Studied and handled medieval Irish bog-garments with the blessings of the Irish National Museum textiles curator. They later published my articles in the newsletter.
There’s a pretty strong likelihood it was my idea to put a semi-circle under NBA baskets to help determine charging/blocking calls (see letter “i.”). I had written a couple letters just before that to suggest changes in the NBA’s annual Slam Dunk Contest, which led to me being a consultant for the Contest and resulted in some Dunk Contest format changes. But I have no proof about the semi-circle rule addition being the result of my effort, which is a significant part of the NBA rules. But the timing of the letter and the rule change, I believe, indicates so.
I bartended/catered a lot of celebrity events and was the last person to serve Brad Pitt as a single man at his wedding to Jennifer Aniston: he ran to my bar just before taking the altar because he had dry mouth.
I wrote a letter to The Sporting News that ended up being published as one of the three best Letters of the Decade in the publication’s Best of the '80’s issue. The letter had some clever humor but was nowhere near that deserving.
And I lost on “The Dating Game.”
I have an option on a screenplay that if rightfully gets made into a movie would probably result in some fame. Currently, though, it’s just an argument that there is no fairness in the world.
I have 10 minutes flying a Goodyear Blimp in my logbook.
I have 3 patents, 2 more pending.
My MGB and HS girlfriend are featured in the September '81 Playboy.
I safely landed a dead airplane in rush-hour traffic, then was on the T.V.
My flight instructor was kidnapped by prison escapees and forced to fly them away.
I dated Ray Steven’s daughter in HS.
My mom’s tennis partner was Minnie Pearl.
I grew up knowing most country music stars of the 60’s and 70’s. In Nashville, TN of course.
I work for a retired NFL quarterback.
Finally checked back, to find out, hey, I’m related to someone.
Sorry I didn’t find out before Thanksgiving, Chef. We had awesome appetizers and a turkey slathered in butter and white wine (Martha Stewart’s recipe). And we would’ve kicked your butt at Bananagrams.
My two proudest accomplishments are my kids, who I love dearly. But yeah, lots of people have kids.
I guess its the time I broke the nose of that politician®.
Cool. I have my name on 72 United States Patents and counting, though I’m the examiner rather than the inventor so it wasn’t as much of an accomplishment. Still, it’s there.
I was on TV once in 2003 as a contestant on a the longest running quiz show in TV history. My team came in second of three and did not advance to the championship series.
I am a distant cousin of Herbert Hoover.
Strom Thurmond once called me a “fine lookin’ boy”. (To be fair, he said the same thing about my sister.)
Let’s see… Have I done anything that’s been published or videotaped, that anyone could possibly have read or seen?
- Junior high All-City Music Festival - I saw myself on public television!
- Published a (fiction) story in the local newspaper (Omaha, NE) in high school
- Gave one of my high school’s commencement addresses
- Featured in a newspaper article again due to winning a scholarship
- Wrote a book for my senior thesis
- Participated in two or three church mystery/comedy/drama fundraisers (main star in one)
- Led a worship service and sang a duet at church
Other dubious claims to fame:
- Wrote stories like a maniac from grade school through college
- Can often crack people up (not so much on here; you guys have high standards
- Have not been able to maintain a successful relationship longer than 3-6 months - go me!
- Only person in my group of friends who finished Final Fantasy 8 (it’s really not THAT hard)
- Currently making a cross-stitch that reads “For F***'s Sake” with roses to put on my wall
- Adopted a cat who actually tried to bite me in the Encounter Room
- Finished my first run-through of Plants vs. Zombies in surprising time (and I’d thought I was terrible at it!)
I just thought of more:
As a teenager, I addressed the county school board about continuing bussing from the southern half of my county to the school in the northern half that offered the International Baccalaureate program. For a number of years, the transcript of that school board meeting was one fo the first things that would come up if you Googled my name. (Now it’s all similarly named people on various social networking sites.)
About the same time, I received a ($50) prize from the National Audubon Society for my pioneering efforts in mixing motor oil and chick manure into compost and BSing (CSing?) a high school science project based on the results.
I did morning radio in Seoul, Tokyo and Sicily in the 90s. I also anchored the live six PM news in all three places during that time.
As far as I know, I shot the first Aerial footage of Mt. Pinatubo after it erupted. MY footage was used by all the major networks.
I interviewed George Bush Senior one day before he threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister.
I was the first person to interview Ben Johnson right after his record setting sprint at the 88 Olympics.
I told then Air Force Chief of Staff Ron Fogleman that he could call me Chief Buck Sergeant of the Air Force. That went over like a lead balloon.
I’m famous in the eyes of the Firebug, my 5 year old son. What greater claim to fame do I need? 
Let’s see what else: I can juggle 4 objects at once - not for very long, but for more than long enough that there’s no argument that I’m juggling them.
I’ve done some pretty neat stuff at work that’s gotten some recognition.
I’ve written a Ph.D. dissertation in mathematics, where I proved some stuff of interest to at least a dozen other mathematicians worldwide.
If one counts a doctoral dissertation as a collaboration with one’s advisor, I’ve got an Erdos number of 3.
I’ve been in the middle of a small flock of bighorn sheep. (I was on a hiking trail in Glacier NP, and they grazed their way through the area around where I was standing.)
I know far too much Marx Brothers, Firesign Theatre, Monty Python, etc. for my own good.
Practically anything anyone says reminds me of a line from a song.
I met noted spook James Jesus Angleton.
I’m still waiting for your “Ask One of Ayn Rand’s Collective” thread.
In six months or so, I will become a Master Instructor in the martial art of Taekwondo.
I’ve met Al Stewart and Dave Nachmanoff in person after a concert. Turns out Dave knows SWMBO’s sister; she sang backup on a couple of his early concept recordings.
I was an extra in Chuck Norris’s Sidekicks movie.
I was the first one in my group to get the babel fish in my ear. (Back in the 80s, a group of us at work would stay late into the wee hours playing Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on our IBM 8088 computers.)
Does it make it any more impressive that this work group was at the (now defunct) Congressional Office of Technology Assessment?
As you can tell, I’ve got to grasp at straws to come up with anything.