3/28/09

So we stayed at a nationally recognized hotel last night that provides a hot breakfast to their guests. Woke up early, let T sleep and headed to the bar. Feh! No bacon on Saturdays they say... I am distraught. Was jonesing for some smokey goodness, but made do with some powdered eggs and biscuits.

There was still napping to be done by T, so I took a drive. Found a liqueur store and stocked up on Buffalo Trace bourbon. Tasty stuff... Too bad it's not available in GA. Decided to take a drive to downtown Nashville and check out the attractions. Saw the Parthenon. I mean, how could I not? The tribe would disown me.

Here are some pics.



Saw a wild turkey, some llamas and horned sheep on my drive around. Sorry, no pics of those. Couldn't slow down for clear images and the turkey flew off when I stopped.

Met up with trainer man and his SO and went to the arena to pickup the tickets (2 free General admission per fighter). Found the arena which turns out to be the Tennessee Miller Coliseum. Don't let the title fool you. It's actually a horse show facility with tarps laid down. Interestingly, it's part of a complex that includes the Horse Sciences Center. I hear about Horse Sense, but no Science. I was impressed...

Bonus about this trip was the rainbow. Here are a couple of pics. If you look closely, you can see it's a double. Them are rare. Click to get a closer look.
Also, it appears that the legend of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is just that. A myth. I searched, but the only thing I found was the Red Robin. You guys thing they may have been talking about onion rings instead of actual gold?

So I deliver T and the trainer to the arena and go chill out at the hotel. Thunderstorms from hell hit the city... Lights flicker, fire alarm goes off, sirens blare, etc. General mayhem. Good fun.

Trainer's SO and I head to the arena after the "weather event" and get situated. Front row seats in the horse pavilion. Weather feels colder already. They start about an hour late and there are 13 fights on the docket. Our fight of interest is #6. I tried to document the action, but the low light situation did not allow for excellent pictures. Bear that in mind when looking though them.
Here's the fight cage and the AV dudes
.
Fight #1. Finally, some violence.

Fight #3 a KO in progress.

So we go through the first 5 fights and wait for the 6th. Introductions get done, fighters get in the ring and we're holding our breath. This is the only women's fight on the docket. T's opponent rushes and she's all fists and knees. They lock up, get separated and start again. Lock up for the second time, get separated and it's over. T loses the bout and they head to the locker room (or stalls... I don't know which). Here are a couple of pictures. Did the best I could under the circumstances.

Fight of interest over, we're waiting to hear from T and the trainer as to what they want to do. I take a picture during the 7th fight and one of the staff personnel comes over and says cameras are not allowed and I'll have to delete the pics from my camera. (Mea culpa on this. I didn't notice the signs when we were walking in.) Conversation went something like this:

Her: Sir, you'll have to delete the pictures you took. Cameras are not allowed.
Me: Sorry about that, I didn't know. Hold on a sec, let me figure out how to do this. (I delete a few pics and show her the swamp buggies from the earlier trip)
Her: I'll have to confiscate the camera. Write your name down and you can pick it back up after the event.
Me: No, I'm sorry, but I won't give you my camera. I've turned it off and can give it to her (trainer's SO) to keep in her purse. is that OK?
Her: No, you'll either have to give me your camera, or leave.
Me: So, no other options then?
Her: No. Either I get the camera, or you leave.
Me: OK, we're leaving then. Can you give us a couple of minutes to get a hold of the trainer and T to figure out where we'll meet up?

She walks off at this point, while the SO calls the trainer and leaves a msg on the phone. 30 seconds go by and an actual LEO comes over and tells me I have to leave. Well, he's got a gun and a badge, so we immediately stand and head out.

Meet up with the others outside the arena and head back to the hotel. It's Fekking cold! Temperature must have dropped 30 degrees after the rain.

Stop and get a shake on the way, apply some first aid to a deep thigh bruise and rent a movie in the hotel.

If you even thought about renting "The day the earth stood still" Don't! It'll only encourage them to make more horrible movies. I mean Keanu was OK, but who wrote the ending? Did they even stop and think of the consequences? Whoever these people were do not deserve to work in the industry ever again. I could come up much better ending. Horrible! JUST SAY NO!

Fell asleep after the movie

Random thoughts:

• Llamas? This must be farm country...
• A wild gobbler! Neat!
• I'm glad the guy behind me was patient for the fights to gegin instead of starting his own excitement.
• I should have taken a jacket into the "Colisseum"
• How could they miss the flash going off 2 hours? I'm sure it annoyed the AV dudes...
  
• Why is the grout between the tiles in the bathroom wet?
• His name is Robert Paulson.
  

Well, that's it for today... Stay tuned...