RIP Macho Man

05.20.2011

This morning Macho Man Randy Savage died in a car accident. The early reports are that he may have had a heart attack while driving, causing him to cross lanes and hit a tree. I've been a fan of Randy's for a long time. Mainly I hated him a long time before I liked him (even when realizing that I was supposed to hate him, and that made me like him even more). I got to meet Randy for a fleeting minute in '98. Below is my recollection of that night that I dug up from an old post some 13 years ago.

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Thursday January 22, 1998
WCW Thursday Night Thunder comes to Huntsville and the Von Braun Center
My brush with greatness...

"A defining moment." - Kevin "Big Kev" Lofty "No way!" - Ponytail McKay "Did you pee on yourself?" - Brandi Morgan "Oooh Yeah!" - Chas G. Poplin, II "Randy F'n Savage" - Me

My second major wrestling event to attend in Huntsville. Live, on national television. I wasn't as close this time (5th row instead of 2nd), but who am I to complain?

The first part of the story is how I came to get my ticket. On the way home from Jerry and Elaine's on New Year's Day, I heard on the radio the announcement that would forever change my life: "Coming January 22nd to the VBC, WCW Thursday Night Thunder! Yada Dada Dada. Tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 2."

The next day. I could manage that. Go in to work a little early. Go to the VBC. Get me a ticket. I've got a plan.

Huntsville didn't want to cooperate with my plan.

I got to the box office 15 minutes before it opened, thinking "Get there a little early, get my ticket, maybe even grab some lunch before I go back to work." I got there and there was a line. A long line. A line that you would find at Disneyworld. Where did all of these people come from? This is wrestling for god's sake. But I had made it this far, so I decided to get in line behind 60 or 70 of my close personal friends and see if they would have some good tickets left by the time I got up there.

As I reached the first turn in the line (only 3 more to go and I would be almost there!), a girl from the front of the line was going "Pssst" and pointing at me. Never one to pass up a Pssst-ing woman, I looked to see what she wanted. She asked me how many tickets I wanted, to which I said "One." Then I started trying to figure out who she was. Short, cute, no make-up. But she was getting a ticket for me, so who am I to complain?

I got out of line to meet her after she got the ticket, and then I remembered who she was. Mia. From Visions. I hadn't been in at least 6 months (ah, school days), and yet I'm memorable enough to be picked out of a line of wrestling fans. Cool.

I got my ticket and paid her for it (I wasn't used to giving her money while she had clothes on - that was a first right there) and was on my way to wait 3 weeks to go see wrestling.

Thursday Thunder night. I'm in the arena behind Mia, her boyfriend, and her sister. It was fun. I've gotten to be a regular hooter-and-hollerer, so I did my best. Looking at the tape of the show, I was even on tv twice (granted, it was only the back of my head, but I can point out the back of my head to anybody that wants to see!). The only bad [part was that I was far enough back on the floor that I missed some action when everybody got excited and stood on there chairs. I could have done the same, but 300 lbs standing in a chair can't be safe. Besides, that's why I had the vcr at home going!

My dream for that night was to get to meet Ric Flair. I've been watching the man on tv for close to 20 years. Mia told me before that some of the wrestlers had gone to Visions the night before, and some said they were going to go back that night. Cool! My chance to meet Ric. The Nature Boy. I would get to style and profile with the big boys.

Except Ric didn't come to Huntsville.

Damn.

But, never one to miss an opportunity like this, I went to Visions anyway. I got there and saw Louie Spiccoli. Louie is a recent addition to WCW coming from ECW in the Philladelphia area. I look more like a wrestler than Louie does. Then again, I take that as a compliment. After about an hour, more people showed up. Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake, one of Hulk Hogan's lackeys, was there. The 7'4", 470 lb Giant was there. And then there was Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Wrestler. Slim Jim spokesman.

Mia had her picture taken with all of them. She still had one shot left on the roll. Maybe. It was hard to tell. Still not wanting to completely miss an opportunity, I asked her if she would take a picture of me and the Macho Man. She said yes, but I would have to ask him. All I owuld have to do is make a coherent sentence in front of this guy. Sure, I could do that.

I went up and said "Macho!" like a 14 year-old kid, and he looked at me and started to shake my hand. I asked if I could have my picture taken with him and he said "Yeah. Sure." while he shook my hand and smiled (a lot like Clint Eastwood). There was a flash, I thanked him, and he said "Ok. Cool."

God but I hope that picture turns out. (As an addendum, I can tell you now, much after the fact, that it didn't.)

So I got to hang out with wrestlers in a strip club. That's a story I'll have to tell my grandchildren.....

Another Addendum (05.19.01) - I went with a group of guys back to the strip club for a bachelor party last night. The funny thing is that after not going to the club in 3 years, Mia still remembers me and trying to take that picture of me and the Macho Man! I'm so unforgettable.

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1 movie from the 70s, 1 movie from the 80s

05.19.2011

I managed an odd themed double feature this week: Michael Crichton written & directed movies. Chricton is best known, these days, as the writer of Jurassic Park and the creator of E/R. I know him better as the writer of The Andromeda Strain. Jerry also knows him beter as this, since Jerry had a copy of the book that was missing a chunk (I can't remember if it was 50 pages or 3 chapters - they just weren't included in the book). It seems Mr. Chricton also wrote and directed a couple of movies of which I have fond memories. Although now that I've seen them recently, maybe that's had fond memories :)

Westworld (1973) : This was a movie that got a lot of play on the early days of cable and TBS. Young me thought this was pure science fiction - an amusement park that you were immersed in the era you were visiting. The Wild West, Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe. Androids that couldn't be told from real people were the players there for your amusement. It was all so cool!

Oh, that reminds me, if you're a big nerd like I claim to be and haven't read it, go read Dream Park (1981).

Back to Westworld. Now when I watched Westworld, it was a little more cheesy than I remember, even for a movie on the verge of 40 years old. First, I completely forgot Richard Benjamin was in it. I'll always remember him as Quark. Second, James Brolin was in it, and whenever I see him I'm amazed how much his son Josh looks like him. And the blood F/X. Oh they're bad. Just bad. Red model paint bad. But I did manage to watch all of the movie, albeit likely for the last time.

Looker (1981) : I had no misconceptions about Looker. My memories of this movie stem from Showtime, and how (I'm pretty sure) this was the first movie I saw boobs. Not just random boobs, but boobs of someone I had seen on TV before, those of the Partridge Family's Susan Dey. Back before the internet, this was important stuff to a 12 year old. There was a plot I didn't remember, but there were boobs.

43 year old me noticed that there was a plot, a plot which unfolded neatly and pointed to whodunnit within the first 15 minutes. The boobs weren't was prevalent as I remember, more than likely thanks to that damn internet and the prevalence of boobs it gives. About halfway through the movie I gave up watching - between knowing where it was going and the late-70's acting it was just too painful.

All's not lost though. Looker still has a theme song that get stuck in my head. Go 80's female power ballads!

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Google Analytics

05.17.2011

I often forget I have Google Analytics set up on the site. Maybe twice a year I remember and have fun looking at the things people have searched for that bring them to my little pocket of the interweb. Most of the time it's "russellmania" or "russell mania" with the occasional "russellmania 27" for people who forget it's Wrestlemania. And then there's the search shown above. I would type it out here, but I don't have those keys on my keyboard.

Once upon a time I would get a random search in Chinese, but now Arabic (I'm guessing) is the new foreign search language of choice.

I wonder what the above translates to? Probably "russell mania" in Arabic.

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The Idea That Won't Die

05.12.2011

Back in 2008 I had an idea for a medication calendar aimed at those in Hospice care. The idea has stayed in my head, bouncing to the forefront on occasion. Lately the idea has lent itself to how best to help groups of caregivers that may be spread out (i.e. not living in the same house). While researching this I cam across Lotsa Helping Hands, primarily an online calendar for scheduling caregivers along with some other nice features.

I really like this idea - plus they've been providing this service (free of charge!) since 2004. I wish I had known about it when Mom was sick. It's a beautiful concept and wonderful tool for those that need it, and for those that don't know they need it yet.

My idea is still bouncing around. Lotsa Helping Hands has a lot of what I want my idea to become, but there's still a couple of holes that need to be filled.

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I Survived Fine, Thanks For Asking

05.08.2011

April 27, 2011 was the (1) the 2nd worse tornado outbreak in the Tennessee Valley (outdoing both the '74 and '89 tornadoes) and (2) the closest I've knowingly been to a tornado, albeit after the fact.

That Wednesday morning I had an ominous feeling about the weather. The severe, tornado inducing storms usually stay to the south of me, but the storms that were being tracked were going north more than normal. We were all checking the radar from work, and there were a couple times that I noticed the red blobs were going more toward my neck of the woods than I would like. The first wave of storms hit while I was out to lunch. Being part psychic, I decided to go straight home after lunch and avoid sitting in the halls of work, hunkered down for tornado warnings. On the way home the rain and wind had died down, but ½ mile from the house a tree had fallen across eastbound Hwy 72 and a couple of houses on the north side of 72 had been uprooted and felled.

As the weather worsened throughout the evening I would stick my head outside the door to have a look-see. Around 5:30 the cable went out, followed by the power sometime in the next half hour. Jer would text me weather/spotting updates. Around 7:00 I got a call from Jim. "Are you ok?" he asked. "I'm fine, power's out. It just looks bad outside", I told him. He came back with "The camera on the 48 radar just got blown away by the tornado." I've half-heartedly joked for years that as long as the channel 48 radar is working, I'll be fine since the radar is just under a mile from the house. "WHAT?" I asked. "Yeah, you better hunker down." So I went and hunkered down.

We are trained to hide in a bathtub when tornadoes come. I remember a handful of times sitting in the tub, Mom usually sitting nearby. I went and looked at my tub and how feeble it seemed, not able to withstand any type of disaster. Useless piece of fiberglass and plastic. Still, I have 1 room with no exterior walls, and it's the bathroom. I went to hunker down in the bathroom, not in the tub, but rather the floor. I'm old, so I decided I needed some comfort in my hunkering down:

• Yoga mat - to give some padding between me and the floor.
• Blanket - at the time for more padding between me and the floor.
• Candles - not so much to set the mood, but there was no power.
• About 3 pillows - to properly prop up my resting head while sprawled out on the yoga mat and blanket.
• Portable DVD player - I've got to be entertained somehow. I watched Lakeview Terrace and most of the Hurt Locker before the battery died.

By 8:30 or 9:00 there was a round of "are you ok" and "it should be over" messages with Jerry and Jim. I checked in with Gina, who had power, but I wasn't sure if I could make it to her house based on how bad everything was supposed to have gotten. So Wednesday night I went to bed in the dark with no power, amazed at how quiet and dark everything could be.

Over the next 5 days I would wait for power to be restored and be amazed at the damage that had gotten within ½ mile of my house. Trees were blocking roads. Power lines were laying on the ground or wrapped around fallen trees. Houses with damage ranging from slight roof damage to being smashed by the hand of god. I stayed with Gina most of that time - using up her power, hot water, and internet. I would watch morning news conferences where the leaders of Madison County would give updates on power being returned, nightly reported burglaries, and if the dusk to dawn curfew was still in effect.

On Tuesday morning I had power back at home. It was funny, but the only thing I really missed from the lack of power was a warm shower. Had the temperature been warmer I would quickly add air conditioning, but it was relatively pleasant. Mr. I Have 1000 DVDs, Mr. Internet, Mr. Everything On A Computer, and I miss warm water. I was shocked! Granted, I enjoyed watching movies in the air conditioned house while looking up trivia on the internet, but it wasn't the necessity I thought it once was.

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