Category: Wrestling

My Wild Wrestling Weekend Vacation 2022

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 7, 2022

And I am back from yet another vacation – this one a 6-day trip out west. I flew in to the Dallas Texas area early last Thursday morning (March 31ST). First stop after my brother picked me up at the airport (DFW) was a restaurant nearby that the locals love – Old West Cafe. I enjoyed a hearty breakfast during my first hour within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and it continued a new tradition for me and my brother. This was our first stop the last time I flew in to DFW (in November 2020), and it worked out so well that we’ve decided to do it every time I fly in to DFW.

Here’s me a few seconds before diving in to this culinary masterpiece:

We saw a movie that afternoon – The Lost City (starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe – among others). I enjoyed it. A solid ‘B’. 3.5 out of 4 stars from me. It was my 3RD movie seen at the theatres so far in 2022, and that ties both 2020 and 2021. (By comparison my 2000 to 2009 average was 20 movies per year, and my 2010 to 2019 average was 30 movies per year.)

That night we went to WrestleCon in downtown Dallas at a large hotel with a convention center. You may have heard of ComicCon held in various cities each year around the U.S. (and probably the world.) Well this is the professional wrestling version of that. Picture a lot of vendor booths with well-known wrestlers behind many of them selling photographs, autographs, and selfies or pictures of you and the wrestler. These are real-life TV stars of the wrestling realm – past and present – of rival companies – sitting or standing right in front of you in living color. Just you and them meeting and greeting each other. It was quite the experience. I was a bit starstruck. My brother talked to a few of his favorites, and he bought their photo and signature, and I took a picture of them with my brother’s smart phone.

Also part of the convention was a show at the wrestling ring with a full card of matches. We had front row seats ringside for that first night’s show. These are mostly independent wrestlers. I’m a huge WWE fan (more on that later), but beyond that I’m not really in to the independent wrestling scene (or other promotions stateside and worldwide). I know of some of them because they used to work for the WWE. I was very impressed with this first night’s experience.

Night 2 (Friday), and we were in Garland Texas (a Dallas suburb) at the Curtis Culwell Center – a nearly 7,000-seat arena. We were there for the reboot of Ring Of Honor and their annual Supercard Of Honor pay-per-view event. It was a stacked card with a dozen matches that thrilled the more than 2,000 in attendance. (We had ringside seats again.)

Nights 3 and 4, and we were at WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium (where the Dallas Cowboys play). This was my 21ST WrestleMania (since WrestleMania X8 in 2002), but it was my very first LIVE and in-person. It was a bucket list event for me and my brother, and we finally did it. We were there for 8 hours on Saturday night and 6 hours on Sunday night. (The show itself was 4 hours on each night.)

If you have followed me online for a while then you know that I am a huge WWE fan. (I even preached a sermon about it here on my blog.) My brother got me hooked in June 2001 at a Raw and Smackdown in Tampa and Orlando respectively. Before those two LIVE events I had never seen an episode of either show. Since then I don’t think that I’ve missed one. I became a sudden and instant fan at those two shows at the atypical age of 34. (I never watched it as a kid either.)

Me and my brother watched the post-WrestleMania edition of Monday Night Raw at his house, and then I flew back home the next morning. My wild wrestling weekend vacation was complete.

A couple hundred million dollars were pumped-in to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex economy last weekend due to professional wrestling and its loyal fanbase worldwide, and I was part of all of that.

Tags AEW, ROH, Wrestling, WWE

Blogging Driving Food Sports Travel Wrestling

My Spring Break Vacation 2022

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date March 31, 2022

And now – Week 4 of my 4-week series on my 6-day / 626-mile road-trip adventure here in South Florida and also up in Central Florida.

Last #TravelThursday I wrote all about my fun family day at Legoland near Winter Haven in Central Florida. From there I proceeded over to U.S. 27 (my favorite highway in Florida – affectionately known as the Chris M. Day Retirement Highway – or the #CMDRH). My family did the same in two other vehicles. We said our “good-byes” in the parking lot of Legoland. I’ll see my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces again – today. (More on that later.)

I stopped for Dinner at a place that I’ll probably be spending a lot of time at in the future (during retirement life) – Bob Evans in Sebring. Hopefully service greatly improves with future visits. I’ve eaten there a handful of times in the past, but this time service was the worst I’ve ever experienced.

I spent the night at a hotel in Lake Placid. That’s the other town that I’m eyeing for my future retirement / forever home. It’s very likely that I’ll purchase my forever home before I retire (maybe even later this year – but more likely next year). I’d begin to move things into my new home with each visit over a period of time.

My 6-day / 626-mile road-trip adventure ended the way it began 5 days earlier. I drove 3 hours to my workplace on the morning of Tuesday March 08TH 2022, and I worked much of the day. Then I went home and unpacked. That was the official end of another fun and successful vacation.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll write about my next vacation (which actually started yesterday). I’ll be spending 5 fun days hanging out with my family in the Dallas Texas area. Me and my brother – well we’re going to Wrestlemania !

I’m going to try to recap this vacation in a single blog post, but if I can’t fit it in 700 words or less (basically a 3-minute read) – then I’ll do a 2-part series.

I really want to get back to the original format of #TravelThursday where I write about a fun place I’ve visited (not necessarily while on vacation), or even a place somewhere in this world that I want to visit but haven’t done so yet. I think that’s the plan going forth after I write about this trip to and from Dallas Texas.

I thank you all for checking-out my blog and making #TravelThursday consistently my most-read blog post of the week (by far). Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Wrestlemania

1980s Blogging Career Driving Health History Military News Television Travel Weather Wrestling

Weekend Kickoff Mini-Thoughts

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 28, 2021

It’s Thursday, and it’s the start of a fresh new weekend of blogging. Longtime readers of my blog will know that this was once a Thursday night tradition. I only do this every once in a while these days. It’s my ‘Mini-Thoughts’ – a rapid-fire session of random thoughts on my mind right this minute:

I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine a couple of days ago.
Right now only Seniors are getting in Florida.
I work for the military, so I was lucky to get it early.
My second dose will be in 4 weeks.
I got the COVID vaccine 18 days after getting the Shingles vaccine.
That was my second of two doses of the Shingles vaccine.
I am not an “anti-vaxxer”.
I didn’t know there was such a thing as an “anti-vaxxer” until recently.
Some don’t get vaccines because they believe they do more harm than good.
Some don’t get vaccines because it’s against their religious beliefs.
Getting vaccines are a personal choice for each individual.
I neither promote nor denounce vaccinations to anyone.
I recently signed-up for the Discovery Plus streaming service.
If I’m not careful I can easily binge-watch shows on it for many hours.
Looks like I’ll soon sign-up for Peacock as it absorbs WWE Network.
I also like to “Hulu & Hibernate”.
I don’t “Netflix & Chill”.
I’m looking forward to my upcoming Florida road-trip.
Looks like I’ll cover about 575 miles in 5 days.
I’ll blog all about it after I return home.
Looks like I’ll drive more miles this month than 7 months last year.
Next month I’ll drive more than twice as many miles as this month.
It’s been a chilly winter here in South Florida.
I was shivering in December and the first-half of January.
I think it’s our coldest winter since 2010-2011.
Recently we’ve enjoyed a few days in the 80s for the first time in 2021.
But it’s gonna get chilly again starting today.
50s in the morning is chilly for us.
We’ve had 7 mornings in the 40s since the start of December !
Exactly 35 years ago today the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated.
It occurred right after I got home from work (in England).
I think I watched BBC coverage of it for the rest of the night.
Exactly 2 years ago today I was in the middle of the Caribbean on a cruise.
We were supposed to spend the day on Grand Cayman Island.
But we couldn’t reach the island due to ferocious northerly winds.
A strong cold front had made it deep into the Caribbean.
It was an unusually chilly day on the islands and at sea.
So we had an “extra fun day at sea”.
I can’t wait to get back on a cruise next year.
Here’s my towel animal from exactly 2 years ago:

Towel Animal

2000s Driving Movies Music Radio Travel Weather Wrestling

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 2005

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 14, 2020

Every 2ND, 3RD, and 4TH Friday of the month I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 20, or 30 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 15 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday August 14TH 2005:

“Get It Poppin'” – Fat Joe Ft. Nelly
“Switch” – Will Smith
“Baby I’m Back” – Baby Bash
“How To Deal” – Frankie J
“La Tortura” – Shakira Ft. Alejandro Sanz

The forgettable year of 2005 continues. I don’t remember a single one of these songs. I don’t remember what they sound like at all. I’d have to go to YouTube and watch the music videos of these songs to remind me of how I liked them 15 years ago this week. I don’t really feel like doing that. Why bring back memories of a “down” year ?

Over at a movie theatre near Walt Disney World I saw “Red Eye” and “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” with my brother. I guess we both liked “Red Eye”. We rated it a perfect 4 stars back then. We spent 5 days in the Orlando area (with a brief visit to Tampa) right after Hurricane Katrina had made landfall in northern Miami-Dade County and moved erratically through the region. We attended two WWE events (one house show and one televised nationally). That was a fun trip !

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !

Tags 2005, Music, Radio