Shopping Bonanza

I swear I can't get ahead of my crazy life. I seem to be doing everything last minute. I had a board meeting to attend (today) and realized that I needed a nicer outfit than anything that existed in my closet.

Last night, while Randy and Holly attended a school play, I went suit shopping. I found nothing I liked. I did manage to find some casual wear for the cruise and a ton of summer stuff for Holly. Oh well, at least I'm getting a little bit ahead of the vacation.

I managed to pull some nice separates together from the closet. Hopefully, I can find a nice suit that I like between now and the next board meeting in 365 days.

Sunday Six

It's Sunday and that means it is time for Kelly's Sunday Six. The theme this week is music.

1. Do you like music?
"Yes"

2. What kind of music do you like?
"Classical music"

3. Who invented music?
"I don't know. I don't even know that question."

4. What is your favorite musical instrument?
"Harp, no, piano. I'm just kidding."

5. What type of music to Mommy and Daddy listen to?
(Turns to Dad) "What do you listen to?"
"Mom listens to Gator songs."

6. Where and how do you listen to music?
"With your ears and everywhere you listen to music."

Another Number One For the Gators

The University of Florida had another number one ranking for 2006. It was the top ranked specialty license plate sold in the state of Florida. Here are the rankings:
2006 Specialty Plate Rankings

You will notice that FSU finished fifth, just behind "Helping Sea Turtles Survive".

Slow Sports Night

I was channel surfing Sunday night when I came across a competitive eating contest on ESPN2. The competition involved Krystal hamburgers. If you aren't familiar with Krystal hamburgers, they are eerily similar to White Castle hamburgers. If you aren't familiar with White Castle hamburgers, then you are out of luck. These are the only two small square hamburgers that I can think of.

For what it's worth, I love Krystal hamburgers. They don't sell them here in Denver so I always make a point to have them when I go back to Florida. This perplexes my family as they equate Krystal with food only slightly more edible than car tires. But I digress.

Takeru Kobayashi downed 97 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes. It was disgusting to watch. However, it was like a wreck, you just had to watch. I decided to look at Takeru's other accomplishments.

Eater Profiles

Takeru Kobayashi
Nagano, Japan
Age: 27
Weight: 160

Brats: 58 Johnsonville Brats / Brat Days / 10 Minutes/ Aug. 5, 2006

Cow Brains: 57 (17.7 pounds) / 15 minutes

Hamburgers: Krystals: 97 Krystal Burgers / 8 minutes/October 28, 2006

Hot Dogs: 53 3/4 Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs and buns / 12 minutes/ July 4, 2006

Lobster Rolls: 41 Lobster Rolls in Boston challenge / 10 minutes/Sept. 23, 2006

Rice Balls: 20 pounds rice balls / 30 minutes

Kobayashi continued to dominate the sport of competitive eating in 2006, once again breaking a record in Coney Island by eating 53.75 hot dogs in 12 minutes. This was his sixth consecutive win at the big dance. However, Joey Chestnut was close on his heels with 52 HDB's--a record for the American eaters. The rivals also finished closely in the 2006 Krystal Square Off--Kobayashi with 97 burgers in 8 minutes, and Joey with 92. After six years of domination, this champion of champions may finally have some serious competition.

International Federation of Competitive Eating

The most disturbing accomplishment would have to be the cow brains. What kind of endorsement deal does this guy get?

Are you hungry yet?

Random Ramblings From the Last Week

I've been remiss in updating my blog. There is just a lot going on in my world.
1. I booked a cruise! It is a very last-minute thing as the cruise departs in less than three weeks.
2. On Saturday, we drove lawn tractors. We have no lawn but the weeds are quickly advancing on our position. Now is the time to draw them into battle.
3. We also took some time to look at a wooden playset for the backyard. We found a really good deal on a used one but we decided that we really needed to do the yard first.
4. I completed my first piece of art. I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. We were in a gallery a couple of weeks ago and I saw some small paintings that I liked. They were a little out of my budget so I attempted to recreate them with Holly's art supplies. I must say it isn't half bad.

It wasn't really my first attempt at recreating artwork. Several years ago, Randy and I were in a small artsy-type store in Boulder. On one of the shelves sat a cat sculpture made completely of wire. I asked Randy if he thought I could make that. He replied "Why of course you could....it just wouldn't look like a cat."

Undeterred, I bought some stiff clothesline and crafted my very own wire cat. Randy was right, it didn't really look like a cat. On our next anniversary, Randy surprised me with the real wire cat from the store. Ain't he sweet?

Easter Bunny Exposed

Through the advanced use of modern technology, I was able to capture one of the first known pictures of the elusive Easter Bunny.

He was cleverly disguised as a large gray cat.

In the spirit of a Star Wars Easter, I present......Darth Egg.

He certainly seems to be happy. This must represent his return from the Dark Side.

With a couple of inches of snow on the ground, the Easter Egg Hunt took place indoors. Holly was quite happy with the adventure.


I hope everyone has a lovely Easter Sunday.

Out on the Town

For the last week or so, Holly has been bugging us to go see "Meet the Robinsons". Not wanting to brave the weekend crowds, we decided to go last night. I have to say that I absolutely loved the movie. The 3D effects were amazing. I would highly recommend the movie.

After the movie, we decided to try the mexican restaurant across from the theatre. The decor and the lighting were very cool. It seemed to have an upscale vibe so I wasn't sure how accommodating it would be for kids. No worries as the hostess had a kids menu and a toy in hand. The toy was a little cell phone. The phone was a game of some sort where you would attempt to shoot little rings onto spikes in the watery display. Holly wasn't all that interested in it but I played with it for a while.

It was a night for mishaps for us at the restaurant. This is not unusual for me. Randy swears I have some sort of bizarre karma in restaurants. He says that he never has problems when he is out with friends. I've come to accept this as my lot in life so we just take everything in stride and laugh about it.

Based on the recommendation of the server, I ordered the Carnitas (pork) Torta. Of course this meant I would be served some sort of chicken sandwich. The sandwich looked mighty tasty but I held out for my original order.

After we finished our meal, we lost our server. He was nonexistent for at least 20 minutes after we were done. I finally saw him over by the bar and gave him the "We need our check" look. After about a minute, the server hurriedly arrived at our table, placed a Margarita in front of Randy and started to leave. Randy blurted "This isn't ours" before he could get away. The server looked truly perplexed. Randy asked for our check. I think my "We need our check" look needs some work.

GATORS WIN

This isn't exactly breaking news but I haven't posted in a while. I've been a little preoccupied. I am so proud of the "Gator boys" (as Joakim calls them). There will never, ever be another group of kids like these six young men (I'm including Chris Richard). Here are some random funny/great moments from the last three days.

*The CBS intro to the game: They had a collection of UF and OSU cheerleader and band members taunting each other. The OSU kids were putting down the Gator chomp while extolling the virtues of their O-H I-O cheer. One of the Gator guys responded "I am not all that impressed that college students can spell a four letter state."

*After a monster dunk, Al Horford looked directly into the camera and did a little shimmy as he backed away.

*In the second half, OSU had chipped away at the Gator lead to come within six points. You could just feel a shift in momentum. Then, Taurean Green hit a three point shot. I turned to my friend Ken and said "It's over!".

*In the postgame interview, Corey Brewer looked into the camera and said "I love you Daddy". Corey's father was unable to attend the game due to illness. Unlike the other "04's", Corey doesn't come from a lot a money. His father is a farmer who has had many complications from diabetes. Corey's decision to turn down the NBA last year postponed his ability to support his parents. I will always love this kid. I hope he goes high in the draft and rakes in the bucks!

*Steve Spurrier, who will always be a Gator, had the following comment after the game. "We've kind of turned Ohio State into Runner-up U., haven't we?" I love Urban Meyer but I really miss the Ol' Ball Coach's zingers.

*The FDOT recently installed this sign just outside of Gainesville. I think they are going to need a new sign.