Me and friends with Dierks Bentley (circa 2003)
It’s not very often that you get to meet a celebrity. I have had very few celebrity encounters but the time I got to meet Dierks Bentley was pretty cool. The picture you see above is from several years ago, circa 2003 (as is evident by my skinny stature). There is a country bar in Lafayette called Riehle Brothers. I frequented it a couple of times while I was attending Purdue. I don’t even remember what we paid to see Dierks Bentley and Brian McComas, who were performing in front of a meager bar crowd. It was a fantastic concert. I even danced (which is rare and I’m sure I was coaxed into doing it by one of my friends, also in the picture above).
Before He Was Famous
Dierks’ only hit at the time was “What Was I Thinking“, now he has an amazing career. Sadly Brian McComas wasn’t quite as fortunate, although many songs on his album were still pretty good. It was one of the best nights I spent with my friends in that picture, Beth and Alan. I became a quite a big Dierks Bentley fan after that concert, and I still enjoy all his music. I haven’t had the opportunity to see him in concert again since Riehle Brothers but that’s not saying I wouldn’t.
TBT is one of those crazy Facebook trends. It stands for “ThrowBack Thursday” and often times people post pictures. I know the old adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” but most of the time the pictures I want to post have a great story behind them. In my traditional nerdy fashion, instead of just a picture I want to provide a blog post for my TBT moments to share those great stories. I will not share stories in which the context will embarrass or incriminate myself or my friends and family.
This is a very fond memory. Pool Nights at Nick’s Pool Hall. It was so much fun just hanging out and shooting pool and having a couple of beers. This was a pastime Doug, Alan and I would partake in quite often during our latter years at Purdue. Everyone wanted to go to the Neon Cactus or Where Else, but I would have never chosen those places over Nick’s. I know one of the things that people will notice in this picture is my iconic Australian Fold-Up hat. I came back from a family vacation with that hat and it became something I was known for … although apparently I was the “creepy-guy-in-the-hat” according to my wife, whom I had barely known at the time (
It’s funny where you find your spouse. Some folks will marry their high school sweetheart, others may find their spouse using an online dating service or just by simply living their lives. I found mine while I was tailgating, but the interesting thing is, she had always been right in front of me.
Why do I call it a trifecta? Simply because it was definitely a three-way win for all of us. My final year at Purdue, while Alex and I were trying to find our final West Lafayette living quarters, we found Erin. Alex and known her previously but it was my first time meeting her. It almost might be strange for me to admit that it was also the first time I had a female roommate, but honestly that wasn’t really relevant. What became relevant is now we could split the rent and utilities three ways, and so we picked up the three bedroom apartment at The Lodge.
If my memory serves right, this picture was taken at Nathan’s college graduation party back in 2003. It is a picture of me and Dr. Doug Berg taking, what I’m certain is, a shot of Jägermeister, which was our liquor of choice back then. Actually I think there was rarely a party the included some or all of us that didn’t involve Jägermeister. I can tell you today that I think its been years since I have taken a shot of jager and thinking about it almost makes me cringe. I guess my liver doesn’t have a taste for it anymore (though a martini sounds pretty damn good).