Who have you met?

[Stonewall]

While talking to my grandmother today, who happens to be 90, she told me I should write a book.  We were watching the news and saw Hillary Clinton and I mentioned how in NYC one day, I saw her Secret Service detail helping her from her limo conversion van.  That's right, she traveled in a full-sized conversion van.  Why not?  It's comfy and inconspicuous.  So, grandma, or "mom-mom" as I've called her since day one, asked who else have I met....the list is long and distinguished and I'm sure only about a 1/3 that I can think of right now.

My previous job from '01 to '06 had me all around the world and rubbing shoulders with some popular folks.  In 2 minutes, before I start getting ready for work, I'll try list as many as possible and attempt to spell their names correctly.  Either way, tell us the folks you've seen, shook hands with, hung out with, tripped, stumbled into or otherwise gave a shout out to in person....

Hillary and Bill Clinton
Bush Sr and Babs
Bush and Laura
Rummy
Wolfowitz (the guy I protected)
Katherine Zeta and Mike Douglas
Angelina Jolee
Oprah
Gen Meyers (went to his retirement)
Gen Pace
Nelson Mandella (went to his house in S. Africa)
Bono (went to his house in Dublin)
Koffi Annan (been to his house lots of times)
Hamid Karsai
Tony Blair
Arnold Schwartzeneger and wife
Colin Powell (marched in his retirement and saw him lots of other times)
Al Gore (road an elevator with him and held his Starbucks while he tied his shoe)
Paula Zahn (drover her)
Wolf Blitzer
Drew Carry (held conversation with him)
Rudolph Juliani
John McCain
Vladimir Putin (at his house)
SecDef Cohen
Sec Def Perry
Dick Cheney (been to his house several times)
Gen Shalikashvili
Gen Shelton
All the service chiefs, senior enlisted and secretaries from like '95 to '06.

Man, I can remember a lot of titles but not names.  Will be going though a list and writing them down at work tonight.  Should be fun.

[EDIT]  Forgot one important one, one of my favorites:  Condoleezza Rica  (saw her many times, shook hands, spoke to and even rode up her elevator in the State Dept with just me, my protectee, her and her agent.)

[RogueLeader]

Hey Kirt, buddy, I need a favor. . . .

[JC004]

some that I remember...

George Argyros (US Ambassador to Spain)
Robert Byrd (mostly just wanted to see if he was, in fact, still alive)
Ted Kennedy (also still alive...strange! can't knock him, since it was HIS office that gave me the gallery passes)
John Kerry (stumbled into...but I think he was the one who was lost, because he was in a HOUSE office building)
Hillary Clinton ::sigh:: and her friend Bill
John McCain
Ted Stevens (philosopher on internet issues)
General John Abizaid
President George W. Bush
Senator Bob Dole
Mark Victor Hansen
Secretary Henry Kissinger
Secretary Jim Nicholson
Secretary Colin Powell
Secretary Tom Ridge
Charles "Red" Scott (neat guy)
Tom Selleck
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
Chuck Yeager (appropriate person to meet for a CAP person!)
Truett Cathy (the Chik-fil-A man!)
Ken Lay
Ariel Sharon
Tim Russert
Jim Turner (Dr. Pepper guy)
John Paul DeJoria (John Paul Mitchell Systems)

...and some misc undersecretaries, my last 3 governors, less cool senators, actors I don't care about, governors of states nobody likes, CEOs who I since forgot, some musician who was apparently a big deal, and other folk

Next, I plan on meeting Ultimate Kirt and going on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney (hopefully with UK, so I am protected)

Also, SJFedor and mikeylikey (trouble, both)

[cnitas]

Wow those are some lists...

Mine is a little shorter:

Chuck Yeager..twice
Bill Clinton..twice
Mary Feik (A whole bunch of times)
Alexander Zuyev (Soviet Fighter Pilot defector) - I had a lenghty talk with him at Oshkosh in 1994.
Rep. Ron Paul (I used to live in his district)
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (My current local Rep.)
Matthew Hoyza
Bill Bradley
Secretary Henry Kissinger - He visited and gave a lecture while I was in school
President George Bush..sorta. - He flies over my house every time he goes to Camp David.
I deal with several local 'celebs' in my day job.

[smj58501]

Miss Hooters 2005

[Camas]

I was very young and wasn't watching where I was going and almost walked right into Vincent Price!  Now - that was scary - and he was a big man.  Never met but stood close to Dorothy Hamill.  But I did meet my boyhood hero - Roy Rogers! And some former governors of my state.  And, as I stood close to a window this guy waved at me from the other side and I waved back - Jerry Lewis.  As you can see - my list is extremely short.  I didn't get around much and still don't.  But, like many of us, I've been through five Nat'l Commanders and have met all of them.

[davedove]

Name dropper.

I've met a few celebrities and spoken with them:
Louise Mandrell
Chely Wright
the ladies of Cowboy Crush

I was also about five feet away from Hillary Clinton one day, but we never interacted.

[Cecil DP]

President Nixon
President Kennedy
President Marcos of the Phillipines
General Abazaid
LTG Thieu of Viet Nam (Awarded me a couple of VN Medals)
Martha Raye, USO tour
Bob Hope, USO Tour
Dustin Hoffman
Paul Newman
Several Medal of Honor receipients
GEN Ray Davis, USMC
CPT  Tom Hudner, USN
COL Jim Fleming USAF
COL Harvey Barnum, USMC
MAJ James McGinty, USMC
Col Drew Dix, USA
Col Jay Vargas, USMC
Col Wes Fox, USMC
TSG Charlie McGillvery, USA
1SG Jimmy Howard, USMC

[smj58501]

I was also about five feet away from Hillary Clinton one day, but we never interacted.

I assume that was by choice. Good call.

[davedove]

I was also about five feet away from Hillary Clinton one day, but we never interacted.

I assume that was by choice. Good call.

I didn't even know she was going to be there.  I was working at Walter Reed and walked down to the local Safeway store to grab something for lunch.  Outside was the big car and some suits keeping people from entering the store.  Moments later she walked out and got into the car.  Apparently she was giving some kind of talk there.  This was back in the mid 90's, so it was during Bill's term.  It was just a chance encounter.

[Fifinella]

DUDE!  That's a serious list.  I have envy...

Probably my coolest was a demo jump for Gen Colin Powell, and shaking his hand afterward.  (Also my coolest coin.)

Oh, yeah, and the entire Denver Broncos cheerleaders team after we jumped into a Broncos game. 

[Michael]

Jeremy Shockey
Former President Clinton
Senator Clinton
Mike Powell
Ko'Ichiro Yammamoto
Base CC of Stratton ANGB
CC of U.S. Army Concert Band
Ben Van Dijk
CC of NY ANG
NY Giants

[afgeo4]

Now name all those people that you think would claim to have met you and see if they'll match your first list (cuz that's what's really important)

[Stonewall]

(cuz that's what's really important)

Funny, cuz I use to see Secretary of Treasury John Snow weekly.  One time, when leaving Mr. K's restaurant on K St in DC, my principal was walking out with Mr. Snow and Mr. Snow looked at me and said "you ready to go", meaning, are we set to leave (car in place, team ready).  I explained to him that I was with Mr. Wolfensohn and his detail were chillin' out in their motorcade vehicles.  So yeah, he recognized me.

Same with Sec State Powell.  In Madrid at the Afghanistan Donors Conference in '03, Powell looks at me and says "what's your name again, I seem to see you a lot these days".  I explained how we've been hanging out for years.  As CJCS, I stood outside the SecDef's door in blues and later marched in his retirement ceremony at Ft. Myer  <<---Joking with him of course, but he got it and asked if I was stalking him.

And yeah, I'd say Condi Rice got used to my face too.  One day, while in NYC at the Charlie Rose show, she made her way to me and shook my hand saying "good to see you again".  That was when she was still National Security Advisor.

No way these folks knew my name, but sure, some got to know my face.  They're the celebrities, not us.

[afgeo4]

(cuz that's what's really important)

Funny, cuz I use to see Secretary of Treasury John Snow weekly.  One time, when leaving Mr. K's restaurant on K St in DC, my principal was walking out with Mr. Snow and Mr. Snow looked at me and said "you ready to go", meaning, are we set to leave (car in place, team ready).  I explained to him that I was with Mr. Wolfensohn and his detail were chillin' out in their motorcade vehicles.  So yeah, he recognized me.

Same with Sec State Powell.  In Madrid at the Afghanistan Donors Conference in '03, Powell looks at me and says "what's your name again, I seem to see you a lot these days".  I explained how we've been hanging out for years.  As CJCS, I stood outside the SecDef's door in blues and later marched in his retirement ceremony at Ft. Myer  <<---Joking with him of course, but he got it and asked if I was stalking him.

And yeah, I'd say Condi Rice got used to my face too.  One day, while in NYC at the Charlie Rose show, she made her way to me and shook my hand saying "good to see you again".  That was when she was still National Security Advisor.

No way these folks knew my name, but sure, some got to know my face.  They're the celebrities, not us.

I met Gen Powell here in NYC once. He was a VERY close friend with my former boss and mentor. They went to City College together. I had a nice chat with him (he's the reason I'm a republican actually). I was extremely impressed with what he has been able to achieve as an African-American man of his generation and as a man in general. Considering his values, the challenges that he'd faced and his background, I immediately thought of why he, a man of color and a New Yorker chose the Republican party and... well... that was 13 years ago and I'm still quite involved in the GOP in NYC. The conversation with him also helped me to solidify my desire to serve my country. A few months after that I enlisted in the USAF Res, which eventually led me to CAP.

I met Sec. Rice a few months ago. Was quite impressed with her almost perfect Russian.

[DrDave]

Well, during residency training I had the opportunity to speak for about 15 minutes privately with the actor DeForest Kelley, Dr. McCoy from Star Trek fame, and his wife Carolyn.

Spoke with them right before he was scheduled to go on stage at a Trek Convention in Chicago to an audience of 1,000+.

Knew the con organizer, told her he was the reason I went into medicine (maybe he was, worked like a charm).

That's when I learned that Dr. McCoy smoked Marlboro's (were in his shirt pocket)!

Also have a funny story about meeting the actor Patrick Stewart, but that's for another time.

Dr. Dave

[davedove]

Well, during residency training I had the opportunity to speak for about 15 minutes privately with the actor DeForest Kelley, Dr. McCoy from Star Trek fame, and his wife Carolyn.

Spoke with them right before he was scheduled to go on stage at a Trek Convention in Chicago to an audience of 1,000+.

Knew the con organizer, told her he was the reason I went into medicine (maybe he was, worked like a charm).

That's when I learned that Dr. McCoy smoked Marlboro's (were in his shirt pocket)!

Also have a funny story about meeting the actor Patrick Stewart, but that's for another time.

Dr. Dave

That reminded me.  I did meet the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, Gene Roddenberry.  A friend and I actually spent some time in his office.  Of course, that was a LONG time ago.

[Ford73Diesel]

Mine is really short:

Donald Rumsfeld

[drcomm]

Astronauts: (I grew up in Houston and dad was an aeronautical engineeer at NASA-JSC)
  Tom Stafford
  Owen Garriot
  Story Musgrave
  Vance Brand
  John Young
  Bob Crippen
  Fred Haise
  Ken Mattingly
  Deke Slayton
  Steve Nagel

Aviation folks:
  Greg "Pappy" Boyington (sp?)
  Paul Tibbets
  Tex Hill
  R.A. Bob Hoover
  Sean Tucker
  Patty Wagsttaff
  Jimmy Franklin
 
Others:

  Sen. Jim Inhof, R-OK
  Garth Brooks
  Trisha Yearwood (Garth and Trisha live a couple miles away, we often see them around town.)
  Kenny Rogers
  Roy Clark
  Jean Shepherd
  Matt Dillon
  Jennifer Berry, Miss America 2006
  Jules Bergman, former ABC Newsman


 

[♠SARKID♠]

Pat McKenna (Harold Green from the Red Green show)
Chris Botti
Tommy Thompson (ex WI governor)
Dick Trickle (Busch series racer, held a short convo about the jacket he signed for me)

Miss Wisconsin '06 - She went to my high school.  I showed up for computers class one day, and she had taken my seat and was sitting with the teacher.  I went around for the rest of the day telling people that Miss Wisconsin stole my chair.

I also saw Ozzy Ozbourne in Prague.  I was on vacation there and he was doing a show that night.  While I was out street walking he and his posse walked right by me.