I hereby grant my first ever "Coolest Person I Know" award to none other than my cousin Tim.

If you read my blog frequently, you know that I have a cousin, Tim. He may be the coolest person I know.  I was fortunate enough to be friends with him a bit in high school and we even had a seminary together once.  Our seminary teacher was a total flake and I believe Tim and I were kicked out of class together more than once.  When we got together it was often a matter of one-upmanship, who could be the most outrageous or sarcastic.  This did not play well with our seminary teacher and our excuse of "it's okay, we're cousins" never played well with him.  I can honestly say that was the only class that I have ever been in trouble.  

Before my wife and I started dating, Tim had a biology class with Cathi in which, and I'm not sure about this, they dissected a frog together.  It was only a prelude of things to come with his cousin.  Not that I have ever dissected a frog with Cathi, but we have had it in our plans for awhile.  (Speaking of which, I was watching a Muppet Movie with Lincoln yesterday about Kermit as a baby frog.  The main story line was that Kermit was being held captive by an evil biology teacher that is planning on having his students dissect him.  I am not making that up.  That was really the plot.  Just a tad disturbing.)

I look up to this man for several reasons, the least of which is that I literally look up to him.  (He is 6-5  or something.)  Nevertheless, I give you yet another list.  This is a list of why my cousin Tim may be the coolest and most interesting person I know.  

1.  Tim loved and honored the movie "American Movie".  We watched it together about 8 years ago.  I knew he would love it as it takes a peculiar sense of humor to fully appreciate it.  As Uncle Bill would acknowledge, "It's alright, it's okay, there's something to live for.  Jesus told me so!"  

2.  Tim has some serious talent when it comes to writing and photography.  

3.  Tim continues to be a staunch Ute fan in spite of transferring and graduating from Utah State.  He is also a very highly ranked poster on Utefans.net.  Look for him under the alias of "Dwight Shr-UTE."  

4.  Tim is an active Democrat and helps me post on our other blog, McCaint 2008.  Additionally, he just saw Barack Obama in person.  Lucky person.

5. Tim has impeccable taste in music and years ago actually referred me to some great sounding bands.  He continues to provide awesome suggestions.  He continues to attend extremely neat concerts, while I sit at home on my pathetic bottom.

6.  His job is incredibly interesting sounding... "Fish Biologist".  It may actually not be as interesting as it sounds, but it sure sounds interesting.  

7. During the NBA finals in Salt Lake, he used the Barney costume and went downtown to where the festivities were.  During an NBC fly-over, there is Tim, dressed in the Barney costume, waving to the camera.  Perhaps the best thing anyone has ever done with the costume. 

8. He has a pony tail and beard.  He has been called "Jesus" by several children in his ward.  He has even posed as Jesus for an artist.  Don't believe me?  Check this out.  Oh, and let us not forget the time that the police were called on him when he entered my Grandma's house while she was in the hospital to leave her flowers.

9. I wonder if he remembers this - While we were on our missions (he in California, me in Pennsylvania) I was somehow able to get his phone number.  I have no idea how, I don't remember.  It was quite remarkable that I was able to get it though.  I called him one evening and he was absolutely dumbfounded that I was on the other line.  I think at first he was a little ticked that I called, but after we chatted a bit, he was cool with it.  

10. Finally, and perhaps most impressive, about 7 years ago (Sorry Tim, can't remember how long ago it was.) he rode his bike from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean over the course of a summer.  By himself.  For those of you that are impressed that I was able to run a marathon by myself, imagine riding your bike for 4 months, with absolutely no company.  The most amazing thing to me is that he found time to locate wards on his route and attend church.  I still would like to know the answer to this question - Did you wear spandex shorts to church?

There you have it, a biography of sorts on my good friend and cousin Tim.  What a great man.  

Hopefully, I can make this an ongoing feature on the old Blog O' Cheese.  Certainly there many people that I find interesting and cool enough to qualify for this award.