Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Hands Across Gheorghe

On very, very rare occasions, the G:TB family calls upon our better angels in support of the people we hold dear.  FOG:TB KQ's cousin Dan Butler passed away last August after a seven-year fight with colon cancer.  Cancer, as we all know by now, sucks.  KQ and her band of merrymakers (not the least of whom is Shlara) honor Dan's memory in a number of ways, including participating in the annual Undy 5000 run in Washington, DC on November 5.  Her racing outfit is pictured at left.  And yes, we've asked for race day photos.

Here in KQ's own words are a few recollections about Danny, who she said, "was Gheorghe before Gheorghe was a movement".  Unfortunate phrasing aside, he seems like a prince of a guy:

He was amazing, with sense of humor and facial acrobatics akin to Steve Martin. After he graduated from Indiana U, he went to NYU to study film, and eventually worked in NY and LA in the film industry. He even worked for a while as Al Pacino's driver. And had a penchant for closing down bars by standing on a table, belting out a heartfelt rendition of "God Bless America," often with his tie on his head. At his funeral the organist played 'God Bless America' for the recessional and the priest (who was an ass) commented that he thought it was a lovely touch, considering how patriotic Dan was.

When he was at IU, Dan had brought a new girlfriend home to meet his family. His mother was making small talk when she noticed the girl kept staring at Aunt Nancy's feet. When she finally asked if something was wrong, the girl said, "I'm sorry. It's just that Dan told me you had flipper feet." "Excuse me?" Aunt Nancy replied. "He said you had webbed toes and flippers for feet." Needless to say that relationship didn't last long.

Dan was the second oldest of four brothers. When he was in middle school Kevin, the youngest, had to write a report on obscure presidents, and chose Chester A. Arthur. Dan asked Kevin what was unique about him. Kevin responded "well, he had exceptionally long side burns." Kevin worked very hard on his report, but after he went to bed, Dan took the liberty of making a few edits to the paper. The next day as Kevin was handing in his paper, he noticed a slight change in the title. It now read, "Chester A. Arthur: President, or Boob?" When he came home after school Kevin was furious at Dan, telling him the teacher was making him re-do the paper, and yelled at him "there is an appropriate time for humor, and an inappropriate time for humor." Dan's response was, "Kevin, the inappropriate time for humor is the ONLY time for humor." Which has since become somewhat of a family motto.

At present, KQ is in third place in the race to see who can raise the most money in support of the DC Undy 5000.  Join Team G:TB in supporting a worthwhile cause: girls running around in their underwear. And if you want to ogle, the race is at West Potomac Park at 7:40 in the morning.

G:TB, combining philanthropy with awkwardness around women since 2003.

16 comments:

Dave said...

sounds like a worthy cause for a wonderful guy.

it sucks that it takes cancer to get girls into their underwear.

Danimal said...

what's rob wearing for the race?

does the 7:40 a.m. start have significance? just curious.

rob said...

in keeping with the theme, i assume we're all doing this:

http://us.movember.com/about/

rob said...

i'm wearing mouse ears, danimal. i'll be at disney with the family. i do plan to run in my undies next year.

Dave said...

i will do an "undy run" in disney with you. can't be any sillier than last summer's "obft xviii drunk race."

rob said...

but may come across as more molestery to park security.

rob said...

that drunk race was preposterously stupid.

Katherine Quinn said...

thanks for the support fellas. dave, i had a similar thought, but it was more along the lines of how it takes girls in their underwear to get some guys to donate to charity. but not you guys, of course.

and i think you could be totally onto something with an obx mustache and underwear themed fundraiser. i'll get right to work on that.

zman said...

I will run nude and wax my delisted so that it looks like I have a stache above my bits.

zman said...

Delisted was supposed to be delicates.

rob said...

a picture of which would get us delisted

Dave said...

by "charity" i assume you mean the record-setting tortuga's bill we racked up . . .

Clarence said...

Good thing Zman gets to cover my tab next year.

zman said...

I think teedge won.

T.J. said...

Maybe Rick Hendrick should just fly commercial from now on...

Anonymous said...

Nice post..
The Flipper bed frame is designed by Pietro Arosio. It’s oddly shaped and with a custom made mattress, I can imagine that it would feel more like a really big sofa or lounge than a bed. It is stylish though.