nfl preseason eve

Croyle! Orton! Chiefs! Bears!
The NFL on FOX! Don't miss it!

The Chiefs come to Soldier Field tomorrow to kick off the preseason. Conventional wisdom is that the preseason isn't worth watching. But I'm afraid the Chiefs regular season might be the one that's not worth watching.

Since they're such a young team that needs to develop to talent, this is going to be another losing season. But I'm actually excited to watch these young players, some for the first time.

Is Croyle to Bowe the next Montana to Rice?
Unfortunately, Dorsey will not get a chance to put pressure on Orton/Grossman due to injuries.

Also, the supposedly radically new Madden 09 is dovetailing nicely with me getting a ps3, so I'll be getting that on Tuesday--in fact it's already ordered. So at least one version of Croyle will be awesome.

Oh, and I am so sick of Brett Favre. I don't give a shit what happens--I just wish he would have stayed retired.

tales of a second annivesary

7.22.08

Two years can go by pretty fast. We watched our wedding DVD for essentially the first time. We realized that the ceremony is really boring and skipped straight to the reception disc. And then we fast forwarded through the dancing and the setup. So basically we watched the party get introduced and then us smashing cake. Well worth it.

I suspect it will be more enjoyable down the road when our memories aren't as strong and we don't look like we did that day.

But more importantly, we started the anniversary day at Congo River mini golf. 36 holes of perfectly hokey safari-themed fun. The first game was pretty tight. Brittany got off to an early lead but I held close. She got a hole in one on about hole 12 and was keeping her lead. I responded with a hole in one soon after. Going into hole 17, I was a stroke behind. But a great tee shot gave me a gimmee second shot. She settled for a three, making us even going into the final hole.

I went first and it was a long hole, with ridges and a turn. I played a masterstroke. My ball came to a rest inches from the hole, a guaranteed 2. The pressure was on her. I thought for sure that I would win. And then what does my wife do? Ace. She wins the first game with a hole in one on 18. Not even Tiger does that.

I was a little miffed but also proud. My wife can play.

Then we went to the second game and apparently I was shaken up. Within the first 4 holes, I was behind 6 strokes. Mostly I was played bad. Just a lot of bad shots. I kept saying it was early. But she held on to a solid lead through the front nine.

But then I roared back, making up multiple strokes on a hole here and just playing smart. By the end of that 18 I had come back and won by a couple strokes. It was pretty remarkable since I was down so much early, but that's how it goes.

Although we both won a game, the memory that sticks with me the most is her acing the winner.

it's good to be alive

Perhaps, one day I'll look back on this general time and reflect on how amazing everything was. And if my life continues to improve, than that's good too.

Life is good. It has been for a while. I'm lucky. And I know it.

don't you hate pants?

dr. ding-dong's sing along blog blong

what it's like to work in advertising

new alk3

Here's the best song off their new album, Agony & Irony.

"Calling All Skeletons"

80%

It's been a while. It's already July 8th. It looks like it will be Mid-August before I finish. That's okay.

The Hot Doug's Experience

Since I took Monday off, I ventured up to try out Hot Doug's, The Sausage Superstore and
Encased Meat Emporium. (3324 North California-Chicago)

I saw it on TV and had to go. But they're only open from 10:30 to 4. And the lines are crazy on the weekend, so that's why it was a day off event.

Their menu includes all what you'd expect, plus wild one's you wouldn't:

* * *

The Mountain Man: A damn tasty combination of Elk, Venison, Buffalo and Antelope with Cassis Butter and Coolea Cheese
$8.00

The Marcus Fizer (Today's Celebrity Sausage)
Greek Loukaniko with Skordalia, Olive Tapenade and Sheep's Milk Haloumi Cheese
$7.00

Other Specials
Portuguese Linguiça with Saffron Rouille and Castelinhos Cheese
$7.50

Cognac and Hazelnut Pheasant Sausage with Black Truffle Sauce Moutarde, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris
$8.00

Fig and Brandy Duck Sausage with Sweet Dijon Mustard Sauce and Cheese-Stuffed Sweet Peppers
$7.50

Bell Pepper and Mozzarella Chicken Sausage with Pizza Sauce, Sautéed Peppers & Onions and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
$7.00

Blue Cheese Pork Sausage with Sir William Pear Purée, Smoked Almonds and Roasted Apples
$7.50

The BLT: Bacon Sausage with Avocado Mayonnaise, Lettuce and Cherry Tomatoes
$7.50

Savory Ostrich Sausage with Strawberry Dijonnaise and Queijo Sao Jorge
$7.50

* * *

Also, the famous duck fat fries are only available on Friday and Saturday.


I went there planning on getting something wild, but between the prices and all the choices, I ended up ordering:


The Elvis
Polish Sausage: Smoked and savory - just like the King.
$2.50
(with mustard, relish, carmelized onions, and sport peppers)

The Salma Hayek
(formerly the Madonna, the Raquel Welch and the Ann-Margret)
Andouille Sausage: Mighty, mighty, mighty hot!
$4.00
(with just relish and carmelized onions to really taste the meat)

They were both excellent. The polish was just what I'd expected. The Andouille came sort of split open, and in a bakery style bun that soaked up the delicious grease. It wasn't spicy just flavorful. Very good, even if it didn't live up to the description.

I'd love to go back and try something more exotic. Can I really justify paying 7.50 for a bacon sausage? Who knows.

Oh yeah, and I'm not nearly the first to blog about this place.

New Grill!

I picked up this bad boy today in Target for 30 bucks. Here's what's got me excited:

1. Big Handle so you don't have to lift near the grilling surface.
2. Big Area, it says 80 square inches, and my guess is it's close to about 8 deep by 10 wide. perfect for a long steak, or 2 burgers at the same time.
3. Floating Hinge! It's always been a bit of a challenge to get a chicken breast to cook evenly because of the shape, but now it should have more uniform grilling.
4. 2 giant grease trays and 2 spatulas. Now I can put one tray in the dishwasher and still have one under the grill.

Considering I paid 20 bucks 5 years ago for the classic small white one, I think this is a steal.

midnight scene

So this is what I've been listening to this week: Hold Steady and Against Me! (sic)

I'm not vouching for the video part, just the songs:

Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!

Against Me! - Thrash Unreal


Hold Steady - Your Little Hoodrat Friend

the most ridiculous thing i've ever seen

It's summer! It's time for ice cream! Now I'm diabetic!

Taken from their own website:



It's not just a shake, it's a dream come true! And quite the dream it is, at 2600 calories, 135 grams of fat, (59 saturated), and 263 grams of sugar! That's three times as much saturated fat as you should have in a day, you're getting in a between meals shake. Of course this is listed under beverages.

Seriously, when the USDA calculates everything on a 2,000 calorie diet, and you're making a "beverage" that has 2600 calories, there's something wrong. I guess it's part of their new slogan. Baskin Robbins: We're trying to kill you.

Sports Guy unglued

I just checked in on Simmons' latest unplugged blogspot post: a 1999 article about golf announcing. The first thing that surprised me was a real, honest to goodness f-bomb.

But this stood out more:

"some out-of-nowhere guy named Mike Weir was playing with Tiger and submitting a performance worthy of Carl the Gardner from "Caddyshack." It was a familiar story, a Roy McAvoy-type putting together three great rounds before self-destructing in the fourth round under the TV lights. It happens every golf tournament. There's always a Mike Weir involved. Always.

So Weir's putting in on the 18th for an 80 -- repeat, 80 -- and one of the CBS guys tells us, "He'll be back. He'll be back. He got some good experience today."

Good experience? Good experience? The guy just shot an 80 in the final group in the final round of a major. He could crash his car on the way home and have a better experience than that. Are you kidding me?"

Of course, that was 1999. Mike Weir went on to win the 2003 Masters and and spent 100 weeks in the top 10. Sure it sounds funny to criticize the announcers in 1999, but sometimes they know more than you do.

One last note, it amused me that even in 1999 he was relying on "electroshock" for humor.

70%

Home stretch. Everything's falling into place and it feels good. I'm feeling good about having the rough draft done by July. That would be just about 6 months. That's not too bad.

Rick Reilly rips off Rick Reilly

In his 2nd ESPN article, Rick Reilly rips off Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated. He starts this week's US Open article:

"Rooting for Tiger Woods is like rooting for Justin Timberlake to get lucky, Exxon to hit a gusher, Bill Gates to find a twenty on the sidewalk. It takes no imagination. It takes no courage."

I know that sounded familiar. So I went through the Hoagie Central archives and found this quote I posted in May 2007 about rooting for the Yankees:

"It's like hoping Bill Gates wins the lotto, it's like rooting for Brad Pitt to get laid."

A few observations.

• I see in a year he's updated his reference from Brad Pitt to Justin Timberlake. Fair enough.
• He's also swtiched from "laid" to "lucky." I don't remember if the original was in print or where I saw it, but apparently working for Disney/ESPN doesn't give you as much freedom.
• He's stuck with Bill Gates as a archetypal rich man but downgraded the metaphor from lotto to finding a $20. But I think it works better. A fine improvement.
• And of course, he thinks that everything that applies to the Yankees applies to Tiger Woods.
  

Is Tiger the Yankees of golf? I think it's a lot easier to root for Tiger than the Yankees because there's no strings attached, like you have to be from New York. Tiger is America, neo-American if you will. And how do we choose which golfers to like anyways?

If there's no team affiliation, how do we grow affinity for anyone? Skill? Personality? Coolness? Tiger's got 'em all. I guess my point is, I like Tiger, and I don't think it's like rooting for the Yankees.