Raw 11.18.2013

11.20.2013

This past Monday was my first post-surgical road trip of note, at least the first trip that I stayed overnight. Seeing has how road trip meals were one of my favorite past times, it was a little weird not to stop and pick up some fast food when hitting the interstate.

The main purpose of this trip was to see Jason as WWE Raw hit Nashville. A little over a year ago (or maybe a year and a half), I cut back on my wrestling-watching when I got rid of cable. I catch the abbreviated version of the Monday night show about 90% of the time, but that's more to stay up to date in case anything important happens. Usually, nothing important happens. When I saw that Raw was coming to Nashville, I saw my chance to see Jason and catch up a little not because I was the wrestling fan that's known worldwide as the keeper of Russellmania, but because I knew where he was going to be and it was within easy driving distance!

Gina was tagging along, so this added the previously mentioned overnight aspect as we would stay in Nashville and get a little shopping in (which I owed her from taking care of my butt after last years surgery). Since Jason was going to be busy "working", we didn't try real hard to get to the show when it started at 6:00. In fact, I picked Gina up around 6:00. And then we were off to Nashville!

... for about 10 minutes, when Gina remembered she had forgotten the candied/chocolate apples she was supposed to take Jason. We were already on the interstate, so we had to trek 8 miles before we could turn around and pick up the apples. So around 6:30, we were off to Nashville! Again. Which was all fine since Jason was "working".

We made it to the arena in Nashville around 8:00, at which point security wouldn't let Gina in with the apples. We could leave the apples, or someone from inside could come get them. Thanks to Jason's high ranking stature in the company and some liberal text messaging, he was able to send a lackey to fetch the apples, and us along with them. Sometime around 8:30 we made it all the way inside to our seats.

For the next hour and a half we watched some wrestling and Jason would come talk when "work" slowed down. Once everything was wrapped up for the night, I think we stood around talking for another 30-45 minutes. This was the best part of the night, as Jason is one of those guys I wish I could just hang out with and talk to because he's so interesting. Of course, that would run the risk of him finding out what a nerdy dork I really am behind the cool and studly facade I'm able to fake during the moments I'm around him.

After all of our hugs goodbye Gina and I made it back to the hotel and I got to hear about what a cutie pie Jason is. It was similar to how I heard about what a cutie pie he was 2½ years ago at Wrestlemania in Atlanta. He is a cutie pie, so I'm pretty sure I was just adding on to everything she was saying (Jason is lovable, I can't help it!).

The next day brought on shopping at Opry Mills and REI. Unfortunately, I started the day with some new Dr Scholls inserts that I shouldn't have been using (they were poking my feet in the wrong places). Halfway through the day I trashed the inserts and hobbled through the rest of the day. Gina racked up on her post-butt-care prizes as she scored some shoes and another purse from the outlet stores.

When we got back home, I was worn out. I thought I was worn out from my feet hurting from those damn inserts, but this morning on the scales I saw what may have been a better reason. While gone, I didn't have any protein shakes and my eating schedule was off kilter, plus I wasn't drinking enough water. On average, I lose ½ pound per day, so weighing in at 357 on Monday should have me at 356 Wednesday morning. Instead I weighed 352 this morning, losing 5 pounds instead 1. While this is good for those weight loss numbers, it's 500% of my normal over the past 4 weeks. Today I've been focusing on drinking more, and fully expect to wake up tomorrow with a scale hovering in the 355 range.

Or maybe cutie pies make me lose more weight?

Permalink road trip wrestling

WWE Quiz 2103

03.16.2013

Almost 8 years ago I took a quiz to see which WWE Superstar I was. Today I went back and found out the quiz is still active. For fun I took the quiz again to see how different 44 year old me is from 38 year old me.

You Scored as HHH/ Hunter Hurst Hilmsley Congrats. You scored as HHH. Although he may be a heel, he still is one of the biggest and most influental superstars in the buisness. A 10 time World Heavyweight champion who is accompanied by Rick Flair, the 16 time Champ, and a true legend. You have a garenteed place in the hall of fame. HHH/ Hunter Hurst Hilmsley 70% Stone Cold Steve Austin 63% Chris Jericho 53% Dudley Boyz 53% Mick Foley/Dude Love/Cactus Jack/Mankind 50% Big Show 47% Kane 44% Undertaker 43% Carlito 43% Shawn Michaels 40% Stacy Keibler 40% Randy Orton 37% Chris Benoit 23% Kurt Angle 23%

You Scored as a : HHH/ Hunter Hurst Hilmsley HHH/ Hunter Hurst Hilmsley 70% Stone Cold Steve Austin 63% Chris Jericho 53% Dudley Boyz 53% Mick Foley/Dude Love/Cactus Jack/Mankind 50% Big Show 47% Kane 44% Undertaker 43% Carlito 43% Shawn Michaels 40% Stacy Keibler 40% Randy Orton 37% Chris Benoit 23% Kurt Angle 23%

I still scored as Triple H, as I should. Because you've got to be as curious as I am, here's the difference between the 2 years:

	2007	2013
HHH/ Hunter Hurst Hilmsley	63%	70%
Stone Cold Steve Austin	50%	63%
Chris Jericho	60%	53%
Dudley Boyz	60%	53%
Mick Foley/Dude Love/Cactus Jack/Mankind	50%	50%
Big Show	43%	47%
Kane	44$	44%
Undertaker	50%	43%
Carlito	50%	43%
Shawn Michaels	50%	40%
Stacy Keibler	40%	40%
Randy Orton	50%	37%
Chris Benoit	37%	23%
Kurt Angle	30%	23%

Comparing the 2 quizzes, it's interesting to see where I've gone up and down. I'm still 40% Stacy Keibler. Less Benoit, which is probably good for those around me. Mostly I'm amazed that the same quiz, with the same words misspelled, is still up after all this time.

Permalink wrestling

Just a regular Tuesday... again

01.25.2012

This Tuesday for HobbyPrep night Jerry and I watched We Were Soldiers. You may ask "What does the 2002 Mel Gibson movie about Hal Moore have to do with prepping for hobbies?" and off the top of my head I couldn't give you a positive answer. Mainly we watched it because I watched Black Hawk Down over the weekend and the two movies pair together well. But still, there was a distinct lack of hobbying or prepping.

I fault that in part because my revamping of the Mayhem Mall to become the Zombie Mall (with more store interiors) is a lot more task heavy than just printing out the PDFs I have and magically folding/gluing everything together. I don't want all the stores looking the same, so I spent a lot of the last week stealing retrieving a wide assortment of wall textures off the Google. I continues that trend by finding things to put n those walls (don't want empty stores, they need to sell stuff!). Type "hanging clothes" into an image search and look through for pictures not at a skewed angle. It's fun! Especially around Hour 3!

I've also decided that instead of mounting individual stores on foamboard, I'm going to use the 15"x11" sheets I'm able to get at Staples and try putting together multiple stores/walkways per board, and then have the boards fit together modularly. I have a hard time cutting the foamboard in a straight line (both lengthwise and depth-wise) so I'm hoping this will save me some pain along the way.

Test Board 1 will have 3 stores, each running 5"x8". I've got the floor and wall textures for store #1 finished (a tweak on Manuels from the Mayhem Mall), but I need to have the other 2 stores ready before I start printing, cutting, and adhesing. The walls intertwine for added stability, so I want to make sure I don't leave one side hanging. I need to double check the heights of the printed walls since I've been resizing images, too.

The only event I can see holding me up before next Tuesday is the Royal Rumble this Sunday. Matt and I haven't ordered a PPV since last year's Rumble (going to Wrestlemania 27 means we didn't order it, hah!). My wrestling interest has been waning of late - I've been watching part of the Monday night show every other week. Usually Wrestlemania Season (which starts at the Rumble, although Jason said last weekend he's already been on 2 site trips to Miami) picks up my interest.

Permalink hobbies random wrestling

WWE Loot

09.21.2011

I was browsing the internet and taking advantage of some post-post-Wrestlemania sales by ordering some iPhone/iPad skins directly from WWE. I don't know if I'll ever get around to sticking the graphics to my phone or iPad, but for $3 a pop I was thinking of it all as just another souvenir from Mania 27. The iPhone skin came packaged as follows:

The packaging is a little more generic than most of the WWE stuff I see, but the title/text is what kept catching my eye. Fully Removable iPhone 4 Skin. Peel. Apply. Protect. The whole "4 Skin" and "foreskin" just kept jumping out at me. If you just left the "iPhone" out, it would still sound like a viable product.

Not a good product, but I bet there's a market for it.

Permalink random wrestling

Still Not A Man-crush

09.07.2011

14 years ago I first met Jason. I talk about Jason off and on, but I had no idea I've known the man for that long.

The first time I met Jason was at the Ground Zero: In Your House PPV in Louisville. Jason had comped me a ticket, and I had no idea who he really was - I had heard about him through Gina's family, but I had never met the man. I still remember the drive to Louisville (a drive I was used to since my job at the time had a group of us going to Louisville monthly), not really knowing what to expect. It was my first visit to the Will-Call window. I'm a pro a Will-Call these days.

I made my way to Will-Call, showed my ID, picked up my ticket and proceeded to wait for the gates to open. Once the gates opened, I made it my goal to track down and meet Jason so I could thank him for the ticket. Inside the arena I found a couple of guys wearing WWF Crew T-Shirts and asked if they knew Jason Robinson. After I got a "yeah" back, I asked if they knew where I could find him, which they quickly wanted to know why. I explained that he had gotten me a ticket and I wanted to thank him, so they pointed me to where he was set up - way up near the roof, maybe 10 rows from the top. So I trekked up to the top and asked another group of guys if Jason was around. Somebody grabbed his attention and he came over and I introduced myself and thanked him. We had a nice little conversation (about what, I don't remember) before he got busy again, and I made my way to my seat which was a couple of sections over and 2 rows from the ceiling. This marked:

• The only time I've seen Jason that I didn't give him a huge bear hug
• The worse seats I've ever had (not that I really care, then or now)

I remember very little about the actual show. I mostly remember the first match between Goldust and Brian Pillman, mainly because the little kid behind me (right up next to the ceiling) was cheering vehemently for Goldust, and when Goldust lost there was a crying "Nooooooooooo" behind me. In retrospect, I think I remember that match because Pillman would be found dead less than a month later right before the next PPV.

I'm not sure how many wrestling events Jason's gotten me into. I try not to take him for granted, as I've enjoyed them all. Thanks to him, I got to live a 27-year-old dream and went to Wrestlemania this year. Matt and I got to go backstage at Nashville, where I moved a diva and Matt had his close encounter with John Cena.

Over the past year I've gotten to where I bother stay in better contact with Jason, usually by texting him on Monday nights when he's trying to work. I can tell him jokes about wrestlers or gripe about the lack of Teddy's TV time thanks to me being a huge wrestling dork and knowing what it is Jason actually does for a living. On the rare occasion, I get to talk some non-wrestling topics with him, like motorcycles. But that's a rare occasion just because he's so blasted busy.

But I don't think he'd be happy if he wasn't busy. And I've got plenty of txt minutes to use up. Probably another 14 years worth.

Permalink wrestling