@werehatrack
I was the manager of a pizza parlor where he and some other members of the band came to eat after a concert at the University of Colorado in Boulder in the mid-70s. It was actually pretty cool since I spoke French
@werehatrack Actually no; the bird flew into a condo in Telluride through an unscreened window, but it got fixated on a different, closed window. It had been battering at it for some time when I got there and the poor thing was just sitting on the sill exhausted. I climbed on the counter below and reached up and gently folded my hand around it, and carried it to the open window. It was kind of a thrill!
@chienfou How old do you think I am?? lol
Yes, in 1973(?). I would sneak up to his room at night and get him to tell me baseball stories. He was a hoot!! I was a barely 18 year old gal who was mesmerized by him. He was HUGE! Larger than life in stature and in character…and just as hugely funny and fun!
@chienfou Yep. I was born in Sept. 1954.
I think it was '73. He died in '74.
In all of his overbearing gruffness, he was one of the gentlest men I’ve ever met. He had an air about him that was like a little kid. Untamed, boorish, sometimes vulgar, on one hand, and like a little boy who needed to be cuddled on the other. I adored him!! And, for some reason, he took a liking to me. We hit it off from the start.
I still collect his cards. I’d give my right arm for a signed baseball or bat of his. Anything. I could kick myself for not getting it when I had the chance, but it never occurred to me.
It’s funny…when I think of him, it’s like thinking of an old friend, yet I really hardly knew him. It was just that kind of connection we had.
Weird, huh?
@Tadlem43
No, not really. Those of us in health care or in those kind of situations a lot of times have a chance to connect with people in ways that are hard to do in other professions. I often tell new nurses that “the human touch and your rapport with your patients will be almost as important as the medicine you are giving them” in a lot of cases.
@Kidsandliz
Knowing a bit about history I think it’s safe to say you didn’t hit him! (Unless you mean the president of the University of South Alabama…)
@chienfou@Kyeh@tinamarie1974 Nope did not aim at the TV. Technically we shot at what he was on, but it was in real life with a real weapon… Guess again. I’ll give you a hint. A boat was involved.
@chienfou@Kyeh@tinamarie1974 Yup and we loaded it with a frozen hot dog. We hit the Fitzgerald (aircraft carrier) about 25" above the water line. We joke we missed him by 200’. Actually we shot off a beer in a bigger cannon on the Susan Constance (Jamestown boat) to send it over to a tug boat captain early one morning (downtown Newport News, VA at about 7am on a Saturday - a zillion gulls flew off the James River Bridge there and the cannon caused a massive echo around downtown - I am sure people trying to sleep in hated us LOL; also saw once a navy plane fly UNDER that bridge also very early one morning - I am sure there were rules against that. Same exodus of birds) . He didn’t think about the fact the cannon would have shook it up quite a bit and when he opened it he got covered in beer.
@chienfou@Kyeh@tinamarie1974 It was in the 4th of July parade of sale and we were on the shore side of the class A tall ship (those are the really big ones, typically a country’s navy sail training one) as an escort (there was one on the other side of the class A too) and normally you shoot off your cannon with smoke gunpowder in it as a solute. We, um, added a frozen hot dog. Captain yelled at us but other than that I don’t think anyone but us and the passengers knew we shot a loaded weapon at a sitting president.
@chienfou@Kyeh@replicacobra@tinamarie1974 And actually I have a typo. It was 25 feet, not inches above the waterline. Of course with an air craft carrier that difference is something like rounding error.
@ybmuG
That’s awesome! Were with him long? Ever do Monaco? Never made it to any F1 races (I have slept in an F1 but that’s a whole different thing…) I have been to the 24 heures du Mans… and that was AWESOME (que bot again).
I stood next to Mike Tyson at a party once. Scared the shit out of me when I turned to move and bumped into him with my beer, as im 5’3” and was 120lbs at the time and he’s huge.
@GrandmaLyn@ybmuG
Really was, it was at a maxum (or whatever the magazine is called) party when the when the super bowl was in town. My friend got us vip tickets, saw a bunch of other celebrities that night too but he was the one that stood out the most.
I got on an airplane once and sat down next to Michael Douglas. I looked at him, then got settled in my seat. I looked at him again, and I could see the “here it comes” look on his face. “Excuse me”, I said, “but aren’t you…
Kirk Douglas’s kid”?
@st_ellis I once sat down on a very full SW airlines plane next to some famous golf player (I was in the middle seat as that was all that was left) only I didn’t realize who he was and he was all snippy to make it clear he had no desire for conversation. No problem. Next time I’ll know not to even say, “Hi” (which is all I said). I think it finally dawned on him that I had no clue who the hell he was other than some rude guy. Then his ego apparently was offended so he had to tell me who he was and wanted to boast.
@blaineg@st_ellis I have no clue how or why people make their choices about how they spend their money. Certainly if he was paying for all those people that was a prudent choice, especially if you wanted to hang on to your money. He apparently, according to him, didn’t grow up rich and so a decision to be careful with his winnings certainly made sense. There were 5 people in his group (second row was turned to face the first row.). This was years ago. I tuned into what ever lah de dah golf tournament he said he was going to be in. Sure enough he wasn’t lying. He was one of the top finishers. I don’t remember if he won or not - as I said this was years ago.
He was telling stories (not so nice ones) about Tiger Woods whom he hung out with on occasion. Anyway what he told me was that when his golf career was over he wanted to start some program for minority kids to encourage them to continue with their education - in part because of how he was encouraged as a kid. No idea if he did that or not as occasionally he’d be in the news with respect to golf and being in the top group. That is what I mean about famous. Not Tiger Woods famous, but well known in his career famous. PS. Just hunted for who he was. Jeev Singh. Surprised I found him but I guess there aren’t that many golf players from Fiji who made it that high.
I once won a fishing contest
@tinamarie1974
No passwords were collected?
@tinamarie1974
biggest fish or best boots?
@chienfou heaviest stringer
@tinamarie1974
ohh-la-la !
@tinamarie1974 What did you catch?
@GrandmaLyn honestly don’t remember I was about 10 and the thrill for me was that I beat out all my MALE cousins. None of them won any category
I got a rockin I want my MTV t-shirt. Wish I still had it…
@tinamarie1974 Smash the patriarchy!!!
@GrandmaLyn
/giphy Girl Power
@werehatrack sounds crazy, so it must be true???
@tinamarie1974
You had to be there. It was the Miss AggieCon Contest. maybe not precisely a beauty contest, but…
@tinamarie1974 @werehatrack That must have been one hell of an iguana!
@GrandmaLyn @tinamarie1974
The iguana was very popular with the crowd; it was at Texas A&M, after all.
I once served dinner to Jean Luc Ponty.
@chienfou
Plausible. Details?
@werehatrack
I was the manager of a pizza parlor where he and some other members of the band came to eat after a concert at the University of Colorado in Boulder in the mid-70s. It was actually pretty cool since I spoke French
@chienfou @werehatrack Nice!
I’ve held a live hummingbird in my hand.
@Kyeh
Sounds plausible for values of “the bird sat on my hand”.
@werehatrack Actually no; the bird flew into a condo in Telluride through an unscreened window, but it got fixated on a different, closed window. It had been battering at it for some time when I got there and the poor thing was just sitting on the sill exhausted. I climbed on the counter below and reached up and gently folded my hand around it, and carried it to the open window. It was kind of a thrill!
@Kyeh
Ah, a Panic-stricken Bird Rescue. Yes, I’ve had to do a couple of those myself, but none as marvelous as a hummingbird.
Dizzy Dean was one of my patients.
@Tadlem43
post MLB?
@chienfou How old do you think I am?? lol
Yes, in 1973(?). I would sneak up to his room at night and get him to tell me baseball stories. He was a hoot!! I was a barely 18 year old gal who was mesmerized by him. He was HUGE! Larger than life in stature and in character…and just as hugely funny and fun!
@Tadlem43
That’s pretty cool. I grew up in STL so I am well aware of his rep.
BTW you and I are about the same age (I was born in 1955, so 18 in '73)
@chienfou Yep. I was born in Sept. 1954.
I think it was '73. He died in '74.
In all of his overbearing gruffness, he was one of the gentlest men I’ve ever met. He had an air about him that was like a little kid. Untamed, boorish, sometimes vulgar, on one hand, and like a little boy who needed to be cuddled on the other. I adored him!! And, for some reason, he took a liking to me. We hit it off from the start.
I still collect his cards. I’d give my right arm for a signed baseball or bat of his. Anything. I could kick myself for not getting it when I had the chance, but it never occurred to me.
It’s funny…when I think of him, it’s like thinking of an old friend, yet I really hardly knew him. It was just that kind of connection we had.
Weird, huh?
@Tadlem43
No, not really. Those of us in health care or in those kind of situations a lot of times have a chance to connect with people in ways that are hard to do in other professions. I often tell new nurses that “the human touch and your rapport with your patients will be almost as important as the medicine you are giving them” in a lot of cases.
@chienfou Sometimes more. Good job!!
In the 80’s, I went to India to set up a Help Desk
@st_ellis
So that’s all YOUR fault???
@chienfou @st_ellis LOL
I once (with 3 others) shot a loaded weapon at a sitting USA president.
@Kidsandliz
Knowing a bit about history I think it’s safe to say you didn’t hit him! (Unless you mean the president of the University of South Alabama…)
@chienfou @Kidsandliz Something like a tomato cannon, at a company or campus president? As part of some sort of carnival?
@chienfou @Kyeh Reagan
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh how, when, where? Did you aim at the TV?
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Nope did not aim at the TV. Technically we shot at what he was on, but it was in real life with a real weapon… Guess again. I’ll give you a hint. A boat was involved.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Cannon on a tall ship…
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 Yup and we loaded it with a frozen hot dog. We hit the Fitzgerald (aircraft carrier) about 25" above the water line. We joke we missed him by 200’. Actually we shot off a beer in a bigger cannon on the Susan Constance (Jamestown boat) to send it over to a tug boat captain early one morning (downtown Newport News, VA at about 7am on a Saturday - a zillion gulls flew off the James River Bridge there and the cannon caused a massive echo around downtown - I am sure people trying to sleep in hated us LOL; also saw once a navy plane fly UNDER that bridge also very early one morning - I am sure there were rules against that. Same exodus of birds) . He didn’t think about the fact the cannon would have shook it up quite a bit and when he opened it he got covered in beer.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974
Oh, of course it would have been from a tall ship - what a hoot! Did anyone get in trouble for it?
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 It was in the 4th of July parade of sale and we were on the shore side of the class A tall ship (those are the really big ones, typically a country’s navy sail training one) as an escort (there was one on the other side of the class A too) and normally you shoot off your cannon with smoke gunpowder in it as a solute. We, um, added a frozen hot dog. Captain yelled at us but other than that I don’t think anyone but us and the passengers knew we shot a loaded weapon at a sitting president.
@chienfou @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @tinamarie1974
Excellent story
Chuckle at tomfoolery
Casual treason
@chienfou @Kyeh @replicacobra @tinamarie1974 And actually I have a typo. It was 25 feet, not inches above the waterline. Of course with an air craft carrier that difference is something like rounding error.
I once worked the pits for a Formula One team
@ybmuG
That’s cool. Which team? Since my family is of European descent I had the tendency to follow Formula 1 much more than NASCAR when I was younger
@chienfou Preston Varicati. We called him Pre
@ybmuG
That’s awesome! Were with him long? Ever do Monaco? Never made it to any F1 races (I have slept in an F1 but that’s a whole different thing…) I have been to the 24 heures du Mans… and that was AWESOME (que bot again).
HIKING! VIKINGS! STRIKE KING [BRAND FISHING LURES]! AWESOME!
@chienfou
Without a doubt
/8ball should i tell him?
@chienfou OK, so I took the OP literally:
(1) “fabric of your life”
Or
(2) “fabrication”
I chose path 2
My hint was the name
Pre Varicati
Plus, I was in the middle of some mechanics work on the car, so it was on my mind.
@chienfou @ybmuG
Ohhh, touché!
I especially like the name.
@chienfou @Kyeh Thanks! I worked hard on that - to make it sound like a believable name of a racecar driver, and indicate fabrication.
@Kyeh @ybmuG
Well played!
I once engaged in battle with two skinheads who were trying to steal a part off of my moped, barefoot and armed with my kitchen broom. I won!
@GrandmaLyn Wow! I’m impressed!
@Kyeh Being in my twenties and running off of anger and adrenaline sure helped. Would not attempt this now, lol
@GrandmaLyn @Kyeh That IS impressive. I mean Beldar did singlehandedly defeat the Garthok, so…
Oh, you said “skinheads”! My bad.
I stood next to Mike Tyson at a party once. Scared the shit out of me when I turned to move and bumped into him with my beer, as im 5’3” and was 120lbs at the time and he’s huge.
@Star2236 and then he said “exthcuse me” and you giggled…
@Star2236 @ybmuG I sure hope they made up and kithed
@GrandmaLyn @ybmuG
Really was, it was at a maxum (or whatever the magazine is called) party when the when the super bowl was in town. My friend got us vip tickets, saw a bunch of other celebrities that night too but he was the one that stood out the most.
I got on an airplane once and sat down next to Michael Douglas. I looked at him, then got settled in my seat. I looked at him again, and I could see the “here it comes” look on his face. “Excuse me”, I said, “but aren’t you…
Kirk Douglas’s kid”?
He has a really great laugh.
@st_ellis I once sat down on a very full SW airlines plane next to some famous golf player (I was in the middle seat as that was all that was left) only I didn’t realize who he was and he was all snippy to make it clear he had no desire for conversation. No problem. Next time I’ll know not to even say, “Hi” (which is all I said). I think it finally dawned on him that I had no clue who the hell he was other than some rude guy. Then his ego apparently was offended so he had to tell me who he was and wanted to boast.
@st_ellis Excellent thinking on your feet. I’d say you made his day!
@Kidsandliz @st_ellis He’s so famous he’s flying Southwest?
@blaineg @st_ellis I have no clue how or why people make their choices about how they spend their money. Certainly if he was paying for all those people that was a prudent choice, especially if you wanted to hang on to your money. He apparently, according to him, didn’t grow up rich and so a decision to be careful with his winnings certainly made sense. There were 5 people in his group (second row was turned to face the first row.). This was years ago. I tuned into what ever lah de dah golf tournament he said he was going to be in. Sure enough he wasn’t lying. He was one of the top finishers. I don’t remember if he won or not - as I said this was years ago.
He was telling stories (not so nice ones) about Tiger Woods whom he hung out with on occasion. Anyway what he told me was that when his golf career was over he wanted to start some program for minority kids to encourage them to continue with their education - in part because of how he was encouraged as a kid. No idea if he did that or not as occasionally he’d be in the news with respect to golf and being in the top group. That is what I mean about famous. Not Tiger Woods famous, but well known in his career famous. PS. Just hunted for who he was. Jeev Singh. Surprised I found him but I guess there aren’t that many golf players from Fiji who made it that high.
It wasn’t Fuzzy Zoeller, was it?
@st_ellis he would be one of my guesses!
Late to the party, but I once interrupted an abduction in progress.
@mikibell
Okay, I want to know more!
@mikibell say what?