Acting Stupid With Mark
Since the beginning of the pandemic, all of our athlete spotlight interviews have been conducted outside and socially distanced. In most cases, this has meant joyful use of the turf at either of the Shop locations, but here I actually joined Juan and Fabiola (and their chickens<!>) in their spacious backyard on a brisk December afternoon. As always, they made me feel immediately at home in their home, providing a pleasant flight of beers to taste in addition to their spirited repartee. That is the secret sauce about these two- they make people feel at home; they do it in their house, across borders, and whenever they are in class at Dane’s Body Shop.
Coach Chad: Hmmm… Are the Manor members different than the Hyde Park folks? They aren’t, they are the same. They’ve had quieter coaches over there historically- Stormie and Mitch, great coaches, but not as loud as Beth or myself. So members take on the qualities of their coaches. Now that Bean is over there more and I’m over there more, those members are going to start behaving like jackasses just like the two of you!
Juan: *Big laugh
Fabs: Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Pull up Victoria Harvey’s interview on the website- she was the first Manor athlete I interviewed after coming back to The Shop and she is a great example of people at Manor who speak up and let their personality (and baked goods) shine through.
Fabs: I think it is already happening. We were in Strength class the other day at Hyde Park and there were some guys who I think came over from Manor. You know (Coach) Mark is always acting so stupid and I started acting stupid with Mark- so we were dancing around. After 30 minutes of acting stupid with Mark, they started interacting with us. They weren’t acting stupid with us, but they were interacting more. It felt like these were Manor members who were catching the vibe of Hyde Park, so we just need to start doing stupid things here.
*laughing* And with these interviews, the title is almost always a line from the interview that comes up and the title of this interview might be, We Just Need to Start Doing Stupid Things Here! Okay so one of the things I will do for these interviews is ask coaches if they have any questions for the people I interview, but with everyone at home for the holiday, I asked Max Benham, a member I will be dog-sitting for, if he had any questions for you. He posed the following: when you are in a workout and it gets hard, how do you cope with that?
Juan: For me it is counting. I will do percentages: so we have to do ten of something and I will do two and then think, I only did two? Then I reframe it as “man, I already did twenty percent!” It sounds better right?
Fabs: For me, the first thing comes to mind is I just ignore (the workout) and I just don’t worry about what they are asking me to do. It is kind of just like I let it go- so I’m not dealing with it, I’m just hearing it and ignoring it.
Those are both valid mindsets.
Fabs: I’m not proud of it… Keith just told me I need to do 20% of my body weight? Okay, I will pretend I weigh 100lbs!
That is truly brilliant. With that same idea, how do you use one another in a workout? You’re obviously a couple, so what are your interactions like?
Fabs: Juan is always trying to make me do the (movements) correctly. I’m always asking coaches, mostly Beth, to tell him he is not the coach! Scolding him and calling him out. I think that is part of the interaction, but now (with Covid procedures) we have to clean all the equipment, so it works really nice because I can just steal all his weight and don’t have to use new ones.
So his max working weight is your warm up weight is what you are saying?
Fabs: Exactly!
Juan: And before (the pandemic) for partner workouts, I would always workout with Mark right? We wouldn’t partner with one another.
So Covid has brought the two of you closer together?
Juan: *ruefully* I guess so…
That is really touching!
Fabs: *laughing* Ooooo…
In what other ways is it different working out during a pandemic?
Juan: It is the schedule. We put (class) on the schedule and we come together. Before, if it was just her coming without me or me coming without her, we might not go. But since it is the both of us, we always go.
Fabs: Yeah, sometimes (one of us) would be like “I kind of don’t want to go” and the other would be like, “we need to go”. So it just helps to keep going. The other thing that is nice during the pandemic when he is working out with me is that I feel like I can break just a little bit of the rules. Like I can jump into his square and nobody is going to say anything to me about it! Obviously I’m not breaking the social distancing because he is my husband, but I get to feel like I am doing something a little bit wrong! It feels good to break rules and feel normal.
Being a little transgressive! I love it. So I’m eventually going to ask you why you make the time to workout even though you are busy professionals, but we’re going to put a pin in that because I want to first ask you both briefly what it is you do for work? Tell our readers- because I know, but I think it is fascinating.
Fabs: I am finishing my PhD, so I am working on my dissertation-
And your focus is?
Autism. I’m providing therapy for low income families that do not speak english in the U.S. on how to teach their kids with autism.
That is an excellent distillation. And Juan?
Juan: What do I do?
Fabs: He’s the Marie Kondo of data.
The Marie Kondo of Data? *howling*
Juan: There we go- that is probably one of the best explanations.
Fabs: He brings joy to Data. He always says, “how do you make data sexy?”
Juan: *laughing* So my title is I’m the principal scientist of a company called “data.world”. I joined the company because they acquired my company, so technically I get to do whatever I want and what I want to do provides income for the company. I help drive the vision of the company, I am in front of customers when they need a scientist in the room to show off the cool things we are doing- my life is all about how to understand data, what data means. That is the business side and from the research side I collaborate with universities and do research on different aspects of data management.
Fabs: He says, “No BS conversations about data!”
Juan: Oh! So I started a podcast with one of my buddies from work. It is called “Catalogue and Cocktails” it is an honest, no BS, non-salesy conversation about enterprise data management.
I think that is an excellent plug. Where can readers find this podcast?
Juan: Wherever you listen to podcasts!
Listen and subscribe- five star ratings! Coming back to my prior question, with those being fairly big jobs, why do you take the time to workout?
Juan: *zero hesitation* So I can eat and drink! I have a cellar full of wine, beer, and whiskey.
*laughing* That is fantastic. And that is a no BS answer! And Fabiola?
Juan: And, by the way, to feel stronger and healthier.
Fab: Yeah yeah yeah! This will not answer your question in particular, but I think it will give context why I ignore what the coaches say sometimes. I feel like I push myself a lot during the day to be the best therapist that I can- it is a lot of being the best that I can be for families, so when I arrive at The Shop I just want to feel free like I don’t have to be my best. Just to be whatever I want to be that day and no one will care.
That is where you give yourself permission to not have pressure on yourself.
Fabs: Exactly! It is a relaxing moment. I’m working out and it is great because I can get energy out and I don’t need to think about anything. If I do a lot of work I will receive a “GREAT JOB!”, but if I’m not I will get a “YOU CAN DO IT FABIOLA!”. It is a nice place to be free.
That is a great way to put it- I think that is part of why you two have been selected. You bring a levity and a celebratory presence when you’re in class. With that, something that is always true of Athletes of the Season is that they have relationships with people at The Shop. Obviously you two work out together, but could you talk about any of the relationships you have with other people around The Shop?
Juan: Can we start with you?
Fabs: *big laughter*
That could be dangerous, but go for it!
Fabs: It’s a big one right?
Juan: We kind of know you Chad Ramsey. For those who don’t know, Chad married us.
A responsible person discloses their financial backers, so as an interviewer I should disclose that I presided over their wedding- I am a little invested in these two.
Fabs: You flew to Colombia to join us-
Juan: And Also joined us on our honeymoon along with (coaches) Autumn and Mark.
So there is actually a high degree of you two fraternizing with coaches and other members.
Juan: When we started, there would be weeks when we would only see you and Autumn for classes-
Fabs: The last class of the evening. Then Mark-
Juan: Mark would always attend the 7:30pm class. And we now know that this whole pandemic worked out so that John could cancel the 7:30pm class.
Fabs: He’s going to use this interview to complain that the 7:30pm class is gone!
That is the power of your platform!
Fabs: But to say something positive about John, Pablo (another member) one day asked him how much he would need to pay for Juan and I to be Athlete of the Season and then the next day we were on the board! I don’t know if John made it happen or someone else did, but it was after Pablo tried to buy our names on the board.
Juan: That 7:30pm class was smaller, but it was always the same group of people-
Fabs: There was Elena (Bollas) and Luke (Barney), Cameron (Hart), Dan and Brittany (Mottola)-
Dan and Brit? You guys are pulling out some classics here.
Juan: And in Strength class we hang out with Natalie (Cincotta) and Mark.
I will say that the 7:30pm class was always a really special one for me. When I moved away in 2017- I don’t want to even talk about those dark times-
Fabs: Hums the “Imperial March” from Star Wars
My last 7:30pm class was one I’ll never forget- there was a perfect sunset. There was something about the familiarity of that group. I think there was a feeling that everyone has had their day already, so no one is rushing off or thinking about what they have to do next.
Fabs: Another thing I love about the last class is seeing the board erased. Seeing the first section get erased, it felt like “I have accomplished something today”.
Juan: Autumn would make competitions to decide who would get to erase each section. Yeah and the other thing is- wait, what was the question?
Fabs: Connections we have made at The Shop!
Juan: Right Right! And then the other thing that happened was meeting Chris (Santini) and Pablo (Mussetti)-
Fabs: This is a great story.
Juan: We were at a Steak & Wine Night and I met this guy Chris and he was not a member, but we just started talking because he works in tech, so we were talking about that for like an hour. Then suddenly Fabiola is talking to somebody else-
Fabs: I was talking to Pablo and I remember he said something like “I might leave early because my partner always likes to leave early”. So we went to find Chris and he seemed super happy. So they didn’t leave early and we were like the last ones at the party.
Juans: That is how we met, and then we realized we were neighbors and so we started hanging out. When the pandemic started, everyone was organizing their bubbles and we decided to be a bubble together.
Fabs: It has been something that makes us feel better during the pandemic, knowing we can walk to their house and drink wine with someone else. We became family during the pandemic.
Juan: So sanity during the pandemic was possible because we got to hang out with Chris and Pablo and we met them at The Shop.
That is adorable. I’ve spoken with the two of you about maintaining sanity during the pandemic- do you have any silly things that you have done to stay sane during the pandemic? Like Fabiola, you got chickens right?
Fabs: Now I am the crazy chicken lady, but it makes me really happy. And Juan has a bar in our house. So those are the two things-
And just to clarify, we’re talking real chickens right.
Fabs: We have four- we had five, but one was stolen by the raccoon-
Juan: She “disappeared”; we’re still looking for her, so if anyone has any information.
She’s on a milk carton.
Fabs: We do silly things like knitting sweaters for the chickens and teaching them how to swing on a swing.
That is great! And the bar? What was the inspiration for that?
Juan: One of the things you miss is hanging out with people and you miss hanging out with people at a bar. So you can start to recreate some of that, so why not?
Fabs: It is open air, so it is safe.
Juan: We call it Bar-Barella because we also miss going out dancing at Barbarella.
Again, disclosure to the readers- I have gone out dancing with you two at Barbarella many times. What attracted you to Thursday nights there?
Juan: Grits n Gravy! The music on Thursday nights is soul and funk and disco- The Beegees, James Brown, Aretha Franklin. Every song you listen to, you want to move your body to it.
Fabs: It is also not that many people and you always see the same people- weird people dancing by themselves or dancing in groups and it was nice to just be free.
Just to be one of the weird people?
Fabs: Yeah! And to see the same people like- “Hey, there is that guy in a skirt who always dances in the same corner” or “There are the two girls who dance a lot but never with anyone else!”
Kind of like Cheers– where everybody knows your name.
Fabs: Just like Cheers! And the bartender actually knows our names because he knows Juan really well-
Juan: Well yeah, I’ve been going every Thursday for a couple years, so yeah.
What else do you two miss since the pandemic?
Juan: Well, traveling.
Of course! Can you indulge us in some nostalgia and talk about a highlight in travel over the past couple years?
Fabs: To start with, half of the year he wouldn’t be in Austin. That will give you a concept of how often he was traveling.
Follow up question: will you be able to maintain your gym regularity when you start traveling for work again?
Juan: Yeah… I think we were only able to become Athletes of The Season because of the pandemic-
Fabs: Maybe with the online classes you will be able to stay more consistent.
Juan: Yeah, if they stay- so don’t take them away John! I said early on that I thought the virtual stuff is going to be awesome for people who travel. That is just another reason to be a part of this community. I was thinking about it and I could probably still take classes if I was in Europe. I usually travel 6 months out of the year- 150,000 miles per year on average. Highlights? Going to Japan was a highlight. Fabiola actually proposed to me. I had organized a trip to Japan and she organized this scavenger hunt proposal the day before-
Fabs: One of the stops was The Shop.
Can you tell the readers a bit about the scavenger hunt?
Fabs: Yeah! For a year I was planning this proposal-
Juan: She really knew that she wanted to marry me.
Fabs: Yeah, and the 4th step was to get a clue at The Shop. And I got him wasted before the proposal.
Well it was clearly an effective strategy!
Fabs: *laughing* Yes, yes it worked!
Juan: We’re still together! So, we went to New Zealand last year. I surprised my Dad for his 70th birthday with a trip to Europe. He was living in Boca Raton, so I flew in and just showed up claiming that I was stranded with a delayed layover, but I told my mom what I was doing. So we had dinner and watched a movie then went to bed. The next morning, I was getting ready to go to the airport and I gave him a little present and it was a passport and tickets. Then I told him he had a half hour to pack because we’re going to Turkey right now.
That is baller!
I had meetings all over and he just came along.
I think that is very revelatory of the kind of person you are, for better or for worse.
Juan: I just love to travel. It is so amazing that you can just get in a metal tube and then 5-10 hours later you are in a different world. It is magic.
Fabs: I think Juan has this ability where, if you don’t like traveling, if you go with Juan you will love it. He enjoys it so much that he will make you enjoy it.
I can attest to that, having tagged along on your honeymoon! Now Fabiola, I know you like travel as well, but you are a fabulous home-builder. I just want you to talk a bit about your love of plants; it is so intrinsic to who you are. Where did that come from?
Fabs: I think it all comes from my mom. If you give my mom a present, she is the perfect person to find a new place for that present. If you gave her a blender, she would be like “oh this is beautiful, this will be perfect for your Aunt“. The only thing she won’t give away is a plant. So for my whole life, there were two things you could give her- a plant or a pot. So everyday at 6 o’clock we would gather together in the garden to drink coffee and would walk around talking about which plants were happy. We were always talking about whether the plant had joy or not- *looks at her beer* now I’m getting drunk with this! But the conversation was always about whether the plant was happy. My mom has the power to make any garden look beautiful. So now, the thing that connects me with my family is my plants. I think Juan is now starting to understand joy in plants.
Can you give the readers one tip for plants?
Just find plants that fit in the environment that you are in.
I love that. You confessed to not having read other interviews Fabiola, so this is where I gain the high ground on you! If you had read the other interviews, you would know that I always ask some weird random questions to round things out. First question- we talked about Grits n Gravy music. For both of you, if you had a theme song that played when you walked into a room, what is that song?
Fabs: Oh Chad, I think you should just pause the recording because this is going to take me forever!
We’ll just sit in agonizing silence and let you regret not having prepared better.
Fabs: There is a song that comes to my mind, but I know that it is not the right answer *starts singing Tequila by The Champs*
Juan: *roaring with laughter*
Well I think that has to be the right answer! I love that answer.
Juan: On my Spotify wrap up list, Dance Monkey (by Tones and I) was my most played song.
And it is on my playlist for classes at The Shop thanks to you!
Fabs: Awww… Chad, you should come back (to the evening classes), no one plays that song! *yelling at my recording device* JOHN, DANE, bring Chad back!
*laughing* That is great, if you were to give yourself a super power and create a superhero around that power, what would your superhero alter ego be?
Fabs: The first thing that came to my mind, but it would be terrible-
Is it also tequila?
Fabs: *laughing* No… what is the name of that film Juan? Espada en la Piedra?
Juan: The Sword in the Stone.
Fabs: The Magician, Merlin, wins (the wizard’s duel) by becoming a virus. But I don’t want to be a virus right now! It is just the first thing that came to my mind.
Juan: I’d say the ability to fly, but I like the journey on a plane.
And if I may editorialize, I love looking at your Instagram posts of food porn from 30,000 feet in the air.
Juan: Oh I am very lucky to get to fly comfortably. One of my favorite quotes is Blaise Pascal, “I’m sorry I wrote a long letter, if I had more time I would have written a shorter letter”. So a super power would be being able to summarize things in a crisp manner.
Fabs: Okay, I have my power! I don’t want to be a virus because I don’t think people would want to be my friend. I think I would want the power to understand why people do what they do.
Those are both fantastic answers. So this is a variation on a question I ask in solo interviews. If someone was to make a movie of your life, Juan who would play Fabs and Fabs who would play Juan?
Juan: Oh god…
Fabs: *flounces her curly black hair* Elaine!
Juan: *laughing* Julia Louis Dreyfus? I can actually see that.
Fabs: But that is not fair that I answered your question Juan. I don’t have an answer to who would be you.
Juan: I’m stealing your answer.
It would be really solid casting.
Fabs: So I would say Chad! You’re an actor right? You would be perfect.
Maybe that is the whole reason I am here- the whole reason I am in your life. I am doing research on you Juan!
Juan: Well in that case, Coach Mark is playing Fabiola!
Way to bring it back to The Shop!
Fabs: But you and I both have curly hair and Juan and Mark are both brown!
Okay… so the Juan and Fabiola story starring Mark Hernandez and Chad Ramsey. Great! Okay, so if you were to nominate someone from the Shop community to be president of the United States who would it be?
Juan: Hands down, Chad Ramsey. Period.
Well that is the whole reason I conduct these interviews, to get that answer! I’m retiring the question.
Juan: But that is something I miss doing, talking politics with you. Your perspectives are well thought out.
Fabs, who are you nominating to run against me?
Fabs: The first thing I thought would be Becca, Becca would be the perfect president.
My wife? Oh no!
Fabs: Yeah! And you can be the first lady!
Okay…
Fabs: Come on, she knows a lot about education and everyone loves her. She is fun and educated.
Well, this is going to cause a lot of division in the Ramsey household. Okay well we should wrap this up. I like to conclude by asking if you have any words of wisdom? Any edicts or decrees? Any thoughts to impart as Spotlight Athletes? Now that you are in the pantheon of chosen athletes?
Juan: I need to update my CV!
If you haven’t already, you’ve been derelict of duty! You have both already said some brilliant things in this interview, but any other advice to dispense?
Juan: Advice I would give is strive for excellence. You know when you aren’t giving it your best.
Fabs: Oh no Juan, I never do that at The Shop! No sorry, Juan you were being serious. Strive for excellence. When working with families and kids and therapists I give the advice to not take things personally. It will make your life easier if you don’t think things are against you or because of you. It isn’t personal, it is just happening.
That is great! Now did you guys come up with three questions to pose to the Dane’s Body Shop community?
Fabs: Will we receive an answer?
Yes! This is a new segment. This came up in my interview with Cole Hubbard- I put it out there as a joke and he actually came up with three great questions.
Juan: Well there is something with Keith. I’m having trouble coming up with a question, but I like him and I want to know more about him.
What is up with Keith? That is a fair question. I don’t know if anyone has time to solve that conundrum.
Juan: He’s a fun guy. He will put music on and just go in the corner-
Fabs: *roaring laughter* He is a huge guy trying to hide between a little bar and he thinks we cannot see him dancing! I think my first question would be, is the 7:30pm class coming back? Is Chad coming back to Coach? Because the morning is not valid!
Juan: That is a question I have- how can someone wake up and workout at 5am in the morning? How can people do this?
Fab: Yeah! Do they actually work out or do they just drink coffee?
Juan: Can someone actually PR a lift at that time? I find it to be amazing and ridiculous!
Fabs: I have another question. It is a stupid question actually.
My favorite kind!
Fabs: Are we going to have a community plant to take care of? We had that big (pride of Barbados) plant at the old Hyde Park.
I will say that we have tried to devise ways to transplant that from the old Shop to the new one. So we have:
Is 7:30pm coming back?
Coach John answered with a deep breath and a profoundly pensive look toward the setting sun. As of publication time, he is still silently gazing westward
Do people actually work out at 5am?
Coach Beth Reyburn offers two possible thrilling answers to this query:
Just before 5 am, timers turn on the lights and open the doors. Cutouts of people spring up from the floors and out of the walls. To a passerby, it appears that there is a 5 am class, when in fact, everyone is home snug in their beds. Tom Sennett doesn’t actually exist.
or
5 am warriors are actually all part of the witness protection program and are living under false identities. That’s why they have to work out before anyone else is awake. Now that you’ve figured it out, they will all have to be moved to a new secure location. Tom Sennett doesn’t actually exist.
and
Can we have a community plant?
Coach Dane responded to this one: “How about a climbing cacti like the Night Blooming Flamingo Cereus Cactus, for the telephone pole out front?”
I love it guys, that was great!
