2017 Year in Review!!

Hey there fine folks of Facebook! Welcome to my yearly recap of all of my fun, fabulous, frolicky, fated, functional, fortitude for this Year! I guess I’m on an “F” kick, oh well! Please read on as I recap my entire year of 2017 in a monthly format. You may laugh, you may cry, you may be overwhelmed by the length of the recap or you may not read anything at all. Either way, its here if you need it! Enjoy! FORWARD!

January- This year begins like the previous 2 years, serving drinks at the moonlight mile and counting down the remainder of 2016. This year I had a special someone come to join me, as my date!! the lovely Shayna!! She watched me work all night and then at midnight we shared our first kiss :) (and then many more into 2017, hopefully) I watched the Wisconsin Badgers win the Cotton Bowl all by my lonesome, GO BUCKY!! I get food poisoning from some shrimp tacos, so 2017 is off to a roller coaster of a start. Drew comes to visit for a weekend, his first visit since him and Stacey moved to San Fran last year. Such a good guy and really miss him hanging at the bar on the regular. I set a goal of running 750 miles for the year as last year I was a half mile short of 600 miles (yup 599.4 in 2016) Shayna joins me to watch some Packers football, dressed in a ton of my gear, such a good sport she is! Lauren comes to visit me at the bar and catch up. I get a call to do a previz on the TV Show Blindspot and then get hired to do the job! I spent a Friday night in the back of a van with the amazing Jamie Alexander, Heidi and Super Oleg getting my ass kicked and doing my best to deliver lines “very angrily.” Nothing like getting lines 10 minutes before they shoot them haha. Had a blast working with all these wonderful humans! And look forward to more fun.

February- Picks up right where January left off as I shot Blindspot for the first 2 days of Feb. This time had to go up to bumble fuck Bronx to shoot in a 3 story log cabin! Getting my call sheet was bitter sweet when I saw the name Hannah Scott on the list! For those of you who dont know Hannah is not only one of my closest friends but also one of the best stunt women in the NYC area. When I met her in 2011 she inspired me to strap in and focus on Stunt work more exclusively, and I have never looked back. I owe so much to her and her drive and friendship! Even though we worked together in the past (Siren, Six Flags, trainings, shorts) this was the first time we were working together on a “legit” gig. The rest of the mercenary stunt team was rounded out by Suрer Oleg, Peter Wallack and Bryce Burke, all amazing stunt people in their own right! I even got to work with Zach Grenier who was a guest star in the episode, you may not know him by name but you will surely recognize him. What an amazing actor, seriously, watching this guy work was incredible. Next up was the 18th Annual Superbowl Party! 136 Jello Shots were consumed while watching the Patriots come from far far back to beat the Falcons in OVERTIME! What a game and what a party!! Filled with much drinking and slapping! New comers this year were Stephon and Ashley. They joined all the regulars including Hannah, Alexa, Jenna, Jared, Calvin, Aaron, Alex, and the roommates Ella and Johnny. The day after the party was pretty rough as I was VERY hungover, since I have dropped weight I dont drink very often and this was the first time I was hungover in well over a year. It was awful! I couldn't eat until 7 that night! My most hated holiday, Valentine’s Day, was spent by my lonesome, I treated myself to tickets to see Metallica/Avenged Sevenfold as they went on presale that morning for a show in May!! 2 of my favorite bands playing together, and have never seen either live! I also treated myself to a solo date watching John Wick 2 at the nearby Bay Ridge Alpine Theater. I got together with friends for some training at Breakfall Studios, always a good time. Next up thanks to the stellar weather, I was able to replace 2 rear turn signal stays on my motorcycle, as both were pretty beat up. I was able to disconnect and rewire and re install both and now they look and work like new :) This month ends on a very positive and a very negative note. I was booked to work a stunt gig on the TV Show “Gotham” on March 2nd! AWESOME! Unfortunately due to the booking I was fired from my bar job at the moonlight mile. I really did enjoy my time there and all of the friendships I have made over the past 3 years. The firing hit me pretty hard as it was done with such hate and personal attack on my character. Oh well.

March- Begins with me working on “Gotham.” When I get to set I find out that the fight sequence is going to be focused on my character “Infected Man.” I basically have super strength and get to throw around 4 amazing veteran stunt men. We did the whole sequence in one traveling shot that follows me through the Gotham PD kicking some police ass. What an honor it was to work with Tony, Roy, Bob and Victor, as well as Steve. (Super Oleg and Teniece were there too haha.) All of them extremely respected and seasoned stunt professionals. It was truly a surreal experience for me! Next up I try to adjust to having my weekends available again. I meet up with Hannah, Jenna and Aaron for a movie, only to find out the movie was Sold Out! So Saturday night drinking it is!! Calvin and Jared met up with us as Calvin was celebrating his 40th Birthday (hahaha 40 hahaha) Next up is a day of training flying around on wires with Roberto and his amazing team. I had a blast flying around all day and the bruises and soreness were well worth it!! I met up with Calvin, again for his actual Birthday, Jenna and Jared and played some games at Barcade, always a good time! The next weekend I get to hang out with Mecca for his Birthday at the Mad River Bar (the Wisconsin Bar that I have frequented many times before) Love this guy, and was a great turn out by the stunt community to celebrate him! Jenna and I meet up and go see a movie and get some food afterwards, she is the bestest! St. Paddys Day I met up with Lauren, as always, but we chose to eat pizza and chat rather than pub crawl. Afterwards I went to a Led Zeppelin 2 Concert at Gramercy Theater, which I got free tickets from Jenna, it was ok. Not a huge fan of bands pretending to be other bands, just kind weird. I meet up with Matthew to watch Round 1 of March Madness as My Badgers Beat his Hokies, sorry buddy! Then I watched the Badgers get into the Sweet 16 which puts them here in NYC to play at MSG!! Since its my team, playing in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to watch them play. I went to their open practice and then to their Pep Rally at Mad River (again)! I got my picture taken with the Badgers Mascot, Bucky, first one with him over the course of my life!! Next up I go to one of the more memorable events of my entire life as I went to watch The Badgers Basketball team play live for the first time, in the Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament at the Worlds Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden. I did go by myself. Unfortunately the game did not end in favor of the Badgers, but seriously what and incredible game, a last second 3 by the Badgers to send the game to Overtime, and then a buzzer beater 3 by the Gators to win. Simply incredible and could possibly go down as one of the best Sweet 16 games of all time. I head back to Greenpoint to help my good friends Luke and Laura pack up their van as they move to MN. They were regulars when I worked at the bar and I dog sat for their awesome dog Bianca all the time. Gonna miss these guys! My episode of Blindspot airs and funny thing about this Biz, I had a good chunk of lines that they decided to edit out and dub, haha oh well, tis the biz! Fight scenes came out great though! Woot! Aaron and I hang out, train and see Power Rangers, not too bad to be honest! Thanks to Aaron, I was able to put together my new stunt reel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agY...) as this is the first one I have done since 2014, so yeah big difference in my appearance and the work I have done.

April- Starts off with me crossing the 200 mile mark with my running this year on the first day of the month. Next up I go to Brunch with Hannah, Jenna, Alexa, Allison, and Dan for Hannah’s/all of our birthdays as we are all right in a row haha. Jason joined us a little later, as we went on to shoot pool, eat a Key Lime Pie (thanks Christine) and just have some fun! On my actual Birthday I spent it pretty low key, just relaxing, until that evening when I went to Arlene’s for some Live Band Karaoke!! It was a blast!! Thanks so much to Jamie, Matthew, Mecca, Ilyana, Alexa, Christine, Chelsey, Larry and Benjamin for coming out to celebrate with me and to all of you who took the time to wish me a Happy Birthday! And of course another wonderful performance by Matthew, ahem I mean Calvin, performing Johnny B. Goode. Next up Ben picks me up as we head to the NJ Science Center for rehearsal on a gig I have been dealing with since Sept of last year. Basically they want to test is human hair would be strong enough to climb, ala Rapunzel. We tested it out with a belay system only to discover that it was WAY harder than I had anticipated to get any kind of rhythm going on being able to climb it on my own. It took every ounce of my strength to make it 20ft. The actual gig we performed 2 days later and they wanted to see me reach the top, about 40ft or so. We had to rig up a pulley system to kind of cheat it a little but never the less I made 2 climbs up to the top. It was a good time, and thanks again to the awesome Ben for helping me figure this out and perform it safely!! Jenna and I went to go see Steel Panther at Irving Plaza and had an EPIC good time with an AMAZING and always entertaining performance! It was a BLAST!! Easter Morning I am joined by Jenna, Hannah and Alexa to share in my family tradition of my Mom’s (Judy Bauer Nowak) homemade sticky buns and coffee. Meant so much to me that they all came out for that. I took a Krav Maga class taught by Paul and learned some really cool and effective ways to disarm guns and knives and how to keep it “real” but “fancy looking” for camera. The rest of the month was mostly training at Breakfall, hustling, running, and I even went on a couple of dates as I havent seen Shayna since January, and she basically ghosted on me, story of my life haha. Dates were ok, but I really hate “dating” in NYC, its the absolute worst! I spent the last couple days of the month going to Queens where I caught up with Lauren and Jasmine. I also went to David’s cookout. It’s always nice catching up with wonderful people!

May- Starts off with me getting my very first residual check in the mail!! (for those not in the industry, its essentially payment for re-airing an episode of TV or movie, after it has already been released) I team up with a few stunt friends to film a fun little diddy under a bridge in Manhattan in which I play a nerd (stretch I know) who transforms into a fight master after getting kicked in the balls. (yup) Went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy 2 at the brand new Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn with Aaron, and Alexa. So awesome!! I meet up with Jenna for her birthday and we get some bouldering in and then treat her to her very first Lobster Roll!! (youre welcome!) Next up Aaron and I head to NJ to see Avenged Sevefold and Metallica ROCK our faces off! Such a great show! Aaron stayed awake!! (haha) I get together with Jess to go see the new Alien movie at the Alamo. Meh. Towards the end of the month I head upstate to work on a film entitled “Alex Strangelove” stunt doubling one of the kids. Since he couldnt drive it was the easiest day ever as I just had to drive the car 10ft out of frame haha (with a tiny bit of energy/tire squawk) I get on a plane to San Francisco and meet up with my Mom and my Sister and we go straight from the airport to an Oakland Athletics game! (number 22) After the game, Oakland Won, we drove around, much to the dismay of my mom who was freaking out in the backseat due to Tia’s driving skills (haha) killing time and driving up to twin peaks and then back to the airport to pick up my brother Nick. Been a few years since the whole family was together in the same place, but we all were in San Fran for my sisters college graduation which was held in AT&T Park. Next my parents, Nick and I went to a wine tasting at Cakebread. Followed by Tia’s Graduation Party at her apartment. We all had quite a few and then some, but props go out to Nick, who partied a little TOO hard HAHAHA! He was suffering the next morning when we all went to work out at my sister Jennifer’s gym but he made it through the class, but not to breakfast haha. After that I go to the airport and pick up a rental car, have a late lunch with Nick, Tia and Amira and wander around San Fran for a bit until I go meet up with Drew. I caught up with him at a local bar and then crashed on his couch. Had breakfast with Drew and Stacy before departing in my rental car for Los Angeles! I tried to take Highway 1 all the way down but due to a recent landslide I could only go as far as just past Big Sur. Which was quite the drive but once I got to the dead end, had to turn around and double back. I was in the car all day driving down to LA but finally arrived to stay with Chris and Bethany for the week! Chris bought and grilled up some kick ass steaks to welcome me to LA, so yummy!! I went to JAM my first day in LA to get in some training and then hit up Action Factory to get some swag and some new gear while I checked out their space. Next up I visited Stunts Unlimited, In and Out Burger, and even met up with Drew at Tempest Free Running Academy for a late night workout! The last day of May I spent riding around with Chris doing some touristy things such as the Hollywood Stars and the Hollywood Sign. That night Chris, Bethany and I all went to Angels Stadium for a game (number 23) It was free Beach Hat Night! Hahah The Angels Won! 

June- Still in LA, Chris, Bethany and I took a drive to Malibu with their dog Dusty and we had some fun hiking and then some fun on the beach (we snuck Dusty into the beach as there were no dogs allowed haha) Then it was time to fly back to NYC. Upon my arrival I go up to New Rocheel to be a part of a fun short film called “Not Saved by the Bell” which my main man Chazz was directing! I played the role of Big Pimp Jackson! Was a ton of fun and got to see and work with so many of my stunt brothers and sisters. I go back to one more day of shooting on “Alex Strangelove” and this time I get to do a pretty fun gag. I had to throw myself through a full drum set, no fakes or break aways were used. I did 2 takes and both went great, the second take though everyone started busting out laughing after cut was called, and many of the young actors were amazed that I wasnt hurt after the second crash haha. I got to see the playback and it looked great and the timing of the pieces falling couldnt have been better as the last thing to fall was the cymbal stand resulting in a very comedic button on the end!! The episode of Gotham (the one I was fired from the bar over) premieres on TV and turned out great!! Some serious mayhem was had in the Gotham Police Precinct. I attended my first ever wrap party for “Alex Strangelove” got hang out with the cast and the director, sang some karaoke and even Ben Stiller (who was one of the producers) was in attendance. Was pretty cool getting to meet him, say hi, and just have a quick cheers with a guy who has made me laugh since I was a kid. Next up is some training up in New Rochelle with Chazz and the stunt community. It was all outdoors and it rained pretty hard that day so was pretty funny seeing everyone training while being completely soaked. Hey sometimes you have to shoot in the rain haha. Next up I finally get to head to the theaters and see the finished product of my first ever gig on “Baby Driver” Aaron, Ilyana, Alex, Jess, and even Stephanie came to check out the film with me. The end result was one of the most incredible movies I have ever seen, not kidding, and to be a tiny part of that film was just ridiculously mind blowing. Dont be surprised if it wins MANY awards!!

July- Went to hang out with my good friend Paul for the Fourth of July, which was kind of funny as he lives in Greenpoint, around the corner from the bar I worked at. Weird! Had a blast running the table on Beer Pong for quite a while haha. Since I was in Greenpoint I took the opportunity to meet up with and say hi to Mark and Jill, 2 regulars from the bar. It was great to see them and hang out for a bit. I have dog sat their awesome Doberman Kingsley a few times :) Next up I head to Williamsburg to attend a screening of “Concrete and Crashpads” a documentary about stunts in NYC that was co-directed by my good friend Stephen Koepfer. I enjoyed seeing the film and thought it was very well done. Aaron, Ilyana and I spend a day in Coney Island, hanging out and riding the rides. This was my first time riding the Infamous Cyclone Roller Coaster, not bad for how old the thing is, even though I was trying desperately not to squash Ilyana the whole time haha. I had a HUGE training opportunity this month as I head to NJ with Aaron to take a fire burn seminar run by Brian Smyj and Andy Armstrong!! I spent an entire 4 days learning from Andy and Brian and listening to all the war stories from their careers, Andy’s spans over 4 decades. I learned so much and took a ridiculous amount of notes. The day that we were doing the fire burns I was captain of my team and got to run through all the different facets of organizing and executing a successful and safe fire burn. I even got a copy of Andy’s book, which he autographed for me, but nothing made me more excited than Andy himself complimenting my fire burn. I was over the moon doing this training as fire work is my favorite. Now its time to Rock out yet again, this time I am joined by Chelsea for an Iron Maiden Concert!! This was Chelsea’s first rock concert and my 3 times seeing Iron Maiden, but the first time in the Barclays Center. Not a bad venue, not great, but not bad hah. Iron Maiden ROCKED as always! I end the month with another stint on Gotham, this time doubling a kid and getting to work with the amazing Tracey and also get to see Turner take an amazing crash through a glass display case. It was pretty awesome! Love these people!

August- August picks up right where July left off as I have a couple more days shooting on Gotham as a stunt double. Always fun working with Norm and company. After I finish my last day on set for Gotham I head to directly to NJ to pick up a rental car to drive up for Alexa’s Bachelorette party, only to get to the counter in the middle of the night and be told that because I live within a 60 mile radius I will not be able to rent a car . . . . and this sucks for multiple reasons. I was going to transport 2 other friends (Matthew and Jenna) as it was like a hour 5 drive away into the middle of legit nowhere. I wound up being stuck in NJ due to public transportation between NJ and NY becomes ridiculously hard after midnight. I managed to get my ass back into the city at roughly 4am as Matthew, Jenna and I tried to explore every possible option to get up there for the party, only to wind up defeated after no sleep, it being 4am, plus a 5 hour drive, for the final day of partying. It was sad, we were bummed, we drowned our sorrow in early diner breakfast food in Union Square. Next up I head back to NJ to work on a film called “Low Tide”, much to my surprise I get my call sheet and the same child actor I doubled earlier in the year on “Alex Strangelove” is who I will once again be doubiling, crazy! We shoot at night in the Jersey Shore area and i have to repeatedly pretend to creep out of a second floor window, sneak across the roof and jump off, over and over and over again. Seriously I must have done it like 15+ times. It was extra interesting as there was a drunken party happening across the water who were shouting things at me on every single take, rating my jump, ect. Thankfully I just kind of blocked them out and had some fun with it, ah NJ! Right after I finish this gig I get hired for another gig down in Washington DC to do some reshoots on the Steven Spielberg film “The Post.” I hop a ride with Ben as we were both hired to be newsboys in the scene and we take a 4 hour drive down to DC. Once we arrive we throw our bags down in our swanky ass hotel room at The Ritz, then meet up with Drew and Justice for a quick dinner. Ben and I kill some time wandering around DC until our late night call time. We get on set, work out the shot and then wait around for the sun to rise as we needed to get the shot of the trucks delivering the papers at dawn. After the shoot and no sleep, Ben and I decided to drive back to NY right after we wrapped, so our fancy hotel room went unused. After about a half hour Ben got tired, so I drove the rest of the way home haha. Good times! Back in NY I spend a day with my good friend Shawn as we go out to NJ and take his new Seadoo out for a spin. We spent 5 hours riding around on that thing and did a lap around the entire island of Manhattan! It was a long but super fun day spent out in the sun. Next up my cousins Dan and Amanda pay a quick visit to NYC. We spent the day of the Eclipse together as we played some mini golf and watched all of the gawkers staring up into the sun haha. It was entertaining. Shortly after I got to work on an Episode of “The Blacklist” in upstate NY (thanks Tina, love you) and I get to work with Ben yet again, and also Akos, Chris and Keil as well as the main stars of the episode 2 real live ELEPHANTS! What a fun couple of days! Having an Elephant decide it wants to walk (quickly) right towards me on action so that I have to get out of the way, to driving around off road, to wearing “one size fits most” tactical gear, which resulted in me face planting trying to get out of the SUV on one of the rehearsals, it was pretty hilarious haha.

September- The first day marks the return of Wisconsin Badger Football (which is a huge deal to me). Shortly after I head to NJ to meet up with Ilyana for a trip up to the NY Renaissance Faire. We had a blast stumbling upon shows, throwing axes, knives and stars. It was a fun day of food, frolicking, dranks, and me being heckled to buy things for Ilyana haha. Next up is the wedding of Alexa and Christine! This time I hitch a ride with Aaron, Alex and Matthew as we head up state to a camp in the middle of nowhere. I was able to help out and get things prepared for their big day and Matthew and I set up the best sunglasses display haha. I couldnt have been more happy to be a part of their special day, it was simply beautiful, and cold, but more beautiful. I love you both very much and am so happy for you. Now its time for another wedding related journey as I fly up to Maine to celebrate the 25th wedding anniversary of my parents. They re-newed their vows, with me as the officiant, in front of close friends and family at a beautiful house in Bar Harbor Maine. My mom even wore her original wedding dress. It was a wonderful trip filled with lobster, family hiking, solo hiking, sibling hiking (seriously a lot of hiking) drinks with family, ghost tours, card games, whale watching (more like ocean watching as the whales were no where to be found) and an alleged “haunted” house. Back in NYC I get a call to work on the new TV show Happy! and get to work with Keil, Evan, Zack, Niahla, Ian and Mecca. Unfortunately the director changed things and I was cut from the action, but such is this business, and I was very happy to spend the day with all of those awesome people! I finish out the month training at Breakfall with a special guest from England (Sarah) who runs a awesome film review website called “Caution Spoilers.” She took a day to watch us train and even interviewed myself and some other awesome stunt people to put up on her website, which can be seen here (http://www.cautionspoilers.com/stun...)

October- Starts off with running, as per usual haha. Then a quick trip to Williamsburg to celebrate the birthday of Califf, an AMAZING stuntman and all around good dude. It was nice to catch up with him and the other stunt people who showed up. Next up, I discovered that Ilyana had never been to a Broadway show, and it was recently her Birthday, so we picked a day that we were both free and I entered ALL of the Broadway lotteries for that day. It came down to the wire as I didn't win any of them, until the very last one that was picked, which was Cats! So off we went to see Cats! It was Meh, I had no idea that it was literally just singing and dancing with no plot or story line what so ever so I mean it was what it was but not really my cup of tea. After that I get a message from my High School buddy Joshua Halverson that he will be in town and he has 2 tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway that he doesn't want. So in 3 days I saw 2 Broadway shows, which I hadnt been to one in a few years. I met up with Josh at a bar nearby for a quick drink to pick up the tickets. It was really great to see him and catch up a bit after so many years, Jess joined me to see the show. I thought it was better than Cats! but still disappointing, mostly due to the set and stage designs being extremely underwhelming. This month I celebrated my 17th year of living in NYC. Crazy that it has been that long. Seeing as it is October, it wouldnt be complete without a beer garden drink, so Jess and I caught a movie and had a drink and huge meal at a German restaurant. Next up its Brunch time with Lauren. We spent the entire day together, starting with her disappoint trip to a pasta place, where she had to wait forevr for her dish as she modified it last minute. Then upon getting it back finally, she found a hair in it and had to have her order place again. Mine was delicious and gone before her first course even arrived haha. After that we hit up the Museum of Sex and got to bounce around in an inflatable booby house! It was so much fun haha. Followed lastly by a trip to get donuts. This month rounds out with me getting a call offering me a months worth of work, unfortunately it was stunt work, but stand in work. Since it all goes to the same place in regards to my earnings and my health benefits I took the month long gig and was the stand in for Noah Schnapp (Will from Stranger Things) on his new movie “Abe.” I was working on the film the rest of the month, and missed anything Halloween related, bummer.

November- The whole beginning of the month I continued working on the film “Abe” long days so didnt get to do much besides work. It was kind of cool working with and running lines with Seu Jorge, who was a super sweet guy! I worked my last day on the film and then headed home for the Holiday and for a Badger Football game in Madison vs Michigan. I flew home and met up with my Aunt Joan and Uncle Mark in Madison for the game. We walked over to the set of College Gameday as the show was there to cover the game. It was fun to see it all set up with all the fans. Our seats were on the 15 yard line on the Badger Bench in the 2nd Row! The game was AWESOME as the Badgers pulled out the victory to remain undefeated!! I got to meet up with Andrew P. Hale and Crystal as I havent seen these 2 in quite a few years. We hung out, caught up and had a few beverages, as you do. I spent Thanksgiving with my family, only the 2nd Thanksgiving I have been home for in 15+ years. Had a blast, ate a lot, and watched football, as you do. I had a lot of down time so I mostly just relaxed and worked on some trick shots on the pool table in my parents basement.

December- Back in NYC I watch the Badgers play Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship Game, and unfortunately we lost our first game of the season, which cost us a spot in the College Football Playoff, oh well, great season and a birth in the Orange Bowl against Miami. I finally get together and go on a date with Rose, a gal I have been chatting with since Halloween. It went very well and she is super awesome, but finding time to spend together is quite the chore, but we shall see. I set up my Xmas decorations in my apartment. I went on a run in the first snowfall in NYC which is always comforting as I love snow! While on that run, my phone rang. I got a call from Manny Perry of Stunts Unlimited who booked me for a gig in LA early next year!! YES!!! I got invited and went to my friend Tiffany’s place for a holiday party where I finally met her fiance Chris. I had a great time with great people, even geeked out about metal music with one of the guests only to find out we knew a few of the same people, small world. Next up I go to a cast and crew screening of “The Post”, I went stag and really enjoyed the movie. It was bittersweet as I watched the credits to finally see my name credited in the stunt listing. It brought a tear to my eye to see that finally. After the movie I met up with other stunt people who were in attendance and went to dinner with Drew, Mam, Ben, and Elise. Such fun. I go on an interview for a new part time job at a new Axe throwing Venue called “Kick Axe” and am hired on the spot. Fun easy job to keep me occupied between stunt gigs. Also learning a new skill in the process as I am an “Axepert.” Lauren and I get together for a Brunch-tacular good time. I head up to the Bronx to work a quick and easy day doubling a kid on the show “You.” I met and worked with David Shumbris and was able to work for Tony Guida, whom is super awesome! It was a very easy day as we were not needed but as always I just enjoy being on set. Chelsea comes down to Bay Ridge and we wander around Dyker Heights to check out the Christmas lights. Always super impressive and we finished the night with a couple of hot toddies. SO Christmas-y! I spent Christmas Eve on my own watching Home Alone and chilling. Christmas Day I fly back home to Wisconsin to spend time with the family. I meet up with my main man Carl and go see the newest Star Wars film, with my Mom as well. I head to my Aunt and Uncles place to have a Nowak Family Xmas and have a wonderful time exchanging gifts and chatting with my Uncle Clay and the rest of the Nowak Clan. Back home my parents and I watch the Badgers win the Orange Bowl against Miami!! We head out to our family friend Lisa’s place to ring in the New Year! I finish the year having run 800 miles on my goal of 750!!! 

Well 2017 was a very crazy year for me, I have learned a lot and grown as a person. Looking back on it, I cant help but be thankful for everything and everyone who had both a positive and a negative impact on my year. I had many people who showed their true colors this year. I have always tried to be the best person that I can be in any situation, from being a good friend, to being a good partner, to being a good worker, to being a good family member. I was told long ago that no matter how hard you try or care you cant ever please everyone. At the end of the day I have to take care of myself and everything I have done and built to this point in my life. The only guarantee in life, is that when my time comes to leave this world, I, and I alone will be there when it ends. Thank you so much to everyone for coming with me on my journey of 2017, thank you for all of the friends, family, and coordinators who have given me so many opportunities this year. I cant wait to see what 2018 has in store for me and all of you! All the very best and all my love to all of you, Here’s to 2018!! Cheers! Prost!!