I’m sitting in my hotel room tonight reflecting on the day and I realize that I’ve been really busy today.  We began the day with a little construction work as I helped my friends Joe and Julie Rossi hang a ceiling fan in their living room.  This was a pretty simple project and the best part was Ryan had some free time with Julie, who’s a speech pathologist.  It might sound trivial to you but as we were driving home Ryan and I sang “Old McDonald had a farm EIEIO” for the first time.  The first time?  Why yes, until this morning’s lesson, it was only EIEIEIEIEI.  I’d say that’s progress.

So, after heading back home I quickly packed my bags for Foxbourough Massachusetts, the home of the New England Patriots.  Tomorrow morning ESPN is doing a live broadcast and they’ve decided to webcast that on ESPN.com, ESPNRADIO.com, ESPNBOSTON.com and ESPNNEWYORK.com.  So this afternoon was spent pulling wires, testing internet connections, configuring cameras and meeting with staff.  Tonight was more of the same but now we’re done and I’m comfortable we’re going to have a smooth show tomorrow. 

This is an interesting job because it allows me to see what others in my industry do.  It would be a great job for someone who’s younger with a lot of energy.  You basically get to travel on the company’s dime, see all kinds of great venues and meet all kinds of famous people.  The payment for all of this is that you don’t get to call anyplace home.  I watched a dozen or so people leave the arena we were in to make calls to their families.  Rodney, the contract engineer that ESPN Radio hires for many of these events was one of them.  He’s a really cool and smart guy who’s a very good engineer and makes the time go faster.  It got me thinking, strangely enough, about how I started my day and it reminded me of the picture I took in our driveway after I brought Ryan home this morning.  I couldn’t do Rodney’s job.  I bet I could figure out the technical aspects of the job but I’d never be able to miss so many pictures like this.  If anyone asked would I rather spend time with Rodney or Ryan, there’s really no question which I’d prefer…as nice as Rodney is.