That will be the title of the show when (okay, if) I become Adam Richman's sidekick.
Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, Man v. Food is a show on Travel Channel. The concept is that the host, Adam, goes around the country and eats a lot. During the first part of the show he visits local restaurants, showing us their specialties and making the viewer seriously consider eating everything in their house, their neighbor's house, and possibly the family dog. Then, during the finale, he participates in a food challenge. You know, like eating 15 pepper burgers, or 12 plates of oysters, a steak as big as your ass, whatever. That's the fun part. Sometimes he completes the challenge, sometimes not, but it's always entertaining to watch and to wonder if you could do it.
Now, as far as the quantity challenges go, I'm pretty sure I could go toe to toe with Mr. Richman. The super spicy challenges I'd have a problem with at first. At one time I was a spicy food fanatic, but in the past couple of years I've kinda moved away from such things. I don't think it would take me long to get back on the habanero horse however (that's a lot of h words!).
I mean, I am the guy who invented "Col. Sheepdog's Killer Death Nazi Chili, which has literally hurt people and may possibly be illegal in some states. I'm also the guy who always orders the biggest steak and/or combo on the menu at any given restaurant. So I believe my credentials are good.
I figure that I could go on the show and co-host. We each present one local legend restaurant, and then go head to head (or stomach to stomach) on the challenge. Or hell, I'll just be the second banana, and Richman can still get the glory. I just want to be involved. After all, being paid to travel and eat is pretty much a dream job, and the fact that he gets paid to do it makes Adam Richman my new hero.
Alright, alright, I know I'll never get on the show, I'm just fascinated by it. I'm also shocked that I didn't come up with it. Except for the traveling part, that's pretty much me. I just don't have my expenses paid by T.V. bigwigs. So I won't get a show, but I do have a blog, so food reviews may be on their way. Or not.
Anyway, if you haven't watched the show you ought to. It's fun. For a review of the St. Louis show see my brother Derek's blog at http://www.derekbrink.wordpress.com. He does mention my love of the show in it, although his views of my goals are a touch off. I don't want to be the fattest man in the world, I just want to eat like him. One thing he was right about though, I did write about Man v. Food, I was just a day late. I also happen to be a dollar short, but that's a whole other thing.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
What's Happening!!!
In the words of Ed Daly, here's what's what, what is, and what's happening.
1. Tessa is beginning to walk. She can move about three feet, if she's going between her mommy and me, and if we're sitting down on the floor while she's doing it. If one of us is standing, she loses her focus by looking up while trying to walk and falls on her butt. She falls a lot actually, stopping is not her strong point. Apparently walking at ten months is considered advanced, so that's cool. Now if she could only get those teeth to come in.
2. Valerie and I went to see "Slumdog Millionaire" on Friday night. We figured it was probably going to win Best Picture at The Oscars (which it did), so we thought we'd go see it. She had the same reaction most people did, and I had the opposite. For some reason I just didn't like it. It had all the right ingredients. Good script, decent acting, nice style, symbolism, unexpectedly violent, all that good stuff, and yet, it didn't come together for me. I should have liked it. I'm not sure why I didn't. I wouldn't deter anyone from seeing the film, but I'm not going to heap praise on it either. So I guess I'll give it two and a half Daves (on a scale of 1-5 Daves, of course).
3. Since I'm reviewing things, I also bought the new Bruce Springsteen CD called "Working On A Dream". Shoulda been working on the record. Okay, that's a little harsh, but I'm largely underwhelmed. Most of the lush organization on the record that everyone is talking about feels forced to me. I also think that most of the songs sound like they're not complete, like they went with the demo version and tacked on some strings. Don't get me wrong, there are a few quality tracks here, the title song is one, along with "My Lucky Day", "What Love Can Do", "Kingdom Of Days" and "The Wrestler" are all top notch. And I'm undecided on "Outlaw Pete". Everything else, though, just feels like they're on cruise control. Maybe it'll grow on me with a few more spins, but that's my first impression.
4. Also in music, the Drive-By Truckers have rescheduled some their St. Louis show due to Patterson Hood's (guitar, vocalist and main writer) illness. He passed out on stage last week, and has been diagnosed with walking pneumonia. I've never had it, but Valerie has and I can tell you it's not fun.
For the past couple of shows, the band played without him, as they have another front man in Mike Cooley (guitar, vocals, secondary writer). From all accounts they were pretty cool shows, and a part of me was kinda hoping for a DBC show here. It's not often that Cooley does solo shows, so this could have been special had it come to pass in St. Louis. I mean, it's a shame that those shows came about because of Hood's illness, but I'd have liked to see it.
The new date is March 28th, and I will be there as always to see the band flying on all cylinders with Cooley and Hood both in tow to bring The Rock Show like only they do.
5. I've contacted a few more clubs about getting some gigs for Blue Tattoo. I'll keep everyone posted.
6. Gold is really high and my job's really busy. I'm going to bed now.
Dave
P.S. Still messing around with my phone. I might actually have to start downloading from Napster. Horrors!
1. Tessa is beginning to walk. She can move about three feet, if she's going between her mommy and me, and if we're sitting down on the floor while she's doing it. If one of us is standing, she loses her focus by looking up while trying to walk and falls on her butt. She falls a lot actually, stopping is not her strong point. Apparently walking at ten months is considered advanced, so that's cool. Now if she could only get those teeth to come in.
2. Valerie and I went to see "Slumdog Millionaire" on Friday night. We figured it was probably going to win Best Picture at The Oscars (which it did), so we thought we'd go see it. She had the same reaction most people did, and I had the opposite. For some reason I just didn't like it. It had all the right ingredients. Good script, decent acting, nice style, symbolism, unexpectedly violent, all that good stuff, and yet, it didn't come together for me. I should have liked it. I'm not sure why I didn't. I wouldn't deter anyone from seeing the film, but I'm not going to heap praise on it either. So I guess I'll give it two and a half Daves (on a scale of 1-5 Daves, of course).
3. Since I'm reviewing things, I also bought the new Bruce Springsteen CD called "Working On A Dream". Shoulda been working on the record. Okay, that's a little harsh, but I'm largely underwhelmed. Most of the lush organization on the record that everyone is talking about feels forced to me. I also think that most of the songs sound like they're not complete, like they went with the demo version and tacked on some strings. Don't get me wrong, there are a few quality tracks here, the title song is one, along with "My Lucky Day", "What Love Can Do", "Kingdom Of Days" and "The Wrestler" are all top notch. And I'm undecided on "Outlaw Pete". Everything else, though, just feels like they're on cruise control. Maybe it'll grow on me with a few more spins, but that's my first impression.
4. Also in music, the Drive-By Truckers have rescheduled some their St. Louis show due to Patterson Hood's (guitar, vocalist and main writer) illness. He passed out on stage last week, and has been diagnosed with walking pneumonia. I've never had it, but Valerie has and I can tell you it's not fun.
For the past couple of shows, the band played without him, as they have another front man in Mike Cooley (guitar, vocals, secondary writer). From all accounts they were pretty cool shows, and a part of me was kinda hoping for a DBC show here. It's not often that Cooley does solo shows, so this could have been special had it come to pass in St. Louis. I mean, it's a shame that those shows came about because of Hood's illness, but I'd have liked to see it.
The new date is March 28th, and I will be there as always to see the band flying on all cylinders with Cooley and Hood both in tow to bring The Rock Show like only they do.
5. I've contacted a few more clubs about getting some gigs for Blue Tattoo. I'll keep everyone posted.
6. Gold is really high and my job's really busy. I'm going to bed now.
Dave
P.S. Still messing around with my phone. I might actually have to start downloading from Napster. Horrors!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Two Things (KV, Phone)
Thing 1: KV lay-offs
I read today that KV Pharmaceutical terminated/laid off 700 employees. I worked at KV for several years as a janitor and met a lot of good people there, many of whom I still call friend. This sucks. From what I can gather, most of the problems leading up to this were brought on by an FDA investigation. I know first hand that everybody freaks when the FDA shows up, even my role was accentuated as the place had to be spotless. Even the chemical spills that were impossible to clean.
I can also say that in my experience, many employees seemed to be concerned with safety issues and even production issues (which admittedly I don't fully understand) but often complained that the higher ups weren't concerned. Typical business management philosophy I suppose, watch the bottom line and to hell with everything else. Now, I realize that everyone complains in their jobs, and I didn't ever take the bitching that I overheard any more seriously than my own venting. But now, well, it makes you think.
Much is being made about the former CEO of the company, I'll just use his initials, MH, who basically ran the place into the ground. He held an art degree, a prerequisite to running a drug company, wouldn't you say? Therefore, naturally, he was an eccentric. Many of his buildings were designed with dramatic scoops, which were nice but hardly functional. He also had some weird ideas. I remember talking to the maintenance guys about a new office building KV was opening, and how MH ordered trees from around the world. Palm trees in Missouri. When informed that the trees would die, he made it clear that the trees would be planted anyway. Of course the trees did die, and of course he got pissed off and fired the landscapers. This is the kind of thinking that ran the company. So now there are quality control problems, and a lot of good people are out of work.
So if anyone out there from my KV days happens to stumble on this and read it, I just want you all to know that my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you all are okay, and those of you who have been affected, may you find work soon. Feel free to leave a comment, or if you have my number (you all know who you are), give me a call. I'd just like to know my friends are okay.
Thing 2: New Phone
This weekend I got an upgrade on my phone. Originally I was hoping for a Blackberry, but my only choices were a refurbished one for about $30, or a new one for like $200-$400. Well, since my budget for this upgrade was roughly free, I opted to hold off on the spiffy Blackberry for a while. Instead I got the Sony/Ericsson W350 Walkman phone. It's a step up in terms of quality for virtually all my features (though I still have to text the long way), and I get an mp3/4 player and video (!) with it. So the phone's pretty cool, but there's one problem.
I can't get the music program to download any damn music! After downloading all the programs that I was assured would make this function work, I was still getting nowhere. It turns out that the phone wasn't being fully recognized by my computer. So after more clicking I figured out that the driver wasn't downloading. To fix this, I need to insert the disc which came with my phone. Except that it didn't. Windows has no other option for me to download this thing either. Therefore I am currently stuck with a cool feature I can't use. I'm sure I'll get this straightened out but right now it's just frustrating.
I'm going to bed.
I read today that KV Pharmaceutical terminated/laid off 700 employees. I worked at KV for several years as a janitor and met a lot of good people there, many of whom I still call friend. This sucks. From what I can gather, most of the problems leading up to this were brought on by an FDA investigation. I know first hand that everybody freaks when the FDA shows up, even my role was accentuated as the place had to be spotless. Even the chemical spills that were impossible to clean.
I can also say that in my experience, many employees seemed to be concerned with safety issues and even production issues (which admittedly I don't fully understand) but often complained that the higher ups weren't concerned. Typical business management philosophy I suppose, watch the bottom line and to hell with everything else. Now, I realize that everyone complains in their jobs, and I didn't ever take the bitching that I overheard any more seriously than my own venting. But now, well, it makes you think.
Much is being made about the former CEO of the company, I'll just use his initials, MH, who basically ran the place into the ground. He held an art degree, a prerequisite to running a drug company, wouldn't you say? Therefore, naturally, he was an eccentric. Many of his buildings were designed with dramatic scoops, which were nice but hardly functional. He also had some weird ideas. I remember talking to the maintenance guys about a new office building KV was opening, and how MH ordered trees from around the world. Palm trees in Missouri. When informed that the trees would die, he made it clear that the trees would be planted anyway. Of course the trees did die, and of course he got pissed off and fired the landscapers. This is the kind of thinking that ran the company. So now there are quality control problems, and a lot of good people are out of work.
So if anyone out there from my KV days happens to stumble on this and read it, I just want you all to know that my thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you all are okay, and those of you who have been affected, may you find work soon. Feel free to leave a comment, or if you have my number (you all know who you are), give me a call. I'd just like to know my friends are okay.
Thing 2: New Phone
This weekend I got an upgrade on my phone. Originally I was hoping for a Blackberry, but my only choices were a refurbished one for about $30, or a new one for like $200-$400. Well, since my budget for this upgrade was roughly free, I opted to hold off on the spiffy Blackberry for a while. Instead I got the Sony/Ericsson W350 Walkman phone. It's a step up in terms of quality for virtually all my features (though I still have to text the long way), and I get an mp3/4 player and video (!) with it. So the phone's pretty cool, but there's one problem.
I can't get the music program to download any damn music! After downloading all the programs that I was assured would make this function work, I was still getting nowhere. It turns out that the phone wasn't being fully recognized by my computer. So after more clicking I figured out that the driver wasn't downloading. To fix this, I need to insert the disc which came with my phone. Except that it didn't. Windows has no other option for me to download this thing either. Therefore I am currently stuck with a cool feature I can't use. I'm sure I'll get this straightened out but right now it's just frustrating.
I'm going to bed.
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