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Feb. 25th, 2005 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcher10 things meme...
10 things I have done that most people probably have not.
1. Met and shook hands with 3 American Astronauts (Jim Lovell, John Glenn, and Willie McCool.)
2. Watched a French astronaut explain that no, he's never had sex in space. (J.P. Cherettienne)
3. Met a Russian Cosmonaut who was also a Hero of the Soviet Union. (Vladimir Dzhanibekov)
4. Stood in the hangar where the Columbia debris was being collected.
5. Sat in a balloon meant to go around the world. (It reached....Akron. :D)
6. Helped to "land" the Goodyear blimp. (In the same way that most 12 year olds "land" the Goodyear Blimp. The pilot says to press down on the paddle, but he's really in control.)
7. Had a high school paper submitted to the U.S. Naval War College
8. Made thermite in the high school chemistry lab. (Yeah, the professor was there to make sure we didn't blow it all up...)
9. Broke up a fistfight between actor Jason Carter and an employer.
10. Went up on stage at a Sea World to feed dolphins and whales.
Yeah, I went to Space Camp. :D But 3 and 5 actually occured because of my grandfather's work on Richard Branson's Earthwinds ballooning attempts. (Almost go to meet Branson, too.)
10 things I have done that most people probably have not.
1. Met and shook hands with 3 American Astronauts (Jim Lovell, John Glenn, and Willie McCool.)
2. Watched a French astronaut explain that no, he's never had sex in space. (J.P. Cherettienne)
3. Met a Russian Cosmonaut who was also a Hero of the Soviet Union. (Vladimir Dzhanibekov)
4. Stood in the hangar where the Columbia debris was being collected.
5. Sat in a balloon meant to go around the world. (It reached....Akron. :D)
6. Helped to "land" the Goodyear blimp. (In the same way that most 12 year olds "land" the Goodyear Blimp. The pilot says to press down on the paddle, but he's really in control.)
7. Had a high school paper submitted to the U.S. Naval War College
8. Made thermite in the high school chemistry lab. (Yeah, the professor was there to make sure we didn't blow it all up...)
9. Broke up a fistfight between actor Jason Carter and an employer.
10. Went up on stage at a Sea World to feed dolphins and whales.
Yeah, I went to Space Camp. :D But 3 and 5 actually occured because of my grandfather's work on Richard Branson's Earthwinds ballooning attempts. (Almost go to meet Branson, too.)
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Date: 2005-02-26 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 03:59 am (UTC)Jason was a guest at the convention, and frequented the bar quite a bit while there. (This isn't exactly unusual. MarCon could be renamed "BoozeaholCon" and I think you'd get the same core audience.) I was still staffing, that year, and after a graveyarder at the video room, decided to go through the bar, get a coke, and go up to my room.
Since this is MarCon, the elevators were out of order.
On the long trek up the stairs, Jason Carter came off one of the party floors with several other people, rather intoxicated, and started going off about how the shitty hotel couldn't keep the shitty elevators working like half the fucking country here, etx.
Voice behind me (also drunk): "Hey, if you don't like it here, leave, you fucking limey!"
About 30 seconds of shouting match later, Mr. Carter tried to charge through me to get at the drunk, as the drunk charged me to try to get to Mr. Carter. (This is really fun while on a staircase. Thank god that Carter is relatively small compared to me.)
I basically had to push both men up to the next floor's door, try to keep them apart with the help of the other people who had been with Mr. Carter, and call con security. (Hotel security also got involved.)
Fast forward about 2 years, when I'm meeting my new boss at College of Wooster, after he got hired to take over the hardware repair shop.
It's the drunken guy. He even remembered me. Funny how life works.
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Date: 2005-02-26 03:55 pm (UTC)Guess which blue-haired former UseIT employee works at the Apple store near me now?
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Date: 2005-02-26 05:25 pm (UTC)Say Hey to Russ for me. :D (It is Russ, right?)
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Date: 2005-02-26 06:43 pm (UTC)Think "He could have been your counterpart in the library..."
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Date: 2005-02-26 06:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-27 12:46 am (UTC)It was back at the Hyatt, but for Origins, not MarCon. He got on after I'd already been riding the elevator down from my suite. Tried not to fanboy, but he understood and told me and a few other people that it was fine, and he was enjoying seeing fans.
Then the elevator stopped. And it was not at a floor.
People stayed pretty calm. We hadn't lost lights, and we were able to call down on the emergency phone and they got people working on it. He basically told people really clamly that it was going to be OK, and turned it into a "ask me questions" session. Showed a lot of natural presence.
Awhile later, after people were out of the elevator, he basically just went to the bar, got something to drink, and was just a cool guy. Said thanks to the firemen who opened the elevator for us, kept everyone calm.
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Date: 2005-02-26 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-26 04:03 am (UTC)Sent him a copy of the paper, he decided to kick it up the line. 2 months later, I got a letter back thanking me for my submission to the NWC, and a Navy Recruiter came to the house to see if I wanted to join up.
This was right after I'd had surgery to shore up the fixes made to my knee after screwing it up playing football, so I had to answer the door in a wheelchair. Not the best impression, but the recruiter was nice enough. Said that if I got myself into shape and my knee got better, I could probably make a career in the Navy.
I seriously considered it for awhile.
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Date: 2005-02-26 01:39 am (UTC)P.S. I'm a friend of
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Date: 2005-02-26 03:52 am (UTC)Nice to meet you.
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Date: 2005-02-26 06:22 am (UTC)