In the end, we're lucky to get 2 paragraphs. 2 Books wouldnt be enough either...shrug...

CHARLES DENES , 99, of RED BANK , formerly of Perth Amboy, died Saturday, Dec. 29, at Navesink Harbor Assisted Living in Red Bank. Born in Perth Amboy, he lived there for most of his life, moving to Red Bank in 1993. He was pay master at DuPont in Parlin, Sayerville for 45 years, retiring in 1973. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Perth Amboy, where he also served as a trustee, and a Deacon and member of the choir. He was also a member of the Red Bank Baptist Church and the Perth Amboy and Metuchen YMCA. He was an Eagle Scout at Troop 15 in Perth Amboy, a former member of the Olive Street Seniors, graduate of Perth Amboy High School Class of 1926, and a graduate of Rutgers University.

He was predeceased by his wife, Ethel Jorgensen Denes in 1984. Surviving are two nephews, Robert and wife, Jean Denes of West Allenhurst and Richard and wife, June Denes of Hopelawn; a niece, Cynthia and husband, David Livingston of Freehold; seven great-nieces and nephews, Eric, Susan, Joseph, Richard Jr., Sherri Lee, Amy and Susan; and six great-great-nieces and nephews.

Charles Denes

My Great Uncle is dying
right now
He's 99
He was my Grandfathers younger brother
He didnt have any children of his own, so he became like a second father to my mother when she was growing up
I'll bet it was hard for my Dad, to have two Father in Laws at first
Uncle Charlie and Aunt Ethel were like a bonus set of Grandparents for me
He and my Grandfather were both Eagle Scouts
My brother and I are both Eagle Scouts
I just searched his name on the web and was happy to see this come up first in google
http://www.cnjc-bsa.org/vpl/history/cowhist.htm
I recognize many of the names from conversations with him and my Grandfather
My grandfather is listed as a charter member too
I remember that patch
They are all dead now, everyone but him
When I visited his house, he'd sleep with me in the guest room
and make up stories about the pigeons sitting on the white picket fence
he'd talk until I was asleep
When Aunt Ethel Died, I was in Sixth Grade
I was watching MTV when the call came in
it was a band named RAINBOW
the song was "It Cant Happen Here"
He moved in with us for awhile after that
Slept in my room with me
He cried himself to sleep every night

I have a son named after him
We call him Charlie

everything you asked for

everything you asked for
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.

christmas was.

2nd place (eight words)

sick or not,
that boy can really fight

what am I really spending my days thinking about? (eight words)

i cant
get my
lawn thick
and green

torn (eight words)

unkempt
unshaven
half finnished
but never really started

This is really, really bad.

The murder of Benazir Bhutto is potentially a tipping point in an area of the world that we are already in trouble with. I'm really scared of the fallout from this. Iraq is nothing if Pakistan enters Civil War.

something to look forward too

A year and a few days before we can begin the hard work of rebuilding this great Country. Its been painful to watch.

Christmas Bells are Ringing, FuckFace

An illness I understand

I am always the very last one to let go.

Here's a man that took a photo of himself, everyday for six years. That makes sense to me.

Creme Filled (eight words)

lost.

following the Whitman Sampler Map.

please help.

"Moderation is a Fatal Thing...." (haiku)

complete combustion
spectacle overloaded
give'em what they want

I wont spoil the movie for you, I promise

I am Legend.

I saw it yesterday.

My wife and sons treated me to a movie and dinner to celebrate my birfday. I've survived 37 complete rotations around the sun...why not have a burrito?

It was good....but the draw for me was something I've been mentally chewing on my entire life. The movie shows scenes of NYC a few years after a plague has killed everyone. I've always been fascinated by the deconstruction of man's accomplishments by nature. One of the scenes that the movie commercials showed Will Smith Hunting in Times Square for Deer. The asphalt has cracked and given away to tall grasses. THAT's the scene that drew me in. Somehow it's comforting to know that nature will recover, even if we screw ourselves. Why did that scene draw me in? Here's something I wrote a year and a half ago

Temporary Permanence

This summer a book was released called 'The World Without Us' and it documents what would happen to our world, (cities, forests, buildings, houses, subway systems, nuclear bombs, paintings, if all of humanity just disappeared. They follow our stuff for weeks, months, years, decades and then Millenia to see what made it. They give specifics on NYC. I'm so in love with NYC and am just drawn in when people discuss it's past and future.

I've read two reviews of the book, and heard two separate interviews with the author but am too cheap to buy the damn thing in hardback. Go Figure.

Xmas Shopping at the Big Mall (eight words)

i loathe
my role
in this
killing machine

radiant

run babies, run
and see all that there is to see

when that blackness catches you
you keep running
tears and all

I'm In! I'm In! I'm In!

Pretty much down to the wire to get it all down. 5:25 I practiced with cold hamburgers but they didnt get as congealed as the ones I bought last nite for the stunt. At home I was hitting it at 5:00 flat. I was hoping for some more airtime, but they had overbooked eating stunts and were running behind.

Wing Kong continues to impress with 5 cans of Spagetti-O's in 1:15. The guys an animal.

THANKS for listening and all the support, I'll post the video in a couple of days when I get it!

WOW, I'm in Wing Bowl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My WingBowl 16 Stunt has been approved!

I am scheduled to be on the air this Thursday, Dec 13th at 7:30am. You can listen at 610 WIP AM or on the web at http://www.610wip.com/ and clicking on 'listen live' (it's in the upper left hand quarter of the page) They classically run late so it may not be exactly at 7:30, but hopefully it's close.

My stunt was inspired by Dave Shoeffner of the Eating Blog Mega Munch. Maybe over a year ago he suggested that it might be a fun challenge to eat the entire "McDonald's Dollar Menu". At the time it was 9 items. My local McD's has 13 items! WIP say I need to eat it in less than 5:30 minutes to qualify for WingBowl 16.

An important requirement of the stunt is that I cant dunk the items in water/soda. That can really make it more difficult. This stunt was fun to think about, because I had to come up with the order that I would eat the foods and why. It really does make a difference.

I think whats difficult about this stunt is that you dont have enough of any one food to ever hit a rhythem. There is a constant change of texture, temperature and flavor. I'm testing it again tonight and may change the order slightly, but here is the list, in the order that I intend to eat them.

Small Soda - I'm going to be taking sips off this through the whole first half of the challenge

Double Cheesburger - The heaviest Item by weight. I want to get all of the biggest stuff down first. Hamburgers however are fairly easy for me.

McChicken Sandwhich - Also heavy, and the exterior is kinda crunchy.

3 Cookies - These are new on the menu. You get three for a dollar and they are much bigger than I expected. Without doubt, they are the HARDEST thing to eat on the menu! My mouth hurt for a full day after this...scratchy!

Parfait - I will likely be alternating spoonfulls of this with the cookies

2 Apple Pies - I forgot they even made these anymore. Not terribly hard to eat, but heavy enough to make a difference in my time.

IceCream Sundae - A welcome break at this point

Small Fries - who likes cold fries?

Side Salad - Not too hard but a completely different feel than anything else on the menu

Apple Slices - These are preskinned and slicled, and are treated with something that keeps them very fresh and even alittle too firm. Should be easy to stuff in at the end.

Of course the downside of all of this being that it'll take me a week to balance out the calories on this! SUPER-SIZE-ME!



UPDATE
I guess we have ALL burned ourselves on a McDonald's Hot Apple Pie at one time or another! I will be picking up the food late tonight for tomorrows stunt. The warm foods will be room temp when I eat them which can be much more difficult. Realizing this, I only practiced with cold food.

I tested this stunt again last night and it isnt a shoe-in. It really is difficult and the roof my mouth is still sore.

As the great Eater Ian 'The Invader' Hickman pointed out, any food stunt can be much harder when 'Picnic Rules' Apply. Picnic rules state that you eat the food the same way you would normally. You can drink a lemonade while having a hotdog, but you wouldnt dunk it in a cup of Lemonade first.

A couple of important milestones for my stunt:
I'll need to have both the Double Cheeseburger AND the McChicken Sandwhich down before the 1 Minute Mark.

The 3 Cookies HAVE to be down before the 2:00 minute mark or it will be close at the end. They have been so difficult to get down in less than a minute.

ALSO Wing Kong will be doing his Stunt at 6:45AM. FIVE cans of Spagetti-O's in less than 2 minutes...it's AWESOME!!!!

We will be filming the stunts for posterity.

From the Ether

I sense a disturbance in the Force

The SnowCones of Kilimanjaro (haiku)

now that it is done
how can we remember you?
did you write it down?

It's Steakbellie, Bitch

warming up the jeep (haiku)

white breath and exhaust
falling snow dampens the sound
everything feels close

dont outrun your headlamps (eight words)

the older
i get
the slower
i drive

Wing Bowl 16 is Coming

Well it's that time of year again. The national Competitive Eating Circuit tends to dry up from December to the end of February, so alot of extra attention gets paid to Philadelphia's Wing Bowl.

Some of you have been with this blog long enough to remember that this will be my 3rd Year in the contest (assuming I qualify again). I've got 2 Qualifying stunts that I've prepared and I'm going to be calling in tomorrow for an On-Air Time Slot with 610WIP AM, the radio station that runs the contest. WingBowl typically has about 25-30 Contestants (including an automatic admission for the top 5 Eaters in the World)

I'll give you the details of my stunt, once the concept is approved....one of them is really freaking gross though....because it's a Radio show, I like to pick things that people can identify with or even duplicate if they think they can beat me. I want the hosts to be able to describe an acurate picture of whats happening.

Last year I ate a 2ft Wawa Hoagie with Turkey, American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato plus a small bag of potato chips and a half Gallon of Wawa Lemonade in less than 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I wasnt allowed to dunk the food. Wawa's are on every corner in this part of the world so it was something that every listener could identify with. I'm trying to duplicate that feeling this year and offer a stunt that is accessable to anyone who wants to give it a try. You can watch last years stunt below. Thats WingKong in the background!



This years WingBowl will be on February 1, 2008. Tickets go on sale December 12. They typically sell all 34,000 seats in a day!

From the Ether

That Day is coming.
Today is not that Day.

From the Ether

Sometimes I pretend I can play Guitar.

Not Air Guitar, just pretend Guitar. I think about it in my head. I spend far too much time trying to figure out what songs I would play at my next gig and what they would sound like.. It's incredibly silly that I put myself through this, I'm calling my pretend agent to say I'm going solo.

Heard in the House of Boys

"Please put your Penis away"

and they continue to haunt me (eight words)

all my dumb ideas
seemed cool
before testing

rush (haiku)

an unseen sunrise
ignoring the miracles
how much do we miss