It's Opening Day!!!!

Go Reds!

The Elite Eight

Since we're in the midst of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, I thought now would be a great time to do something I've thought about for a while. You see, from time to time my buddies Patch and The Colonel will have pictures of beautiful women on their blogs and ask their readers to vote based on their levels of hotness. So without further ado, I present to you...

Drumroll...

The Hot Girls of TV Tournament!

The rules are simple. There will be two brackets: The Heroes Bracket and The LOST Bracket. Each bracket will have four contestants. In the first round, you will vote for two girls in each bracket and based on popular vote, the top two from each bracket will move on to the Final Four next week.

Here we go!

The Heroes Bracket

Hayden Panettiere

Kristen Bell

Ali Larter

Dania Ramirez

The LOST Bracket

Evangeline Lilly

Emilie de Ravin

Yunjin Kim

Elizabeth Mitchell

So there you have it. Remember, the success of this tournament depends on you, otherwise I'll just pick who I want to win and where's the fun in that?

Addicted to LOST

So Thursday brought us the last new episode of LOST for five weeks. I was really worried about what I would do with myself without having LOST to watch on Thursday nights. Then my friend Jess sent me this video and I have a new found hope. Thanks Jess!

Beer Cupcakes

Thanks to my buddy Chris for sending this. You know I gotta try this, right?

Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick, plus 1 tb, unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tb vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Glaze*
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350; butter a muffin tin.
Combine the Guinness and the butter, chopped into 1-inch chunks, in a large sauce pan, and heat to melt the butter. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla, then add to the beer mixture. Sift together the flour and baking soda, and fold into the batter. Pour into muffin molds and bake for 25 minutes, or until inserted cake tester comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from muffin tin, and cool completely on a rack.

Using a mixer, whip cream cheese until smooth, sift in sugar, and beat. Add milk, and beat until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled cupcakes.

*To create a thinner glaze, use a tablespoon or two more milk; for a topping more akin to icing, use less milk, and perhaps more sugar. In either case, add a little sugar or milk at a time, mix, and check for desired consistency.

For the LOST fans

Here's a pretty cool video I found whilst 'net surfing. This is a fan video and is in no way a part of the actual show. If you're a fan of the show, you may enjoy this. However, I must warn you, if you are currently getting caught up with the show via DVD or online streaming or if you haven't watched the show but think you might wanna get started, you may not want to watch this just yet!

OK, enjoy!

Weekend

This weekend my Dad and I went to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 NASCAR race. I have had the good fortune to attend the Bristol races every year since 1993. Bristol is amazing. It's hard to believe that a race car can reach speeds of up to 120 miles per hour on a half-mile track, but they do just that at BMS. It's no wonder that 160,000 people converge upon a sleepy little east Tennessee town twice a year to watch a bunch of cars go around in circles! It's always a good time, especially when the driver you pull for does well. This weekend, my driver of choice, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., finished fifth and gained a spot in the overall points standings. So, all in all, a pretty good day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

The Week That Was

I know, I know. I said I was going to update the blog more often. What can I say? I have been really lazy lately.

So let me try to rewind a week or so...

-Last Thursday went to The Dame after LOST to catch my buddy Charley's band Pistol Report. This was the first time I had seen them and I have to say I was really impressed. It was a great time, but I had to duck out kinda early. Had to get some sleep. Seeing my friends play live gigs gets my juices flowing again. I used to play with a band here in town and I've been getting the itch to play out again. So if you know a good drummer, bass player and vocalist, send 'em my way. I'm ready to start rockin' again!

-Friday night was a pretty lazy night. I laid around the house and watched Disturbia. It was pretty good. Obviously, it was an update of the Hitchcock classic Rear Window (which I prefer), but not a bad flick.

-Saturday I played with the Praise Team at St. Awesome's. It's always fun to play on stage, but this was especially fun for me because we did Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd. For a country boy originally from Eastern Kentucky, this was a treat. After the 5:30 service, I joined my friends Chris, Cher, Kelly and Faith to celebrate Chris and Kelly's birthdays.

-Sunday it was back on stage at St. Awesome's for the 9:30 and 11:15 services. Then it was a mad dash back to Casa De Layne for the UK-Florida game. The Cats beat Florida for the first time since 2004. I spent the rest of the afternoon laying on the couch watching the NASCAR race in Atlanta. Dale Jr. finished 3rd. Pretty awesome sports day for me!

-Monday I came home from work and was actually about half asleep when my buddy J 1-Time called to tell me that the Reds and Yankees were playing. Now I know it's only Spring Training and the games don't count, but I haven't seen the Reds since September, so I'll take anything I can get. In typical Reds fashion, we lost 4-0!

-Tuesday after work I went to Blockbuster and rented No Country For Old Men. I had heard mixed reviews of this movie, but I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was a great flick. I don't think it should have won the Best Picture Oscar, though.

-Wednesday I went to Winchester to visit my friends Dennis and Brandy. After a great dinner, Dennis and I had a little Knob Creek and talked about cigars and our upcoming trip to Destin. I'm really looking forward to going to the beach with some great friends. Plus, this will be my first real vacation since 2001! (ed. note - The Fouches are currently getting caught up on LOST. They're about halfway through season two and they're getting through about four episodes a night. I've corrupted a few more people! I love it!)

-Tonight I came home, chilled out, and enjoyed LOST. What an ending! Awesome!

-This weekend my Dad and I are going to Bristol, TN for the NASCAR races. It'll be great to have some quality time with Dad. We haven't been to a race together in a few years, so I'm really looking forward to it.

That's about it. I'll try to update more regularly going forward. For now, though, I really need to go to bed. I have a huge day at work tomorrow.

Later on, kids!

Cats Win! Cats Win!

My beloved Wildcats beat Florida yesterday for the first time since 2004. Just thought it was blogworthy.

I-I Oh-Oh I'm Still Alive

In those famous words of Eddie Vedder, "I'm still alive!"

A lot of people have been asking when I'm going to update my blog. Sorry it's been so quiet on here lately. I have been extremely busy at work preparing for our annual external audit. I have been traveling between Lexington, Frankfort, Georgetown and Corbin.

Here are some random babblings to hold you over:

-LOST has been awesome!

-Only four more weeks till Keeneland!

-Only three more weeks till baseball season! Go REDS!

-Speaking of baseball, how 'bout those Bat Cats? 9-0 last time I checked.

-I get paid tomorrow (and I need it)

-I'm playing on the main stage at St. Awesome's this weekend (I won't give the songs away, but let me just say I am so thankful to attend a church that isn't afraid to take chances musically).

-If I'm not mistaken, I have something planned every weekend between now and May 3.

-Still thinking about having another LOST party.

-If you're a LOST fan, read Revelation 9:11 and see if you find a familiar name from this season.

That's it for now. I have to go practice with the Praise Team. I promise I'll check back in later.