My friend Dick Rossetti is nothing if not a shameless self-promoter. Upon completion of his band's video for "Douchebag Boyfriend" he called me up.

"You gotta see this thing. YOU will dig it. Do you know Niels? He's a Tacoma guy. He's the d-bag. It's KILLER," Rossetti clamored.

I pulled it up on Youtube, and it was, in fact, killer. And I did know Niels. Or at least I was familiar with him as a guy who frequents the same sort of bars I do (or vice versa). The next time I saw him out at Magoo's I introduced myself as a friend of Dick's and of his work in the video. From that point, when our paths crossed, we would always exchange dude nods. Once in a while, we'd go so far as to exchange actual pleasantries. It's great when you can say, '"What's up?" to someone who has the confidence in themselves to not make it awkward when that's all it is. We were on the same page in that respect.

A few weeks ago, my car being a little irresponsible with its fluids when I park it in my driveway, I remembered Dick saying that Niels was a mechanic. I called Dick and told him to call Niels and see if it would be all right to give him a call. I got the green light from Dick, and the number, and called Niels up.

I will have been in Tacoma for five years this May. I have not had a mechanic the whole time. I've had plenty of substantial work done, on a number of different cars, and I have a few friends who ARE mechanics; but that's not the same thing. The piece of mind that comes from KNOWING (not just hoping, or assuming) that the person you're paying to fix your car has your back, and doesn't have any desire to take more than what's fair for the service being provided (which for some of us seems like the work of the devil's black arts) is an unfathomable reassurance. That's what comes with being able to say I'm taking my car to MY mechanic.

Niels fixed the oil leaks and, in the process, stumbled across some shitty work a previous garage had done that threatened to shut my driving abilities down at the source. He charged me about half of what I feared I might have to spend, and he didn't charge me at all for the un-shittifying of some else's work. Niels works out of his own shop, and if I had to, I could walk from his house to mine in about ten minutes. I am in pig heaven.

I called Niels up to ask him about doing this article, and in the course of our conversation, I found out he has lived in Tacoma for 20 years. His step dad was in the service and that made his German nationality eligible for a visa. He didn't want me to put his last name or a contact in the article, because, as he put it, "If I don't like you, I don't want to touch your car."

That being said, I consider it my jog to report the cool things about Tacoma when I find them. My man Niels is so bad-ass, I can only hope you already know him.

And if you don't, get on Youtube, punch in "Douchebag Boyfriend", and familiarize yourself with Niels' mug - that's him in the starring role. The, find him in a bar, buy him a drink, and pray that you're not a douchebag.