Monday, February 02, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Guest dead soldier
Submitted by Sean "Northern Pike" Magoo. My guess would be he drank this Talisker to an early death after sending his Laphroaig to Gitmo for incarceration.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
bourbon
I have always considered bourbon drinkers to be an odd lot. Sort of like they got lost on their way to find the scotch and bumped across a lesser drink, and swilled it down in impatience.
But the Fish Head received for his birthday a nice looking bottle from one of his fellow spawn, and shockingly, realized it was bourbon.
Now one might ask, why would fellow spawn brother gift the Fish Head a bottle of bourbon? Thoughtlessness? Hoping for a re-gifting?
No, because spawn brother was wandering about in the backwoods of Kentucky, and stumbled into the actual distillery where the pictured booze is brewed. Now let's not ask ourselves what said brother was doing in the backwoods of Kentucky, as we all know the sorts of things that go on there.
Being of magnanimous spirit, Fish Head set aside his scotch, grabbed a fresh glass, and steeled himself to make good of the questionable gift. Following his normal scotch habits, two fins over rocks it was. And amazingly...its pretty damn good!
Now you might notice that a full report is not possible, given that the bottle is still almost full (Fish Head has small fins!). So look for a further update when the Woodford achieves dead soldier status.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Alamo Bowl
Its taken a few days to finish swallowing the bile before I could type a post about the 2008 Alamo Bowl.
The Cats came into the game 2-TD underdogs, with virtually no-0ne giving them a chance to win. And in the end, everyone was right as the Cats fell 30-23 in overtime.
Despite the loss, it was a terrific game, with flashy TD passes galore, a punt return for TD, and numerous stellar defensive plays.
The Cats gave themselves every opportunity to win, especially with the sparkling defensive effort, which put Mizzou's high-octane offense into a deep freezer. But in the end, a few plays where the Cats failed to take advantage, cost them the game. A missed PAT. Failure to pick up a third-and-three on the last drive in regulation. A missed assigment on the O-line in OT that led to a huge sack.
An exciting but disappointing ending to the 2008 season.
Round ball
Historically the Fish Head is not much of a basketball fan, but the post-football doldrums seem to have grown in intensity over the years.
So this year, the Fish head has strived to enjoy some college hoops. Aided by the generosity of other parties coughing up free tickets (thanks Pat!) the Fish Head has managed to see one game for each of his affiliated schools - UIC, DePaul, and Northwestern.
Unfortunately, all three games were embarrassing losses but were enjoyable nonetheless.
Highlights from the three outings:
- Enjoying the surprisingly nice UIC Pavilion with my nieces and nephews - the Dragon Den being an added bonus.
- Having the entire upper deck to myself at the Allstate Arena; apparently DePaul vs. Morgan State was not a big draw with attendance at about 2,500.
- Beers at UBAA before the NU vs. MSU game.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Xmas Dinner was...
Turducken. Or, as the Fish Head's oldest daughter called it, Turdunken. While this may sound like a weird, cajun hillbilly food, its actually quite tasty except for the nasty sausage stuffing!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Annual Book
Once a year, never more nor less, the Fish Head reads a book. Today the Fish Head finished his 2008 selection, "A History of Scotland". And yes, if you saw Braveheart, William Wallace (and his compatriot, Andrew of Moray) merit a few pages during the description of the Wars of Independence.
Overall, this was an excellent book if somewhat dense and turgid. The ancient history of the Picts, the inter-twining of Scotland, Norway, Ireland, and England, all make for fascinating reading.
Why read a book about Scotland? Because scotch is made there!
Overall, this was an excellent book if somewhat dense and turgid. The ancient history of the Picts, the inter-twining of Scotland, Norway, Ireland, and England, all make for fascinating reading.
Why read a book about Scotland? Because scotch is made there!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dead Soldier Reports
I haven't posted one for awhile, but pictures of the most recent "dead soldier" are a favorite of the Fish Head. In the spirit of equality, my buddy Mike "I have a crazy basement" Carp emailed me a copy of his most recent dead soldier.
Apparently the Carp liked the Balvenie as much as the Fish Head did.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Hello Mr. Bush
Dear Lame Duck President Mr. Bush,
It has come to our attention that it is an absolute certainty that WMDs can be found at the location below. This has been agreed to by the CIA, the NSA, the NIE, the intelligence agencies of all of the G7, and most importantly, Mickey Mouse and Boris Badinov; Condi has the powerpoint.
To help you with some simpleton strategy (we understand you excel at that variety), it is a hop skip and a jump from Whiteman to this location. Could you please vector in a couple B2's with appropriate payload to rid us of this menace?
X marks the spot
Signed,
The Citizens of Illinois
It has come to our attention that it is an absolute certainty that WMDs can be found at the location below. This has been agreed to by the CIA, the NSA, the NIE, the intelligence agencies of all of the G7, and most importantly, Mickey Mouse and Boris Badinov; Condi has the powerpoint.
To help you with some simpleton strategy (we understand you excel at that variety), it is a hop skip and a jump from Whiteman to this location. Could you please vector in a couple B2's with appropriate payload to rid us of this menace?
X marks the spot
Signed,
The Citizens of Illinois
Sunday, December 07, 2008
River walking
The Selection Committee met at Tracy's, drank some beer, and decided the Wildcats should go to the Alamo Bowl. Air tickets are bought, game tickets are ordered, and hotel rooms are reserved. All that remains is to get stinking drunk and make Mizzou fans look classy by comparison.
Go Cats!
BCS Bowl Selection Meeting
The BCS Bowl Selection Review Committee will be meeting here at 4PM CST today.
Football snob
I admit it, I am a college football snob. Pro sports? Screw those whiny rich guys. College soccer, golf, lacrosse, baseball? Boredom central.
However, I have come to the conclusion that my life can no longer consist of four months of joy, followed by 8 months of benighted, hidey-hole nothingness.
So I have resolved to follow (as best I can stomach it) another college sport, so I have been keeping at least one cloudy fish eye on basketball. And lo and behold, said cloudy eye watched a gem off the DVR Saturday, as Northwestern annihilated DePaul. The Fish Head felt bad seeing alma mater A cream alma mater B so badly, but then realized the beauty of the situation, as a pasting like that enables the Fish Head to endlessly taunt his DePaul alumni brothers.
Surprisingly, while reading the recap of the game, the Fish Head discovered that Northwestern's perennial patsy bball team is, well, maybe not a total patsy this year. In fact, the Cats roundball team is off to a great start and is highly ranked according to the RPI index.
However, I have come to the conclusion that my life can no longer consist of four months of joy, followed by 8 months of benighted, hidey-hole nothingness.
So I have resolved to follow (as best I can stomach it) another college sport, so I have been keeping at least one cloudy fish eye on basketball. And lo and behold, said cloudy eye watched a gem off the DVR Saturday, as Northwestern annihilated DePaul. The Fish Head felt bad seeing alma mater A cream alma mater B so badly, but then realized the beauty of the situation, as a pasting like that enables the Fish Head to endlessly taunt his DePaul alumni brothers.
Surprisingly, while reading the recap of the game, the Fish Head discovered that Northwestern's perennial patsy bball team is, well, maybe not a total patsy this year. In fact, the Cats roundball team is off to a great start and is highly ranked according to the RPI index.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Bad idea
History presents us with many examples of bad ideas. Sometimes ideas are simply stupid and poorly thought out, others are presented at the wrong time, and some ideas are so certain to enrage and offend the public trust that they are best buried in a deep dark vault and never, ever spoken of.
The latter category most certainly includes the moronic trial balloon floated by Dick Durbin, senior senator from Illinois. The esteemed Mr. Durbin has stated that he is considering asking lame duck President Bush to offer clemency to George Ryan, based on a heartfelt appeal from Ryan's wife.
You may remember George Ryan. Yes, the George Ryan whose corrupt administration of the Illinois Secretary of State office directly resulted in the deaths of six innocent children. Yes, the George Ryan who routinely steered state business to his cronies. Yes, the George Ryan who used his political campaign funds to illegally enrich himself and his family. Yes, the George Ryan who is a convicted felon, liar, and unrepentant criminal.
Don't even think it, Dick. We the people just elected Obama because we are sick of politicians who are stupid, corrupt, and ineffective. If you push to free Ryan, you will convince the public that you are all of those things too.
The latter category most certainly includes the moronic trial balloon floated by Dick Durbin, senior senator from Illinois. The esteemed Mr. Durbin has stated that he is considering asking lame duck President Bush to offer clemency to George Ryan, based on a heartfelt appeal from Ryan's wife.
You may remember George Ryan. Yes, the George Ryan whose corrupt administration of the Illinois Secretary of State office directly resulted in the deaths of six innocent children. Yes, the George Ryan who routinely steered state business to his cronies. Yes, the George Ryan who used his political campaign funds to illegally enrich himself and his family. Yes, the George Ryan who is a convicted felon, liar, and unrepentant criminal.
Don't even think it, Dick. We the people just elected Obama because we are sick of politicians who are stupid, corrupt, and ineffective. If you push to free Ryan, you will convince the public that you are all of those things too.
POTS - R.I.P. 2008
My first real full-time job was in 1978 at Illinois Bell (yes, Fish Head has out-lived the average alewife by a few years). At the time, IBT was one of the largest and best known corporations in Illinois, and made hundreds of millions of dollars each year selling POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service.
Flash forward to 2008. Illinois Bell is a distant memory, divorced from the Bell System, subsumed into Ameritech, which was subsumed into SBC, which subsumed AT&T. Get it, got it, its gone.
And how about POTS? It too is rapidly disappearing. Depending on whose numbers you believe, installed POTS lines are declining 5-10% per year. Why? In the recent past, its been wireless and broadband that have been cannibalizing the POTS business. Younger consumers, especially those who remain single longer, are comfortable relying on their cell phones and see no need for POTS; tech-savvy oldsters who like their stationary phones have been exploiting their broadband connections and using services like Vonage and Skype.
More recently, the economy has been the culprit in the decline. Empty houses require no POTS line, and families with financial pressures will ditch their POTS line before they ditch their mobile phones.
At a rate of decline of 10% per year, POTS service is likely to rapidly become un-economic, as it requires specialty equipment and infrastructure which will be hard to maintain in a rapid down draft, and consumers unwilling or unable to switch are likely to face difficulties as telecom companies react to the financial realities.
The Fish Head recently retired his trusty POTS line that served his home office. After many years of faithfully paying $18 per month to the local phone company, Fish Head has converted to a combination of cell and VOIP. For routine calls, Fish Head uses Skype, an ultra-low-cost VOIP provider which primarily runs on personal computers. Couple your PC with a bluetooth headset, and you have a high-tech if somewhat inconvenient phone system. For cell, Fish Head routes his cell calls thru a femtocell which in essence turns home cell calls into VOIP.
And so AT&T is out $18/month, the Polycom desk phone sits collecting dust on a shelf, and the Fish Head has made his little contribution to the decline of POTS.
Flash forward to 2008. Illinois Bell is a distant memory, divorced from the Bell System, subsumed into Ameritech, which was subsumed into SBC, which subsumed AT&T. Get it, got it, its gone.
And how about POTS? It too is rapidly disappearing. Depending on whose numbers you believe, installed POTS lines are declining 5-10% per year. Why? In the recent past, its been wireless and broadband that have been cannibalizing the POTS business. Younger consumers, especially those who remain single longer, are comfortable relying on their cell phones and see no need for POTS; tech-savvy oldsters who like their stationary phones have been exploiting their broadband connections and using services like Vonage and Skype.
More recently, the economy has been the culprit in the decline. Empty houses require no POTS line, and families with financial pressures will ditch their POTS line before they ditch their mobile phones.
At a rate of decline of 10% per year, POTS service is likely to rapidly become un-economic, as it requires specialty equipment and infrastructure which will be hard to maintain in a rapid down draft, and consumers unwilling or unable to switch are likely to face difficulties as telecom companies react to the financial realities.
The Fish Head recently retired his trusty POTS line that served his home office. After many years of faithfully paying $18 per month to the local phone company, Fish Head has converted to a combination of cell and VOIP. For routine calls, Fish Head uses Skype, an ultra-low-cost VOIP provider which primarily runs on personal computers. Couple your PC with a bluetooth headset, and you have a high-tech if somewhat inconvenient phone system. For cell, Fish Head routes his cell calls thru a femtocell which in essence turns home cell calls into VOIP.
And so AT&T is out $18/month, the Polycom desk phone sits collecting dust on a shelf, and the Fish Head has made his little contribution to the decline of POTS.
Looking back
Its always interesting to watch the results achieved by teams that the Cats recently played. Buried in the back of today's Chicago Tribune was the game wrap-up of the first round FCS (1-AA) match between SIU and UNH.
The UNH Wildcats came to Evanston in 2006 and pummelled the Cats 34-17. Fans were shocked, but UNH has been a traditional powerhouse in 1-AA, and as the last couple of years have shown, a strong 1-AA team can knock off a 1-A team (google on Toledo and Appalachian State for more :-) ).
This year, the Cats played the SIU Salukis in Evanston, and the result was better, with the Cats the victor by a 33-7 margin.
Yesterday, UNH beat SIU 29-20 to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs (Obama would love 1-AA). Good to see both our past victims, and our past conquerors, doing well.
The UNH Wildcats came to Evanston in 2006 and pummelled the Cats 34-17. Fans were shocked, but UNH has been a traditional powerhouse in 1-AA, and as the last couple of years have shown, a strong 1-AA team can knock off a 1-A team (google on Toledo and Appalachian State for more :-) ).
This year, the Cats played the SIU Salukis in Evanston, and the result was better, with the Cats the victor by a 33-7 margin.
Yesterday, UNH beat SIU 29-20 to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs (Obama would love 1-AA). Good to see both our past victims, and our past conquerors, doing well.
Bowling
The churn and speculation leading up to December 7 will be intense. Last night's epic battle between the Ducks and the Beavers (lol I am not making that up) should have a positive impact for the Cats as OSU gets another BCS game to embarrass itself at.Watch for Cats fans to howl, and rightfully so, if Iowa jumps us as predicted.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Cornucopia
Saturday was a cornucopia of fandom, a veritable turducken of sports feasting.
First up was the traditional season-closing rivalry match between Northwestern and Illinois, with the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy going to the winner. We arrived at the infamous West Lot close to an hour before it opened, which forced us to crack a kegger in the street to fortify us to withstand the brisk (20 degree) weather. After entering the lot and tailgating for several hours, we were treated to a frigid but tasty treat (full of creamy goodness, as that idiot on the Big Ten Network always says) as the Wildcats smothered the Illini and closed the regular season at 9-3 with a 27-10 victory. Thus, Cats fans face the pleasant dilemma of figuring out how to transport their grills, tents, coolers, and voluminous containers of assorted booze, to exotic Florida for the upcoming bowl game.
After a brief and even more frigid post-game tailgate beer, we loaded ourselves into the Tank and headed downtown for the UIC-DePaul basketball game, DePaul's first match against UIC at the Pavilion. The Fish Head was rewarded with another victory, as his alma mater by another mother cruised to a thrilling 67-63 victory over UIC. As is the case with all basketball games, the game was a snoozefest of tall guys with funny shorts rushing around, until the last 15 seconds when all the excitement was crammed in. Fortunately, the boredom was of the pleasant variety as we feasted on ale and buffet in the Dragon's Den during the game.
Lastly, after a late arrival home, the Fish Head watched a DVR loop of replays of the Wildcats victory, over and over, into the wee hours of the morning.
Go Cats!
First up was the traditional season-closing rivalry match between Northwestern and Illinois, with the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy going to the winner. We arrived at the infamous West Lot close to an hour before it opened, which forced us to crack a kegger in the street to fortify us to withstand the brisk (20 degree) weather. After entering the lot and tailgating for several hours, we were treated to a frigid but tasty treat (full of creamy goodness, as that idiot on the Big Ten Network always says) as the Wildcats smothered the Illini and closed the regular season at 9-3 with a 27-10 victory. Thus, Cats fans face the pleasant dilemma of figuring out how to transport their grills, tents, coolers, and voluminous containers of assorted booze, to exotic Florida for the upcoming bowl game.
After a brief and even more frigid post-game tailgate beer, we loaded ourselves into the Tank and headed downtown for the UIC-DePaul basketball game, DePaul's first match against UIC at the Pavilion. The Fish Head was rewarded with another victory, as his alma mater by another mother cruised to a thrilling 67-63 victory over UIC. As is the case with all basketball games, the game was a snoozefest of tall guys with funny shorts rushing around, until the last 15 seconds when all the excitement was crammed in. Fortunately, the boredom was of the pleasant variety as we feasted on ale and buffet in the Dragon's Den during the game.
Lastly, after a late arrival home, the Fish Head watched a DVR loop of replays of the Wildcats victory, over and over, into the wee hours of the morning.
Go Cats!
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