iglass

Met Mel Gibson once. Story documented over on the "Pics from days gone by" thread, page 974.

Numerous politicians in DC one year, including Livingston from LA. Ted Kennedy's big black SUV almost ran over my wife and I at the capitol.

Numerous minor celebrities on the Alabama sideline when I was an active photographer with a press pass. Two of the nicest were Taylor Hicks and Sara Evans. Finebaum not so much, but that's hardly a surprise. Stood in line to ride the elevator up to the press box at Bryant-Denny, had about a 15 minute conversation with Bart Starr. Super nice guy. List also includes a large list of Bama players and coaches, including Saban.

Met several people who were on-air talent at ESPN while getting a personalized tour from Rece Davis (one of the nicest guys in the world). Linda Cohn was exceptionally gracious and nice.

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It’s basically bread, which is basically wheat. So it’s healthy.

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So is beer.***

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Fried chicken

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I had a rather big fellow tell me once that "My belt is nothing more than a leather fence around a fried chicken graveyard."

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Advantage to the 1 seeds is huge since they wont have to possibly face a 1 seed in the elite 8.

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Oddly enough, this principle seems to be rarely applied when considering college football strength of schedules.

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Dennis Wolfberg

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Thanks for posting. He starts off a bit cold but really hits his stride as he goes along.

I can remember watching him in the early/mid 90's, his long set included this bit. I think it was the old "Two Drink Minimum" show.

Another great bit by Wolfberg was him describing his stint as a substitute school teacher in NYC. Hilarious.

This happened to me... sort of.

In May 2016, I started coughing on a work trip and ended up at an urgent care facility. I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I was hurting all over - chest, back, body aches, you name it. I just figured I had the super flu, right?

Made it through the week and flew back home on Saturday. Sunday morning I was hurting all over bad enough that my wife insisted that I go to the emergency room. They performed a chest MRI on me, maybe a CT scan, I wasn't too lucid at the time.

The doc came in and said "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that your pneumonia is starting to clear up. The bad news is that you'll be coughing for a while (took two months to clear that cough up). "

"And additionally, we see that you have gall stones and a 12mm kidney stone. Those are why you've been hurting. And finally, you have an ascending aortic aneurysm, we have scheduled a visit for you with a cardiologist on Monday morning at 8 AM. Do not miss this appointment."

I ultimately found out that I have a bicuspid valve heart defect. My valve was working but the flow dynamics meant that a jet squirt of blood had been pounding my aortic wall instead of a nice even flow. The shape of my aorta right above my heart looked like an upside down light bulb. I was measuring 5.2 sm at that time, and in December when I had my surgery, measured 5.5 cm. They told me that at over 6.0 cm, you have a 20% chance every DAY of a rupture. Normal measurements for a man my age and body size is normally 2.5-3.5 cm.

I haven't done anything about my gall stones, but had a lithotripsy for the kidney stone (I have had many of those, I am a kidney stone factory). And had a valve sparing root replacement in December of that year at NY Presbyterian hospital, that procedure (the David procedure) is not something they did at UAB at the time, or even Emory or Vandy. The guy I used at NYP had performed this surgery over 200 times in 2016 when I saw him in late September on a visit.

I spent most of December 2016 living in a hotel in upper Manhattan, and now I have a five inch section of polyester tubing sewn to the top of my heart - they were able to save my aortic valve. My chest x-rays show 5 titanium plates, two stainless steel wires, two medical grade cable ties, and 26 titanium screws. But, they tell me that this is a lifetime fix, and I have had no problems with my heart at all since then.

The heart doctor told me that I flat out would not have made it through the spring. The insidious part is that the aneurysm is totally asymptomatic. It causes no pain or symptoms until it blows out (called a dissection). There is a 98.5% mortality rate if that happens. For those of you old enough to remember, this is what killed Lucille Ball and John Ritter. Alabama fans may remember that this was also a problem for Freddie Kitchens, but he ended up having surgery as I did.

Sorry for the long post - but there's no question that a chest scan for another problem I was having... ultimately saved my life. Highly recommended that you try to get one once you turn 50, just like a colonoscopy.

A guy who lived in my college dorm got approached by the father-in-law - who offered him $10k cash green American to just elope. He told the FIL he wasn't that brave and declined.

A few months later, they had a $50k wedding with a huge ice sculpture, release of live doves, high class country club reception, live band, etc etc etc. And this $50k was back in the mid-80's. Prob equivalent to $200k in today's money.

Lost track of them not long after. Hope they made it. But I doubt it somehow.

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gladchiefisgone

Being almost 70 I grew up with the space program from the early days. I've been to Cape Canaveral-Kennedy Space Center many times dating back to the 60's.

Thanks very much for posting the pictures...I could look at these type photos all day.

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Thanks. I have a few more to post, have just been tied up this week. I'll try to get to them soon.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the obvious - put any left over windshield washer fluid in your wife's vehicle.