Kahn's Korner

10 Things I Now Know About Nutrition and Fitness that I Wish I'd Known Sooner

2009-02-17T15:15:00.005-06:00

Since beginning my weight loss quest a little over a year ago, I've since become very passionate about gaining fitness and nutrition knowledge. So here is a condensed list of some of the best tips, facts, and tidbits that I've come across. 1. Strength training (weight lifting) is one of the best exercises you can do because while building muscle, it also keeps your metabolism raised for hours

Under 200 Pounds!

2008-11-07T14:58:00.006-06:00

It has been over a year since I've felt compelled to blog, but I finally have something that I think is worthwhile to say. At the beginning of this year I decided to read a book that a co-worker of mine had talked about. The book was The South Beach Diet, by Arthur Agatston, M.D. I'd been thinking about losing 20-25 pounds for quite some time...I just lacked the real motivation to do it. I

Quick Thoughts 6/26

2007-06-26T14:34:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is still illegal to wear headphones while driving a car. Pass the word because based on my observations, this is happening a lot more often now. (Thanks iPod.)Is it really too hot right now to shut your car's engine off while filling up with gasoline? I bet it will be a lot hotter when it explodes.Do people really care what Paris Hilton was wearing when she was released from jail? Is

Quick Thoughts 6/21

2007-06-21T09:32:00.001-05:00

Hopefully I still have a few readers left after my blogging hiatus.I realized the other day that being a Cubs fan is like being married to an abusive spouse. You love them, and firmly believe that they will change, so you endure the pain they inflict on you. But when it's all said and done, they just make your life miserable.Don't go picking a bouquet of wild parsnip.Take a live look at what's

Theme Music

2007-06-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

Blog inspiration struck me yesterday while attending a Rochester Honkers baseball game. It seems that these days, all baseball players have a song that is played when they come up to bat, or in some cases, closing pitchers have a theme song too. So that got me thinking, what would I use for my theme song when I come up to bat? I have narrowed it down to intros of the following three songs:"

Cody Christopher Evans

2007-04-03T20:32:00.000-05:00

Please welcome the newest member of our family, Cody Christopher Evans. He was born at 12:19 PM on April 3, and weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs 6 oz, with a length of 20.25 inches. Holly did a great job and had a much easier labor than what she experienced with Payton. She was able to give birth without any medication, and from start to finish, labor only lasted about eight hours this time. More

Ping

2007-02-12T12:43:00.001-06:00

I just downloaded the new BlogJet 2.0 software. Ever since I switched over to the Blogger Beta in October, my old BlogJet software stopped working. I’m not a big fan of the default way of posting via the Blogger website, which is one of many reasons I haven’t posted much lately. So maybe this will jump-start my blogging again.

Say What?

2007-01-05T07:39:00.000-06:00

I used to think that Reader's Digest was a respectable publication. For several years I subscribed to RD and enjoyed the short articles that are ideal for a bathroom reader. But as time passed, I grew tired of the magazine, and decided not to renew my subscription anymore. I received the final issue of my subscription in August, and figured I'd put RD behind me. However, they still send me

A Growing Problem (not a going problem)

2006-12-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

I've recently become very concerned with the quality of automobiles on the road. The problem that I am seeing is very pervasive. It happens on all makes, models, and vintages of vehicles. In general, it is an intermittent problem, but the frequency that I observe this problem is rapidly increasing. My car has not experienced this problem yet, but with this growing problem, I wanted to spread

Quick Thoughts 12/3

2006-12-03T21:29:00.000-06:00

We were bowling with some friends last night, and I wound up rolling the highest three game series of my life. 177, 203, and 178 for a 558 series. Not too shabby, especially considering it was that crazy black light bowling, and we were next to some kids who had zero bowling etiquette.That reminds me of one of my first 200+ games of my life. I was on a date in high school and we went bowling.

Quick Thoughts 12/1

2006-12-01T09:29:00.000-06:00

The Bears play the Vikings this weekend. A co-worker of mine suggested that if the Vikes win, I have to shave, and if the Bears win, he will. I might take him up on that. I'm pretty confident that I'll be keeping my whiskers.Yet another reason Legos are so darn cool. Just six, eight stud bricks can be arranged 915,103,765 different ways.Now for some fun. How nerdy are you? I'm not as bad as

You can be a recording star!

2006-11-22T12:29:00.000-06:00

You know I love karaoke, but never get a chance to do it any more. Well, I just came across this site, Singshot.com, that lets you make your own karaoke recordings and post them to the site. Spend a few minutes there and you might get addicted to it. There are some really, really bad renditions out there, but they are highly entertaining. I'll let you know if I start posting any. I can see

Quick Thoughts 11/19

2006-11-19T15:54:00.000-06:00

No points given up by the Bears today equals bear claws* Monday!Today in the children's sermon at church they were learning about Thanksgiving. The question was asked, "What do you like to do on Thanksgiving," to which one elementary school-aged girl replied, "Go to the Doctor Who convention." I think I laughed for three straight minutes.This weekend I was able to convert some audio tape

Busy morning

2006-11-10T09:39:00.000-06:00

Holy cow, it's sloppy outside this morning. There was thunder and lightning to go along with the snow we're getting. It's hard to believe it was 70 degrees on Wednesday! The snow plows haven't made much progress on the roads, and the snow is really piling up. Holly and I went to the hospital this morning for an ultrasound, and after only 30 minutes there was at least two inches of snow on

Quick Thoughts 11/3

2006-11-03T09:46:00.000-06:00

You may notice that things look a little different on my blog now. I switched to Blogger Beta, which had some nice features such as labels for my posts. So over on the right-hand side of my blog, you'll see a few categories of labels I've given some of my previous posts. Also, there are some handy expand/collapse buttons in my archive section to make navigation easier. The reason I switched to

Quick Thoughts 10/31

2006-10-31T14:39:00.000-06:00

I’ve moved my blog. Please update your links to www.kahnskorner.blogspot.com.Happy Halloween! Don’t eat too much candy tonight.Yes, as I eluded to in my last post, we are expecting another child. Currently the baby is due April 10, but at the first ultrasound the baby measured with a due date of April 2. They haven’t officially changed anything, but we’ll be going back next Friday for another

When all else fails...Post Pictures!

2006-10-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

Payton likes playing his “guitar.” Pumpkins! Holly got to go to Orlando the other week for a teaching conference. Can you tell that she’s pregnant? Our friends had an early Halloween party last weekend. That’s Payton as Tigger, but he wasn’t feeling very bouncy for the pictures.

I'm in disbelief

2006-10-16T23:17:00.000-05:00

Is it 2001 again? The Bears had no business winning that game tonight. I guess sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Quick Thoughts 10/9

2006-10-09T10:45:00.000-05:00

I think it’s about time to seriously research the NFL Sunday Ticket. The Bears’ game was broadcast in our area yesterday, but when the score was 30–0, they took it off the air and started airing “a more competitive game” instead. I was not happy with that decision.I kept my eye on the score of the Bears game after that, and thought for sure I’d be bringing in bear claws today for the shutout.

Bears/Seahawks Running Blog

2006-10-01T22:33:00.000-05:00

One of my on-line must-reads is Bill Simmons’ “The Sports Guy” column on ESPN.com’s Page 2. He writes about sports, but throws in a lot of witty and humorous pop culture references. During big games, he’ll often keep a running blog of the event. So, thanks for the idea Mr. Simmons. I can only wish that I was as entertaining to read. 7:21 Kickoff…Let’s get it on! C’mon Bears show everyone

Quick Thoughts 9/29

2006-09-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

Rex Grossman won the NFC offensive player of the month award for September. The last Bear to win this award was Neal Anderson in 1989! Let’s hope another seventeen years don’t go by before another Bear wins it.This link comes courtesy of Brent. Baby toupees! My favorite is “The Donald.” Thanks for reading my blog. I cracked the 10,000 hit plateau this week. It’s amazing how many of the

Bears Win at the Dome

2006-09-25T17:07:00.000-05:00

Of the four or five Bears/Vikings games I’ve been to at the Metrodome, yesterday’s was one of the best. Here are some thoughts I had while at the game yesterday: People complain about baseball being boring to watch, but there certainly is a lot of down-time, and players just standing around during the course of a football game too. It amazes me that the players are able to maintain their

Ironic results

2006-09-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

This is kind of funny, since I had a big crush on Mariah back in the early and mid 90’s. Give the link a try and post who shares your taste in music.Mariah Carey Shares Your Taste in MusicSee her whole playlist here (iTunes required) Which Musician (or Group) Shares Your Taste in Music?

Bears Rout* Lions

2006-09-18T13:51:00.000-05:00

It should come as no surprise that I am one happy camper today after the Bears tore apart the Lions in Chicago yesterday. Watching the Bears explode on offense, with a passing game, just makes me giddy. The Bears haven’t beaten the best teams in the league, but they are putting up some impressive offensive numbers, which is what they have to do if they want to compete with the other contenders.

Fly-over for Iowa/Iowa State Game

2006-09-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

Two posts in one day? I know, that’s unheard of for me, but I also wanted to post this picture that I got from my uncle. He sent a note saying that my cousin’s husband will be flying the F-16 over Kinnick Stadium at the start of the Iowa/Iowa State game this Saturday. That’s worth a post, even if he is a Hawkeye fan.

Superfan Kahn's Quick Thoughts 9/15

2006-09-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is good for a laugh. Lions receiver, Roy Williams has essentially guaranteed that the Lions will beat the Bears in Chicago this weekend. These “guarantees” are getting so common and ridiculous that they are becoming nothing more than a joke anymore.CNN-SI’s Peter King says that if Rex Grossman can be an above average QB this season, the Bears have a great chance to be in the Super Bowl.

Quick Thoughts 9/12

2006-09-12T10:11:00.000-05:00

This furniture store offered free furniture if the Bears shut out the Packers. That’s awesome, and even better that the owner followed through with it. To pay my respect to this noble gesture, I will now make a similar proposal. If the Bears shut out the Lions this week, I will bring in bear claw donuts on Monday.I’m in three Yahoo! fantasy football leagues. After the first week, I’m now 0–3.

Bears Blank Pack

2006-09-11T08:55:00.000-05:00

26–0 has a nice ring to it doesn’t it? In case you didn’t know, that was the final score of the Bears/Packers game yesterday, with the Packers sporting the big fat zero. I would later learn that this was the first time Brett Favre has ever been shut out. Well done Chicago. Favre only threw two interceptions, and they occurred after the game was well in hand. I also want to thank the

Quick Thoughts 9/8

2006-09-08T10:33:00.000-05:00

Bears/Packers Sunday. I’m hoping the Bears will route Green Bay, but the only way that will happen is if Favre throws multiple interceptions, and the Bears’ defense eats him alive. It should be a good one to watch. I, for one, am happy Brett Favre didn’t retire yet. It’s payback time!It’s supposed to rain and be in the 60’s for highs all weekend. Sounds like a good excuse to watch

Quick Thoughts 8/31

2006-08-31T11:06:00.000-05:00

Hey Dad, you can probably vote for this guy if you want. I think he’s in your district.Free and legal music downloads? Yeah, it sounds pretty good until you start reading all the catches. You have to log into their website at least once a month, deal with the lousy WMA protected format, and you can’t burn the songs to a CD. I don’t see this idea taking off.A window guy comes today to look at

Bears Record Poll

2006-08-30T10:57:00.000-05:00

Once again, I’m asking you to vote for your predictions on the Bears’ record this season. How many games will the Bears win this year?0-34-78-1112 or more Free polls from Pollhost.com

Superfan Kahn's First Thoughts of the Season

2006-08-29T09:29:00.000-05:00

There is a lot of stuff going on with the Bears right now, and not much of it is good. Injuries are starting to add up, the defense looks vulnerable, and the offense, well, not much has changed there. So far there haven’t been any significant season-ending injuries, but just a whole bunch of nagging minor injuries that have the potential to cause problems for the team throughout the season.

Big storms last night

2006-08-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

It was a crazy night for weather in the Rochester area last night. We missed all of the big stuff earlier in the day, but at about 8PM, things started to get pretty wild. We were watching the weather report, and there was a tornado spotted north of town. They were getting golfball sized hail at the TV station on the north end of town. Things were getting really dark out, but it looked like we

Quick Thoughts 8/18

2006-08-18T09:02:00.000-05:00

Da Bears have a nationally televised preseason game on CBS tonight against the Chargers. I’ll be watching you Rex!Why do teams always change their uniforms from year to year now? The new Vikings jerseys are pretty ugly in my opinion. I’d be pretty upset if the Bears ever do much to change the look of their classic jerseys. Apparently there is a common misconception in Iowa that muskmelons are

Quick Thoughts 8/10

2006-08-10T08:44:00.000-05:00

Softball season ended last night with a resounding THUD. We played our worst game of the season when we needed to play our best. The final was 11–1 in six innings. Our one run came when a guy should have flied out, but the outfielder lost it in the lights. It ended up bouncing off his forehead, and by the time the other outfielder got to it, our guy had made it home. It’s pretty sad when we

Playoffs??

2006-08-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Softball season is winding down. We had a make-up game on Sunday in the extreme heat, and managed to come away with a win. They were a weaker team, and were only playing with nine guys, but we managed to make it much more interesting than it should have been. The playoffs started last night. We ended up with the fifth seed in our thirteen team league, and the top three teams got byes. So we

Quick Thoughts 7/26

2006-07-26T12:52:00.000-05:00

Morgan Spurlock’s TV series, 30 Days starts up again tonight on FX. This season he tackles the issues of immigration, outsourcing, and abortion, among others. For the season finale, Morgan himself spends thirty days in jail. It should be interesting.Training camp for the Bears opens up tomorrow. Finally I’ll have something to blog about!Yesterday I was reading a blog that mentioned The Great

Quick Thoughts 7/14

2006-07-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

Soon we’ll be vacation bound. Why is it always so stressful when getting ready to go on vacation? Adding to the stress yesterday was the fact that both of our vehicles experienced the need for unexpected maintenance. The van had a flat tire that was too far on the side to patch, and required a new tire. When I left work yesterday my car barely started. Fortunately, I was able to get it

Quick Thoughts 7/12

2006-07-12T08:59:00.000-05:00

Will the Cubs fire Dusty Baker? I, for one, would rather that he is allowed to finish up the season, and then cut ties with him. It seems inevitable that he won’t be back next year. He got off to such a great start in Chicago, but things have really gone sour the past couple of years. It sounds like Greg Maddux will be traded pretty soon too.I picked up the new Live album, Songs from Black

Picture Time!

2006-07-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

Those are good ribs!Payton looks a little bit too comfortable on this bike.That’s better.Payton & Emma having a picnic at Oxbow Park.

Quick Thoughts 7/6

2006-07-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

I had a great extended 4th of July weekend. One highlight for me was smoking BBQ ribs, which is an event all by itself. I tried a new rib recipe, and I think this one is a keeper. I even made my own BBQ sauce. They marinated in apple cider for about 12 hours, and then cured with a rub on them for another 4 hours or so, before being ready to go on the grill. I had the grill set up to smoke

Quick Thoughts 6/28

2006-06-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

Need a good laugh? Here’s a link to Journey’s “Separate Ways” video. This is a great song, but the video is one of the lamest ever made. It’s off the charts on the unintentional comedy scale. I watched it last night and was practically crying because I was laughing so hard. In the past, I’d paid the most attention to Steve Perry, but if you watch the rest of the band it makes it so much

Cubs/Twins Recap

2006-06-26T08:58:00.000-05:00

Well there really isn’t much good to say about the games I went to Friday and Saturday night. It can be summed up by saying the Cubs were atrocious. I do have some thoughts on the games though.I kept holding a thread of hope for the Cubs’ season, but that thread is completely cut now. No matter how good Derek Lee is when he returns, he’s not going to fix all the problems with this team.In

Can this be true?

2006-06-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at work we had a pretty heated debate over whether .999~ (repeating) is equal to 1. I can’t believe that in all of my years of math, I had never heard of this argument before. Basically, there are a couple “proofs” for this, which seem to make sense to me and verify the legitimacy of this statement. Somehow though, there is just something about it that doesn’t seem right. Here’s one

Quick Thoughts 6/20

2006-06-20T09:23:00.000-05:00

While listening to my “Kahn’s Favorites” playlist this morning, I had a song transition that may never have been heard before in the history of the world. After Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the next song that started playing was “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers. I never know what I’m going to get when listening to that playlist.The slumping Cubs come to Minnesota this weekend for a

Quick Thoughts 6/16

2006-06-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

I trapped bunny number three for the year this morning. It wasn’t the one I was after, but rather a small, fairly young one. Hopefully I’ll get the big one over the weekend. In the meantime, the fence around the garden is doing its job quite nicely.I’m singing this Sunday in a men’s quartet at church. One is a fun one, “Climbin’ Up the Mountain,” that actually features the bass, which is me.

Quick Thoughts 6/14

2006-06-14T08:31:00.000-05:00

Yikes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Here’s a dose of “Quick Thoughts” to get you caught up.School’s out for summer, so that means Holly is home now during the week. It also means that there is less traffic on the road during my morning commute.We went to see The DaVinci Code last weekend. It was decent; definitely better than what the critics are saying, but to me it’s kind of

Quick Thoughts 6/5

2006-06-05T09:11:00.000-05:00

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been married seven years today, but it’s true. Time flies when you’re having fun.We spent the weekend back in Iowa, watching the Quad City airshow from the farm, and going to Jason’s second wedding reception. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Quick Thoughts 5/31

2006-05-31T15:54:00.000-05:00

I got notified yesterday that I am entitled to some settlement money in a couple of class action settlements. One was for Sprint, and the other was from Edina Title Company. It’s not big bucks, but it’s worth my time to send in the paperwork and get a few bucks back. The notice for Sprint came with the bill, so if you’re a Sprint customer, don’t just throw out the extra material that comes

I love three day weekends

2006-05-30T09:55:00.000-05:00

The switch has been flipped, and summer is officially here, with temps over 90 degrees this weekend. We had a fun and productive three-day weekend. I got all my yard work done by noon on Saturday, before it got too terribly hot. Yesterday I bought and installed a couple of ceiling fans for the upstairs bedrooms. My arms are going to be pretty sore tomorrow from working above my head so much.

Quick Thoughts 5/25

2006-05-25T08:55:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my buddy Jason, I have a half a dozen DVDs to watch in the next two weeks. These are all fairly recent movies that I just hadn’t gotten around to seeing yet. Last night we watched Anchorman, which I rather enjoyed. It actually surpassed my rather low expectations, and I found myself laughing quite a bit during the movie. For those in Rochester, the cheapest gas in town is at Fleet

Quick Thoughts 5/24

2006-05-24T08:44:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty crazy week of weather here. We had frost on the ground Monday morning, which I don’t think a lot of my beans are going to survive, and now I see they are forecasting a high of 91 on Sunday. Yes, it does get hot in Minnesota. (When I’ve traveled to other parts of the country, you wouldn’t believe how many people think it’s cold and snowy in Minnesota all year long.)After

Quick Thoughts 5/18

2006-05-18T08:56:00.000-05:00

Another ‘W’ for our softball team last night. We’re now 4–0, but that’s how we started last year’s 4–8 season as well. I have a feeling we’ll do much better this year though.Yesterday marked my seven year service anniversary with IBM. I just realized that this morning while looking at the calendar.Most of the crops in my garden are up now, but those darn rabbits are chewing on my peas. I

Pitt-stop

2006-05-16T08:33:00.000-05:00

While driving into work today, a commercial came on the radio that gave me something to blog about. Did you know that you can now get Botox injected into your armpit if you sweat uncontrollably? As the commercial said, “Do you sweat through your shirt, even in the middle of winter?” Well, as a matter of fact, yes I do, but Botox would be the last thing I use to treat it. But then again, I don

Quick Thoughts 5/9

2006-05-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the most popular myths in science. The Mythbusters have tackled some of them, but I learned a thing or two here that I didn’t know. The chicken living without a head reminds me of the Bigshow chicken video. It’s not even June yet, but the Cubs are in the middle of a big swoon, losing seven straight games. I hope Derek Lee is a quick healer…the Cubs are really missing him

It's Softball Season Again

2006-05-04T15:26:00.000-05:00

Softball season has started again, and we already played our second game of the season last night. We’re off to a good start, as we’ve won both games, but I have not forgotten what happened last season. (We won our first four games in convincing fashion, and then proceeded to lose the final eight games of the season.) Our team got a new sponsor this year, and that means new t-shirts. The

Quick Thoughts 5/2

2006-05-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

Did you watch any of the NFL draft this past weekend? What I don’t understand is why someone would want to attend the draft in person as a spectator. It’s painful enough to watch on TV. I wonder what they have for entertainment between the picks? I bet they sell a lot of beer though. So last year the Bears had a pretty decent defense, and I sub-par offense. What do the Bears do with their

Quick Thoughts 4/26

2006-04-26T10:32:00.000-05:00

Hungry for Happy Joe’s pizza, but don’t have a location where you live? No problem, now you can have one delivered in the mail. I am going to have to give this a try sometime.CNN just did ran a series on the worst songs of all time. Be sure to read the related articles as well. I can agree with some of the choices, (i.e. Hollaback Girl) but I can tell I’m in trouble for actually liking some

Quick Thoughts 4/25

2006-04-25T17:10:00.000-05:00

This is gross, but I can’t stop laughing. I’m always a sucker for reading the “Strange News” headlines that are from Iowa.In a follow-up from an earlier rant about Charter, I checked my account today and saw that they did credit me the errant charge that I complained about before. However, they still were $0.43 short in the amount they credited me. I know it’s just $0.43, but it’s the

Quick Thoughts 4/21

2006-04-21T09:41:00.000-05:00

It’s so hard to be a Cubs fan. We’re not even out of April, and the Cubs’ best player, Derek Lee is out for almost two months with a broken wrist. The injury bug bites again! I guess if there’s an up-side, it’s that it happened so early. So if the Cubs can keep afloat for a couple months, then they will be at full strength for the stretch run.The NBA saved some face, and only has one playoff

Beware of Charter

2006-04-19T08:25:00.000-05:00

Charter Communications has some pretty shady practices from my experience. Yesterday I was able to chalk one more up. When I checked my bank balance yesterday morning, I noticed that Charter had withdrawn an unexpected $29.89 from my account. Unable to understand where this charge was coming from, I called them up to find out. I was told that this was my transfer fee from when I switched

Weekend recap

2006-04-17T09:48:00.000-05:00

We’re back from an exciting weekend away from home. Things got off to a wild start on Thursday night as we tried to dodge severe weather in Iowa. Fortunately, my mom called me and told me how serious the weather was getting, so I tuned into a local radio station and hung out north of the storms for about 45 minutes to let the worst of it pass. Iowa City was right on our route, and they got hit

It's been a while

2006-04-13T10:47:00.000-05:00

So, I’ve been catching some flack from Bigshow. Yesterday he told me there was something wrong with his computer. He said, “When I go to your blog page and hit "refresh", it still shows your blog from last Wednesday as your latest one.” Point taken.We moved into the new house last Saturday, and since then, I’ve really lacked motivation to do much of anything else. Once I got the TV and

Quick Thoughts 4/5

2006-04-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

Payton turned two yesterday and is a big boy now! I will get some pictures up soon. He’s excited to get to sleep in a “big boy” bed after we move on Saturday. The moving process has begun. I have 90% of my garage moved over which was huge, and we have taken a lot of boxes over to the new house already too. I have a moving truck lined up for Saturday when we will be moving over the big and

Music at Work

2006-03-28T11:02:00.000-06:00

I love listening to music, and I usually have my headphones on most of the day while working. Last week, I ran across this article about listening to music in the workplace. As long as people wear headphones, and there isn’t a safety issue involved, I don’t have any problem with people listening to music while working. The article mentions that sometimes people get annoyed when the person

Quick Thoughts 3/27

2006-03-27T09:53:00.000-06:00

I’m back from a fun weekend in Chi-town. Toll roads really do annoy me, and I was really caught off-guard by how expensive they are now. I think they have doubled the rates. The three tolls I had to pay each direction were $1.00, $1.90, and $.80. There never used to be anything on that route over $.95. Also it annoyed me that they didn’t post the price anywhere except on the booth itself, so

Quick Thoughts 3/24

2006-03-24T09:17:00.000-06:00

I’m off to Chicago this weekend for the bachelor party of one of my good buddies from high school, who was also the best man in my wedding. It should be a fun time.I picked Duke to win it all in my NCAA tourney bracket, so I’m pretty well hosed. UConn is my only final four pick left as well. That’s what I get for not following college hoops all year and then thinking I know what I’m doing.The

Quick Thoughts 3/17

2006-03-17T16:04:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Kahn’s Korner. Unlike the Hawkeyes, who really screwed me over with my picks by losing today, I will not be one and done.It’s St. Patrick’s Day today. Bah humbug. I’m not Irish. Plus green food coloring does bad things to my digestive system. Two weeks from today we close on our new house. We got another offer on our house last night, and it looks

Lego Mania!

2006-03-16T10:04:00.000-06:00

A friend of mine sent me this link today, and it could possibly be the best website ever put together. It has the instructions for just about every Lego set ever made! I still have some of the instructions for the Legos I had, but a few of the big ones got lost over the years. I had a lot of the sets under the Space 2 page. The 6950, 6861, and 6842 are sitting put together in my closet at

Driving me crazy

2006-03-15T10:50:00.000-06:00

I really have been trying to be a less aggressive driver and not let things bother me so much on the road, but it’s hard when there are so many horrible drivers on the road. There are certain things that just drive me nuts, and make me work extra hard to stay calm. This is a list of the top ten things that get me royally riled up on the road.Drunk drivers – I think the most upset I’ve ever been

Quick Thoughts 3/10

2006-03-10T10:18:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This house stuff has been extremely stressful for me. We’re getting interest in our house, and actually had one offer already, but it didn’t pan out. However, we did take the plunge and decided to finalize the deal for the house we’ll be buying. This has been one heck of a roller coaster ride, and I’ll be very glad when it’s over.50 degrees for the high

Quick Thoughts 2/27

2006-02-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

Our house is going on the market today. I’m nervous as heck about the whole thing, but I have a good feeling that things are going to fall into place. I bought the NFL Films – Chicago Bears – The Complete History DVD last week and watched the first disc last night. It was a pretty good, and I learned a lot about the early days of the franchise that I didn’t know. Disc two is all about the ‘85

Sudoku

2006-02-23T22:15:00.000-06:00

I’m becoming addicted to sudoku puzzles, and you’ll notice I’ve provided a link on the right to a sudoku puzzle of the day. Unfortunately, you’ll have to copy the puzzle to paper, but you can follow the link to see the solution. Even better yet, they have a step by step solution to help you out in the tricky spots. Much like in the newspapers, the puzzles start out easy on Monday, and increase

Kahn's Top 10: Movie Soundtracks (non-score)

2006-02-21T09:41:00.000-06:00

Today I will look at my favorite movie soundtrack albums. This is a pretty broad category, so I’m narrowing it down a bit and excluding all albums that are just orchestral scores. (Sorry John Williams.) Also, I’m not listing any Broadway shows that have been made into movies either. At first I thought I was going to have a hard time coming up with ten choices, but once I started looking at my

Kahn's Top 10: Christian Rock

2006-02-17T11:27:00.000-06:00

Today I’m going to change things up a little bit a do a list that a lot of my readers might not be familiar with. The top-40 radio station in Rochester has a program on Sunday mornings called Straight from the Heart. It’s really geared toward teens, but they play popular Christian rock songs during this program. I started listening to this a couple of years ago and realized that there is a ton

Kahn's Top 10: Guilty Pleasures

2006-02-15T09:03:00.000-06:00

Today’s list is of artists/bands that I like a lot even though most of society pokes fun at their music. I’m willing to bet that most people like a lot of selections on my list below, but don’t have the courage to admit it. It’s just not cool to like the music on this list, but I’m taking the plunge and declaring my love for the bands and artists below. So, here are my top ten guilty pleasure

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T08:14:00.000-06:00

I find it rather humorous that today at work they have a gift shop set up in the cafeteria. It’s filled with Valentine’s Day cards, chocolates, flowers, and other little gifts. Since the majority of people on site are men, I guess they figure they’ll cater to the procrastinating, last-minute gift buyers. Unfortunately, nobody can use the excuse that they were too busy working to be able to get

Kahn's Top 10: Classic Rock

2006-02-10T12:10:00.000-06:00

I love music. One of the ideas I came up with, for a series of blog entries, is a top ten list of artists/bands in different music genres. Today I will begin with the first genre, classic rock, which seems pretty safe and easy. These lists are going to be based on my personal musical preference, so I expect to run into a few objections. I have a few more genres in mind for future entries, but

Vacation Recap

2006-02-08T16:01:00.000-06:00

I suppose I should get this entry written before I forget all the details of our cruise. All the pictures from our trip can be found here, but I’ll post quite a few of them within this entry too. Get comfy because this is going to be a long entry. So without further ado, here is our vacation re-cap.SundayThis was our day of travel. We saved over $200 a person by flying out Sunday instead of

Crazy razors

2006-02-07T16:55:00.000-06:00

Did you see the new Gillette Fusion, 5 blade razor that was advertised during the Super Bowl? Actually it has a sixth blade on the back so you can trim your sideburns, and what-not. These razors are getting out of hand. I use the Gillette Mach 3, and the replacement blades for that are expensive enough. Pretty soon, all men will start growing out beards because they can’t afford to buy blades

Back to the grind

2006-02-06T11:53:00.000-06:00

We had a great time on our cruise last week, and I’ll have a big post later this week with pictures and details of the trip. I just have too much to catch back up with to write that one yet. So check back for that.I passively watched the Super Bowl and commercials last night. We definitely timed our cruise correctly, because I was able to avoid all the hype last week. I got all the hype I

Bon Voyage!

2006-01-27T11:09:00.000-06:00

Things have been pretty busy lately with trying to get everything ready for our vacation. So, I really haven’t had much time to come up with anything blog-worthy. Plus it will be hard to top my last post. But don’t fret, I should have some good pictures and stories when I get back. Until then, here’s a miscellaneous link for your enjoyment.

What was I thinking?

2006-01-25T08:58:00.000-06:00

I tried as hard as I could to think of more karaoke songs that I would have been better off not singing, but I could not come up with more than three. Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a big risk taker in general, and that same approach applies to my karaoke song selections. Generally I choose the safe ones that I know will sound decent, but every now and then, I venture out on a limb and

Vacation

2006-01-23T09:32:00.000-06:00

A week from today we’ll be in Tampa, Florida boarding the Carnival Inspiration for a five day cruise to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. My parents very graciously volunteered to take Payton for the week, and he’s pretty excited to be staying at the farm with Grandma and Poppy. We’re going on the cruise with two other couples who are good friends of ours. It should be a great time. We went on a

Those were the days

2006-01-19T22:22:00.000-06:00

I got a note today from the bassist in our old band, Vicinity. He mentioned that he dusted off his bass this past weekend for the first time in two years, and would be interested in a jam session. That got me thinking about all the times, good and bad, that we had while in the band. I have an archive on my computer of audio from most of our performances, some video, and lots of pictures as

What to say?

2006-01-19T08:21:00.000-06:00

I’m really struggling coming up with blog material now that a certain team from the windy city that starts with C and ends with hicago Bears is done on such a sour note. Please add any suggestions for topics you’d like to see me write about. I did watch Serenity the other night. It was a movie based on the FOX TV show, “Firefly” that didn’t even make it one full season. The show had such a

I don't smell anything

2006-01-17T08:54:00.000-06:00

This should go down as the best invention of the year in my opinion. A man in Iowa has invented a machine that will eliminate the odor from hog manure. It’s basically just a big dryer that spins the manure around at a high speed and removes the water. Just make sure you don’t use it to dry your clothes. Anyone from the midwest knows that hog manure is one of the worst smells you can come

Superfan Kahn's Final Thoughts for the Season

2006-01-15T21:00:00.000-06:00

Alas, all things must come to an end. The Bears had a good season, and exceeded most people’s expectations. So congratulations to the Chicago Bears for even making it into the playoffs. I must admit I am really disappointed right now that the Bears didn’t win today, but I expect the Bears to be an early favorite next year to win the NFC North. They already have 21 of the 22 starters under

Go Bears!

2006-01-13T08:55:00.000-06:00

I can not wait until Sunday at 3:30 CST when the Bears play the Panthers in the PLAYOFFS! My biggest fear is that this game turns out like their playoff game against the Eagles in the 2001 season. However, I really think the outcome this time will be a lot better for the Bears. Anything less than one playoff win for the Bears this year will be a disappointment. Like I told Holly yesterday, to

Bugs!

2006-01-11T11:36:00.000-06:00

If this doesn’t give you the creeps, I don’t know what will. A woman in Sweden had a spider crawl into her ear while she was sleeping, and nest there for nearly a month! She thought it was just wax build-up until she heard a scratching sound. I might start sleeping with ear plugs in.That also reminds me of a story that one of my college professors told us on the first day of class. It has

Quick Thoughts 1/9

2006-01-09T08:53:00.000-06:00

Let there be light! The sun came out in Rochester on Saturday for the first time since December 22nd. As far as the weather guys can tell, that’s probably a record for the most consecutive days without sun here.The Wild-card games are over in the NFL now, and that’s a good thing. Most of the games weren’t even close, and that means unless you liked one of the teams playing, they weren’t very

Follow-up

2006-01-05T14:39:00.000-06:00

Remember when I talked about submitting a picture of Payton to the Chicago Tribune? It’s been published!

College Football Finale

2006-01-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Did you see the Texas/USC football game last night? That was definitely worth staying up until the end. USC really blew it though. I think Pete Carroll made a couple really big coaching mistakes on USC’s final possession. There were less than three minutes left in the game, and USC was up by five. It was second down and close to ten yards to go. Texas still had three time-outs (or times-out

The first thoughts of 2006

2006-01-04T09:16:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone. I’m refreshed and ready for another year of blogging, so let’s get to it.A big congratulations to the Chicago Bears who are the number two seed in the NFC this year. Everyone was shocked that they had such a good record. Not me.The Bears will play Tampa Bay if the Bucs win, otherwise, they play the winner of the Giants/Panthers game. I like the Bears’ chances against

I'm here, just busy

2005-12-30T21:06:00.000-06:00

We’ve been back in town since Wednesday, but I have until January 3 before I have to go back to work. That hasn’t kept us from doing a bunch of projects around the house though. We’ll probably be putting our house on the market at the end of winter, so we’re doing a lot of little things to prepare for that. Holly painted the bedroom that I have the computer in yesterday, and we just now got

Quick Thoughts on Christmas

2005-12-25T22:45:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from Davenport, Iowa. We're spending a few days with my family for the holidays. I'm so full.The Bears beat the Packers tonight, which clinched the NFC North, and gave them a first round bye in the playoffs. What a great Christmas present.On Tuesday, I'm going to try smoking a beef brisket. I've never done one before, but I found a decent recipie for a rub and mop sauce that

30

2005-12-21T08:36:00.000-06:00

Well, I turned the big three–oh yesterday. It’s not so bad I guess. I’m trying to think of any benefits of turning thirty, and the only one I can think of is that I shouldn’t get carded anymore. It’s not like that is much of a benefit though.Anyway, I had a pretty good birthday for it being a work day and all. Holly and I went out to dinner at Jenpachi Japanese Steakhouse. I thought it was

Watch out!

2005-12-18T22:58:00.000-06:00

The Bears just beat the Falcons, and I’m way too wound up to be able to go to sleep yet. Thank you Lovie Smith for giving Rex Grossman the opportunity to play tonight. When I heard that Grossman was going to be playing in the second half, my eyes lit up, and I had reason to be excited about the offense. Rex really did not disappoint, and I would expect him to be named the starter for the rest

Quick Thoughts 12/16

2005-12-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

Bears – Falcons Sunday night. I think the Bears should win this one, but I’m really concerned about the “calf strain” that Mike Brown has. It’s sounding pretty severe and he might miss the rest of the regular season. I thought of a scenario that would make ESPN’s Sunday night broadcasting team even worse. Add Tony Siragusa. But it could be worse. I can at least be thankful that Brent

Payton Pictures

2005-12-14T21:57:00.000-06:00

I don’t have much to say tonight, but thought I’d share some recent pictures of Payton.