This Epic Weekend In Pictures will be a little briefer than usual. While I was getting called into work often, Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I still tried to make every moment we still had together count. We were still able to see some friends and get some laughs all the way.
We will start our Epic Weekend In Pictures on Friday night. Meg made her way up to Hackettstown and we joined each other for a little indoor dining at The Cottage in Franklin. Meg had herself a delicious and refreshing "Candy Cane martini." I had a sip of her drink and it was very yummy. As we were wrapping up dinner, I got a call from Borasio on our sister station 103.7 NNJ. He alerted me that all 3 of our stations went off the air. We saw a transformer on route 23 in Franklin blow and gave us a few sparks as well. The Cottage lost power for a minute, then their generator kicked on and everything was back to good. I was hoping that would be the case with our radio stations. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky. All 3 of our radio stations, 102.3 WSUS, 103.7 NNJ, and Max 106.3 were all off the air. When radio stations go off the air, it's an emergency. Radio stations have to be on the air 24/7, so much so that we even have FEMA cards that allow us to go into work at the radio stations no matter what kind of travel bans might be enacted.
From approximately 7:10pm - 8:00pm I was at our radio stations trying to get us back on the air. It looked and sounded like a warzone with strobe lights and sirens sounding nonstop to alert us that we were off the air with our radio stations. Working with our engineer rebooting computers, we were able to get us all back on the air in less than an hour. Not the best start to the weekend, but at least everything was back up and running again.
I was able to go home and see Awesome Girlfriend Megan and relax. After a long week at work for both of us, we were happy to relax and have a quiet Friday night in just the two of us. Just what the doctor ordered. Until 3:05am. My Market President Chuck texted me asking if I was awake. I texted him back right away and said "Oh no are all 3 off the air again?" He answered that both WSUS and WNNJ went off the air again.
It was back to work for me. I tried to VPN in on my laptop, but there were mandatory updates. Still more than half asleep, I realized that there might be action required on my part to physically reboot computers in our engineering rack room anyway so I might as well go in. Meg looked at me as I got dressed and asked "what time is it babe?" I said "3." Kissed her, and went back to work.
More strobes and alarm sirens going off nonstop. I was working hard with my engineer to figure out which computers broke and which ones needed rebooting again. I was basically at work from 3:10am to 5:00am in what sounded like a warzone. Not a fun weekend.
I was able to go home, crawl back into bed and join Meg. I was very happy she was able to rest and sleep a little and that I didn't keep her up.
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Mine and Meg's big Saturday afternoon goal was to watch Rutgers University football. They had a big game against Penn State, who we apparently haven't defeated since 1988. I told Meg that's the year my sister was born, so for her whole life we have not defeated Penn State with our program. Rutgers isn't up to Penn State's level quite yet, but give us another year and I think we will be much, much closer. Coach Greg Schiano definitely has turned the program around like we knew he would and has us going in the right direction for sure. Rutgers lost 23-7, but last year we were losing games literally 70-0. We were making big progress.
While we were watching the game at The Cottage in Franklin, I got called into work again. Another computer to reboot. This was while I was maybe 2 sips into my first ice cold beer. I looked at Meg and said I would rather get the work done right away. It's only a 5-10 minute drive anyway. I got in, rebooted another computer to hopefully get things back up and running smoothly.
My Market President Chuck called and we had a good laugh over all the headache problems I had been trying to fix all weekend. After getting called into work in the middle of the night, repeatedly, all you can do is just laugh and try to shake it off.
Meg was awesome being my driver. I told her that even after a few sips of my ice cold beer, even though I wasn't drunk, I was just feeling so out of it.
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Saturday night we were able to go to the new winter village, Frosty Catina's at Minerals Sports Club. We had a great time enjoying a drink there with our besties Jasen and Brendan. We also loved getting to see Santa! It's funny how sometimes no matter how old you get, sometimes after a long day how much joy Santa and the spirit of Santa can bring you. Seeing Santa was just what the doctor ordered for us.
I whispered to him wishing him good luck and hoping he wasn't going to get too cold. He assured me not to worry, he had his thermal gear on and was totally warm. I was very happy to hear that, because it was cold and windy outside for sure.
Sunday morning Meg and I attempted to sleep in. We were able to go to Shop Rite in Franklin where I was able to get flowers for the three future stepdaughters. I even let Meg help me pick them. We then did our Sunday goodbye beer like we normally do every other Sunday.
I was so fried I fell asleep during the Patriots 4pm game, but was happy with their direction from the parts of the game I was able to see. My fantasy football teams did okay, looks like I won in one of my leagues and lost in my other one. Russell Wilson slumping did not help me, lol. Ah well.
Overall, while not working we had a terrific weekend getting to see some of our wonderful friends. I hope you had a terrific weekend too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures, even if this weekend was a little less Epic than normal. Time to start planning next weekend!