Happy Birthday John Todd! If you have read previous posts then you have already heard a little bit about the Todd Family. John’s son, Jeremiah, is one of my new favorite people and would be the
baby featured in “Two Weddings & A Baby”. John Todd is one of the few people I more often than not refer to by both his first and last name. This is due in part to keep my audience from getting him confused with other John’s in my life, and also because I have realized that when your last name could also be a first name I just have a tendency to call you by both. Anyway, John Todd has a somewhat warped sense of humor… I like that about him. He loves to tell bad jokes, not dirty jokes like my brother, bad jokes… jokes so bad you can’t help but laugh. I will forever associate John Todd with the infamous muffin joke. Two muffins are in the oven, the first muffin says to the second muffin, “Whew, it sure is hot in here.” The second muffin says “AAAAHHHH, Talking Muffin!” Continuing with the warped sense of humor, John Todd has a very effeminate, French alter-ego, Jean Todd… Jean Todd is always quick to compliment your shoes or purse, and he just appears when you least expect him, often prompting me to bust a gut laughing. John Todd is mellow and go-with-theflow, a practical, salt of the earth type… to use my new favorite phrase… “He saves the drama for his mama!” A couple of years ago Nikki and I were deciding who to invite to various baseball games in STL. There was a game in April, there was great potential for rain, cold and just crappy weather in general. We invited John and his wife, Marla, because we knew they wouldn’t complain about the weather or want to leave, they would just be prepared and enjoy the game, regardless. Ironically, we had beautiful weather for that game. Another thing to like about John…his wife, Marla. Anyway, Happy Birthday John Todd!Happy Birthday Matt Dvorak aka D-Vak! "D-Vak" is an Assembly Hall created nickname, short for Dvorak I guess, it kind of stuck. D-Vak liked that nickname so when Karen and I went to DisneyWorld we brought back some "D-Vak" mouse ears. Matt said he used them as study ears...he once was trying to write a paper and was struggling, he put on the ears and viola paper done... well it is the "magic" kingdom. I don't know how to best describe D-Vak, except to say he has an uncanny abililty to make me smile, and we have shared the guilty pleasures that are "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill". I realized D-Vak was extra
special one year while working the IHSA wresting tournament. He walked by and I called him "Sweetheart" or something (some term of endearment starting with 'S'), the next time I used another 'S' term of endearment. He picked another letter and returned the favor, rules were you couldn't use the same term of endearment more than once, best game ever, we played it all weekend... changing letters for Day 2. To this day D-Vak will always be my Puddin' Pop! D-Vak lives in Chicago with his lovely wife, Erin... I like her too, she never had issues with the Puddin' Pop. One day Nikki and I had a discussion about D-Vak, we decided we wanted a tiny version of him (think "The Littles" cartoon from back in the day), Little D-Vak if you will, to have around at all times. Little D-Vak (LDV) would sit on your computer monitor at work... he would tell you he liked your shirt, would roll his eyes at annoying co-workers that kind of thing, just make your day brighter. D-Vak works at Pepper Construction in Chicago in their marketing department. Pepper has constructed a lot of buildings in downtown Chicago, when ever in Chicago I play "Pepper" (looking for thePepper plaques/signs on the sides of buildings or on the sidewalks indicating they constructed the building), and I think of D-Vak and I smile. Anyway, Happy Birthday D-Vak!Happy Birthday Boys!
1 comment:
Thank you for the wonderful compliments, especially about Marla and Jer! I would agree that they're definitely the best things about me!
JT
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