Carl's Bowl Pics

.....not looking too good for the Buckeyes.

I think I blacked out from laughter for awhile during that prediction.

This Is My Favorite New Ornament

It really gets you in the Christmas spirit, doesn't it?

My Early Xmas Present from Me to You

This is an excellent video for a simply excellent song. Enjoy.

Things That Never Fail To Make Brad Smile: Volume #5

I loved this commercial so much as a kid that I almost became a Mormon.....okay that didn't reallyhappen but I loved it none the less.

Whatever J Leman is selling....

I'm buying two.

Go Illini!!

Congrats to the Red Sox "Nation"

As a tortured Cubs fan I rooted for them back in 2004. Yeah I found the whole "We haven't won it all in 86 years...we're cursed!" thing to be kind of sad considering A) at the time there were not one but TWO teams that had gone longer than the Red Sox without winning it all and B) all I had to do to shut Red Sox fans up when they started whining about it was ask "Oh by the way, who exactly did the Red Sox beat in 1918 to win their last World Series?" Yeah, you guessed it. They were so very cursed.

Now after a two year drought, they've gone and done it again. Congrats. The Red Sox are now the new Yankees, including players that are oh so easy to hate (see above).

Unfortunately, the main difference I see is that Yankees fans know they are hated and they actually embrace it. Red Sox fans for some reason still think they are America's sweethearts which results in them so much more irritating. By the way, to the delusional lady in the video, you are so not the GOOD empire and if I hear you all referred to as the Red Sox Nation one more time,I'm going to plotz. Oh and to Shaggy, there are many, many people who are not Yankees fans who hate you all, and with every trophy and Sports Guy column it gets just a little bit easier.

Things That Never Fail To Make Brad Smile: Special Halloween Edition

You're looking at a happy man.

So Friday night I was at a saloon in Wrigleyville watching the Cubs win and the Brewers lose. After many high fives (and a dude who accidentally punched me in the gut), I went out to the intersection of Addison and Clark to join in the celebration and got this beautiful picture.

Then I got out of bed after not many hours of sleep and drove down to Champaign-Urbana to go to the Illini game. The Illini ended up beating #21 Penn State for their first win over a ranked team since 2001. The football team saw that the students were being blocked from rushing the field....so the team rushed the stands.

It was like watching a university breathe a sigh of relief after five years of frustration. It was quite awesome.


This was easily one of my best sports weekends ever.

Things That Never Fail to Make Brad Smile: Volume #4

I love all things Simpsons. Of all 18 seasons, this is probably one minute and ninteen seconds of some of my favorite stuff...and I really have no idea why. It just know it makes me happy.

I gotta believe!!

Well, my sports world is in a tizzy. The Illini are 3-1 and actually won a Big 10 game on the road. Sure it was Indiana, but after the past few years even beating a basketball school is reason to celebrate. Now this Saturday we play Penn State down in Champaign. I'm heading down to witness all the fun. We'll see how that goes.

Second of all, the Cubs magic number is four. Yes...four. All of Chicago (well at least all of Chicago that roots for the Cubs) can taste the playoffs. They are so tantalizingly close. Trust me though, I won't celebrate until the Cubs pop champagne in the clubhouse.

Now my 30-odds years of sports fandom has taught me to be wary...to be cautious...not to put my emotions on the line. Instead I've decided to throw all caution to the wind and just enjoy it. I haven't had a fall like this where I can enjoy both college football and baseball this late in the year...well.. ever. I may be eventually emotionally devastated in some cruel and inhumane way by one or both of these teams, but until then, I'm just going to enjoy the ride. I'm going to lash myself to mast and dare the gods of sport to do their darndest. *Gulp*.

...and let's just not talk about he Bears. All that would do is kill my buzz.

Happy First Birthday, Oskee!

No longer a kitten, now a full fledged cat.

Normally I'd post a really good picture of him, but since all his pictures are on the hard drive of the computer he just drowned, I only have this from my camera phone. I guess it will have to do.

This has me sooo pumped for a new seaon of 30 Rock

I'd say Tracy Morgan is a funny actor, but after seeing this interview, I'm not so sure any acting is involved on his part.

Hi-larious.

What I did on my "Vacation"

Well, I just took vacation from last Wednesday until this Monday. Where? Nowhere. I stayed at home in Chicago, saved some cash and decided to try to enjoy my own city. Since I have an attention span only slightly longer than that of Oskee, I'll quickly hit the high points of my vacation.

1. Got free tickets to see the Chicago premiere of this movie Last Wednesday:
The high points were lots of boobs and a smidgen of full frontal. The bad parts...well...the movie is called "Feast of Love". You can pretty much figure it out. Movies like this make me hate love.

2. I'm pretty sure that Tuesday night after some delicious sushi and more than a few cans of Point, I got a hold of some bad late night Mexican food. Anyways, for most of Wednesday and Thursday I couldn't be more than 50 feet from the nearest toilet. Thursday was the worst. I slept until 5PM and could only stomach a bowl of split pea soup all day.

3. Luckily by Friday I felt better and spent the day in downtown Chicago. It started with a bang. Unfortunately, that bang was a woman being hit by a car on Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue. I looked up in time to see her roll off the window. It was surreal. Good thing was an ambulance was there in less than two minutes.

From there I went to here for my first solid food in two days:

For those of you not in the know, Billy Goat is the restaurant this SNL skit was based on. I had a cheeseburger and chips. It was manna from heaven.

I then went to the Art Institute of Chicago where I saw paintings like this:


I think that if museums had a point, that point would be art is pretty and makes your thinker really work.

4. Then I met some friends at happy hour. I drank more Point which that bar calls their "Bad Beer". All I knew was that it was $2.00 a can and that sounds good to me.

Evidently at some point this girl walked in. I didn't know who she was, but all the ladies did. I guess she Jen from "The Bachelor". *shrug* All I know is she travels with her own vapid entourage of douche-bags and she looked arrogant as all get out. Needless to say nobody in her group was drinking Point....or heck even High Life.

I guess they forgot that they have their own bars on the Gold Coast of Chicago that cater almost exclusively vapid douche-bags.

5. The Illini won on Saturday...by alot...against a 1-A team...on the road!!! At least for this week, it's good to be an Illini.

6. A friend of mine had a voucher for a free brunch at a local bar. I'm not one to pass up free steak n'eggs and a free Ketel One Bloody Mary. So Sunday afternoon we go and who's there...Steve FREAKIN' Sanders, Mr.Ian Ziering. Now unlike Miss Reality Star, he actually looked pretty down to earth, just having lunch, hanging with a few friends and watching football on a Sunday morning. He looked like somebody you could approach and ask for an autograph and he's be like "No Prob". I didn't. Dude was watching football. He deserved his space. So I'll guess I'll just go to the grave never knowing what Brian Austin Green is really like. Oh well.

7. Monday morning I learned an important lesson. See I like to drink water, especially when I'm thirsty. I'll pour myself a big cold glass from the fridge...boy it sure is good. Well Monday morning, I woke up parched and I did just that. So I got a big old cup and sat down to do some work.

Oskee also likes water. He finds it fascinating. Running from the tap...sitting in his bowl...filling up my cup...it just never gets old for him and he just cant get enough. Unfortunately, God or evolution (you take your pick) has cursed my poor little buddy with the lack of opposable thumbs...so it's very hard for him to pick up my glass and drink from it. Through trial and error he has found the easiest way to drink from my cups is to knock the sucker over and revel in everything that comes flowing out. Quite clever really.

I had a work laptop. It was an inanimate object without feelings. I think that if it did have feelings, it would probably detest water. It's like kryptonite to computers.

Well long story a little less long, I got up to get a cup of coffee, make a call and take a shower. When I came back to my living room Oskee was no longer thirsty and Mr. Puter was slightly drenched. So, I will be 'puterless until the IT department can take care of that. I'm hoping they don't mind the iTunes I had installed or the several pictures of Kristin Chenoweth in a bikini that I have on my hard drive. I want to be mad at Oskee...but I know it's my own damn fault.

...and I thought that a vacation at home wouldn't be exciting.

I Like To Tailgate With My Internet Friends!

..even if it is in the rain!

Tailgated at the Illini game this weekend...

It was a bit rainy.



...but the Illini ended up beating Western Illinois 21-0, so it was all worth it.

Well another Illinois football season has started...

I'm trying to stay positive, but this could be another long, long autumn.

Embracing my inner cat owner.

This is the best picture of Oskee yet! Unfortunately we had to go to the vet in order to get it. It seems he had a sore in his mouth that was getting him down and making his breath smell even worse than normal. It was downright brutal....

A vet visit and two weeks of antibiotics later, he's good as new! I was relieved. Now I won't have to trade him in for this years' model like I was planning on doing if he turned out to be a lemon.

I'm going to go out on a limb here....

...and declare that this is the best rock song ever about Australia's involvement in World War One.

Freakin' Sweet!

Lightning kick ass!

Lightning hitting a REALLY tall building kicks even more ass!

From our recent storm:

Oh, so THAT'S what God's wrath looks like.

As you may or may not know, Chicago was hit with a wicked bad storm last night right around rush hour. They say winds in my neighborhood topped 70mph. It ended up taking me over three hours to drive the 18 miles home (that's an average of 6 mph to me and you Russ!).

When I did get home, this is the scene on my block that welcomed me...

This is about four houses down..

These are the roots of that same tree.

Different tree, another car....

View from the end of my block...

Needless to say, I parked a block over.

I ask you...

How in the world could I not own this movie?

Pearls Before Swine is on a roll!

The last two days have been quality...

Properly Shorn

Recently, I won an all purpose gift certificate from a drawing at work. I can use it at any number of a myriad of stores. What I finally decided to do to help me make up my mind on what to buy was just browse Amazon.com for awhile. I figured that eventually I'd stumble upon something worth purchasing or what the heck, maybe I'd finally purchase that copy of Young Lady Chatterly that I've had in my "Save for Later" queue since December of 2004.

Well after about 45 minutes of browsing I came upon this bad boy:


Ain't she a beaut? What you have there is the Philips/Norelco Bodygroom. It's expressly made for "manscaping". As any listener of Radiotiki knows, I have a smidge of the body hair. Well my body thinks it needs to protect me from this cold, harsh world by continuing to sprout it in areas I just don't need or want hair to sprout. Until now the options to solve this problem have seemed fairly limited. With this wonderful product, all my prayers may finally be answered! Okay not all of them, but a couple of them....and I'm really due!

I felt the need to do some research on any product that will eventually be spinning sharp blades at a high rate of speed mear millimeters from very delicate body areas. Doing this I stumbled upon the Bodygroom's website. It has to be one of the funniest product related websites I've seen. I even showed it to a couple people who replied, "Is this real?" Remember, Philips is a Dutch company and you know how wacky those klompen-wearing buggers are.

Well as soon as I can hit the local Coinstar to exchange some loose pocket change for more Amazon play money, I'll have to place the order. Hell, I may even have enough that I can throw the latest Harry Potter (unintentional pun)book in my cart as well. Then I can spend a night curled up with good book, a warm cup of tea and a freshly shorn {insert body part here}.

Oh, I'm really hoping someone at work asks, "So what did you spend your gift certificate on?"

"Hey, let me show you."

UPDATE: It was purchased this weekend and is due to be delivered by tomorrow! Woo Hoo!

I'll keep you in the finely trimmed loop on how it ends up working.

*zipper noise*

Class Personified

Looks like I picked a damn good week to renounce my love for Lindsay. What a classy, classy lady.

The photos are courtesy of What Would Tyler Durden Do (Areas NSFW). Enjoy!

Why does this scare me so much?

I almost want to close my eyes and wake up in November.

How can something that makes me so incredibly excited and happy also simultaneously make me so nervous?

I could use a Box O' Funn

I've been in quite a funk lately, but this put a big old smile on my face...

Please oh, please let me be found karmatically deserving!!

When I first heard this news, I think I nearly wet myself in excitement. I at the very least started to giggle like a teenage fangirl.

Here's the website for those of you that are unfamilar with the venue. It's just a TAD more cozy than the United Center where I saw them last. The show should be freakin' mindblowing.

I'll be saying my prayers tonight and calling in each and every one of my favors tomorrow so that that somehow, just somehow I get through for tickets when they go on sale tomorrow afternoon.

Wish me luck.

MAJOR UPDATE: It's funny how quickly things can go from an awesome opprotunity to a cruel, cruel joke. I never had a chance.

What a shit day.

Damn you, EA Sports, damn you to heck!!!

Well, last week I purchased EA Sports NCAA Football 08. The thing is I already own the 2003 version and the 2006 version.

So has college football changed that much in the past 5 years? No, not really.

Yet every year I am drawn to purchase this game that isn't probably all that different from versions I already own. Maybe the game play is a bit different. Maybe the uniforms are more up to date. The team rosters are more realistic to what is currently playing out there...but no matter what I want it. I have to play it.

See, I'm not a huge gamer. Most of the time my PlayStation2 is just gathering dust. Even if some kick butt game comes out that really tickles my fancy (see God of War, Ghost Recon, Star Wars Battlefront) most of the time I end up waiting until the game hits the $20 rack before I purchase it.

Yet once NCAA football comes out, it's a whole different story. I just have to have it. The draw is so strong that before I owned a PlayStation2, I once rented a whole game system from a Blockbuster just so I could play this game.

If I do purchase the game like I did this year, for the first few weeks I think about it constantly. I can't wait to get home and play. Why? I have no idea. All I know is I get some kind of odd high from it. For example, yesterday I played Illinois versus the Ragin' Cajuns of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. One ten point victory later and I'm walking tall all day. Why does beating some pushover school make me feel so tough? Not a clue, but it sure is fun.

This is where it starts to get hazardous for Brad. I've seen screenshots of NCAA08 on the PlayStation3 and the Xbox 360, and it looks glorious, simply glorious. If the game is this good on the old box, how awesome must it be on one of the new consoles? *drool*

I tell you, it's a sickness.

I know I've already done a Flight of the Conchords post...

....and at the risk of becoming a fansite....this is just too damn funny not to include on my blog.

Rubbin's racin', Cole!

So, I think that I have finally recovered enough to post about the events of my past weekend.

The boys of NASCAR came to the stately Chicagoland Speedway in lovely Joilet, Illinois over this past weekend. The racetrack is a hop, skip and jump from my parents home out in there in heartland. Well, bright and early on Sunday morning (This was after a night out at the Joilet Jackhammers game. While I was there I was fortunate enough to get a quality picture with their mascot Jammer. The pictures are hopefully to follow.) I was roused from sleep in my parents house, herded sleepily into a van and before you knew it I was sipping the High Life before 9:30AM. Good times......damn good times.

My father, all three of my brothers and my brother-in-law all were able to make it in for the race. It was full fledged family male bonding. My brother Bruce was master of the grill, stirring up a yummy brunch and tasty dinner for us. Meanwhile my little brother Brian and I went head to head at bags/cornhole/whatever you want to call it. I was trounced soundly over and over and over, but I think I out drank him pretty handily, so really in the end I think we can call it a wash.

The weather was awesome, the race was loud and in the end Tony Stewart won fairly handily which made a majority of my family (including yours truly) pretty damn happy.



Yesterday I had absolutely no voice, was more than a tad hangy-overy but all and all pretty damn happy. I definitely have to go again next year.....and this time I'll have to bring a damn camera. A picture of the stand at the local gas station that was selling a wide variety of different confederate flags would have been a priceless addition to this post. I personally was a huge fan of the one with "Git-R-Done!" in huge letters the middle. Hey, I never claimed NASCAR was the Sport of Kings!

Oh, did I mention that the Cubs swept the Astros this weekend as well? With a sports weekend that great, I'm definitely due for some sort of wicked karmatic sports backlash in the very near future.

Blog Leavings

I got thoughts bouncing around in my head like one of those machines they draw the lottery number ping-pong balls from, yet none of them are quite big enough to warrant their own individual post. In order to expunge my thinker of some of these random thoughts, I present you this entry of a few odds and ends.

Topic #1: With David Beckham coming to the LA Galaxy, the Spice Girls reuniting, and with her getting her own TV special, America is getting a full frontal Victoria Beckham assault. I'm sorry. She's just not for me. Maybe after she eats several sandwiches....

On the other hand, I think Baby Spice (Emma Bunton) has developed quite nicely, thank you.

MERCY!

Topic #2: It's the All-Star break and my Cubs are right back in it. After a downright lousy spring, the Cubs were tied for the second best record in the majors in the month of June. They are now a game over .500 and only 4.5 games out of first in the National League Central and 4.0 games out of the wild card.

Did you hear that? That is hope you hear in my typing. Unfortunately, my spirits have risen. I'm dreadfully getting excited and hopeful. This happens even though I know with certainty that I will eventually be let down in some terribly painful, soul-crushing manner. Such is the curse of the Cubs fan. You know it's coming like it has so often in the past (1969, 1984, 2003)....yet you are utterly powerless to stop being excited about it. It's like knowing a girl is going to eventually break up with you in some humiliating way in front of all your friends, but yet still being excited about the relationship.

My real fear is that I will one day pass on this sickness to my children....well that and my receding hairline.

Topic #3: The fateful day has come that I must let a loved one go. We had a lot of good times together but there comes a time when you realize that a relationship just isn't healthy anymore. Admittedly I had seen this coming for awhile now, but when the feelings are strong and you've invested so much time in a relationship, you stick around through the bad times hoping things will get better. Finally the time has come to just admit that the woman has gone batshit insane and I have to get the hell outta there.

Lindsay Lohan, the crush is over.

I stuck with you through the skinny phase, the really bad pop career, the showing your naughty bits to the world, even the "glug, glug...vroom, vroom...snore, snore...crash, crash"...but all together its just been to much. You had so much potential (By the way, this is where I'd probably put in the musical montage of pictures from the good old days probably to the strains of Skid Row's "I Remember You") and once upon a time I had such high hopes. Now I have to move on and retire you to the Britney Spears Wing of my pantheon of crushes.

...but hey, we'll always have "Mean Girls". *tear*

I have a feeling Oskee is a Whig.

I don't know why, and I sure haven't read it, but just the cover of this book amuses me immensely.



Well, it must be pretty darn good if they sell it in an auto and truck repair shop.

Things That Never Fail to Make Brad Smile: Volume #3

I have loved the Flight of the Choncords since I saw their HBO comedy special about two years ago. It was on the Comcast "On Demand" at the time and my roommate and I kept watching it over and over again....and the more beers we had, the funnier it got. It was good, good stuff.

Well now they have their own HBO series. Unfortunately now I no longer have HBO, so I've had to use various methods just to catch glimpses of it here and there. What I have seen has been good and I still heartily approve!



I guess I'll just have to wait for the Season 1 DVD.

With all apologies to my friend Tom....

Last Friday night I got to see the Police at Wrigley Field and it was pretty freaking awesome. I'd seen Sting in concert a few times in the past, but nothing quite compared to this. It was one of my favorite bands of all time playing in my favorite place in the world. Thanks to my pal Cheeks for offering me his spare ticket. I'd definitely have kicked myself if I had missed this concert.

The woman in front of me gave me mad, fly props for knowing the words to most of the songs. I wanted to tell her if someone spent $98 bucks on tickets and didn't know the words to "Message in a Bottle", they pretty much wasted a good $98.

Oh and by the way, if this is my beloved friend Tom reading this, I'm lying. You didn't miss a thing. They sucked ass.

Rumors of My Demise are Greatly Exaggerated

So I know that I've been pretty scarce lately. I'm so sorry about that. What can I say, summer hits and things get busy in these parts. So what exciting things have I been so busy with that I'd completely ignore you? Well, let me tell you...

1. I went to my nephew's wedding Outside of Bowling Green, Kentucky the first week on June. Yes, I have nephews getting married before me, a fact not lost on my father who teased me at the first opportunity. It was a great time. It's very rare that we can get our whole family together with all my brothers and their families and my sister and her family. I took the opportunity to pass along some of my years of accumulated knowledge on to my nephews and nieces. I taught my one teenage niece how to yell out "Freebird!!!!" anytime a song was requested and as you can see I just about have the littlest of the flock doing picture perfect finger guns. This little one has potential. With a little help from her Uncle Brad, there's no telling how far she'll go!

2. I got old...well at least I got older. Thirty-fucking-six. Wow. Just wow. I don't think I ever really expected to get this old. Hell, if I did get this old I at least expected to have my shit together. My shit is soooooo still not together. All things considered though, I still have my health, I have a uber-great family and I've made a ton of good friends in that 36 years (even if some are in Colorado and London). No real complaints in the end. Now if I could just learn to be the age behaviorly I actually am chronologically.

It just so happened that my friend Chris (see pic above) was throwing a small AYCD shindig for his brother that night to celebrate his bother's soon to be marriagedom. Upon finding out that the party fell on birthday as well, Chris decided to make it a combined Super-Mega-Bachelor Party/Birthday Party Extravaganza!!! at Schoolyard Tavern. Many beers were drank. Many shots were shot. It was a great time and I thank my good buddy Chris for including me in his party. I really appreciated it. Chris is quality people. If you don't already have a Chris in your life I highly recommend getting one.

3. The radio show is really up and running again.
Yipee!

Unfortunately, I haven't been part of it.
Booo!

I have the headset, I have the buddies doing the radioshow but currently the only computer I have to use to broadcast is not really mine, and therefore has some sort of anti-Skype programming on it. It has so far foiled all my attempts to reestablish my status as an Internet radio sensation. Poop. I am not happy. I'm starting to think I need to start a charity to get me back on the air, one whose sole purpose is to help get me a cheap-ass desktop and a monitor so I can spread my message of love, beer and poop (and store all my porn).

Speaking of poop, I promise to be more regular with my blogging in the future.

Really!

Why are you laughing?

They stab it with their steely knives...but they just can't kill the beast

For you Radiotiki listeners, the boys are trying to resurrect the beast. Yeah my best friend Tommy moved to London, but through the magic of Skype I think the guys have found a way to keep the show alive. There is a test show up on the website, just click on the date next to "Now playing on RadioTiki". I was at work so I couldn't participate (but shockingly RobotBrad does), but the guys sounded pretty darn good for an initial effort after a four month hiatus. There is some techy talk you have to muddle through, but worth a listen to hear Tommy's initial observations about living in England and the theatre scene in London. Plenty of singing and a Shalamar reference. Give it a listen...IF YOU DARE!!!!

Have I mentioned my love for Pearls Before Swine?

Sometimes, just sometimes...

....I inexplicably enjoy the antics of a parrot on a bike.



I'm thinking about starting a campaign to make this the new Illinois halftime show now that the Chief is dead. I figure it really expresses the honor and dignity that such a fine institution of higher learning deserves.

Pepe riding across the field to the strains of the "Three-in-One" will be enough to bring a tear to any eye.....

Warning: Try not to drool on your keyboard.

I just discovered this site on the internets. It's a photographic homage to all the edible reasons why I love Chicago.

Oh, and the Italian beef I had at Portillo's today was out-freaking-standing. Thanks for asking. Much better than even the very best Taylor ham.

Take that, Jersey!!!

A Radio Recommendation to RadioTiki's loyal flock

Flipping through channels on my XM radio recently, I joyfully rediscovered the radio comedy of Ron & Fez.

Though they are currently based out of New York City, back in the mid-90's they were syndicated and based out of Florida. They were part of what was then called the Ron & Ron (areas NSFW) show. Yes, now they are short a Ron, but luckily they lost the kinda unfunny one.

When I lived in Savannah, GA, they were the morning radio show I listened to religiously. I used to enjoy them as much as any radio show I've ever listened to and I'm happy to announce that they are still pretty hella funny.

I lost track of them for for about ten years, but recently I discovered they are back on the air out of New York on WFNY: Free FM! Lucky for us non-New Yorkers though, they are also podcasted on iTunes and if you do the XM thang like Tommy and I do, they are also on the XM on Channel 202: The ViRUS.

After all the laughs they gave me back in the day, the least I could do it give them a little promotion here on the Bully Pulpit. Just give 'em a listen if you can....and I really hope you like. If you don't like, then hey that's just more Ron & Fez for me.

Prepare to be motivated!!!!!

Because Listener Orangelamb enjoyed yesterday's so much, I want to share what is probably my favoritest Pearls Before Swine ever.