The Bacon Explosion!

A few weeks ago a buddy of mine found a recipe on the internet for something called the "Bacon Explosion." Being lovers of all things bacon we decided that we would make one for fantasy baseball draft day. That day was yesterday.

The "Bacon Explosion" has only four ingredients: 2 lbs of bacon, 2 lbs of italian sausage, bbq seasoning and bbq sauce. You cook the first pound of bacon and crumble it. You make a nice tight lattice weave with the second pound of uncooked bacon. Sprinkle seasoning on the weave. Spread all the sausage over the weave. Spread the cooked bacon over the sausage. Sprinkle more seasoning and drizzle on some sauce. Roll the sausage tightly to the end of the weave and seal the seam and sides. Then roll the sausage up in the weave. Sprinkle liberally with seasoning. Finally, smoke the loaf for about 2.5 hours. Slather in sauce and serve.

Let me tell you, that monster was better than advertised. With four fat guys in the house it didn't stand a chance. I chose to serve it with tater tots, but we would have been happy just with the meat. It was AWESOME!

When my wife found out what I was making she said she wanted all of the guys to leave their signed medical waivers and emergency contact numbers at the door. She also suggested serving a side of Lipitor with it.

A few friends of mine are coming out for the NASCAR race in a couple of weeks and the Explosion will definitely be on the menu.

Behold: the final product!

Too Much Crap!

Today gave the term "shitty day" new meaning. And I mean that in the most literal sense.

While my wife was out running errands today I was left in charge of the dog and the baby. The first thing I did was get in the shower and clean up. When I was finished I picked the baby up out of the swing and the overwhelming odor of fresh baby pooh hit me like a brick. I took him down stairs, opened up the diaper and found a fresh and rather large "Cleveland steamer" in his diaper. It stunk, but hey what are you gonna do? I cleaned him up, changed his diaper and we went about our business. A little later I was sitting on the couch playing a video game, the dog next to me. Suddenly she wretches and a small amount of puke landed on my freshly washed leg and on the couch. Then, without warning, the most vile and disgusting smell filled the room. Apparently the dog attempted to clean up after herself this afternoon and it didn't agree with her. That's right folks. I had regurgitated dog poop on my leg. I work in the medical field and have smelled smells that most of you can't imagine. This was the worst ever. I almost puked myself. I was literally nauseated for an hour afterward. To add insult to injury, I had to take another shower too.

Let's face it. I've had enough crap for one day.

Legends in Concert

In December I found out that two rock legends would be performing together in Phoenix this month. Knowing my wife is a huge fan, I bought a pair of tickets for us to see Elton John and Billy Joel "Face 2 Face."

A good friend of ours agreed to watch the baby so we could go and enjoy ourselves. Thanks Stacy! We had a nice Italian dinner and then headed downtown for the concert.

For those of you not familiar with the tour the premise is that both men perform together and then they each do their own set before finishing the night on stage together again. There are two pianos at the front of the stage facing each other and two full bands.

The show started with Elton and Billy coming out with both bands and playing a few songs. Billy and his band then left and Elton played with his band for about an hour. Then Elton exited and Billy came back with his band. They also played about an hour. Finally Elton and his band joined them back on stage for a few more songs. The show ended with Elton and Billy doing the last two songs unaccompanied. They closed with "Candle in the Wind" and "Piano Man."

What a fantastic show! I must say that I enjoyed Billy's set more than Elton's. Elton just sat at the piano and played and had very little audience interaction. Billy was high energy and had a lot of interaction with the audience. His piano rotated in a circle, he got up and ran around, he pick up a guitar and played and he even threw the mic stand around the stage. Don't get me wrong; Elton is a great artist, but he does his own thing and if you don't like it, well, he's doing it anyway. Billy, however is a great entertainer and it was clear that his goal was to keep the audience on it's feet.

The highlight of the show, however, was when both men performed together. Their styles complement each other very well and they played off of each other beautifully. They played songs from both of their repertoires and they took turns singing on every song.

This show is a must see for any music lover. These men are truly rock legends.

Spring has sprung and baseball is in the air!

The wife has been bugging me for a while to blog about my favorite part of Spring, baseball. Living in Arizona is like living in baseball heaven. We have Major League Baseball, Arizona Fall League, Rookie League, Instructional League and, of course, spring training. When all is said and done there is professional baseball in the valley for ten months out of the year.

On Feb. 25 I took Andy to his first baseball game. We went to see the Indians play the Giants in the first game ever at Goodyear Ballpark which is the new spring training home of the Indians. Conveniently enough the ballpark is also about a mile and a half from our house. Not being a big Indians fan, but still trying to be supportive, I wore my t-shirt from the Bob Feller Museum. For those of you unfamiliar with Bob, he is a former Indians pitcher and is currently the oldest living hall of famer at 90 years old. I knew he was going to throw out the first pitch and that there was a chance he'd be signing autographs. Sign he did. Being a fan I got in line and waited my turn. When I got up to him he looked up at me and a big smile came over his face. He was very surprised and very pleased to see someone wearing a shirt from his museum. He even insisted the baby and I have our picture taken with him. He even insisted the baby sit on the table in front of him. As you will be able to see in the picture, he took matters into his own hands when the baby wouldn't look up at the camera. When Bob was done with us I was even asked to do interviews for a local newspaper and Yahoo sports.

Baseball is back and life is good!

Me and Andy with Bob Feller