I Am Not the Kobayashi of Utah

CR England, the trucking company that I am working for this summer, had its annual Summer Beach Bash this week. They had lots of fun activities, including a rock, paper, scissors tournament; Bingo; a dunk tank; a hula hoop contest; and a prize raffle. However, the crowning glory of the Bash was the hot dog eating competition. Yes, you read right. The hot dog eating competition.

We had 5 minutes to eat as many hot dogs as we could (including the bun). How many do you think you can do? Keep in mind that the world record is currently 66 in 12 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut, set on July 4, 2007. That pace equates to 5.5/minute, or 27.5 hot dogs in 5 minutes.

So you're thinking, "I maybe can't do 5.5/minute, but probably 2 or 3. After all, I've watched the Nathan's Hot Dog Competition and I know Kobayashi's and Chestnut's technique". Well, friend, I had those same thoughts. And you're wrong. You are so wrong. It is one thing to watch these guys eat and take notes on how they do it. It is a very different beast to stand in front of a crowd and shove hot dogs in your mouth. When the buzzer went off, I had finished 4 hot dogs with their buns. Granted, I'm not a large fellow. But most of the larger guys in our contest couldn't do any more than me. And based on Kobayashi, size isn't the issue. Anyway, the winner of our contest did 8, followed by a guy that did 5, and then several of us at 4. Here's a video for your viewing pleasure (we'll see if it works):

I invited some friends and some of my family, but April and her dog Brutus were the only ones able to make it. She joined in the rock, paper, scissors tournament and we both made it to the second round. The real entertainment was in watching how serious some people were about it. The musclebound guy who won was actually talking trash and basically playing mind games with his opponents (generally either12 yr-old women or 55 year-old grandpas). Hilarious.

Our delicious and nutritious dinner

After recovering from my hot dog meal, I wasn't really looking for more food, but I had a little fruit just to somewhat balance out the hunk of meat resting in my tummy. April didn't get any real food, so we had a dinner of popcorn and cotton candy -- are you proud of my eating habits, mom and dad? Then April showed me and my boss's daughter how hula hooping is really done. I can't wait to see her work with a hula hoop that is heavy enough so she can really pull out all the stops.

Get up, girl! Show me what you can do!

I'm gonna miss Utah sunsets