Bean Boots vs. Sorels

I’ve worn LL Bean Maine Hunting Shoes (Bean Boots, Duck Boots) for years and years, and I basically love them.  The pair I’m wearing right this very second I’ve had since I lived in Michigan (where I grew up) and they’ve traveled with me to North Carolina, Texas and back to North Carolina.  They are 10-inchers with the light-duty Thinsulate lining from about 1992.  I love these boots.  But… yes, there is always a but… I’ve developed a wandering eye.  Here’s the deal, I’ve got a few issues:

1. My foot has grown and my boots are only comfortable with thin to medium socks.  I can’t wear my good, thick hunting socks for extra warmth without feeling like my I’ve pulled my car too far in to the garage.
2. They’re not 100% waterproof.  I think they were, but not any more.  They are like 98%.
3. They are not super-warm.  They are fine if you are staying pretty active and it’s not to0 far below freezing.  But sitting or standing around and my feet get downright cold.
4. I wear them every morning to walk the dogs during the cold months.  I am SOOO sick of lacing and tieing these every morning at 5:30 AM, then take them off soon afterwards.  What a pain.  And my dogs are complaining about how long it takes me.

I thought I had a plan.  I’ll get a fleece-line pair of the Bean Boots that are the pull-on style.  Well, turns out they don’t make those any more.  WHAT?  I know.  They do make a zippered pull-on that could work, but they are not going to be shipping until April.  WHAT again.  I know.  So I had to look elsewhere.  I am forced to go back to playing the field and find a new boot that will make my dreams come true.

So, I made my move.  Yep.  Sorel.  Here is what I went for:

Not exactly a Bean Boot, but in the same neighborhood.  I ordered a 9.5 which should allow me to wear any socks, or even multiple pairs if I get all crazy.  The Sorel website says they are 100% waterproof, so I’ll not need to steer the pups away from those puddles anymore.  And they have more Thinsulate, so they should be good and warm.  And, most importantly, they are pull-ons so they are quick and easy.  I’m excited to see how I like them.

Could these replace my beloved Bean Boots?  We’ll see.

Okay, this is pretty darn perfectamundo too…

1967 Corvette Sting-Ray.  Chevy at it’s best.

Just about perfect.

This is pretty dang close to perfect in my book.  A classic Porsche 911 from before the 1970s bumper regulations kicked in.  I even like the color.

On a good day, I just recycle mine…

Some mad scientist out there is constructing super-cool models of hot-rods, race cars and customized cruisers out of tin cans.

Charleston in November

My first time to Charleston, and I found it to be a visual feast.  So Southern and classic, you from certain vantage points, almost European.  I’m heading back this month, maybe we’ll have nicer weather.

It’s Over.

Notre Dame has fired Charlie Weis.  I never liked Weis, and he turned me off of Notre Dame football for the last five years.  I’m glad that’s over with.  GO IRISH!

So much for the “schematic advantage”.

Stanford 45, Notre Dame 38. What a fun game to watch, and very likely Charlie Weis’ last at Notre Dame. Yep folks, it looks like my least favorite coach in college football has finally come to the end of the road.

Christmas dreaming on such a Thanksgiving day.

Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve got some great food to eat, some football to watch and in general, some serious relaxing and to do. That’s what holidays are all about, right?

But tomorrow, the day after Thanksgiving, is not very holiday-like. Black Friday. It sounds so sinister and evil. Or maybe the day the stock-market crashed or the Hindenburg fell in flames. Nope, just the craziest shopping day of the year. I typically don’t partake in Black Friday madness, but I will take this time to begin putting together a wish list of Christmas goodies that I am dreaming of. Here is what has my attention this year (in no particular order)…

Spartans… yep… back to even.

A crazy roller-coaster of a year for these guys:

I hoped for better than 6-6, I must admit. But after the 1-3 start, I was justifiably concerned. Here’s my one-sentence-per-game re-cap of the 2009 Spartan football season..

Spartans win in a close one.

It was the Spartans of Michigan State over the Purdue Boilermakers 40-37 in West Lafayette this Saturday.  Go Green!

Shoes for Saturday

The L.L. Bean Maine Hunting Shoe.  Welcome to the last pair of boots you will ever need.

Back to Even Again and Again and Again and Again.

What a crazy season it has been.  MSU is 1-3 at the end of week four, and  now at week ten: 5-5.  For the fourth time, back to even.

Back to Even. Again.

Man, what a heart-breaker.  There is nothing that knocks the wind out of you like losing on the very last play of the game.

Bean Bluchers Mocs, Again.

Maybe I’m reliving my college days?  Maybe I’m simply getting back to timeless style and proven quality?  Who cares, I guess.  Yesterday I received a box in the mail from L.L. Bean.  I had ordered a pair of the Bean Blucher Mocs, and they had arrived.  I had a pair of these classic shoes back in my MSU days.  Along with a pair of Ray Ban Aviators, crumpled chinos and an untucked worn blue oxford hanging out from a reverse-weave Champion Michigan State sweatshirt, it was part of my standard gear circa 1988.

Spartans Win. Notre Dame Loses. If only Michigan had lost, it would have been a perfect day.

My team, the Spartans of Michigan State University, played Northwestern today. It was a noon game on ESPN2, and I watched it on the TV out on the screened-in porch. We had cable installed out there just for this reason. Why outside? Well, I like to enjoy a good cigar during the game and I don’t smoke cigars inside of the house.  So today was nearly a perfect day…

Back To Even.

Well, the Michigan State Spartan football team is back to even.  The losses to Central Michigan and Notre Dame were awful.  Both could have been avoided, but that’s football.  And injuries are starting to become an issue with Winston out for the season and Nichol questionable.

There are some things to feel pretty good about though…

What the WHAT?

Do you know what this is?

It is synchronized bike riding, ya’ll.

Who knew such a thing existed (outside of an SNL writer’s head)?

I didn’t. But it seems to be real. Real enough to have held the 2009 Junior Championships this past May.

And the thing is…It’s kinda damned imressive.

For real.

Seems harder than a balance beam. Or rhythmic gymnastics. Or Spectating. (Still a sport, right?)

Go Green! Go White!! Go SPARTANS!!!

 

1979.  2000.  2009. 

These are the tree years that Michigan State’s basketball squad has found themselves in the NCAA Championship game. 

Let’s Be More Inclusive, Everybody

It’s not just for dog-lovers anymore.

Or ferrets.

Or ducks.

Yes. Now you can walk your goldfish!

Hopefully there will not be an uptick in goldfish parks.

A Mash-Up

I hate mash ups.

This is the only one I feel like adding. It’s Radiohead, okay….and  DAVE BRUBECK !

Cool Enough.

So, 40 percent?

We’re a little late to the party but a gallup poll tells us (on Darwin’s Birthday) 4 in 10 Americans believe in evolutions.

Is that too high or too low?

Check it out, there are pretty graphics.

And surprisingly, a strong correlation to education and religiosity.

Caption This #26

“Alright, Everybody turn around if you’re  not gay.”

They got more people than Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy would have predicted with this simple trick.

My Puppy Is Amaza-Crazy!

I just realized that my dog is an awesome impressionist. Like Rich Little in his prime, circa 1988, still doing a bang-up aping of Nixon.

Right now Dog Dash can do like 2 different slamdunk, knock it out of the park impressions.

1.  He can contort his body in such a way that he looks exactly  like a dead puppy. And…

2.  He does an outstanding Marlon Brando (from the Godfather) impression when he puts an ice cube in his mouth sideways .

And, I almost forgot, #3. - Dash can turn in a very solid Drowned Rat after his bath.

PS – He also does a great Nicholson and Christopher Walken – but I mean, c’mon…everybody can do those. They don’t even count.

Check back later, we’re trying to teach him an Edward G. Robinson. We’ll see how he takes to it.

Man, I Don’t Know My Presidents Monday #29 Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

(March 1921 – August 1923)

First Off: A Prize to Anyone who knows what the G stands for without looking it up!!!

• Wobbly Warren
• Prsident Hardly
• Ran on the Slogan: A Return to Normalcy (A word Harding made up for his campaign – which obvs. peeved HL Mencken (see quote below)).
• His mother called him ‘Winnie’ (Gotta Admit: Not too butch)

 

THE TRIVIAL:

• Generally and consistently ranked by scholars as one of the worst presidents of all time.
• Harding played poker at least twice a week, once gambling away a set of presidential china dating back to Benjamin Harrison. His cabinet was often referred to as the Poker Cabinet because they all played poker together.
• Many incorrectly claim that Harding coined the term ‘bloviating’ but it was recorded in print prior to Harding’s birth.
• Both of Harding’s parents were doctors.
• First President to have a golf course named after him.
• First newspaper publisher to be elected president.
• First President to travel to Canada (He stopped over on the way to Alaska. Also; He was the first president to visit Alaska).
• Warren G  has the distinction of having the largest feet of any president with a size 14.
• And PS – the G stands for Gamaliel.

And finally, we leave you with a quote from H. L. Mencken:

He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash

Check It.

The most awesome collection of pictures of food that may turn you off your lunch at the aptly named This Is Why You’re Fat (.com).

Ladies and Gentlemen…Please Allow me to Introduce to you…

THE HAMDOG!

That’s Right – - A hotdog, snugly nestled inside a hamburger that is then lovingly deep-fried and then generously topped with chili, chese, onions and a couple of servings of fries. All of this is served up in a giant hoagie roll and at last, a fried egg is added to round out the meal.

(Courtesy Mulligans Bar, Decatur GA.)

 

Most are seriously disgusting but there were a few that made me think, ‘I’d try that if it were within arms’ length.’ Like the doughnut with fresh crumbled bacon or the deep fried coca-cola (make it a Diet and I’m prolly the newest convert).

Project Guitar Amp: 1958 Gibson GA-20

I’ve never owned a Gibson amp, but I see them around and always think they are interesting.  Then a GA-20 showed up on eBay and it caught my eye for a couple of reasons:

1.       The GA-20 is very much like a Fender tweed Deluxe.  Both have two 6V6 power tubes (maybe my favorite power tubes), simple controls (volume, tone) and compact cabinet with a single speaker.

2.       This GA-20 was really cheap at $225.  It was cheap because it had been recovered in smooth, black vinyl and has a non-original, non-vintage 12” speaker.

3.       Maybe it would be a good project to either restore back to original condition, or mod into a killer little amp.

So I bought it.  With shipping, just under $250 invested.  Here is what it looked like when I got it:

   

 

Ya Bacon Me Craaazy!

We’ve visited to topic of  ’Bacon: Is There Ever Too Much‘ before but now I believe we can safely agree that yes, there quite possibly could be a way to put one toe over the line.

Case in Point: The Bacon Explosion.

Yeah, so? It looks relatively harmless and delicious. Tell Me more.

Sure. No problem.

It’s simple really; you weave 2 pounds of bacon together. Layer in a pound of sausage and another pound of bacon in the center. Roll and grill.*

Et viola.

PS. If you feel a need to try this, then you may be one of the few that truly has earned this:

*Just a tip. – You might want to call the EMT before you light the grill.  You’ll thank me later.

Stop Motion Goodies

I know some people out there who dig the stop motion. And this vid is a cute reminder of how creative you can be on the cheap.

I can hear some of you starting to grow your own mustaches right now.

Viva la revalution!

Man, I Don’t Know My Presidents Monday #28 Woodrow Wilson

NickNames

• The Schoolmaster in Politics
• The Professor
• The Phrasemaker
• Coiner of Weasal Words

 

Trivia

• Wilson didn’t learn his letters until he was 9, didn’t learn to read until he was 13. So, Good News, Illiterate tweens! You too can grow up to be president of Princeton and the good ole US of A. But…you  probably won’t.
• Though they never met, Sigmund Freud wrote a treatise on Wilson that claimed he likened himself to Jesus Christ.
• Wilson was married when he was in office to Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. Is it just me or do her middle and maiden names sound like they should be hyphenated and used as a nickname like “Machine Gun” Kelly?
• An avid golfer, Wilson used a black ball when he played in the snow.
• Woody Guthrie is named after him (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie).
• Election results were broadcast for the first time by WWJ in Detroit, MI. (What, did they not have hologram results with Wolf Blitzer back then?)
• After suffering a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed and nearly blind, his wife ran a “Petticoat Government” She was also referred to as the Iron Queen, the Presidentress and the Regent. Generally considered the most powerful First Lady there ever was.
• Woodrow Wilson had a pet sheep named “Old Ike” that would chew tobacco and graze on the South Lawn.
• Second president to address Congress (the first was Washington).
• His vice president Marshall was the one to utter the famous bon mot, “What this country needs is a good five cent cigar.” Here-Here.

Project Guitar Amp: Tweed Fender Bandmaster

I recently worked a deal that netted me a tweed Fender Bandmaster.  The model designation for this amp is 5E7, which is the classic narrow panel 3×10 bandmaster produced form 1955 to 1960.  These are cool amps.  The three ten-inch speakers is interesting, and sounds punchy.  Of course it is all tube with 5881 power tubes and three pre-amp tubes.  And it is all point-to-point wired by hand – no printed circuit board or el-cheapo components.  The ideas is to get as close to how Leo Fender was doing it back in the 50s as possible.