4 in a shootout.

Columbus

Alaska vs Ohio State Men’s Hockey – BTN – 7pm et

Alaska (Fairbanks) Nanooks….
What is a Nanook anyway?
Nanook is a derivation of the Inupiaq Eskimo word for polar bear "nanuq."

Nanook’s defeated the Buckeyes 4-1.

Columbus

Purdue vs Ohio State Women’s CBB – BTN – 7:30pm et

Buckeyes win 75-45

Ohio State clinched a share of the Big Ten Title tonight.

They were the first (men’s or women’s team) to win 6 straight Big Ten Titles in team history.

Tonight’s win also improved their record to 18-0 at home; another record breaker.

Another nugget… the Boliermakers were held scoreless for the final 8:43 of the game.

Columbus

San Jose vs Columbus – NHL – Visitor Feed

Had the past 2 days off; but they were a whirlwind!

My first 2 days (in a row) at home in over 2 months. So needless to say, I had a lot to catch up on. Plus mom flies up tomorrow for the weekend – so needed to get the guest room ready for her.

Jackets win 3-0 !

Columbus

Smokey and Claude came to visit Auntie Nic for a couple days. 

Quite possibly some of the best photos to date.

Louisville, KY

UConn vs Louisville Women’s CBB – ESPNU – Noon ET
 









Best team in the Big East (and country) vs the worst team in the Big East.

You can predict the rest!

Drove home after the game.
Napped and watched the Super Bowl.

Louisville, KY

Rutgers vs Louisville Men’s CBB – Big East Network – 4pm et

Nearing the end of an era for L’Ville Hoops… this will be the last season in Freedom Hall.

It sees kinda silly – we are doing a men’s game today in a tiny truck..

…and tomorrow we are doing a women’s game in a very nice HD truck.

Go figure!

Columbus > Louisville, KY

Headed out earlier than planned…. There was quite the snow storm rolling in and I wanted to get a head start.

Ended up missing all of it! For once, I planned my travel right!

The drive was fine – just saw some bizarre signs.
The first one was “Break in Pavement”
Huh?
I never did find the break in the pavement.

The next one was a few miles into Kentucky

It intrigued me, so I Googled it Friday evening.





Here is what I found:
About 11:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday May 14, 1988, Larry Mahoney, a drunk driver in a pickup truck traveling in the wrong direction on an interstate highway in a rural, unincorporated area of Carroll County, Kentucky collided head-on with a gasoline-powered former school bus which was in use as a church bus. The initial crash was exacerbated when the gasoline from the ruptured fuel tank of the bus ignited immediately after impact, which also blocked the front loading door. Difficulties encountered by the victims attempting to evacuate the crowded bus quickly in the smoke and darkness through the only other designated exit, the rear emergency door, resulted in the death of 27 people and injured 34 of 67 passengers. Six passengers escaped without significant injury. Mahoney also sustained injuries.

In the aftermath of the disaster, several family members of victims became active leaders of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and one became national president of the organization (Karolyn Nunnallee). The standards for both operation and equipment for school buses and similar buses were improved in Kentucky and many other states, notably increased emergency exits, better structural integrity, and less volatile fuel.

Other safety issues remain to be addressed. Flammability of materials used in bus seating must also be factored with cost, durability and performance of the foam in impact situations. Another unresolved issue is the lack of requirements for occupant restraints such as seat belts in larger capacity school buses. Some advocates find it ironic that use of the lap seat belts currently available would have likely reduced the number of the 40 occupants who managed to escape the bus in the short time available during the Carrollton incident.

On Interstate 71, the crash site is marked with a highway sign erected by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC). Even twenty years later, memorial items such as crosses and flower arrangements are placed at the site by families and friends. As of November 2007, the Carrollton crash remains the worst bus crash in U.S. history tied for fatalities with the Prestonsburg bus disaster which occurred 30 years earlier in Floyd County, Kentucky in 1958.

Columbus

Dallas vs Columbus – NHL – CBJ Vision

Jackets won 2-1 over the Stars.

Still recovering from January - I worked way too much!

Columbus

Penn State vs OSU Men’s CBB – BTN

Finally feeling a little more human-like.

Just have so much to do, with no time to do it!
I ran errands on my dinner break while eating a samich in the car.

Also got the news about Rizon on my dinner break.

At halftime, the football team was honored for their Rose Bowl victory over Oregon.
“Yah, Go Bucks”
(and I say the ‘yah’ empathetically, not with excitement – it’s a joke among my idiot friends… from “Game Day The Movie”)

Rizon

More sad news from Florida .... Rizon passed away this afternoon.

His health has been failing for the past few years, but steadily declined since Madison died in October. He never recovered from his broken heart.

But he now is happily chasing squirrels & stray cats with Madison & Ronnie (his sister from many years ago).

Rizon entered our lives on Easter 1995. He was part of litter that was born a few months prior at a neighbor of my grandparents. They were born while the owners were overseas and were not properly cared for. He was filthy and starving on the day we reached over the fence and took him home.

Rest assured, he never had another hungry day in his life again!

Most of you probably don't know this, but Rizon had a brief acting career in his early years... He co-starred in a commercial (with me) for "Eye On WINK Magazine". (Sorry - it's not on You Tube)



Family Vacation - June 2009


Christmas Morning - 2009


Best Friends!

"Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."
George Eliot - "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story" - 1857


Rizon
January 1995 - February 3, 2010

Reno > Columbus

Today is what I hate about working on the west coast. It takes an entire day to get home!

Got home around 11pm

The next 20 days I work in/around Ohio – so it will be 3 weeks before I board a plane again. Very bizarro!

Reno

Hawai’i vs Nevada Men’s CBB – ESPNU

Ahhh… it’s amazing what 8 hours of sleep does for ones body!

Went down and worked out, caught up on email, ate a late breakfast and headed to work.

The view from the parking deck was amazing.

I was regretting not going to Lake Tahoe yesterday. Oh well, I got some much needed rest instead.

The game went good. I worked with some people that I had never worked with before, which is always cool. These were mainly freelancers from the west coast – I don’t get out here that often.

On the way back to the hotel, I was able to get a shot of the famous Reno sign.

Columbus > Reno

Took an early flight to Reno this morning. I went early just because I have never been to Reno.

Originally, my intent had been to go check out Lake Tahoe – but I am just too tired!

We were staying at a Casino and my room was very Victorian.

I had my nails done yesterday and OF COURSE this morning on the plane, I broke a nail putting my bad in the overhead bin. I never break nails!

So I went to the spa at the hotel to have it repaired. Very nice spa actually. If I wasn’t so cheap, I would of checked myself in for a day of pampering. But I got my nail fixed and a polish change – enough $$ spent for me!

After that I worked out. Then took a nap.

That evening, I ate dinner there at the hotel because I had discovered that Reno is not that great of a place. Didn’t want to venture out alone.

I ate at a seafood & steak place there in the hotel. It had a ocean theme – but very deceiving! This fish tank was just a photo!

Had a decent dinner, gambled a bit and went to bed.

Columbus

LA Kings vs Columbus Blue Jackets – Visitor Feed

Got home from Ann Arbor yesterday afternoon. Had an entire 24 hours at home, which is rare these days.

Still fighting this funk. I did get a new round of antibiotics since I threw up the big dose on Tuesday morning. So hoping it cures what ever this is!

Worked visitor feed for hockey tonight.

Am so very, very tired. This month is killing me!

Indianapolis > Detroit > Ann Arbor

5 Michigan State vs Michigan – Men’s CBB – 7et ESPN2 – Campus Connection Week

This could be the worst day ever.

I only had time to sleep for about 2 hours.

Dragged myself into the shower.

Officially decided my doctor was insane. I was sick. So before leaving the room, I pulled out my emergency stash of meds….a ZPack (antibiotic).

Upon checking out, the clerk remembered me from a few hours prior and asked why I wasn’t getting any coffee – I said, “I would, but I think I am about to throw up.”

Stepped out into the frozen tundra and wondered what the hell am I doing?
Why have I accepted this to be my life?

Drudged thru the snow to the car and as I was loading it up, I threw up all over the place. Careful not to get it on my clothes as I didn’t have anymore clean ones!

Throwing up an antibiotic 10 mins after taking it tastes so terrible, you throw up again.

Frozen to the bone, I decided there couldn’t possibly be any bile left and got in the car.

Roads were still barely passable.

Made it safe. Returned car. Stumbled in and thru security and to the gate. A few of the guys from the crew were there as well since a lot of us were doing the game at Michigan today. We all shared our versions of the terrible drive from West Lafayette.

Snoozed on the flight.

Got to Detroit and waited 1 hour for my bag. Well – there goes the chance to check into the hotel and taking a little nap!

Hit the Bob Evans and felt much better once I had food in me again.

Do I take another antibiotic? How much had absorbed in my body?

Hmm… well, I think I will wait til tomorrow just to be safe.

Somehow came up with enough energy to make it thru the day. Ate lunch at Zingerman’s…. yummy!

Game went really good considering I was on pretty much no sleep and felt like total crap. The Coordinating Producer was in town and sat next to me – that’s probably what helped keep me alert!

This is my last week with this crew :(

My nose is dripping non-stop.  I keep applying Neosporin to my nose and face.  It is beyond raw.

Livin' the dream baby!

West Lafayette, IN > Indianapolis

Ohio State vs Purdue – Women’s CBB – 7et ESPN2 – Campus Connection Week

Slept 8 whole hours!!!! Wow!

Since I was the last person to check into the hotel last night, everyone from work had seen the sign in the lobby stating the I was guest of the day – so they had a fun time mocking me today.

The weather was taking a very bad turn for the worse. It got very nasty!

I am still fighting whatever this is in my head. I guess exhaustion? But my nose is completely raw from blowing it non stop!

The game was good.

I was very stressed because I had to drive back to Indianapolis after the game. With the inclement weather – I was pretty freaked out.

To be honest, I don’t believe I made it. The roads where probably the worst that I have ever driven on. The 1 hour 15 min drive took me over 3 hours. Because of the horrible conditions, traffic moved at about 25 mph – and even that was too fast!

Accidents everywhere. Just very scary!

Most of the time I couldn’t see 1 car length a head of me.

Things got a little better as I approached Indy.

But the airport exit was a mess. And the road the hotel was on was horrific.

I was so thankful to get there alive!

I asked the manager to please have coffee ready at 4am.

Went to bed.

Lexington, KY > West Lafayette, IN

Auburn vs Kentucky – Women’s CBB – SEC Network – 2pm et

Even though I got about 7 hours of sleep, I struggled to stay “in” the game.
I am just freaking exhausted!

After the game, I flew up to Indianapolis (via Cincy) then drove up to West Lafayette. I am so SICK of this drive!!!

Again, talked on phone entire way – I barely even stayed awake that way.

Upon arriving at my favorite West Lafayette hotel – the Hilton Garden Inn – I was greeted with quite the surprise!

The honor of being guest of the day gets you free breakfast – which I didn’t want – I wanted to sleep thru it! So they let me spend $5 in the Pantry.





Since I was still fighting the sniffles, I bought the only cold medicine they had – children’s Motrin.

Went straight to bed.

I continue to "live the dream" !!

Bowling Green, KY > Lexington, KY

Middle Tennessee vs Western Kentucky – Men’s CBB – ESPN2 1pm et

 

Didn’t sleep very well last night – I never do when I have to get up so insanely early! But I had a 4am crew call… so 2:45a the alarm went off. Didn’t really matter since I was already awake.

Once I was all loaded up in the car, I drove around to the lobby to get coffee.

UGH!

How could they not have a pot ready?!

There was a Steak-n-Shake right down the street – so I pulled in and missed the empty drive thru. Of course by the time I drove around, someone else had pulled in. Obviously their night was just coming to an end because they sat at the sign, not the ordering sign, the sign listing the combos currently on special – and kept yelling at it. After a few minutes, I gave up. They were obviously too drunk to realize it was only a sign they were yelling at.

So very depressing when your day is just starting, when yesterday is just ending for the rest of the world!

My mood was quite surly by the time I arrived at the truck. The town was so small, nothing was open en route. But like an angel from heaven, Tom, the engineer, gave me his coffee! I love my Lyon boys!

Lunch time was like at 8am or something crazy. I ventured out to the Bob Evans. I have learned over the past 24 hours that the longest red lights in the country are in Kentucky!

After the game, I had drive to Lexington. Oh my that was rough! It was about 3.5 hours. Thank God I was able to talk on the cell phone the entire way or I would of never been able to stay awake!

Just my luck – as I arrived in Lexington, the Kentucky men’s basketball game was just ending. The hotel is attached to the arena. Oh, this is not going to be good!

Sure enough, the roads that I knew were all closed down.

Deep breaths.

I sat for a good 45 minutes, creeping only inches at a time to the hotel. I was so close to just leaving my car in the middle of the road, walking the hotel and telling the valet to go get it!

So I get to the point that I can see the street in front of the hotel is closed down. GREAT! The valet stand and the parking lot are on that street.

Since I wasn’t moving, I called the hotel to ask if they had alternative parking since the street was closed.
That only got me angrier!

For every men’s hoops home game, they close the street. The hotel staff acted as I was the first time in all these years to call and ask for an alternate route.

Completely worthless!

I sat at the intersection for a good 15 minutes.

I had determined there was no way I was going to turn when it was my time. I was going to wait until an officer came over to the car to yell at me – then I would promptly yell back!




When it was my turn, I screamed out to the officers and begged them to open the street. And they did because the traffic almost back to normal.

Thank God, because the mood I was in would of resulted in a little jail time.

As I entered the lobby, I was overcome by a sea of blue.

Oh dear God – there really are worse fans than Ohio State fans!
They are Kentucky men’s basketball fans!
I truly hate them.

Had dinner plans with some friends who had just got done working the men’s game. I wanted to break them and go to bed – but there was a party in the room next door - so there was no way I would be able to sleep.

So I met up with my friends in the lobby. But I first stopped at the front desk and warned them that if the party in the room next door was still going on when I got back – I was going to be vigilant and call security every 10 minutes until it got stopped. Not everyone staying in this hotel was here to party!

One of the people I was meeting for dinner, Audrey, went to Kentucky and had the perfect place in mind. So we headed over.

Joe Bologna’s

It had moved since she lived here. It was now in an old church. Pretty cool.

Has beer and pizza – what else could one ask for!?








Got back to the hotel around 10.

Only had to call security twice. Party next door ended.

They obviously left and went elsewhere because they were back around 3am.

A quick call to security and they were quiet again.

State College, PA > Philadelphia > Nashville > Bowling Green, KY

Was supposed to fly to Philly, connect to Louisville, then drive 2 hours to Bowling Green, KY.

Upon arrival at the airport, I was told my flight to Philly was delayed and my connection to Louisville was cancelled. Okay.

So I ended up flying to Philly, sitting for 2.5 hours, then flying to Nashville –which was actually a better scenario for me because it was only a one hour drive to Bowling Green. However, I was getting in much later.

Got to the hotel just after 6pm CT. Quickly got settled and went downstairs for some dinner. Shortly after ordering, I saw the producer come into the hotel and he joined me for dinner. It was nice to have someone to eat with! Plus it was great to catch up.

Got back up to my room around 8p. Ugh!

Alarm set for 2:45am – glamorous life!