Jose's World Flauta Eating Championship

So, I believe I have found the career I will fall back on if the US Army or any other career I choose doesn't work out. This career is... COMPETITIVE EATING!

You think I'm joking, but I'm not. It sounds kind of stupid but check this out... Number 1 ranked competitive eater, Joey Chestnut, makes on average 60K a year. And all he does is EAT. Dream job? Uhhh, yes.

Its not as easy as it sounds though. Believe it or not, a lot of training goes into this uncommon sports job. I never really thought about doing it until I met and ate against the pros at my first eating competition. A lot of them were just average guys that liked to eat, and make money while doing it. Even if I don't fall back onto it, it would be cool to do it part time while doing whatever I'm doing in life to earn some extra cash and some free food. Plus, there is always that fun, competitive experience.

The reason I started looking into this was because of conversation at work that sparked up about competitive eating and the IFOCE AKA the International Federation Of Competitive Eating. Me and some co workers were talking about the records made and broken for certain foods. Myself and 2 of my co workers decided to take on a giant burrito after being hyped up about the talk. That story is in a blog below that I created last year... Later on while browsing the IFOCE site, I had found a link on the website about Jose's Flauta competition that was being held and thought about entering. I didn't exactly tell my co workers until later because I wanted to make sure I was going to go through with it. I didn't really care if I won... I really was just going to do it to say that I did actually do it; for the experience.

So I signed up and went to Jose's in La Jolla for the Prelims, not expecting to really do well at all. I was up against about 5 other people. The rules were pretty simple: Eat as many flautas in 4 minutes. Now, I had never had flautas before so I thought I was at a definite disadvantage. I had my friend Brian to be my counter and was ready to take down some chow! The competition started and I was slow to start. I was on number 4 by the 1 minute mark and the rest of my opponents were around 6 or 7. It was time that kicked it into gear and just went for it... Time was running down and I had about 30 seconds left. My jaw was hurting and I had about 13 flautas down. I decided.. "Eh, screw it..." and just started shoving flautas in my mouth like crazy. There was a rule that was said at the beginning, if you can get them in your mouth when time runs out, they will count. But you must eventually swallow them and not puke them up. Time ran out and I was awarded second place with 18 flautas. It was just enough for me to advance to the Finals against the Pros!



The day of the Finals I was a little nervous. I was going up against guys that really knew how to eat. I'm talking about Eric 'Badlands' Booker, Bad Ben Monson, Eric 'The Red' Denmark and the number 1 competitive eating champion, Joey JAWS Chestnut. I was nervous, a little sick, but ready. I even got interviewed by a couple news groups which was pretty cool. Then the competition started...



I must have not had my A game that day cause I was not doing good at all... Not much to tell except I had 8 minutes to eat as many as I could. By the end of the competition, I had ate 23 flautas. Now, if you check out the IFOCE website for the results, it says I ate 21, but I did in fact eat 23. Because the site says this, it put me in last place for results. I don't really care, but the fans of Macho Borracho (my eater nick name) need to be told the truth! Anyways... The winner was actually Bad Ben Monson who put down 65 freakin flautas. It was an upset over Joey Chestnut because he was definitely favored. I myself had drank too much water while eating so I was feeling pretty damn full. Something I don't really tell other people about my story is afterwards, I went into the alley and had myself a "reversal of fortune" but felt a lot better afterwards with a pint of Newcastle in my hand.

So it was a fun experience and I want to build my IFOCE resume with more feats and competitions but I gotta do is sparingly. I'm looking to do 2 eating challenges before I leave San Diego for the Army. One of them is at the Broken Yolk Cafe called the Iron Man challenge. Basically this huge 12 egg omelet which mushrooms, onions, chili and cheese, a generous pile of house fries and 2 biscuits. That one will be crazy hard... Then the other is a 30 inch pizza at a pizza place called Luigi's. But I get to do this with a friend so I'm sure it will be a lot easier. Then who knows after that... What I do know is that I had fun doing what have accomplished so far and hoping to build on it, one bite at a time ;) lol. Cheers.






To see more pictures of the eating competition, check out the rest of them in my facebook album -------> Jose's Flauta Eating Championship Album

Also, check out Jose's for great food, great service and a full bar!
Jose's Restaurant Website

SOE Unofficial QA Holiday party @ the Air Conditioned Lounge

Wow, now thats what I call a freakin Holiday Party.
I had tons of fun at the place I call my second home. It was probably double the fun because I know the staff at AC Lounge as well as my co workers so it was like having both my of my jobs intermixing into one.

Again, probably the best holiday party I have been a part of. My supervisor Qual lead the way to great experience for his employees and Im sure they were all greatful. We had a professional photographer as well as a video camera to catch all those embarrassing company party moments. Check out the video and some pics below. Cheers.

SOE Doesn't Sleep when AC Lounge is Awake!

Here are a few pics.. The rest can be found in my SOE Holiday Party Album on my Facebook here ----> SOE Holiday Pictures Album







lol.






YE!

Halloween Pictures

Yes, yes, yes... LONG OVERDUE. I know this.

But regardless, here are a few pics from THE HALLOWEEN PARTY. I had a lot of fun and it was probably the best Halloween Party I had been too. A lot of people dressed up, some good costumes, some great costumes, some that didn't really even make since... All I know is I had a blast. I work with a great group of people that know how to have a good time so there was no way I was leaving this party without puking in the host's bushes. But hey, it was worth it. Cheers.



I decided to get creative with it and make my costume.
Joe Dirt, eat your heart out.




Too much?!..... Nah.


I have A LOT more pictures on my facebook album if you want to check out more. Lots to see and laugh about. Cheers.

Halloween Party Facebook Album ----> HALLOWEEN PICTURES

FAIL.

I really do FAIL at blogging... I keep coming back though every month because I want to continue. Well, this is my final test to do so. If I am no longer consistant with this blog then I am definately done and will delete this account... I pinky swear.

A lot has been going on and I will update today on what has been going on. Some things I will talk about later will include; The Price is Right, the AC Lounge, Eating Challenges, and Army stuff. Im really feeling the need to stay consistant with this blog because I love to write and tell others about my adventures. I think I like it so much (but am too lazy to do so, heh, go figure) is because I believe im a completely changed person then I was about 2 years ago. I used to be the guy that would be at home, doing nothing but playing video games or watching Tv, a complete couch potato. This would be a normal ritual for me on friday and saturday nights while my friends would be out partying it up or having a life... Thats what I didnt have. A life. I was stuck doing the same thing and I didnt mind because I was comfortable doing so. But that was the problem. I needed to break out of this bubble and have a life. I was always the "shy kid" at school or on the little league baseball team. I hated it, but didnt mind it because I tried not to care. But I was determined to change that. I wanted to be more spontaneous and do things I thought I would never do or things I think I would never get to do because it could be a once in a life time thing. Really though, think about it.. You only have 1 life to live and you're not promised tomorrow. As long as its not COMPLETELY STUPID, go for it. What do you have to lose?!

Ok, sorry, kinda got a little too into that.. But yes, I will be blogging more so stay tuned. Cheers.

I suck at blogging...

LET IT BE KNOWN!!!

Ok, but really, I do... I just started this thing and Im already lagging on it. I guess I can just fill in whats been going on the last week or so.

My dad recently bought a house up in Rancho Penasquitos (SP?) and Im renting out the garage. I know what your thinking... "Uhhh, the garage?! Isnt it too small? Isnt it too cold? What about vermin and creepy crawlies?!" Well, to answer most questions, its a pretty nice set up. The garage is HUGE. Its about the size of a studio and I have my separate entrance outside so should be a good amount of privacy. The rent wont be too bad since my pops is giving me reduced rent. And as far as it being too cold, its actually not too bad. There are some open vents, but I can plug those, and Ill most likely end up getting an electric blanket if its gets really cold. Ill survive, Im part Aleut native american and my tribe comes from Alaska so its in my blood! And the bugs... 1 word. RAID.

The only thing I need to figure out is what to do with the GIANT oil spot in the middle of carpet in my room. I might just get a rug cause I dont think there's anyway of getting it out. Ill post pics when I have everything set up, or at least most of it. Im not even sleeping in there right now cause all the stuff that is supposed to be in the house is STILL in there, so im sleepin on the floor >_>

Ill end it here for now... I will post Halloween Party pics up soon. No more lagging. I promise. Maybe....

I almost died...

Ok... I had to post this first because it was EPIC. Myself, Joe Ray and Ben Ferrel (Co-Workers) decided to eat 1 of these burritos each...IN ONE SITTING. It was definitely a hard task, but amazingly, we all accomplished the feat and had a lil pride overshadowed by a great deal of regret. Our bodies did not agree with the amount of consumption that we made it take in. I think we might have hurried though because it took the cooks at Toby's Taco Shop (off of Miramar Rd) 30 min to make 3 of those things which left us with a little over 15 min to eat it all. It was most definitely a 1 time thing because I think I may have been 2 more bites away from an actual coma...

Whats a BLOG?!

So, I decided to go forth and give myself a hobby. I thought it would be fun to write about all my adventures and share them with anyone that cares. If no one happens to care, then at least I'll have something to look back on and see all the fun and/or trouble I got myself into. Memories are meant to be cherished so, eh, why not?! If you do happen to read this, then thanks for stopping by and checking out whats been going on in my life. CHEERS! :D

BTW, I will post some pics from the past weekend just so I can get some color on this blog. Stay tuned...