So, Do You Like ... Stuff?

There are perks to this job, I must admit. I once “covered” a beer festival by sampling all the beer and having my wife drive me home. One time that guy “Wolf” from “American Gladiators” came into our office and posed for a picture with me after I begged him to like a fourth-grade girl. Those are just two examples. But then there is this: I was recently asked to judge a “space cake” contest. I know, it’s difficult to even say without it sounding like bragging. It’s one of those things on a lot of people’s bucket list, and here I am at 35, already with one space cake judging notch on my belt. Sky’s the limit from here, pun intended. (Intended puns like that are, I imagine, why I was asked to judge in the first place.) It was all part of Challenger Space Center’s anniversary jamboree. The popular space center in Peoria hosted a slew of events last weekend to celebrate the 40 th anniversary of the Skylab launch; the 44 th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing; the 13...

On the scale of great days in the history of my lifetime, today ranks somewhere in between the Yankees winning it all in '96, and my wedding day. For today I met an American Gladiator. Not just an American Gladiator...THE American Gladiator: Wolf . Yes, Wolf (real name Don Yates) came into our office for an interview. Turns out, he's from Peoria -- I live in Peoria! We're practically the same person! -- and my coworker Chelsea is currently grilling him in the conference room, which is a good thing, because if I were conducting the interview, it would sound like this: It says here you howl because you're a Wolf...Is that accurate? He was actually supposed to come in last week, at which point I immediately called my wife (she loves Wolf so much that I should actually be a little concerned), and she told me to make sure I told him that she thinks he is "the most bad-ass of all the Gladiators." She also told me to try and have Wolf call my brother-in-law, sign a...