Forenoon watch, 4 bells (10:07 am)
For an explanation of what started me on this page, see this post.
People I've Met Directly
- Dr. Richard Bartle, co-creator of MUD in 1978. Flew to England with my copy of Designing Virtual Worlds to get it signed. We saw the Doctor Who Exhibition. He introduced me to the "gospel of mushy peas."
- Zeev Suraski, co-creator of PHP and CTO of Zend
- Marc Singer. I have a picture with him somewhere. Met him in Seattle at a martial arts exhibition. He is really tall.
- I met Jon "maddog" Hall at ApacheCon 2001. We talked about the Chinese language and he brought me a root beer.
- I met Wil Wheaton at PAX 2009 in Seattle. He was super nice and spent a lot of time with each fan he met.
- I also met Steve Jackson at PAX, he's unbelievably cool, and loves the fact that people play his games.
- I met Jonathan Coulton, the ex-programmer singer/songwriter. Another very nice guy with cool hair.
- I met Jhonen Vasquez at PAX and got a signed print from him. He looks like a normal guy…
- I met Kevin Burke, the Irish fiddler, after his concert in Spokane in late 2009. Got a signed CD, too.
- I met Richard Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Eric Trueheart, Melissa Fahn, and Andy Berman at InvaderCON 2011 in Atlanta GA
- I've shaken hands with Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea fame.
- I met Carbon Leaf backstage for a personal acoustic concert/meet & greet in 2013. They are stellar guys!
- I met James Fearnley, accordion player for The Pogues at his book signing in Portland on 6 June 2014. I shook hands with him twice after I told him I drove 400 miles for the opportunity to meet him. He's a really cool guy.
- On 26 March 2015 I met Joel Hodgson, the creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He was a gentleman, a genuinely nice guy.
- The 26th of March 2015 was a fun event, held at the Aladdin Theater in Portland OR. I also met Paul and Storm, Patrick Rothfuss, and The Doubleclicks and also got signatures from them all.
- My wife's cousins, Julianne and Derek Hough, of Dancing With the Stars fame.
- I met Brooks Laich, Julianne's boyfriend, at Grandpa & Grandma Hough's 65th anniversary party on 13 August, 2015. Really cool guy.
- At Worldcon 73 (Sasquan) on 20 Aug 2015, I shook hands with Joe Haldeman, Larry Niven, George R. R. Martin, and Greg Bear!!!!
- I met Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame on 4 May 2017 in Portland OR. I got Frank to sign my Invader Zim DVD box set, he told me not to tell Jhonen about it.
- I met Aaron Paul at Julianne and Brooks' wedding (actually the day before, July 7th 2017, at the lakeside celebration), he was an awesome guy, very approachable and cool. He hugged my wife and told her how pretty she looked.
People I'm one away from (two handshakes)
- Patty Duke, via my mother who worked in her home for a while.
- Jon Voight. Read about this here
- Gary Gygax
- Dave Arneson
- Alan Cox
- Richard Garriott (Ultima's Lord British)
- Neil Armstrong via Wil Wheaton
- Russell Crowe via Alan Doyle
- Shane MacGowan and all of The Pogues via James Fearnley, above.
- Elvis Costello, and probably a whole lot of other famous musicians, via James Fearnley, above.
- Henry Winkler (Fonzie!), via my friend Chuck Winder who I served with in Taiwan.
- Sir Patrick Stewart, also via Chuck Winder
- Ray Dolby, the sound engineer that made his name famous. Via my boss Greg who met him while interning early in his career
People I'm two away from (three handshakes)
- Einstein. Yes, that Einstein. (via Richard Bartle, above)
- Alan Turing (via Richard Bartle)
- Sean Astin (Patty Duke's son)
- Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Via Richard Bartle
- Francois Fillon, Prime Minister of France. Also via Richard Bartle
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