My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Great Times Getting To Help Pets

As we work our way towards the end of 2022, I would just like to thank you for listening, and taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures every week. My Epic Weekend In Pictures next week probably won't pop up until Wednesday due to the Christmas weekend. You can always see my Epic Weekend In Pictures in real time on my Instagram story @SteveAllanRadio. I'm very excited to see my family for just the second time since August. Before the pandemic I would go back to see them every four or five weeks. I'm hoping to be able to make it back up to Mansfield, Ma by late afternoon Friday, coming back to Jersey on Tuesday.

This was a fun, action packed Epic Weekend In Pictures for sure. We'll start with Thursday. Due to inclement weather we had to do my Adopt A Pet Of The Week virtually just like we did during the lockdown days. Fortunately the weather for this week looks like rain instead of snow, so hopefully we can get back to normal. We are on a super hot streak with my Pet Of The Week. Remember those hard sell kitties Potato and Peanut who I had on my show the week of Thanksgiving at Father John's Animal House? They both have been adopted!

Friday morning I filled in for Steve Andrews on our 102.3 WSUS Morning Show, pulling double duty covering that and my afternoon show. Doing both shows resulted in my brain basically being a nonstop Christmas music loop, LOL. Tis the season!

Friday the fun continued with our Friday Office Lunch Party. I had so much fun meeting new friends at Skylands Medical Group. I think all those steps to their office is one thing that helps all of them stay in tip top shape! They were a fun bunch and good sports about joining my Epic Weekend In Pictures.

Friday night it was just me with bestie Jasen, over at Jasen and Brendan's place on Campus. Nice chill night where we were catching each other up on our weeks. I thought I was hanging out with Jasen and Brendan, but my besties forgot they both made plans with their friends accidentally. Brendan went to their buddies place and Jasen and I stayed in. After I got home, quickly pulled up my DirecTV guide to see what 90s reruns or movies might be on. I was psyched to jump in and catch the last hour of Billy Madison. To think that Adam Sandler's movies have made over a billion dollars, and that Billy Madison movie was what launched all of it, is still staggering. Back in the 90s I heard him on my then favorite radio station in Boston, 104.1 WBCN-FM. He was on with my favorite DJ at the time, Mark Parenteau. Adam Sandler credited Mark for helping so many comedians / actors hit stardom, and Sandler's first time going to the BCN studios was while he was an opening comedian for Jerry Seinfeld. There's your random fun fact story for today lol.

By Saturday early afternoon I thought to myself "the Weekend has been rather quiet, but I know it'll change very soon." Surely enough, I was pulling into Industry Restaurant And Bar in Sparta on 15 in ShopRite Plaza. It was time for our big first Pet Food, Supply and Toy Drive. All weekend we were taking donations for our friends at OSCAR and Father John's Animal House. I was there from 2-4pm Saturday along with Santa Claus! Santa even said I'm almost off his Naughty List, almost! I'll take that progress. Hopefully I don't mess that up in the near future!

It was great seeing old friends and making new ones too. It was great hanging out with my friend Bill Snouffer from Nielsen Automotive Group. I also had fun hanging with Steve from Industry and his wife Rachel - also their sweet loving pup Willie. He must be the official mascot of Industry and Mohawk House. People were more excited to get their pets pictured with Santa than themselves. There was definitely a ton of cuteness all around that helped you warm up a little on that cold day. We had a great time with fantastic results.

Saturday night, time to go to my bestie Matt Spooner's annual Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. Unlike me, Spooner is very talented at entertaining and loves it. He made an awesome charcuterie board and made delicious food all over for the party guests to enjoy. We had a great time all of us getting together. We definitely don't take that for granted after a couple years ago when those gatherings weren't possible. My Ugly Sweater with a cat saying "Meowy Christmas," got a strong response, mostly laughs. All in good fun for sure.

Sunday marked the first day of ski season at Mountain Creek and I was psyched. We didn't have enough snow made for my hill Granite Peak yet, but once they do I'll be psyched and of course document. I LOVE watching skiers from my deck, one of my many favorite parts of living here.

I knew The Irish Cottage was likely going to be open for The FIFA World Cup. They're usually open for the big soccer games and it's always a fun atmosphere. I probably wouldn't enjoy watching soccer by myself, but it's so much fun to watch when there are passionate fans all around you. It also helps that you can ask some of them questions about the rules. We were all cheering on Argentina and what an Epic game! That was exhilarating to watch. You could hear a pin drop during those penalty kicks, then a ton of yelling and cheering when goals were scored. I got there at 11:45am, just in time to see the last 60-80 minutes of it. At one point I was confused / disoriented because it looked to me like Argentina was kicking it around towards their own goalie. I then realized that every half the teams switch sides just like our American Football. Whoops! That makes sense at least.

I should have stopped with soccer. My fantasy football team Radioboyz are in the playoffs and if we lose our season is over. Unless Green Bay Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has a huge game tonight, I'm done. Yes, due to many injuries on my team I had to pick up Aaron Rodgers because he was the only healthy option available. I'm hoping he regains his old form tonight for sure!

Oh and the elephant in the room, my freakin Patriots. WOW. There are so many reasons it hurts that we committed quite possibly the biggest blunder in football's history. The first half, Patriots didn't look good at all. It was painful to watch like so much of this season. Then in the second half they made major adjustments and improvements. Going towards overtime if felt like we could have a strong chance at winning. Then the play happened. You can see the play by clicking here.

If you don't know / like football, I can explain. All we had to do to go into overtime was simply hit the ground with the ball in our hands. That would have ended regulation and we would have gone to overtime. Instead, we ran with the ball, threw it to one guy on our team, Jakobi Meyers, who inexplicably threw it 23 yards backwards towards Mac Jones. They're calling it The Las Vegas Lateral. In 2018, The Miami Miracle against us I predicted, just had a sick feeling going into it. This one was even worse! Leave it to the Patriots, when we fail, we HISTORICALLY fail!

Overall I had a great weekend. I hope you had a great weekend too. I hope you and your loved ones have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!