I was in the rec room in my aunt and uncle’s basement when I first saw Hulk Hogan bodyslam André the Giant. It’s been 30 years since I saw my first WrestleMania on a VHS tape. While like most people my interest in the world of professional wrestling has ebbed and flowed. But tonight, my interest in the product is at an all time high.

I thought I’d share my picks for the matches on the main card.

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Championship)

Brock Lesnar legitimately is the Universal Champion. No one, not even Roman, is bigger. They’ll give it to Roman, but only because they still have plans for Brock and don’t want to feed him to Braun Strowman just yet.

That said, I could see Roman benefitting from having Paul Heyman turn on Brock. It won’t hurt Brock, but could give Roman a far bigger platform.

Roman defeats Brock

AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Championship)

The least exciting buildup for what will likely be the most exciting match. Yes, WWE, it’s a dream match. But not because you said so over and over and over again.

Nakamura defeats AJ

Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H & Stephanie McMahon

I predict Rhonda breaks HHH’s arm.

Rhonda breaks HHH’s arms

Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Asuka (Smackdown Women’s Championship)

Charlotte losing to Asuka tonight all but guarantees a Charlotte vs Rhonda rivalry for this year, giving Rhonda a legitimate challenge before climbing the ladder to meet the Empress at next year’s Wrestlemania.

Asuka defeats Charlotte

Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (If Owens and Zayn win, they will be reinstated)

I am so intrigued by this match. These guys are clearly the most over talent on SmackDown, but I don’t yet see how this leads to what ultimately matters: Daniel Bryan getting his chance to win the WWE championship at next year’s Wrestlemania.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeat Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon

The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor (Intercontinental Championship)

The Miz is awesome.

Finn Bálor defeats The Miz and Seth Rollins

Randy Orton (c) vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev (United States Championship)

I want Jinder to win this title and rub it in America’s face.

Jinder defeats Randy Orton, Bobby Roode, and Rusev

The Bar (c) vs. Braun Strowman and unnamed partner (Raw Tag Team Championships)

Braun brings out a cardboard cutout of himself to stand in his corner. Wins in under a minute.

Braun and a cardboard cutout defeats The Bar

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax (Raw Women’s Championship)

I am actually very emotionally invested in this match. Growing up, I too was ridiculed for being fat. Nia Jax is the Braun Strowman of the women’s division and deserves to demolish everyone who stands in her way.

Nia devours Alexa Bliss

The Usos vs. The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers (Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

The Usos need to win this match, but I’m scared it will be given to the Bludgeon Brothers, the worst gimmick given to two of the most badass looking wrestlers ever.

The New Day throws pancakes

※ Permalink for “My WrestleMania Predictions for 2018” published on date_to_rfc822

I still remember the first time I met Amy. Her family had just moved to Dorchester and was visiting our family’s home for the first time. She was my first female (half-second) cousin who was the same age as me.

While we attended the same elementary school, we did not share the same group of friends. However, we would smile and nod in acknowledgement of our familial connection when we would pass one another in the hallway or on the playground.

Eventually we wound up working at the same local grocery store where we were able to develop a closer friendship. Around this time, we discovered a shared interest in web design. Like me, Amy was frustrated by designers too lazy to understand the medium for which they were designing. In our minds, a web designer who didn’t know CSS was no web designer at all.

It was so cool to see someone I knew personally achieve so much in our industry. Her work was fun and playful and stood out in a very tough industry. She was even featured in the design publications I read which only made her even cooler in my eyes.

Her eventual move to England to be with her partner, Chris, whom she met through conversations about the UI he was developing for his online fitness community, truly opened my eyes to the power of the Internet to connect people in real life all across the world.

Amy and I fell out of touch in recent years. However, she did ping me a few months ago to laugh about a song I recorded back in high school called “Jesse Spano is a Speed Freak.” She may have been the one and only fan of that song.

My condolences to Brian, Sharon, Justin, Nick, and Chris. As evidenced by the wonderful joy she brought to the world both before and after her disgnosis, she will be dearly missed.

※ Permalink for “RIP Amy” published on date_to_rfc822

Turns out, patdryburgh.com is pretty cheap.

※ Permalink for “What Does My Site Cost?” published on date_to_rfc822

A few years ago my friend Edward Chan introduced me to Airtable, a very neat tool for creating relational databases through simple spreadsheets. Teams use it for everything from customer relationship management to project management to documenting inspiration for creative projects.

In addition to its very impressive UI, Airtable also offers an API. Designer David Yeiser just launched a redesign of his blog which is now powered by Airtable’s API and Next.js, a framework for server rendered applications. David can now update his blog using Airtable on his desktop or mobile device, including storing drafts and publishing different types of content.

As someone who’s currently using a complicated mess of Draft actions and Workflows to publish his blog from his phone, I’m currently a bit envious of David’s approach. While I’m not quite ready to make changes to my current setup, it’s inspiring to see people experimenting with new ways of publishing to the open web.

※ Permalink for “Blogging with Airtable” published on date_to_rfc822