I probably have just killed myself by sharing this, but oh well.
This is the Actual Most Interesting Man in the World.
"I don't always drink beer, but when I do it's a lot."
Stop laughing at the picture and read a little.
(Don't mind the suit in the picture. The only time we saw him in a suit was after he had a meeting with the Governor. His normal attire was some quirky T shirt, jeans, and motorcycle boots.)
I walked into my finance class in late August and saw this nerdy looking guy who looks like he spends Friday nights eating Cheetohs and watching Star Trek. His specialty is Risk Management, and he is really into it. The glasses fit this image that he presents perfectly. But that's not the real him.
Semester goes on and he starts peeling back a couple of layers. 9/11 comes around and I'm the only one in the class, besides the prof, to have been of adult age in 2001. So all the kids in the class don't really grasp what the date means to America. Anyway, this guy starts saying that he was in Hawaii and the call came in at 4:30 am, with the time change, to grab their go bags.
Right when he said go bag I knew something was up. He said, I didn't tell you guys I was in the Navy? "Nope Ben, you failed to mention it." With the Teams he says, intelligence.
So in his 38 years on this planet so far, this guy's credits include(and I'm sure are not limited to):
-11 or so years in the Navy(wounded, that's why he got out)
-Combat on 3 continents
-Earned his bachelors in psychology while on active duty, took his last test in a cave in Afghanistan proctored by his lieutenant
-Earned MBA post Navy
-Was a stock broker
-Owned and sold a tax business
-Has two children
-Rides a Harley like a mad man
-Dated two 20 year old redheads from the same college at the same time this semester, not his students(and the two chicks knew each other on facebook)
-Will officially have his PhD in finance in May, it's all but done
-Concurrently pursuing a masters in women's studies while completing PhD in finance
-Received a grant from the State of Alabama to study the economic impact of hurricane's and tornadoes(or something)
This guy is my hero, and I feel a little bit less like a man every time I talk to him. That Marky Mark movie coming out "Lone Survivor," this guys knows Marcus and served in the same unit with some of the ones that didn't make it back.
Ben, if you see this, please don't kill me for telling your secrets.
Oh, and the most chilling thing he told us was that he had a buddy he was serving with. The two of them pushed each other to finish their degrees. They graduated at the same time except that in the period between finishing their last test and the graduation ceremony his buddy was killed. Ben said his buddy's mom showed up to walk for him at NYU where they got their degrees.
When he told this story the room got really cold, really quiet, and it felt like all the air was sucked out. It was hard to breathe for a second. Like I said, most chilling thing I've ever heard anyone say.