Cool things I've done:
- Steered a boat through the Suez Canal -- didn't hit anything!
- Drove a BMW on the autobahn when there was no speed limit. Stayed in the "slow" lane and only drove 110 mph.
- Visited the Soviet Union before it broke apart.
- Lived in Poland for six months.
- Met the President of the Dominican Republic.
- Heard a speech by Boris Yeltsen while I was standing in line to visit the Lenin Masoleum.
- Rode a camel around the pyramids at Giza.
- Participated in a taxi race in Moscow. My car won.
- Met Eugene "Lucky" Flucky, WWII submariner and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
- Participated in another "taxi" race. This time in Egypt with donkey carts and young boys as drivers. My cart won.
- Drove to the top of Pike's Peak. Had a bowel movement at 14,110 ft!
- Drove the scenic Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming.
- Rode a horse on the beach in Barbados.
- Saw a Beluga whale born at Marineland in Canada.
- Went horseback riding in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
- Went inside St. Basil's Cathedral.
- Visited Kazakhstan three times.
- Went snorkeling and swimming in the Blue Lagoon in Jamaica.
- Held a lion's stomach in my hands (during surgery at the vet hospital where I worked).
- Saw the Bay of Fundy, one of the natural wonders of the world.
- Toured the Pentagon.
- Went snowmobiling in Lake Tahoe. Fell off the snowmobile at least three times.
- Saw performances of the Moscow Circus and Bolshoi Opera.
- Visited Roswell, New Mexico. Met an alien, got abducted, and kicked out of area 51.
- Wrote my name in the sand at Whitesands National Park. Spelled it wrong.
- Went up in the Sear's Tower and Empire State Building. Waited for Cary Grant -- he never showed. Nor did Tom Hanks.
- Went to church services in a castle in Kracow, Poland.
- Ate dinner in Yugoslavia before civil war tore it apart -- the country, not my dinner.
- Showed at the Centennial National Southdown Show in Louisville, Kentucky.
- Judged the National Sheep and Goat Shows in the Dominican Republic. Three times.
- Learned how to juggle.
- Ate real Hungarian Goulash.
- Went horseback riding through vineyards in Hungary.
- Ate three lobsters for dinner in Maine.
- Saw a white buffalo (in North Dakota) named White Cloud.
- Delivered lots of baby lambs.
- Went rock climbing and repelling in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
- Participated in a 20 km cross country ski race in Szkarska Poręba, Poland. 7 klicks and I was out! Had never skiied before in my life. Not since, either.
- Spoke at an international conference in Brazil.
Cool things I still want to do:
- Go on an African safari.
- Go to Paris.
- Visit Norway.
- Take a cruise to Antarctica.
- Ride an elephant.
- Jump out of an airplane.
- Ride a mule down into the Grand Canyon.
- Drive the Alaskan Highway.
- Drive a race car.
- Drive the entire length of Route 50 -- from Ocean City to Sacramento.
- Go to a professional basketball game (NBA, not WNBA).
- Drive to Chile.
- Set foot on every continent. So far, I've been in North America, South America, Africa, and Europe.
- Visit every U.S. state. Still haven't been to Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, and Rhode Island.
- Ride on the sailboat that my brother is building (out of steel).
- Go to a Washington Redskin's football game.
- Go to a boxing match.
- Visit Ground Zero.
- Tour the White House.
- Fly first class. I've flown business class, but never first class.
- Visit Romania, Vietnam, and South Africa.
- Go to New Zealand and Australia.
- Go to Mexico.
- Ride a bull named Fu Manchu (for 2.7 seconds).
- See the Loch Ness Monster.
- Meet Tony Blair.
- Take a train ride across Canada.
- Take a cruise down the Nile.
- See the Great Wall of China.
- See Stonehenge.
- Drive the LA Freeway.
- Go on a date with Matthew McConaughey.
- Create my own breed of sheep. Susanschaf.
- Publish a novel.
- Take up fencing and/or kickboxing.
- Get a makeover.
- Learn another language.
- Win a million dollars by making a basket from half court.
- Host a talk radio show.
- Go hang gliding.
- Coach a basketball team.
- Did I mention go on a date with Matthew McConaughey?
Things that I've done that aren't so cool:
- Got a ticket in a country that didn't have a speed limit. I ran a red light, so they said. Mailed me a ticket - I didn't pay!
- Fell off a donkey. Good thing I didn't fall off a camel. I'd have broken some bones.
- Drank water from the Nile River and lived to tell.
- Drank water in the Dominican Republic and barely lived to tell.
- Spent the night in the emergency room in a Chicago hospital.
- Locked the keys in the car on the Polish-Ukrainian border under the watchful eyes of the border patrol (up in their towers).
- Voted for Teddy Kennedy when he was running against Jimmy Carter in the Democratic Primary in 1980.
- Voted for George W. Bush a second time. Of course, what choice did I have?
- Had the airbags in my car go off twice.
- Totaled my Ford Escape.
- Backed into garbage dumpsters, loading docks, mail boxes, and other cars. At least, I never ran any of my pets over.
- Worked for a gun runner (arms dealer). A farm in Virginia. For two weeks.
McComb and Zak
Zak and McComb
Zak, 1 ½ years
Rex
