Everybody Wake Up

On the way to work I thought of yet another good thing about not following an organized religion. There won't be any Wright or Hagee bullshit to derail my presidential campaign. Selling her soul to the devil might just pay off for Hillary Clinton! Whatever. Ozzy said it best:

Don't look at me for answers
Don't ask me - I don't know

All Aboard!

Talking to Mr. Alesi I learned of the megabus. Unfortunately it does not serve Denver, but if it did I'd be all over this. You should be too if it services your area (mainly northeast, some midwest, and some California routes). You know I'm all for mass transit, and with gas going where it is going you people should learn to love it or learn to love not going anywhere. Check out the megabus.

Nathan's News

Highlights in an email from MLE:

Five Additional Chances to Qualify for the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

Major League Eating is pleased to announce the addition of five official qualifiers to the 2008 Nathan's Famous International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest Circuit. The events will occur in cities that have never before hosted a Nathan's Famous Qualifier: Chicago and New Orleans (May 17), Pittsburgh (May 24), Kansas City (May 31) and Dallas (June 21).

Registration is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 12:00PM Eastern Standard Time. ... Like other Nathan's Famous contests, registration is first come, first served. Standard Nathan's Famous circuit rules will apply. ...

That's something. I hope that Pat wants to win in his house - Chicago. That will allow Rich to deservingly take Vegas. I might trade Tempe for Kansas City - KC is only an eight or nine hour drive so I can forego the airport bullshit.


View Larger Map

Why?!? We suck.

Another cool geographic photo. The last one I need to post, maybe.

This is the edge of Phoenix. Why do people even try something stupid like this? Putting a city there is stupid enough, but what's up with all the green lawns and tress? It's a DESERT. So is Denver. Denver should not be here either. And why the f*ck are they rebuilding the parts of New Orleans that are up to 16 feet below sea level?!? Gee, I wonder what WILL happen again?

New Dog

See more here.

Look at My Big Meat

Kaz says:
To be the meat you must eat the meat

So a meat-eating I went. T-bonz, Guapo and I met at Traildust for an early bird feast. Bonz and Guapo are two terrific athletic supporters.

Traildust has the biggest steak in Denver that I know of.. 50 ounces, the Bull Shipper they call it. Plus you get a salad, two sides, and bread. I went with the baked potato and cole slaw.

El Guapisimo scored. He order some combo of steak, shrimp and ribs.. Another rib order was canceled so the chef threw them on Guapo's plate. Suh-weet. Free meat. Can't be beat.

The 50 ounce Porterhouse had the t-bone in. At home I weighed the bone - just under 7 ounces.

The steak wasn't too big around, but it was thick. And hot.

It was pretty tasty. I ordered it Medium, and the center was warm and pink. The outer edges were a bit overdone, but it was a big hunk of meat.

There was no fat to trim off, but there was some gristley spots. Those tended to be around the bone where the meat connected.

I had not had a single steak that size before. I think a little over 1 1/2 pounds was my previous steak max. The Bull Shipper is not something I'd go out of my way for but it was a good warmup and I'll know what to expect as far as the digestion of a large piece of beef.

In the end, my take -
Steak, baked potato, cole slaw, dinner salad, 2 pieces of Texas toast, a few onion rings.

Guaps' grin must be because...

... he's got some tasty leftovers...

Good stuff.

Eating Challenges

A supersizedmeals.com member recently created this group on Yahoo Groups and they're looking for new members. If you like Supersized Meals or Eating Challenges, then you should sign up! He'll be using it as a sounding board for new discoveries and challenges, and hoping to get some stories for the site as well. Have you got an eating challenge you'd like to create or try? We want to hear about it! You can join by following this link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foodchallenges

Get thee there!

Toreros

So over the weekend we were in Canon City, and among other things we went to Toreros Mexican Restaurant. Every time we've gone we are not disappointed. This time:

Carne Asada. The meat was very thin, very tender, and totally delicious. The beans, though the portion was a bit on the small side, kicked ass. Toreros does it again!

Complete

When we put Honey down Dr. Ley made a clay impression of her hand. Very nice thing to have. It was not hardened, and I finally got around to baking it.


This past weekend we went up to South T Bar to scatter Honey. Turns out we had quite a crowd.

From left to right is Mark, Honey, and Diablo.



And Norman sat for a while and pondered the meaning of life.

Honey

I have uploaded some photos of Honey. Click here to go to the album. These are the digital photos we have of Honey. Since we adopted Honey before we got a digital camera I bet we have some old school photos of Honey. I'll find them, scan them, and get them up too.


That's Maxine sitting on her twin sister. Max always did this up until a few months ago when Honey finally realized she could snake into the passenger seat up front to get away from being sat upon.

This is a new flavor at Chipotale..

..a Honey burrito!

Hot Dog Eating

Last Friday at Olde Tyme Drafts and Dawgs we threw down some hot dogs.

Final tally was:
Stork, 14.5
Me, 12.5
Dom, 10.5
Big D, 8
Joe, 6.5

Two new eaters showed, Dom and Joe. Dom made a pretty good debut with 10 1/2. He got off to a fast start, no doubt.

That is Joe on the left and Dom in the middle. Hopefully they had a good time eating and at Olde Tyme, and they will show up at future events.

Some hecklers in the peanut gallery wanted to see a reversal - and with me and D eating you never know what might happen - but everyone held on to their meat. Maybe next time someone will spew their meat all over the crowd.

I got scolded by Kat for the lame picture of her from the corned beef & cabbage. Did I mention how good the corned beef & cabbage was? Kat can cook.



A highlight of the evening was checking out the work of Mango who colorfully carved his name in the bar. Hey Mango the rainbow under your name is cute and so is the little bunny rabbit to the right of the O. And the dude blowing chunks is cute too.

More photos can be viewed here.

And thanks again to Jill, Kat and Erin for another fun time!

Da Honey

It is with heavy hearts and much sadness that Tommye and I announce that Honey has passed. We had been preparing for this for the last few months, and over this past weekend she decided it was time. Though we are saddened, we have many great memories of our time with her. Whenever we'd go to the off-leash dog park Honey would search the perimeter in hopes of finding a way through the fencing. She'd never find one but now she is running freely forever and loving it - no leashes, no fences, no worries. And that makes us happy.

I am putting together some photos of Honey.

Joey on Food Network

I was watching Unwrapped on the Food Network the other night, and there was a segment with Joey Chestnut. I have uploaded it to YouTube.

Concentric Layout

This is just a cool picture:


I majored in Geography so I am digging this. I do not know of any concentric layouts like this one in the United States, and the concentric layout is obviously limiting, but it is still a nice photo.

My Body Fat %

At the office yesterday the Health Center was doing body fat measurements. Only a select few were willing to face up to it. Here's my result:

The tests were done using calipers. They took three measurements at each of three testing areas: chest, tricep, thigh. Of course there is a great deal of room for errors, so the curiously too precise sounding 6.44% doesn't mean too much. No single result on a single day can mean that much. Use the results to measure overall progress.

Be One Too

No doubt that I think one of the best ways to be a bad ass is to have guns or other military stuff, and even better is to look like you are ex-military. And to do so you can look really good by shopping at LA Police Gear. Want some Bates boots or the latest and greatest Under Armour products? Check out the site and see what you can get. Gotta love free shipping!

Africa - Check!

You might remember a month or so ago me lamenting that I had not yet penetrated Africa or Antarctica. But Saturday:


How to crack Antarctica? Post something about getting a job in Antarctica? About gay penguin sex? Do any IPs originate in Antarctica? I doubt any do so getting a hit from Antarctica probably will not happen.

BeOysterAware.com

The good folks at BeOysterAware.com have a new ad campaign which showcases some embarrassing moments for people. It is really a good idea. Here is mine:



I would rather be like an oyster and keep this closed up. But I know "coming out of my shell". And BeOysterAware.com knows all about Gulf oysters. Their website is full of all kinds of information. Check it out and learn something interesting today!

Cabbage & My Colon

On St. Patrick's Day I ate 3.25 pounds in 12 minutes of corned beef and cabbage. A nice mixture of good corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. It was very good. One thing I like about eating all this stuff the past two and a half years is learning about the body - the mind, the mouth, and the digestive process. Our bodies have evolved so amazingly from the single cell organisms swimming around in that primordial stew. Anyway, so I ate the cabbage. I'd heard the after-effects could be something, and they were nothing short of explosive: We ate at about 7:30pm on Monday, so from there:

Monday, 10:30pm - much too soon to be the CBC. Probably this was pushed out by the CBC.
Tuesday, 8:45am - a normal movement. I think "what's up with that?"
Wednesday, 2:15am - "there's the cabbage doing its thing". I was sound asleep but I shot up like a dart. It's so cool how the body can wake you up in time before, say, a bloody nose, throwing up, or a major digestive event.
Wednesday, 5:10am - #2. I will spare the details from now on, but suffice it to say that each one was something indeed.
Wednesday, 6:10am - #3
Wedneday, 10:10am - #4
Wednesday, 12:15pm - #5
Wednesday, 2:20pm - #6
Wednesday, 6:30pm - #7

Nothing since that last one, so I may be done?

Big Big News!

I had not made a run for the border in a while, and look at this: Taco Bell has changed the color of their Hot sauce packet to a purplish tone. Fire and mild are unchanged. It was that Mild was in a light orange packet, Hot was in a brighter orange packet, and Fire in the red.

Review: New Community!

Sure, the big name in social networks is MySpace and Facebook. But meet the new contender: 3GB. You can meet friends, both new and old. You can upload and share photos and mp3s. You can chat. And you can get in early and stake your space. Very cool. Very easy. Check it out today! To find it just google "join 3gb community www.3gb.biz" or click the link.

CROX SUX

OH MY GOD! Because of not meeting expectations or whatever, CROX took another dive today. Hell, down like 40%, to like $10. UGH! So for those not keeping score, it is down from about $70 to $10 in no time. Who knew. I think the company is well positioned, but the Wall Street guys have different reads. DAMN!

Buy Police Gear

I think one of the best ways to be a badass is to have guns, and even better is to carry them around. And to do so you can look really good by shopping at LA Police Gear. Want a safariland holster or the latest and greatest safariland products? Check out the site and see what you can get. Gotta love it!

CBCAOK

St. Patrick's day at Olde Tyme = corned beef & cabbage throwdown.

5 pound trays. It was good. One of the bartenders made it. The brisket was perfect - not tough, not too tender, just right. This was absolutely the tastiest competition food I've eaten. Krystal's were number 1, but this totally beats Krystal's, no question about it.

Below you can see that my mouth was pretty full. I didn't do too well on the no-chipmunking I wanted to do. I did clear a few times - which is progress - but the mouth was stuffed more than it was not.

Jill talked two guys at the bar in to being in the mix. At one point while talking them in to it Jill said "look at him, he's so skinny...". Stork channeled Crazy Legs, what with the gloves. He was on to something here, as my hands smelled corned-beefy-and-cabbagy for a while after.

Below, with her back to the camera is our chef for the evening, Chef Kat.

The two guys did well, staying in the whole time and eating quite a bit.

Toward the end Stork was trying to drink the broth. That was a really smart strategy that I copied. But it didn't do too much for me since my chipmunking mouth was quite full.

In the end it was close. It could have gone either way since we both had a mixture of meat and cabbage and carrots and broth. After Jill weighed our trays, Stork had put down 2 pounds 10 ounces. I had put down 3 pounds 4 ounces.

I got off to a great start. The cabbage slid down easily, and the other vegetables were pretty soft. The meat had to be gnawed and chewed. I had a good rhythm going - cabbage, cabbage, meat, meat, cabbage, cabbage, meat, meat.... I have to give our chef an assist, big time, on the win. The utter deliciousness of this meal was beyond my wildest expectations.

Slide show of more pictures.

Shuck Off

I have uploaded a segment from a show on the Travel Channel about oysters at the Acme Oyster House. There is an IFOCE contest there on April 12th. While I have never eaten one of these vile things, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas slurped an astonishing 46 dozen (that's 552) oysters in 10 minutes in 2005. You say "Never eaten one?" Well, the loogie went down but then came right back up.

Good Eats

So you can guess how this recap will begin:

This time at Olde Tyme, hot dogs -

The dogs are "normal", 8 to a pound. But the real meat is the buns. Maybe one and a half of these to a normal, plain hot dog bun. They're big, dry, and poppy-seeded.

The eater turnout could have been better. I'll never understand why the hell more people don't eat in these things.

I think more than ever before I kept my cheeks maximumally stuffed throughout. Even T-Bonz noticed and kept reminding me to clear them out. I'd nod, but go right back to chipmunking the hell out of these things. For St. Patrick's Day we throwdown corned beef and cabbage and then after that we do a yet-to-be-decided item on 3/28. For these two I will not chipmunk. I will not chipmunk. I will not chipmunk, and see how it goes. To the kids out there, do not overstuff your mouth.

In the end, Homer took it with 16. Stork right behind with 15. I mean 14.5. Me, 12. Anonymous with 7. Big D, DQ. (Jill, that puke plaque is filling up!)

There are more photos in the slideshow. Unfortunately there is not a photo of the pukage.

Logo Gift Cards

This has a real chance of being huge! HUGE! You know those gift cards many businesses hand out for certain things, cards with the business logo on them? Now a company can do that for just about anyone. How easy is this? Thanks to GiftCardLab almost any company can get their own supply of logo visa gift card to hand out. Sweet! Check it out.