IP Homework...

Fuji has posed another question:

Describe your best or worst IP autograph experience.  Who was it?  What made it special/memorable?

It's very easy to remember the worst in person autograph I've gotten, Ricky Rudd. Back in the day, I was a huge NASCAR fan, never missed a race, knew who was leading every week. Always stayed on top of what was going on in the sport. 

Learned when all the drivers were making appearances, and tried my best to meet them when they got close enough to my home town here in south eastern Virginia. My boss in the mid-nineties was a huge Ricky Rudd fan. And Ricky being from my hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia, didn't hurt when I learned he would be making an appearance at the local Ford dealer. I left work early, heading over to get in line for an autograph or two. I arrived at my Vet's office and asked them if I could park there to avoid any issues since the dealer was just down the street. I got in line just before 4pm. These lines can be a lot of fun, especially the other fans. The lady in front of me was dressed head to tow in Tide, Rudd's lifetime sponsor. Rudd was supposed to be signing from 6-8 pm. I was a little perturbed at the length of the line, but was determined to stick it out. I waited patiently, not actually getting into the building until just before 8. When we approach Rudd, he started joking with the woman ahead of me, taking some time to thank her for being a fan, and stepped around the table to take a picture with her, and the entire time, he was signing just about everything she had brought with her. After she left, I place my 3 or 4 items on the table, to be informed by Rudd's handlers, oh, sorry, he can only sign 2 items per person! Really! (you just signed a dozen things for your biggest fan in front of me) Rudd politely informed me that I was welcome to get back in line, to which I replied, no thanks, they've shut the line down, and I've already spent over 4 hours in the cold (this was in February/March, right before the Richmond spring race) and would not be availing myself of this option, I turned to go when he reached over and signed the magazine that I was going to give my boss. I almost walked away and left everything right there, but figured I at least grab the magazine for a few brownie points at work. I'd show one of the other signatures, but was so upset with the whole scenario that I just gave all the signed stuff to my boss. To this day, if Rudd was handing out $100 bills on the sidewalk in front of my office, I wouldn't waste my energy.

Now thankfully, this was NOT my first in person experience, or else I'd probably be turned off of the whole thing.

Now my favorite. That's way more difficult. I've shown the first in-person baseball auto:

My Catfish Hunter ball. I've gotten several Wrestlers from when my mother and her friend used to take me to the scope. I no longer have them, but can remember getting pieces of paper signed by the likes of Rickey Steamboat, Rick Flair, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

I've gotten several other NASCAR drivers. Bobby Allison, Ted Musgrave, Ernie Irvan. My mom got me Geoff Bodine

when she worked briefly for QVC. He was great, she told me he signed for the general public for over the 2 hours he was advertised, then walked in the employee lounge and announced, "My plane leaves at x, I'll sign anything you guys have as long as I get to the airport on time!!"

My favorite NASCAR driver, probably because of my experience with him here in Virginia Beach is Michael Waltrip. When he first started driving for himself, he appeared at the local Chevy dealer. Once again, I left work early, arriving there at 4, he was not do to appear until 6. I had time, so I popped into the parts department and bought the small diecast, that now sits on my desk at work, for him to sign. I was first in line, standing patiently, when I hear over my shoulder, "Where the hell is my car?" Turning to see Michael standing  there, and actually looking UP at him, I was very happy to have gotten there early. He happily signed everything I had, joking and carrying on with me the whole time. poking fun at leaving work early, just to meet him. And told me to have a great night! I got out to my car, placing everything in the trunk, and realizing  that it wasn't even 5:45 yet, I turned and got back in line, figured I grab a couple of the freebie photo cards that he was signing for people that didn't bring stuff with them. When I got back up to the front, he says, "Welcome back, I thought you were heading home!" He signed a couple of the cards for me and asked me if I was going to get back in line to keep track of the time that it took to get through!! When I told my wife at home, she said we should have ran back down there so she could meet him. He was such a great person, I just can't help but root for his team to do well. And then when my sister-in-law went to work for NAPA and got me some of the stuff from them... too awesome!

Now that I'm older I try not to get offended by some celebrities that I personally feel are a bit rude. I just chalk it up to them having to deal with all the demands of their fans.

Every now and then, you get one of them that realizes that we, the fans, are responsible for them being where they are and as popular as they are. Richard Hatch, Battlestar Galactica, is one of those celebs. Profusely thanking everyone for providing him with the life that he has, getting to play most of his career away.

Chase Masterson, Leeta the Dabo Girl, actually apologized for being late, even though she wasn't, and was just too awesome.

Stephen Furst is another favorite, I met him for the first time at a Star Trek convention in DC a while ago. I told him happy belated birthday as the Virginia Pilot paper had just printed it the week before. We then had a long discussion about Hampton Roads as he grew up here and graduated from one of the local high schools. We then saw him again at a different convention, and he remembered us, I was in line for somebody else's auto when he actually grabbed the collectors plate out of my hand and ran to the front of the rather long line, asking Jeremy Bulloch if he could sign this plate, "For a very good friend of mine!" Too awesome! Bulloch starred as the original Boba Fett in the first Star Wars movies. But, on a trivia note, He also appeared in the third film as one of the imperial officers. He was sitting on set one day of shooting when Lucas pointed to him and told him to go get an officer's uniform and get to the set. On Bespin, the cloud city, when Lea jumps out from around a corner and yells at Luke, "It's a trap!" the imperial officer that pulls her back is Bulloch. 

Flounder

Vir Cotto - B5

Jeremy Bulloch - Boba fett

Kenny Baker - R2D2

Richard Hatch - Capt. Apollo and Dirk Benedict - Lt. Starbuck - Awesome

Herbert Jefferson Jr. - Lt. Boomer - Awesome

Jeff Conaway - Zack Allen, Patricia Tallman - Lyta Alexander, Robin Atkin Downes - Byron

Wayne Alexander - Lorien - Awesome

Erin Grey from Buck Rogers - Awesome

Yvonne Craig - Batgirl - Awesome

Mark Goddard - Major Don West, and Marta Kristen - Judy Robinson - Awesome

Tom Savage - also in From Dusk til Dawn (the dude with the groin mounted gun) - Awesome

Julie Dawn Cole - Veruca Salt and Paris Themmen - Mike Teevee - Awesome

and the ever-popular Golden ticket.

Warning Fuji, you may want to stop reading here as the next group of photos is definitely going to beat the ever-living crap out of your jealousy bone.

Most of the Trek folks are great, to date, we have met a lot of the next gen stars but only one of the originals. Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy, who took the time to look at what he was signing and talked with the people in line, asking if they were having a fun weekend. He made us feel that if we were not happy, he wasn't doing his job.

Leonard Nimoy - Awesome

John De Lancie - Q - not so great

Marina Sirtis - Deanna Troi - Awesome

Michael Dorn - Worf - not so great

Alexander Siddig - Dr. Bashir and Andrew Robinson - Garak  - Awesome

Chase Masterson - Leeta and Max Grodénchik - Rom - Awesome

Terry Farrell - Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax - not in person, but couldn't help but show off the picture!

a Klingon bat'leth, signed by several Klingons

Mary Kay Adams - Grilka - Awesome

Barbara March - Lursa and Gwynyth Walsh - Betor - Awesome

on a side note, they said when dressed in these outfits, a 3-year old could've kicked their asses!

JG Hertzler - Martok - Awesome

Robert O'Reilly - Gowron - Awesome

The Trek conventions were awesome, with an added bonus of dinner with the stars and a show. We attended 3 of them, with Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn performing a 1-act play. Leonard Nimoy and John De Lancie performing in Spock vs Q. and Alexander Sidig and Andrew Robinson also recurring their Deep space Nine roles for a 1-act play. The truly awesome part of the dinner and a show was having dinner with 2 crazy Klingons! Hertzler and O-Reilly actually sang happy birthday to one of the ladies at our table , who brought an Enterprise cake!

and there you have it. Another heavily Photo'ed homework assignment.

You didn't stop, did you Fuji?

Thanks for another great subject and the opportunity to how off some great autographs.

Thanks for reading, have a GReat week!

Dawgbones

P.S. Another Trivia question:

What is the one character, played by the same person, to have appeared in every Star Trek series?