November 10-13th

Thursday –Travel Day

Columbus > Nashville

The end of the season is quickly approaching… and it shows…  we all know the end is near and now spend as much time as possible together as a group.  

We went to dinner together tonight.  Our Producer was home sick, so we were sure to send plenty of silly pictures to keep him posted on our antics.

Friday – Set Day

War Cheeto continues….

Here are some pics of the boys working…

Chuck (audio)

Mark (Technical Director)

Jeff (utility) and Chad (video)

Joe (engineer)

Chris (1^st and 10)

Dirk (clock and score) and Michael (MIS stats)

Steve (handheld)

Cara (reporter) and Andre (analyst)

Saturday – Game Day

Kentucky vs Vandy

When at Vandy, we eat our breakfast at the Marriott.  One would think that was a good idea.

Here is this week’s installment of egg soup.

After breakfast, there is a little bit of downtime before we starting feeding stuff back to the studio.  So we usually hang outside and watch the tailgaters and people with real lives on a Saturday morning.

Lance napping in follow van

After the game I really didn’t do much – ate dinner and went to bed.  Have an early call time tomorrow for a hoops game.

Sunday

Men’s Basketball: Cleveland St vs Vanderbilt

Had quite a few technical issues so I didn’t have time to explore the arena much.

I did sneak in for a few mins to get a look at the floor.

It’s raised up off the arena floor.  Very weird.

Since it was a day game, I was able to catch a flight home in the evening.  Yah!

November 3rd-6th

Thursday –Travel Day

Columbus > Gainesville

Our Producer and Ops Producer organized a bowling outing for us tonight.  It’s always a lot of fun when we have a group outing!

We even got our own private room, which made it all the better!

Michael/Dirk/Jill

Steve W.

Thomas/Mark

Kris/Kevin/Lance

Chad/Jerome/Jim

I am “Sparkles” (awesome score)

The Crew

Friday – Set Day

After seeing the awesome set up at our hotel yesterday, Chad decided he wanted to have a cook out tonight.  So we all pitched in $10 and then night became something of a legend.

Nic (Sous Chef) & Chad (Chef)

Firepit bonding

The food, fun and fellowship were outstanding!  One of the most memorable nights to date in all my years of freelancing.

Saturday – Game Day

Vandy vs Florida

War Cheeto continues…

After the game I didn’t do much.  Was so exhausted from all the extra activities this week.  Got take out from Steak-n-Shake and hung out for a bit to watch football with the boys.

Excellent weekend!

Philadelphia

MLS Playoffs: Houston vs Philadelphia 

After a short night, I was back at it again.

I had never been to Philly’s new MLS stadium and I was told it was in a bad neighborhood, so I rode in with my friend Todd.

Yes, you go thru some pretty scary areas and then the stadium is next to a prison.

But the stadium itself is really nice and has an amazing view!

The game went well and I was excited to get back to the hotel, have dinner and get to bed!

October 27th – 29th

Thursday –Travel Day

Columbus > Nashville

Dinner at Pie in the Sky, then drinks at Midtown.

Friday – Set Day

Lunch at Rotiers.  It’s a local joint with a lot of history.  It’s ok, I am not gaga.

In the evening, a bunch of us went to a gun range for a group outing.  It was a lot of fun!

Chad and his wife were our “hosts” – they live in Nashville and have a lot of guns.  They did an excellent job at making sure we were all safe.

Mike – Lance – Chuck

John

Lance

Chad’s wife & Mike

Mike

Chad & Chuck

“My” gun

Chris

The guy running the place was your typical gun rights dude.  He was hysterical.  He made me think of a line from a little known movie – “UHF” – “Guns don’t kill people, I do”

Afterwards some people went out – I went to bed.

Saturday – Game Day

Arkansas vs Vanderbilt

Early in the season, our Ops Producer bought us Flaming Cheetos for one of our snack items.  Well that has turned into a joke and we won’t open the bag.  It just re-appears each week and a photo is taken.

After the game, I headed to the airport.  I was flying to Philly for a MLS Playoff game tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a freak snowstorm was hitting the northeast.  Endless flight delays and cancellations.  Gonna be a long night.

I was booked on United.  They could do nothing for me.  Everything that was still running was out of seats to anywhere within a 3 hour drive of Philly.

My only option was to go to Baltimore on Southwest.  But since they don’t have agreements with any other airlines, I have to go thru Emergency Travel to get booked.

Since there were hundreds of us now stranded across the country, it took just under 2 hours for an Emergency Travel person to pick up.  I literally was sitting on the floor of the Southwest ticket counter, plugged into an outlet so I wouldn’t lose the call.

Since the flight to BWI was delayed, I was able to get on it.

Finally made it there and then set out on the drive to Philly.  The snow was almost gone by the time I was driving – the roads where just wet.  I was beyond exhausted.

Got to the hotel and to my bed around 1am.

Wow, this was a brutal day!

Happy Birthday Smokey!

Well...  Happy Adoption Date at least....