43 Fo Life

There are apparently some big Carson fans in Bloomington.

Dinner

Sometimes when you are a father, you really need to set a good example about what you can eat for dinner. For example, I want to make sure that Jeremy knows I eat a healthy mixture of vegetables, starches, protein and rice. Yes, rice is its own food group. On the Fourth of July, since Dan ruined all our traditions by going to a wedding, I had to improvise.

Traditionally, a group of us walk around Indianapolis to build up our hunger, then we go eat 1 pound hamburgers and french fries, then we walk that off, stop by the fancy Marriott visit their lobby and other facilities, walk around some more, have milk shakes delivered, walk around again, then watch fireworks.

In order to make up for a lack of 1 pound hamburger, I had to show Jeremy how a real dinner should be made. It starts with 4-5 brownies in a bowl. Add Angel Food cake, four scoops of ice cream, drizzle on some fresh strawberries and add the hot fudge. Top it off with whip cream, chocolate chips and some Hershey chocolate bar pieces.

Below, Amy faithfully photographically documented my Fourth of July dinner.

Tom approves.

Big Ten Tournament

Graig, Dan, Julie Johnstone, Matt (of milkshake delivery fame), Coach, Kramer's mom, and probably Michael Jordan all went to the Big Ten (formerly Shmig Ten) Tournament. It was very exciting.

First up was Illinois vs Michigan. Illinois won very easily, it only took about 10 minutes. For some reason, they kept playing. We all made friends with a psychopath from Illinois, then he almost killed us, then he got up and left. More importantly, giant hot dogs were eaten by all (even those who snuck off to eat them when they thought nobody was looking). Then all of a sudden, Graig invented bacon meatloaf, which is probably one of the best inventions ever.

It's important to use your laser-vision when taking on a giant hot dog.

Next up was Purdue vs Penn State. Penn State didn't have a lot of fans there. It wasn't their fault, though, because they never knew that the tournament keeps going after the Thursday games. Purdue won, it was their first Big Ten Tournament win at Conseco. Some of the highlights included Kramer dunking (without getting a concussion), coach probably getting interviewed for an upcoming issue of Playgirl, and Kramer's mom yelling a lot. We all had a lot of fun. And then on the way out we we might have been propositioned by a prostitute, which was really awkward.

In a rare moment of not yelling.

Looking good, coach.

Cracklin' Rosie

Back in 2002 Dan tried to set the world record of breaking into his neighbors' townhouse (we were friends so it was ok). Since there was no previous recorded time, it was going to be pretty simple to set the record, so old friend Matt, one of the Neighbor's boyfriends, set a time of five minutes (or so, I'm rusty on the memory) for Dan to break-in. Matt mainly wanted to get into the house so he could hangout. He had been locked out by Brianne because she was out doing something.

Dan, determined as ever, climbed through the Pienad ceiling and went right through the firewall, which had a nice whole cut through it to make fires spread more easily. He was well on his way to coming down and opening the door in well under two and a half minutes when he decided to hot dog it. Dan jumped down the last 5 or more steps and in the process tore his ACL. After he collapsed, he had to crawl to the door to unlock it, since we couldn't get in to help him. Once the door was open, Matt immediately stepped over Dan to go eat Doritos. I being, the good friend that I was looked at him, then I tried to help him up. Dan was having none of that.

Six years later, after saying he would have surgery for the last three years, Dan had surgery on Cracklin' Rosie. For more information on how that went, visit www.lubsenfamily.blogspot.com. Craklin' Rosie is dead, long live Cracklin' Rosie.

Update: Dan wanted to add that in addition to his torn ACL, he also bruised his pride.

Wooden Tradition

There was a big scare at the traditional Wooden Tradition this year. We always eat giant hot dogs while we watch Purdue play. We went to Hounds By The Pound, which is one of the city's finest restaurants, to buy our traditional giant footlong hotdogs. But when we got there it was closed! We were pretty upset. Graig tried to convince an usher to let us work at the hot dog stand in exchange for hot dogs. She laughed becuase she didn't know that he was serious.



Luckily after searching the entire arena, we were able to find giant hot dogs somewhere else and the day was saved. We were all really happy, especially Bryan who had a big smile. Also Purdue won.

Pumpkin Carving Contest Results

After nearly two months the results of the annual pumpkin carving contest have been compiled, recounted, challenged, recounted again, and finally decided. For the first time ever, there is a tie. After hearing that the contest resulted in a tie, Graig said "I never even knew that that was in the rulebook,'' he said. "It's part of the rules, and we have to go with it. I was looking forward to the next opportunity to get out there and try to win the contest.'' Dan still leads the series with a record of 13-4-1.