Date night

Last night Juli and I had a date night because Grandma Brenda and Aunt Susie wanted to come out and see the kids. Juli decided she wanted to spend our date night at my health club because it was a free guest day. So that's what we did. I felt she was entering the only independent activity I currently have, but I want to keep her happy. At the club I think Juli quickly learned that I probably haven't been working out very hard as I was huffing and puffing as we swam laps in the pool. You see, I have been treating the health club like a resort minus the booze since I joined 2 weeks ago. I spend a lot of my time floating around in a therapy pool that's about 90 degrees. While other people are in there working through injuries and swimming in the nearby lap pool, I am actually thinking what would happen if I brought in a floating lounge chair and some cocktails. Its very relaxing at my health club but floating around on multi-colored noodles is not all I do during my regular work outs. I 'm sure Juli was happy to see that I do multiple sets of interval training as well. I rotate from the hot tub to the steam room to the sauna and then a quick dip in the chilly lap pool for a cool down just to take the edge off. I could see Juli was impressed with my daily routine.

After our intense work out I felt we deserved I nice dinner at Bogart's steak house. Knowing that it was lent and Juli and I are Catholic Juli ordered the Broiled Halibut and I ordered a 36 oz porter house steak.. I stayed away from the 4lb sirloin that would have been obnoxious. I also gave up beer for lent( Seriously) so I ordered miller lite. Juli had a Chardonnay, then another, then another, then another, and then it kind of got crazy. Three of our supervisors were Drinking at a nearby watering hole and Juli thought it would be cool to stop in and "talk some shit" (Juli said this in a low crackly voice that sent a chill down my spine) Four glasses of wine is more than she has put down in 3-5 years. We stopped by to see the bosses as Juli proceeded to talk some shit and have a good time with my work buddies along with 2 more glasses of wine. Pretty soon it was time to go as Juli's laughter filled the room.

When we got home Grandma Brenda enjoyed seeing juli in her condition and we all had fun visiting with 1997 Juli.

Side note- 3:15 pm Juli gets out of bed- Oh I'm glad your blogging.. Tim will be happy to read it. I hope she will too.

Health Club concerns-

Why do the majority of dudes walk around naked in the locker room? I see guys leaning over the sinks that we all use with nothing on while shaving. Guys even come in the hot tub with me totally naked. and sit uncomfortably close. When I'm sitting down i regularly have butt in my face as guys try really hard to dry their ankles at close range with their backs to me. This has always been my experience at health clubs and when I talk about with my friends and co-workers they all act as if they would be bothered by all the swinging sausage and butt in the locker room too. Yet I feel like I'm the only one who wears trunks in the hot tub and steam room. I even see guys have trunks on in the pool and come in the locker room and start skinny dipping with me in the tub with them. WTF

My first race

Running /speed walking for no reason is stupid! Paying to do it is really stupid!! Juli made me do a 2 mile run/ walk saturday in Flossmoor, I think it was called the Butter burner. The children were difficult so we started 2 minutes after everyone else. I was trying to be a team player so I didn't complain at all. I hate being late, I hate worthless excersize more. As we approached the starting line I could see some blue heads in the distance being followed by a squad car. I was not going to finish a two mile anything last so I started running right away and ran until the squad car pulled over for me and I caught some blue heads. Juli kept up with me the whole time and looked like she could have stopped for a sandwich, taken a bathroom break and fixed her make up, I looked like I just finished the Chicago Marathon and got hit by a train. Maybe at this point we were half way done. Danny began to freak out so Juli had to carry hime the last mile and I had to push two strollers. The whole time some park distrist lady was speed walking along side me watching my every move worried I was going to have grabber- She kept up and watched me the entire last mile and I could'nt lose her.

I finished and got a shirt- same size as Juli's- One size fits most.

We finished the butter burner ahead of about 8 people so I was satisfied.

My Two TV Dads.

Who was your favorite TV dad growing up? If you were to model yourself after any mom or dad from television who would it be? I have two that are my favorites by far. These two dads were tough yet loved their children more than anything. The first was Kevin Arnold's Dad Jack from the Wonder Years. This man was the Dads' Dad of my Dad's Generation. He reminded me of my Grandpa Bohnenkamp. The guy was a war vet, really tough and was an 8 hours work for 8 hour pay type of man. Jack Arnold wouldn't translate to children today as I'm sure there aren't many of us out there like him anyway. I don't really plan on modeling my fathering skills after this character much, but I have watched some rerun episodes and still have a special bond with that character. Whats funny is when I began writing this post I had one guy in mind that fit the "plot" of this Book of Daniel and then thought I really have two favorite TV Dad's and decided to check out Jack Arnold's real name to see if by chance he could be related to this blog.. Guess what! I swear this was an accident!, Jack's real name is Dan Lauria. What a coincidence. As a side note the wonderful comforting voice of Kevin Arnold narrating the show in the future was spoken by none other than Daniel Stern, Wow!

The TV Dad I think I relate to and model myself after (not always on purpose) would have to be Dan Conner. Dan Conner lived and grew up in a fictional Chicago Suburban town. He was a huge Bears and Cubs fan. The guy was even a big dude and had 3 kids in the same order as me. Becky, Darlene, and DJ (I didn't like that kid DJ but I'm sure DJ stands for Daniel John) Dan was also a good father and worked hard to support his family. Besides these fatherly traits I liked the realistic imperfections of the John Goodman Character, he was a beer drinking, overweight prankster who had a good work ethic, was a loyal friend and loved his family unconditionally. I'm just lucky my wife doesn't look or act like Roseanne- this Dan Conner characteristic almost makes me want to delete this post all together. Roseanne was a cool character, I just wouldn't be married to her.
To the few of you who read these posts it would be cool to see your answers to the question of who is your favorite TV mom or Dad? or who you model yourself after?

Dan Marino and my Mother

In 1985 I was ten years old and I had one love, the Chicago Bears. I watched every game with my Mom and Dad. I remember every Sunday as an event. We would gather around the TV and watch the old school NBC pregame show with Jimmy the Greek and my mom would make all kinds of cool stuff to eat for the games. Sometimes my Dad and I would play catch during halftime or I would go outside and strap on my Cheesy bears helmet and run around the front yard pretending I was Jim McMahon and run into trees as if they were defenders. Looking back I was the size of a smaller man when I was ten and we lived on the corner of the main entrance to my neighborhood. I wonder what people must have thought about the special man at the corner house running into trees with his helmet on. Ah the adventures of an only child. I also think I was introduced to another love of mine that year the Buffalo wing. Except I was a light weight back then and was probably drinking root beer and having Buffalo wings minus the the buffalo sauce ( what was the point). Well, those games and that year always remind of special memories and great times with my parents.

One week During that season in particular was horrible. Monday Dec. 2 1985....... Argh this day haunts me. The week prior I went to my first Bears Game and it was Awesome. I had a hat that I thought was so cool because it said Bears Kick Butt! For those of you that done know the above mentioned date it was the day my perfect team became not so perfect and lost to Dan Marino and the Dolphins. I blame three people for this loss in week 13- in this order from least responsible to most responsible 3. Dan Marino - he was awesome and was one of my all time favorite players except against the Bears. 2. Buddy Ryan -for not listening to Ditka and giving up on the 46 defense against Marino and run a Zone or cover 2 defense. 3. My mom.. I truly believe my Mom is responsible for the only Bear's loss in 1985 it was the only game that year I didn't see in its entirety, it was a school night and I was in bed before halftime. The Bears lost that game 38-24 and I feel the hopes and dreams of one more Ten year old awake and watching would have accounted for at least two more touchdowns and a couple of 3 and outs for big DAN Marino. I love you Mom, but I still hold you responsible.

Nek

Whats in a name?

"Dan, the Danster, Dano, prophesying the end of the world , God is my judge! Righty o." (SNL Rob Schnieder)

As most reading know the name Daniel is biblical, but I think its especially cool because its Hebrew meaning is God is my judge. If a person lives up to a name and my son chooses to do that, what better name to live up to? God is my judge..... I hope to raise a man that is ego free, spiritual and not concerned with the judgements of others. Pretty cool.

Today I feel like writing about the tradition in Dwight to spell names wrong. Julie's name spelled Juli. No one ever spells it the right, wrong way, when addressing my/our Juli... I think it bothers me more than her. I think this is funny because the first person I met from Dwight was Juli's friend Rene' or Rene and it was spelled Renee..... So I called her RE-NEE that's how it was spelled and I for some odd reason thought it was funny say it the right/wrong way. Then I met RE-NEE's friend Julie and came to find out after a period of time her name was Ju-LY in my language. So this was little weird. Then I married July and Re-NEE married one of my friends Scott not Scot. Later down the line I meet my brother -in -Law's future wife and her name IS Renee and its pronounced RE-NEE...Awesome!!! someone can spell in the family now. (I hope my teacher family of in laws aren't mad yet cause I'm having fun.) Well the Renee -Renee sister-in-law was cool while it lasted. A couple years ago our second daughter came along and we named her LU -CI instead of Lucy . I would pronounce like an Italian name Lou-CHi or Lou-Ky. Not my choice July's. I just don't get it, now my little girl will go through life having everyone spell her name wrong to accompany the stupid question, " are you horny?"( I got that alot as a kid due to our last name. ) How come when I picked the name Grace we were allowed to spell it correctly even theough she goes by Gracie- Maybe cause when you change it to Gracie it could be Gracee, Gracy, or Gracey-maybe I got lucky and July thougth we were spelling it weird already.

Daniel - I kind of want to spell it DANY if that's not feminine or anything. (what have I become) I need a beer!

Your friendly neighborhood blogger,

Nek

Nek

Dan Story # 2

As I begin to write story #2 I'm starting to think this is a stupid idea, but I will continue on and probably only allow my wife to read these. I was thinking about the title of this blog yesterday and came up with The Book of Daniel, I'm sure someone from the far Christian right will be upset that they can't use the name here to discuss their favorite bible chapter. Too bad, someone from that demographic probably wouldn't like my other choice any better- To All the Dans I've Loved Before. On with #2, I hope you don't think its #2.

The second Dan I remember coming in contact with was the Chicago Bears Hall of Famer Dan Hampton.

In 1979 Grandpa Scott was in a Band called Barbary Coast and they were pretty good. Anyway they were playing a show at the Hemman's Auditorium in Elgin, IL and a few other special guests like a Magician and Bill Buckner of the Cubs were scheduled to perform/MC. Bill Buckner ended up canceling and the event got stuck with Some rookie from the Bears named Dan Hampton. I'm sure at the time everyone was disappointed. I remember meeting Dan Hampton in the Hallway outside of the Auditorium and he was shaking Grandpa Scott's hand. I still remember it clearly even though I was only 4 years old. At that time Grandpa Scott was the biggest person I had ever seen 6'4" and 200 and some pounds. Dan Hampton made my bearded Paul Bunyan looking Dad look small. The guy was huge and I shook his hand and it ate mine. His hands were Gigantic.

The night ended up becoming a really cool story for Grandpa Scott as Dan Hampton became more and more famous. When Grandpa Scott's band went on stage Dan Hampton said he was a skilled musician and asked to "Jam" with the legendary Barbary Coast. So Grandpa Scott can say Hall of Famer Dan Hampton was in his band if only for one night.

More than 20 years later I was in a speedway and noticed some guy next to me at the counter that was almost as big as me. I tend to notice those things because it doesn't happen often. I thought to myself this guy has to be in the NFL. As I looked closer at his face I realized who it was and I immediately turned into Chris Farly's interview character from SNL. I said " Hello Mr. Hampton, aaaaa remember when you played an event in Elgin Illinois............. that was my Dad" He replied kindly "yeah I remember" I really think my response was " that was cool". As he walked out of the gas station gingerly on his crippled hall of fame knees, I picture myself standing at the doorway hitting myself in the head and pulling my hair saying that was so stupid.

The Book of Daniel

This blog is eventually going to become a book for my son, Danny. The other day I was thinking about why I decided to name Danny, Daniel. It wasn't because its a biblical name or because Its a family name. The name is as plain and regular as you get, but the name to me means so much more, my three closest friends in my life were named Dan. I have said I named Danny, Danny because each of these friends were men of good character and I never met a Dan I didn't like. As I continue with this blog and think of my DAN adventures we'll see if this holds true.

Dan story # 1.

I'm sure you remember as a kid watching TV and wanting to be like a character from your favorite TV show. My first TV memories go back to the late 70's early 80's with shows like Dukes of Hazzard, Taxi, and The Incredible Hulk, but one that I'm sure is different from most other 4 and 5 year old children of that time is I really liked the show Vega$ and wanted to be like the main character. Yeah I was in preschool and liked a show called Vega$. (The main Character was DAN Tanna) Anyway here is the a synopsis of the show from IMDB-Television's slick Vegas private eye DAN TANNA tools around town in his flashy 1957 T-Bird, complete with .44 Magnum and phone, and has an office in the Desert Inn Casino and Hotel, owned by Philip Roth. But he did work for all the casinos, and seemed to know everyone, including the ton of celebrities that wandered through this show, playing themselves. Tanna wore jeans, was properly tough, and got into a lot of cases involving beautiful women. He has two secretaries, a smart one, Beatrice, and a dumb one, Angie. So how does this compare to Dora the Explore and Blues Clues today? It doesn't! Instead of my mom telling me Dora likes Broccoli or Blue cleans her room to get what she wanted like most moms, my mom got me to wear a vest she bought by calling it a Dan Tanna Vest. I'm sure I hated the idea of wearing a vest. If Dan Tanna thought it was cool I'm sure I was down with it immediately. My mom, dad, and grandparents used that stuff on me alot, like Superman eats Rye Bread or Superman see how fast you can get Jimmy Olsen a beer. They all worked. Somewhere in the Mahorney picture archives, there is a preschool picture of young Ken that resembles the one below.