THE LOST WEEKEND

The past weekend was one I was looking forward to for a long time as it was the NHL All-Star Weekend. I had been planning to attend this event for months and finally, the big weekend was here.  This was an opportunity to watch all of the big stars of the NHL take part in various events as well as the All-Star Game itself.  More importantly, this would also be a weekend of parties with the players. Certainly something to look forward to.  But if you ever had an experience with Murphy's Law, then you can see what direction this story is going to take.

I spent Friday running errands for my big weekend in Raleigh, NC when I got a call from the bar; We got a visit from the Board of Health to do our yearly inspection.  This of course, put me into a tizzy because we are under the gun to get a passing  "A" grade.  Under the new grading system, grades for every bar and restaurant has to be posted in the front window; Anything below an "A" is not good.  Get a "C" and you might as well shut down.  So the pressure's on to get that "A".

Luckily for us, thanks to the due diligence of my staff, we passed the inspection and achieved that coveted "A" grade.  Talk about a load off of my mind.  The only problem was that the inspection ended up running than I thought it would and it forced me to play catch up on my errands afterwards.  I eventually got everything I needed to get done accomplished and by 2am, I was packed and ready for my 6am flight.

So now I have time to kill.  My flight from LaGuardia Airport wasn't until 6am. I was going to leave my apartment at around 4-4:30 am to get to the airport (a quick 10-15 minute ride at that time of the night).  So what do I do?  I didn't really want to go out to the bar and get caught up in a drinkfest before a flight.  Since I was up early on Friday running errands and didn't have an opportunity to take my daily nap, I figured I would take a quick nap before going to the airport.  So I set my alarm for 4am and zzzzzzzzzzzz.....

A few hours later I woke up suddenly to the sounds of construction noise outside of my window. I looked at my TV clock and it was 6AM!!!!  I screamed "F***!" and looked at my phone and sure enough, it was 6am.  My flight was at 6:06am.  I cursed as I stumbled out of bed.  Hoping this was just a bad dream, I grabbed my phone once again hoping that I had read the time wrong.  Nope, it was now 6:01am.  I checked my alarm and as it turned out, I had my alarm set to vibrate and thus slept through it.  "F***!!"

I rushed to the airport anyways hoping for a miracle, whether it be a delay or something available on the next flight.  I was placed on standby and the best I could manage was a flight for 7:30pm Saturday night, which after a 1-hour layover in Cleveland (of all places), would have gotten me into Raleigh at around 11pm.  Which would have been pointless, because I would have missed the Super Skills competition and more importantly, most of the post-game party with the players.  So because of my ineptitude, my dream weekend was dashed.  And I have no one else to blame but myself. 

The rest of my weekend consisted of me staring at the TV watching everyone in Raleigh having a great time and me wondering what could have been.  "F***!!"

One good thing to all of this: The end of NO-JUICE JANUARY!

I want to thank everyone who braved the elements on Thursday to make Matt Long's "The Long Run" book signing event at the bar.  The turnout was much better than expected considering the weather and everyone was thrilled with meeting the man behind the story.  For those of you who missed out on the signing due to the weather, we will schedule another book signing in the very near future!

TONIGHT: "Mug Night Mondays" featuring $1 mugs, Bud/Bud Light/ Hometown NY Lager and $2 mugs, all other domestic drafts (5pm-close)!