I made my YouTube debut today on the Benspark blog.
Check it out!
Blogger and Hot Dogger
Andrew (who's name I thought was Ben) from the Benspark blog stopped by for a visit today. He's having a French Fry Sauce Contest that I entered and he stopped by to get one of the proprietary ingredients: my Killer Pepper Relish!
He's got a cool site and he had lots of good things to say about his dining experience. There's some pictures of me and my truck and he even shot a video! Check out Ben's-urm Andrew's Lunch at the Hot Dog Truck.
Hey Hey it's the Suede Shoe Blues
Folks of a certain age will remember the Monkees-America's answer to the Beatles back in the 60's. They had a TV show with the catchy theme song that everyone recognizes as well as a lot of quality pop tunes that live on to this day.
What does this have to do with anything you ask?
Peter Tork, one of the original Monkees, has a band called Suede Shoe Blues and I went to see them last Friday night at my favorite local watering hole The Chicken Bone Saloon!
Tork looked a little worse for wear, but his band was solid and he seemed to know how to play both the keyboards and the guitar. Several Monkees classics were on the playlist as the band played I'm a Believer, A Little Bit You, Daydream Believer (twice-once in each set), a bluesy version of Last Train To Clarksville and the classic punk rock standard (first played by the Monkees) Stepping Stone.
There were about 150 people there and it was an older crowd as the cougar set (all former teenyboppers no doubt) was on the prowl. While the Monkees tunes were enjoyable due to the fact that there was authenticity, the blues numbers were just average. The Chickenbone Saloon gets a lot of blues bands and I've heard many that were better than Tork's ensemble.
Regardless, it was an enjoyable evening and it was lots of fun hearing the Monkees tunes. Here's a few to check out for yourself.
Blog your Blessing Sunday LXIX
I have spent the better part of a day wiping my hard drive clean and starting from scratch after my computer got a nasty virus! THANK GOD FOR RECOVERY DISKS!
2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
LOOSER?
I got this comment from the ODB on my Next Year post about the Boston Red Sox LOSING the ALCS:
"The decade of "The Chowd" is over, finished, done...With Manny gone you have little hope. Brady will never be the same and so will the Pats. Now all we need is for Garnett to go down and the Hat Trick is complete - A complete implosion of "Chowd Nation"!!!
It's gonna be a cold winter for you loosers..."
ODB is a frequent reader and he almost always has something confrontational to say when he leaves a comment. He obviously harbors great resentment towards Boston sports teams. This is because the teams in Southern California basically suck and have always sucked. He compensates for this by attempting to bash our Boston teams.
Let's review point by point:
With Manny gone you have little hope- Hmmmm. The Red Sox had a better winning percentage without Manny. Last time I checked, the Dodgers (where disgruntled Red Sox go to die) got eliminated in the NLCS- with Manny. Manny is the best hitter of our generation and if he ever played the game the way it should be played, he'd be the best of all time. Instead he's a no hustle statistical side show.
Brady will never be the same and so will the Pats.- I think he means "neither will the Pats," but we'll leave grammatical contextual faux pas out of this discussion for now. Brady will be back next year and he'll be Brady-a proven, never say die WINNER. Will the Pats go 16-0 again? Yeah, in 35 years maybe. Will they make the playoffs and contend for a championship this year? Hell yes-just watch. They are 4-2 (3rd best win percentage in the NFL). Last time I checked, your Chargers were 3-4.
Now all we need is for Garnett to go down and the Hat Trick is complete- SO ODB needs to wish physical injury to a player to satisfy his warped sense of sporting inferiority?
A complete implosion of "Chowd Nation"!!!- What the hell is CHOWD NATION? Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as "Perennial Loser With a Chip on Your Shoulder Nation."
Guess what ODB-the Red Sox WILL CONTEND NEXT YEAR, the PATRIOTS WILL CONTEND THIS YEAR and as for the Celtics, who cares-the NBA sucks anyway. Savor Boston's misfortunes, ODB. They're temporary and your teams (and your maniacally misplaced anger) are meaningless to us. I said it in plain English "YOU CAN'T WIN EVERY YEAR." You folks in Southern Cally ought to know!
It's gonna be a cold winter for you loosers... -By the way, the word is "LOSER." "LOOSER" means something is more loose than some other thing as in "this XXXL Championship Patriots sweatshirt is LOOSER than my medium CHARGERS SUCK sweatshirt." GET IT RIGHT!
Next Year
This year, unlike last year, Red Sox Nation will have to wait until next year.
A good, young Tampa team beat the Sox in game 7 allowing the Hotdogman to start getting to bed earlier (barring tonight's Monday Night Football Game which features the Patriots).
Oh well, Red Sox fans should know you can't win the World Series every year.
Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXVIII
The Red Sox refuse to lose. Once again, they have overcome impossible and improbable odds to force a game 7 in the ALCS.
Matthew 12:20
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
OFF THE MAT!!!!
Down 7-0?
NO PROBLEM!
THIS GAME WAS UN-BELIEVABLE! 8 runs scored from the seventh inning on punctuated by a Pedroia RBI double, a big Papi 3 run homer, a JD Drew 2 run homer, a Coco Crisp RBI single to tie the game (which followed a 10 pitch at bat) and a 9th inning which featured a walk to Kevin Youkilis, an intentional walk to Jason Bay and a walk off RBI ground rule double by Drew.
RED SOX WIN 8-7!!!!!
WOO HOO!
Make-Believe Maverick
I don't usually like to spew politics at the Hot Dog Truck, but my aunt sent me this revealing article from Rolling Stone Magazine.
I think BOTH candidates are full of it if you ask me, but it seems Presidential elections come down to the lesser of two evils.
Here's a closer look at the life and career of John McCain that reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty.
UGH!
The sleep deprivation brought on by post season baseball is rearing it's ugly head and Tampa Bay's 9-1 thumping of the Red Sox (in a 4:30 PM start) following an 11 inning marathon game on Saturday has not made the lone early bedtime of the week very bearable.
Jon Lester looked like Mike Timlin tonight and the Sox only managed one run.
Recent history has shown the Red Sox are very capable of getting up off the mat and coming from behind in the post season, so I have not lost heart. We still have lots of baseball to play and lots of late nights to boot.
Local Hot Dogs
There are lots of search engines out there and local.com is another one. The difference between local.com and Google is you'll get a more "local" perspective with local.com. If you have a craving for a really good hot dog and aren't sure where to go, why Google "hot dogs" to find hot dog joints half way across the country when you want to find a place down the street? Local.com offers a local search for local folks.
I even have a listing on local.com for my hot dog truck. As the owner of the business, I am able to enter the listing myself so folks in my area can find me. People can write and view reviews for my place and other local restaurants too. That way you can find out what other people in your area have to say about the place you're thinking of eating. You can even get real easy driving directions for the local places you want to find.
So the next time you want to find a local hot dog joint, don't just google it. Go to local.com and find a place near you that other folks recommend!
CLOSED COLUMBUS DAY
I WILL BE CLOSED AT THE REGULAR SPOT COLUMBUS DAY, MONDAY OCTOBER 13. I AM AT A SOCCER TOURNAMENT.
I'LL BE OPEN TUESDAY AT THE REGULAR TIME.
New Bedroom
We were recently blessed with the gift of a King Sized Tempurpedic mattress. As a guy with nagging back pain, this mattress has given me a new lease on life! I wake up refreshed and pain free every day since we've gotten this mattress.
The one drawback is now my wife wants new bedroom furniture. Even though the platform bed frame expanded from queen to king size, she thinks a new mattress deserves a new bed. While we have somewhat of a contemporary bedroom, it's not a fancy shcmancy Italian bedroom.
My tastes lean towards a more modern bedroom look: my bed frame is a sleek platform bed with an understated headboard and a black finish. I bought the set about 15 years ago, so my wife claims it's not "modern" any more!
Some day soon, she'll most likely get a new bedroom set to go with this dream of a mattress, but for now she's enjoying the comfortable night's sleep and extra room.
Blog Your Blessings Sunday LXVII
With the Red Sox back in the post season, I get a bit nostalgic for this BYBS post originally published for Blog Your Blessings Sunday III here on the Hot Dog Truck. This is a true story:
Since I am a baseball fan and Red Sox fan, I decided to REPOST this TRUE STORY for Blog Your Blessings Sunday.
Originally titled "How a Red Sox Fan got Religion" , it was published on this blog in February 2007 (when NOBODY read my blog) as a farewell to Keith Foulke. Enjoy.
Since today is Sunday, I spent about an hour and a half at church this morning; 1 hour for Mass and a half hour munching bagels and sipping coffee in the church basement afterwards. Like many Catholics, I was at one point in my life reluctant to go to Church-I viewed it as a chore or obligation. That all changed on October 17, 2004. You see on October 16, 2004 the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox in game three of the American League Championship Series. Actually, they destroyed them 19 to 8 (and the game wasn't as close as the score indicates). There was no joy in Red Sox Nation on Sunday October 17, 2004. The general mood was one of despair and resignation to the fact that our Sox were breaking our hearts once again. My then 10 year old son kept asking me on the way to church that morning if it was at all possible for the Sox to come back and win it-my answer was yes, it's possible but not probable. I suggested we all pray extra hard for the Red Sox.
I don't know if I was especially reflective or morose, but the Gospel that morning was from Exodus 17 Water From The Rock:
Exodus 17:8-13
The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands."
So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
Father G. read the Gospel and proceeded with his usual interpretations. He noted that in order for the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites, Moses needed to keep his arms raised to preserve victory. Persistence is what allowed Moses to keep his arms raised. He needed to be persistent in the face of his weariness and he required assistance to maintain his persistence. He likened this to being a faithful Catholic in modern times: we need to be persistent in our faith, even when things may appear hopeless around us. I leaned over to my son and whispered in his ear "that's a lot like being a Red Sox fan." We said our silent prayers and mine most definitely included a prayer for the Red Sox. I even threw some extra money into the collection basket that morning.
We all know that God is a Red Sox Fan and what happened in the improbable week and a half after that: Dave Roberts' steal, Big Papi, Johnny (Jesus) Damon, The Bloody Sock, and "swing and a ground ball, stabbed by Foulke, he has it, he underhands to first and the Boston Red Sox are World Champions!" We'll miss you Keith-we couldn't have done it without you and you should have been MVP of the 2004 World Series. I don't care what you did after that night on October 27 of 2004. In your own way, you gave this Sox fan a shot of religion.
I TOLD YOU SO!
SOX WIN 2-0! Dice-K goes 7+ strong innings!!!!
WOOO HOOO!
Tonight's key is Beckett. If he can pitch like Josh Beckett, the Sox will win.
Time to get Your Sox on!
The Sox and the Rays start duking it out in the ALCS tonight and this Hotdogman will be parked in front of the TV for every out! 
The key to tonight's game will be for Dice-K to get out of the fifth inning. Dice-K always seems to have one bad inning early in games which forces him out too soon. If he can hang until the 7th inning, the Sox will be better off. We don't want the bullpen overworked in game one and Dice-K's performance will have a lot to do with that. He didn't get out of the 5th against the Angels; luckily the Sox were able to rally and take advantage of many Angel miscues to win that game.
The Rays won't be as sloppy defensively, so good pitching will be the key to victory!
GO RED SOX!!!
Sox in ALCS
There were no Angels in the outfield for this series.
The Red Sox move on to the ALCS on a Jed Lowry single in the bottom of the ninth which scored Jason Bay for the winning run. The walkoff hit capped a series punctuated by poor outfield play by the Angels.
GO SOX!!
Blog Your Blessing Sunday LXVI
My Red Sox are up 2-0 in the ALDS against the Angels and could wrap things up tonight. Could the surging Sox make it two Championships in a row?
Psalm 18:35
You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.
That's What I'm Talking About!!!
J.D. Drew smacks a two run homer in the top of the ninth to put the Red Sox ahead 7-5 in a game they'd win. The Sox lead the ALDS series 2-0 and the Angels can't get the monkey off their back!!!
GO RED SOX!!!
Hotdogman's Bailout Plan
Yesterday I replaced my tip bucket with a bucket that says "Hotdogman's Bailout Fund." Tips were surprisingly good!
Now I don't think we'll get $700 Billion in tip money in time to save the Wall Street weasels, but it brought a little levity to the situation.
I have been reading a lot of theories about how the $700 Billion could be disbursed , and most of them are flawed. My solution is for the Feds to make me, the Hotdogman, the sole trustee of the bailout funds.
Instead of giving the money to the crooks who have already stolen that much (now they want to steal more to "save" the economy), I would take half of it and pay mortgages for folks who are having trouble. I'd start paying off the highest interest rate mortgages first and keep going until I ran out of the $350 billion.
With the other half, I'd give an equal share to every US citizen over age 18 with one caveat: you must spend all of it on products made in the USA.
I think the economy would do just fine with me in charge. The hot dogs would be good too.
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