Finnish Friday Flashback...

After my chance encounter with the Finnish guy on the tram earlier this week, I began thinking about other random encounters I've had with Finns throughout my life. Of course, this means random encounters OUTSIDE OF FINLAND because...well...there'd be nothing special about running into a Finn in Finland. Duh!

I think I've come across Finnish people probably about a dozen times in the eight years I've lived in Switzerland. Probably the most memorable time was when Mrs. TBF and I were in an art museum in Florence, Italy (Why can't we just call it Firenze?) and I eavesdropped on a Finnish tour guide explaining to a group of Finns that a particular painting of Jesus showed him "...in an effeminate pose not unlike that of a ballerina."!!!!

...Don't think the Italians would have appreciated that one.

Then, there is also the half-Swiss, half-Finnish girl who works the counter at "the" Basel Burger King. Ordering my Burger King meal in Finnish? Fun!!! Whopper comes out pretty much as VOPP-perrrri, and I tell her to "...heitä vähän juustoa ja pekoni siihen pääle" (throw a little cheese and bacon on it)!

However, probably my greatest random encounter with Finns, and the only one ever captured on film, occurred in November, 1997 when Mrs. TBF and I were in Hawai'i celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary.

Mrs. TBF and I decided to get all athletic one day by hiking up to the top of Diamond Head. After huffing and puffing our way to the top (we were both carrying a lot of extra weight back then), Mrs. TBF went to the very highest observation point to take some panoramic photos. While I stood there, enjoying the breeze and the scenery, I heard a familiar sound. I looked over and saw a mother and father speaking in Finnish with their daughter who was wearing a Finlandia vodka hat. Imagine their shock when I asked them in Finnish if they would like me to take a photo of them together. After talking to them for a minute, Mrs. TBF came down the stairs, heard me talking, and said:

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

She couldn't believe it, but she had to believe it because...it was true!

When you least expect it, EXPECT IT!!! Finns are lurking everywhere!

Friday Flashback: November, 1997 - November, 2007...

...Celebrating ten years of doin' bald proud!

It just dawned on me a couple of days ago that I began shaving my head ten years ago this week. Actually, Mrs. TBF had to shave the back for me the first couple of times because I was afraid of slicing my head open, but I eventually figured it all out.

I remember it like it was just yesterday...

Mrs. TBF and I decided to go to Hawaii for two weeks to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Although our anniversary is in October, we decided to go over the Thanksgiving holiday (happy belated Thanksgiving, btw...) so that we wouldn't be forced to use as many of our sacred, American vacation days.

Up to this point, beginning in about 1995, I was using electric clippers to cut my own hair to about a 1/8" length. However, I didn't really feel like packing the clippers, so I asked Mrs. TBF if she'd help me shave my head while in Hawai'i. She agreed, and the clippers remained at home. Little did I know that they would NEVER touch my scalp again!!

A few days into our trip, I was getting a little stubbly, so the two of us went at my rather rather ample scalp with the razor for the first time. I think I escaped with maybe one little nick, so not too much blood was drawn. After rinsing off the shaving cream, I ran my palms across the smooth, velvety skin of my scalp, and for the next several days...I couldn't stop touching it. Mrs. TBF would catch me stroking my scalp...at breakfast, walking out to the beach, in the pool, driving the car, on the plane between islands, etc., etc.

Another noteworthy point about this trip is that it was the beginning of the heaviest (in terms of weight) time of my life. When we left for our vacation, I weighed 250 lbs. When we returned, I weighed 270 lbs.! You read that correctly, folks - I GAINED 20 LBS./9 KILOS IN TWO WEEKS!!!

...must have been all those breakfast buffets, luaus, etc.

This picture was taken in the pool of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Maui, and it is one of the first pictures of me with a clean-shaved head. Do you notice something else about the picture? Does my face look, well, a little bit round to you? It should - I was at least 50 lbs. heavier in this picture than I am now.

At the time, I didn't really think I was that overweight. I just thought I was big. Now I look at the picture, and I realize that...I was really fat. Believe me, it's intentional that I posted a picture where you can really only see me from the shoulders up. I think I was probably between 265 and 270 lbs. in the picture. My weight eventually climbed up to 275 lbs. (125 kilos) before I brought it back down to 250 lbs. - where it pretty much stayed (+/- 5 lbs.) until a couple of years ago.

Hawai'i? We'll DEFINITELY go back!

Hair? It'll MOST LIKELY never be back (unless a cure for baldness is discovered).

Obesity? I DEFINITELY NEVER WANT TO GO BACK!!!

I need to post these pictures of fat-TBF from time to time to remind me how I once let things get WAY out of control.