While my Epic Weekends In Pictures aren't as well traveled as they used to be, we still try to make every minute count. I'm very happy we're allowed social gatherings of up to 25 people outside and 10 people inside. Hopefully each day we're getting one day closer to being able to see our loved ones. I'm still hoping to visit my parents in Boston in 2 weeks. We'll see how things progress. This weekend did involve more travel than expected, which we will get into momentarily.
Friday night was a chill night. It was also an early night. Long story short, behind the scenes I'm also Program Director for our iHeartMedia Sussex County radio stations WSUS, WNNJ and Max 106.3. We're in charge of everything you hear on the radio, and also on call 24/7 for when things go awry. Due to engineering challenges of some sort with our transmitter tower for Max 106.3, we were knocked off the air. I was called into work in the middle of the night back to back nights last week, so by Friday night I was fried. I was still emailing with our engineers, coordinating when to help them enter our building on Saturday. Our engineer accidentally emailed me from his cell phone, but it was flagged as one of those "e-mail from outside the company, don't download the images!" I didn't want to be that guy during these times to download a virus on my work e-mail. Figures. The image was him telling me he was on the way from Allentown to here. The next one was that he was in our parking lot. Whoops. I was 25 minutes away. I gave him my cell number and took his so that way we don't have that challenge happen again. He was successfully able to get into our building and hopefully help us fix the challenges we had last week.
Here comes the missing / craving whiskey adventure. In February, we took my parents and Uncle JDawg to one of our favorite local distilleries. They were hooked immediately, buying merchandise within 15 minutes of being there. A few weeks ago, they requested me to pick up some more whiskey for them. Unfortunately it's something you can't get online to get shipped from New York to Boston, etc. Not to worry, I would love to get that for them. Maybe a fancy Father's Day present for Padre and JDawg? Last Saturday, while we were on our Irish Cottage Inn Virtual Happy Hour, Awesome Girlfriend Megan went to work. She went online and ordered the bottles of whiskey our guys were requesting. We immediately got an e-mail saying that our order would be ready for pickup the next day, Sunday at 12:15pm. Perfect! Meg was making pepperoni bites in our air fryer, and it made the most sense for me to hit the road and stay out of her way. We don't need me trying to help and then only complicating things in the kitchen. I went there, and they were closed. Meg looked online to find out that they were closed because it was Sunday Memorial Day Weekend. I drove out there for nothing due to the errant message. Ugh. Ah well.
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Friday, I received another e-mail that our order was ready for pickup Saturday. Yay! Here we go again. I went and picked up the bottles of whiskey. It seemed light because whiskey money adds up very quickly apparently I'm learning, lol. I asked the gentleman if that was everything, he said indeed it was. Great! I was then able to hit the road, and quickly let our engineer into our building. I ordered lunch from The Irish Cottage Inn, craving my usual buffalo chicken pizza. I called Meg saying I picked up the whiskey but it seemed light. She told me count how many bottles we got. I said 3. She informed me that we ordered 4. They accidentally shorted me a bottle of bourbon. I called them up, they were very sweet and apologetic. I totally understand so many businesses are trying so hard to survive in ways that their not originally built to sustain. We're trying to be patient and help in any ways that we can. The gentleman said he felt bad, and that if I got there before they closed, he would give me an extra glass for my troubles. After going there twice, to get whiskey for everyone other than me, yes, I would LOVE to get a glass of whiskey! That was the light at the end of my tunnel. I arrived, getting the bag of bourbon basically skipping away with glee. Then upon entering my Jeep Compass, I opened the bag and saw just an empty, engraved glass. My face probably resembled that of a kid getting socks for a Christmas present. I was less than thrilled.
Saturday afternoon, I had a little whiskey left in my bottle that I've had for a year, and decided to finish that off. I'm not a big whiskey guy, but after all of that driving for whiskey, I just simply had to.
All mixed in with this, Saturday morning I was able to go for one of my weekend walks with Meg in Sparta. Our beloved White Lake Park was closed when I went by. We were very saddened by that, so we instead walked together in the new housing development behind Shop Rite Of Sparta. After our walk together, I drove back by and White Lake Park was open. We drove by before 9am, perhaps we were just too early this time.
Saturday mid afternoon I LOVED watching the NASA Spacex launch. I teared up watching that amazing accomplishment, and found myself quietly chanting to myself U-S-A, U-S-A!
Saturday late afternoon we had our weekly Irish Cottage Inn virtual Happy Hour, where we love getting to see our friends. It's not as fun on weekends like this where I don't have Awesome Girlfriend Megan with me, but they still put up with me thank goodness.
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Sunday we took advantage of the gatherings under ten people guideline, and enjoyed grilling with our bestie Spooner. Jasen and Brendan and I were lucky to enjoy the benefits of his pizza stone grill device. That device works great for grilling pizza in our street legal electric grills. We had cheese, then buffalo chicken, then barbecue chicken, then burgers. Okay that reminds me I need to work really hard on the Alter G Treadmill at Trinity Rehab in Sparta today! We did eat great though, and it felt like a beautiful Fall Sunday. Gorgeous weather, beautiful views, and friends laughing together all at a social distance. It was terrific. Hopefully each day we get one more day closer to getting past these tough situations.
This weekend I basically tried to balance my days with watching news at night to stay informed, even though it made me so sad of course. Last week's tragedy made me sad, then seeing business owners whose buildings, and life's work had been burnt down, also made me sad. Whenever I could, I just tried to stay positive and keep things light with friends whenever possible.
Overall we had a terrific weekend as possible. I hope your weekend was good too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my recaps. Time to start planning next weekend!