I love my job. Why? I get to work with people. I generally like all of my clients. If I don’t like them, I get rid of them. I figure life is too short. Every now and then a client becomes a good friend. That was the case with my buddy Dean Lorey. You see, Dean sucked as a client. He had good intentions. He wants to be in good shape and work out. He just hates working out. For that reason, I quit training him. Somehow we’ve kept our friendship going. Dean and I have something else in common…we’re both isolated by our work. In my case, outside of my clients, I don’t meet many people. I have closer relationships with the people at the guard gates in the communities I work in than almost anywhere else. Dean is a very successful writer and producer. By the way, let me give him a plug.
He wrote a trilogy of books a couple of years ago called Nightmare Academy. Dean, like me, is isolated by work. For that reason, we created guy’s night out. About once a month we go to the same seafood restaurant, sit on the bar side, order drinks, have oysters and a meal. Dean and I are the only two constants. Other people flow in and out. Comedian John Mendoza will usually stop by. It’s always fun to have him. Jonathan Frakes from the Star Trek movies will stop in too sometimes. And there’s my buddy Mehran. I love guys night. If I had my way, we’d do it once a week. I told you that to tell you this. Last weekend Serena and I met Dean and his wife Elizabeth for dinner. I hadn’t seen my buddy since before the holidays. Just too much had been going on. I noticed he was visibly thinner. Then upon closer inspection, his wife was also thinner. During dinner I brought it up. “Dean, is it just me or did you and Elizabeth lose a ton of weight?” I asked. He said thanks for noticing. They had lost a few pounds. It turns out, they made an effort to not gain weight during the holidays, but to lose weight. What a concept, I thought. They started the new year not having to battle back to where they were before. I asked Dean if he would guest blog for the site. With a big smile, he said he’d love to. So expect that blog soon.
