Say a good word up there for me will ya?

We on this Earth lost a really good one. Mr. Boike lost his battle with the D@MN 'C' word, cancer. It's just not fair that good people like him are not here with us but THIS @$$ CLOWN is!
Here are a few things I want to thank you for:

THANK YOU for paying me to clean your accounting firm even though there were nights I did it after I worked promotions for the Checkers and then an after party at Samson's Hole (Don't bother looking for it because it's gone) and 95% of the time I was PLASTERED and I THINK I cleaned your office... HA!

THANK YOU because you are one of the people that 'exposed' me to The Clark Howard Show.... You see when I cleaned your office, a few times it was on your radio at your desk and so now I download his podcast and listen EVERYDAY!

THANK YOU for ALWAYS being in the SAME section every time I did a promotion for the Checkers so I knew exactly where to throw a 106.5 'The End' t-shirt.....

THANK YOU for being one of the people to mold the way I think about money.

THANK YOU for helping me 'get back on my feet' when I moved back from WI. with the odd jobs you would give me.

THANK YOU for giving me 'the rabbits of the plant world' day lilies like 8 years ago. I always think I gave most of them away to friends at work BUT I STILL find some growing someplace and I always say to myself  "that's weird, I don't remember planting any here."

THANK YOU for buying the container, designed by someone from NASA, and filling it full of chocolate chips so I could relive my breakfasts in high school!!! 1st period= ON FIRE. 2nd period= sleeping....

THANK YOU for always laughing and just shaking your head when your wife would ask me a random question, usually about something that would make most people 'blush', and I would answer it honestly.....  

THANK YOU for buying that piece of property out on Lake Wylie in 1978 so years later I and your son and others could drink a beer or two out there when we weren't of legal age.

THANK YOU for always paying your son and I for all the bags of leaves we could fit in the Gran Torino station wagon so you could put them in your garden and instilling in me that ANY organic material is great for the soil.

THANK YOU for 'tolerating' your son and I using your garage to work on our cars when we were teenagers.

THANK YOU for sleeping soundly so that Boike had no problem coming home WHENEVER because he knew YOU would sleep through anything.

THANK YOU for always giving me tax advice when I had questions.

THANK YOU for taking this picture 15 years ago that I STILL laugh at!!

THANK YOU for having one of the best dry scene of humors that always had me laughing! 

THANK YOU for ALWAYS giving me a beer so I could cope with working on your computer that was as slow as the TRS 80 I worked on in Ms. Bednar's reading class in 1986.

THANK YOU for being an all around damn good guy!

Believe me now, and hear me later, tell someone how you feel about them before....... WELL..... BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE........

Go ahead "MAKE MY DAY punk"! HA!!! But seriously, it's that time of the year when you can ask me anything and I will answer it..... So fire away!!!!! The ground rules are that there ARE NONE!!!!! Leave me a question and I will TRY NOT to be a politician and SPIN IT!!!! I'd say write me a question on DA BOOK, Instagram, Twitter or MySpace (Is that ever around anymore?), but I'm hardly on them so just ask it here. OKIE DOKIE?

Before I go, I want to present a great piece of history which is now the center piece to my table on 'DA ODE'. I PRESENT to you the 'leaning tower of hot dogs'!!!! HA!!!!! Boike made this like 30 years ago in an art class.

Sure, it has a 'phallic' look to it, but I don't think the 8 year artist was going for that; I think his love of hot dogs was the main inspiration. Here, let's have the artist describe his sculpture:

"Dude, I did the thing in like 4th grade. I don't even know what I was thinking last year, let alone what drove me to build a tower of wieners. It could have been after seeing the Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile on I-95 coming back from Savannah. It could have been a wiener replica of the Eiffle tower (to defame the Frenchies most visible symbol, of when they were great, with the lowly HOT DOG). It could have been that I was in a bit of a box funk (you know after you build to many box like things in pottery class). Of course I did glaze it brown, so it could be some kind of dirty wiener too. In the end most of us artists like to leave what it means up to the people that view them, so please have your vast web audience let me know what they THINK it means!

*and please spell check this $hit!*

Have a great month and always remember that 'people don't leave jobs, they leave bosses'!!!!

WOW!!! I have some already..... That was quick... Let's begin.....
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Well thanks for the kind words but I do have to ask what am I 'uncovering' on the net? I ask myself a ton of times why I'm not as popular too!!!

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Thanks again! I'm glad you 'stumbled' on it and I'm pretty stoked that you are subscribing to it. Oh and BTW, I did check out your blog but I don't live in China so I think I will just stick with my Wii Fit. 
 

Anonymous asks- WOW!!! This guy asks A LOT of questions!

"Hello There. I found your blog using msn. That is a very smartly written article. I'll be sure to bookmark it and return to learn extra of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I'll definitely comeback.

Thanks for the props bro but I've reread your post/question and I can't find anything remotely resembling a question.

SON OF A!!! They are as fake as some of the wigs the ladies wear at work!!!!! D@MN YOU SPAM!!! DAMN YOU TO H@LL!!

OKIE DOKIE! I feel a like a prom date now, USSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED but I just need to get over it..... Leave me some REAL questions and I will respond to ya...

DAN asks: "Who cuts your hair?"
ANSWER- Being that it's usually pretty easy, #1 shield on some clippers and it's FREE, 'Catholic Kate' does it but I have not cut it in two + years. When K-Dawg, Mike Kiener's daughter Kylee, and I get it our hair cut at the end of this month, Kara K will cut it back to normal!!! Then Kate will resume her duties.....

MELISSA HANZSEK-BRILL asks: "Boxers or briefs?"
ANSWER- Neither!!! Been letting 'the boys' breathe since 1995... TOO RESTRICTIVE!!!

THANK GOD FOR KELLY!!!! I felt like a loser that only two people asked questions and I think it was because Dan and his wife Melissa felt sorry for me!!

KELLY SEDINGER asks: "What's with the new font they're using on interstate highway road signs?" 

ANSWER- I like it. I have noticed it each time I take trips. DUDE!!!! Did you know this is the FIRST time since they designed the interstate highway system that they have 'modified' the font? CHANGE is good once in a while..

AND "Why DOES food taste better outside?"
ANSWER- I think because usually when you eat out, it's a nice day and you are so happy about that fact, that the food ALWAYS tastes better.

AND " I give you a perfectly cooked burger and bun: what do you top it with?"
ANSWER- First off, it needs to be marinated in Chavetas (which reminds me, I sooooooooo have to get some when I am up there in a few weeks. Oh where was I???????? OH YEAH!!!! And any cheese, I know very plain but to me it's all you need to have if you have marinated with Chavetas!

AND "Favorite tree?" 
ANSWER- The weeping willow, HANDS DOWN!!!! We had a big one in the back yard at one of the houses we lived in growing up, Dean St. in Olean to be exact. Whenever I see one, I think of not having a care in the world, well one. What was mom going to have for me to eat at SNACK TIME!

AND "Of all the stuff in our old hometown that ain't there anymore, what makes you saddest that it ain't?"
ANSWER- It's a tie between the Sub Shop and the athletic field. My mouth ALWAYS starts to salevate when that place is ever brought up. Sure Fred, who owned the place is WEIRD, we saw him a few years ago at Fat Heads and he was wearing a woman's top, BUT the subs and pizza were "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sooooooooooooooooooo good!".
The other is the athletic field because if Mr. Curley or Mr. Bess had us go outside for gym class it meant that it was nice enough to finally go outside after it being too cold and snowy. Also it meant that the school year was winding down and summer was right around the corner. 

AND HIS LAST ONE.... "Do you ever get the sense that you haven't done shit with the twenty-plus years since you graduated HS (because I sure do)?" 

ANSWER: HA!!! I was just pondering this while I was playing outside (picking rocks) and whenever I hear this song Supertramp's song "Take the Longway Home" ("When you look through the years and see what you could have been oh, what might have been, if you'd had more time.") and came to this conclusion. Yeah I can look back on A LOT of things in my past and say "I would have done that different' BUT I'm NOT going to be that guy that thinks about that a lot. I did/didn't do stuff that would have made me happier or better in my life but regardless I live a pretty decent life. I have a roof over my head, I'm gainfully employed, money in the bank, I can go on but I won't.

BOIKE asks: "The chops you are currently rocking are past their expiration date. I will bet you $1 that you are not able to grow a kicking mustache in their place. What do you say? Take the bet?"
ANSWER: The 'chops' are apart of the whole package and will be removed on June 30th 'National Hair Day'.... I will NOT attempt to grow a mustache due to me STILL going through puberty and NOT being able to grow a full one!! HECK!! I would look like this guy with the 'senior prom party I THINK I am cool because I can sort of grow facial hair"mustache...

   
AND- "What is the story/experience that makes you laugh the hardest anytime you think about it (please don’t be about me!)?"
ANSWER: So many to choose from but the one time that will ALWAYS get me chuckling is when we were all on the roof of the RV in Michigan raising cain and Gary finally coming out after hours of trying to sleep and saying "WHAT THE HELL!! You guys bowling for dollars up there??" HA!!!!!

AND- "What is your favorite bar in Lancaster?"
ANSWER: I can never pronounce it but it is that hole in a wall/ converted gas station place. Sure it was smokey but it was super laid back and the few people that were in there with us loved hearing about our adventures in going to a few NASCAR tracks. Plus they served our beers in a CAN!!! FIRST CLASS ALL THE WAY BUDDY!!!!!!!
AND- "Is there anywhere on your ‘I want to go there’ list right now?"
ANSWER: YES!! I want to go to South Dakota and see the 'Crazy Horse' monument..... I have always wanted to go there just to experience it. I know it will not be done anytime soon BUT STILL!!
AND FINALLY- "Who will you be pulling for in the world cup?"
ANSWER: First off soccer/futbal is NOT my 'cup of tea' and I really don't see the USA being very competitive in it for at least 60 more years... In my very limited knowledge of the sport. I would say that Brazil of course is the favorite. They are hosting it and they want to impress the world even though the country is a DUMP!
STEPHANIE ALBRO asks "Now this I just HAVE to know..... What IS your favorite color?!"
ANSWER: I'd have to say black, NO i'm not GOTH or anything,

and NO none of the rooms at casa de McBride are that color either. It represents and old friend who died before, YOU YOUNG LADY, were even a twinkle in your mom's eye. It was 1988 and a friend of my older brother was tragically killed in an auto ACCIDENT. Fade to Black from Metallica was one of his favorite songs. Even to this day when it comes up on my iTouch, I revert back to that little 8th grader that just found out a very cool kid died that day.

I know that if you just go by the lyrics, you would think he was suicidal but he wasn't. He was a musician and he loved the way the song was 'structured'.....