That's the lesson I learned this week, even though I was overwhelmingly reminded that sticking with what you know is not a bad plan either.
After qualifying earlier this month, I was invited to the finals of the Quaker Steak and Lube Bare Bones Wing Eating Contest. It was held Tuesday night and the top prize was $250 cash and $250 in QS&L gift cards.
It's an honor just to be nominated, right?
The event was a speed eating format. There were eight qualifiers (including myself) who were given 15 chicken wings and a serving of french fries. Then they hit the stopwatch. Fastest eater wins.
My competition included last year's winner, his brother, Waunakee's Head Football coach, one of his players, a big talker, a short guy drinking a lot of whiskey and one hefty sized gent.
Paul, the Head Football Coach, brought his entire team, plus a variety of other students to cheer him on. Imagine 40 football players surrounding your table, but you're the opposing team. It's a little intimidating.
I went with a chicken wings first, fries second strategy. Bad choice.
At 2m 15s into the competition, the brother of last year's winner put his hands up signaling he was done. I still had four wings and all my fries left. I also had a small feeling that ingesting that much food, that fast, it wasn't going to stay down. I did keep it down.
The football coach followed in 2nd place and the big guy was next. At that point, everyone else gave up because there were only prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd.
I can say that I put away 15 wings in about 2m 30s, but I can also say I enjoy eating like a normal person too. Check this one off the bucket list
Here's the winner & his prize. I didn't get his name, but nuts to him anyway for beating me.
It's is an easy call this year. Trust me, I have a pretty decent track record when it comes to picking who will be taking home the statues on Oscar night.
In the Top 7 Categories, here's who I think will win it:
Best Picture * "The Artist"
Actor in a Leading Role * George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Actor in a Supporting Role * Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Actress in a Leading Role * Viola Davis in "The Help",but I want Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn" to win.
Actress in a Supporting Role Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film * "Rango"
Directing * "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
Here's the rest of the nominees...
Best Picture * "The Artist"
* "The Descendants"
* "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
* "The Help"
* "Hugo"
* "Midnight in Paris"
* "Moneyball"
* "The Tree of Life"
* "War Horse"
Actor in a Leading Role
* Demián Bichir in "A Better Life" * George Clooney in "The Descendants"
* Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
* Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
* Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Actor in a Supporting Role
* Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
* Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
* Nick Nolte in "Warrior" * Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
* Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Actress in a Leading Role
* Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs" * Viola Davis in "The Help"
* Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
* Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
* Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
Actress in a Supporting Role
* Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
* Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
* Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
* Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs" * Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Animated Feature Film
* "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
* "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
* "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
* "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller * "Rango" Gore Verbinski
Directing
* "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
* "The Descendants" Alexander Payne * "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
* "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
* "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick
Can you translate this sentence: "I'm gonna vamoose to the slide pond, but I hope I'm not looking like a strubbly stump mover."
i could not. Not until I took the UW's Dictionary of American Regional English quiz. It's a survey of how well you know the Wisconsin dialect. I knew one of the words in the survey, but the rest were a mystery to me...and I've lived here for over 20 years. That's one heckuva Uncle Arthur.
Pretty soon, I think our Commander In Chief is going to have his own variety hour.
Last night, the White House hosted a Blues-themed celebration in honor of Black History Month. The President and First Lady heard from B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks and Booker T. Jones.
While each performance looked pretty decent, the highlight was President Obama, once again being called out to sing. He gave two refrains's "Sweet Home Chicago." Not bad.
Does anyone remember eating at The Pizza Oven in Monona before they moved to their shiny new location? I recall red checkered table cloths, a retro 50's theme and some tasty thin crust. Anyone else remember any details about the joint?
BTW...There's a half price deal for The Pizza Oven right now at My Madison Perks.com
Kevin Costner is expected to speak. Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder will perform songs. Invitations have also gone out to Oprah Winfrey an Houston's ex-husband Bobby Brown. I feel like if it do watch it will be from a news reporter angle more than anything else. I supposed that's the whole point of streaming the funeral on the internet though.
It's a somber kind of feeling to think about. Will you watch and if so, is it because you're a dedicated fan, or because it's a big celebrity event?
Yeah. Plans were in the works for it to happen. Here' s how Paul McCartney told the story in a new interview with to Rolling Stone.com:
The Beatles had considered getting back together while all four members were still alive, says Paul McCartney. "There was talk of re-forming the Beatles a couple of times," he tells Rolling Stone, "but it didn't jell, there was not enough passion behind the idea."More..
I wonder if the guys from The Blues Brothers ever thought about getting the band back together too?
Skyfall is set for release November 9th. The release of the 23rd James Bond film is significant, because it comes just one week and two days after my birthday. Thanks for the present Daniel Craig. I'm looking forward to it.
In any case, I happned upon this video awesomeness where somebody has synched up all 22 James Bond intros to play at the same time. There may be nothing greater I've heard lately that can compare to the wall of sound lion roar.
It's not a fear of high winds. Galeophobia is actually the fear of sharks. I'm not sure I've shared this, but I fear sharks.
I don't wish sharks any harm, it's just ai don't want to play in the same sandbox they play in. They seem sort of unforgiving.
In any case, I'm not sure how I feel about this new photo of a shark eating another shark. On one hand, it's one less shark that I have to deal with. On the other hand, if this shark eats other sharks, who's to say it's not strong enough to walk out of the ocean some day and come knocking on my door?
This photo is courtesy of Tom Mannering and was taken in Australia off the Great Barrier Reef, while conducting a fish census. What you see is a Wobbegong Shark with it's mouth wrapped around a Bamboo Shark.
Enough with the Grammy's already! OK, one more thing.
Justin Vernon of the band Bon Iver won two Grammy's last night for Best New Artist and Best Indie Artist. Very Cool. It's extra cool that the guy is from Eau Claire and is known to hang out there too.
Maybe he's trying to maintain his indie cred. Maybe he's trying to represent how people dress in central Wisconsin, but let's just say he wasn't much suited up for the awards.
In any case, Justin's clothes were not his worse offense. Later on that night, I think he mistook his Grammy's for a piece of cheese and started to eat them. Here's the photo evidence...
Triple A says they are concerned about a 'Silver Tsunami" hitting America's roadways. What is a Silver Tsunami? Little old ladies and little old men driving on the road.
Triple A is warning that as baby boomers grow older, a wave of drivers with diminished driving skills will likely creat road dangers. They also say one in four licensed drivers will be over the age of 65 in just 10 years.
I guess I understand their argument, but isn't this a bit judgemental?
I seriously think there may be a future in this competitive eating thing.
Yesterday, i challenged three of my fellow co-workers to a speed eating contest.
The prize: honor.
The ingredients: 8 Quaker Steak & Lube wings and a order of fries.
As you'll see in the video below, I crushed my challengers with a time of 2m35s. According to Quaker Steak & Lube, that was only five seconds off of the current leader in the competition. It was also the 3rd fastest time in the contest so far. Not bad for somebody who has never competitively speed-ate anything in his life.
This contest was actually a qualifier. If things go right and my time holds up, I may be invited back to the QS&L finals. Lets hope I get that call.
There was word that competitive-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi downed 337 chicken wings in a half-hour before a crowd of nearly 20,000 at Wing Bowl XX over the weekend.
I don't think i could physically do 337 wings in one sitting let alone a half-hour.
But that doesn't mean I won't try. I've been challenged by a coworker of mine to an 8 wing plus french fries eating contest later today at Quaker Steak and Lube.
Game on. I'll let you know how this turns out. Here's a competition from 2009 to whet your taste.
Will Ferrell hsa been doing a couple goofy ads for Old Milwaukee Beer lately. One of the ads were aired yesterday, but only in Nebraska. Maybe Old Milwaukee is huge there, I don't know.
Seems like his style.
I'm not sure I get them exactly, but there's something odd to them.
I'm saddened to hear of Don Cornelius' passing today.
I'll be dating myself, but I fondly recall watching Soul Train in the 70's As I remember it, Soul Train aired on Saturday mornings after Saturday Morning Cartoons. Being about 5 years old, I was immediately fascinated with the dance moves. I didn't quite understand what I was watching, but I love to see people dance.
From that point on, if I ever happen to be channel surfing and caught Soul Train, I'd stop and watch for at least a few minutes.
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That's the lesson I learned this week, even though I was overwhelmingly reminded that sticking with what you know is not a bad plan either..jpg)
To literally quote Cambridge native Matt Kenseth following his win at the Daytona 500 on Monday night.
Pretty soon, I think our Commander In Chief is going to have his own variety hour.
Does anyone remember eating at The Pizza Oven in Monona before they moved to their shiny new location? I recall red checkered table cloths, a retro 50's theme and some tasty thin crust. Anyone else remember any details about the joint?
A question on my mind: Should I watch the Whitney Houston funeral service this weekend?
Yeah. Plans were in the works for it to happen. Here' s how Paul McCartney told the story in a new interview with to Rolling Stone.com:
Enough with the Grammy's already! OK, one more thing.
This is a real story.
I seriously think there may be a future in this competitive eating thing.
There was word that competitive-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi downed 337 chicken wings in a half-hour before a crowd of nearly 20,000 at Wing Bowl XX over the weekend. 
