Olympic Hockey Momento

In honor of the Canadians winning gold in both men's and women's hockey, I present the following homemade photograph ...

Beauty way to go .... and I will have a smoke and brew in their honor in the hot tub shortly ....

Shave your head Hoser

So I was on WGEM 1440 this morning, and host Josh Houchins says he will have a maple leaf shaved into the side of the Missouri mullet head if Canada beats the U.S. Sunday.

A beauty way to go ... eh?

By the way, the Canadian women ROCK and I had a beer in their honor after work today.

Pay later? Nope ....

Twice in the past few months I've made major purchases and the store has promised I had one year to pay for the item.

Ooops.

Read the fine print before you sign the purchase agreement. The first retailer sold me a bill of goods and knew the finance company wanted payments right away, but lied to me anyway.

The second place just simply didn't know, and we got things ironed out.

It depends on what you buy, of course, but if a store offers you "same as cash," be careful. If the store deals with a separate finance company, ask the finance company, not the place where you bought the item, about the terms.

Sure, it's buyer beware. So — be aware.

Canada vs. Russia

Huge game tonight, Canada vs. Russia. Winner has the inside track to the gold medal, though I think the U.S. is clearly the favorite now.

Many people say the Amercians beating Canada Sunday was a huge upset. Wrong. They are still riding the Miracle on Ice thing from 30 years, truly one of the greatest moments in sports. There is absolutely no comparison, because this U.S. team is made up of NHL superstars who can beat any team in the world.

Gotta love the Canada-Russia rivalry, brings back memories of the 1972 Summit On Ice. I was living in Montreal at the time and still remember my mother, who was taking classes at McGill University, coming home after the deciding game and talking about the celebration in the downtown streets.

Funions Press Conference

Mark and I had a press conference at the Quincy Elks Lodge Saturday to announce the 2010 World Parking Lot Tour kicking off this March.

First of all, thank you very much to Bill Durst for stocking the shelves behind us while we did the press conference. Nobody stocks shelves like Bill. He is HUGE.

Secondly, thank you to our brothers, The Cheeseburgers, who were playing for a wedding reception in the big room next to us. The Cheeseburgers had the audacity to get paid and play Funions songs people liked and we'll need to have a little chat with Burt and the boys.

Thirdly, never pick your teeth when you are on camera.

Blessed Sacrament Song

This is from the Blessed Sacrament School talent show earlier this month. Guitar prodigy Aaron Smith is featured with our seminal hit sensation "Blessed Sacrament School Rules."

Flight of the Conchords

Emily is a huge fan of this strange duo from New Zealand. We were listening to them on the way to WIU last night and I about drove off the road, not a good idea at the best of times, especially in a blizzard.

Anyway, here they are .... really funny stuff. Shey Fey can't stop laughing either!

Scary Drive

Took the 6-2 freshman back to WIU tonight and its wasn't fun.

The roads were terrible in Quincy and continued to be terrible in Adams County. Then about 20 miles south of Carthage it suddenly stopped snowing and the roads were fine.

On the drive back it was the same thing. The biggest thing on 336 was the wind-blown snow and trying to see the road.

Slow and steady works all the time ... and there was no pot hole between turns 1 and 2.

Brackets, awful love songs, etc.

— Now THIS is a bracket where everybody is a winner ....

— Billboard has named its No. 1 sexiest song, and it is AWFUL .... the video is so bad it's ... just .... hard to watch.

— If you've noticed, we've put up the first shows for The Funions World Parking Lot Tour 2010. The ice breaker is Saturday, March 13, at the Elks for a St. Patrick's Day bash. Reportedly there will be a press conference this weekend, and we may have video up.

— The ice at the South Side pond is still 8 inches thick, but there have been some melting and surface quality issues. Can still hope to hope, I guess.

— Are you going to watch the winter Olympics? Might try to follow the hockey games, but luge results are hardly riveting.

— Nice to have lunch today for the first time in ages with the Sandwich Maker of Doom.

— No football this weekend, boo hoo ....

The Who ROCKS!

Link to a column about The Who here ....

Unstuffing stuffed animals

Lucy is the queen of unstuffing stuffed animals. That means Bella The Destroyer is learning from the best.

It's hilarious when they both grab a leg and growl ferociously at each other.

Anyway, mom went to the Salvation Army, bought $2 stuffed animals and let the girls go nuts. One of them was made of beans and was rescued just in time from Bella's powerful grip.

Big. Dumb. Dog. Not you, Lucy.

P.S. if you look carefully you can see plastic eyeballs strewn about as well.

Smith Boys Rock - UPDATE

Aaron and Brendan Smith ROCKED the Blessed Sacrament School talent show today.

Video coming shortly, or when Sheryl gets up from her "Unemployment Nap."

UPDATE: Video didn't work. Will solicit help from Mother Smith ....

Swiftly off key

Apparently Taylor Swift was off-key at the Grammy Awards the other night.

No. Gasp. Shudder. Unbelievable. Really?

I didn't see it and won't watch it. I have much better things to do, like consoling Bella the Destroyer, who is still mad about not being a border collie.

Apparently Swift couldn't hear in her monitors, leading her to sing off-key with Stevie Nicks.

I'm not saying The Funions are on par with anybody else, and we're just a bunch of goof balls playing music for fun. But I have almost never played a show where I've been able to hear well. Sure, we want to sound good, but the energy is just as important, sometimes even more important.

If you want to see a great band play live, a band that doesn't worry about being on key but more about energy and projecting the song, check out The Who this Sunday at halftime of the Super Bowl.

Maybe Swift will watch and learn a thing or two so when she sings off key again — I'm sure all those studio fixes and Pro Tools can't save her on stage.

Job Hunting

Shey Fey lost her job today. The official phrase was "We are eliminating your position." She worked for a large Quincy manufacturing plant doing Internet technology and computer stuff.

She is not sad about it all. Always the optimist, Sheryl finds upsides for everything. She won't have to deal with the daily grind of her job and she was in a great mood today.

On the downside, this puts a crimp in summer and other vacation plans. If she doesn't find another job soon, and in this economy it won't be easy, we'll have to be very careful with our finances.

I think you are defined by the way you deal with the crap life throws at you.

I define her as a saint and the best thing going for me today.

Moon pic, forgotten growler

The top pic is Lake Michigan in late January ... massive chunks of ice. I tried imagining an August beach day instead and couldn't do it.

The other pic is what they refer to in Hudsonville, Michigan, as a "Front Porch."

Hose Head on the right is drinking a Founders Pale Ale. Hose Head on the right bought a 64 ounce growler of Founders Pale Ale, and left it in Hoser on the left's fridge. Hoser on the right is ticked off and will reclaim growler this summer. Hoser on the left is presumably finishing contents of said growler as we speak.

A great weekend up north, and it's nice to be home.