A picture of the Houston skyline.

2004.01.27
Friday afternoon it started to snow. It kept on snowing. It kept getting colder. The roads started to seriously suck. At 5 PM, I left Columbus and headed home... to the middle of nowhere.

My normal one-hour commute took more than two hours. I watched an SUV swerve from the right lane to the left lane and back to the right lane before going off the road... down a steep hill... into a fence... As sparks bounced off the hood of the SUV... I looked in my rearview mirror. About one hundred yards behind me a large semi-trailer was jack-knifing into the median. Thankfully, within 5-minutes, police were on the scene.

The all new "I put the FUN in FUNdamentals." t-shirt as worn by mini-Omega who is also wearing his "game face".

At 3:30 AM, I rolled out of bed. I took a quick shower. At 4 AM I was on my way back to Columbus. The roads were ok until I got to Columbus. Snow was everywhere. I slipped. I slid. I ran over (entire car) a 6-inch concrete curb. That bounced me. I just kept hoping I hadn't destroyed anything.

I arrived at Port Columbus around 5:30 AM. I have taken early morning flights in the past. The airport is 99% empty at 5:30 in the morning. Well, all 1% were at my terminal. A tour group was flying out. Crap.

After I finally arrived at my gate, I sat down to listen to my new mp3 player. I sat people watching for a few minutes. Suddenly a suspicious character walked past me. The suspicious character was former HWA Champion - Big Al. Scary stuff.

I arrived in Houston at roughly 8:30 AM. After finding my bag, we (Peter, Jim, and I) headed to IHOP for breakfast. Peter is from Austria. This represented his first time being in the United States. He speaks English a lot better than I speak German... Nine! Nine! Ahhh...

God bless the International House of Pancakes. IHOP had a very pretty young waitress by the name of Claire. She informed us that the Carolina Panthers were going to win the Super Bowl on Sunday. Because, Sunday is her birthday and she wants them to win. I can't argue with that logic.

Blah. Blah. Blah. We eventually head to the skating rink for the wrestling card. We are wrestling for HIW in El Campo, Texas. It was a pretty typical indy card. There were about 300 fans on hand for the event. The fans were deadly quiet for the first 3 matches of the night. There was almost no response of any kind. The last match prior to intermission pitted "Hot Stuff" Hernandez against a local hardcore icon... It was brutal; staple guns, baseball bats, chairs, tables, thumbtacks, etc. The crowd loved it. They went nuts for everything. Boy, it sure would suck to have to try and follow that...

The next match was me against Peter. *Sigh*

We had to follow blood, violence, and general mayhem. I won't lie... I was disappointed with the match. In watching the tape, there are several things I wish I had done differently. There are several things I could have done to improve the match... THAT BEING SAID... Neither one of us threw a single punch. Neither one of us kicked or stomped. I never once irish-whipped him off the ropes. No "low blows", "foreign objects", "ref bumps", no missed clotheslines or elbows.

We wrestled. We used moves, holds, reversals, and counters. There was not a single "boring" chant. In fact, the crowd was interested in the match. At the 12:35 marker, I locked on an STF. At the 12:45 marker, Peter tapped out. The crowd was happy. I slapped each and every outstretched hand and lead the crowd in a "USA! USA! USA!" chant.

After the remaining matches finished, we hopped in the car and headed back to Houston. It 3 AM EST when arrived. I had more or less been on the go for 23.5 hours.

Sunday, we hit the tourist hot spots. We visited NASA, the Gulf of Mexico, Hooter's, and Reliant Park home of this Sunday's Super Bowl. I bought souvenirs for my wife and son. We headed to the airport. Blah... Blah... Blah... I arrived in a very snowy and cold Columbus shortly after 10 PM. I was lucky; my flight was only 2 hours. Peter endured more than 13 hours in the air.

It was a lot of fun. I am worn out. I need to laundry. My lifting schedule is totally off... but it was worth it.

Yardbird? ... That is just wrong.

A picture of Reliant Park - home of this Sunday's Super Bowl.