Columbus

September 11th-12th

ESPNU Road Trip – The Ohio State University

This weekend I worked on a new show. So new, it’s the very first episode.

The premise is an inside look at what students and fans do leading up to game day. AND a behind the scenes look into ESPNs College Game Day.


Friday was fun – I didn’t have a lot of graphics to build, so I made a bunch of signs to pass out to the crowd to hold during College Game Day and the Road Trip show.

Thanks to all my friends who sent me suggestions for sign ideas!

I also wandered around the College Game Day compound as it was right next to ours. Very cool!

Saturday morning came fast!
Our crew call was at 4am – ugh! But the show started at 9a, so it made sense. Still getting up at 2:30am is never an easy task.

It’s amazing that the fans are so into College Game Day that they arrive the night before to line up for front row standing room only spots!

The talent’s tour bus where they rest between live shots & also watch games


The area inside the gates is for the crowd


The light blue box is air conditioning being pumped up under the set so the guys don’t get too hot under all the lights


The crowd waiting to get in (first person arrived at 11pm the night before)


The gate is opened









After my show, College Game Day began. I wish I could of stayed a while and watched. But I had a flight to catch. Am going to spend a few days with my Madison in Florida.

I can't think of a title line

I am very sad to tell you all this... Madison, my precious dog, has cancer.

We found out last Thursday.
I didn't post it then because we did not know the diagnosis until today.

He had an appointment with a doggie oncologist this afternoon.
We still don't have an exact diagnosis but will know for sure in the next few days.

It's not good.

He will likely only be with us for maybe a week or so.
Possibly a few months, but it's unlikely.

Thankfully, my schedule will allow me to fly down on Saturday night and spend a few days with him and say goodbye to him.

We are shocked to say the least.
As I have written before, we were expecting to lose Rizon soon, but not Madi.

Lymphoma spreads crazy quick in dogs. They can get it and die from it all within the same month. There are no symptoms until it's too late.

Doggie chemo is very successful when started in Stage 1 or 2.
But he is in Stage 4 or 5.

It also does not have the side effects that human chemo has.
So that's a plus!

Even so, it is most likely too late.

He got a shot of chemo today... by this weekend we will know if it worked.

So forgive me once again as I will likely fall behind on my posts.

Please keep my family in your thoughts & prayers.
We have been through a lot in the last month (grandma died a month ago today)

Pets are like humans to us.
Madison is my parents' only 'grandchild'.
This is not going to be easy.

Columbus

The much anticipated day is FINALLY here! I am getting a front yard!!!

Let me take you back in time....
I got home very late on the night of Wednesday, January 17, 2o07....
The tree roots in my front yard had pressed down on the sewer lines long enough and the line had collapsed. Resulting in a very bad situation in my finished basement (office & laundry room).

I had 5 hours until my morning flight to Durham for a game at Duke the next day.


Thank God for my wonderful friends Patty & Dave - they handled the "situation" while I went to work the next day.



A new sewer line was put in the following week.

But the saga didn't end there.



And when I say saga, that is NO exaggeration!



A little piece of advice... never pick a contractor (of any kind) from a cute logo in the yellow pages!


LONG story short... the company I hired did not pull the proper permits with the city. They also made a mistake, resulting in a water line leak. Therefore, the city made them tear up the yard again to make the proper repairs. The company then tried to bill me for the additional days of work. Ha!




This 1 day project turned into 7 months of HELL!

This is what I got to see everytime I came home for months to come.

A constant reminder of a bad decision made, based on clip art of a rat in the yellow pages.


It took endless calls and complaints to the BBB, Angie's List and the Ohio Attorney General.
At long last, it was the OAG who finally was able to get it straightened out.



Needless to I was left with no grass. Basically a mud pit for a front yard.

Because my yard gets no sun, growing grass is not an easy task. I had grand plans of having a landscaping company doing it for me - but I chickened out of the large investment at the last minute. Which in hindsight, was the right choice, considering a client at that time went out of business a few weeks later and didn't pay me the $8,000 they owed me. But that's a whole other story in itself!

Flash forward to today.

These are the weed patches that I had learned to live with...

Much research and planning by Dave, Roger and myself. We were ready!

Earlier this week, I had $500 worth of dirt delivered.

A semi backed up and "slung" the dirt across the yard - it was actually really cool!

And there was some to spare...


Dave, Roger and I got it all spread out evenly and then seeded.


After seeding, we laid out these rolls of "germination blankets" - it looked and felt like shredded wheat.

Then we came up with a watering system...

Which led to hours and hours of me trying to get the timers to go off at the correct times. Along with constant rearranging of the sprinklers to ensure all the areas were getting water. That in itself took a week.

And now the waiting....

(It's the hardest part ya know!)

Batesville, MS > Memphis, TN

September 4th – 5th

ESPNU High School Football – South Panola (MS)

What a day!

Of course woke up with a horrible migraine. I knew it was coming.
Eyes were also puffed shut.

I was smart and had put a wet wash cloth in the freezer part of the mini fridge before going to bed, so I was able to get some of the swelling down before going to work.



As luck would have it, my Duet didn’t work once I got to work.

It was a good diversion though – no time to discuss with co-workers why I was visibly a disaster and obviously had spent a lot of time crying over the past 16 hours.

This Duet needed to be dropped over the side of a cliff.
It was so screwed up! All but one of the USB ports had been fried weeks earlier. The one that was left, was not 2.0, so the copy never happened. I had to burn my files to CDs and copy in that way. Hours and hours behind!

Catering was BBQ. Why?
When will people in the South realize that not everyone in the world likes BBQ?

The game went well, considering all the set backs.

I headed back up to Memphis afterwards as I had an early flight out on Saturday morning.

I was talking on the phone to my friend Amy as I was driving. I had stopped at a gas station just before the hotel – for my much anticipated adult beverage from the night before.

I sat in the parking lot for about 10 minutes finishing up my call. Walked into the gas station and guess what?
It was 12:02 am – they don’t sell alcohol past 12!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

On Saturday, I got into Columbus around 10am. Since it was a football Saturday off – I was very out of my element! I headed over to my friend Patty’s – as we had talked about having breakfast. We never made it out, but I had a nice day hanging out with her, the kids and her husband.

Later that night, I met up with them again to go to the Millersport Corn Festival.

What a scene man!

It’s a town about 40 minutes east of Columbus. This is an annual summer festival about the corn they are apparently known for.

Gunnar

I had issues with the cleanliness, or lack there of!

But I did my best to overlook the obvious germ factory and enjoy a few ears!

We walked around for a while and then Rick and I stood in line to wait for the donuts.
The wait was about 30 minutes, but it’s for a good cause. The local high school band runs the operation – and I must say it’s quite the operation!



I am not a “donut fan” by any means, but I must say, they were very tasty!

Columbus > Memphis > Batesville, MS

Set Day @ OSU > Travel to HS Football

I filled in today on a set day with the ESPN Noon crew. They were at Ohio State for the game this weekend, but their Viz op couldn’t make it, so I worked for him.


The day went really well.

On my way to the airport, I called home. That’s when I got the news about Madison.
The day pretty much went down hill from there. It was not the official diagnosis, but there wasn’t much hope.

I flew to Memphis and then drove 1.5 hours to Batesville, MS.
Got in around midnite.

Stopped at the gas station to get a beer to take to the hotel. Figured I had earned it after my evening.

Nope. Dry county!
Figures.

Got checked into the hotel – Holiday Inn Batesville. Yippie!
Bar = closed.

But I will say, this is the NICEST Holiday Inn I have ever seen.

My hours of sobbing have turned into a migraine in the making.
Made steaming hot towels to lay on my face as I went to bed.

Columbus

August 28th – 30th

Kirk Herbstreit High School Showcase

This weekend I worked High School football for the ESPN family of networks. I have worked this event in the past and as most of you already know, I really enjoy working high school sports. (You all thought I was going to say something about Kirk, didn’t you?)

This year it was held in Ohio Stadium. Which was really cool for the kids on the local teams.

We had a set day on Friday, 2 games on Saturday and 2 more games on Sunday.

It was a good time as I got to work with some of my long time freelance friends.

And Steph got a snapshot of Kirk and his boys…

Sunday night, Steph came over to see my house and meet Dave. Then her and I headed to dinner at Cap City Diner – one of my favorite places to take out of town guests.

Cincinnati

August 26-27th

St. Louis vs Cincinnati - NFL

A few months ago, I was crewed to work the St. Louis feed for a preseason NFL game at Cincinnati. On a whim, Dave asked me if I could get him on the crew. And I did – as stage manager.

We drove done Wednesday evening. We stayed in Covington where I used to stay frequently when doing Reds games. This was kind of our last little trip of the summer since I missed out on our Put-In Bay vacation.

We got a list of places to eat from the front desk. There is a little district of restaurants that we wanted to walk to. 5-10 minute walk; max.

30 minutes and a few blisters from my girl shoes, later, we found the district. Sure enough it was only 5 minutes from the hotel – but the map had confused us.

We had a nice dinner and made our way back to the hotel.

Since it was still relatively early, we sat outside in a gazebo and enjoyed the summer evening with a few adult beverages.

On Thursday, I had to be to work around 10am, so he dropped me off at the stadium. He went back to the hotel to work out, etc.

The day was a little crazy. Just issues with the production, the truck, etc.

Dave arrived later in the day, met with the Producer and then explored the stadium.

He had a great time – it was a super simple show to stage manage for!

I think we were on the road back to Columbus around 11:30…. Late night!

Taylor, MI

August 21st - 23rd

Junior League Baseball World Series – ESPN

The drive up on Friday was a disaster. I had just returned from 2 weeks of family hell on Thursday afternoon, then had to embark on this trip on Friday.

Route 23 was backed up for miles. I decided to go my mom’s way to Michigan, but I didn’t have a map. Minor detail.

But after talking to her and getting a brief overview of how to go and where to find a rest stop – I was able to plot the trip using the rest stop map.

All while hoping “Linda” would figure out I wanted to go the back roads… nope – she kept directing me back to 23.

Then to make matters worse – there was bridge construction in a few of the small towns… forcing me onto insanely long and out of the way detours. My 3.5 hour trip quickly turned into 6.

The hotel was right outside of Ford headquarters.


I ate an early room service dinner and went to bed.

Saturday morning I headed over to Taylor.


I had done this event once before – maybe like 5 years ago?
So I really remembered nothing about the venue.




The day went pretty good… considering all I had going against me!
I hadn’t done a Viz show since early June and I had an AP that had only been on remote one other time – just that alone is a struggle! But my incredible baseball knowledge got us thru the day!

Okay, that’s a stretch – but I did shock myself on a few things I explained to him about baseball.

On Sunday morning I set out early…. What is that?


That’s strange… a car window in the parking lot of the hotel.
Thankfully, it didn’t belong to my car, so I got out of there!

Fort Myers, FL

The final memorial service was today at The Palms.
Uncle Hugh, Aunt Mary, mom and I were the only family members to attend.

Considering the exhaustion and emotions we had endured, we probably didn’t take this service as seriously as we should have. It was for grandma’s friends who lived in her retirement community with her. She had only lived there 9 months, but in that time, she had become known and loved by many. Her death was a complete shock to them as well.

My friend Patty had a plant delivered to the chapel which was such a nice suprise!

We got a case of the giggles as we sat in the front row. We couldn’t help ourselves as we overheard the ladies arguing over who got to sit next to who…about where they were parking their ‘wagons’ (their walkers). They thought they were whispering. Thankfully, they likely could not hear our giggles.

4 services in 2 states in 6 days. That has to be some sort of record!

After the service we got back to her apartment and continued working on packing up her belongings.

Yet another 18 hour day.

Do people really go to Florida for vacation?

Big Rapids, MI > Fort Myers, FL

My parents and I spent the early afternoon with my dad’s side of the family. We went to my Aunt Karen’s for a little cookout which was very nice.

Then we drove to Grand Rapids for our journey back to Florida. This trip was beyond exhausting on so many levels. The only redeeming factor was that I booked us first class tickets for the entire trip. That made all the difference in the world. Plus I was able to keep my parents busy in the Crown Room during our layovers.

I don’t remember ever being so tired. But there is still tons of work to be done. Aside from all the legal stuff from the estate, we still have another memorial service to attend tomorrow at the retirement community where grandma lived.

Yes, I missed my vacation, but being there for my family was much more important.

Big Rapids, MI

The visitation on Friday night was very nice. Such a great turnout of family and friends. My parents and I moved away from Michigan when I was 8 – but I still remembered many of the faces. And it was very heartwarming to have family members from my dad’s side of the family there. That really meant a lot.

The funeral today was lovely. My cousins, their kids and I took up the gifts during the offertory.

There was the traditional small town church potluck in the basement afterwards.

Followed by the burial in Paris – where I lived from 2-8 years old.

From there the family all headed to our hotel in Big Rapids – the Holiday Inn. Where the kids swam and the adults had snacks and beer.

I am beyond my breaking point. The stress of this week has been overwhelming. To top it off, I am staying in a very old Holiday Inn in Big Rapids with my parents! This is a very small town – essentially my home town. But even so – this hotel is not up to par with the type of service I am accustomed to. I have had many confrontations with the front desk staff regarding their lack of service skills. But what do they care? They are “the” hotel in town.

I would probably pay $50 for a cup of Starbucks coffee right now!

Meanwhile, my idiot friends were on our vacation. It was a very difficult weekend for me. Obviously the loss of my grandmother weighed heavily, but I also lost my vacation. The vacation we look forward to all year… and the one I spend a lot of time arranging for all of us. I have a lot invested in it.

This weekend is our annual camping trip in Put-In Bay to see “The Menus”.

Dave, Roger, Cliff and Boo kept me up to date with texts and emails.

I can not remember where I put the photo CD - as soon as I find it, I will add some of their photos.

Fort Myers > Big Rapids, MI

Complete whirlwind of days… tons of family stuff to deal with!

Arrangements had to be made for a memorial mass in Ft. Myers, which was last night.
Very nice service. I got to see all my “Florida” cousins and their kids – many of which I hadn’t seen in years.

Arrangements had to be made for the visitation, funeral and burial in Michigan. Plus booking all the travel and the complications of getting grandma to Michigan in time.

Nothing is ever simple.

Mom, Dad and I made flew to Big Rapids this morning. Ok, flew to Grand Rapids and drove the hour north.

Still so much more to deal with.

We are all getting by on 2-3 hours of sleep a night.

Columbus > Fort Myers

Grandma died unexpectantly around 4 this morning.

I spent the morning arranging travel to FL and packing for who knows how long ?? Assuming I would be going from Florida on to Michigan. There will be services in both places.

Our yearly camping vacation is next weekend. It doesn’t look like I will make it back in time – so I put together “to do”, “to take”, and “to buy” lists for Dave since I am the one who preps everything for this trip.

Out of hope, I also packed my camping stuff for Dave to take just in case I am able to meet them up there.

Crazy, crazy day!

Got to Fort Myers around midnight.

Columbus

August 3rd – 8th

Pretty uneventful week. I spent it working on getting stuff around for my tax person. (2008 taxes) Only 4 months behind schedule!

But I did it! I got the stuff sent out to her!

Smokey & Claude also came to Auntie Nic’s for a mini-vacation!


“The Chosen One” on Auntie Nic’s Bed


Claude re-enacting a http://icanhascheezburger.com/ photo


Claude enjoying the livestock in the front yard.


Smokey sleeping on the newspaper – his favorite spot!

Columbus

July 20th – 23rd

Mom and Auntie Gayle had decided I needed to re-do my office. When I am actually home, that is where I spend the majority of my time – and it is indeed dark & dreary.


This was going to be a $100 project.
Famous last words.

Because this was their idea and not mine, I had no ideas on colors or fabrics or anything.
Well, I knew I wanted to paint the wood paneling white and remove the wallpaper.

I had purchased a 8 x 12 map last year with the intentions of someday having my dad hang it for me in my office. Then I would put pins in all the cities I have worked in. Each year would be a different color.

Of course this map wall could not be an easy project! I wanted it mounted on some sort of foam core so I could easily stick in the pins. And I wanted to be able to take it with me if I ever moved. But those were dad’s problems!

On Monday morning we headed out for Lowe’s. I was completely overwhelmed with paint options!

After about an hour, I settled on lavender. Not sure why? Maybe because that was the color of my childhood bedrooms ?

Auntie Gayle had a blast ripping down the wallpaper!


When we finally got home and started painting, I didn’t like it.

That afternoon, mom and I headed to a fabric store to see if I could find a fabric for curtains that would inspire a color scheme for me.

Sure enough, I found something! Probably the most expensive fabric in the place - but who's counting?

So back to Lowe’s for new paint!!

Once I got a coat of the new paint on, I knew this was right.

Tuesday was spent with more painting. Mom worked on cleaning out the crawl space. Sorting and transferring the items into Rubbermaid bins. Many items were set aside for Goodwill as they had been there since I moved into the house in 1999.

On Wednesday – a little more paiting!

Thursday, I got up early and did some touch ups. Then we headed to Yellow Springs.
I had heard about it over the years as having some unique shops and places to grab lunch.

We leisurely strolled around town. Had some lunch and then checked out a few more shops. On the way home, we stopped at Young’s Dairy Farm for some ice cream – yummy!

Late Thursday night, my dad flew up.

On Friday morning, we went over the projects to be done, made a list and headed out to Lowe’s. Not only was he going to do the map wall now, he was also going to install a laundry tub in my laundry room, install a new dehumidifier in my basement and some other minor repairs.

So much for that $100 project!

Both Friday and Saturday were long days with tons of work being done by all.

Of course I kept my help well fed! Not to mention the fact they didn't go thirsty! There was even daily fresh made sangria!

Saturday night, Dave and Roger came over and joined us for the St. Margaret’s Festival. I was nice that mom and dad finally got to go after all these years.

Yes, we won plenty of baked goods for breakfast in the “cake walk”.

Sunday & Monday were busy as well with finalizing projects and of course, adding more to the list!

Everyone headed out on Tuesday morning and I had the place to myself!

Here’s a peak at the map wall


I can’t wait to start sticking pins into it!

More shots of the office… didn’t take long for the piles to return!

Well, I need to hang my diplomas.... but at least I have them framed, right?

This shelving unit is a lot of my childhood... photo albums... my early years of "TV" captured on VHS tape from "WildNews4 and WEVU News 4 Kids"...... my Wizard of Oz collection... Grade school & High School stuff... books... Chyron manuals - lots of manuals! (I did throw out the CMX editor manuals recently - that was hard to do!)

Cleveland

July 16th - 19th
Mariners vs Indians – SportsTime Ohio




Woke up Thursday – the flu-like symptoms are gone, bad, dry cough.
My doctor doesn’t work on Thursdays so I can call to get a Rx filled.

Headed to Cleveland.. I could tell this was going to be a miserable couple of days!

SportsTime Ohio does not use a TV truck for their games in Cleveland. They have a control room at the NBC affiliate in downtown Cleveland. The camera feeds reach the station via fiber optic lines. It’s actually pretty cool!

I always enjoy my trips to STO – the crew is beyond great! And it so nice to work in a control room where there is lots of space as opposed to being in a truck. And I get to use an actual bathroom instead of a port-a-john!

It’s a very nice station – appealing to the eye, unlike some of the stations that I have worked!



All the control rooms have glass walls facing the hallway. So it’s kinda like being in a fishbowl.


Thursday’s game was brutal. Well, the game was fine, I was just beyond miserable.
I went thru at least a box of tissues.

That night I headed over to Matty’s – I was staying with him for the weekend.
I took a bunch of cold meds, cough syrup and went to bed.


Matty’s place

Friday morning, I called my doctor and had a Rx called in to a nearby pharmacy. I refused to go to work until I got it filled.

I took a nap on the couch and then ventured out for some food and more cold supplies.
I had zero appetite but knew I needed to eat. So I asked “Linda”, my trusty GPS what was nearby. Yes! A Quiznos!! And only a mile away!

Nope, out of business.

I was already exhausted so I looked around and there was a Chipotle, so I went there. Nothing like some spicy hot Mexican to clear the sinuses!

Because I was in such a cloudy state, I didn’t notice the giant cement light pole in the parking lot as I was parking. I now have lovely yellow paint streaks where I once had silver paint on my Pilot.

Took another nap and headed to work.
Stopped by the Giant Eagle to get my Rx on the way.

The game on Friday was probably the worst condition I have ever worked in.
I thought I was going to die.

The flu-like symptoms had returned, I had lost my voice and I was coughing up blood.
I could barely keep my head up and eyes open, let alone type.

I felt terrible because I knew I was spreading this horrible plague to everyone else.

If I had know where the hospital was and had the energy to go there, I would of. But I didn’t think I could handle the frustration. So I went to Matty’s to die.

I slept for 11 hours.

On Saturday, Matty had to work (Cavalier Girls tryouts). So I again went to the store for more tissues & cough drops. I was craving Panera Tomato Soup – do you think there was a Panera nearby?

Took a nap and then went to work.

Saturday night was rough, but I could feel I was getting better finally. The Z-pack was finally kicking in.

Sunday morning always comes quick! When you don’t get done working til after 11p and have to be back by 8a…

I survived the game and headed home.

Bummer of a weekend.
I didn’t get to hang out with my friends since I was so sick.

Meanwhile, my mom and her best friend, Auntie Gayle, had arrived at my house over the weekend. I was looking forward to getting home and having a nice home cooked meal!

Columbus

Columbus Blue Jackets 2009-10 Schedule Release Show – columbusbluejackets.com

Yah, I am sick. It’s moving into my head & chest.

But, the show must go on!
Without the luxury of sick days, I have to work no matter how bad I feel.
Thankfully, today I was working a super simple show!

It was a 30 minute show on the internet. We unveiled the upcoming NHL season. Exciting stuff!

I then went home and went to bed.

Columbus

Today I had a meeting at the local PBS affiliate. They have asked me for years to come in and work on Duet projects with them and my schedule has never worked with theirs.

About 1.5 years ago, they moved into a fabulous facility downtown. I had heard how amazing it was, so I was excited to finally see it!

It is really nice. They have all sorts of bells & whistles. Very impressive facility!

As I was working on their Duet, I had a few moments of thinking, “hmmm, I don’t feel so good.”

But I continued on with my meeting and then headed home.

Soon after, I decided I might have the flu.