Quick Thoughts 6/26

• 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 that really news? For that matter, is anything she does news-worthy?
  
• Oh, here's a press release about the project I'm working on.
  

Quick Thoughts 6/21

• 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 going on at Rochesterfest.
  

Quick Thoughts 12/3

• 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. She was getting about a 50 and I ended up with 201. I really felt awful.
• Hey the Bears won the NFC North today. Congratulations to "the pride an joy of Illinois."
• That was one ugly game today.
• I'm still supporting Rex Grossman, but he's really making it difficult for me to do so. I really don't know why he keeps trying to force the deep ball. It really is getting to be maddening.
  
• Whoever thought Brian Urlacher was over-rated must have been on crack. I swear he is in on every tackle. It's a pretty safe bet that no other Bears will be wearing #54 in the future.
• It was apparent to me today how good Brad Maynard, the Bears' punter is. The Vikings' punter had a few shanks, but Maynard was a picture of consistency. It's the little things like punting that can really make a difference in a game. Dan, I know you've always appreciated Maynard too.
  
• Iowa gets to play Texas in the Alamo Bowl. That's not going to be pretty Hawkeye fans.
  

Quick Thoughts 12/1

• 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 I thought.

You Are 36% Nerdy

You're a little nerdy, but no one would ever call you a nerd. You sometimes get into nerdy things, but only after they've become a part of mainstream culture.

How Nerdy Are You?

Quick Thoughts 11/19

• 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 recordings to digital format. Here are some recordings from this past summer for your listening enjoyment.
• Men's quartet (Larry Dodge, Kahn Evans, Bob Kanzelman, Jeff Utecht) singing "Climbin' up the Mountain."
• Men's quartet singing "I'll Fly Away."
• Me singing "Just a Closer Walk with Thee." Accompanied by Brian Nass.
• I suppose we're going to be seeing those annoying Lexus commercials again soon where people give their spouses a new Lexus with a huge bow on them for Christmas. Give me a break.
  

* After doing some calling around this afternoon, it seems that bear claws are hard to find. If I'm unable to locate any in town, I'll bring in apple fritters.

Quick Thoughts 11/3

• 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 a blogspot hosted blog now is that I was having lots of problems FTPing to my Charter-hosted blog. I don't know if my blog was getting too large for Charter, but I kept getting FTP transfer timeouts every time I tried to add a new post. For someone who is already lacking motivation to post, I didn't need any more deterrents. After deleting most of the pictures from my Charter account, I realized that my blog still points to them. So a lot of my old posts don't have pictures with them anymore. Other than that, I think I'll be better off now.
• I think the Bears are going to steamroll over the Dolphins this weekend.
  
• People knock the Bears for their weak schedule. Is it really their fault though? A lot of people picked the Dolphins to be in the Super Bowl this year, but as it stands, they only have one win right now. People also thought Arizona would be good. So even the games that were supposed to be against good teams aren't all there. You can't fault the Bears for that. They just need to keep going out there a knocking off these teams in convincing fashion, one at a time. If the Bears weren't an elite team, they wouldn't be dominating the lesser teams like they have been doing all season long.
• Hey, post some comments so I know that traffic is flowing to the new site!
  

Quick Thoughts 10/31

• 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 ultrasound and find out the baby’s sex. The ironic thing is that Payton’s due date was April 2, so it’s kind of like deja vu.
• We have no idea what we should name the baby, but Payton suggested “Fendooda.” Where he came up with that, I will never know.
• The Bears got right back on track this past week with an easy win over the 49ers. Next up are the Dolphins in Chicago. The Bears should have no problems with the Dolphins, but wouldn’t it be ironic if that was the only game they were to lose this season? I don’t see it happening though. They should win this game, but stand a much greater chance of losing one or two of the upcoming road games against the Giants and Patriots. This is when we find out just how good the Bears really are.
• Boy, that Nintendo Wii sure looks pretty cool. I hear the AARP is endorsing it too.

Quick Thoughts 10/9

• 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. I wish I could have seen how the Bills scored their lone touchdown.
• The Cyclones couldn’t overcome Nebraska or the referees on Saturday night. However, Dan Fouts had one of the funniest quotes I’ve heard during a football game in a long time. He was talking about Todd Blythe and how he was trying to fire the Cyclones up in the second half. Fouts said that Blythe went to all of the Cyclone offensive linemen and told them it was their job to keep the QB, Brett Meyer, erect. I think I laughed for ten minutes after that one. Nice choice of words guys.
• Oh boy, I wouldn’t want to be this guy, or be around this guy today.

Quick Thoughts 9/29

• 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 hits come from people searching on music lists like the ones I did earlier this year. I might have to come up with some new ones.
• One of these weekends, perhaps this one, I’d like to do a running blog while watching one of the Bears’ games. Sunday’s match-up against the Seahawks seems like an ideal game to do that for. Two undefeated teams, and a prime-time game with Maddenisms. What more could I ask for? Okay, I’m sold.

Quick Thoughts 9/12

• 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. That’s not the start I was looking for.
• Our windows are getting fixed tomorrow. They’re just going to add some beefier weather stripping at the bottom. Hopefully that will make a tight seal and I won’t have to worry about any further leakage.
• Yes, the Cyclones play the Hawkeyes on Saturday. The game will be on ESPN at 11AM. Sorry Bigshow, but I’m just not as optimistic as you about the outcome of this game. ISU’s defense has been less than impressive so far, and playing on the road, in a hostile environment just doesn’t bode well for the Cyclones. I just hope the game is close. Unfortunately, I’m going to predict that Iowa will win this one 38–24. Show me up Cyclones.

Quick Thoughts 9/8

• 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 football.
• Traffic is getting pretty bad on South Broadway in Rochester in the mornings and after work.  It’s all due to construction, and funneling down to one lane.  It took me 30 minutes last night to go one block.  I was in the lane that stays open, but traffic was moving a lot better in the other lane which is closed a little further up the road.  So everyone was getting to the merge point, and the people in the open lane let them in.  Meanwhile, the open lane is getting backed up for miles and hardly any progress is made due to the fact everyone is waiting until the last minute to merge.  It drives me nuts.  I don’t see how people in big cities deal with this kind of traffic jam on a regular basis.  Avoid this area at all costs until the construction is completed.
• I picked up the new Audioslave album this week.  Upon my first couple of listens, I’m a bit disappointed.  It lacks the power and awesome riffs of their first two albums.  This one is just kind of “blah” so far, but hopefully it will grow on me in time. 

 

Quick Thoughts 8/31

• 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 why my windows leaked last week.  I hope I don’t have to put up a fight to get them to fix the windows.
• Thank you Peter King.  Of course he also said that the Packers could go 9–7 as a best case scenario.
• Good news for gas prices.  I’ll believe it when I see it, but this article states that prices could be close to $2 a gallon by Thanksgiving. 

Quick Thoughts 8/18

• 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 melons grown in Muscatine, Iowa.  That certainly didn’t sound right to me, and after doing some very minimal research (thanks Google), I found that the muskmelon name has nothing to do with Muscatine, Iowa.  In fact, all cantaloupes are muskmelons, and they actually originated in Persia, which is not anywhere near Muscatine. 
• I will not be seeing Snakes on a Plane.

Quick Thoughts 8/10

• 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 had only twenty batters last night, and that’s within eighteen outs.  Ouch.
• Have you ever heard anything by O.A.R. (Of a Revolution)?  I was recently introduced to their music, and am really into them right now.  They are a “jam band” that started at Ohio State in the late 90’s, and have a Dave Matthews Band, meets 311, meets Bare-naked Ladies sound to them.  I see they are playing in Iowa City and Minneapolis in late October.  Anyone want to go?
• Within another week or two “Superfan Kahn” will start showing up here again.
• See, even the fish get annoyed by jet-skiers.

Quick Thoughts 7/26

• 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 Space Coaster.  Holly had never heard of this show, but it was one that I watched a lot of as a kid.  The theme song often pops into my head, and thanks to youtube, now I can watch the opening and closing credits whenever I want.  I remembered Gary Gnu quite well, and Baxter looks a little freakier than I remember, but I totally forgot about Speed Reader, who looks a lot like Adam Carolla.
• I recently watched both Saw and Saw II, after borrowing them from a friend.  I don’t watch many scary, suspenseful movies like these because Holly refuses to watch them.  While I was watching them, she kept telling me to turn the sound down because she could hear the screaming upstairs.  Anyway, I really liked the first one, and thoroughly enjoyed the twist at the end.  Saw II, on the other hand, I found very irritating.  The characters trapped in the room were just idiots and I was getting mad at them for being so stupid.  The twist at the end of this movie wasn’t as good as the twist in the first movie, but it did salvage the movie enough to make it not a total waste of my time.

 

Quick Thoughts 7/14

• 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 started after shutting everything off in the car.  We put a new battery in, and we’re back in business now.  They say things like this happen in threes.  I can’t wait to find out what the third thing is going to be.
• I received yet another class action settlement notification today.  This one is for BMG music club.  If you’ve been a member anytime after June 1998, you are eligible for the benefit.  The way I figure it, I’m eligible for three CD’s that will total about $10.  Not a bad deal. 

 

Quick Thoughts 7/12

• 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 Mountain, this week.  They have a different, mellower sound on this album that I really like.  Throwing Copper had always been my favorite Live album, but this one is right up there with it.  If you used to like Live, but haven’t heard their newer stuff, or if you never really cared for them in the past, this might be a good album for you to check out.
• Want to go to a major city in the midwest, but don’t want to spend a lot of money?  Check out this article on Megabus.  They offer bus fares as low as $1 from Minneapolis to Chicago.  (But it looks like the normal rate is between $30 and $50 each way.)
• While perusing the Clinton Herald, my old hometown newspaper, I came across this article about the job responsibilities of a Happy Joe’s worker in Clinton.  That sounds exactly like what it was like in my days working there.  It could really get crazy-busy there on weekends in the summer...especially around the 4th of July. 
• We’re heading off for a mini-vacation this weekend at a lake in Willmar, MN.  It should be relaxing, but it’s going to be awfully hot.  They are calling for highs this weekend around 96, and the cabin doesn’t have air conditioning.  Hopefully I can catch some fish, but it might have to be an early morning adventure with temperatures that high.  The lake has quite a few walleye and northern.  I still haven’t caught a northern yet in my life, so hopefully I can accomplish that this weekend.  We’re going with some friends, and they said that you can hear the Sonshine Festival, which is also this weekend in Willmar, from the lake.  Sweet!

Quick Thoughts 7/6

• 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 with hickory chips.  To get in the right mood, I had blues playing on the radio.  How American is that?  Blues and BBQ on the weekend of the 4th!
• My garden is going strong right now.  We’ve been eating peas, beans and zucchini so far.  I can’t wait for the peppers and tomatoes to be ready for my salsa.
• Bulls on parade!  The Bulls are busy making a lot of roster changes, and they actually have me excited for the team for the first time in a long time.  Even their mascot, Benny the Bull is in the news.  Bad Benny. 
• Hey Bert, unibrow, among other words, is now an official word in the dictionary. 

 

Quick Thoughts 6/28

• 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 funnier.  For crying out loud, they are playing “air instruments” in an empty shipyard!  No wonder people make fun of Journey.
• So I guess I’m on a Journey kick.  Last night I was watching an episode of the Family Guy, and the guys started singing “Don’t Stop Believin’” while doing karaoke at the Drunken Clam.  Great scene.
• Speaking of Journey, they are coming to the Target Center with Def Leppard on July 18.  I can’t believe there are still tickets available.

 

Quick Thoughts 6/20

• 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 three game series.  I’ll be at the Friday and Saturday games, and riding on a charter bus to both games.  Friday’s probables are Prior/Santana, and Saturday’s are TBA for the Cubs, but a guy named Boof Bonser for the Twins.  I think that’s now my favorite name in pro sports.  Derek Lee is still on the DL, Michael Barrett has started serving his ten game suspension, Wood is still hurt, and Prior just isn’t himself after his first start of the year.  After a couple teasing years of decent baseball, it looks like the old lovable loser Cubs are back. 
• Steer clear of Fiesta Cancun restaurant in Clear Lake, IA.  While the food was good at the time, four of the five of us that ate there ended up with some mild food poisoning.
• The patio set that we bought about two weeks ago at Menards went on pretty major sale this week.  Fortunately, it was less than 14 days, so I was able to get a price adjustment of $140!  The only downside was that they gave me store credit instead of an actual refund.
• It’s Rochesterfest this week.  Time for the annual treasure hunt.