Consider Exploring This Weekend

And So, It Begins...

March Madness has official hit the United States as the first rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament began today.  I may not be the authority on basketball at KFIZ, nor does it top football as my favorite sport, but I really enjoy watching the tournament along with everyone else.  Every single team seems to really give it their all, and the greatest thing is that their not playing for a pay check, or a ring, or a bonus (although, one could argue that they're playing for their future NBA salary).  They're playing (mostly) for pride.  This seems especially evident with the lower seeded teams, who's only chance to be in the spotlight is by giving the country one of those huge upsets we all love to see.

So far, there's been some great games, and this first weekend is my favorite of the tournament.  Sure, the Final Four and championship games are exciting, but when it's moving from one game to the next at a blistering pace and everyone has a chance to move on, it really can't be topped.  On top of that, my bracket is being torn apart here early on, but that's nothing new, so I'm cool with it.  How are yours doing?

Get Your Brackets Together

Here's your Web Waster of the Day:

SocialTimes - The shift has already been made, it's no longer a "new thing" to be involved in social media, but it seems to be something that a fair number of people still don't have their heads wrapped around yet.  This is a great site that delves into some of the more significant reasons for its rise and why it is not going anywhere anytime soon.

Breakfast Club 8/18/09

Karl's Weather:

Today - Sunny Hi 83
Tonight - Partly Cloudy Lo 64
Wednesday - Slight chance for afternoon rain Hi 78
Thursday - Chance of rain/storms Hi 75

6:50 - Ed Barnes won a "Back to School" prize pack in the KFIZ News Quiz this morning.

7:20 - We spoke with Julie Phillips from the Fond du Lac Women's Chorus about their concession stand during the Kids From Wisconsin concert at Buttermilk Creek Park tomorrow night. That concert will begin at 7:15 and is free to attend.

Breakfast Club 8/10/09

Karl's Weather:

Today - Partly Sunny with a chance for showers and storms. Hi 85
Tonight - Partly Cloudy. Lo 63
Tuesday - Sunny. Hi 83
Wednesday - Sunny. Hi 85

6:50 - Betty Mauch was our winner for the KFIZ News Quiz for knowing that the Green Bay Packers Family Night was cancelled on Saturday night.

8:20 - Kay VanderVort gave us an update on the Volunteer Center of Fond du Lac County. For more information call 920-926-1414.

9:10 - Dottie and Renee came in for our FDL Senior Center Report. To get all of the details, visit the FDL Senior Center at 151 E. 1st Street or call 920-322-3630.

After a five-day weekend, I'm back in the studio and very refreshed. Nothing like doubling up your weekend to put you at ease, right? It was all about having fun too, not a whole lot of plans. Let's run through a checklist, shall we?

1. Go wakeboarding - CHECK!

2. Enjoy the great outdoors - CHECK!

3. Root on the Brewers - CHECK!

4. Catch up on video games - CHECK!

5. Eat lots of junk food - CHECK!

Can't compete with that! It was one of the better vacations I've had simply because it wasn't packed to the gills with things to do like so many of my days off are. My sister and I are always saying that there's never enough downtime and this weekend I finally got some.

The Windy City or How Joe Met Hog Doug

I decided to head to Chicago at the last minute this last Fourth of July weekend. Lucky for me, I had a chance to check out Hot Doug's before they closed for the upcoming week. I had never been to Hot Doug's before, but after seeing the fine establishment on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" I knew that I had to visit. So a friend of mine and I took a journey over to the encased-meat emporium to see if it was really up to snuff. The answer, in a word, is an overwhelming: YES.

Our Journey began at around 1:30 in the afternoon. Hot Doug's is well known for having long lines to taste their magnificent sausages, so we figured that would be plenty early to get through the door by 4:00 when they close. Lucky for us, we had beautiful weather in Chicago for our long wait in line. I didn't think to start taking pictures until about 3:45 when we were STILL in line. We were starting to get nervous that we weren't going to make it in the door before the closing bell. This is how long of a line was behind us yet too.

That's about another two blocks worth of people. Here's how close we were at that time.

That's about eight more people before we get to the door, and it's getting ever so close to 4:00. We have NO idea how strict their closing hours are either, so again, we're getting pretty nervous. Finally, 4 o'clock rolls around and we're still outside the door, though just barely. So close now, we can almost touch their beautiful sign.

We finally were able to step inside the door at around 4:15, somewhat bewildered as to how we're still able to stay in line. After we enjoyed our food, we found out that an employee went to the end of the line at 4:00 to stop people from continuing to line up. We didn't really care how we were able to get in though, as our tummies were rumbling for sausages.

We placed our order with Hot Doug, who is quite possibly the NICEST guy in all of Chicago. I mean, his place was set to close at four, and even though he wasn't going to get out of there until well after six or even seven, he was still as polite and happy as could be. We then went to sit and enjoy our food. First up is the Spicy Beef Sausage with Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce and Applewood-Smoked Cheddar Cheese. Delicious!


Next up, the traditional Chicago Style Hot Dog. My first ever, by the way, and I don't think I'll ever have a hot dog any other way ever again.

Then there was the only disappointment of our visit. My friend ordered the Catalonian Pork Sausage with Saffron Rouille and 12-Month Manchego Cheese and it wasn't so good. We agreed that the cheese had a soapy texture and aftertaste that wasn't very appetizing.





And finally, there was the side of Duck Fat Fries. Yes, that's right, fries cooked in duck fat. They're only available Fridays and Saturdays and they're pretty good. There's a slight difference between these and regular fries, but we couldn't quite define it.



I was completely satisfied after our Hot Doug's adventure and I HIGHLY recommend checking them out the next time you're in Chicago. Just make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time to wait in line!