Lifestyle

M is for: Mays on a Plane

Welp…the cat’s out of the bag.

In what’s been a horribly-kept secret (kudos Bay Area Sports Guy), many of you know I recently moved to Connecticut to take a job with ESPN. Considering my first day of work was Monday, I feel I can now finally talk about it here on the blog. (Apologies to those I haven’t been able to respond to on Twitter, Instagram, etc in the past few weeks).

First of all, I’m incredibly sad to say good bye to San Francisco. I absolutely fell in love with the city, the food, and especially the people. In my five years at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, I covered some unforgettable events (2 World Series Championships, a perfect game, and a trip to Japan to cover the A’s in 2008). I also ate some amazing food and bettered my own skills in the kitchen, constantly inspired by the amazingly fresh produce available in California. But most importantly, I made some amazing friends and connections whom I will cherish for a lifetime. I was fortunate to properly say good bye to most of those people (and restaurants) on an epic tour of the Bay Area that I plan to document here on the blog at a later time. (If you follow me on Instagram, I took you along for the ride).

But as I look ahead to this new chapter in my life, I’m ridiculously excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for me at the Worldwide Leader. I expect to learn a lot, work extremely hard, and become a better anchor, host and sportscaster. I’m looking forward to working with so many talented people, and learning from them each day. On a personal level, I’m excited to check out the East Coast and everything it has to offer (especially New York food…which is just a couple hours away).

Speaking of food…many of you have asked if I will continue the blog. As of now, I absolutely plan to continue cooking and sharing recipes here on E is for Eat. On that note, I apologize for the major lagging in my posts lately…but I hope you’ll forgive me as it’s been a crazy time in my life. I’m also currently surviving with just one pan, one pot, and a chef’s knife while I wait for my things to arrive from the West Coast…so you’ll have to wait just a bit longer for new recipes.

In the meantime…I thought I would share with you a hilarious (and horrifying) story from my cross country move….

As some of you know, I am the proud owner of a beautiful and mischievous orange cat named Mays. (As in Willie Mays…he is orange after all). In researching the best ways to get Mays to New England, I decided a one-way flight was probably going to be the easiest. (Though I later found out that transporting a feline from one coast to the other is far from easy).

The thing I was most concerned about is getting the cat through security, as you actually have to carry them through the metal detector and send the pet carrier through the x-ray machine. After consulting with several people (including my vet friend Tonya), I decided to use a mild prescription sedative to help calm his nerves. Imagine what your cat would look like if he was doing a bunch of tequila shots and downing Nyquil but trying desperately to stay awake…and that’s what my cat was like on sedatives. Drunk, sleepy but not *sleeping.*

As it turns out…security was a breeze. He was a champ (or maybe just drugged up), and everyone kept commenting on how adorable he is. I took this opportunity to tell anyone who would listen…

“I’m *moving.* I don’t normally travel with my cat.”

I felt like they were all silently thinking “Surrrrrrrre you crazy cat girl.”

I decided a red eye was a good route to take. It would be dark, quiet…and he’s used to sleeping at that time. In my mind it would be the least stressful for both of us. Once I made it on board, I was ecstatic to discover that the middle seat was open. SCORE. This was going to be even easier than I thought.

WRONG.

I put the carrier under the middle seat and shortly after taking off, I settled in to go to sleep, certain Mays would soon be doing the same thing. As I was dozing off, I sorta recall hearing a flight attendant walk by saying something about a cat as she walked by, but I didn’t think much of it. A few minutes later, I hear over the loud speaker “If you have a cat on board, please alert a flight attendant.”

Huh. That’s weird…wonder why they need me. 


It still hasn’t dawned on me, so I ring my call button.

Flight attendant: “Do you have a cat on board?”

Me: “Yes.”

Flight attendant: “Well, he’s OUT.”

Me: “What? No he’s not he’s right her…..”

UH. OH.

As I reach down, I discover the zipper of the soft-sided carrer is open, and has been busted off the zipper track. The cat was literally out of the bag.

The flight attendant leads me six rows up, where a nice man is holding Mays, who drunkenly looks up at me like “What?” Luckily the guy apparently loves cats. But he doesn’t have one because he’s ALLERGIC. Of course he is. Of course my cat found the allergic guy.

The entire section is giggling. I, meanwhile, am MORTIFIED. Seriously…how embarrassing.

Thankfully the guy sitting next to me helped me fix the zipper so I was at least able to get Mays back in the carrier. But I was worried he was going to pull his escape act again, so I had to stay up all night. On the bright side, I finally got to see Argo. On the down side…it would be another 19 hours before my head would hit a pillow (30 in all). We made it through the red eye, a puddle jumper flight to Hartford, a pet store run, and finally to our new home in Connecticut. (Note to self: red eyes are a *bad* idea when moving a cat to the other side of the country).

Now that Mays has recovered from his drug bender, he’s loving his new found space (turns out you can get a pretty decently big place for what you pay for a tiny one bedroom in San Francisco). So while Mays runs laps (literally) around my apartment, I continue to long for my furniture and a feeling of being settled.

Thanks to everyone for all of the well wishes and a San Francisco sendoff to rival all sendoffs. I look forward to sharing my east coast adventures and cooking in a normal-sized kitchen (with a gas stove!)

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  • Kristina Mathews
    March 28, 2013 at 4:00 am

    We'll miss you here in California. Best of luck to you.

    I took my 14 month old son on a flight from Reno to Alaska. He'd come down with an ear infection right before we left, so his pediatrician prescribed benadryl for the flight. He slept through the whole flight and we were treated to "What a great baby" comments as we left the plane. Fortunately, we were able to strap him in his car seat, otherwise he might have escaped too.

    • jaymeesire
      March 28, 2013 at 4:12 am

      Hahaha. I think I might do Benadryl next time. ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2013 at 4:31 am

    Make sure and check out the nh and Maine sea coast best seafood you will ever eat. Fellow Bay Area transplants in the Boston area of you need good places to eat hit me up at NorCal925 on twitter

    • jaymeesire
      March 28, 2013 at 4:53 am

      Will do, thank you!!

  • Kristin H
    March 28, 2013 at 4:33 am

    Haha, this is hilarious. Congratulations on the big move, that is very exciting! I'm sure San Francisco isn't easy to leave. I am glad you are continuing to blog, I'm a big fan. Best of luck on the move!

    • jaymeesire
      March 28, 2013 at 4:53 am

      Thanks so much!

  • Jen Anderson
    March 28, 2013 at 4:37 am

    HA – that is hilarious! I can't believe he got out! At least you don't have to do that again for awhile ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Steph
    March 28, 2013 at 4:47 am

    I love this post Jaymee, for many reasons. 1: I am SO excited for you! What a tremendous opportunity! You made it girlfriend, and I look forward to seeing you on my TV since ESPN is almost all that is usually on it (don't tell our friends at CSN!). 2: You are such a good writer and story teller. I could see your face when the flight attendant told you Mays was out and I could see him with his drugged up eyes. 3: Your blog is just awesome. I love it and I look forward to following your adventures!

    • jaymeesire
      March 28, 2013 at 4:52 am

      Awww. Thanks Steph. Love you, girl! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Brian Lim
    March 28, 2013 at 5:14 am

    Best wishes to you at ESPN! The Bay Area's going to miss you!

  • Left Field Laws
    March 28, 2013 at 5:16 am

    Wow Giants games won't be the same without you doing post game interviews possibly as a pie target for Pablo. My favorite moment has to be Murph AKA Bigfoot making a cameo after your 2010 world series postgame spot haha, you just attract must see moments. Best of luck to you at ESPN and I look forward to see you cover sports on the national stage!

  • Anonymous
    March 28, 2013 at 5:43 am

    Raising Arizona just wasn't the same this year. ESPN better know what it's getting!! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Tom Nakashima
    March 28, 2013 at 10:12 am

    thanks for your great work covering the history-making Giants, and good luck on your new adventure, Jaymee….

  • theprojectfc
    March 28, 2013 at 8:56 pm

    All the very best of luck with ESPN now that it can be said. We the fans will miss you at CSN–especially the A's and Giants, 49ers and Raiders, Sharks, Warriors, and Earthquakes. Hope you get to cover all the events you like for the worldwide leader. ๐Ÿ™‚ And–continue with the food blog (love it when the sports folk spin off and try something different like the arts, music, and so forth)… cheers! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • jtchao
    March 28, 2013 at 11:55 pm

    Best of luck at the Leader :P. You will definitely be missed here when we're watching the postgame interviews on CSN Bay Area. We look forward to when you have time to continue this blog as we've used a couple recipes (very successfully, I might add) but will miss your restaurant reviews since they actually helped us decide what to try out in SF on more than one occasion.

  • Karen
    March 30, 2013 at 3:54 am

    crazy story!
    I'm excited for you and for your gas stove too ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Anonymous
    April 5, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    espn is going to be a fun adventure for you jaymee you will must likely be miss in the bay area jaymee you will always have a place in my heart jaymee

  • David Jablonski
    April 10, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    Interesting site. I will admit, your May 2012 post is the one that caught my eye….Hop Skip & Go….

    Good luck in your new chapter. I look forward to future posts. ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • Michelle O
    April 11, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Okay — just a couple things. One, that story is HILARIOUS. Your cat sounds awesome. haha. You will be able to tell that story forever.

    Two, I'm from CT originally. I grew up in southern CT but went to school near Hartford. Happy to help you with any tips on good food or things to do ThatsoMichelle@gmail.com. Looking forward to reading more about it on your blog!

    Congrats on the new job and the new journey! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Anonymous
    April 27, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    LOVE to see a talented female sports journalist advance in her career! Truly miss you covering the Giants, but we couldn't keep you here…we must share you with the rest of the country. I know you'll do what you can to eradicate ESPN's east coast bias. And boy you are spoiled 'cause the Bay Area is culinary heaven, but you aren't far from NYC… (Oh and great cat-on-a-plane story!)
    –BB in SF

  • daniel so
    April 28, 2013 at 4:43 am

    we miss you already, hope you dominate ESPN!

  • Annette
    May 10, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    I finally decided to do a search to find out what happened to you, and am happy it was your choice and that the departure from SF was positive. I will miss you! But happy to see you move on to something you want, hopefully will love, and embracing life as you do.

  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    Still trying to get use to not seeing/hearing you do Comcast Sports anymore. Best of luck to you. Cats have a mind of their own. Love the story. Favorite thing to do in New York, besides seeing musicals, is take the Staten Island Ferry and watching the New York skyline from the back of the Ferry.

  • MontiraLei
    May 28, 2013 at 11:03 pm

    You did a Tremendous job of covering the Giants for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. Congratulations, and Best Wishes on your new endeavor! ESPN will be fortunate to have you in their ranks.