Nate-Dude is a cool name. Well at least I think it is! But it wasn’t always like that. Let me tell you the story of how I got straddled with a crazy name like this. It happened…uh…um…A few years ago….   For those of you who don’t know my real name is Nathaniel, and I hated being called Nate or Nathan. (And I still do.) One thing I didn’t mind was my little sister Abby calling me thaniel. I liked it so much that’s what I called myself. Well we live in Flagstaff AZ, home of heat, (up to 85 in the summer,) cold, (down to -5 in the winter…well at night, 32 during day,) Olympic athletes and VERY high elevation. And my Mom is nuts about skiing, (yes we have a ski resort) so one winter we went to go rent ski equipment form this place called Humphrey’s Summit. I dislike skiing. I was not having a good day at all. Some skiers and snowboarders are so freaky. They drink beer, let off s-bombs, and the boarders ride so dang close to you. One time I wanted to stop really fast, to kinda spray some snow, and I almost rammed right into this guy who was boarding like a foot away!!! GRRR! There’s a whole mountain for you to board on person! Anyway back to the original story. So this guy is like measuring my feet and all (for my boots) and he says “So kid, what’s your name?” “Nathaniel.” And he looked at me like I was the most deprived kid in Flagstaff. “Na-Nathaniel? People don’t call you Nathan, Nate…Nate-Dude?” “No.” I said flatly. What a freak. Nate-Dude?! What kind of a name is that? Well my Mom thought it was hilarious and told my uncle (Bell’s dad, see Wal Mart’s Security system) and he loved it so that’s what he and my cousin’s call me. It didn’t take me long to warm up to. It’s an awesome name! It just seems to say something about me. Nothing will ever replace Nathaniel but Nate-D is still cool. So for all of you who read this sloppy written and maybe even boring thing I would like to thank you. For those of you who post your comments (Be they good or bad) I’ll give a special reward that I’m going to call “Apricot Pie Delivery.”