Athens, GA

October 15th – 16th

Vanderbilt vs Georgia

Set Day
Business as usual today.

Went to lunch with a bunch of the crew….

Very southern. Very fried.

It was pretty good. Chicken on the bone… so I don’t do well with that. But I tried.

Friday evening, we had a graphics dinner. Kind of a mid-season ‘go team’ dinner. There are 4 of our in the graphics department. Dirk, wasn’t going to make it to town in time, so Steph, Michael and I went to The Last Resort Grill.

Kinda hard to see us in the photo.



It was REALLY good!









Game Day
Today, “Russ” the stand-in mascot was passing the bone on to the new Uga… Uga VII
So there was extra pomp and circumstance surrounding the ceremony.

Steph and I had one goal… to get down on the field to see the dog house!

Then we had a surprise for our crew.

For the past 7 weeks, I have come to notice that SEC girls where sundresses and high heels to games. What?

As I have told the crew, “Where I live, we were jeans and sweatshirts! Who the hell wears a dress and heels?”

We were promised that if we came to work dressed like SEC Girls, we could drink like SEC Girls during the game. (ha!)

So at breakfast, we went into the bathroom and changed into sundresses and heels and showed up at the crew meal all dressed up!

It got a good laugh.. but we didn’t get to drink during the game :(

Columbus > Charlotte > Athens, GA

October 13th – 14th


Before heading to Athens, I flew down to Charlotte late Wednesday night.

On Thursday, I went in to the office to do some training.
Always love spending time at the office. Just such a great environment!

The downside was that I missed my football crew’s golf outing.

I didn’t plan on golfing, I just planned on riding in the cart and drinking beer, while watching all the boys in their plaid shorts :)

Oh well, I was needed in Charlotte, life goes on.

Thursday evening, I drove to Athens, GA. Ugh. Not a fun drive that’s for sure!

Athens, GA

October 7th – 9th

Tennessee vs Georgia

This weekend was pretty uneventful….. no photos to even share.

Am definitely learning how much I dislike the drive back to Atlanta after the game. The road is a pain. You will be driving 65, come over a hill and the traffic is not moving. You think there has to be an accident ahead… nope! It’s just very annoying.

Oxford, MS

October 1st – 2nd

Set Day

Nothing to exciting to report. Bob, our Viz Tech is here again this weekend. The three of us had lunch at McAllister’s.

In the evening, Steph, Jill and I ate dinner at the Oxford Inn Bar.


Game Day

The day started off with a twist. Steph and I went to Bob’s hotel to pick him up. He didn’t come out when we texted or called. We dropped him off last night, so we knew which room was his… so after about 10 minutes of calls and texts, Steph got out and banged on his door.

Bob had overslept.


He hopped in the car a few minutes later.







This was Bob’s last weekend with us. All of 4 of our Viz computers are fully functional. FINALLY!

That evening, I rode back to Memphis with Mike & Josh. We met up with Chuck for dinner at Marlowe’s.

Another BBQ place. This one I have actually been to before.





The catering truck is decorated like a pig.

Kinda hard to see in the photo.






Had dinner and then headed to the Radisson near the airport. We are all on the same flight to Atlanta in the morning.

Another awesome weekend spent in SEC Country!

Columbus > Memphis > Oxford, MS

Met up with Chuck, Josh and Mike at the airport and then we went to a “Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives” place…. “Tom’s BBQ & Deli”

I was very hesitant because I don’t like BBQ, but the beef brisket was supposed to be the best. Plus, all the meat is dry rubbed, with the sauce on the side. Ok.. I can do that.

Yummy!







I was blown away at how good it was!

The owner brought us a sampler platter of all sorts of other meats. I steered clear. Not quite sure what some of it was.

He stood and talked with us for about 20 minutes. Very interesting.

Definitely need to go back to that place!

That’s Chuck being silly out side.







I rode to Oxford with Mike and Josh. They wanted to listen to my iPod on the drive down… and they quickly changed their mind after a few songs. They don’t care much for the 70s selection I have.

The ride down was a lot of fun. It’s only a little over an hour – but boring. So much better when with friends!

That evening, pretty much the entire crew met up to go out. We started off at one bar (forget the name) and eventually made it over to “The Library”

It’s a club that has several bars inside of it. One of the camera guys on our crew is a “VIP” there, so he got us all in for free.

The night quickly turned to this…












Good people watching!

Steph joined in some line dance thing.

After a while, I decided I needed to leave, otherwise, tomorrow morning was going to suck! So I walked back with a couple of the guys.

When I got to the hotel and went to take off the wristbands, I laughed.

Nice advertising! When you get a DUI, you just look down at your wrist band and know who to call!  (it's small in the photo - but it's a law firm advertisement)

Columbus

Minnesota vs Columbus – Preseason NHL – CBJ Vision

I got nothing.

Knoxville, TN

September 24th – 25th
UAV vs Tennessee
Set Day
Things are finally falling into place. Our set day went well. We even joined the rest of the crew for lunch. I don’t remember the name of the place, but it was some local dive.

I stayed in on Friday night.


Game Day

Saturday morning always comes quick!

In the evening, I went with Chuck, Mike and Josh to grab some takeout from one of our favorite “Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives”….. “The Pizza Palace”

Greek salad, pizza and onion rings are my favorites there. But you can’t possibly eat all three. So you have to share!

We took it all back to the hotel to eat in the lobby. They had a big screen TV set up.

Upstairs and in bed by 9p.

It’s official…. I am falling in love with this football crew!

Columbus > Knoxville, TN

Steph and I decided we needed a “girls night” – so we took a cab to Calhoun’s. It’s a local bar on the water near campus.

We sat outside and had a nice dinner and several drinks.

As we were finishing up, we realized a few of the boys were inside eating dinner. So we went in and visited with them for a bit. Which worked out well, because we ended up catching a ride back to the hotel with them.

Nice evening.

Columbus

Washington vs Columbus – Preseason NHL – CBJ Vision

Well…  times have changed.

I am here to help my friends Dave T. and Andy. 

And to help fund my tax saving account. 

Nothing more. 

I have zero obligation to this organization.  I am still bitter the “re-organizing” of departments that happened over the summer.

This is simply a paycheck.  This is where being a freelancer becomes much like being a whore. 

Oxford, MS

Vanderbilt vs Ole Miss

Woke up at 2:45a because something was biting me! I flicked the lights on and tore the sheets back; assuming I had bed bugs.


Nope, just 3 mosquitoes under sheets, gnawing at my legs and ankles!

God this hotel sucks.

I laid awake for two more hours. Slept for about 30 minutes and then had to get up.

Game Day!

Finally starting to really enjoy football season. The stress of the machine issues is settling and Steph and I are getting use to the disk and all of it’s quirks.

In the evening, everyone else drove back to Memphis for early flights. So I was in Oxford alone. But I made the best of it.

A bunch of the guys had raved about the Greek place they had dinner at last night, so I set out on a walk to find it.

I enjoyed my walk as it was thru a lovely Southern neighborhood.

I found the place with no problem.

It was a converted gas station.

And was it ever good!!
My favorites were the hummus & pimento dip.

The $1.95 Margaritas weren’t that bad either!

Walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

Have to get up early to drive back to Memphis for my flight.

Oxford, MS

The set day went really well. Steph and I are settling into our routine.

I stayed in again tonight.

Columbus > Memphis > Oxford, MS

I love going to Ole Miss! It’s such a quaint southern town.

Got in and settled with no issues.

Our hotel blows.
It looks sweet from the outside.

It’s a dump on the inside. Totally overpriced too. But it’s a football weekend and there aren’t many hotels to choose from. So spending $200-300/night for a glorified Days Inn probably doesn’t seem bad.





A bunch of the guys went out tonite – but it was too late for me. I gotta get my sleep for the set day tomorrow. My favorite Viz Tech, Bob, is coming back tomorrow, hopefully to get this thing running once and for all!

Columbus

Flew back this morning. Picked up Claude & Smokey because their daddy is out of town for a few days.

They spent the next few days being spoiled.

I spent it catching up on life!

Gainesville

USF vs Florida

Game day!

A lot of extra security today.  Because it's 9/11 AND because some moron down the street has been threatening to burn the Koran today; which has been all the talk on the news networks this week.

ESPN takes our safety very seriously.  Sometimes, the measures can be annoying, but it's nice to know we are being taken care of.

Things are coming together, slowly, but surely.

Game went good.

Still having issues with the install, but Bob has figured out what’s wrong. Hopefully next week, we will be at 100%. Still need some more parts.

Ugh.

Oh well, we do have half of our rack mounted Viz working. It’s just the back up machines that are not working. So we no longer have to rely on the Bullet (temp).

Breakfast was kind of cool. We walk over to the student cafeteria and have what ever we want. A million times better than most catered meals, that’s for sure!

Never did make it into the stadium or up to the booth to take photos.

In the evening, I was too exhausted to take Mom and Auntie Gayle out, so we ate at the hotel restaurant. Some of the crew was there, so Mom got to meet them.

Just hung out for the evening. We all have to get up early tomorrow to go home.

Good weekend.

Gainesville

Bob, our technician, arrived last night. He rode to work with Steph and I. Only took about 30 seconds with him for me to know we were FINALLY going to make progress on this install.

Steph and I continued to work on the Bullet (the temporary Viz), while Bob worked on the install.

Things went better than last week, but we are still struggling a bit.

At lunch time, the 3 of us walked to a Mexican place down the street a few blocks.

It was nice to get out of the truck and see a bit of campus!

Bob ran into a few obstacles, but was finally making progress. We needed more parts shipping in – they will be here in the morning.

After work, I ate leftovers from Mom and Auntie Gayle’s lunch in the room while they went to dinner. I needed to write an email updating Anne about our progress made during the day.

They came back, we had a few glasses of wine and then off to bed!