Insider Column 4
An insider's look at Townsend...Chapter Four
We Have Winners!Reexquateretist details......for the most serious reex scholars
For the "Paragraph" Contest the winners are:
First Place: Sheerin and Stella
Second Place: Amy and Candi
For the Reexquateretist Contest the winners are:
First Place: Candi
Second Place: Amy and Melissa
Third Place: Sheerin and Stella
Receiving Special Reexquateretist Recognition:
First Place: Tamara
Honorable Mention: Joy
INSIDER Column, Chapter Four 6/1/01
The guys have been very busy lately. Several days ago we spent two hours strategizing over what near term steps we should take. We discussed our strategic plan to make sure that we’re on track and to see if we need to make any mid course changes. Recently we’ve been presented with numerous promotional opportunities. We need to decide which ones will be most beneficial.
In addition to the promotional opportunities being presented to Townsend, we’ve entered into discussions with a few management companies that have expressed an interest in being associated with the Townsend organization. Time will tell.
Tuesday, May 29, 2001
For those of you that have read my first three columns you will undoubtedly notice that this column has a significantly different "feel" to it. For the most part, you will not find the same level of levity in this column as you did in previous columns. It was a long Memorial Day weekend. The Chat Room wore me out. It also made me a little upset. There are a few things that I want to cover in this column regarding Townsend and the Memorial Day weekend. They are:
1. The contest,
2. The shirtless picture, and the
3. Significantly inappropriate comments posted in the Chat Room.
Where should I start? I guess with the contest. It is always good to start and end on a positive note. Let me point out that I did not properly calculate the tenacity of the Townsend fans. The last thing that I wanted to do was to monopolize the Chat Room. But, on the other hand - this weekend we set an all time three-day record for hits in the Chat Room.
I’ve always been impressed with the Townsend fans. Now I’m more impressed. The contest made me realize a few things. Some of the comments were very insightful. Other comments were very playful and funny. Many comments reflected considerable intelligence. Some of the comments were quite charming. But, what I liked the most was the obvious friendship that exists between many of the fans and the friendships that are being developed. One other thing, I really feel that it was absolutely great that so many of you frequently used the word "love".
One thing that made me a little uncomfortable was that I knew nothing about the individuals that I was chatting with. They could have been 12 years old or 120. Though I would assume that they were closer to 12 than 120 - unless, of course, the individual was a T Rex fan. If that was the case she was probably closer to 120. Not that it matters to me. I can relate to just about anybody. For all of you that participated in the contest, Thanks!!
Because so many of you contributed to ascertaining the correct answers, I’ve decided to recognize multiple winners for both contests. To justify my decision on the "Reexquateretist", I felt that it would be prudent for me to provide a sequential breakdown of the comments and my responses that led to the correct answer. So as not to bore all of you, my contest comments are posted on a separate page. Also posted on a separate page are the winnings and what the winners need to do such that I can send out the winnings.
For those of you (all two of you) that are curious about the word reexquateretist, I will give you a brief explanation how it came into being. Ten or eleven years ago an extremely intelligent (and good looking) NASA engineer/manager "invented" a word to describe members of NASA’s highly specialized rescue team. Because the members of the team were also scientist, engineers or technicians that supported research, this individual (the intelligent, good looking one) wanted to come up with a word that described the rescue function in "scientific" terms. This guy, who will remain nameless, researched the root derivation for the word rescue.
Rescue comes from the Middle English word rescouen. Rescouen came from the Old French word rescoure. Rescoure is composed of re + escoure. Escoure came from the Latin word excutere. Excutere was derived from ex + quatere. This totally brilliant NASA engineer combined the re, the ex, and quatere, and added the tist. Re, when used as a prefix, means again. Ex means out of. Quatere means to shake. ReExQuatere means to shake out again. Don’t ask me how that evolved to mean, "remove somebody from danger". As Melissa pointed out, ist (tist) refers to someone who specializes in something. So, we add it all up and we end up with someone who specializes in removing others from danger, in short, a rescue specialist.
How many of you stuck with me through this whole definition thing? Go ahead, raise your hand. One of you, no, wait, I see three hands, Sheerin’s, Stella’s and Tamara’s. How many of you got bored and gave up? Tamara, you can’t raise your hand for both.
I bet you’re wondering what Reexquateretist has to do with Townsend. Well, not a dang thing except that when the Townsend guys finish their career in entertainment I hope that the twins pursue a career as firefighters. If they do, hopefully they will want to become reexquateretist. They would be truly great reexquateretist. Oh, there is one other connection. Todd started training with the NASA rescue team when he was 10 years old. He helped out as an "assistant" instructor for high angle rescue when he was 12 years old. I have pictures and videos to prove it.
The Shirtless Picture
Why did I ever let you influence me to post the "shirtless" picture? Even Wendy said that it would be okay. As a matter of fact everyone that I questioned felt that it would be fine. What I didn’t properly consider was the "mom" factor. It is unfortunate that "mom" reacted in the way that she did. While I do not personally agree with her position, I have respect for desire to protect her daughter. How she chooses to raise and protect her daughter is her prerogative and we must respect that. For all we know her daughter may be 10 years old.
It may not be obvious to many of the folks that read this column, but I’m extremely conservative (in a liberal way). The Townsend guys are often surprised by my somewhat mild mannered ways. Well, that is except Todd. Many months ago the guys were in my office discussing one thing or another. I was just outside my office when I overheard one of the guys use a slightly off color word. I stuck my head in the office and said, "Hey, watch that". I left. As I was leaving one of the guys asked Todd, "What’s up with your dad?" Todd replied that I do not swear. One of the guys said, "never?" Todd replied, "never". As I’ve mentioned before, Todd has a slight propensity towards exaggeration. I can recall using inappropriate language at least three or four times during the last 12 months. Okay, that’s an exaggeration. It probably wasn’t that often. So, you’re probably wondering why I would even mention that. It has to do with respect. The guys may not fully understand why I behave the way I do, but they respect me for who I am. My point is that there are all kinds of folks that will log into the Townsend Chat Room. It’s okay for them to voice their opinion, even when it is different from yours or mine.
#@!%&$** Talk
On the other hand, there is no room in our chat room for outrageous trash talk. It caused us to take down the chat room a couple of months ago. We’d rather not do that again. We lose and the trash talkers win. While we oppose most forms of censorship, we will immediately remove from the chat room serious trash talk – by this we mean any messages that use profanity or have any hint of hatred or threats. So, we ask the Townsend fans to ignore the trash talk and let us deal with it if it happens again.
For those folks that do not appreciate Townsend’s attributes and want to say so - that’s okay. Those comments will not be removed.
Time for the Insider Column to Move On?
For those (few) of you who are wondering if I’m going to phase out the Insider’s Column, all I can say is "maybe later". What I intend to do before I make my final decision on when to turn over the bacon is to interview each of the guys and include their comments in subsequent columns. So, here’s the deal; I will accept one question for consideration from a single representative from each of the Townsend Fan Clubs. Assuming that the questions are reasonable, I will pose the questions to each of the guys. There are a few rules you will need to abide by. They are:
1. No questions about personal relationships
2. Only one question per fan club (for now)
3. No questions about T Rex
4. The fan club has to be officially recognize by Townsend
If you absolutely have to ask a question and you’re not a member of a recognized fan club, join one. It’s easy. Most, if not all, of the fan clubs have posted their web address in the Townsend Chat Room. Or, if you prefer, start your own Townsend fan club. To be considered an official Townsend fan club, you had to have posted your fan club website address in the Townsend Chat Room prior to June 1st. If you’re thinking about starting a fan club, get in touch with one of the members of an existing club and ask her what you need to do.
Send your questions to trex@townsendboys.com
Questions need to be received no later than June 8th.
Return To Insider Column Index