Ode to D-dog

My friend Dave is like a brother to me. Ryan met him in a computer class while enrolled at Western and they quickly became friends. He's the type of person who would rescue you in you were ever stranded - just a stand up guy. And he LOVES golf. It's his passion. He says his season is kind of ending right now - because there are too many yahoos out on the courses these days causing massive delays in playing a round of golf.

Dave used to work in grocery. He entered in sometime after high school and then continued through college. I got him a job at the iFloor.com when I was working there and he had immediate success. We worked next to each other for a year or so and really bonded.

One of the funniest moments (and there are many!) was explaining to him the wonders of being a woman. He grew up in a household of all men and had no idea what women have to go through on a monthly basis. I was the lucky sister to inform him of such - even his wife hadn't treaded those waters. One day while the phones were slow, I pulled out a maxi pad and showed Dave how much water it could hold. He was amazed that it almost soaked up 3/4 of my Nalgen bottle. "That's amazing Jenny! Simply AMAZING." Not sure what to do with the soaked pad, and playing my sisterly role - I couldn't resist whacking him with it. He was just as shocked as I was that I had smacked him with it - we got water everywhere and laughed our asses off!

Dave also has a very stiff spine. He basically can't bend his back. But that doesn't hold him back from skiing, golfing or biking. He goes kamikaze downhill on his skis - usually eating shit and yard sailing everywhere. I remember one time we played hooky from work when a storm hit the mountains and did laps at Snoqualmie. The best snow was on the far skiers left - but at the bottom it leveled out. Dave heads straight for it, buries a ski in the 4' of Washington mashed potato powder and endos. I'm laughing so hard I nearly pee my pants and watch as he struggles for a good 1/2 hour to free himself from the quicksand snow. He came out with a big fat smile on his face.

Earlier this year Ryan and Dave went night skiing at Alpental. They like to hit the upper roped off sections to get a few turns in the powder. At this point Dave's wife Kristin has bought him a helmet to hopefully protect him from any serious injury. Down Ryan goes (mr. I've been skiing since I was 2) and Dave follows - with his non-bending back and doesn't quite make the clearance between two trees. He managed to spread eagle them, landing in the tree well. Ryan was further down the slope, yells up to Dave to see if he's ok to which Dave responds, shake shake shake of the tree, a few grunts, "I'm fine." Ryan then couldn't stop laughing as Dave continues to shake the tree lose of all it's snow, grunting the entire time, swearing, shaking, and then finally gets loose a half hour later. He gets to Ryan totally soaked in sweat. And of course Ryan takes off like a bat out hell, "what took you so long, dude?"

All of this to say - we hung out with Dave last night. We were originally planning on a bonfire down at Golden Gardens to usher in summer - but instead went to the driving range. Ryan's been maybe 4 times - I had a couple lessons a few years back and Dave, well Dave is an amazing golfer. He was our coach - "you're doing a lot of things right, Jenny. Impressive. Ryan's a natural. If he would just stop hitting it like a hockey puck and keep his lower body still.... impressive. You are by far the most gifted 4 time golf range person I've ever come across. See I'm really good at coaching people in this sport but can't hit the ball worth shit myself because my spine doesn't bend. I bet you I hit the ball physically harder than the pros do but it's because I compensate for my inflexibility." And then he proceeds to whack the shit out of the ball with a 6 iron out 270 yards.

If you need flooring - Dave's your man. He opened his own store in Tukwila - check them out on the web at www.simplefloors.com.

Looking forward to hanging and laughing with you again soon bud!