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Things you have done, most others haven't


woodsman

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I climb the tallest buildings in the world. No, wait, wait, this true.

I got into doing the stairclimber at the health club. Good exercise. I fall off the exercise wagon from time to time but eventually go back to it.

Here in Chicago there are events (typically in winter) to climb up the stairwells of the Hancock, Standard Oil, and Sears, for charity. Several thousand people do this in any given event. We're talking about 70 floors to 100 floors.

There is a pile up of medical information in one direction. If we aging geeks want to live long, we must follow the ways young jocks.

Smile,

Gil

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I've done plenty of stupid things that I hope most others haven't, but on the bright side:

Completed the requirements for Eagle scout at the age of 12.

First chair high school all state band in Texas (percussion).

Sat in with a combo in a Bourbon Street bar.

Met and had photo taken with Jimmy Page.

Well, that's all the bright side for now, funny how the more questionable parts are at least as memorable.

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I climb the tallest buildings in the world. No, wait, wait, this true.

I got into doing the stairclimber at the health club. Good exercise. I fall off the exercise wagon from time to time but eventually go back to it.

Here in Chicago there are events (typically in winter) to climb up the stairwells of the Hancock, Standard Oil, and Sears, for charity. Several thousand people do this in any given event. We're talking about 70 floors to 100 floors.

There is a pile up of medical information in one direction. If we aging geeks want to live long, we must follow the ways young jocks.

Smile,

Gil

not to be a smart *** but the sears tower is like number 4 now....

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I climb the tallest buildings in the world. No, wait, wait, this true.

I got into doing the stairclimber at the health club. Good exercise. I fall off the exercise wagon from time to time but eventually go back to it.

Here in Chicago there are events (typically in winter) to climb up the stairwells of the Hancock, Standard Oil, and Sears, for charity. Several thousand people do this in any given event. We're talking about 70 floors to 100 floors.

There is a pile up of medical information in one direction. If we aging geeks want to live long, we must follow the ways young jocks.

Smile,

Gil

not to be a smart *** but the sears tower is like number 4 now....

If you count the tallest climbable buildings for the type of event that Gil is talking about, then the Sears Tower is #2. Because the Petronas Towers spires are higher than the Sears Tower's top floor they are considered to be taller buildings. The Sears Tower does not have a spire and its antennae are not counted in it's overall height. The link below gives a better visual representation.

http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?1241105

- Jim

Below is from an old article (before the Taipei 101 building) but the standards still apply.

On July 10, 1997, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat met in Chicago to announce new standards with four categories for measuring tall buildings. These categories are:

Height to the structural or architectural top.

Height to the highest occupied floor.

Height to the top of the roof.

Height to the top of antenna.

The Sears Tower leads in the second and third categories. The height to the top of the roof is 1,450 feet and the height to the highest occupied floor is 1,431. The twin Petronas Towers in Malaysia win the first category with its 111-foot decorative spires.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, 10 July 1997, p32.

google_ad_client = "pub-7260076929729410";

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while in my early twentys i lived on the north shore of lake tahoe, while hitchhiking down to sacramento to visit a friend i was picked up by a mexican guy driving a big caddy. we talked for the entire trip, covered all kinds of topics, just had a nice time shooting the breeze. when i was about to get out the man thanked me for helping him with some things that were on his mind and said if it was ok he was going to use some of the things we spoke about the next day at a meeting he was attending, i said sure it was fine with me and thanks for the ride. he said my name is cesar chavez and i am the leader of the united farm workers, it was nice to meet you, and good luck.

i also had clint eastwood ride past my house on a bicycle while living at tahoe.

had a car drive across a four lane divided road in front of me while driving a brand new 76 trans am 455 HO at 160+, swerved and missed, stopped and got out, walked back home...

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two tales I forgot:

1984 when I was travelling in Europe, I flew over to Israel to travel there for a week with my father. During our time there, we had reason to be near the airport and while we where there, there was a loud, yet muffled BANG. Seems they'd found a bomb at the airport and security had moved & secured it. The explosion we heard was them detonating the bomb in a secured environment.

Same trip, different location, Masada

For those who don't know the story of Masada, I urge you to read about it, it really is fascenating.

With that said, Masada is the pinnacle of the Jews standing up to the Romans back in the ancient days. As I understand it, all of their military people have to travel to Masada as part of their boot camp program.

(I might add that I CLIMBED it on the snake path instead of taking the cable car)

None the less, oh, I forgot some history.

I had been travelling in Europe for the month prior. As such, I bought some items here & there. Trinkets and T-shirts. By this stage in the game (Masada), my clean clothes were gone and I was wearing some of the Tshirts I'd bought in various places. ONE of the Tshirts I'd bought while in Germany, was of a prancing stallion and on the top/bottom of the shirt blazened in black was "Stuttgart, Germany"

Fast forward to being at Masada...

This particular morning, we got up and I simply grabbed a shirt out of my suitcase and didn't give another thought. We did the Dead Sea routine (saw a burning hotel nearby) and after the Dead Sea, we drove on to Masada.

I climbed up the path, my camera was strapped around my neck and we started touring around the place.

We where there for a short while when it dawned on me, we were visiting one of the Jews shrines and here I am (idiot) wearing a T-shirt broadcasting Germany.

Words can NOT express how self conscious I instantly became.

We got to Herods castle on the edge of Masada when I saw there was a troop of military dudes taking their tour. They all were full combat gear and were actually carrying their weapons too. I felt lower than spats on a centapede knowing I was wearing this darn Tshirt from Germany.

Right as I was being REAL self conscious about this fashion faux pas, one of the military dudes looked at me. I shrank even more. He CLEARLY took a focused look at me and was eyeballing my torso... I felt like the most rude, insensative idiot one could imagine. No way would I have worn this shirt here had my brain been working that morning.

I start to look at other things, while keeping an eye on him, eyeballing ME.

He started to walk over my way. I let myself think he was leaving but his direction was DIRECTLY for me and there was no denying it.

I just knew he was going to "out" me for what I was wearing in the middle of their beloved shrine.

He walked closer and was clearly looking at my chest as he actually started to bend over a bit at his waist so he could get a more eye level look at this atrocity in front of him.

I knew my life was over. I knew they were going to simply take me to the side of Masada and put up an immediate firing squad.

He got within about 5 feet of me and he stopped. He was almost bent halfway over at his waist as his eyes were STARING at the middle of my torso.

My knees shook but I stood my ground (like what was I going to do with a platoon of armed service men 100' away?)

He looked up at me

I pressed my arms together a bit in front of me so my camera around my neck would better hide the insult I was wearing on my chest. (much like a woman might show off her clevage...or so I'm told [:$])

I looked at him, feeling so bad that I disrespected him, his country, Masada and all they stood for.

He finally spoke to me, he said four words that I'll never forget the rest of my life...

"That's (my camera) not a Canon"

I was floored.

My camera around my neck was a "Contax" and either he had an interest in that stuff and didn't recognize my camera, OR, was really checking out my clothing and used that as his "out".

None the less, we had a 5 minute talk about my Contax and I was greatly relived.

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When I was a litle kid I was quite astmathic (spelling), so I had a kind of plastic floor in my bedroom. One night I woke up thirsty and reached for my glass of water in the darkness. Knocked it over and... just heard: 'clonk'. Clonk? I turned on the light and looked next to my bed and there was my glass of water upside down on the floor with all the water in it!!! True, I swear on everything that I love!

I watched it for about 30 seconds, then slowly the water began running out.

I still regard this as one of my greatest accomplishments ever, even though it was a fluke, but then most of my life is. I have a talent to meet the right people and do the stupidest things that turn out right. Cheers, Tim.

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about 26 or 27. It was semi-melted to perfect launch consistency I guess. She was married so I just had to apologize, otherwise there were so many lines that came to mind......

What a pity. This sounds like one of the greatest ways to meet the love of your life. Yes, I know I'm a romantic.

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..."I turned on the light and looked next to my bed and there was my glass of water upside down on the floor with all the water in it!!! True, I swear on everything that I love!

I watched it for about 30 seconds, then slowly the water began running out.

I still regard this as one of my greatest accomplishments ever, even though it was a fluke..."

Reminds me of an indicent that actually happened to my dad...my brother and I witnessed the entire event and like Tim we couldn't believe our eyes...

Back in the early '70s my younger brother and I were passing the football to eachother in the back yard when our dad came out to spend quality time with his sons. After a good while of tossin' the ol' pig skin around, our mom called us all in for dinner. Just for $hits 'n' giggles, instead of our dad tossing the football back to us, he instead took a running leap and kicked the football clean over the roof of our 2-story house! My bro and I were laughing as we ran around the side of the house towards the front yard to try and catch what seemed like a space capsule coming down for a landing!

At this precise moment, our neighbors (an elderly Polish couple from the old country) were driving in the direction of our house in their old '62 Dodge Dart with their windows down. As their car was fast approaching our house and the football was making its spiralling descent, it landed inside their car through the open window and literally lodged itself inside that great big steering wheel between the thin horn ring and the skinny steering column!

No lie...it lodged itself inside his steering wheel and literally scared the crap out of the old man! He slammed on the brakes and screeched his tires, coming to a full stop (our mom thought one of us kids had been hit, so she ran outside to see what happened). He and his wife sat there in utter amazement staring at this football lodged inside the steering wheel, then saw my brother and I still running down the driveway, and immediately began swearing at us in Polish as he tried to dislodge the football from his wheel! Naturally, he thought we had purposely thrown our football through their window as they were driving past, so we also took the blame for the event. All the while our dad is peeking around the corner of our house laughing the entire time, while keeping our mom back so she wouldn't spoil the moment and tell our neighbor what really happened (that it was her husband's fault our football got stuck in his steering wheel and not perpetrated by us kids).

True story![:o]

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I used to do safety deposit box forcings for Diebold. I busted locks, pulled them and picked some. In an ancient vault in East L.A. I forced 22 boxes one morning. They were bank forcings for out of date owners, contents to be held by the state. Some were really old and all the boxes had to be picked because the locks were no longer made. One box, up high, was stuck. Yanked on it really hard and it flung out into the vault. It was loaded with Mexican gold coins. They scattered everywhere.

In Newport Beach, Ca. a box owner put so much silver bullion in his box that the tack welds failed which separated the tier. He crushed the six boxes below his. Lots of stories.

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