Columbus > Fort Myers

Happy Easter!

Took an insanely early flight to Florida this morning. Ugh!
But by doing so, I am home by noon.

As always, I had my window seat on the flight from Atlanta to Fort Myers. As I have said many times, I live for the final decent into RSW. The site of “my islands” brings such peace into my life.

Upper Captiva (left)

Captiva (left)  
Upper Captiva (right)

Pine Island Sound

Sanibel Island & Causeway






Mom and I went over our lists of stuff to pack for our cruise to the Bahamas. We will be leaving mid-morning tomorrow.

In the late afternoon, we prepped for dinner. Uncle Hugh, Aunt Mary and “cousin” Harry were coming over. They were doing a test visit for Harry – next week he will be moving in with mom and dad for a month while Uncle Hugh and Aunty Mary go on vacation thru Europe.

Well, Harry managed to provide the entertainment for the rest of the evening. The second Aunt Mary put him down in the foyer, he bolted! Unfortunately, the front door was still open.

He ran into the yard next door and eventually into a heavily wooded lot. We spent the next hour calling him and spotting him. However, since the lot was so overgrown, we couldn’t walk thru it. We gave up for a while, but I couldn’t stand it. So I put on jeans and real shoes and set back out. Again, numerous spottings, but never able to get close enough.

Eventually, they talked me into coming inside to cool down and I did. After random checks, it was determined he was again in the neighbors yard. And eventually in ours. It was now dark. We chased him around our backyard and finally cornered him!

This ordeal had gone about for about 4 hours.

Looks so sweet and innocent here doesn’t he?!

Columbus

Washington vs Columbus – NHL

Spent the past 2 days prepping for Spring Break ’10!
Tomorrow, I head to Florida so mom and I can go on a cruise on Monday.

Today, I am working the NHL visitor feed.

This my last NHL game of the season.

Caps def. Jackets 3-2

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Columbus

McDonald’s All-American Games - ESPNU & ESPN

Another night of 7 hours of sleep – one could get spoiled livin’ like this!

Never enough time… Alex and I jammed all day getting the stuff ready for our double-header. Thank God we got that bonus half set day yesterday or we would of never gotten it all done!

We had gotten word that Jared Sullinger, the #2 player in the country, played at Northland High School (Columbus) and had signed with Ohio State for the 2010-11 season, might not be playing tonight. He had gotten food poisoning the night before and was currently in the hospital on IVs getting hydrated.

It was somewhat of a blow to us since he was local and should draw a crowd.

However, shortly before game time, we learned he would indeed play.

Our producer needed an additional stats person to relay player stats over the phone back to Bristol so they could include the stats on the “bottom line” during the game.

So we hired Dave to do it. Easiest money he ever made! And he had a blast doing it!

Once again, our wonderful crew pulled of 2 really great games! So much fun! Can’t wait til we get to do it all again next year!

Columbus

Half Set Day for McDonald’s
&
Tampa Bay vs CBJ – CBJ Vision

I was able to get 7 hours of sleep which was amazing in itself!

Until yesterday, I didn’t even know I had a partial set day today. We have asked for one the last several years and I guess it finally got approved

It only makes sense since there is a “dark day” between JamFest and the All-American games.

Thankfully, I was working for Dave tonight and he let me come in a little late so I could work both my 'jobs' today.

Jackets defeated the Lightning 3-2

Columbus

PowerADE JamFest - ESPN2

The JamFest just happened to be in Columbus this year. Which worked out well since a couple of us on the JamFest core crew live in Columbus.



I arrived rather groggy and pretty cranky. But this is one of my favorite shows and crews I work with each year – so I was able to pull thru.

Plus my AP was Alex – he is the best!!

This event is easily the hardest one I do. The pacing of it is totally insane.

It is essentially a show of graphics. Alex and I have teamed up the past couple of years and we have a really good system. And we totally nailed it again this year!

What is the JamFest?
It’s the best high school seniors from across the country that get invited to the JamFest and McDonald’s All-American games.

On the first night, they compete in the JamFest which consists of a 3-point contest, a skills competition and a Slam Dunk contest.

I enjoy it because it’s fun in the coming years as the kids become superstars on the court – to remember them doing this event.

Columbus > Fort Wayne, IN > Columbus

March 25th – 28th

NCAA Hockey Regionals

On Thursday afternoon I went and got a rental car. Then picked up my friend Andy and we set out on our journey to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

It was a nice trip – always great to have someone to make a boring drive with. Plus even though we live 2 miles apart; we rarely see each other, so it was nice to catch up.

We exited in Bellefontaine, OH so he could get some lunch. As we were sitting in the drive thru at McDonald’s, we both spotted the Rax across the street. My reaction was that I hadn’t seen one of those in years. He completely freaked out!

Apparently Rax was a childhood favorite. So we promptly went across the street and bought more fast food. He was super excited about our discovery.

About 2.5 hours into the trip, the car started dinging and indicating it was out of gas.

Huh? So we pulled over and concluded there just was no way it was possible since we hadn’t gone far enough to burn up a tank. We turned the car off/on a few times to see if it would reset. Nope.

Since we were in the middle of nowhere, all we could do was keep driving until we found a gas station. It was only about 15 minutes later that we found one. And sure enough, we only needed about $8 worth – so the car was just crazy!

We had a lot of good laughs over that one!

Got into Fort Wayne in the early evening. We were staying at the lovely Holiday Inn.

After getting settled, Andy and I headed up to Denis’ room for cocktails. Eventually our friend Dave joined us. The boys ended up going out, but I was a good girl and went back to my room. We had a long couple of days ahead of us and going out would only lead to trouble!

Our set day on Friday was ok. The hockey disk was frustrating – just a lot of stuff wrong with it. But my AP Russ and I powered thru.

Friday evening, I just ate at the hotel bar. Again, knowing better than going out with the boys.

Saturday we had a double header. The games went well – just a really long day!

Saturday night, we all met in the hotel lobby for drinks. Since we were staying at the hotel, I went down in flip flops, jeans that were too big with no belt, my drivers license and a room key.

The hotel bar was very crowded and next thing I know we are leaving. The boys didn’t want to wait for me to get shoes, belt and coat. So… oh well!

We stopped at a few places trying to figure out where we were going to hang out. I think it was as we were walking up to Rick O’Shea’s that I realized that I didn’t have any money! Since I wasn’t planning on leaving the hotel, I was just going to charge my drinks to my room.

I asked to borrow one of the cars; however Denis insisted I just take money from him. So for the rest of the night I joked about my allowance from dad.

We ended up at Ruby Tuesdays. They were about to close, but we begged them to stay open long enough for us to have a few drinks and some dinner. Thankfully, they obliged.

Once they finally kicked us out, the manager suggested we go to “Legends” – he said it was a sports bar, so we went there.

Well it was the first sports bar any of us had been to that didn’t have any sports memorabilia hanging on the walls, let alone any sports on the TVs. They had one too many fog machines going – you could barely see 10 feet in front of you.

There was a DJ doing something – not sure what – other than making a ton of noise.

On the TVs there was like a screensaver from a computer playing.

We felt extremely out of place, but decided to at least get some drinks.

Well that took forever! We couldn’t get anyone to wait on us. Eventually one of the boys had some words with one of the bartenders and we finally got drinks. REALLY bad ones!



We decided as soon as the drinks were gone, we were out of there!

In the meantime, a couple of the boys posed for some silly photos

Dave and Denis

Dave, Andy, Denis







After leaving “Legends”, it was decided there was only one other bar that was still open. However, it was said that “We can’t take Nikki there!”. Basically, it was deemed inappropriate and they assumed I would not go to a place like that.

Well, that only made me want to go – out of spite!

I won’t say exactly where we went, but I will tell you it was pretty nasty.

We had a lot of fun and the boys thought I was way cool for going there. Not exactly my cup of tea – but I will do just about anything to prove people wrong and for spite!

No photos were allowed inside the ‘establishment’, however, I did sneak one of Denis being silly in front of a projection tv screen. It came out very bizarre!

Not at all what we actually saw there.






Once that place closed at 3am, we stumbled back to the hotel.

Sunday we had one game. 8pm puck drop.

Which went well until it went into overtime. Ugh! Playoff hockey has full 20 minute periods.
And then it went into a second overtime.

This was not at all a good situation for Andy and I because we had to still drive back to Columbus. We had a 10am crew call for the PowerAde Jam Fest. Originally, we were not supposed to do this hockey site because of the late puck drop and the quick turnaround. But things don’t always go the way they should.

The drive home was BRUTAL! We were both so exhausted. But we really didn’t have a choice – we had to do it. We made it safe and sound … getting back a little after 3am.

This was definitely one of those nights filled with anger about our jobs. At least we had each other to complain to.

Baltimore > Champaign, IL > Columbus

March 21st – 23rd


Kent State vs Illinois Basketball – Men’s NIT - ESPNU

Sunday morning, as soon as I got in the car, I went to plug in Linda. Hmm… I know I left her lifeline (power supply) in the car – where is it?

Instead of accusing the valet of taking it, I drove away. The car was parked on a busy street so I couldn’t get out and look for it.

Upon arriving at the rental car facility, I immediately looked in the spot where I would of placed the power supply. Not there.

I have a “system” on the road. All items have a specific spot in my backpack. That’s the only way I can keep track of things.

Since it was not there, that mean the valet had taken the power supply.

Why would you do that? It’s worth like $1 at a pawn shop!

I was so mad because now I was going to have to find a Best Buy in Champaign to buy a replacement. Grr!

As luck would have it, my connection from Detroit to Champaign was delayed. And there was a store in the Detroit airport that sold GPS power supplies. Done!

Simple. But believe me, this will not be the last of the power supply saga!

Got to the hotel in Champaign, got settled and went to bed rather early.

On Monday, the game went fine. Somewhat bitter sweet – last college basketball game of the season.

Travel back on Tuesday was crappy.
Nothing happened – it just took all day. Which seems silly. It’s just the lack of flights out of Champaign. Oh well.

Baltimore

Syracuse vs Johns Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse – ESPNU

Had a good sleep!

Met up with Stephanie and rode into work together. This is the first of many lacrosse games we will do in the coming months.

Our day went well. Ate with the producer & director across the street from the stadium at a vegan place. It was really good!

After the game, Steph and I went to a bar near the hotel. She wanted to celebrate my b-day (belated) and the start of our lacrosse season.

There was this Italian place in the alley behind the hotel. Along with some Miller Lite’s we shared a pie. Yummy!

Columbus > Baltimore

Well my one day respite was nice, but back to reality! It’s March after all!
Switching gears a little – my lacrosse season is starting a little early this year.

I am flying Southwest today – which is rare. Southwest uses the A Gates; which I never frequent. I had to laugh when I read the sign in the ladies room.

It wasn’t about the bathrooms – it was the bottom part….

Sadly, that is SO true!
You don't "understand" it until you live here.
(and even then.....)



Travel to Baltimore was fine. Took forever and a day to get to the rental car facility – but that is to be expected.

Got checked in and settled at the Hampton Inn Inner Harbor – which was pretty nice for a Hampton Inn.

It was an amazing spring day – so I set out for the Inner Harbor. Grabbed some lunch and then sat on a park bench in the Inner Harbor for some people watch and a little book reading. A nice and peaceful afternoon.

Columbus

This morning Smokey and Claude came over to spend the day with Auntie Nic.

They quickly settled in to watch all the wildlife outside.

Throughout the day, we all took a few well deserved naps

Claude

Smokey






Well, the kids did, Auntie Nic didn’t really have time.

Tampa > Columbus

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
This has always been one of my favorite holidays!

Mom and I kinda slept in (for us at least).

Went downstairs and worked out.

Had some breakfast and then leisurely got showered and ready.

We really had no plans. My flight wasn’t until 7pm, but she hoped to get on the road before 5.

Would of loved to spent the day at the pool, but again too chilly!

Decided to go to Ikea.
Walked around there for a few hours and got all sorts of crap that we really didn’t need!

Afterwards, we decided to go for an early dinner, but got kinda lost and all turned around.

We ended up at a Mimi’s – which was good since it was right off I-75 because then mom would have no problem getting home afterwards.

Even though I have been on the road for over 2 weeks now, it was nice to have the chance to spend the day with mom.

Got home a little before midnite.

Have about 36 hours to recover before I head to Baltimore to start my Lacrosse season.

Tampa

NIT 1st Round - Mississippi State vs South Florida – ESPNU

Ahhhh … I can feel the antibiotics fast at work!

Crew call wasn’t until 1:30, so I hit the treadmill and then attempted to sit in the sun for a while. Unfortunately, it was just too windy & chilly. I only sat in the sun for about 20 minutes.

Headed to work. Was excited because I was working with my NHRA friends again.

This was my first time doing hoops at USF.

Talked to mom on my dinner break. She had made it to the hotel just fine.

After the game I headed back and had a few glasses of wine with mom and went to bed.

Nashville > Tampa

Watched the NIT Selection show last night to get an idea of where I would be sent.
I knew I was doing a Tuesday game on ESPNU.
USF was an ESPNU site, so I had a feeling that’s where I would end up.

Today, I woke up with a sinus infection so called my doctor and had a Z-pack called in to the CVS a few blocks away.

Showered, got ready, packed and just before I was going to CVS, I got the word I was indeed going to Tampa. So I sent in my flight request and walked to get my Rx.

While out, crewing called to tell me one of the flights I picked was sold out. So we had to scramble for something else.

We found a direct flight on Southwest. Ugh. Nothing like booking a Southwest flight 3 hours before departure!

Got back to the hotel and emailed mom. She felt like she might be "sick" on Wednesday since I was going to spend my day off in Tampa.

My flight to Tampa wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I managed to NOT get a middle seat, which was a miracle in itself!

Still not feeling the greatest, I got settled in Tampa and went to bed.

Nashville

SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament – SEC Network and ABC on ESPN

I can see the arena from my hotel room.

It’s where the Nashville Predators play.








They did a really nice job transforming it from a hockey arena to make it seem as if it were the home of SEC Basketball. Even wrapped the player hallway walls with a SEC timeline.

Had the Championship game today. Was nice to only have to do one game!

This is where I have been working for the past few days…

Afterwards, I walked around Nashville to see what all the fuss was about.

Still don’t get it.

It just seems like a lot of people sitting on the sidewalks performing and lots of bars.

Not impressed.







Went to dinner at a place that was recommended.

Ugh!





Went to bed relatively early. I am exhausted beyond belief. Plus I am traveling somewhere tomorrow for NIT. Just don’t know where.

Nashville: March 11-13th

March 11-13th


SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament – SEC Network and ABC on ESPN

Finally got the logos finished on the glass.






Still “living the dream” ….

A phrase that is said over and over by freelancers across the country, when asked “How are you”.

That’s where I find myself today.

But really, what does that mean?

Cause I never dreamed of a life like this. And I am pretty sure, not any sane person would.

Thursday and Friday were a total blur. Double headers both days. Stayed after the morning games to start building for the next day and came in early before the morning games to finish prepping.
Every millimeter of my body aches from sitting for 10+ hours for the past 10 days

But I did take a break long enough to go out on the floor during the Kentucky game on Friday – it was insane!

A certain prominent Kentucky fan, who is an actress with a first name of Ashley and has a famous race car driver for a husband (as if you needed that clue) - her father is a freelancer for ESPN and was working this event.  So all the boys on the crew were giddy because Ashley was hanging out in our catering room. 

Apparently she forgot to lock the door when she used our bathroom and one of the APs walked in on her.
Not sure who was more at fault - her not locking the door - or him for using the ladies room ?

Friday night was the worst. Had a 6 hour turnaround. Which means when I left on Friday night, I had to be back in my seat 6 hours later for yet another double header! Not to mention the fact that there are about a million Kentucky fans at our hotel and the streets are crawling with them at 6 am – already drinking! (or still)

They are EVERYWHERE!

Okay, in all fairness, there were a lot of Tennessee fans in this shot too!







Saturday evening I treated myself to Morton’s. I thought I would be able to find a respite from drunk Kentucky fans there. Or they would be at least civilized UK fans.

Wrong! Just rich UK fans!

I sat at the bar.

A man in his late 70s starting chatting with me. I was cordial but not inviting. He was there rooting from Arkansas with some friends of his. His wife was dead, but he still hangs out with their friends.

He literally said that – “My wife is dead”

Which was fine, I just though he would of said it differently

Well, the conversation continued and next thing I know, I am being asked to join him and his friends for dinner, as his date.

What?

Thank God my dinner arrived at that moment so I had a nice way to decline.

Only me could get picked up by a man old enough to be my grandfather!

Back to the hotel...
One of our announcers is staying in the room next to mine. He stays up late talking (loudly) on his phone in his announcer voice and gets up crazy early and restarts the process. I am going to lose my mind pretty soon!

Hartford > Nashville

Got up at 3:45am – which meant I had slept for just about 3 hours.

Cab was late which freaked me out – I hadn’t allowed for much wiggle room on my departure time. Struggled to stay awake in the cab – which scares me. I will sleep just about anywhere, but to me, sleeping in a cab is too dangerous. You never know where you might wake up!

But we made it in time and got to Philly with no issues. I only had 40 minutes to connect – but it worked out just fine.

Got to Nashville, collected my luggage and headed out for a cab.

OMG! The cabbie had doused himself in some horrific cologne. Like some sort of fake reproduction of something. Whatever it was, there was just too much!

Plus, he had heat on! Which only made me feel like I was going to die from the baked fumes of bad cologne!
I smelled like him for the rest of the day!

Even though it was 10am, I was able to check in at the hotel (thankfully). So I dropped my bags, brushed my teeth and headed back out.

The arena was only a few blocks away. Crew call was at 9am, but they knew I was going to be late. Plus, there had been credential issues and the AP had texted me around 9:45a saying they had just then gotten to the truck. So truly, I wasn’t that late afterall.

Bridgestone Arena was being transformed from a NHL arena to a SEC hoops hotspot!

We went to lunch at Piranha’s – a knock off Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh

The set day went well. I was beyond exhausted though!

After work, I went to my room and got unpacked/settled. Didn’t even attempt to find out what my friends were doing for dinner. I headed down to the hotel restaurant, which I knew was a bad option, but didn’t have the energy to go anywhere else.

I ate my soup, took about 4 bites of my sandwich and gave up. I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Today was one of those days that makes you wonder…. What the hell am I doing?
But 10 days from now, when I get the check, I will remember why I had said yes to back-to-back tournaments! I will be able to afford taking 2 months off in the summer!

Hartford, CT: March 5th – 9th

Big East Women’s CBB Tournament

Friday thru Monday were pretty much a complete whirlwind!

Tournament time is always so busy.. such long hours… but this year we had the UConn record breaking season.

They were on pace to tie their own record of 70 consecutive wins in the Quarterfinal on Sunday vs Syracuse. Then break the record with their 71st win on Monday in the Semifinal vs Notre Dame.

What a frenzy it turned into!!

Of course, they did it, there was never any doubt. There was just A LOT of extra hype surrounding it (for us).

Outside of the tournament, nothing really happened. I spent 14 hours a day in the truck on Saturday and Sunday. Got it down to about 12 on Monday. It just wreaks such havoc on your body.

Columbus, GA > Atlanta > Hartford, CT

The drive to Columbus, GA was nice. Sunny spring day!

Got to the airport with no issues.

The issue upon arrival though was retrieving my luggage from the bed of that god forsaken truck! It was a scene man! I had to put the tailgate down and crawl up on my hands and knees and drag it back to the end of the bed.

After checking in with Delta, I went over to the TSA luggage drop. This airport is very tiny and they do not have x-ray machines for the checked luggage. So they have to hand inspect your bags.

Once it was my turn, the guy took my boarding pass and stamped it and wrote down my information in the log. Then hoisted my bag up on the table and riffled thru it. All the while his female co-worker was giving me the stink eye. Seriously, she either thought I was a terrorist or was mad that I was being nice to the man.

Once he was done inspecting my underwear, he zipped up the bag and said I was good to go. That’s when I told him he had never given me back my boarding pass.

This turned into a 15 minute ordeal. He couldn’t find it.

He was convinced he had put it in my luggage by mistake. I assured him he didn’t because I would of stopped him from doing so. Even so, he called Delta to bring back my luggage from the plane. (Oh dear God!)

He went thru every nook and cranny and what do ya know? He hadn’t put it in there.

I was very, very patient thru the entire ordeal. Even making jokes and being very lighthearted.

The boarding pass was never found.

I am convinced the female TSA agent had taken it while it was sitting on the counter, while I was watching the guy go thru my bag.

Anyway…. I had to go back to Delta to get a new boarding pass. Which was entertaining because they didn’t believe me when I said that the TSA agent had lost it.

Whew!

So now its time to go thru security. Just before it’s my turn, they do a rotation. Meaning all the screeners rotate positions and a few new people come and a few people take break.

Well the guy who had lost my boarding pass was now the guy at the walk thru body scanner – so being the smart ass that I am, when I handed him my boarding pass, I said, “Now don’t go loosing this one!” He looked at me as if I was totally insane.

Okay, whatever, he doesn’t think I am funny.

The man at the end of the Xray belt said to me, “Oh, I see Delta got you a new boarding pass with no issue. Sorry again.”

Oh no… did I really just do that?

At that moment the guy from the body scanner came up and said to other guy – “See we all look alike to her. It must be the uniforms”

I was BEYOND mortified!

I was so embarrassed, for obvious reasons, but also mad at myself. I am so observant about people and random things, I can not believe I didn’t realize they were 2 different people.

Whatever…. I have no qualms about admitting my hatred of TSA agents. They are quite possibly one of the worst wastes of our tax dollars. If they were actually effective, I would feel differently. But they are not.

I just feel bad because these guys were actually nice and I liked them for once. However, I committed quite the faux pas!

It’s safe to say, if there are TSA agents at the gates to heaven, I will not be admitted.

Moving on….

Got to Hartford in the mid afternoon and then settled at the Hilton. I went to my dinner spot – Morton’s and had a fabulous dinner. The bartender still remembers my order – which to me is worth the price. I eat there 2-4 times a year, and he knows what “the usual is for me”. Wow!

After dinner, I met my old friend and co-worker, Russ, in the concierge lounge at the hotel for drinks. We have known each other for years. I met him long ago when I did boxing. He is such a sweetie! We spent some time catching up and then parted as we knew we had a lot of work in the coming days.

On a side note, got word that my friend Paul passed away this evening.  So very, very sad.
My heart goes out to his family.

Auburn, AL

Mississippi State vs Auburn CBB – SEC Network

Daylight… we can now see the stupid truck I was forced to drive!

Worked with a great crew – some of my favs from the NHRA crew.

This was the last regular season game in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, as the team will be moving across the street next season to the new Auburn Arena

The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 89-80.

Columbus, OH > Columbus, GA > Auburn, AL (well, sort of)

Delays out of Columbus, OH due to weather in Georgia.

Upon arriving they told me I would be missing my Atlanta to Columbus, GA flight and I should just rebook for tomorrow.

Nope!

I told them I wanted to at least get to Atlanta. If I made it there, I knew I could drive to Auburn.

Got to Atlanta eventually. Sure enough, the last flight to Columbus, GA had been cancelled. So I got a rental car and hit the road!

Well, I didn’t hit the road until I had a confrontation with National.

Because I needed a 1 way rental, they got to chose my vehicle…. Which is complete torture!

This jackasss thought it was hysterical when he assigned me a gi-normous pickup truck. To top it off, it was a Toyota!

He said to me, “It’s so safe and drives like a car!”
I laughed and said, “You really think I am that stupid? Plus it’s a Toyota - that’s not sweetening the deal!”

I couldn’t even get my luggage into the back. He had to help me.

The drive wasn’t too bad. As usual, talked on the phone for most of it.

Got settled at the Hilton Garden Inn, the ‘kids’ call it HGI.

Ordered a pizza and went to sleep.
Such an exciting life!!!

Columbus > College Station, TX > Columbus

Texas vs Texas A&M – Judgment Week – ESPN2 – 2 ET

Thursday afternoon I headed back to Houston again. Another trip to College Station.
Didn’t I just leave here?

Friday we had a set day. Upon arriving at the arena, I noticed there were already students camping out for tickets to the game.

When I went to lunch, I was greeted with a parking ticket.

Oh crap, they aren’t going to let me graduate!

Whatever. Gave it to the producer when I got back – his problem now. I was parked in the approved lot.



Saturday went well. Nothing special. Other than being “Judgment Week” and having in state rivals playing.

After the game, I did some shopping. Old Navy, Target, Kohl’s…. had nothing else to do!

Sunday morning I headed back to Houston.

On the way, I talked to my good friend Paul’s wife. Things are not looking good, doesn’t look like he is going to pull thru.

So very sad. He had gone into the hospital a couple weeks ago for something relatively minor. Which snowballed and he is now in a coma.

Life just sucks sometimes!

Florence, KY > Cincinnati, OH

DePaul vs Cincinnati – Big East Network – 7 ET

Woke up around 3am with a horrible migraine. Not again!
OMG!

We had only been asleep for a couple of hours.

One of us is super cranky about being disturbed while sleeping (I won’t mention any names)
So I sat on the bathroom floor for a while.

Believe me, this had nothing to do with drinking. I really didn’t have that much to drink. This was another wonderful migraine!

So discouraging! This mini-vaca was intended to be my respite before the madness of March set in.

After a while, I tried to throw up and had zero success. So I took more meds and went back to bed.

I attempted to put myself into my ‘migraine coma’ for about an hour – didn't work.

There were many times in that hour that I begged God to just put me out of my misery. I was done living with this pain. It’s just not worth it anymore.

Since God did not comply, around 5, I took a steaming hot shower. Then was finally able to throw up.

Crawled back in bed around 6a.

I had to get up at 9 to ensure we would be on the road by 10. By that point, I had the migraine under control It was now at least tolerable.

We headed to my Cincinnati “home” – the Marriott Kingsgate. Got checked in. I ordered room service and was able to take a few nibbles before heading to work. While someone else had a grand feast – in bed – das boot!

Dave had a special day planned. NOTHING!
He was skeptical about my grand plan for his vacation day… which included room service, napping, daytime tv, napping….

I headed to work.
Thankfully, I was working with Rich, who is awesome!
He understood that I was in pain and took it easy on me.

On my dinner break, I checked in with “vacation boy” – he was LOVING his day of NOTHING! At least something was working out on this trip!

College Station, TX > Houston > Columbus > Florence, IN

Headed to Houston a little early just to be safe.

About 30 minutes into the trip, on a 2 lane road, while talking to my friend Amy, I was struck by a rock the size of a softball. I screamed as it was headed straight for my head!

Thankfully, it struck the 2-3 inch ridge above the windshield.
That my friends, could have been deadly!

A while after I settled down from that one…. Traffic came to a screeching halt.
There was an accident on one of the roads and it was backed up for miles.

I couldn’t jeopardize missing my flight as Dave and I had plans to head to the lovely Belterra Casino and Resort tonight in beautiful Florence, Indiana.

As I sat in traffic, I asked Linda for a detour since it was evident traffic wasn’t going to move for a while.
She hooked me up with another route. I was still a little worried about making the flight.

I drove REALLY fast and made it!

When the National agent wasn’t looking, I took a quick photo of the new dent on the Patriot.

The photo does not do it justice.  Not that I was trying to pull a fast one or anything – I did NOTHING wrong.
It’s just that I have “heard” that reporting damage only results in a ton of time consuming paperwork. And that was not something I could afford – time!



Made it to my gate with a few moments to spare!


Caught a quick nap on the flight.

Upon landing – grabbed a rental car and went home where Dave was waiting. We hit the road within a few minutes.

Got down to the casino a little before 9. Had a few drinks in our room and then set out to gamble. I did pretty well on the slots, so I quit early.

We continued to gamble for a few hours and then headed back upstairs. I have a game tomorrow at UC – so can’t stay up too late!