Ask Chaty - Post #1

I would like to thank everyone for giving us the opportunity to bring this new blog post to everyone. We hope it's going to be as enjoyable for you guys as it is for us. Please keep the questions coming via the AskChaty @ gmail account. Nothing it too bizarre. This editions questions are brought to you by Brother Rick Peletier, NJE-2002.

1. What is your birthday?
One could also ask, "why the hell did I get a text message asking to re-text someone your birthday?" This is an interesting question for a couple reasons. One, because it's been a "secret" for so long. And two, because when it came to light that Brother Matt Bratsch had rummaged through Headquarters' files (1) a whole slew of you guys got an odd text message from me with little-to-no explanation. So, here's the explanation.
As you know, or don't know, or don't care to know, but, the subject of the actual date of my birthday has been a topic for some time. In fact, it has sometimes showed up on scavenger hunts. Brother Bratsch had been on a quest to figure it out since he interviewed me while he was a New Member and I gave him the date, April 31. ... I'll wait ... OK, you checked your calendar, there is no April 31st. Skip ahead a few years and he gets elected as District 1 Archon. Skip ahead a short while after that and he's at Headquarters and finds himself in the records room. A little poking around and I get this text message while out:

So, I drove home and made a phone call to Marco and decided not to let this violation of privacy go unpunished. So, I got in touch with the Monsu Brothers (2)(3) and had them get in touch with everyone they know. And I sent out a quick mass message asking everyone to text Matt the following, "His birthday is March 5. Everyone knows it." To which most obliged. I later get a reply back from Matt while he's in a training session at Headquarters:

In a matter of 40 minutes we were able to virtually bitch-slap someone, and if that's not what Brotherhood is all about, well, frankly, I don't know what is. So, thank you to all who helped out. I figured an explanation was long overdue.

(1) I picture him sneaking in through the ceiling tiles like those two guys in cheap suits from the Progressive commercials.
(2) Monsu Brothers sound like a really bad WWE tag-team.
(3) Or a trapeze act.

PS: There are 2 other people in my family with the same birthday, both are my cousins on my Dad's side.
PPS: A fellow Rowan brother also shares the same birthday.

2. If you could go back to 1998 and tell your "founding father"-self some advice, what would you tell yourself?

Go Teke