An evening that will remain in infamy...

Why may you ask am I smoking that Cuban cigar? Well, I have always wanted to try smoking a cigar I just was too chicken to try it because I figured I would do it wrong and puke. In fact when the boys would get together in Green Bay and play a friendly game of poker in my garage, cigars were always present. As you can see in the pic to the right the Nordic Man has one blazing. I wanted to try so bad but never pulled the trigger. Well, that ended Saturday when after the Ric Flair evening, I decided to give it a go as in celebration of the big moment. Yup, it lived up to the hype. Big time.

Let's go back to the start of my trip. I got on a plane in Regina around 9am on Friday. I was supposed to get on at 8:20 but the fog in Edmonton was holding us up. Once we got in the air and close to Edmonton the fog was still there. So I ended up flying in circles around E town for about an hour. Stupid Edmonton.

So I got in around 10 when I was supposed to be there by 8:30. I called up my boy, Blashill, and we got around 48 wings at Kelseys and went to work. It was like I never moved. We got all the gossip out and about just like old times. After that we went out to Rexall to get his new camera so I could be jealous. Then we stopped by the Eskimos locker room for a visit with Dwayne Mandrusiak, of the equipment managers for the Evil Empire Mandrusiaks. Dwayne is the dude who got me the Brett Faver auto'd football. He showed us the design for the new locker room, we told some stories, drank some beer, and called each other names. He could not believe that I came all the way to Edmonton for Ric Flair. He said, and I quote, "You are a bigger loser than I thought you were." Thank you Dwayne, I appreciate that.

I had a great first day in Edmonton, well almost. After living in Regina for over a year I can honestly say that Edmonton traffic sucks balls. When I lived there I hated traffic, but just because traffic sucks. BUT when you come back and are forced to sit in it after going anywhere in Regina only takes 15 minutes it REALLY SUCKS. Of course Blair called me a pussy and soft, as well he should have.

At this point I was still working out what I was going to say and wear to the big day. It truly was a big deal. I had decided that I was going to go with my Tragically Hip concert sweater from the In Between Evolution tour. Which I Marty later said it had wicked irony and not that irony that Alanis Morisette sings about. Cool. I was for sure going to do the four fingers up for the pic with Flair. Blair came up with the idea of pointing at the camera. He noticed that in a picture, his book, and on the DVD he is pointing at the camera. Nice job Blair, way to do your homework. I wish I would have thought of that. Truly original. No one else did that pose.

As for the question, still a bit up in the air. I really liked the question that McCoy gave me. Thoughtful, interesting, and pretty original. I also was thinking about asking him about the Horsemen. What was his favorite line up. Or maybe what is his all star line up? I also was thinking I might ask him to run a promo on me. Tell me how much he was going to beat my ass. That would be awesome. Just depends on how much time we have with him.

So Blair and I had a great big breakfast at Humpty's so as to not be hungry on the big day. We also tried not to eat anything to gaseous so as not to have the Flair goofy look photo that Marty described so well. Of course Carey, Blair's wife gave us crap all morning for talking too much about it. She will pay.

We headed over to the Myer Horowitz theater on the campus of the University of Alberta around 1:30 pm. The show was scheduled to start at 4 pm (doors at 3). At this point there was a meet and greet already going on in the theater for people who wanted only to meet the man. We bumped over to My Mac Dealer and picked up a few things then came back to hang out.

Now, I am going to say this as lightly as I can. Because of course, I was attending the same event as these guys. Wrestling fan is weird. There was some strange ones in attendance at this event. If you want to see the whole group of meet and greet photos CLICK HERE. I will just say, there are some 'interesting' cats. The best ones are on the last two pages of pictures. The guys in the rock show t shirts are crazy.

Of course 'That Guy' was there. You know the one, the guy who wears the championship belt like he won it. I know, I have one too, I just don't wear it. There was also this guy who came up to me when he noticed that I had a VIP badge. He wasn't all there. He wanted to know if I would get his DVD signed for him. Me being the nice guy that I am, said okay. I immediately knew this was a mistake. I have been planning for weeks what I was going to say and do at this moment of glory and just before go time I let this a-hole throw me off my game. Way to go stupid. He was of course on of these guys who will not go away AND a close talker. Great, this is just getting better. Eventually I convinced him to get it himself by waiting by Ric's limo. Did I mention that we saw Ric arrive in his limo? Check the limo out... Needless to say I dodged a bullet there. I did not need this guys DVD throwing me off my game.

In what seemed like three hours later they opened the doors and we wandered into the theater to sit in our row two seats. It is almost show time and I am sooo geeked you can't even understand. I got my micro recorder ready to record the whole thing and I got a camera all ready to take some great pics. I went to London Drugs on Thursday and bought one of those new Nikon cameras that Ashton Kutcher is shilling. Oh did I mention that I am taking it back on Monday. Yup, use it for the weekend then take it back. I feel so dirty, like the dirtiest player in the game RIC FLAIR!!!


Flair Entrance in Edmonton from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.



It is show time and the Nature Boy enters to the greatest theme music in all of wrestling and the crowd goes wild. You can see his entrance above along with some of his opening remarks. Blair recorded some of it on his camera. Oh, and if you want a CD of the show just drop me a line and I will burn you a copy. I will of course have a podcast of the weekend up soon.

Flair came out and spoke for a bit on several things then opened up the floor to questions for the rest of the show. Which I thought would be cool to ask a question but they made everyone wait in line along the back of the theater to ask your question. I paid for row two tickets so I did not feel like standing in the back of the theater for the show so I decided to wait and ask him in the meet and greet.


Drunk PJ at Ric Flair from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.



I do have a great story about the questions and answer time. PJ Stasko, of the camrose Staskos, was there. I did not see him before the show so I had no idea if he made it or not, until, I hear someone on the mic say in an extremely drunk slurring voice, "I would like to firssst give a shoutttd out to a good frrrriend of mine who is the biggessssst wrasslinnnnn' fan I know, Chris Peterssssson." I look over and it is PJ. Oh man, he is hammered. At this point there is an uncomfortable feeling settling over the theater. Flair was nice to this drunk man who then asked about "kisssssingggg girlzzzssss". Hilarious. PJ came over to our seats and gave me a cool Pilsner Beer stein that I proceeded to get autographed by Ric Flair. Sweeet. Nice job PJ. You drunk bastard.

Flair told some great stories about life on the road with the WWF and WCW and getting drunk with the boys. There was of course the times when some dude would ask flair a Chris Farley type question like, "Remember that time you beat up Dusty Rhodes? That was cool." and to Flair's credit he was respectful to everyone in the crowd.

At one point in the proceedings he was telling a story about Rowdy Roddy Piper and decided to call him up. So he then did. He put Roddy on the speaker phone and we all said hi to Roddy. Really cool the guy has the Rowdy Roddy on speed dial.

If you listen to the audio of the event you hear me laughing a lot. It was a really good time and well worth all the time I obsessed over it. But, it is not over yet. The meet and greet is right after the show and that is when the pressure really hits. I decide that Blair and I will wait an go at the end of the line so as to avoid the guy yelling because I am taking too long. Just before we go in for the meet and greet we see PJ again. He is out of his mind staggering drunk and just happy as all get out. He came over and gushed and gooned us again. Hilarious. After we left one of the people who was working the show told us that 'our friend just fell down the stairs on his way out'. Nice PJ, way to make an exit. He apparently walked it off. PJ rules.

We were instructed that we would only get 60 seconds with the Nature Boy and only can get two things signed. Whoa, that completely throws me for a loop. So Blair and I start our scheming on how to get around it. All the while I am getting nervous about the big event. Now I don't usually get nervous about things like this. After all I am the king of the Brush With Greatness photo. Actually Blashill is the king, I am just a knight. Anyway, I am getting nervous and this whole 60 seconds thing throws me off.

I decide to go ahead anyway. We get up there an Blair goes first. He had around 4 things to get signed and got them all signed. No problem. So much for the 'only two things' rule. Whew, I am next. I have been waiting to meet this guy for around 30 years and it is finally going to happen. Whew, sweating my ass off. Hope I don't smell too bad.


Flair Autograph from hamiltongbp on Vimeo.



Here goes. I walk up to the table, plop down the belt and he grabs the poster to sign. I set down the recorder and he asks me what is that? I tell him it is a recorder so I can record this great moment for ever. He tells me he does not like those and turn it off. I apologize and then realize that he has just spent two hours talking, another three signing autographs so he is tired. I then opt out of the questions and just tell him that it is an honor to meet him and that I have been a huge fan for 30 years. He thanks me and tells me it is his honor to meet me and what is my name. I was at this point a bit in a daze so I did not answer him. He looks at me and says it again, 'what's your name man?'. Oh snap, wake up. I tell him and he signs the poster to Chris. He then signs the mug and the belt and we go for the pic.

I had given my (temporarily) camera to one dude and he proceeds to take a completely crappy out of focus picture. Blairs pic was shitty also. Luckily for them, they paid a dude to take pics for all of us. That one (below) turned out great. This is exactly the situation that I was afraid of getting into. Coming all this distance and coming away with a picture that sucks. I was sooo happy that they paid a guy to take pics. I went as you can see with the four fingers up and I beleive that it does live up to the hype. I can frame this one and hang it with pride in my man cave. Plus I got that Pilsner mug plus a great story to go along with it. I am in the process of getting the belt hung on the wall also. Thank you PJ. Thank you Blair. Thank you Ric for a great evening.



I had my meet, it lived up to the hype, and we went out to celebrate with beers at BP's. Jordi Weidman, of the Stony Plain Weidmans, and Greg Donnelly of the Edmonton Donnelly's, came out also and we sat around and told stories, rousted drunks, and called each other names for a couple of hours. Great time had by all.

Thank you again TundraTalk Nation for helping me get through this with your advice. Really came up huge in my time of need. I will be putting the podcast together in the next few days so make sure you check back for that occasionally.

Now GET BACK TO WORK!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Chris Peterson....Master Builder.

I am sorry that I have been neglecting the blog a bit as of late, but I had a party to prepare and organize for a 5 year old and it took some time. Not only did Donna and I have a big party planned but as a gift to my VERY active 5 year old I built her a play house. Whaaaaa? Did I just say build. Yup. This coming from the guy who barely made it thru Vo Ag in high school. Building that stupd little box was just too much for me. Which I still have that box. McKenna uses it to store her girl stuff in. Good thing they had us build that box, it would have been tragic for McKenna not to have a box to put her fake princess jewelry in. Those guys teaching Vo Ag really knew what we needed.

So last year I added a room in the basement. Not only did I add a room, I added a Green Bay Packer Room. That's right, painted Packer green, with a great Packer border (picked up from the holy land and sent to me by the Nordic Man), and the bed has official Green Bay Packer sheets. As Bubbles would say, deeeeee heeee eeeecent. Notice the Ross Verba jersey and photo of the renovated Lambeau on opening day in 2003. I really outdid myself. Oh, and as I have said before all of you, the TundraTalk Nation, are welcome anytime to stay in the Packer room. Especially all of you viqueen fans. Especially you queen fans.

Now to bring us up to date I got a bit cocky and one day spewed out to McKenna that I thought I would make her a play house for her birthday. Well, if you have a 4 year old you know, that if you say it, there is no way to take it back. I was stuck. But I felt confident that if I just put my little mind to it, I could make it happen. I am the awesome creator of the Peterson Family Packer Room so I can do it.

So since here in Edmonton the snow doesn't officially go away until May, I had to start building in the garage. I scoured the internet for play house plans and all I found was eleborate designs for play houses nicer than my House. So I was on my own. I sat down and planned out the size and shape. Blair Stefishin, of the Edmonton Stefishin's, looked at it and told me how much wood I would need and I went to Rona and loaded up.

After I brought it home I went to the Used Architecture Warehouse and bought a coulple of windows. Then I started to build. I got really cocky and built all the walls in the garage. Thinking that when the weather cleared I could just go and put it up, in theory. Notice the purple door. McKenna picked the color of the door and I let her paint it. It is going to be a very effeminante shed when she is done with it.

A week or so later the snow cleared and then I could start my build. I put down some gravel and started to lay out the floor and the front patio. So far so good. It was all coming together. My vision was starting to take shape. As the late great George Peppard said on the classic show the A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together!" I loved that show. Notice I had to cut a tree back to make room for the house. I got to rent a chain saw. I love man tools. After the saw I went and rented a wood chipper. Oh yeah, I am a man. A man who loves power tools. I kept thinking of Steve Buciemi in Fargo as I was stuffing wood into the chipper. Loved that movie.

Anyway, I was nervous and excited as I started to frame the walls. Of course it was a hard hat area so I wore my hard hat with pride. If McKenna was not careful she may have a Packer themed play house. They all fit together perfectly suprisingly enough. Of course after I had it all framed and was getting ready to go and buy some plywood to put the walls up a neighbor came over and pointed out that my house was not up to code. Well, duh. I built it. He said that it has to be at least 3 feet from an existing fence. Wha? Who the hell would put a shed that far away from the fence. That is stupid. Who cares, the city can take their thee feet and tell the story walking. Too late to move it now.

I managed to get the plywood up on the walls then right on cue, the weather takes a turn on me. Rain for about 5 days straight, AND two nights befor the party, you guessed it, SNOW. May 4th and we get snow. Only in Alberta.

Of course I did all the easy stuff up until now. The roof is the hard part. I tried to do one rafter after another but it just did not work. I did not want a 6 foot roof but I wanted it too look okay. Cory Blashil, of the Edmonton Blashil's, came over and power builded a roof for me in about three hours. That guy can build like no one I have ever seen. He measures then cuts. I have to measure about three times, sit and think about it, measure again, then cut. Anyway, the roof went up and then I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Rain kept us from painting for several days so we would run out and paint whenever there was an opening in the weather for a few hours.

We were running out of time but we got a break on the Saturday before the party and we had about 6 hours of no rain and we painted as much as we could. We got the walls and deck painted and put up tarps to keep it somewhat dry. It worked and on the Sunday of the party we put the final touches on it and it was ready. I put up the window shelf, put in some carpet (that was donated by Jordi Weidman), Donna painted the window frames, I put up the deck rail, and Donna painted it. Done.

Party time came and McKenna had about 15-20 friends over and it was a huge hit. Garner, of the Radio Sonic Garner's, brought his kids Dora Bouncy House over and it was all good. Plenty of fun, sugar, more fun and more sugar.

So that is why I have been away from the blog lately. I will leave you with this video that I saw again last night on a SNL show. Funniest TV moment EVER. Chris Farley, dude, I miss you.