Tempe

"Welcome to Phoenix where the current temperature is 39 degrees"

Wait for it.

Wait..

Wait..

Now:

"Celsius"

Yeah, OK, that's a real funny one, Mr. Flight Attendant. I wonder how many times a day he uses that gem. Ha ha, yeah, buh-bye.

I get that welcome, and then this:


$3.02?!? Damn. But further down the street:


It's funny how most of us are about gas prices. We moan and groan if gas goes from like $2.99 to $3.21 but nevermind that we spend $4.00 a pop for coffee or go out to lunch at work or whatever. Cut some of the crappy spending or take mass transit or something. I'm all for mass transit - that's how I get to/from work every day. Been doing it for a while. Sure, you gotta plan a bit but it's good for your wallet, good for the environment, and good for your mind.

So natch, as I did in Vegas and will do in San Francisco, I skipped the car and whipped out the bus schedules for Tempe:


Convenient. Got me exactly where I needed to go.


In Tempe they're laying two rail tracks right in the middle of downtown.


With the main road down to 2 lanes open I bet traffic sucks (especially when the students are fully there) but it should be good..

On to the hotel.


Free. Another shout out to The Hangman! Nice, too: Clean, king bed, feathery-soft pillows, big TV, digital cable, and some great Pay-Per-View: Eat My Black Meat 4, Big Sausage Pizza 4, Sweet Feet 2. Eat My Black Meat 5, Natural Bush 31, Good Head Gear 9.. 31?!? I gotta be where .. when .. huh? OK OK.

Wake up Saturday, head out for a walk at six. It's already 82 degrees? Yowza. Get back, and get set:


Do up the 'do. Where's my pomade at?


Careful, hot stuff.

Check out of the hotel, and:


And also


How can they protest? It's too HOT to do something about anything, isn't it?

I guess this was their target:


I showed T-bone this one, and ran the comment I was going to post by her. She, being of much better judgement than I, said DON'T. So I won't make the comment about a Kung Fu sign being in the window of Planned Parenthood and relating that to their abortion methods. I won't do that so you can say whatever you want to about that.

On to the mall.


This dude is the IFOCE video guy. Hopefully they'll get the video up soon because I am dying to see Joey eat. Taking part in the event when he does his shit is cool, but as in Vegas last year when he did 50, and in Vegas when he did 46 samwiches, and when Bertoletti did 46 in Vegas, and, I don't get to see it go down.

Good crowd gathered:



A few more shots:


Is the M on his hat for 'Mongo' or 'Manitoba Meatsweats'?


Ryan did great work on the mic. He got the crowd in to it, into what Joey was doing, and they were L-O-U-D.


The Butler. I got hang out at his house after, and he has a great family! Lovely wife Stacey, and very energetic boy Jack. And three kick ass dogs! Dogs are fun, yes? We watched some Eats of Strength (I had not seen these. Love them!).


Another 1st!

Why? Here:



After the eating I thought I was recording the crowd reaction to Joey, and the table, and all that..but I forgot to hit the RECORD button. So that's that.