April 19th-23rd

Thursday – Travel

Columbus > Austin, TX

So I am going to Austin today for the very first time!  I am super excited!!  Three days of softball das boot which is one of my favorite spring sports.

I took a 7a flight; just so I could get there and check it all out.

I was super duper cranky when the alarm went off at 4:15a.  So I went back to sleep until 4:30.  At which point I considered calling Delta to try to switch to a later flight.  But figured I would fall asleep on hold and/or have to give up my first class seats to get on a later flight.

So I got up and got ready.

Slept like a rock on the flight to ATL.

Had about 2.5 hours in the SkyClub during my layover.  Took a nice nap.

Boarded my flight to Austin, read for a bit, then napped.

By the time I got to Austin, I wasn’t feeling the greatest.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  Just an overall BLAH.

Found the hotel, got checked in and decided to walk and find food.  Maybe that would make me feel better.

Ended up at 1886 inside the lobby of The Driskoll

Best cheese soup ever!

Even after eating, I still felt like crap.

When I got back to the hotel, I got unpacked and realized the layout of the room sucked!  Cannot see the TV from bed.

I realized my friend Heather had called a while ago.  So I called her back and we made plans for the evening.  She was picking me up in 30 mins and we were gonna chill at her house.

Which is exactly what we did.  Sat on the deck and got caught up on gossip all afternoon/evening. 

The entire time, I knew what was brewing in my head and I was dreading the night ahead.  My little friend, Mr. Migraine was sitting on my shoulder, letting me know he was going to attack at some point.

Eventually we ordered takeout from Torchy’s Tacos. 

It’s only a few blocks from her place, so we took her adorable dog and headed out for a nice walk.

OMG it’s awesome!

I had the Fried Avocado Taco (no beans). 

I also had the Democrat.  Which had everything I love, but it paled in comparison to the Fried Avocado.

We also ordered guac and queso – but they forgot to give us chips.  That’s ok, we put it on our tacos and used Club crackers to dip in them.  Crazy good!

After dinner we hung out on the deck some more.  I decided to head back to the hotel because the migraine was setting in.  I just wanted to be alone in my room.  So I caught a cab back.

Once back in the room, I prepped myself for the night ahead.  Lined up all the meds on the nightstand…. Turned off all the lights…  made sure the toilet was ready for violent vomiting…

Even though the migraine had not fully come on, I went ahead and took a Maxalt; which I am supposed to only take at onset.

Next thing I know, it’s 12:30a and I am not writhing in pain.  There is some pain, but not what I expected.  I sat up, did several stretches that my Chiro has taught me and laid back down.  Afraid to be too excited because I knew I was not yet in the clear.

Friday – Game Day

Kansas vs 24 Texas

Amazing.  I made it thru the night without a full blown migraine.  I was on track to have a really rough night.  I wonder if taking the Maxalt “early” was the key to success?

Went for a long walk in the morning.  Walked to the state house.

And then just around for a while.

Didn’t have to be to work until 2p.  I met up with my friend Amy who is also working here this weekend.  We had breakfast at 1886; the place I had lunch at yesterday.  It was nice to have an hour to catch up!

Since I am not allowed to say what network I am working for, I will give you a hint.  It’s a network, in Austin, that is dedicated to sports of one university and is owned by the biggest sports network in the world.  Chances are, you don’t even know it exists because it’s only on a few cable providers.  But there was a lot of controversy about it when it came on the air about a year ago, so you might of heard of it.

For my dinner break, I went to Flat Iron.  It was suggested by locals.

 I didn’t like the onion rings at all; but the grass fed burger was pretty tasty.

The game went really fast.  2h35m…. 

Saturday – Game Day

Kansas vs 24 Texas

I tried really hard to sleep in…  didn’t work out so well for me.

Eventually headed out for a long walk.  I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of homeless people here.  And most of them walk around talking to themselves.

Ended up having a late breakfast at Annies.  It was pretty good.

Got back to the hotel and decided to go back to bed.  I never get to just ‘lay in bed’ on a Saturday; so why not?!

After about 45 minutes, I was bored, so I got up.

Headed to work a little after 2. 

Went to dinner at a place called Hoover’s.  I don’t suggest it.  I ended up with the worst indigestion ever!  And honestly, the food wasn’t that good at all.

The graphics department is in makeshift “B Unit” – it’s a van.

The game was even faster tonite – 2h25m.  Wow!!

Sunday – Game Day

Kansas vs 24 Texas

Instead of going to breakfast on my break this morning, I took a nap in the car.  I was just having one of those “I need ten more minutes” kind of morning. 

Good choice by me.  I felt a million times better.

It really started to heat up fast in the graphics van.  Ugh.

The first inning lasted 33 minutes; which put us on pace for a 4.5 hour game!  We were not happy.

So I tracked the length of each inning, which gave us something to think about other than the extreme heat we were surrounded by.

I got one of the engineers to put a tarp over the windshield; which took it down about 1 degree.

It was just the lack of moving air.

Late in the game another engineer stopped by and opened the back doors; which we thought would make it bad; but we were wrong.  It got the air moving and the temp may of raised, but the air was no longer stagnant.  Yah!!!

The game ended up last 2h45m.  Not bad after that first inning!

Went back to the hotel, showered and had a drink. 

My friend Heather picked me up and we went to dinner at the “Snack Bar”. 

It’s a dog friendly place; since we had Trooper with us.  Everyone had little cuties with them.

After dinner we went back to Heather’s for some deck drinks.  Nice way to wrap up the weekend!

April 11-16th

Wednesday  - Travel

Columbus > Charlotte

I am working this weekend in Charlotte, so I decided to go a few days early and make it into a little vaca.

Got in mid morning and had lunch with my long-time friend Donna.  She is part of the reason I am where I am today.  She took a chance and hired me all those years ago.  We had a great lunch at Firebirds and had fun catching up.

After that I stopped into the office and visited for a while.  The renovations had recently been completed so it was cool to see where everyone sat now and their new cubes.

In the evening, I went over to Shannon’s.  She made dinner and then we met up with some of her friends at a wine bar.

Once back at her place, we stayed up way too late watching TV.

Thursday

Charlotte

Went for a nice long walk this morning.

I had lunch with my friend Mark at Bad Daddy’s.

In the evening, we went over to Erin & Casy’s.  They were having a cookout because the NHRA crew is also in town this weekend.  It was fun and always nice to see people outside of work.

Friday

Charlotte

We went for another nice long walk this morning.

Eventually we got around and spent the day shopping. 

We had lunch at a place called CowFish in South Park.

www.thecowfish.com

It’s a Sushi Burger Bar.  Delish!

(and I don’t eat sushi)

In the evening,  I headed Uptown (which is really downtown Charlotte) to the hotel.  I knew if I stayed at Shannon’s that I would stay up too late.

Saturday

2012 Jordan Brand Classic

Walked the couple of blocks to work.  

The day went well and we had all sorts of visitors from the office which is always fun.

After the game, I went back to the hotel to drop my stuff and then head out for a night in Uptown.

At first I hung out at the hotel bar with various friends from the office.  Then we moved on to another bar. 

 Then a few of us went on to God knows where.  It was with my friends Steve & Dirk, along with Dirk’s girlfriend and her brother.

Around 2:30am we ended up at some pizza place and I realized I had lost my debit card.  Steve immediately started walking our path back thru all the places we had been.  About 30 minutes later I found the card in my bra.  Ooops!

They walked me back to the hotel and by the time I was on my floor, I was literally bouncing off the walls walking down the hall to my room.  I was in really bad shape.  

Sunday

Oh boy.  Not good.

The plan for today was to meet my uncle for a late breakfast around 10:30, see his new place and then go on over to my friend Mark’s house to have a cookout with the family.

Around 10, I texted my uncle explaining breakfast was gonna have to be lunch since I was having a rough start to the day.

Found his new place.  Got the tour and then we headed out for lunch.  

I thought for sure, more than once, I was going to fall off the stool.  (we were sitting at a high top table).

I force fed myself half of some sort of sandwich.  I am sure it was good.  My goal at the time was to just get something in me without puking.

We went back to his house and he suggested that perhaps I nap before going to Mark’s – but I bit the bullet and went.

It was awesome to spend time with Mark and his wife Lori, whom I worked with many years ago in Florida…  before she was Mark’s wife and before I had met Mark.  (small world)

It was also awesome to play with their adorable triplets.  Until they wanted to play with my hair - I politely explained that Nic had stayed up past her bed time last night and her head was hurting, so we couldn’t play with Nic’s hair.

What was I thinking?  It’s now like 4pm and I am still hung over.  What moron gets wasted the night before they are to spend time with time with triplets!  Oh, how I suck!

Had a great cookout and played all sorts of games with the kids.  They are awesome.  I wish I had felt better so I could have had even more fun!

Went back to Shannon’s in the evening.  We had a very low key evening of watching TV.

Monday

I went for walk this morning alone as Shannon went back to work today.

I had lunch with my friend Anne.  It was nice to see her and catch up.

In the evening, I headed to the airport.

Great week, too much alcohol for sure, but lots of fun!

April 7th-9th

Saturday – Travel

Tuscaloosa, AL > Birmingham > Atlanta

Ugh.  Flashback to my Thursday post….  

“I am not a kid anymore.  When will I grow up?”

Thank God my flight wasn’t until 11:45a!!!

I woke up around 5:30 and wished I were dead.  Why?  Why do I do this?

Slept until 8 and woke up feeling somewhat better.

Got packed and on the road around 9:15.  

Why did I wear the one hoodie I brought on this trip, to the bar last night?

It smells like an ashtray!!!

Stopped at McD’s for some much needed greasy food and Coke.  I don’t think I have ever waited so long in a drive thru line.  It was over 15 mins.

Am in the South, so no “bagel” version of breakfast.  Horseshit!

Had the biscuit.  Yuk.  But it soaked up the vodka in my belly and could have been the best thing I’ve ever eaten!

The drive to Birmingham went fine, I was just really tired.

Sat at the gate about 15 mins and was on the brink of puking from the horrible smoke smells coming from my hoodie.  I can not get to ATL fast enough -  I must find Fabreeze!

Slept on flight – the whole 27 minutes of it.

Walked a few miles from the D gate to the Skytrain.  

Ventured downtown to the Ritz.  I am quite giddy because as a child, my dream was to stay at a Ritz.  Today is the day!  First time.

Ehh…  not impressed.   Excellent customer service, but the room and hotel in general is not that impressive.

Walked around for about an hour looking for a snack, bottled water and Fabreeze.  I am brain dead today, so this expedition should of taken about 20 minutes.  But I am learning how to use the GPS on my phone and it’s not going well.

Sunday – Happy Easter!

Maryland vs Georgia Tech

I slept for about 10.5 hours last night.  OMG!  I needed it so much.  My four hour avg had caught up to me.

It’s been several years since I’ve been to GA Tech, so I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going.  Thankfully, I ran into a co-worker in the lobby and followed him over.

Even though it was 6:20a when I arrived at the truck, I was giddy with excitement – it was my football truck!!!  I love my engineers!!!  This was quite the bonus too because they are getting moved to another show this fall.  So I will have a different truck and different engineers.  Booooo!

The day went fine.  Nothing exciting to report.

I am an idiot because I booked my travel home for tomorrow morning.  I could of easily made the 7-ish and the 9:45p tonight.  Ugh.

Had dinner at the hotel bar.  Actually, a very good burger.

Am sad that I don’t have any more softball until the post season 

April 5th-6th

Thursday – Travel

Columbus > Tuscaloosa, AL

Got up at 5a because I was so far behind on everything.  Flight isn’t until 2:15, but I have 5 loads of laundry to do still.

Slept like a baby on the flight to Atlanta and then read my latest Randy Wayne White book on the flight to Birmingham.  Was delayed out of ATL, so was getting into BHM later than planned.  It was ok, as I didn’t have any real plans.

Made the 45 minute drive to Tuscaloosa.  We are at the Wingate, which is at a bad exit.  There is not anything except 3 gas stations, a Burger King and a Cracker Barrel.  Ugh.

Ordered a pizza.  Just like last time, it sucked.  At least this time it was cooked, but it was oozing with sauce.

Met up with Steve and Brad later in the night.  We headed to a BW3s for drinks.  We had quite the conversation with our waitress.  It was very interesting.  Kind of weird too; she was born when I was a senior in high school. Her mom is 1 year older than me.  Wow.  It’s times like this that I realize that I keep getting older and really have nothing to show for it.  I am not a kid anymore.  When will I grow up?

Friday 

21 LSU vs 2 Alabama Softball

Got caught up on travel requests and such in the morning.  Hit a Panera on the way to work.

Good day, fine day.

Catered dinner.  Nothing like chicken tenders on Good Friday!   Nice Lenten meal.  I try…  I really do.  But when faced with no options, what does one do?  I needed protein and this was my only option, so I limited it to 2 very small tenders.

Game went fine.  I had a few mistakes, which angered me.  Stupid stuff.

After the game I was in a bad mood.  I went back to the hotel.  Was quickly talked into going out for drinks.  I knew this would be trouble since my flight isn’t until 11:45a tomorrow.

And I was right.  We went to 1831 – a campus bar.  We were the four 30-somethings in the corner watching all the “kids”.   Interesting as always to take in the sites at a college bar.  Sometimes I wish I had gone to a traditional college so I could have had these experiences.  But usually, I am thankful for the track I took.  If I had gone to a traditional college, I truly believe I wouldn’t be where I am today.

 Apparently you can smoke in bars in Alabama.  Ugh.  Very stinky.

Brad bought me rose from some chick selling them.  Awww..  very sweet of him.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I am HIGHLY allergic to roses…..  Well rose oil.  I quickly checked for thorns and there weren’t any. If I get pricked with a thorn, it puts rose oil into my bloodstream and look out!  It’s a horrible mess of a rash that quickly spreads wherever I touch with the wound.  It requires a Rx and quarantine of the body parts effected.

Before we knew it, it was 2:30 am CT and I was about 8 vodka/sprite/splash of cran’s in.

We made it back to the hotel and I was OUT in about 90 seconds.

March 31st – April 2nd

Saturday – Travel/Set

Atlanta > East Rutherford, NJ

Four hours of sleep.  Ugh.

Thankfully, I am minutes from the airport. 

Got ready and hit the SkyTrain to the airport.  I didn’t take into consideration that it is Spring Break – so the airport is a freaking zoo!

The only redeeming factor is that this is ATL and I am Diamond on Delta.  So once I wait about 5mins in line to get to the 1^st level of boarding pass inspectors, I get directed to PreCheck.  It’s a special line for special people.  Yes, this is important!

What is it?  

It’s a line for Delta’s premium travelers that allows you to pass thru the TSA checkpoint without taking ANYTHING out of your bag (laptop, liquids, etc).  AND, you don’t have to take off your shoes, jacket OR empty your pockets!  It’s pre-9/11 security baby!

You literally put your stuff on the conveyor belt, walk thru an old school metal detector and away you go!

It’s so awesome to not ‘deal’ with the usual headaches and minutiae of TSA checkpoints.

However, to me, it only confirms what bullshit all the TSA regulations truly are.  Why is it only safe to do this at the Atlanta airport – the busiest in the world?   The only reason I am approved is due to the insane amount of times I travel on Delta; which grants me “status”.  It’s not like I went thru a background check or anything.  

I am not complaining, I love it!  I just find strange that they can justify screening me in this fashion and call it “good”.  Yet in all the other airports in the country I have to be subjected to body scans and intrusive pat downs while being treated like a criminal.  Even though my bags are packed the EXACT same way, week in and week out.  Same precise liquids, gels and aerosols.  Such a waste of my time and government dollars.

I will enjoy it while I can because it’s just gonna be ruined by some terrorist who figures this out, flies a gazillion segments on Delta, is granted “Pre Check” status, goes thru this line and proceeds to hijack a plane and then ruin it for the rest of us.

If this post doesn’t get me back on the watch list, I don’t what will!?

(For the record, it was never determined why I was on the government watch list; I just know I was on it for about 9 months.  I was about to go thru the painstaking process with the TSA of proving I wasn’t a threat and get an official “redress number” when I magically was taken off.)

Slept on flight; which was exactly what I needed.

I couldn’t remember where I needed to go in Newark to get to the rental car facility.  After about 10 minutes of wandering, I figured it out.  Duh! 

How could I forget the National facility.  With such fabulous views of Jersey.

I had an hour before I needed to be at work.  Even though The New Meadowlands, or excuse me, MetLife Stadium, is only 13 miles, I knew it would take at least 30 mins to get there.  I also needed to eat.

Thanks to the genius who decided “no left turns” in all of New Jersey, it took me 15 minutes to navigate in square ‘circles’ to get to a Wendy’s.

Sadly, I was about 10 mins late to work.

God I hate this place!

I was accosted at security for not following procedures.  Well, last year, we just walked in.  I was scolded for not being prepared with my photo ID out and ready to be scanned.  Whatever dude.  As I walked away, the wind gusted by me and all the money flew out of my wallet.  As I bent down to get it, all the cards fell out and then the money got caught up in another wind gust.   I was truly to the point of not caring.

A couple of the security goons went chasing after my money and handed it back to me.  Thanks.

The set day went fine.  Robin was very prepared and that helped immensely.

I chose not to go out in the evening.  The four hours of sleep was catching up with me.

I ordered pizza, watched the Louisville vs Kentucky Final Four game and went to bed.  I couldn’t say up for Ohio St vs Kansas.  

Sunday – Game Day

Konica Minolta Big City Classic (Men’s Lacrosse)

Brutally long day.  3 games.  Flash forward 14 hours and I was back in my room eating leftover pizza.

March 29-30th

Thursday – Travel / Home / Travel

Chicago > Columbus > Atlanta > Athens, GA

Went home for few hours - Total blur.

Flew to Atlanta in the evening and then drove up to Athens.  Got to the hotel late, ate and went to bed.

Friday – Game Day

Florida vs Georgia Softball

I have been to Athens many times, but never for softball.  I don’t even know where the stadium is located.

On the way to work, I stopped at the Varsity for a Coke and grilled cheese.

Found the stadium – now wonder I didn’t know where it was – it’s very off the beaten path of campus.

For lunch, Jim and I stumbled upon a Mexican joint that we were suspicious of.  But we rolled the dice and couldn’t of enjoyed it more!

Okay, we could of, if we could have had some drinks!

Game went well.

Afterwards, I headed back to Atlanta.  The drive sucked, but I have an early flight tomorrow to NJ.  Better to get the drive over with tonight.